NBA Awards Are Impossible

Welcome back to another episode of Small Bowl with Kenny Beacham.

I'm so excited to be here today because we're bringing back a good old frame.

It's been a few episodes, maybe even a few months, this last time you did Ask KB, I

say, Hey, what if we did an entire episode why answer your question?

So that's what we're doing today.

We got NBA.

We got a football question, I think, not NBA.

People asked me about comics and I was like, I can't, I can't have the whole show be

about comics.

I can pull one question to kind of get into my comic bags just a little bit.

So it should be a nice, fun one, made me think on a lot of these questions, I truly, truly

do appreciate.

Let's just jump right into it, right?

Let's get to the first question comes from Valentino that says, do you think Luca is a

first team all NBA player because he gets, well, now I'm going to fix, I'm going to fix

your verbiage here.

I'm going to fix your words in this question.

He gets so much hate from ESPN, et cetera, they're saying Brown, Cunningham are better than

him.

Now, I will say right here publicly, anybody that doesn't have Luca Dantes first team

all NBA is ridiculous, just straight up ridiculous.

We got to the point now where guys like Luca, where guys like Shay, hell, even guys like

Yokecatch, they have been doing what they've been doing for so long, then we kind of get

bored.

Not, I'm sorry, not we, not we because they are my first team, but people start to get

bored, right?

We do got a cool story of Kay Cunningham and the Detroit Pists is being the one C. We

do got a cool story of Jalen Brown not having Jason Tatum for the majority.

The season of them still be one of the top teams in the league.

I can understand the narrative base of all of that, that's, that's, that's, so I'm like,

okay, Kenny, put your money where your mouth is.

What does your all NBA teams look like?

And I want to say, I'm a preface by saying this is a rough draft.

I won't have my official unofficial ballot for another month until these seasons ends,

but it really made me think about all NBA, which give Valentino, I appreciate.

So here's my three all NBA teams as of today, March 16th, 2026, again, a full month.

And things can't be revised.

And things might be changed the next time we talk about awards.

The first team, the first four spots are so simple.

As long as women Yama plays the necessary amount of games, they can only miss two or three

more games.

So you keeping that in the back of my mind, all in the first team in no specific order should

be Shay, it should be Luca, it should be Wimby, it should be Yokech.

Those four are absolute locks.

I can understand having Brown and your first team or Cunningham and your first team, but

out of the expense of those four guys, it's really about this fifth spot.

That's been a long time trying to figure out who I wanted to all NBA first team between

again, Cade, between Anthony Edwards, Jalen Brown, down of the Mitchell, Kawaii Leonard.

These are all guys that were in running for the first team and I ultimately gave it to

Kawaii.

Now his case is a lot different than the cases that these other dudes, because as we know,

the Clippers as of today, as I record this episode are sitting at the 8C, they're only one

game above 500.

You're like, Kenny, you're giving an all in the 1st team spot to a guy that is on a team

that is one game above 500.

Yeah.

I truly just feel like he's been one of the five best players in the league for, I don't

know, the last one is just five months of the season.

That first month, he was still good, but these last five months or whatever, he has been

one of the top five players and yeah, I'm giving him the straight up nod.

It is maybe on my first team, I'm thinking about the history of who I am as a person as

unofficial voter.

It might be the lowest seed, the worst record of a player that I've ever had on my first

team.

But that's how good Kawaii Liner has been.

Now it does not help that they just lost to the Kings the other night.

It definitely does a negative to his value as an Olivier first team player, but that is

a guy ultimately went with the first team, which makes a second team kind of easy, right?

All the guys that were just in contention for first team, the last first team spot, slice

of the second team.

Sorry, Kade, but damn, this is such an amazing season for you, but you do have to be on

the second team alongside Anthony at Rich Jalen, Brown, Diamond Mitchell.

And then this is where another point where the list gets kind of interesting.

Because of all of the injuries we've had for the Steph Curry's of the world who undoubtedly

if you just played a full 65 games, he will be on one of these teams and some of the other

guys that have missed time, the end of this second team and the entirety of the third team

to me is where it gets really interesting.

Some of the guys that are on this list, I'm like, man, that guy's all in the A to season

I guess, you know, so on my second team, the last spot after Kade Mitchell at Words and Brown,

I did go with Kevin Durant.

It was between him, Tyrese Maxine, Jaylen Brunton for the last spot on my second team, but

I went with Kevin Durant because he has still been an ultry fish.

I mean, that's one thing you can always say about Kevin Durant, right?

He's always going to be efficient and ultry fishing guy on a team that we have a question

about them later down the line.

So I'll save it, but a team that has been at least steady, they may not be in the same

contention pool as some of the teams around them, but still steady enough to be one of

the top seeds in the Western Conference, so we want him on the third team.

I do have Maxi.

I do have Brunton.

I went chat home grand chat home grand has an interesting case as a defensive anchor,

one of the best in the world.

And I feel like every single season, there's a guy of his caliber and their his points

for game are 17, nine and two assists, but he is one of the best offensive players in

the entirety of the world.

Yeah.

It's very similar to like Evan Mobley's case last season.

He was the DPOI after women Yama went down with that blood clot.

And chat home grand, if it was up to me, if women Yama were to miss these next couple

games and miss two or three games becoming eligible, I think that chat home grand is one

of the top names that come up next to be the winner of the DPOI.

So when him being, you know, one of the best defensive players in the world and him being

one of the most important players on the best team in the league, a record wise and him

still having, you know, decent enough.

Counting stats, he is an all NBA player for me this season on the 13th.

Then we get to Jalen Johnson is all NBA this season, y'all.

Yeah.

Shout out Jalen Johnson.

He might be most improved player.

I don't know how you do.

I haven't thought about most completely, but he might be most improved player, but also

he might be all NBA for me.

And then lastly, this last spot was so interested because I was going down a list of guys that

should be in the running for this one.

My James Harden, I think James Harden deserves to be in the running ultimately.

He didn't make it.

Scotty Barnes should be in the running, even if his county stats are not what they are,

but the defensive is enough for me to put them in this place.

And then like obviously, Yannis is out with his injury.

So he doesn't compete here in Fox as a guy I considered for a little bit, Alprecht and

Goun, even though I told you just last week that he was one of my most disappointed players.

That's how thin the barrel is when it comes to the end of this all NBA.

But ultimately, I did end up going with Jamal Murray.

Jamal Murray is my last all NBA guy.

As of today, with a month left to potentially revise it, he has been, you know, I'm looking

at his stats right now, 25 points per game as stadiums can be.

And I have to think about that week and a half, two each stretch or having a little

being where Nicole Yokas was out.

And me, I came up to this show or either the other show, I said, hey, man, this is a rough

spot because when Yokas comes back, they might be a playing team.

And eventually came back and I think they were one game above 500 in the time that he

missed.

No, since then, it ain't been the greatest.

But they were about one game, one game, but 500 when he left, and Jamal Murray deserves

a lot of credit for that.

So that's the 13.

It is maxi.

It is Brunson.

It is homegrown.

It is Johnson.

And it is Murray.

That was a tough experiment, man.

And again, with a month left, I've got a wildness first thing.

Maybe by the end of the season, it is a cave.

It is a Mitchell.

It is at words.

It is a brown.

All of those guys are truly in consensus deal for me.

The next question I have is from Seaball, who says, would you rather be a fan with a one

to two-year legit championship window, like the NYX, or an exciting up-and-coming team

with real talent like the Charlotte Hornets?

I think this is a fascinating question.

There is a lot of the teams that we look across basketball that had a little bit of both.

Before OKC was a team with a legit window in an NBA championship, they were the team

that a lot of people saw as the next up-and-coming team.

But the NYX are a very interesting case because they didn't really had it.

They weren't young and up-and-coming.

They made some big trades, right?

They traded field gym on an OB.

They traded for Cardney Towns.

They signed Jalen Bronson, so they didn't have the same thing that Charlotte has as having

three exciting young players and then a big fellow who plays ball to the wall every single

possession.

But, Austin, I got to go with that contender team, man.

You have to go with that contender team because there are so many different cases in history

of that young, exciting, up-and-coming team that doesn't end up eventually having a

true window for a championship.

The examples that immediately came to mind when I read this question is like the Grizzlies

that had Jalen Jackson Jr. John Miranda as a band of Dylan Brooks.

That team, obviously, was a 2C for multiple seasons, but I had to go back to the archives,

not a single person believed them to be a contender other than people that was at Memphis.

So they never got that window.

If we want to go back-back, the Wizards, my last year of high school, the Wizards team

of Bradley, Bill, John Wall, and I'm going to put out of Port of Jr.

They had a couple play-off series, a couple really good play-off series, but ultimately

they never got to the point where they were contenders.

The Atlanta Hawks that made it to the Congress Finers, you like Kenny, they were a contender,

they were in a conversation.

No, they weren't.

Trade Young, Kevin Hurt, and John Collins, I'm a count-cam radish.

Cam radish never ended up doing anything after that, and then eventually all of those

guys off the team.

And the last example I got, six of fans closed the ears because, man, the Joel, the Bee,

Ben Simmons, Dorio, Sarge, and I'm a count-Marco, folks, the first year of Marco, folks.

That team was so excited and so fun, and ultimately they didn't end up coming close

to a championship.

I guess that was Kawaii lineage doing, but I guess folks was off the team at that time.

But either way, those teams had this young exciting come up, but never got to the point where

they were true contenders.

So, hell, skip that part.

I want the team that can win a championship this season the next season.

It is a little bit difficult, and we're going to talk about that when we come back from

this break.

What is difficult about being a team with a championship window like that?

It is just, I guess I'm not really saying this from experience, because my team may be

in a contender for a long time, but every single game, there's like a thousand down things

you can say about your favorite team when they are contender.

I'm saying, okay, see fans being worried.

They just came off a championship because someone so has performed to their capabilities

or this random game on a Thursday, they didn't look like a championship team.

And when you're a team like Charlotte, the upcoming team, it's just such a neurosis, because

even the games that you lose, you're like, yeah, we're a young team.

But what are the next teams?

They lose two games in a row, the sky is falling.

So this may be a little bit more stressful when you are a team of that contender versus

being a team of the Charlotte Hornets.

So again, I'm going to take that contender team because in the end of the day, our goal

as fans is to see our favorite team raise at Larry O'Bee, and the next have legitimate

chance.

And the Charlotte Hornets might have an legitimate chance one day, but that is no guarantee.

Because they got the first part, which is a young, exciting core.

But what comes next?

The people that have to make the decisions have to make some big decisions.

Do they go out there and acquire more players?

Do they keep with the court they have right now as far as like the bridges of the world

and the bench that they've curated?

I don't know.

That's the spot I don't like being here.

Thank you for the question.

The next one comes from CM highlights one.

Thoughts on Jaylen Brown's take on wanting the NBA to add a flopping technical, where

if the ref is unsure of a call, they could call for a flop review and coaches can do it

as well.

And it will be a tech of the player is found guilty.

Do you think the concept like this works?

Any thought of flopping this course across the league?

He said on his live yesterday, specifically talking about the OKC game.

So I did see that clip of Jaylen Brown, my favorite Twitch streamer, talking about the

game after Shay Gioz Alexander ended up.

I think he had a first quarter where he had a couple of different plays that you might

deem as flopping.

And ultimately they, when I say they, the selfless ended up losing the game.

I hate the idea of a flopping technical in this aspect of it.

We do not need more stoppages to play the way because I don't like flopping either.

By the way, I'm not a guy that's saying that it is OK.

The way you get rid of the flopping is you just swallow the whistle, something they

told us for five seasons they were going to do.

If you don't, if you don't give these stars or sometimes not even a star place, if you

don't give these players the whistle after the third game of not giving the whistle, guess

what?

They will adjust.

So just stop calling not to send a lot of times of bang, bang, play.

Sometimes it is a flop.

Sometimes it's not a flop.

Sometimes you do need to see it in slow mode to see if it's a flop.

But if we stop, stop giving them jump into free throws or because I don't think, I don't

want to take away the cookie jar free throws because I think that is a legitimate basketball

move.

Something that James Harden did for a decade.

If you get your hand in that cookie jar, I'm rising up and I'm a shoot and I'm going

to get those fouls.

I'm not even counting that as a flopping foul, but we do see, you know, people exaggerating

the contact.

Just swallow the whistle dog.

Man, if they added something where we get Billy Kennedy, if we get, we get all these

guys going to the monitor four more times a game.

I'm going to lose my mind.

We already get to know any, any challenge play.

We already get it at the end of games anytime, any what's to happen.

If you add it more, I'm just, I can't do it.

The easy solution is just not to call it, you know, just don't call it.

The next one comes from Adam, Adam says, we always talk about being offensive systems.

But who are some defensive systems in the league?

My picks are Wimmy Yama.

This is, this is Adam, by the way.

My picks are Wimmy Yama, Scotty and Rudy.

And I think this is such a great question, specifically for me, a guy who's entire upbringing

here on the YouTube's or the internet is talking about how much I love a great defensive

player.

You already got some of the guys.

I mean, Rudy Go Bear.

Did I pick this question to specifically talk about Rudy Go Bear?

Absolutely, I did because somebody on numbers on the board did that they just said that

they don't know where Rudy Go Bear is going to be all defensive first team.

And I have to remind them that Rudy Go Bear's team is 12 and a half points better defensively

when he goes on the court.

Now, they're seven and a half points better offensively when he's off the court.

So the swing difference is about five points.

But we don't care about the office side, but we talk about defensive systems.

Rudy Go Bear is there.

And I think about Rudy Go Bear's career.

There's only been two times in his career where he hasn't been in the 90th percentile

or higher and on and off defensive swing.

And those two years, he was in the 80th percentile, so I'm not too far away.

And then the one year in Utah, I don't know what they was having in Utah this year.

He was two points better when they were when he was on the court defensively, which is

still great.

Like, it's 70 percentile.

But I think like this year, Rudy Go Bear has the highest point difference to swing defensively

of his entire career.

Ultimately, he won't win D.P.O.

Why?

Because when Benyama also has a very similar number and he does more.

But he's not too far away from D.P.O.

Why?

He just won't get it.

I do, like I said earlier, I do think Chad is number two.

But if you have women, or you have Rudy Go Bear number three, I think that's right.

I truly think that's right.

And he is a defensive system in his own.

And he has been for, let me count these years, ten, twelve years of his career, so nuts,

so nuts.

I mean, team shoot five percent.

I don't know.

It's just some of Rudy Go Bear propaganda.

If you don't have my y'all defensive team, you need to watch some film and look at these

analytics because he's really like that.

He's still like that.

His first year in Minnesota was also very bad, but he still was great defensively with

his nuts.

So he, undoubtedly, a defensive system.

Benyama undoubtedly a defensive system.

And in a different way from Rudy Go Bear, Rudy Go Bear always does have good deterrent

stats like that.

That's always been his thing.

Even though players will say that they're not afraid of Rudy Go Bear.

Listen, we watch the games.

We see the numbers.

He shoots less at the rim when he's down there.

That's not a coincidence.

I don't think.

Women Yama has that to like a whole different level.

Where teams will be on a two on one fast break when women Yama is that guy down there and

they don't even attempt to shop.

That's how crazy women Yama is defensively.

So undoubtedly, a defensive system.

His defensive own off swing is eleven and a half, which is slightly, sorry, slightly worse

to Rudy Go Bear.

So maybe Rudy Go Bear should be in a conversation.

No.

And then you met the Scotty Barnes, which is a guy that I haven't thought about being

a defensive system.

And I don't know if he deserves to be in that category just, just yet, but damn it's

close.

I thought about this for a long time, Adam.

I thought about this for a long time since I saw your question.

And I think he's, he's close to doing it.

And I think maybe what makes it a little bit difficult is because these guys, the women

Yama, the Rudy's of the world, they take away the easiest shot in the game, which is

the layup slash shot from five feet closer.

They are just more valuable on that side of the ball that makes it so that Scotty Barnes

does everything everywhere, but not to the point where he's preventing layups and dunks

from going in.

You know what I'm saying?

Other than the Jalen Green play from a couple nights ago, that is ridiculous.

So he is very close to being that maybe just a couple more years at this level.

I think he's undoubtedly all defensive first same guys.

So I don't want to come off as disrespectful.

I just don't know if he is a system in itself just just yet, but it's close.

The other guy you got to give credit to, and even if it's not the case so far this season,

I mean, he's 36 years old.

I have to talk about Draymond Green in that category because I mean, some of the stuff

that Draymond Green has been able to do over the last couple of years, again, not count

this year.

So maybe that's why you didn't put him because this year has not been the case, but not

count this year.

He has been one of the best defensive systems in the league.

He is the best center, the best defensive player of our generation if you ask me.

So shout out to Draymond this year, not even close to even what last year was where he

almost stole DPOI or two years ago or three years ago or in his prime, the 2015, 2016

season where like, what the hell was he doing this season?

Everything.

The answer is everything.

But I love the idea of talking about defensive systems.

And I thought about some other guys that like have potential to beat at, and I think

they're just super far away, not even not even like this is a conversation that maybe

we happen in five years or some of these dudes were like, Zach, Zach Edie just being 12

foot 12.

Just make some closer to that.

I think Don McClicken has a potential to do it.

It's not the greatest with Don McClicken because he does have some holes in his defensive

game as a big fella.

And I think that if you are going to be a defensive system, you have to shrink those,

those different things you're vulnerable with.

And I think he's still vulnerable on a lot of different things on the side of the ball.

But I think one day he could be that because he is one of them ultra big shot blocking.

And one thing that I admire about these guys and one thing you'll notice about them is

that they don't allow offensive rebounds.

Closing the possession is like a super important part of defense.

Ready to go bare, Victor Weminyama, eventual Deon McClicken, these guys get the stop and

they close the possession, which is infinitely more valuable than anybody really gives credit

for them.

The next question comes from Zay.

This says, what does Shay need to do to be considered him for him to be considered best

in the world?

If you had Shay use Alexander as of today, March 16th, 2026, as the best player in the world,

I'm not even arguing with you personally.

He is not the best player in the world to me.

But I think this season, he's got very close to having that B.A. conversation.

When you think about all the clutch shot he's hit this season of all of the injuries between

Dubb and Chad and Ihar, the list goes on and off for them to still be the top team in

the entire association.

I think that he deserves some of that credit for being the best player in the world.

The one thing that prevents him from being the best player in the world for me specifically

while Yoke is still that guy for me is that Yoke is just playmaking at his size, adds

a whole different development to the offense.

And Shay has continued to get better as a playmaker, even the game that they played against

the Nuggets last week.

That was one of his best playmaking games of his entire career.

But I know they lost this game, but the past that Yoke is made in that Lakers game a couple

nights ago from the right wing to the left corner to end up in a big three.

That is a play that because of his size of being seven foot in his vision.

And if that is a play that only a few people in the world can do and he touches all levels

of the offense aside of the ball.

And I think I think Shay is number two.

I've said that publicly.

I think he's number two.

But if you had him number one, I don't think you're too crazy.

I don't think you're too crazy.

When we come back, we'll answer more of your questions.

Before we move on to talk about more of your questions, I want to say thank you to our

sponsor over edge draft kings.

You may know all about draft Kings picks six by now.

Big more or less of different players, that's the upcoming games, but two are more

different players.

And to your pick sets, sit back, relax and see if you make the right decision after you

go more or less on some stats.

Now, we got lucky.

The last couple of weeks, you know, we came into this episode and we say, man, we only got

two games, three games in the night.

The NBA gave us a lot to really, really talk about.

So let me let me put the little pick set for y'all starting off with the first game

of the night, the peacock game, which is seven o'clock Eastern time here.

You be sure to tune in because these are two teams that are competing for playoff

seeding in the Orlando Magic, in the Atlanta Hawks.

Now, the magic in the Hawks, I'm going to play some of the best basketball in the season

right now.

So this is the perfect time to see them go against each other.

And I'm like, yeah, the peacock game for one, and it is a really important game for

the season.

I got to pick something for this game.

So ultimately, what I went with was Desmond Bain more on points.

If you've been watching Desmond Bain for the last 25 games, you know, he has not missed

a shot.

He's 38% from three, which is insane.

It's just unfortunate that the first month of the season for him, he wasn't as good.

So I've always said that, you know, the memory of a player is usually what happened in the

beginning of the season because everybody's so ramped up and everybody's tuning in on

a nightly basis.

So what you do at the first month of the season, good or for better or for worse, is what

a lot of people are going to remember your season for.

And I don't think people are remembering what Desmond Bain is doing right now.

They're not going to remember because his first month was crazy.

And I'm riding that high.

Desmond Bain more on points.

Next game we got also here on peacock.

This one is a 930 tip Eastern time Lakers versus rockets.

Come on, y'all, y'all know, y'all know that that's a game considering as of right now,

the difference between them in the standings is a half a game.

So it's a big game.

And I'm like, obviously we got Kevin.

We got Shen going.

We got Brian.

We got Luca.

And I ain't mad at any of those picks, but I'm going to go.

But Austin Reeves missed the AR himself more on points.

What a phenomenal mis-free throw the other night that he got us on rebound, put up the

side and ultimately ended up winning the game, which is great for the Lakers again against

one of their biggest foals and then Renuggets.

But also Reeves is just a cold blooded killer.

Sometimes because of the other talent on the team, the Lucas and the Bronze of the World,

he could get kind of lost on the court.

Do you look at it?

I'm like, Oh, he's got 18 points.

Oh, he's got 22 points.

I don't even feel like that.

That's what I can play.

And then God forbid Luca and LeBron on the bench and it's just also a rock out show.

That boy, that boy, he can do two things very well.

You can hoop very well.

And out of the tee box, Austin Reeves is ridiculous.

One day, man, Austin Reeves is going to play at least a now-whole game and he's going

to win.

Don't give me wrong.

But let's go happen one day.

Next game that we got for our pick set, we do, we do got a little Devin Booker versus

the Celtics.

I do remember once upon a time, Devin Booker dropped 70 on the Celtics.

It might have been a decade ago and they might have still lost that game, but dammit, he did

drop 70.

And I don't think you're going to do that tonight.

But I did go more on his points.

He has actually been playing ridiculously well as also because he's Devin Booker.

But like his last couple of games, he had 31 last game in the lost to Toronto.

Shout out to the Toronto Raptors, big win for them.

He had 43 against Indiana, game for that 27, the game for that 30, the game before that

32.

So I'm riding the wave of the Devin Booker.

Also a guy that I somewhat considered for the All NBA, but he is, if he's not in Elisboe

already, he is dangerously close to that.

Oh, no, he's on him as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, oh, no, no, he's dangerously close.

Okay.

So I ain't mad for him not making it right now because he may not make it at the end of

the day and not be eligible as of today.

That boy is playing some ridiculous basketball, so we're going more on his points as well.

And then last one we have for our pickset.

The Bulls play against the Grizzies, two teams that are not playing for much, two teams

that are, you know, got their eye on some lottery odds.

They probably going to be watching the tourney a lot this week to figure out who they potentially

will want to draft.

I was very closely going, Modus Buzellis, who's been playing some really good basketball

as of late.

He's been aggressive.

We got a question about Modus that we'll talk about in a minute here.

So I went with Josh Gidey more on assists.

One thing about Josh Gidey as of late, he's been able to create for us.

His teammates, he had 10 assists last game, 15 assists a game for that, 17 assists before

that, 10 and the 9s was last five games, he's average, 12 and a half assists.

Man, my math is probably really wrong there.

So it doesn't matter if it's a blowout, it doesn't matter if they win or lose.

Josh Gidey is getting a ton of assists.

But those who haven't checked out draft teams picks six yet, there's an exclusive offer

waiting for you.

Right now, new draft game customers can play $5 and get $50 and pick six credits.

All you have to do is download the Pixix app and use promo code and join when you sign

up.

Pixix is available at most states equal in Texas, California, Missouri, so don't be afraid

to get in on the action.

Write the upside with Pixix.

Next question, come on some Arabender who says, what do you think Modus needs to work

on to take his game to the next level?

You had to know if I was going to do a complete mail back episode, there had to be one bulls

related question.

And here it is.

I think Modus is second season after a rough start, as it looks so much better as of late.

He has games or he's dropping, he had his career night in that win versus the Warriors,

we have 41.

Shout out to my boy, but 20 points, 20 points, 18 points, he's been looking really good

as of late.

He's jumped his points per game up almost double, his efficiency has been good.

He's actually after a really tough start, shooting the three point ball, his efficiency

from three is now back up to 36%, which is what it was his rookie season, which we'll

take.

I think what's next for Modus is that I think he just needs to get stronger and get

better with his handle.

Some of the times he plays against a really rough defender, so like in the game the other

night, where a co-ui-liner guy switched on to him, and it is co-ui-liner, but understand

what I'm saying here.

These guys that have tree trunk for legs and don't aren't move very easily, he really

struggles.

There's a few times throughout the season, we've had a guy that is similar size to him

at like the 6-8, but maybe just 20 pounds heavier, where he just doesn't know how to get

to the basket.

He doesn't know how to generate shots.

I think that's just next, tighter handle, and then just putting on more muscle, putting

on more strength.

He did that from his rookie season to a sophomore season, so I'm hoping from his sophomore

season to his eventual junior year that it could teach you to get better, but I'm as

high as anybody on modest after watching pretty much every game of his NBA career.

If I'm not mistaken or close to it, he shows you on an idly basis that A, he cares defensively

which is a big thing when you have a young player on a bad team, why should they care?

He cares defensively.

He just cares.

Actually, they did a little piece about it in the Clippers game that if you didn't know

in the month of February, the Bulls didn't win a game.

They were all in 11, which lottery odds, so I'll take it.

They hurt him so bad that he had to go to a sports psychologist to try to figure out

how to deal with losing that much.

I don't...

You know what I'm saying?

I want a guy that cares enough about winning and cares enough about the game where like

losing that many games in a row costs them to have potentially a mental breakdown.

And I will always say, I will always advocate for mental health.

So if you can't go out there and get your help, get it.

No matter how big or how small and for him, it was a big thing.

It's his job to win ball games and they didn't do it for 11 games.

So modest is put on some more weight, gets tighter on his handle.

And lastly, as play like you're playing right now, next season completely.

Because it did feel like earlier in his career, which makes sense because Billy Donovan

doesn't play young guys often, that he played and he was walking on eggshells.

Miss Rotation?

Yeah.

We just saw that for Linda Miller the other night.

Get yanked.

One Miss Rotation at the end of the...

At the beginning of the second half.

One Miss Rotation.

Sub them out for basically what felt like the rest of the game.

It wasn't.

So he's walking on eggshells because of that.

He wasn't as aggressive and he just took the shots that got open for him.

I like that as a recent.

He's trying to create.

And I appreciate that.

And I want him to just go into next season trying that because guess what?

Nobody is going to be on the team next season of the U.

At least in my mind, is you and Dale Peterson, damn it.

Oh, great.

Moving away from basketball just for a little second here.

Oh, it's still basketball, but a different type of question.

It's come from the Ronan Josh.

Did you ever go through doubt in the early days

of your content slash podcasts?

If so, how did you learn to overcome it and keep turning up when maybe the views were low

or what not lower than what you vote?

I'm in a very weird position, y'all.

Where when I started a content creation, the podcast, it was very low risk, right?

And as of today in 2025, 2026, I know people that jump into content with the idea of

it becoming their career.

That wasn't the case until it became my career.

You know, I was still in school.

I still want to do other things.

And then the YouTube and the content stuff took off where I didn't need to go back to school.

So there wasn't a ton of stakes for me personally.

And I go, what knows if it was and I probably may not be here today.

But because I kept my windows open for like understanding that it is the internet.

Hell, even to this day in 2026, where it literally is my job, I still think about it.

It is the internet.

And any given day your whole viewer base can be like, ah, we don't really like this guy anymore.

And just stop watching.

So what do you do to him?

I think I have had more doubt about myself now that I'm in this position than before I

get in this position.

You know what I'm saying?

And I think it's mostly because of the evolution of what I've been doing.

I went from a content creator to a content creator slash podcast.

So a content creator slash podcast is a part of a big company to leave a big company

to be a podcast or a content creator in the owner of a company.

Where it's not just my livelihood that matters.

It's all my guys.

It's everybody on the staff.

They're keeping these doors open and they revenue coming in is super important.

So that 40 people aren't out of a job or having many people we have on the staff.

So I think that's where the doubt and the worry and the anxiety comes from today opposed

to the other time.

And remember, I started content creation before I had kids before I had a fiance slash wife.

So everything I did was just for me.

It was selfish.

And sometimes selfishness doesn't have to be in the negative.

Everything I did was selfish, right?

I can afford to spend 12 hours on the video because I had no other obligations.

Now, that's a little bit tougher to do when you got two kids and a wife that you got

to continue to make sure they're happy, right?

You can't be selfish when you're a business owner because again, there's 40 other lives

that work for the company.

And that doesn't mean that and added those 40, some of those people have kids.

So now instead of it being 40 lives, there's 60 lives, you know, so how do I keep going

through it?

It's like put my head down and I go to work, damn it.

I do these episodes because I know that's what needs to happen to keep the door open.

I try to make some fun out of it when I can.

And I think hopefully I'm doing that right now about doing these videos, right?

Answer your questions.

These are what you got.

Can you beat them here?

And you like these things we want to ask Kenny, and I'm here answering them.

Cole says, you obviously love asking why my question is why don't you get into college basketball

more?

A very great question.

When I've been asked before, this is what a boy who's there to for me.

I think personally that the NBA is more consumable than college basketball.

When it being 17,000 teams, it's just easier for me to say, here are our 30 and you watch

these 30.

You know what I mean?

I also am not a fan of the turnaround of college basketball.

I don't mean the NIL transfer portal.

I can understand why people don't love that.

I'm not one of those people.

I don't really care about that.

It's about like, think about what the NBA was three years ago.

It's for the most part.

It's kind of the same.

Obviously, people are on different teams, but like LeBron, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, all

these guys are still in the league.

Three years ago in college, 90% of those people aren't even there.

So imagine if I got into college sports and I fell in love with a team.

And I can only really root for that team for like two years before everybody on that team

is gone and I got them now.

Ruford is new.

He's trash.

So that's where the disconnect comes from me.

I can clearly understand why people enjoy it, right?

Like times I do watch college basketball.

I do enjoy it, but also my job is this.

My job is the NBA.

And I appreciate and admire the people that can balance watching multiple leagues and

being great at those.

I'm just not one of those people.

I found that out before.

I used to do a baseball thing.

It's almost time, maybe open a day, maybe not going to win a lot of games, then it would

go white sucks.

I tried that.

And it's really, really hard for me.

I've always been a hyperfixation type of guy and I've just been hyperfixated on the NBA

for about 25 years now.

And I don't think that could ever go away.

And I don't think anybody anything can get into that where it's even close.

Even though I will say publicly that part of me, there's a part of me that really isn't

treated by doing some version of an NFL, not a podcast, but an NFL something.

And I'm just, I'm putting it out in the world as the perspective of a guy that's only

really cared about football for three years.

I feel like there has to be a market.

And damn it, I know how to be good on camera, I think.

So I'm just putting it out in the universe.

So just don't be surprised if all of a sudden there's a new channel called um, I don't

got it.

I don't got it.

A screen pet.

No, see, that's too much.

I'll come up with a name if it becomes a thing.

This question we got is from where you are here, Elias, who says his profile pictures

that Drew's keep picture, where you use a football player.

Do you believe Project Hill Mary will live up to your expectations?

Or do you think the book was too good that it's impossible to live up to?

I used to hate the people that would say like, you don't really compare it to the book.

I'm truly prepared to say that about Project Hill Mary and I hope it does them up to the

book.

But the expectations are so high, like you said, Elias, it's so high.

That is the greatest book I've ever read.

And then undoubtedly the greatest audiobook I've read it first and then listen to the audiobook.

And I was actually pissed that I read it first because the audiobook is a one-of-one experience.

So please go listen to Project Hill Mary, not in that.

But I remember back in the day, I went to go see Hunger Games and we went as a group.

And one of the people in our group was like, that was cool.

But the book is so much better.

And I may be looking at her like, shut up, nerd.

And now I'm that nerd.

I'm going to be that nerd.

You know, the trailer, I feel like the trailer gave up too much, man.

They shouldn't show, bro.

I ain't going to spoil it.

If you ain't seen a trailer, you ain't read the book.

They shouldn't show, bro.

But they showed, bro.

You know what I mean?

But I cannot wait.

I have not been to the movie theaters since Wolverine, Deadpool, Wolverine.

How many years ago was that?

Two years ago?

I had an anxiety attack in there.

That's probably why you been back.

I'm going to the movie theater to watch Project Hill Mary.

And I might win my shirt because I have a custom shirt with it.

When we come back, we got a few more questions from you all.

You know, I ready for me to get into my comic bag.

I did a lot of NBA questions up at the top, man.

So yeah, let me talk about my books and my comics and my journey as a creator.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, this is two questions from two different people.

But I'm going to combine it together.

The first one comes from, I'm just going to call you D-boy because your name is not,

I'm not saying that on peacocks or waves.

Like, why is that your name?

What got you back into comics?

Is there a creative that you've drawn to?

You've been drawn to.

For me, as Daniel Warren Johnson, he changed a game.

So we start off with that question.

I can't say I got back into comics because this is my first go round.

And I'm so happy I dove into it.

I want to give credit to two creators on the internet.

I think I found them originally on TikTok, but they also do YouTube and stuff.

It's going to be Cosmic Collector and The Speed Soken.

These guys are roommates and just strobe, doom, strobe, and TikTok one day.

I saw a video from Nate.

And that's The Speed Soken.

And he did a video where he was talking about his favorite comics of all time.

And one thing I love, whether it be something I want to jump into or not, is I love hearing

people talk about their special interests.

Maybe that's my special interest.

To hear you talk about your special interests.

And the amount of passion he had about the things that he was telling me about, I was like,

I'm sold.

I'm going to pick up this comic that he recommended.

And D-boy, you mentioned Daniel Warren Johnson, a twin, we like this.

Daniel Warren Johnson is the reason why I meant to comics.

It's last the two guys that I mentioned.

But in Nate's video, he is a super Daniel Warren Johnson guy.

So I think he was going through his top 10 comics ever or something along those lines.

And Daniel Warren Johnson's books were like two of the top three.

And I'm like, today can't be that good.

He's that good.

Dual power bomb, elite, extremity, elite, the transformer run that he's no longer with

right now.

The whole inner tron universe, elite, you know what I'm saying?

So we really are like this.

And when I found out that Daniel Warren Johnson was an Illinois boy, oh, even more.

My local shop, because it supports your local businesses, by the way, my local shop has

an entire, I want to use a word shrine because that makes them seem like a god.

But he has his entire section because he is a local boy.

These are all the projects he's either wrote for or had a cover for, variant cover for.

I got them all.

The only thing from Daniel Warren Johnson, I have not read yet.

It's his Wonder Woman run, his limited Wonder Woman run and his beta ray bill.

I think that's the name of it.

Those are the two things I haven't read.

But between that and murder Falcon, I read the dream one.

I can't think of the dream one off the time I hit the name up.

But Daniel Warren Johnson is really that guy.

The next one, again, like I said, is a two-parter.

It's from Alex.

He says, no, you've been into comics lately.

What is your number one recommendation and asking me my number one recommendation?

It's like asking me which one of my kids is my favorite.

You kidding me?

I can't break up all all of them to pick a top one.

So here are the things that I've really enjoyed reading over the last.

I think I've been into comics for like eight months now.

I've been using the app, the comic book geek.

I think it's the name of it where you can track all the things you own and all the things

you've read.

I've read six hundred and thirty two comics, which is nothing compared to the run I had

when I read one piece, all one thousand, one hundred, whatever it was.

And I think that gets a deep voice comments like what maybe get back into it.

I've been adjacent obviously because I've read manga and I was like, okay, it's American

manga.

You know what I'm saying?

It's just an American comic.

And you know, it's easy to kind of get into and you also read again a thousand chapter

slash books of one piece and read all of chainsaw, man, and all of the other great-a-stuff.

Here are my top recommendations.

I will say that Daredevil is my favorite comic book character.

I actually just started watching the show.

I'm ten years late.

I understand.

But I just started watching the show two days ago and godly, they really be boxing.

I love a TV show that the choreography feels right.

The long shots of him just in those hallways fighting elite.

Why did it take me ten years to watch the show?

I don't know, but I'm watching peak right now.

So Daredevil was my all-time favorite, at least that's today, it was my shift, all-time

favorite character.

And Mark Wade's Daredevil run is probably my favorite that I've read so far.

He's got two different editions where one of them he is in Hell's City or Hell's Kitchen

New York.

And then the other one he moved over to San Francisco and that one is shorter than

the original.

But it's just a good way.

My favorite character has been, you know, show to me, you know, great stories in and out.

Great villains, good, good human aspect of it.

If you know, no sport, no sport, but his best friend, it's in it and he has his own

arc and so on.

So like, I just really love, I think Mark Wade kind of is one of the my cults.

Because I only read semi-modern slash semi-modern.

So I won't go back to re from the 90s or the 80s until I get bored with modern.

And I've read a lot of Mark Wade and he has a way of telling stories.

I'll tell you that.

And I'm also reading a current Daredevil run who I can't remember who was by right now

was the top of my head, but it came out a few years ago.

And then there's a new Daredevil run that's dropping.

I think in like two weeks, April 1st.

And I can't wait to see that one because the writer on that one, I follow on TikTok.

And I'm super excited because I haven't had a chance to read any of her writing as

of so far.

So I'm really excited to see with her and her team of artists get to put together my favorite

character.

But also get sticking to the modern.

Ryan Norse's Fantastic Four for me was a great entry point because it's so silly.

It reminds me of just TV like like like superhero TV from when I grew up where on a it is there

is some like storyline that goes through, but you could pick up number seven and just read

it from there.

And that would be its own little story.

There's one that may be my favorite comic of all time because it's so silly.

And again, it makes me feel like a kid again.

We're the Fantastic Four team.

They're living on this ranch.

They're waiting for their kids to come back long story.

I won't get into that.

And all of a sudden, dramatically or not dramatically drastically, no, either way, the

people of the Fantastic Four forget letters were like, they couldn't say a word that started

with an F because they don't remember the letter F. And eventually by the end of the

story, they can they can only say a few different letters.

Those letters end up being M, O, D, and R, M, O, D and R.

And it was Dr. D, it was Dr. Dune.

He was, he was like, you will remember my name because I'm going to get rid of every

single letter.

And it's just so chaotic and kiddie that I just, I just loved it.

This super villain, he spent an entire week making sure that the Fantastic Four don't

remember letters so they can remember his name.

And he's just such a great villain.

He's maybe my favorite villain of all pieces of media.

Even with that said, I think I'm more of a DC reader, even I just told y'all to marvel

pieces.

Um, last one is one that I just read.

So maybe I'm giving it a little boost because of recency bias.

Um, plastic man is such an interesting character to me.

And he had a limited run just a couple years ago called plastic man no more.

I love limited runs more than I think the, the ongoing because again, they're easily

consumable because it's like usually four to six different, um, different books.

Um, and they're usually, and this is just from my small experience of eight months or

whatever.

Usually more heartfelt and plastic man no more is not about plastic man being a superhero.

It's about him being a father, um, and as someone that happens to be a father of two, I

just relate to those type of stories a lot.

The visions is another one about, um, vision himself and his family.

Um, so I just relate to those stories a ton and in some way or another.

So thank you for, for indulging me in my whole comic book world, uh, D boy and Alex,

I, I really do appreciate that a couple more.

I got some calls from JSN lover.

As much as you love the Chicago Bulls, you think the city of Chicago will be more excited

or responsive to a Bulls championship or bear Super Bowl.

And I didn't have to think about this question much at all.

The city of Chicago will be way more excited for a Super Bowl versus an NBA championship.

Do you want to know why?

Do you want to, I think that, I think that the bears bring everything together.

I don't know how to explain it.

Some people that aren't football fans when your favorite football team, even if you're

not a weekly watching, your favorite football team is good.

It's just a, uh, a symbol of like community.

If that makes sense and the, the Bulls don't really have much hope.

If that makes any sense.

So the fact that the bears, you know, we're interesting team, made the Pope season, but

I think we have our QB one for the next 37 years.

That's our low Caleb.

It's going to play.

And you know, some interesting cast the guys around them.

I think it will be more important for the city to get a Super Bowl.

Last time we got an NBA championship was in the 90s.

The last time we got a Super Bowl was what 85 bears or something like that.

So we've been without a for a long time.

And you think about the traumas associated with it.

The bears, even the times they were good, like the Jay Cutler year, even the year we made

it to the goddamn Super Bowl, it was sexy, rexie, Grossman.

I don't know.

It's just, it's just different because we didn't really have a QB one.

Jay Cutler gave us what two years of maybe being that sexy, rexie was a game manager,

but he wasn't a QB one.

I think we legit have a QB one.

And it's just been so long, they used to say that Chicago is a place, quarterbacks come

to die.

So much so there's rumors about Caleb Williams, not even wanting to come to Chicago because

of that alone.

So the fact that we may have that, and I think we do, damn it, I think he is, CW, I think

he is that, that man, the fact that we have that, I think it's, um, it'll mean more for

the city, especially if we can keep the bears in Chicago.

It's a whole not a story though.

All right, y'all, it is that time of the season for the time of the year where it's, it's

March.

And, you know, I know you probably was expecting because this is the day after selection

Sunday that I will come out here and I will say here are my top picks for this, this side

of the bracket, this side of the bracket, this side of the bracket, that ain't me.

I will make a video on YouTube of making my bracket always do.

I never shoot more than 30% because I don't watch college basketball, but it is always fun.

I think selection Sunday is one of my favorite pieces of one day sports media.

Um, obviously it doesn't beat out the actual turning, but I love when they get those shots

of the, the kids celebrating the fact that they make the turn if they were a bubble team.

Or the opposite of that where they do make it, and then their coach may have told them

don't celebrate.

So they kind of just got to sit there, he's got to sit there and act not shalot, knowing

damn well, it's the biggest accomplishment of their careers.

Um, I even liked the college to the, the, I'm sorry, the conference turning, even if

I didn't get a chance to watch a ton of it, we're like, I saw something is going to be

making the turning for the first time in, in program history.

And that's, that's great, you know, that's really great.

I think this is going to be a true, and this is me talking as a non college basketball

fan.

A true experience in a sense that I read a stat in a newsletter the other day that upsets

and the regular C's were down 40% in comparison to previous years.

And a lot of that is probably a contributed or attributed to, um, those smaller teams

or smaller programs having their star players being poached to go to the Kentucky's of

the world.

And I wonder because of that, will we see as many upsets that we normally do, right?

Some of those teams that are from the smaller conferences that are making it, they just

may not be, I mean, you don't need to talent to win in one game elimination, but they may

not just be talented enough to take out some of those bigger teams because, dammit, Joey

Bob that averaged 25 at, um, I don't even know a small program to Utah State.

I don't even know if they're in the turn.

I think they lost and they may not make the turn.

Um, he was at Utah State average in 25.

He goes over to Arkansas.

He's averaged in seven, but they just took away their star player last season.

So I'm, I'm just so interested to see what really happens in that aspect.

And I'm really interested to tune in to certain NBA prospects.

Um, I'm like, this is where I really start my dive in.

So like, um, I can't wait to really see Campbell's.

I think I've watched one Campbell's or game start the finish so far this season.

Uh, Keaton Waldo, shout out to my guy.

I can't wait to see them in a tournament.

There he is.

Hey, Cove made a man who I just saw had a game where he shot one for 12 from the field,

but 12 of 13 from the free throw line.

So like, I'm just all into, to like, I forget who it is every year.

Somebody puts together here are the players to watch for during the turn.

And I, I consume that.

I eat that up and I make sure I make a list.

Boom, boom, boom.

This team plays at this time and this guy's protecting the number five.

So damn it.

I got to watch this thing because he might be on my team one day.

Um, I've been reading a lot of mocks about so and so players and an aware.

And the one I keep seeing is, uh, Braden Burris being number nine to Chicago.

So we'll see.

I'll be tuning in to him to see where he's got going on.

I think he's one of the older freshmen in the class.

He's 21 years old already as a freshman.

I don't know what the hell that's about, but I'm just, I just can't wait.

I truly just cannot wait for March.

Man is because it always is a fun time.

Um, I, I, I mean, I guess I have to root for Illinois, just based off proximity.

And you know what?

Now I am rooting for Illinois because I was there when, when Dee Brown looped their head

there in Williams and them was in that tournament.

And, and yeah, I wanted corn rows to be like Dee Brown when I was a kid.

So yeah, I'm rooting for Illinois steel.

They got my boy, uh, oh, uh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, my God.

So now that's, if you know, you know, that's one of my homies from that.

He was my point guard back in the day.

I'm gonna stay still, y'all, Kavitch, uh, still, they got my boy still, y'all, Kavitch on the team.

So, you know, I'm rooting for them.

And again, Keaton is there as well.

So I'm really excited for this.

I do, it does suck that like Caleb Wilson is out for the turnie.

I was excited to see what he would do in that type of scenario.

I'm even excited to see the older guy, the, um, Yaxxel, Lindenborg.

If I'm pronouncing that right.

He's one of the oldest dudes about all accounts.

This dude is a stud player.

He just happens to be old.

And right now, according to tank it by.

He's projected to go number 14, which is where the, um, okay, see, Thunder will be.

So I know, I just got, I just got a lot of things going on.

And hopefully the tournament ends up being exactly where we need it to be.

And we get some huge upsets.

We do see a Cinderella story or two, um, cause I, I can never call it.

Other than the one yard did call it.

Um, and this is going to be another one of those years.

So hopefully you did enjoy this episode.

Shout out to everybody to ask questions.

We got over 200 questions in obviously because of the type of strength.

I, I pick some of my favorites.

You let me know what you think about my all NBA teams and everything.

I'm take a comic recommendations, dammit.

Let me know.

See y'all next time.