"Larry Bird Would Be The GOAT In The Modern NBA!" - Reacting To Hot Takes!

[@danielshaltes911]

I straight up cackled at "white boy Through The Wire."

[@Josiassama]

naw fr that comment is gonna make me listen fr

[@roscoeorginal]

Jokic is the fastest growing all time player. Went from a second round Taco Bell ad to a multiple time MVP, Champion and FMVP winner. As of recently, he’s arguably already a top 20 player all time and given how much more he can still accomplish, could finish Top 10 all time.

[@blue-pi2kt]

Already? Bruh has won 1 chip. Calm down.

[@Smido83]

@@blue-pi2kt Top 20? Sure... Dirk is in the Top 20 discussion. 1 MVP, one Ring, one Finals MVP. Garnett is in the Top 20 discussion. 1 MVP, one Ring, one Finals MVP. Jerry West is in the Top 20 discussion. 0 MVP's, one Ring, one Finals MVP. Oscar is in the Top 20 discussion. 1 MVP, one Ring, 0 Finals MVP. Karl Malone is in the Top 20 discussion. 2 MVP's, 0 Rings, 0 Finals MVP. Charles Barkley is in the Top 20 discussion. 1 MVP, 0 Rings, 0 Finals MVP. At least one, most likely 2 or 3 of those guys are in everyones Top 20. Jokic will win his 3rd MVP this year and if he wins a 2nd Title this year he is clearly already in the Top10 discussion. Top 20 isnt a discussion anymore. Name any 3 time MVP that isnt in your Top 20, no matter the Titles.

[@antiarezzo7630]

Mosses molone​@@Smido83

[@SDesWriter]

He’s already top 15, easy. If he wins again this year it will be cemented. He needs 3-5 years of high level play and he’s top 3 centers all-time.

[@roscoeorginal]

@@SDesWriter Centers is the most stacked all time position but if there’s any player that could cement their name for greatest centers, it’s Jokic😭😭

[@joshuadenham1999]

Nick sounded like he was about to scream "Inconceivable!"

[@stevenkerr6467]

It’s also absolutely hilarious that Jacob made a whole point about how baseball can’t be played 1 on 1 and then used Othani as an example

[@cudderlover1216]

That shohei break was so right. Except against nolan Ryan lol

[@sir.muffiniii7011]

He would kill Ohtani

[@man75739]

Hot take: if the nuggets win this ring it'll be one of the greatest rings of all time. Their bracket is very tough with the West being so stacked and the Celtics are one of the top regular season teams in NBA history.

[@k-cx7137]

I agree and it adds that it’s back to back

[@JTB_FM]

*if anyone else in the west does. You cant say the nuggets as they are the favourites for the west

[@ozzyramirez740]

Celtics play in the leastern conference and the nuggets are favs in the west so nah

[@sir.muffiniii7011]

@@ozzyramirez740that’s just stupid ass logic

[@resurrectedpa]

It's a 60+ win team bro​@@ozzyramirez740

[@codyoneil9507]

I agree with the over reliance take. We see it with Detroit who have an over reliance on scoring less points than their opponents.

[@naj_pederson]

😂😂

[@donutsimpson6770]

The NHL does this. They have an MVP as voted on by the media which is the Hart Trophy and then they have a Best Player award as voted on by the players which is called the Ted Lindsay Award. Maybe the NBA could incorporate something like that.

[@Smido83]

They should just change the voting system. 33.3% media, 33.3% coaches, 33.3% players. Media can do their "story based" voting, players know best who they have the hardest time to play against and coaches know who are the hardest guys to gameplan against.

[@CJ_Espinoza]

Nikola Jokić has already passed Dirk Nowitzki all-time

[@samii7192]

not a hot take

[@24xv555]

100%

[@TheBabyTort]

Bruh he beat the heatles Jokic beat the 8th seed

[@CJ_Espinoza]

@@TheBabyTort you mean the 8th seed that beat the 1, 4 and 2 seeds? You can’t act like they were scrubs

[@Loris71734]

He’s definitely a better player but has definitely not passed him all time because of the longevity gap

[@yurilover2017]

rusty completely forgetting about kat in the greatest 3 point shooting centers ever is crazy

[@LeggyCam]

I was gonna say doesn’t he count? I thought he was a better 3p shooter than Lauri, but I’ll have to check

[@homedogg1233]

@@LeggyCambetter percentage on ~2 less attempts per game in his career. Probably because sometimes he chooses to attack the basket instead of sitting back and chucking up 3s

[@reimixo]

But when he shot the same number of 3s he has better %...​@@homedogg1233

[@CahlilWesson]

Thats the one thing we cant take away from KAT, His shooting

[@reganhatcher1579]

Was going to say this.

[@skefix]

hot take: rusty can consistently make my toes crinkle and fill me up with joy

[@bnsz8704]

😦

[@AshleyShaeffer]

@@bnsz8704 gaaaaaaaay

[@joshuaveal7013]

No diddy

[@donnydogpiss4533]

ewww....

[@rileyyy01]

Me reading this with my toes crinkled for some reason: 👁️👄👁️

[@nathaniellevesque2782]

Even if D-Rose was healthy in 2012, they still don't get past the Heat. The Heat got better, while the only major additions the Bulls made were a past his prime Rip Hamilton and Jimmy Butler wasn't even playing 10 minutes a game that year.

[@dm1964]

In big part because of spo

[@urbaindelva7869]

Even if Jimmy had gotten starter-level minutes that year, he was not gonna be impactful enough for them to topple Miami.

[@whenisdinner2137]

Watching the editor glaze Shohei like that was hilarious 😂

[@bulja80085]

European schools of basketball like Serbia and Spain for example, have a better school of basketball than the states, they focus on team play, fundementals and reading the game, Americans are taught in a system where if they shine the most individually they will go to better schools and be looked at as athletes with more potential, so as a whole America usually focuses more on individual stats and flashy plays that get more attention. That is why more and more European and foreign players are getting better and dominating the NBA while Americans have somewhat become stagnant even if there are promising young American players, Americans like players like Anthony Edwards who play a lot of hero ball and iso a lot, which while flashy and fun to watch is usually not winning basketball, and playing like that a guy like Anthony Edwards while great in his own right will never surpass players like Jokic, Luka or Giannis who are also great playmakers while having an ability to score, the American college and high school system has many advantages to the youth team systems that Europeans have, but becauseit is made for scouting promising talent it teaches kids to play for themselves only.

[@danielgloyd4529]

Well that's just facts, not a hot take.

[@curry_bandwagon1031]

I think this is just straight up incorrect. Most coaches are gonna go for performing well as a team not trying to encourage individual play.

[@champoopapi]

‘it would be like giving a pilgrim a mountain dew’ LMFAOOOO 😭😭

[@sameerramdeen6703]

Man I was looking for this comment. 😂😂 That sh** was hilarious lol. 🤣

[@winter9242]

Another hot take: OKC shouldn't trade for Lauri markannen even if OKC fans and other basketball podcasters were pushing for his trade to the team. OKC will likely give up a core player despite their treasure trove of assets. Markannen also won't raise their ceiling greatly since he isn't a good passer and his main value is scoring which would be redundant as shots are already well distributed with shai, jdub and chet and he doesn't address their issue that much which is rebounding. Instead, similar to nuggets trading for AG, they should trade for a 4 that can defend multiple positions, and can be a great DHO hub. One that stands out to me is larry nance jr. He's underrated defensively, is a good passer, can even handle the ball well, a great finisher, can sometimes shoot and add spacing and he's also a great rebounder especially on offensive glass which OKC is one of the worst at. Other players that comes to mind is jonathan isaac and deni advija (very underrated player btw, he's just rotting in Washington)

[@sir.muffiniii7011]

🗣️🗣️🗣️

[@kyoungt14]

That last point is the saddest thing about the Wizards. Just a random assortment of talented players that don’t mesh together whatsoever.

[@TerribleTake]

This right here I agree with, I also want them to get a good back up center that can rebounder and be a lob threat and rim roller like Richards Capela or Drummond

[@michaelahurt]

Just draft Bronny and sign LeBron. I'm not sure Nance is *THE* answer but he does tick all the boxes and would be a great bench guy for them. Him and Steven Adams off the bench is perfect. Jalen Johnson is the ideal fit I think but I love Avdija for them and love Isaac for everyone But generally agree on the needs - 6'8"+ 220+ - good/great rebounder - can defend big wings specifically - enough playmaking juice to not mess up their offense - but I'd say being a vertical/cutting/finishing threat is much more important than DHO in their offense But you do want bigs who do the Draymond/Looney screen/handoff when they catch it unguarded 20 feet from the basket. (Why I like Adams for them; he's also a good PnR finisher if you want to do that but he's not locked into it. And he's a better rebounder and screen setter and defender than Drummond or Capela.)

[@winter9242]

@@michaelahurt lebron is also not the answer though. He'll just be a rental for a year and then retire and while I do love adams and the toughness he brings, he's getting too injury prone. Draymond is also getting old and his defense isn't what it used to but he's still a top defender and I don't think GS would trade him that's why I suggested other younger players like deni and isaac since they could be traded for. Jalen Johnson is now an untouchable asset for the hawks unfortunately though he'd also be the ideal fit since he can run hand offs and initiate offense as well. Maybe someone like jerami grant or mikal bridges might also be feasible though their rebounding will still be a problem. I'm just highlighting DHO because of how their offense is set

[@Espi1125]

Hot Take: voted on awards mean nothing

[@MO-rl9gl]

Hotter take: Awards in general are dumb.

[@U2vl9v0]

@@MO-rl9glA ring is technically an award

[@Espi1125]

@@MO-rl9gl I count rings as an award which why i specified voted on awards. (All-star MVP, DPOY, ROTY, MVP, FMVP, COTY, MIP, etc) are all dumb

[@Htiy]

I’m with you. To me, for example someone who was 2nd in MVP voting 5 times but never won it, is better than a guy who won it once and was never in the conversation after

[@jonathand.t.5051]

Ok now this is a peak hot take Ultra spicy, super concise and with a smidge of reason behind it all

[@vicioussky]

Hot take: Rudy Gobert is a top ten defender of all time and the reason people don’t think he is, is not because of his skill, but because of his controversy with Covid, and also the NBA only showing Gobert lowlights and never highlights.

[@j-rey-]

I don't think that's too much of a hot take, especially if you consider big men to just inherently be more impactful defenders than wings and guards. The other best big man defenders, in my opinion, are: - Hakeem - Duncan - Garnett - Bill Russell - Rodman - Ben Wallace - Dwight Howard - Mutombo - David Robinson - Arguably Draymond Green and Wilt There are other amazing defenders who could be in the top 10, like Kawhi, Jordan, Pippen, Payton, Giannis, and Kobe, but being smaller, primarily wing defenders, they have a distinct ceiling to how good they can be overall.

[@raneynewman8315]

It’s definitely not because of Covid. He gets an unfair shake from the media for three reasons: being European, not being an offensive talent, and getting “exposed” in the playoffs on those Jazz teams. The offensive talent obviously has nothing to do but it just biases any analysis because he is seen as less of a star. As for the Jazz stuff, it was because of the weak wing defenders surrounding him. I think he succeeds in future post seasons this video will change.

[@jacobragsdale7214]

Hot Take: Bobby Portis should be 6th man of the year

[@winter9242]

Hot take: all defense teams should be more than 2. A lot of great defenders throughout NBA history has been snubbed all because there are only 2 all defense teams.

[@DJJ616]

Agreed

[@golden10ful]

I've never thought about but it's true I mean there's three all nba teams

[@LakeShow]

Hot take: Kawhi and KD should be ranked pretty close to each other all-time. Both have similar accolades (plus 2x DPOY vs 1x MVP) and both have similar peaks. Me personally, I'd take prime Kawhi (the year Zaza took him out when he was beating the KD warriors) over prime KD. KD somehow always gets ranked 15-20 spots higher in all-time lists

[@johnbarkley925]

Great point. Peak Kawhi 2017- till today always seems to be the best player when on the floor against KD. If you put Kawhi Leonard in every team KD played and was healthy he would have at least 4 titles. Imagine these lineups OKC Westbrook Roberson Leonard Ibaka Adams There's zero chance they lose to the 16' Warriors. GOLDEN STATE Curry Thompson K. Leonard Iguodala Green BROOKLYN Harden Irving Leonard Aldridge Claxton Kawhy wouldn't get outplayed by Tatum and swept. PHOENIX Booker Beal Leonard Gordon Nurkic

[@LakeShow]

@@johnbarkley925 agreed!

[@urbaindelva7869]

​​​​@@johnbarkley925First of all, your comment is based on what ifs, and you can not prove what ifs. Secondly, you claim that Kawhi always seems to be the best player on the floor against KD, but provided neither actual proof of that nor considered KD's performance on the floor against Kawhi. On top of that, you simply put Kawhi into all of those lineups and claim that he "would've won 4 titles" without taking into account any other factors such as the opponent, the roster, coaching, health, etc.

[@urbaindelva7869]

First of all, Kawhi has not been healthy for most of his prime. Secondly, the Warriors ended up winning the game against the Spurs that Kawhi was beating them in after he went down. They had a 25-point lead when he was in the game, then lost it when he left. If he played the whole series, the Warriors still would've beaten them.

[@michaelahurt]

Durant Points .... 28,881 All Star ...14 All NBA ...10 Scoring Titles: 4 Kawhi Points.... 13,937 All Star ... 6 All NBA ... 5 Scoring titles: 0 Mystery solved Kawhi is little like Bill Walton but not as dominant. Or maybe Bernard King is a better comparison. He just had such a short prime.

[@iamgalatia]

HOT TAKE: Brandon Miller is having a better Rookie Season than Chet holmgren

[@sir.muffiniii7011]

No lol

[@DQ_Senpai]

Sadly no Brandon Miller is talented but Chet has shown much more of an impact on both ends and his efficiency is through the roof while showing just as much if not more talent than Brandon Miller

[@TheMissiIe]

Miller has FAR more opportunities to play well. Chet is anywhere from the 2nd-4th option, depending on Giddey's and JDub's form

[@user-vk6qj3nh8h]

Why

[@jeffreyvalentyn6815]

He has a net -6 rating on the season

[@ballerboi4980]

Hot take: magic in the modern nba would be Ben Simmons plus 2 or 3ppg. Two big point guards with great playmaking ability and solid defenders.

[@jarlbalgruuf7701]

Terrible take more like

[@ninjakiller160]

i need more Jacob says something and unhinged Nick comes in screaming about it,.

[@warhawk4621]

Hot Take: LeBron is lucky he didn’t meet Kobe in the finals in ‘09. A loss to Kobe would’ve made it hard to put him above Kobe all-time. It’s not the same as him losing to Duncan, curry, Dirk, etc… Kobe vs LeBron was always a debate until recently so this loss would’ve held him out the GOAT convo

[@nikhilweerakoon1793]

I don’t know if Bron puts up good numbers individually like he did for the prior playoff series. I think Lebron fans could chalk it up to a team imbalance and that Bron wasn’t in his prime at the time whereas Kobe arguably was.

[@mambacurry2448]

Well I mean the Kobe vs lebron debate has been over since around 2016. But either way, the lakers would’ve probably beaten the cavs team just bc they were much better but lebron would’ve outplayed kobe in the series so who knows the impact it would’ve had

[@LakeShow]

I kinda agree. This is Kobe at the end of his prime against LeBron at the beginning of his. Both teams won 65+ games that season. I think at the very least, this would stop the notion that LeBron was already the best player in the league at this time

[@mambacurry2448]

@@LakeShow I believe lebron would’ve out played him but u can’t argue with winning so especially since it would’ve been his first as the guy. But I don’t think it would mess with the all time standings

[@urbaindelva7869]

Maybe, but that would've just been one Finals series. LeBron had broken out as a superstar while Kobe was already in his prime that year. The debate between them at the time was who was the best player in the league, which the majority ruled in favor of Kobe. Both of their teams were really good that year, but the Lakers were more championship-ready. I doubt that losing to Kobe in that one series would've damaged his all-time standing that much, especiallynot at that time. I believe that Kobe and LeBron would've played each other to a standstill while their coaches and supporting casts would've been the difference.

[@axs2058]

Hot Take: I don’t get why Luka is having competition for mvp. Even though Jokic has voter fatigue, if he averaged 34/9/10 it wouldn’t be a discussion.

[@bsimmonds1733]

paul george should’ve been NBA75& is criminally overhated. After countless injuries he is still an allstar/ near all nba performer at 33/34. Him being a playoff under performer is a tired narrative & while I do acknowledge that he has had a couple of egregious stinkers, his playoff averages since 13-14 are borderline elite.

[@JCif92]

Do people hate Paul George? I feel like earlier in his career people loved him when he played in Indy, felt bad for him when get broke his leg and rooted for the comeback, and now love his insight from his podcast. Have never heard anyone hate on PG.

[@bsimmonds1733]

@@JCif92 Lakers fans/bandwagoners have hated him & Kawhi for the last 5 years.

[@JCif92]

@@bsimmonds1733 those aren’t real basketball fans.

[@Slapshot544]

Yeah PG is easily top 75

[@winter9242]

​@@JCif92 mostly because he clowned himself after calling himself playoff p when he immediately lost in the first round while also beefing with joe ingles who looks like an LA fitness hooper. Next is dame hitting that 3 then PG called it a bad shot afterwards (even though it is). After that, the infamous 3-1 choke job against the nuggets where he got clowned for hitting the side of the back board despite being wide open. In summary, the aesthetics were against him

[@petiteexplication6249]

The Duncan take made me remember an old hot take i had that the DPOY is the most arbitrary award especially when you have guys like Pippen etc..

[@thomasgalla1670]

the NBA should add 4 teams in the West and move the Grizzlies and Pelicans too the Eastern Conference too balance out the East and West more and too deal with how much more balanced the teams are and how competitive the league is right now

[@hunter4420]

Kawhi is a top 2-3 small forward of all time. He is an elite 3 level scorer, elite defender, great rebounder and good playmaker. He is better than KD simply because of his ability to win on his own

[@winter9242]

Kawhi isn't a good playmaker. He improved through the years but he's average at that. His lack of MVP also hurts his case despite being at that level

[@hunter4420]

@@winter9242personally Kawhi not having MVP doesn’t affect him because like you said he has been at that elite MVP level. It’s a lot like D Wade, always at that level but never won it and we all know he’s a top 3 SG of all time

[@winter9242]

@@hunter4420 actually it does when you compare him to the guys competing for that spot. Unlike the SG position, the ones after wade all have something lacking like chips, all defense selections etc while the SF is a lot closer.

[@hunter4420]

@@winter9242 who is it close with? He is better offensively and defensively than guys like Scottie, Dr. J, and Elgin. Him and KD are tied with 2 rings and 2 FMVPs but Kawhi was able to accomplish it on his own. Bird is obviously more accomplished I just think Kawhi is more skilled than him but I won’t fight having bird ahead of him

[@winter9242]

@@hunter4420 all time rankings isn't about who's the better player but more so what they accomplished. It's why pioneers like bill russell and wilt are still mentioned in the top 10 despite not being as skilled as players today. It's due to accomplishments not their skills as a player. Kawhi not having an MVP will always hurt since that's he only has 6 all star selections. Even if Durant's FMVPs has context surrounding it, kawhi's FMVPs does as well. What I'm saying is Durant's resume looks better in comparison to kawhi due to MVP, more all star appearances even though I'll take kawhi over KD any day of the week

[@nickdavis5516]

“Putting Mickey Mantle in the box against Ohtani is like giving a Pilgrim a Mountain Dew, his head would explode!” Is easily the best way to describe the other worldly level Ohtani is on😂

[@WHITEPERSUAS1ON]

"Its like giving a pilgrim a mountain dew" made the weirdest laugh come out of me. God that was so funny

[@andy0519]

We need a 3vs3 tournament between podcasts: This one, Throught the Wire, No Dunks, and JJ Reddick. I know these podcasts have 4 guys, but you need 1 bench player to not die. Also JJ Redick plays alone obviously, or maybe only with his co-host

[@erv_.]

Hot Take: Basketball is the only sport where it can never not evolve. It’s not too simple for one play style to be the overall dominate/ meta nor is it too complicated for one play style too dominate the competition. It’s perfectly balanced between size, intelligence and planning to win

[@donnydogpiss4533]

I don't think you're considering the full scope of just how many different sports there are out there and how little you (myself included) might know about them. The notion of decreeing basketball to be the _only_ sport that can never not evolve, feels premature once you consider that. Unless that determination is informed by a full knowledge of every other sport in the world and how they all compare to basketball, what you said is kinda like finding a really hard rock, comparing its hardness to like 6 or 7 other different rocks you found, and concluding "this rock is the hardest rock in existence; there is no other rock harder than this one".

[@CanonCaruso]

I fw the new editor bros actually funny and knows his shit😂😂😂 good job podcast definitely needed some new life as well💯

[@Timoboza]

You said in this video that you can't over rely on just one aspect of basketball to win but my hot take is that you can over rely on defence and still win. E.g. the Celtics in the 60s were consistently at the bottom of the league in offensive rating but won off of the strength of their defense. The Knicks in the 90s were making deep postseason runs off the strength of their defense, same with the 2000s Pistons

[@personno2674]

Hot take: post warrior years, KD has low-key been a playoff dropper even in his thunder year he would drop the ball In important postseason games

[@sunkestx]

Hot take: Awards should be voted on by the players and coaching staff, no voting for yourself or anyone on your team

[@johnboy1760]

Jamal Murray is Julian Edelman of the NBA. Good, reliable, solid regular season player, who is elite in the post season. Their careers appear to be on a similar trajectory and both with pose a unique case for the hall of fame.

[@marcusolinger1834]

Media hot take: red dead 3 needs to be a game entirely separate from the Marston and Van Der Linde story (please no Jack in WW1) but a TV show like last of us about the early gang leading up to blackwater would be so good

[@samii7192]

Hot take : jokic is already better and greater than KD his prime lasted longer due to the fact that he's challenging for MVPs for 4 straight years his peak was better and his championship is way more meaningful and more dominant the only thing going for KD is longevity but jokic already surpassed him in all time total assists and is going to surpass him in total rebounds next year while most likely not going to catch him in total points

[@jacobcrawford2211]

Hot take: a Q&A series would still have value for the people who can't make the pod live. Most of the time I watch the vod because I'm at work during the stream

[@emersonbessler5686]

Maybe I’m dumb, but I would watch the 2k videos if I knew where to find them, but I never could. But I understand if making it is too much, I really enjoy these + the new high quality main channel videos. Forever supporter

[@zanemichelson220]

Hot Take: I think Curry is easily top 5, and potentially 1 because if we value story curry has been perpetually underrated the majority of his career. Overcoming adversity time and time again combined with his impact on modern basketball I feel under top 5 is disrespectful. If he wins another ring top 3 for sure.

[@jaikal1754]

If the nuggets don't win the title this year because of depth (their only issue in my opinion) they need to trade Mpj. He earns too much and fills cap space that could be used to get some role players in return of a 3 point shooting that comes and goes too much

[@H2daheathen]

Jalen Brunson is what we thought Killian Hayes would be coming out of the draft

[@halion4487]

Hot Take: Larry Birds play style is one of the closest to the modern nba of any star. That’s also why he wouldn’t be an elite player in todays NBA. Everything about his playstyle is being done, and being done better than he did it, and better than he would do it today. He wasn’t an elite level playmaker like Luka or Jokic are. He was a great shooter for the time, but I really don’t think you can scale up 2-3 3PA at 40% to the 7-8 he’d be expected to shoot today. He would also likely struggle on defence massively due to the athleticism gap (and saying he could scale up both his shooting and athleticism to modern NBA level is incredibly unlikely), and while his rebounding is nice, it’s not a difference maker given everything else. Bird could do everything we want in modern players during the 80s, so everyone has been modelled into playing like him, so everyone would be better at his own game than he would be today.

[@420_blaise_it6]

I think your downplaying Larry’s defense. He was a very tall guard and an excellent defender for his time. He was also one of the best passers of all time, only slightly behind magic in the 80s. And your two examples, joker and Luca, are also very unathletic but still able to dominate.

[@j-rey-]

Not at all. He would definitely either be just as good or better nowadays. Offense is more important than ever, and Bird was an all-time great passer, arguably just as good or better than Jokic or Luka; an all-time great midrange shooter and finisher; and a solid 3 point shooter who would probably have a good shot nowadays if it were fostered since he was a kid (he was actively discouraged from shooting 3's). Also, he was a way above average rebounder for his size, and an above average defender with an almost unparalleled feel for the game.

[@michaelahurt]

Lmao. Dude he's not Herb Jones. Bird is one of best shooters to ever play. He could take a step back and wouldn't go from 45% to 30%. Grayson Allen is shooting 46% on 6 attempts. If he could thread the needle with six guys in the paint I think he'd be fine playing in this much space. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Do you not understand how much easier it is to pass today? How many more open shots you get? He'd be Nikola Jokic basically but he'd shoot way more threes and be more disruptive on defense. This era would actually help his defense a TON because no one guards one-on-one like they did in the 80s. Someone like Tobias Harris was a big liability 10 years ago but now he's average because size + intelligence > lateral quickness. You always have help now. Defense is significantly more team based now. Help defense didn't even exist 20 years ago: it was called as illegal defense. All the rotations play to Bird's greatest defensive strength: that he read the game faster than everyone else.

[@halion4487]

@@michaelahurt bird never made more than 2 3 pointers a game on average. Sure, he shot 40% for most of his career after 1984, but go back and watch the defence on those. So many open shots. The reason defence is hardly ever 1 on 1 anymore is to limit three point opportunities. Bird would be expected to shoot 3-4 times as many shots, whilst being against far better 3 point defence. His passing was very good, but nowhere near elite. You never hear anyone compare magic and bird as playmaking equals, because bird just wasn’t at that level. Sure, his defensive today would be helped by the team game plan, but he would still be seen as a potential point of attack for some bigger players.

[@michaelahurt]

@@halion4487 80% of Steph Curry's threes are open or wide open. And that's Steph. Steph went from 5 3PA to 12 and his percentage fell from 44% to 42%. Paul George increased his attempts and percentage as his career went on. Harden is another example. 37% on 4 attempts in OKC then 36% on 12 at his peak. Obviously no team would dare Bird to shoot a three in 2024 but this idea you have in your head that a great mid-range shooter is suddenly going to forget how to shoot if he moves back 4 feet is simply not reality. We're talking about a guy on the level of Dirk and KD as a mid-range scorer and you're pretending it's comparable to PJ Tucker where the only just reason he shot 40% is because teams didn't guard him. He shot 89% from the line for his career. That's top 15 *ever* right ahead of KD and Dirk. Bird's passing was every bit the equal of Magic's -- that's the main reason everyone compared them -- but the difference in playmaking volume was more about ball handling. Magic handled the ball a lot more and his load was a lot higher. But how often does Jokic or Sabonis dribble? That's part of why the modern game would benefit him. No one pigeonholes players based on position anymore so a team would just use him as a DHO hub. And he'd definitely run more PnR.

[@samuellandry1451]

What about a hot takes with Nick, sounds energic and interesting ?

[@lanelesic]

All star is a popularity contest, but at the same time its not a regular season only thing and Jamal Murray is more deserving of a spot in that game than Ant, AD, KAT and Shooker. [and Nuggets deserve to have more representation at least 2 players if Lakers, Suns and Wolves (3 teams Nuggets beat in the playoffs last year)and some other teams can have 2 players representing them]

[@Malaboermaters]

Shoehei gets love in this channel, I give channel some love. Lol

[@juliothom2408]

With respect, the 80’s East was stacked, especially when compared to the 80’s West. Bird played against 2 teams that won titles and held their own against MJ’s Bulls. I’d argue the 80’s East > 00’s West.

[@arshsehgal9445]

Kyrie and Luka have now officially become what we expected Dame and Giannis to be. The synergy in the bucks is so terrible it’s borderline laughable.

[@billwood733]

Watching live NBA games is the best live sports experience to experience (especially Anthony Edwards) the sheer talent that these players possess is so thick in the air that you can almost pour it on pancakes

[@za5528]

Feel like KAT deserved a mention when saying nobody's close to Lauri. He's shot similar volume at equal or better efficiency before and has a longer track record of doing it as an All-Star level player. He's definitely at least close if not better at 3pt shooting

[@noahkatzenmeier9576]

For the Time Duncan DPOY question; just because you are a top 5-10 defender for a long time doesn’t mean you’re the best or a top 2-3 guy in any of those years. We all agree Jrue Holiday is one of the best defenders of his generation, but that doesn’t mean he should just have a DPOY

[@hoppy23]

David Robinson is underrated because of the stuff we dont remember looking back in his MVP season he got dominated in the playoffs.. throughout his career he always had noticable drop off in playoffs due to relying on athletism more so then skill to be grear

[@Ironbeargrizz187]

My hot take…. Jalen Brunson should be in the top4 in mvp voting as well as being 1st team all nba. Alittle bonus if Julius Randle was healthy the Knicks would’ve championship contenders. No cap. Love ya work bro

[@LUC4Z3]

Hot take: the Shootaround should have its own channel

[@kuraokamiiii]

BRO I LOVED YOUR STYLE OF 2K VIDEOS

[@RodrigoJovino9]

Hot take: the best player off the league award would make such a mess of fights and debates that I'm kind willing to give it a go, not as taking part of It, but just to watch the epic car crash.

[@sssamui286]

20:00 im still confused about why spo didnt win coty in 2022. that was the year we were the one seed

[@juliothom2408]

So, the Bad Boy Pistons didn’t exist in the 80’s? Bird beat a Title Winning Sixers team, held off a Title Winning Pistons team, played against an ascending Bulls team, and played against another historically great team in LA. I’m sorry, that’s a TON of competition, and Bird won 3.

[@thinkmcfly376]

Hot Take: the wizards are in a better spot than the pistons are. Were in year one of a rebuild vs year 5, a front office that’s been very vocal about their plans and every step taken by them has been in that direction, lots of good building blocks to move forward with. Also Deni should me the MIP this year

[@LUC4Z3]

Nick was like "NOT SCIENTIFICALLY POSSIBLE"

[@TV-wu5py]

Media hot take: 50 or so years from now, we will look at the spiderverse movies in the same way we see jaws and the first star wars now. Maybe not quite at the level of icon status, but just in terms of how they changed the landscape of blockbuster hollywood for the proceeding decades

[@randomperson2540]

Hot take: before curry won his 4th ring, wade was equal to him all time and use to be fringe top 10 all time. Also if kobe or tim didnt exist for eachother one or the other would the goat, sorry if you died reading that

[@sclom5676]

I really don't think Ayton was a crazy pick at the time, people like to pretend that is was baseless xenophobia that caused Luka to fall to 3, but if you look at a Dragan Bender scouting report you can understand why teams weren't really to sure of what a pre-NBA European career actually meant. Ayton looked great in college, and I personally thought he might be very similar to a modern day David Robinson, with great defense, strong finishing, an elite faceup game, maybe 3 point shooting, and would win by either being stronger or faster than anyone he is up against, he was (and is) that kind of athlete. Combine that with the fact we already had a perimeter threat in Devin Booker, and I think if you gave GM's a similar situation nowadays, there is a decent chance they would take the Deandre Ayton equivalent.

[@whenisdinner2137]

No, the reason you think they had better numbers than David Robinson is because David Robinson is underrated... Literally look at them. His prime was fucking insane but just got overshadowed by Michael Jordan

[@bulletproofbasketball7739]

0:57 me! I said that!

[@CM-ht4lc]

Hot take: theres too many games in a season. 82 followed by a post season is ridiculous, however we are too far into the history of the nba to change due to legacies.

[@ItsBossMan]

CJ McCollum is the most underrated player in the league, He rarely gets talked about for how good he is and only has a MIP to show for his time in the league as far as accolades go.

[@kingbear1812]

Hot take: None of the times where Chris Paul "choked" in the playoffs were nearly ever his fault. A lot of them were noticeable drop offs in his teammate's production or unfortunate injuries that he had no control over. The clippers run was more Doc Rivers, DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin's fault. The Rockets run was an unfortunate injury while they were up. The only one you could really argue is the Suns finals run where everyone dropped off significantly.

[@urbaindelva7869]

I agree. Paul has had moments where he himself did choke (2022 vs. Mavs), but it was never as often as many people claim. There were many times where his efforts simply could not get his team over the hump. To counter your point about the Rockets series, though, he only missed the first 2 games of that series after which it was tied 1-1. The injury doesn't excuse blowing the rest of that series, especially not the 19-point lead in Game 6 when they were 3-2, so he doesn't get a full pass for that.

[@blueredlover1060]

On the last take, maybe something like MVP as voted by the media and MVP as voted by the players, like the NHL does it.

[@august6281]

Chuck was wrong because his PREMISE was wrong. Warriors pre-KD was not "solely" a jump shooting team. Even with the 2 best 3 pt shooters, the team still scored near the basket by playing off of the 2. And most jump shooting teams before were weak in defense. Not that GSW with Iggy, Dray, and Bogut.

[@GCLeeo]

HOT TAKE: GoT is objectively the best product of the TV and cinema industry history. Is completely understandable if you don't like it, just like have some people that hate LoTR or The Godfather trilogy but them greatness are undebatable, and in my opinion GoT is the suprasum of the technicaly impeccable, almost flawless script and perfect acting. Really want to see your opinion on that. Love the content friend !

[@BTA00]

Hot take: If there was a all time draft for every player ever in there prime but they were all 20 years old (assuming they get the same supporting cast) I would take wembanyama first overall. Dude is literally 7’4 Can stretch the floor can finish deserves DPOY in rookie year 4.5 stocks per game he in my opinion is the most talented basketball player Ever

[@LakeShow]

Hot take: Luka will end this era of Clippers Basketball. This is like when Jordan finally got over the Bad Boy Pistons

[@BigSlim4]

Hot Take: Skylar Singing HBD to Ted is peak fiction. It’s the most well crafted and written scene Vince has ever written

[@willdg8108]

Calling any scene but Walter’s last in person interaction with skylar and WJ Vince’s best written scene is insane

[@benmck10]

Media hot take: Robert De Niro is overrated, argue with your mother. His early career was great. Raging bull, Taxi driver, and Deer hunter were great movies and great performances. He actually studied and immersed himself in those roles. But after the success of Goodfellas, he just became the go-to "mafia guy" and played the exact same roles. I've seen people try to mention his name among actors like Daniel Day Lewis and there is simply no comparison whatsoever.

[@Grebbyjidkehidinebd]

hot take: if the raptors kept kawhi, the raptors would arguably be the next dynasty, and moving to LA massively killed his legacy. Pascal takes the allstar jump he does along w fvv and u keep lowry, those are 4 all star players. You still have players in the center position like gasol and ibaka which is a good center rotation and good depth like og taking a jump in 2020, green, powell and terence davis along with brissett could be decent depth pieces. Id say that raptors core in 2019 was better than every championship winning team since there win except maybe denver.

[@ShadeDracova]

I screamed hearing “the white boy through the wire” 😂

[@samuelniesen8929]

15:00 I know Hockey has an uncontested GOAT in Gretzky, and football sure Jerry Rice and Tom Brady do different things, but it's consensus that QB impacts the game much more than any other position (and only the most giganerds actually know how to evaluate linemen) Something worth mentioning is that you're more likely to have GOAT talks if there's an actual question as to who is the GOAT.

[@_longetimeballer]

Hot take: '24 Doncic has already peaked higher than Dame, Melo, Russ, and CP3 (maybe not CP3, but its close). He's also on par (not better than yet) with 2012 KD.

[@thinkmcfly376]

Hot Take: Jordan Poole had an overall successful season, once the wizards got a new coach and Tyus was out Poole was able to have the ball on his hands and actually looked great and was an extremely above average playmaker.

[@itshurtt395]

Idk if 41 FG% and 32% from 3 is successful and idk if 4 assists is a "extremely above average playmaker". For the amount of touches he gets and the role he was expected to fill in/the expectations with him. 17,4,2 on very had efficiency ain't successful

[@thinkmcfly376]

@@itshurtt395reading is tough I get it, but I clearly said “after the coaching change and Tyus was out” and he was allowed to be the PG. obviously going by his season averages as a whole when we had a mongoloid as a coach and he shot the ball 4 times a game it’s not gonna look good

[@donnydogpiss4533]

My brother said "Poole can put his ball on my ******** and ****** with ****** all night long and I don't care how many cops you call"

[@itshurtt395]

@@thinkmcfly376 it just excuses, his season wasn't successful I legit looking stats and expectations which haven't been met what so all. Your talking like non of this wasn't his fault 😂 when he clearly been playing bad so don't try blame coaches (it can effect somewhat but he is just playing bad). The only thing for him is that recently (last 20 games or so) he been better so hopefully that transitions into the next season but blaming efficient on coaches is ludacris

[@thinkmcfly376]

@@itshurtt395 look bro, I understand you don’t watch the wizards that’s fine, but from a logistical standpoint: Tyus jones at PG who needs the ball and Poole at SG who also needs the ball simply doesn’t work. Plus WUJ was literally one of the worst coach in all of professional sports ever. I’m not saying it’s not at all pooled fault, obviously he needed to hit his shots. But my HOT TAKE is, that’s if you understand all that, and see how he was able to turn the season around and have some really solid games and take masssive strides a playmaker, I’d say that’s a pretty damn good season. I watch every single wizards game and it suck, but I know what I’m talking about, you clearly don’t so why don’t you sit this one out kiddo? You notice how we started winning games more consistency with Poole starting at PG and no Tyus? You see us beat the bucks with Poole scoring 29 and 13? Didn’t think so, so take a seat

[@DarkLobster69]

Hot take: besides 2011, no other player could’ve won any of the finals that Lebron James lost. 2007: Big 3 Spurs with no help 2014: Big 4 Spurs with regressing costars 2015: Big 3 Warriors with both costars injured 2017: Best team ever 2018: Big 4 Warriors without Kyrie The 4-6 record always needs context, and isn’t some debate ending point against Lebron.

[@rayneozier]

28:20 I’ve said for a while now that the NBA needs an Offensive Player of the Year award similar to how the NFL does it. Obviously guys would still want to win MVP, but at least 2 highly deserving players could get recognized for having tremendous seasons.

[@VictoriesAtTheMarathon]

This is a rebuttal to your “Does Dončič still have time to be the goat?” I believe Antetokounmpo still has time, he has a DPOY, 2MVPS (should be 3 2022,) All-Defensive teams, All-Stars, 1x Champion, 1FMVP. I think if he wins another chip in Milwaukee, and 2 elsewhere potentially; he could be a potential goat candidate. Also, 2 more MVPS and maybe another DPOY.

[@bigaaron]

He would be a mix of Jokic and Luka imo

[@FinnSwede906]

Idk man... Look into the '80s east. The Lakers were a legitimate super team and they coasted through the west with ease. They only lost to Houston in '86 bc Ralph Sampson hit a buzzer beater he chucked behind his head in midair and it went in, 1 in a million shot. The 80s east was pretty stacked. Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Detroit and while the Bulls weren't good yet MJ was still a huge problem. In hindsight people seem to equate Larry's Celtics with Magics Lakers and while they are both all time great rosters, Kareem and Worthy are undeniably better than Parish and McHale. Kareem is honestly probably better than Magic. He was the captain and he was the go to man during most of those 80s playoffs. Magic took over at Pat Riley's request in '87

[@christopheroconnor8057]

Mad Dogs infamouss take about Shaq being the 5th best center ever was absurd, but in that clip there’s a lot of shade thrown on Moses Malones name. I think he’s the 7th best center of all time behind Kareem, Bill, Shaq, Wilt, and Hakeem, and barely Jokic. Moses was a 3xMVP, 1xChamp, 1xFMVp, and is debatably the best rebounder ever.

[@Ryancelot]

Kat vs lauri as 3lbest 3pt shooting center

[@allensyverson6720]

Rusty, on the Lauri take; What about KAT? KAT has the volume and efficiency.

[@lukenielsen8331]

Thank Christ Nick did the baseball interruption

[@HomeofootballYTT]

Hot take: Top 10 Most skilled (by skilled I mean straight skill/talent) players of all time are 10 Kevin garnett 9 dirk 8 jokic 7 luka 6 lebron 5 Wemby 4 harden 3 Kawhi 2 Stephen curry 1 KD

[@YouCallThataKnife253]

David Robinson's defense os heavily underrated. Thinking Basketball talks about this a lot

[@milesgilbert2194]

Hot media take: Breaking Bad is a horribly overrated show. It is considered a “GOAT” show, but benefits from being one of the first shows that provided a shared experience through the inception of social media (look at TWD) during a time of pretty lame tv drama programming. The show itself has alright character development, however despite Walter being a clear anti-hero borderline villain (to which the show doesn’t leave much ambiguity to) the shows biggest fans don’t grasp that, which I think speaks volumes. Also, the show feels very one dimensional. It fails to create any compelling intrigue in its subplots that don’t directly connect to the main story line. Whereas other great shows do (Sopranos, Wire, etc…)

[@agusgasco7523]

I really encourage anyone to look at Vegas odds and your own rankings at the beggining of the year regarding Houston. It´s 100% revisionist saying that they caught up to expectatios. Vegas had us winning 32 I think and non-Rockets media were saying that might be too steep of a jump from where they were last year. I don´t think Ime should win COTY, especially now that we missed the play-in, but he should get a top 3 stop as a recognition at least. Especially considering that we had mayor injuries all-year. Tari Eason was our second best player the games that he played and he was out for most of it. Really the only starter that didn´t miss significant time was Jalen.

[@kylemyers7925]

Hot take: if Kat comes back at 100% in the playoffs the Timberwolves have a top 3 shot at the title with the development his injury gave to other players

[@M33zY23]

It’s insane that none of the last 3 Celtics head coaches has won Coach of the Year.

[@ninjamage5215]

Everyone wants the Spurs to make a trade for a star this offseason, but they should not make a big trade yet. Give Wemby, Vassell, and Keldon another year to gel and see what they have. The Spurs have been playing really well late in the season and have been competitive in the vast majority of their games the entire season. Let them figure out exactly what they have next year with another lottery pick and then swing a trade the season after

[@diegocelaya1032]

HOT TAKE: if there was a 3 point line in the 50’s and 60’s then Jerry west would be considered a top 10 player of all time