NBA GAME NIGHT: Why It's Now Or Never For Luka Doncic And Joel Embiid

0:00This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. This is Jake from Lockdown. When the game's on the line, the best no end to pass. Because the right assist can change everything. And off the court, it's no different. That's where your State Farm agent comes in. Whether it's protecting your car, your home, or helping you prep for the unexpected, they'll help set you up with a game plan that works for you. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Like cover options are selected by the customer, availability and eligibility, vary by state. It is time for the Lockdown NBA legacy draft. Who has the most on the line, the stars with the most to game, the stars with the most to lose in this upcoming NBA season? When that final buzzer ring, you know it's time for a Lockdown NBA game night. All the post game reactions to every game across the league, every single night. The insights only the hosts that Lockdown can provide.

1:00It's the true NBA fans. One stop for all the action. Every game every night. It's Lockdown NBA game night tipping off now. You are locked on NBA game night. We are still about a month, a little over a month, five weeks away from game. So until that time, we are going to mess around. I'm Gavin Shaw of the Lockdown next spot. I guess my partner in crime is always as cool, co-heal, the fantastic host of the Lockdown Pistons podcast. And we're continuing our theme of drafts that we hope you guys are enjoying. Let us know in the comments. If you are, let us know if you want to continue. If you do next week, we're going to do an under 25 draft, which I think is going to be really fun. But today, we are talking superstars on this show. We like nuance. We like talking about role players, but we are focusing on the biggest names in the NBA with a legacy draft where we are going to just address in order. The guys that we think have the most on the line this season will wrap up with some tertiary stars guys you could certainly improve their lot in life. But I expect if Koo is thinking about the same way I am, we're going to start with some

2:04of the biggest names in the NBA. But I don't know that. Who are you opening up with? Okay. So I'm definitely looking big time stars with the first picks. I have a few that actually go different ways. It's going to be interesting. I'm interested to see who you pick actually. But I'm going Luca. Luca is like, I mean, it was brought up. Luca is someone who a lot of people thought would be the best player in the league by now. And a lot of people feel like has the ceiling of a top 15 top 10ish player in the NBA or ever, I should say, in NBA history. Like people are work very, very high on Luca. And you still should be very high on Luca. Luca is incredible. You look at his playoff resume when you just look at his stats and how he performs in the playoffs. It's his story. One of the best playoff performers we've seen, at least over the last 20 years, he plays in, like I said, he plays incredible in the playoffs. He's made it to the finals already. Obviously, he lost that one to Boston. But this was a guy that by this time, I think a lot of people thought it would have a championship

3:04by now. This is a guy by now. I think a lot of people would have thought would be best player in the world by now. And as he continues to go on, he's not old, but as he continues to go on his career and not get a ring, he continues to fall just short of. Where people thought he would be all time, his legacy. And as soon as he adds a ring, he immediately gets the gym and see to be in these conversations that Yokeh finds himself in, that Janus finds himself in, that these other guys that I think there's a lot of people who think that Luca could be just better than, but just doesn't have like the resume to back it up. So there's, for me, I think Luca, out of all the players that could win a ring this year, I think Luca would benefit the most legacy wise. I could, I think there's just so much for him that people think he can get to, he can claim if he just gets one. We never talked before these, we never, we never preplanned an idea, but we do not coordinate on who we're actually going to pick. We're like, you take him, you take him, no, it's random, it's unknown. And yet we were exactly on the same page here.

4:06And every, the, the reason you gave us exactly whatever, the first thing in my notes here, because I was lucky enough to, to be unlocked on MBA the night he got traded. And I went back recently, and I was like, what the hell did I say? That was just such a crazy night. And the first thing I say in that episode is like, this is a guy I think is going to go down to, probably one of the top 10 players ever, and they're just trading him for old Anthony Davis and no picks and Max Christie, still crazy in retrospect, especially given that Anthony Davis played like 20 games as a maverick. That's like, dude, that was a year and a half ago. That's what I thought of the guy. He's 27 years old. He's smack dab in the middle of his prime. We, I thought he was going to be the best, like watching me to the clippers in 2021 and him and Kauai going shot for shot and me just sitting there being like, this clippers team, RIP is loaded. They have everything Kauai is in top form. And this, like guy who is the teenager two years ago is just matching them bucket for bucket. They have absolutely no answer for him. If they had a little bit more depth, they probably would have won that series.

5:07You said it two years later, he's in the MBA finals, clearly the best player in that. He doesn't have a great performance in the finals. Brian Windhorst goes on TV, questions like some of his character, questions, a lot of people not just windy, like question, what kind of shape he's in. But you look at the numbers. Second, in MBA history, in playoff point for game. And obviously that favors guys that are still smack dab in the middle of their prime. But first career, 37 and 6 on 46, 35, 72 for shooting. The number of guys that are in like, honestly, like top 10 conversations, the top 20 all time conversation, top 10 right now. There's so many playoff shrinkers in there. And at least statistically that has never been Luca. He seemingly has an answer for every single defense. The Lakers surrounded him by with everything he asked for nominally, right? You have your secondary creator and Reeves. You have your tertiary shooting, maybe not quite enough of it, but Quentin Grimes, Austin Reeves, Sandro, I'm not even going to go for his last name right now, Mamu. But the legit secondary shooting, they have a rim protector, rim runner, which is the number one thing that Luca Doncher generally wants in Walker Kess.

6:10They lack that perimeter defense Dallas had. And so where I like, I give him a grain of forgiveness for not having gotten it done. Because I thought in 2024, the maps had the perfect game around him. And they just randomly decided to trade him. But he goes into this year and I have the Lakers just like a couple of tears below the thunder in this first. And I don't know if they're, I don't really think they're better than the nuggets and the wolves. The nuggets is a little bit more questionable. I think I'd have Minnesota ahead of both those teams. Like, I don't think he's going to win a title this year. But to your point, that is where the ceiling is so high. Is if he does, it is like an all time MBA title. Yeah. And again, Luca is a person. I remember being in high school, my senior year of high school, one of my friends, one of my teammates at the time, his name is Meach. I remember being in gym class first hour. He comes up to me. It's like January or something. He comes up to me. He's like, cool man. You got to check this guy out, bro. He's going to be the next big thing. I'm like, who is it? He's like, this dude overseas Luca Doncher's bro. You got to watch these highlights. He's showing me this video on YouTube. I'm like, man, he's not. He's not.

7:10He's not showing me these random people over there. And two years later, he's in the MBA. He's a third, it was a third, fourth big. And people like, he's been talked about. It's like this historic generational guy. The reason why I bring that up, since I was in high school, he was like 14 when people were talking about this dude being one of these all time guys, like people are already talking about him. So he has an incredible ceiling. There's it feels like it's like destiny for him. Like, I'm sure he feels it's like it. They're like, since I was a kid, I'm destined to be like one of the all time greats. And in order to do that, he has to win a championship. So yeah, I think number one pick is definitely deserve. All right. The guy I actually had one spot at Luca on my board. I don't know if this is okay. I want to talk it through with you. Is someone who I would no longer consider a top 10 player in the MBA, which makes this controversial. It is the stakes inherently shouldn't be as high. But I'm curious what you think about Joel and Bid in this conversation because he's like, I don't want to say a meme because that that's just not fair for some reason. Someone who's won an MVP who I've said multiple times this off season on this show.

8:13I think it's just like flat out one of the top five most talented basketball players I've ever seen. I think people underestimate like what a perfectly healthy career would have looked like for him where he had his ceiling is like, honestly, the best offensive player and the best defensive player in the league at the same time. Maybe you could argue Nicole, yo, could just be the passing would have been ahead of him. But what he did is MVP season like 34 points per game on absurd efficiency. What we saw early in his career where I think he peaked like like that is like maybe not game to game, but at his like tip top best like arguably the most impactful defender in the world. If not in those conversations, cool. Like, this is a guy who I think at one point, I it's hard to even say he was ever on a trajectory to go top 10 all the time because he missed his first two seasons, right? The injuries were always a thing. They were never a hypothetical. You could never really get to what he should have been. But we did even with all that we've seen obscene highs from him. And even with enough injuries at this point that should have just meant that he's like not in the NBA anymore when he's on the court, he's still like an even severely diminished. He's an absurd offensive player.

9:15He's a cheat code. He draws a foul basically anytime he wants to. He can still shoot. He can still win with power. I've questioned his defense a lot and that is part of the reason why I really question the sixers. But right now we're talking about a guy whose legacy is going to be right that talent, that injury nature, never getting out of the second round. Now he's on a team where for a guy that good, I can't even remember someone having that much offensive help, right? The pressure is often in that sense. And he has enough youth and enough engines and enough maturity playing with LeBron James and someone who's been in every one of these big moments to help him know how to navigate it where he could be in the finals. And all of a sudden there's a scenario, even as you and I are a little bit low on the sixers, where he could put up multiple 30 point games in the finals. And people 20 years from now aren't going to remember well, like actually was Maxi and Edgecom and Brown that got them through the first three rounds. They're going to remember that Joel and Bede, what a finals MVP and the sixers won their first championship in 40 years. And the process after all the doubt, all the down points, all the insanity will have finally

10:19been completed. Now I think M.B. is definitely should be high in this list for all the reasons you just named. He falls under a lot of the same things that we talked about with Luca just a few minutes ago. Like you mentioned, one of the most talented players, at least at the very least one of the most talented bigs we have ever seen in the NBA. A guy who's he's won an MVP of Luca hasn't the one thing that he doesn't have is deep playoff success. Some of that may be, I'd say 80% a lot of a lot of his injuries, a majority of it is injuries. He hasn't played great in every single series, but the majority of it has been injuries. He's just always been hurt. He hasn't had the chance. So if he was able to have this one magical run with this team where he's finally able to stay healthy, he's gotten to the finals and he wins a championship. I mean, that would do wonders for him. That would that would put him in rare air of someone who's able to win an MVP and a championship. It's not like there's 50 players that can say, I've won an MVP and a championship before. Like he would be in a select few, a very small room of guys that have been able to do that. He was shoot up the list because his talent deserves to be one of those guys that gets

11:21talked about. And like you mentioned in 20 years, people aren't going to remember if he was like the best player in the team during the regular season. If he was the, you know, if this actually was the peak version of MVP, they'll look back and see finals MVP, NBA champion, a guy who won MVP a few years ago. And with one of the best scores we've seen, he'd get a ton of credit. So I have no issues with you taking MVP at all. Yeah, he says he's the healthiest he's been in about three years. First off season where he's been fully healthy and you and I have talked about this, but the sixers have the luxury of resting him essentially as much as humanly possible throughout the regular season. They should take advantage of that. We'll see if he can finally put it all together. When we come back, it's Cooz pick excited to see what he takes next. The problem of finding clothes that you can live it all day, be comfortable and do whatever you need to do, whether it's just chilling, go in the meetings, playing golf, being on the move, that problem has been solved by Kozirth. The everyday polo is the answer. It's lightweight, built to move with you, just easy to wear wherever I've got it on right now.

12:21So, it's fabulous. Plus, the Kozirth essential socks, they're exactly what the name suggests, soft, supportive, comfortable enough that you stop thinking about them halfway through the day. Plus Kozirth backs everything with a 10 year warranty and hassle free returns. So if something isn't quite right, you're covered. That makes trying them for yourself an easy decision. I've got the Kozirth everyday polo in blue and in black. Check them out at kozirth.com. Use the code Locked On for 20% off. That's right. Locked on for an exclusive 20% off. And if you see a post purchase survey, please mention you heard about it right here, kozirth.com. All right, we're back. It is the Locked On MBA game night legacy draft. Pick Luca Donchin second pick Joel and be with the third pick, who do you got?

13:21So I want to give everyone a peek behind the curtain real quick. So like Gavin said, we don't tell each other who we're picking before. But Gavin comes to me and he's like, hey, this is what I'm thinking about talking about you on board with them. Like, yeah, that sounds fun. I asked them, can you explain a little bit further about what this is? He explains it to me. He gives me some examples that understand what it is we're doing. And one of the things he mentioned was, well, I have blah, blah, low on this list because they have a long run away, but all that stuff. So those players wouldn't be selected. I'm shocking everybody. I'm picking one of the players Gavin brought up to me earlier as one of the players he'd have low. I'm picking Wembee. Okay. And for the reason I'm picking Wembee is this, I think when B, if he wins a championship, he is on Goat pathway. He is, he has, I at first, I would be trolling when I say that I'd just be like laughing, trolling around, but I am partially joking, but partially very serious that Wembee legit has goat potential in my opinion. And if you told me in 20 years, Wembee is the greatest basketball player of all time, I would not be shocked at all.

14:23That's how great I think he is, just how young he is already is the success he's already had, just how much of an alien is we don't need to go into any of that. So the reason why I drafted him because if you get a championship this young in his career, I mean, he's starting the story of this is why I'm the goat. Like I won this young. I have all this time to keep going on the best defensive player ever. I'm not even all the way developed offensively to where I want to be. I'm still able to win a championship this young. Imagine what I'm going to do out there in other 12 years of this run. So I that's the soul. There's not even that much to explain about that is my sole reason for taking Wembee because what actually is there? Be honest, that could gate that is more important for your legacy than saying I could be the greatest basketball player of all time. There's a few other players we could draft. There's a few other players I've considered. But does any of them really like even Luca now that I'm thinking about I'm not going to lie. If Luca could shoot up and reach to where what we talked about in the first second, all these people thought he was going to be at it since he was a young kid. But all of that still be like a higher, you know, would that be a bigger success with

15:25that? Yeah. A bigger thing to brag about, a bigger thing to be happy about them saying I became the greatest basketball player of all time. So I think when Be has that potential and if he wins one this young, that would like, you're on the path. Like he's absolutely on the path of doing it. He was not on my board because I was like, are the stakes that much higher if he does it at 23 versus 24? But after hearing you talk through it, you're absolutely right. That's the right pick. I think I was thinking like, like what's the downside if they don't win this year, but the upside form is so high right because the sooner you start the fat, like that magical number, obviously, Bill Russell with 11 is in his own category, modern NBA, that Michael Jordan number at six, like that is the golden number. You can pass. And for that to feasibly get done, you need to start winning them as early as possible. I the big question I have with him, which I've talked about a lot of locked out. Nick's is actually talking about chat. I was waiting to play pick a basketball. He's spent about 10 minutes with my friend David talked like debating like, all right, how do you manage his minutes? Right? He was 29 minutes per game in the regular season. And the next strategy in the finals, I think a big part of the reason why the next one,

16:27the finals was they built their whole offense around exhausting him. And that meant there were first quarters where we get four blocks in the spurs every single first quarter. And then you get a 10 point lead because you challenged him and he stepped up. And at the end of games, he would falter and the next would overtake them. And that is a formula that I think there are a couple of teams in the NBA that can replicate. I do think a lot of the spurs off season is going to be based around like, all right, is there way we can take workload off him throughout a game? Is there way we can get away with playing him like less minutes in finals games? Maybe if Dylan Harper ascends and he's like a 13 mile NBA type guy this year, that gets more doable. But to me, like that is that is the question. But none of that really is all that much to do with legacy except like, I think that is something that just physiologically is very hard to figure out when your star player is seven five, maybe maybe seven six, but if they can figure it out, then I'm with you. He could be on that pathway. I am taking another international big man and it is the Koliokic. And the debate here with the Koliokic would be, and I have spoilers like it's the exact same conversation with Yannis, when I think we'll get to him in this episode where both

17:29those guys are stuck at one title. And when each of them won, I think there was this feeling like, all right, page turned. These guys are the face of the NBA. Young Chris Middleton was maybe, I don't know, like 20, 829, but like teams that are relatively in their prime, good coach, good management. Like there is going to be this long runway and they're going to get a minimum of two titles. Yokech especially, like maybe he's going to end up with three or four. He's clearly the best player in the world. I think a lot of people still think he is the best player in the world. He's clearly still the best offensive player in the world. And yet, and yet we are nearing this like point with him. I think even faster with Yannis because of his game, Yokech's game should age a little bit better. But we're nearing this point where you're like, if not now win, and also it's probably not now. Like the offensive core and the starting five, the nuggets have together. Should be the best offensive league. I wouldn't be surprised if they put up the greatest offensive rating and NBA history, but he goes through the roster and you're like, all right, who's a positive defender on this team? Aaron Gordon, like when he's healthy, doesn't seem like he's ever going to be able to stay

18:32healthy in a playoffs. Like the questions are almost not quite Joel and B level, but bordering on that, right? Like just doesn't seem like he can stand the court anymore. Christian Brown, like yeah, but the contract they gave him forced him to give up a better player in Peyton Watson. And he was he was fine. He was kind of mediocre in that series against the Timberlost Spencer, Joan, Shore, Yokech advantage metrics, great amount as a positive defender. I see why he's a positive defender. There are certainly matchups, right, where he can get exposed and where his presence is problematic. And I just look at the weird like lack of fight, lack of moment. I thought it was just a bad series form, coup against the Minnesota team that lost onto the even Genzo that lost Anthony Edwards and then got him back and he wasn't 100% and like compared to how they went down like shooting all their bullets against the thunder the year before, I'm like, does this, does he have anything else? I'm like on paper like he shouldn't win a title this year. If he did, I just think it would completely change things for him. But this guy who was just clearly the best player in the world for four years, one of the highest offensive peaks we've ever seen.

19:33And I sit here and I'm like, I don't, I don't know if he's going to get another one. I think you mentioned, Janice. Yeah. This probably about four or five players that kind of fall into this same kind of category. I think to back up what you're saying with Yokech, because he was something I also consider on my list is that in this parody era, we've talked about it on the podcast before. I've seen a lot of people nationally talk about this exact same thing. And so before it was like, oh, you got to get through you got to get four, you got to five rings like you, Kobe, you got to five, you got to get to six, Lebron, you got to four, five, step, you got to like, you got all these guys who have like these three, four, five rings. And obviously you mentioned Jordan with six. So in this era, a lot of people have been talking about it and I agree, like just getting one might be like the cost of two, like getting one might be the cost of three, like getting two might be the cost of four. Like it's so much harder just to get one in this era in this time period of the NBA that all the guys that have one, if they could get two that immediately like launches them into

20:35a different discussion, because you were able to get two in this era where it's hard for anyone to even get one. So I guys like Yokech guys like Janice guys like SGA. Like all of these guys are stuck on one and whichever one of them, if any of them are able to, but whichever one of them are able to get two, kind of separates them from the rest. I kind of feel like I don't know if everyone agrees, but like on my all time list, I mean, I have Yokech SGA, Janice all basically within like seven spots of each other. Like they're all in like this, this, this, this, this like big group that like they, they are struggling to kind of get out of that, but if they were to get this second championship, that kind of separates themselves from the rest of the group that they're also finding themselves. And I think that's the problem that all of them are finding. So I agree with you. With Yokech, you probably, I think the same thing with Janice, I think the same thing with SGA, I think all of these guys are trying to, if they could just break through and get one more, it separates them. It feels like at least to me, it would feel like they won four rings or three, four rings in this era to be able to pull two out. It's, it's so well said and it is such a perfect prelude to my last pick, but we're going

21:39to get yours next right here. I'm locked in a media game night. The first one to remind you guys about our friends over at ODO. Running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect a bunch of systems that were never designed to work together. One app for accounting, another for inventory, another for sales and somehow none of them talk to each other. That's where ODO comes in. ODO is an all in one business management software that brings every party business together in one powerful platform from sales and accounting to inventory and marketing. Working works in one place. ODO is an all in one platform to manage, grow and scale your business. The best organizations know that success isn't just about talent. It's about having everyone work towards the same goal and that's true in sports just like it is in business. The adjustment that Nick's made in game four against Atlanta Hawks to play through Coronet, they're towns was crucial. But we're really impressed with his how smoothly it was implemented. We've been easy for Jalen Brunson to have a big ego and said, no, no, no, I'm the star. I'm going to keep ramming my head into dice and Daniels or OGN. Nobody say, hey, I'm cooking. Why are you having the off-ball even more?

22:41But instead they knew that was what was best for cat and that's what was best for the entire team. Everyone knew their role. Everyone's on the same page. It's usually what separates good organizations from great ones. Great organizations win because operations matter and that's what you should get ODO. ODO is one platform to manage, grow and scale your business. Try for free today at odu.com slash locked on it's od o.com slash locked on. All right. What's your final pick? All right. So, am I allowed to like say like all my I was going to say, let's save that. Make your pick and then I'll make my pick and then we'll both list our honorable mentions. OK. So I'm worried that I might be taking the pick you were talking about. But as I looked at my list, like while you're doing the ad, I immediately thought, oh my, OK, I see who he's picking. I should know when he's picking this. So I have a guess who you're picking. But yeah, my pick is SGA for the exact reason we were just talking about. SGA, one of my best friends is an OKC fan and he absolutely has loved SGA for years,

23:42obviously. Yeah. But he obviously watched him a lot more than I did. I watched SGA quite a bit, but he watched him obviously every every game. He loves them. And for years, even before he won the championship, he was like, cool man, this is Michael Jordan to like, I'm telling you, this is Michael Jordan, you're I'm telling you, you watch him, you think Michael. I'm like, all right, come on, man, relax. All that stuff, whatever. And he wins two MVP's. And I can't lie to you, you watch him play offensively. He looks like Michael at times. I'm not good. He plays like Michael. He plays like Kobe. He plays like, that's kind of the thing that I don't get with a lot of the people that complain about SGA's play style is like, OK, the fouls, like sure. But like the exact way that all these people say they want people to play, he plays like that. He takes the tough shots. He takes the step back middies. He takes the fade away middies. He takes the the isolations, the tough buckets, the footwork. Like, he is a fantastic watch. And I bring up all that because this is a dude who is, I think is at the end of his career is going to try to have the argument as one of the best scores, if not the best score

24:42that's been in the NBA. He's going to try to have that argument. He already has one championship. He's surrounded with a great team. If SGA can stack multiple championships, two, if you can get two, if you can get three, he is going to force himself in the uncomfortable conversations. I don't think people want to have him. I think a lot of last year, this was a conversation on natural networks. Yeah. That it just felt like to me, listening to people talk about SGA because of the free throws and the following, they didn't want to put him in this conversation that he deserves to be in. And to me, based off how he has performed, winning a championship, two MVP's in the way he wished he'd done them. I, it wasn't really much of a debate for me and either of them, it was just like clear as day. I think he's been insane. He's insanely efficient. He hits on the type of shots he takes too. It's, it's just crazy that if he would have won two championships, if he would have won a championship this year, he's launching himself to me like towards that top 15 all time. And he's going towards, if he keeps going on this trajectory, he would be forcing himself into you guys are going to start putting me in one of the greatest guards of all time

25:46conversations. Like that is like the trajectories on not anything there yet. No, but like he could get himself very easily into those conversations because to be honest to me, the regular season data, the, the, the him having a championship already, how his efficiency, his scoring, that already screams to me. I'm one of the best guards of all time. You guys just don't want to put me in that conversation. And I understand it all throughout NBA history, you have to have championships to be able to put people in those kind of, I get it. It's part, it's part of the rules. I get it. So if he does win one, I'm going to be on this podcast next year making some crazy claims by this year because I think his game already screams it and people just don't want to say it for him. I'm 100% with you. I, maybe I'm putting too much weight on game seven where obviously he could just said monster stretches, but I thought he was largely really good against this phrase. He'd no help, right? AJ Mitchell's out. J. Dubb was out. You had like the best defense in the end or tied with Oklahoma City and Detroit, whatever. Like one of the three best defense in the NBA with an all time freak of nature waiting at the rim entirely locked in on him.

26:46And sure there were moments where he struggled, but like by and large he held his own like you would love for him to like fully add that pull up three that that's going to lock like a little bit more against those types of defenses. But I think he can like every year. He feels like he comes back and he's like a little bit better at that. He's a little bit better on the margins. And like you said it perfectly like he's he's cold. He's someone who almost no matter how his career finishes, I think the conversations about him will age well, just as you put up his highlight tape and you're like, this guy's just dirty and like as the foul baiting discourse like kind of disintegrates over time. Like we're just going to remember what a special player he was all the numbers to your point scream all time great, all time great. And he's just he's still like right there with Wembee like for the best situation in the league. You would say the thunder probably still going to win like five of the next 10 championships in the parody area there's stuff to figure out. Chad has to step up. Jada has to be healthy, but like it's still just a great roster. They still have more pick equity than any other team in the league like well set up for now in the future and to your point. Unlike Wembee, he's already like whatever 27 years old.

27:46I want to say turning 28 this year. I think same age is Luca like it's it's time for him to get on that horse and start winning because he has is a runway, but he doesn't have an infinite runway, especially in the modern NBA. All right. Can I guess who I think yours is? Yeah, please. Yeah. Is it Brunson? It is Jalen Brunson. Yeah. Okay. I knew you were on. Yeah. And I want to be clear. This is a little little homerific. I tip my cap to you. Not not picking Kate Cunningham and this you're a better man than me. No, you have a better argument here. Yeah. And this is me getting greedy a little bit because I think Jalen Brunson is currently in conflict. We talked about Luke and we're like, yeah, we all thought he's going to be best in the world. Top 10 all time. I think I'm going to go even three years ago. No one was close to those conversations on Jalen Brunson. Even if he won a second title, he would not probably be quite in those conversations. But you just talked about how hard it is to win a second title in the modern era. And I that got my gears turning. I got excited because I was like, you're right. And there are most people who I think are like smart analysts, smart fans, give the

28:47next their credit, give Jalen Brunson their credit. But there are definitely holdouts that are like that was fluky. It was BS, soft pat, young spurs who all those same people picked the spurs to beat the nix and five. And then after said they were too young, whatever, whatever. Screw it. I'm not mad about it. Point being, I think a second one in a row leaves no doubt. And to be clear, he's like, at all time hero in New York, not that he needs the help, but he'll never pay for a drink, a piece of food. People bow down to him. I read an anecdote the other day, Koo about like a second grade class where a kid answered every single question. Jalen Brunson on the first day of school, like that is the thing you're, that's amazing. Yeah, that kid should be in go conversations. But his legacy in New York is signed, sealed, delivered. But just from a league wide discord standpoint, like if you prove it on that and much has been made of the idea that SGA is a completely different category as him as a regular season player. And you look at their playoffs, that's the last five years. And they're pretty much the same. Like, I think there is a world where that like shoots him up and you're like, all right,

29:50do we have to talk about this guy is the best player in the world because as Nick spands off and say, everyone's better than Jalen Brunson until it comes time. In the final few minutes of a playoff game, we better than Jalen Brunson and he's the best guy on the floor. I to be clear, I think where he's currently ranked is around six in the NBA is totally fair. He has weaknesses. The next roster covers up those weaknesses very well. But I think if he does that again, Koo, we're good to have to have some talks. So I think this is it. I don't think you're being a homeer here. I think this is definitely a fair answer. The same thing we talked about with the other ones. He has one title, especially if he's the first one to be able to go back to back. Like, no, we haven't had a back to back champion since the Warriors. So if he's the first one to be able to do it, I mean, that would be huge. I mean, absolutely. This is my answer to it to kind of show you how I agree with you. A lot of the talks this all seems I've seen some Nick's fans and I think me and you have talked about this before. I've seen a lot of Nick's fans went back and forth with a lot of them trying to put him ahead of Steve Nash. And I thought that was just blasphemous. I was like, but Steve Nash is one of the best point cards of all time. He's much better than Brunch of Bob whatever. Yeah.

30:51If you were to win two, and I saw some people trying to put, I think what, where did Bill Sims? I'm sure you probably have, he had him like top 40, I think already like top. All time. I haven't seen it recently, but I would. I think he put him in that conversation. Now I was like, man, okay, we're going way too far. This is absolutely insane to put him in these conversations. You put him into or he gets to and he's the first one to go back to back. Then I think those conversations that people have him in right now. Now he can be in those kind of like, that's where I would go. If he can, if he goes back to back and gets to, okay, now I'll listen to you saying, okay, is he just like better than would you rather have him than Steve Nash? Is he a top 40 player of all time? Or like that's when I'll actually be like, okay, that's fair conversations. Right now, I think it's a little too fast. But it gets to back to back again, especially in this area like we've talked about. I think then he launches himself into those conversations. Yeah, that's fair. And I think this is, and this is why I thought they should have kept it to Robinson. I think they have a two year window at this point with everyone on all four. They're five of their core guys 28 to 32. Probably going to lose to speak right after this year if they don't have to trade him in season. Like this is sort of the window for them in the East.

31:51The East is crazy. It would like if they get to even the get to the finals this year, there'll be no doubting like, all right, what he had to accomplish to get there. Because you're going to have like three teams that I think have a shot at beating them in every single round. Even if they're healthy. Who were you? Who were your honorable mentioned guys real quick? We'll do this in a minute. Yeah. So I don't know. Honorable mentioned guys. Janus, you brought him up. Yeah. He was next for me. Yeah. Yeah. It's definitely for the same reason we've mentioned with everyone else. Um, and he's actually a little bit older than most of the guys we mentioned. So it is like, it might be even more on alert for him than you know, my only counterpoint to him was I just, I don't think Miami is any shot in a championship. If they win, I'll come back on and apologize to eat fans. I just, I don't think they can do it. And that is nothing to do with him. There's a play. I agree. Fair enough. That's fair. Um, this is a, this is an interesting one. This is a cool one. Kauai Leonard. Oh, what if Kauai, what if Kauai wins my San Antonio goes and wins one Toronto? Yeah. All this ball on him. He has this horrible off season. The terrible five years. It's not like it's like, oh, he had a doubt. And he wasn't him that it was that he was injured.

32:51He was incredible whenever he played in the playoffs. Right. Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah. You have all this situation, the cheating, the, the, the, the, the cheating. Or well, yeah, it's cheating. It was cheating. It was, yeah, it's cheating. Um, all this happened and then he just goes back to Toronto and just went to champion. He leaves, he leaves to another championship. Like, what do you say at that? Well, like this, like, does that make it even more of a cool story? Do we say banged like, man? You know what? Who cares? Like, what is it? I don't know. I think it just be like a fun cool story. So I was like, oh, that could be funny. And then the other one, oh, wait. Can I stop you? One quick, the, the, the, the Kauai post finals press conference for someone asked about the Clippers and he's like, I don't know if I'm allowed to do a quiet president. He's like, I don't know what you're talking about. I never left. I was always here. We just went back to back. That's not a good Kauai. Or someone who can do both, come probably maybe send it into the get Charles on here. Charles, I'm talking about. And then the two other ones that I was looking at and you tell me how you feel about this before we get out of here real quick. Sure. One of them is Jason Tatum. Do I have him? Yeah. Oh, yes. I think he could really launch up if he got one, especially they move off a brown.

33:54And then he takes the team and goes and wins the championship. I think it cast the litifies where he believes he should be at. So and so I think that would be huge. And then this is a, a sleeper one. Steph Curry. Hmm. If Steph were to find a way like I'm again, it's the same thing with Janice. The way it's like, oh, they don't have a chance. But like the one in 22 was already the one that was like, oh, yeah, he's top 10. Like that's crazy. If you were then somehow find a way to like, oh, you know what? I got one more left. If you that's crazy, you pulled it off. He would be like, okay, you're top five, man. Like you might be my goat. If they if with that team at 38, 39 years old, they went to title this year. I might just feel yeah, that's the best basketball player I've ever seen. I don't know how we did that. Yeah, or did or like a LeBron could like the other side of the NBA. If LeBron has a like and like I I don't like saying LeBron because I heard Charles Barkley on Bill Simmons like like knock him like he's 41. And he's still like a top 30 player in the world. Like like he's already hitting so far above like where he should be. But if he did it again, that would that'd be crazy.

34:55The only reason I picked LeBron is because some people already have him as the goat. So it was only he came and really go higher. So I was like, okay, well, he's already at the top. Yeah, it would be it would be a cherry on top. Obviously real quick. Other guys I had that you didn't mention your guy Kate Cunningham. If he did it, that would that would put him into conversation. Some fronting conversations, maybe even plus that. Anthony Edwards, I think there's an outside shot. Minnesota could compete for a title this year. Him being the best player on that team throw the male ball in there. I guess we could measure. I mean, that would be huge. Yeah. And then Donovan Mitchell is just someone who's kind of bummed me out just because like earlier in his career, like watching him in the bubble was like, all right, this guy's this guy's a monster. He's continued to be a monster in a lot of ways. One of the most unstoppable offensive forces in the NBA. They've been not great with him on the floor. The last two playoffs early in his cast career. They were amazing with him on the floor. That's probably just small sample size. I it would be if they even made the finals. I would really change my opinion of Donovan Mitchell. But we were at a time. That is it for today. This was so much fun. We hope you will tune back in next week of at least one more draft for you before we start getting into like direct season preview content.

35:57But until then, check out who unlocked on pistons. Check me out over at locked on nicks and check out locked on NBA daily coming to you. Monday through Friday long with locked on NBA game. Until then, so long we'll talk to you soon. On cow she you're trading against peers in a live market, meaning there's no house and as the probability changes, you can buy in and out of your position for a limited time. Download the cow she app and use code locked on to get $10 when you trade 10 KALS H.I. Cow she trade on anything 18 plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices, values and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see cow she.com slash regulatory. Sometimes you just want a little boost in something that tastes fun. That's where cotton candy five hour energy shots come in bringing back that classic nostalgic flavor with a modern twist because these cotton candy five hour energy shots don't just taste good. They deliver a tasty caffeine kick and a convenient zero sugar energy shot. You can take anywhere. It's perfect for anyone with a sweet tooth who doesn't want the sugar guilt afterward.

36:59Bring on the sweetness of cotton candy five hour energy shots available now online at five hour energy.com or Amazon. That's cotton candy five hour energy shots available at five hour energy.com or Amazon. The locked on podcast network is brought to you by Fandall baseball fans. If you think you know who's hitting a home or today, Fandall is giving you a free chance to call your shot with daily dingers. It's easy to play. Just make your free pick for who you think will hit a home run in their game. If you're right, you'll receive a profit boost to use on your next bet for a chance at extra winnocks. Best of all, you can make a free pick every day throughout the MLBCs. So are you ready to play your game today? Join all the action at fandall.com. That's fandall.com to play daily dingers and make your free pick on who's hitting a home or play ball and swing for the fences on Fandall, an official partner of the MLB.