Takes

Team USA will win every Olympic basketball game by 50 points

USA announced its Olympic roster for 2024 in Paris. And it is stacked. Yeah. They're looking to win every game by 50.

Kyrie Irving is the most talented basketball player in the NBA

I think he's the most talented basketball player in the NBA, maybe still. It's a weird thing to say because there's so many talented guys, but the things he does at his stature... he probably has like three of the top five things craziest things I've seen in practice of all time.

Joe Mazzulla's authenticity is why he will be a great coach for a long time

I think that's one of the most important things about head coaches is the authenticity. Like guys can sniff through it immediately... that's just who he's, so I think that's why he's, he's gonna be a great coach for a long time.

I am putting a responsibly large wager on the Sixers -5 based on the turtle's pick

Mr. P's pick is a Sixers minus five responsibly. Large wager has been put on a Mr. P's first ever pick. Let's go 76ers.

The Orlando Magic will beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the NBA playoffs

I like the magic in the first round. Ooh little small upset there over the Cavs.

The Sixers will beat the Heat, the Knicks, and the Bucks in the 2024 NBA playoffs

I like the Sixers to beat the heat. I also like the Sixers to beat the Knicks Ooh. And then I like the Sixers to beat the Bucks. I do actually like that the Knicks like tried because I think that there you should, you should have some pride and be like, we're not ducking anyone.

The NBA should allow the top four seeds to draft their first-round opponents

The NBA should do two new things the NBA should do. They should do a draft of who the top four seeds get to pick who they get to play in the first round. And also there should just be an automatic Weby makes the Playoffs clause.

The Celtics will walk through the Eastern Conference because no team in the East is a concern

I'm excited. I'm very excited. Very, very excited. Championship or bust. No, no. I mean I, I like, I would like to beat the heat just for, you know, the storyline's sake, but I'm not concerned about 'em. I think we would roll. There's no one that, that that worries you.

The Denver Nuggets will beat the Boston Celtics in five games in the 2024 NBA Finals

What do we have for the finals is nuggets versus Celtics nuggets. Celtics nuggets over Celtics and five.

The Celtics will beat the Suns in five games in the 2024 NBA Finals

I'm gonna go Celtics over sons. In five. Dreaming then. Yo pitch Scottie. Scheffler. I'm just dreaming about not having to play the nuggets and just dominating the suns in five.

The 76ers will beat the Clippers in six games in the 2024 NBA Finals

Sixers over Clippers and six.

Zach Edey will definitely be a first-round NBA draft pick

He'll be drafted for sure and he'll probably be drafted in the first round. Someone will take a shot at it and just be like, what, you know, see if we can work with this.

Caitlin Clark is a bust because she can't win the big one

Are we sure Caitlin Clark is actually good. Ooh Bust can't win the can't win the big one.

The NBA Bubble Championship is a legitimate title that requires winning difficult games

Gotta still play. The games gotta still show up and win the game. So I mean, there's something to play for, you know, like the NCAA tournament. Yeah. You know, I mean, it happened... I would say just for the, just for like the, like all the extra stuff that comes with it. Right. You know, like being able to celebrate with fans afterwards, being able to have a parade... it would've been different having 16,000 people.

Approximately 27 to 30 NBA players could lead a 16-seed to a National Championship

I was gonna go like triple. Way more triple, triple that maybe. 30, maybe 40... guys in the NBA are so good, man. Yeah, yeah. Like you gotta automatically think bigs have an advantage 'cause it's college. So like the big is back, right? Yeah... We'll go with this. 27. 27.

The worst shooter in the NBA would be the best shooter on any college team

I've seen JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard go shot for shot from the three point line to five spots... and y'all would never trust them to shoot like outside in the game... the worst shooter on the NBA team would be the best shooter on a college team. Yeah. And like that's even including big men.

Paige Bueckers might be the women's basketball GOAT

Paige Bueckers might be my goat. Yeah. We love women more than any other podcast in America.

UConn will beat Iowa because Gino Auriemma has a better game plan for Caitlin Clark

I actually, I think UConn's gonna beat [Iowa] though, because I think Gino, like, if you watch the second game, Gino had a game plan for Juju Watkins that Kim Mulkey just didn't have for Caitlin.

Quarters are a better format for basketball than halves

I think I like the format of the women's game better. The quarters. I like the quarters. fouls reset... my one knock against the NCAA tournament on the men's side, is that down the stretch... it just turns into a foul fest.

Russell Westbrook looks foolish for arguing with a fan in a balloon hat

Never get in a fight with someone who has nothing to lose. Yeah. That guy has zero to lose in life. He's a diehard Hornets fan in a balloon hat... Russell Westbrook looks like a much bigger fool than the balloon hat guy.

The NBA investigation into Jontay Porter for prop betting irregularities is a bad look

My Hot Seat is Jontay Porter. Raptors center is under an NBA investigation into irregularities on his prop betting involving him. There was a couple times where he basically started a game, took himself out because of a eye injury. And on those games there was a bunch of action on his prop bets. Unders... This is bad.

LeBron James would lead the worst team in the NCAA tournament to the Final Four.

Still, you put, you put LeBron on Longwood and they're, they're in the final four for sure. And it'll be so much fun to watch.

Caitlin Clark currently faces ten times more hate than Duke.

I don't even know how, how people have found this much hate in their heart for [Caitlin Clark] again. She she has like Duke Times 10 hate. Yeah. It's crazy.

The Boston Celtics will not win the NBA Title

[PFT: Are Hank's Celtics gonna win the NBA title?] No. I want it to be Denver Boston, because that's what I want in the NBA... But I don't see Boston beating Denver because [Jokic is] the best player.

American youth basketball has lost the art of the bounce pass

I've been able to get my team to throw bounce passes... in a radius of six to eight feet, you are not allowed to throw chest passes... it has taken so long because they've grown up without throwing a bounce pass. I don't think it's taught at the AAU level.

Reed Sheppard is a top 8 NBA pick and reminds me of Rex Chapman

He's tremendous. He's a great shooter, great passer... He's got a big decision to make. He's probably a top eight pick in the draft. He's the closest thing to the Pat Riley days... the closest thing to a Rex Chapman for Kentucky.

LeBron James provided the blueprint for NBA sustainability and professionalism

Every single day of every minute of the day, I was with LeBron James. He showed me how to do everything the right way... Be different. That foundation he gave me with the Miami Heat is probably why I'm sustainable now.

LeBron James isn't that special because he merely lived up to the expectations we set

LeBron's actually not that special because we kind of called it... he just kind of lived up to his expectations. He was the chosen one. He didn't do anything that we didn't predict. We were right, man.

I guarantee the Bucks have a chance to compete for a championship this year

I guarantee a chance to compete for a championship [with the Bucks]. Yes. It's the only answer.

70% of big men in the NBA do not actually love basketball

50% of the NBA are guys that don't love basketball... Let's raise that number to 70 then for the big guys. 70% of the big guys... it's forced upon you because you're seven feet. Something wrong happened in your life [if you didn't play basketball at that height].

Anthony Edwards missing the tip-off is a sign the Timberwolves aren't ready to win a title

Anthony Edwards lost track of time and he missed the tipoff of the Timberwolves game... This is the kind of thing that you point to when it's like, yeah, the Timberwolves are good, but your star player lost track of time.

No one will ever hit 40,000 career points in the NBA again

The craziest thing about Lebron 40,000 points is I don't, I don't think anyone's gonna hit it. Like I don't, even though the scoring is crazy in the NBA right now, I was looking at it and Luca has 10,000 points in six years, but to say Luca can play to be 40 years old with his body, no offense to his body would be a jump.

LeBron James is the second-best basketball player of all time

I also feel like we've done at least an okay job respecting the fact that he is an insane, insane basketball talent who is, you know, people will say he is the best of all time. I have him too. Which is, and I think the gap between two and three is huge.

The 2023-2024 Boston Celtics are in a 'Championship or Bust' year

The Celtics have been, they've been to a final, they've been to some conference finals. You have to win it all this year. Yeah. If you don't, it's a failure.

The Denver Nuggets will win the NBA Championship back-to-back

I don't think I can make a future bet on this because the price isn't great, but I just think the nugs are gonna win again. I think it's back to back. Nugs.

It is significantly harder to score in college basketball than in the NBA

I think it's way harder scoring college than it is in the NBA... you have this no three-second in the key [rule in college]. So you got a big that's just sitting there. You also have like two or three people in college you can help off of.

The Boston Celtics are heavy favorites to win the 2024 NBA championship

I think yeah, they're my favorites... I don't wanna put bad juju on 'em, but Yeah, they're heavy favorites in my mind.

Adam Silver is the number one cuck commissioner in sports

Adam Silver though. He kind of, is he the number one cuck commissioner now? He doesn't do shit. I mean, Roger Goodell, he does get bullied, but he gets bullied by the owners.

The NBA All-Star game should be changed to a 'White vs. Black' format

What about the Rashard Mendenhall rules? What if we make the All-Star game white versus black. So who's the white starting five? Luca [Dončić], Jokic, Caruso, Kristaps [Porzingis] and Grayson Allen. I'd put that five up against [everyone else].

To fix the All-Star game, the losing team should pay the winning team $10,000 per point scored

Losing team has to pay winning team $10,000 per point. Because now you play defense. You play defense. And it doesn't matter if you're losing, you still try. Damian Lillard would've gotten $500,000 [from them].

Doc Rivers is an unlikable snake who stabbed Adrian Griffin in the back

Doc Rivers is really unlikable. He had the balls to, after taking someone's job and saying he was working for the Bucks as an analyst... You can't complain about a job that you stabbed somebody in the back for.

The Dunk Contest is unfixable because we have already seen every possible dunk

There's really no way to fix the Dunk Contest. I think they've jumped over the biggest human they can find... maybe it's just that we've seen every cool Dunk and there's only so many cool dunks that you can do.

Mac McClung should be ineligible for the NBA Dunk Contest because he is in the G-League

Mac McClung should be ineligible because he is not in the [NBA]... That is the NBA dunk contest, not the G League dunk contest. If you're going to do that, just bring people off the street.

A G-League player who wins the NBA Dunk Contest should receive a two-week NBA contract

If you win the Dunk contest and you're on a G League team, you should get like a two week contract.

LeBron James would choose a retirement tour over winning a fifth NBA title if he were being honest

If you had true serum with LeBron right now... I think he might take the Retirement Tour [over a fifth title]. The fact that he's pretending that he like will be reluctant in any way on this Retirement Tour is the most ridiculous comment I've ever heard.

I am officially a Caitlin Clark superfan because she agitates people and creates constant debate

I think I'm gonna become a Caitlin Clark super fan because she makes people so, so angry. And I love it... I'm all for anyone who just agitates the world like she does... I'm in on Caitlin Clark all the way.

James Harden winning a title as a third option doesn't invalidate a decade of criticism against him

Does it mean I was wrong about Harden for 10 years if he wins it this year? No... he's the third option now. So I'm still in the clear for a decade worth of takes... If somebody can play bad on purpose to get their way, like what are you gonna be like in a really tight spot in the playoffs?

LeBron James no longer does the little things like boxing out or transition defense

LeBron is the best player I've ever seen... But he doesn't do the little things that I think are really important in basketball anymore. He doesn't do those things anymore... you lose your guy boxing out all the time. You don't get back in transition. You lose guys on these baseline cuts.

The Boston Celtics are the NBA championship favorites if Kristaps Porzingis remains healthy

Boston... if Pingus is healthy, they have probably, they're probably still the favorite... Their one through rate is ridiculous.

The heliocentric style of offense led by Luka Doncic is difficult to win with in the playoffs

The history of the heliocentric offenses are really bad in the playoffs. You basically had one NBA finals guy for a top 20 usage rate in the NBA history... It sucks watching somebody else have the ball all the time... whenever they shut off your drive in the playoffs, now I have to shoot.