Welcome in to the newest edition of the Justin
Time Sports Podcast. I am your owner and host,
Justin Jackson. And this week's episode, we'll
be discussing the NBA playoffs as we are barreling
closer to the NBA Finals, which gets started
on June 6th. We will also be talking about the
WNBA and what's happening there. We will also
have a little bit of video game talk and our
best for last. Now, as always, don't forget to
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Sports Podcast on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever
you get your podcasts. And, of course, don't
forget to follow the social media handle at JTimeSports.
I repeat, at JTimeSports for all of your breaking
news updates and coverage. Now, as always, don't
forget to sit back and get ready to learn something.
Just in time sports. Look, this is just a town
sports. Come and get your weekly takes his opinion
from the heart. He can never show you fake. If
you winning or you losing, he going to tell it
to you straight. How do you talk in basketball
without enjoying running base? If you got the
hottest dicks, you better come and make your
case. If you win a couple games, he might even
show you grace. JCS on every platform, we grow
to adaptation. Numbers going up the charts, we
create the separation. Louisiana till I die is
where I'm from, I can't replace it. Some people
minds are obtuse, but I like to be adjacent.
Giving my opinion like I'm Nick Wright or I'm
Jason. ESPN better watch out cause I'm coming
for the spaceship. We even tweeted. We'll be
right back. Welcome into the show. These are
my favorite shows to do. You get them a lot during
the summer. As you guys know, because I do teach,
I do coach high school football currently. So
as you guys know, this summertime is when you
get a lot of what I call my Insta release shows
where I record them. As soon as I get the editing
done, they're out to the public. And usually
it's kind of from a sense of urgency. Usually
in the summertime there's games on that night
or so on and so forth. But we actually are in
a off night because Oklahoma City Thunder have
already taken care of business. Once again, they
have eliminated somebody very quickly. But that's
what we're going to get started with. So we're
going to have a little NBA talk, a little WNBA
talk. We'll have probably some NFL popping there
at some point. It's not necessarily in the rundown.
However, I'm an NFL guy. I'm a football guy.
So I'm sure it'll pop up in there at some point.
So I'm just giving you guys a fair warning in
case it does. But our schedule is NBA, WNBA,
and CFB 26 will be our best for last. Because
the trailer dropped yesterday along with some
community notes. I'll actually be... A little
bit of scheduling news for me. I'd like to be
on the Nerdology podcast with CL Smooth Gaming.
So if you guys have watched the YouTube channel.
the YouTube show JTS at the Dark on the IMS production
channel. When we did our mock draft, CL Smooth
was actually on the stream. He was a big Saints
fan on the stream. I'll be on his podcast tonight
on the Nerdology podcast discussing all things
CFB 26 among some other things as well. So make
sure you guys tune into that and I'll actually
give my personal notes here and then I'll talk
with him a little bit more and see what he's
feeling on his show tonight. But the Oklahoma
City Thunder have already advanced to the NBA
finals. So and honestly, maybe doing football
early. Hold on. OK, so actually a little bit
of breaking news. Brian Huff is heading to the
San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a mid round
pick. They're working through restructuring Huff's
contract in order for the deal to go through.
But I told you football was bound to come into
the show somehow. I didn't know how, but it popped
in. And that is how. So Brian Huff, Bryce Huff,
sorry, is being moved from the Philadelphia Eagles
to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a
mid round pick. So we have our first. The interceding
of breaking news into the show that tends to
happen from time to time. I'm actually live tweeting
this as we speak. So you guys will know exactly
when I record this show today because the tweet
will come out at the same time that I'm telling
you guys this news. So again, Bryce Huff from
the Philadelphia Eagles to the San Francisco
49ers. In exchange for a mid -round pick, the
deal cannot be finalized, however, until June
1st due to league rules. But he is headed that
way, and they will be dividing salaries with
the Eagles taking on about $9 million and the
Niners taking on about $7 million of the salary.
Always interesting when those two teams do that.
To me, it shows a very strong motivation to get
rid of a guy if I'm willing to pay you nine million
dollars to not play for me. But also that probably
shows that he was potentially going to get cut
and they kind of doing him a solid by allowing
him to do that. So he had 17 fully guaranteed.
They restructured his deal. So the Eagles are
paying nine million, just over nine million.
And the Niners are paying just under eight to
get to his full 17 still. So, yeah, the Eagles
and the Niners are finalizing that trade. All
right. So back to what I was going to talk to.
I told you guys football just appears in this
show. But yeah, congratulations to the Oklahoma
City Thunder. And they have clinched the Western
Conference as they will advance to the NBA Finals.
Shea Gilchrist Alexander, after another great
series, actually was not his best series, but
no one in Oklahoma City besides him played individually
that much more amazing. He was able to win the
Western Conference Finals MVP. And Oklahoma City
Thunder advanced to their first. NBA Finals since
2012. This team has been absolutely dominant.
They're on a very short list of teams to win
80 games in a season. Why is that a hard thing
to do? Because in order for you to do that, you
have to win probably 65 -ish games in the regular
season. Or they're on the team with the ability
to win 80 games, I should say. You got to win
64, at least 64 regular season games and the
title. because if you do 63 or less, you will
never get to 80 because it's four times. You're
going to win 16 games in the playoffs, so if
you do 63 or less wins, you can never get to
80. So them being a 64 -plus win regular season
team, they have the ability now to join a very
short list of 80 win teams ever. You have the
73 -win Bulls. You have the 72 -10 Bulls. You
have the 73 -9 Warriors. There's a couple of
68 -win teams in there. I think it was like five
teams that ever win 80 games in a season. Plus,
you have to take the Warriors out if you do teams
that won the title because that 73 -9 Warriors
team was the famous 3 -1 comeback for LeBron.
Now, they ultimately won, I believe, 84 -ish
games, 85 -ish games, something like that. almost
90 games, but they ultimately lose in the finals.
So they're not even relegated as one of the greatest
teams of all time because of losing in the NBA
finals. But the Oklahoma City Thunder team was
one of the greatest teams by wins to ever play
basketball. However, I must apologize to them.
And I must apologize to them. for being unable
to see the forest for the trees. I came in a
few weeks ago and I was banging the table. Man,
unless the Nuggets and Celtics win, this is going
to be a historic title. This is going to be a
title that is unlike any other title in NBA history.
This is going to be a title that outside of the
Pistons, outside of the Pistons in 2003, there
were three Pistons. This is a title that is unknown
in modern NBA history, where you don't either
have the clear -cut best player or a guy you
can make the argument for, two of the top 10,
or three of the top 20. Five. Now, Dirk is the
title everybody sticks out. And my response every
time is, if you find a way to beat the Oklahoma
City Thunder with Kevin Durant and the Big 3,
You have a chance. I mean, Kevin Durant in the
big three. You also turn around and you beat
Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, who had just won
back -to -back titles. Right? So that team was
no slouch. And you turn around and you beat the
big three Miami Heat. You got an argument, especially
when you're easily the best player on the team.
So they beat the Portland Trailblazers. Okay.
Then they sweep the Lakers out. That's the famous
Andrew Bynum series. Then they beat OKC in five,
and they turn around and beat the Heat in six.
Yeah, you got an argument for the best player
in the world in my book if you pull those off
in consecutive runs, right? And so Dirk's title,
I think, goes into the best player in the world
category. At that moment, in the middle of June,
Dirk Nowitzki was the best player in basketball.
How can you argue he wasn't? He beat everybody
that was a challenger. At the time, it was Kobe,
LeBron, KD. It was like the big three in the
NBA. Duncan as well was a baller. But those three
were the big three in the NBA. Dirk beat two
of them. Dirk beat all three in one playoff run.
And no one went past his games. I kind of can't
argue. You know what I'm saying? It's an argument
to be had that Dirk was the best player in the
world. I wouldn't make it. But you can have the
argument. So he fits. Again, that Pistons team
in 04 was an outlier team. They had a bunch of
all -stars that year. They remind me of the Atlanta
Hawks team. They had the five all -stars and
everybody knew they weren't that good at football.
I mean, sorry, they weren't that good at basketball.
But they were, you know, they were really good
at basketball. The Pistons finished the job.
It was a weird year in the NBA. The Lakers ended
up making it back to the finals that year. But
Karl Malone was out. That was when the Lakers
got all the old heads. When they had Karl Malone,
Gary Payton, that crew. Karl Malone had missed
the whole season pretty much. Gary Payton had
missed the whole season pretty much. Kobe was
limping around. Shaq was gaining weight left
and right. And they went to the finals four years
in a row. Now, put into perspective, LeBron went
to the finals like nine years in a row or eight
years in a row. Put into perspective. But, hey,
some people don't get credit that others get.
Anyway. So I always went back to what my original
point was. I always kind of pointed to this year
being unconventional because the Nuggets had
the best player in the world, Jokic. Boston,
you could do two of the top 10 with Tatum and
Brown, but you can definitely give me three of
the top 25 with either Tatum, Brown, and White,
Tatum, Brown, and Drew, Tatum, Brown, and White,
or Tatum, Brown, and Drew because you could send
me three of the top 25. probably Tatum, Brown,
and White is your three to top 25. You can argue
two of the top 10 with Brown and Tatum, but for
sure, Tatum, Brown, and Drew, sorry, Tatum, Brown,
and Derek White was your three to top 25. Easy,
right? I was short -sighted. I always said Oklahoma
City didn't achieve. I said, Shane's not the
best player. I dismissed J -Dub. I dismissed
Luke Dort. I dismissed Chet Holmgren. I said,
okay, this is going to be a weird title. This
reminds me of the 70s. And I actually went and
looked. This title is going to be more weird
than the 70s because the 70s at least had a couple
of stars pop up in there. Like Kareem Abdul -Jabbar
won a title in the 70s. He was the best player
on the planet Earth. And the 70s only had six
different champions or five different champions.
This is going to be the seventh champion for
the seventh year in a row. So the 2020s have
had five different champions. I mean, even in
the 70s, that didn't happen because the Lakers,
the Knicks won two of the first five. They won
in 71 and 73, which, again, Phil Jackson was
playing basketball, so that tells you all you
need to know about that. But you had situations
where there's never been as much period in the
NBA. But back to my Oklahoma City point, I dismissed
them. But I dismissed them from shorthand and
I want to apologize to them. Shea Gilles Alexander
is a top three player in the NBA. Top five at
the worst. I'm going to say top three. I think
he's in that Jokic, Giannis, Shea. Kind of that's
the argument for best player in the world right
now. I can't really make a Luka argument. I can't
really make a Luka argument right now. Tatum's
blew his Achilles out. Can't make a Tatum argument.
I just seen Anthony Edwards in the playoffs.
I can't make an argument. So to me, those three
players are the best players in the NBA. And
if I'm missing somebody, I apologize. But those
three, to me, are the best three right now. It's
Shea, it's Jokic, and Giannis. Those were the
top three in the MVP race. And I think, honestly,
as far as best player in the world, I think you
just kind of just move Shea to three. I think
Jokic is the best player. I think Giannis is
right next to him. I think Shea is right after
him. And no shade to Shea at all being the third
best player in the world. It's just... Yogi,
to me, is clear -cut number one. Your argument
is Giannis. Shea and Giannis kind of do similar.
And Giannis is bigger, faster, and stronger.
Shea has a better jumper. Giannis is that much
better going to the goal. Defensively, it's Giannis.
Ball handling is Shea. Rebounding, it's Giannis.
So, you know what I'm saying? So, it's one of
those situations where you're splitting hairs
there. I'm going to go with the bigger, stronger
athlete being the better player. It's like when
LeBron and Kobe were battling for best player.
They were what and what talent -wise to me. For
most of their, like their primes overlapped a
little bit. LeBron hit like an 06 to 2012, and
that was kind of the tail end of Kobe's prime.
But to me, LeBron was the better player, but
he also was the bigger, faster, stronger player.
So if it came down to it was close, I'm going
to go with the bigger, faster, stronger player.
That's why I put Giannis over Shea. But Shea,
let's say he's the third best player in the world.
The All -NBA teams came out. And lo and behold,
sitting there on third team All -NBA is none
other than Thunder Wing Jalen Williams, a .k
.a. J -Dub. Well, that's interesting. Because
that means he has an argument as a top 10 player
in the NBA. But Justin, what do you mean? He
was third team, not second team. I agree. And
the All -NBA teams themselves are non -positional.
It's not the old days where you had to have two
guards, two forwards in the center. Now, granted,
it kind of worked out that way. Because if you
look at... The first team, you have Shea, Donovan
Mitchell, your guards, Tatum, Giannis, your wing,
your center. Your second team is Brunson and
Curry as your guards. You can make the argument
for Ed and LeBron to be your forwards, even though
Ed's on here as a guard. Mobley's your center.
Your third team is, okay, your third team's the
way it gets off because you really can't make
an argument for a forward on the third team.
However, J -Dub sits at third -team All -NBA,
which means he's potentially the 11th best player
in the NBA. And if I can make an argument for
you being 11, I can make an argument for you
being 10. So if I look at J -Dub and I look at,
let's say, LeBron James. Currently, who is...
No, I'm not going to make a LeBron James argument.
Evan Mobley. I get Evan Mobley was the POI. I
totally understand that. But if I had to pick
a starter, if I was starting a team and my argument
was J -Dub or Evan Mobley, who am I going to
select? Personally, I'm going to pick J -Dub.
And that's the only thing I got to do. I just
got to get one person off the team. I would make
an argument that J -Dub is a better basketball
player right this second than Evan Mobley. which
means J -Dub would qualify based on the All -NBA
teams, which is what people look at, All -NBA
and All -Pro. In the NFL, All -Pro, instead of
the Pro Bowl. NBA, it's All -NBA instead of the
All -Star game. I would look at, right this second,
J -Dub being the better player than Evan Mobley,
which means J -Dub, based on the All -NBA teams,
would have an argument for being a top 10 player
in the NBA, which means my history that I spoke
about before, over the last... Since the NBA
-ABA merger, you need either the best player,
two of the top 10, and three of the top 25 to
win an NBA title. That is what has happened in
the NBA since the NBA -ABA merger. And I always
say the NBA -ABA merger, worst come to worst,
1979. It's been disproven one time since 1979,
and that was the Pistons. This team, the Oklahoma
City Thunder, fits in that title. Shea's three
and J -Dub's ten. You have two of the top ten
players. And if we can use the logic that Dirk
became the best player after his title run, I
can use the argument that J -Dub can become the
tenth best player after his finals run. That's
all I need for my history to stay correct. So,
Oklahoma City Thunder, welcome to the NBA Championship
House. Welcome, welcome, welcome. You've been
cordially invited to your seat at the NBA Championship
House as a team to qualify for the ability to
win a title for two of the best ten players in
the league at the time you won your title. Congratulations
to Thunder. But, of course, they beat the Minnesota
Timberwolves, a team that many people thought
were going to be a team that was going to...
Potentially Anthony Edwards elevates himself
to the face of the league off this. Elevate himself
to where, you know, he's the guy. I think if
he won, people were going to say he was the best
player in the world. Hard to argue it. But he
didn't. Came up short. Had some bad games. Had
games where the relentlessness at Oklahoma City
defense, the Caruso, the Cason Wallaces, the
Lou Dortz, the Shakers, the Alexanders, the Nicky
Alexander Walkers. And I'm sure the J -dubs of
the world. And then you get past them and Chet
and Hartenstein are sitting at the rim. So that's
no fun, right? But this relentlessness is Oklahoma
City defense. This relentlessness of that team,
I don't think it tapped Anthony Airwood out.
I think it wore Anthony Airwood down. Because
you got him to where you're playing every other
day. So they beat you to smithereens for 48 minutes
on Tuesday. you'd rest recuperate and rehab on
Wednesday and guess what on Thursday they're
beating you to smithereens again like your body
didn't have a usual turnaround of playing maybe
a softer defense or taking that game off or something
that nature where you know you kind of get relief
because they weren't they weren't releasing and
um I think Minnesota needs to go make a move
but speaking of Minnesota what's next for them
They have no room in the front in their first
apron for their next season. They have about
$925 ,000 available for next season under the
first apron. If they were now, they have their
full second apron. They have $12 .9 million for
their second apron. They have their full second
apron as of now. So as we sit, you know, with
no moves being made, they still have $12 .8 million
under the second apron. If they were to make
a move, if they were to make a move, they have
two player option contracts. They have Julius
Randle and they have Nas Reed. Julius Randle
is at about 31 million. Nas Reed is at about
15 million. If you want to take a swing at a
superstar, that is what you would package. You
would package probably Randle and salary cap
filler. I'm thinking the Randle. Jesus, your
contracts are top heavy. Because in my opinion,
you wouldn't want to move D 'Vincenzo. He's making
$12 million a year as a 3 and D player. You're
not moving Rod Dillingham. No one's going to
want Terrence Shannon. And my brain, I think
my brain is like Kevin Durant. I think my brain
is thinking. Maybe not Kevin Durant, but a person
similar to Kevin Durant. Maybe a star who's looking
to move on. You take Julius Randle, make $31
million. You move him. in a signing trade or
extending trade, whatever, in a deal, you pick
up a Kevin Durant. I think KD's going to get
moved this offseason. And I think that'll be
the person that you will look for if you are
Minnesota in order to try and make the next step.
Because to me, you're going to need two things
to make a run next season. The Lakers are going
to be better. I'm going to be the bearer of bad
news. The Lakers are going to be better. They're
going to get a center. either via draft or via
trade. There's multiple trade centers out there
available. They're going to get a center. They're
probably going to get two. They're probably going
to get one that's pretty solid, and they're probably
going to get one that's rotational. And then
guess what they're going to do? They're going
to do it by keeping Austin Reeves. Should I be
the bearer of bad news? That's what's going to
happen. They're going to be able to keep Austin
Reeves. Again, I really wish, you know, I really
wish that wasn't the case. I really wish I could,
you know, tell people that, oh, the Lakers are
going to have to trade half their roster to get
a decent center. They're not. They're going to
do it by keeping Austin Reeves, LeBron, and Luka.
And they're going to do it, and they're going
to get a center. Cool? Cool. All right. So because
I'm looking at it at 25 -26, LeBron, Luka, Rui,
Dorian, Finney, Smith. So I'm looking at LeBron
and Luka are untouchable. Reeves is just the
money's too easy. He has a player option for
26 -27, but he's going to decline and go to true
unrestricted free agency. The money's too easy,
right? Rui Hachimor is making $18 .3 million.
The Laker, that's going to get traded to me for
a good center. Clint Capella, someone like that.
Maybe not Clint Capella literally, but someone
like that. And then Dorian Finney -Smith, to
me, $15 .3 million. If he accepts it, he's going
to get traded as well. Vanderbilt's making $11
.5 million. Vince is making $11 .5 million. Cleveland's
making $11 million. People are going to get moved,
right? You're already willing to move, don't
connect. So the Lakers are going to get better.
The Pelicans are going to get better. Why? The
Pelicans can't get worse. Right? The Pelicans
can't get worse. They're going to get better.
The Houston Rockets are going to get better.
I think Houston's going to land Kevin Durant.
Right? I think Houston's going to land KD. That's
just me. That's my opinion. I have no sourcing
on that. I just think Houston's going to land
Kevin Durant. And I'm just looking at... The
way moves were made and Houston owns Phoenix's
draft and Phoenix is going to get bad and blah,
blah, blah. I also think Giannis could end up
in San Antonio, which means San Antonio is going
to be really good. I don't think Cooper Flagg
is going to be a day one superstar in Dallas,
but Kyrie is probably going to come back around
Christmas. If he's fully ready to go by, let's
say, Valentine's Day. It's him. It's Cooper Flagg.
It's Anthony Davis. It's those bigs there. They
got a couple shooters. That could be a good team
as well. Nuggets aren't going anywhere at all
because they have the ability. They have their
coach in place. They can maneuver some contracts
as well. What I'm saying is Minnesota, in order
to compete, you're going to have to go make a
move. The Clippers aren't going anywhere either,
in my opinion. Ballmer's not going to allow it.
So you're going to have to go make a move. You're
the Clippers, in my opinion, in order to make
a big swing. That's it. In order to make a big
step, got to make a move. I'm staring at Julius
Randle's contract. Staring at Jaden McDaniel's
$25 million contract. I'm staring at Nas Reed's
$15 million. Devin Chinzo's $12 million. I don't
think Conley's going to get moved. But if I had
to make a bet, I think your sweet spot is Randle's
$31 million expiring. J .M. McDaniel, 25. Nas
Reese, 15, expiring. D. Vincenzo's, 12. It's
the kind that I would look to package, make moves,
swing. Okay. And then Anthony Edwards has to
step up. He was getting his crown fitted for
the best player in the world, and it broke. And
I think Anthony Edwards, he's going to get a
reputation now as a legend killer, but he gets
beat by his peers. So remember two or last year's
playoffs, he swept out the Phoenix Suns, Kevin
Durant. He put the Grim Reaper's shank in his
mantle. And then Luka got him. Right? And then
this year, he beats LeBron and Luka. He gets
payback on Luka. He beats LeBron and Luka. He
takes the crown, the broken crown, sat in his
house. You know? Then he goes to the Warriors
and, hell, Steph got hurt. Who cares? He takes
the Warriors. He puts it in his house. And then
Shea Gills Alexander says, thank you, but go
home now. And he loses to another one of his
peers. At a certain point, losing to your peers
is going to become unacceptable. And I think
that he has a great reputation. I think that
he's earned his reputation. I think he is a guy
that has earned the right to do, to have the
reputation of a legend killer. He's killed three
legends. He's LeBron. He's knocked out LeBron,
Steph, and KD in two consecutive playoffs. He
has a right to walk around as a legend killer.
But he's losing to his peers. He has no Western
Conference title. Shea does. Luka does. He has
no finals appearances. He has no MVPs. I don't
think he's ever been first team on the NBA. I
think his reputation is out preceding his play
right now. And I think he's going to need to
fix that before the Timberwolves, they would
make the next step. But on a series that's still
going, and I won't spend a ton of time on it,
but the Eastern Conference playoffs is still
going. Shout out to the New York Knicks for absolutely
blowing out. The Minnesota, not Minnesota, the
Indiana Pacers last night as they were up Schitt's
Creek without a paddle. And they survived. They
smacked the Indiana Pacers last night. And the
Pacers came out with a team that looked like
they wanted to end the game quickly. But they
also kind of played quarters two through three
to me as if they were comfortable going home.
Oklahoma City crazy enough played with a desperation
game four to go home. We're going to play so
hard, so fast, so physical in game four that
we're going to basically break up mentally for
game five. We're going to run away in game five.
Indiana played like, okay, if we win it here,
great. But if we don't, we go back to our building.
It's a dangerous game. It's a dangerous game
because I always look, and my reference point
is always 3 -1 comebacks. That team that has
that one game to win, and every 3 -1 comeback
has a hinge game where either you have to go
on the road or you have to win that pressure
-packed home game. It's usually the Game 6. Game
6 is the hardest one of the 3 -1 comebacks to
me. If you can get game six, oh, it's on probably
game seven. So, for instance, with the Knicks,
they weren't going to lose at home, right? That
was not happening. So then the biggest game is
game six because you go back into that building
for game seven and you tell the city of New York
and those Knicks players they have to win one
home game. For the NBA Finals to be back in New
York for the first time since 2000 or 1999, you're
not going to win that game for the Pacers. You're
just not. That's going to be an environment unlike
any environment in the NBA. Oklahoma City's crazy.
The Garden is insane. You know what I'm saying?
That's why I want to see that Finals personally.
Because it's too crazy. Now, Indiana's going
to be wild, right? But the Garden is like the
Mecca on steroids. I mean, it's called the Mecca
of basketball. And then Oklahoma City is going
to be like the greatest college team ever, which
it may not be because their average price right
now is like $6 .17 to get in for games. So they
may not have their normal collegiate field because
a lot of their fans. Those fans that go crazy
in their college -style fans probably can't afford
to get into the game. So that's a whole different
conversation there. But they have the crazy college
-style environment as the only pro team in Oklahoma.
And then the garden would be just, I don't even
know what to describe the garden sometimes. It's
loud, it's raucous, it's loud drunk men in suits
going crazy. It's the weirdest thing ever. but
it works for them, and it's amazing. And so that
would be two crazy environments. But again, Indiana,
if you want to win this series, Tyrese Halliburton,
Miles Turner, Benedict Matherin, Aaron Neesmith,
T .J. McConnell, Rick Carlisle, the head coach,
if you want to win the NBA, if you want a chance
at the NBA Finals, you have to win Game 6. You're
not going to win Game 7 in the Garden. And if
you're the Knicks, to me, all you got to do is
win game six. You get it back in that garden,
that first 10 -2 run in the first quarter to
go up 10, the game's over. Now, Indiana's the
comeback kids. They're the kids of the comeback.
They've been figuring it out all playoffs. But
I think mentally, that's going to be a pressure.
The entire state of New York is going to be on
the back of the Indiana Pacers, riding them with
the weight of the state of Indiana on their chest.
And that's just, that's going to be a lot. to
overcome every every miss every turnover every
blocked shot every you know three you give up
it's gonna feel like a bomb's going off um and
that and that's just a brutal way that's a brutal
path trying to get to the finals but up next
oh prediction prediction sorry i forgot prediction
uh i predict that the knicks come back I think
the Knicks pull off a 3 -1 comeback, and they
play the Oklahoma City Thunder. We'll have another
show after the series is over to discuss the
NBA Finals, but I do predict right now that the
Knicks will come back and win the Eastern Conference,
and we'll have Oklahoma City and the Knicks in
the Finals. But up next, we're going to talk
about the WNBA, what's going down with the W.
Welcome back into the show. And now we're going
to talk about the WNBA and what's happening there.
It won't be a lot of chatter here. Just a little
some quick hits. Just before I would notice him
going down the league. So, of course, Caitlin
Clark is injured. She has a left quad strange.
He's out two weeks at least. The Indiana Fever
has lost their only game without her. Although
it was close. Although several season highs were
made. So I think not having an ecosystem is going
to allow some of those players to play their
more natural game. Like, Dawana Bonner's a scorer.
She's one of those, you know, she hits you for
15 to 18 points a night. She went 21, and she
hasn't gotten anywhere near that when she's playing
with Kaitlyn Clark. And I think playing with
such an ecosystem -style player makes people
play off that person. So even when that person's
not there, as far as, like, subbed out, they
still are kind of looking for the ecosystem.
Sort of like what Dallas has going on. I just
watched them play, so I'll speak on them. I watched
them play last night versus Chicago Sky. Dallas
has a bad tendency of watching Enrique Gumbawale
and just trying to screen for Paige Beckers.
So the Dallas Wings, and that's the problem with
the way the WBA season is set up, The Dallas
Wings didn't have a two, three -month training
camp. So it wasn't like, you know, because Paige
was in college two months ago. You know what
I'm saying? Paige was winning the college championship
two months ago. And, you know, Rike Gumbawale,
I believe, was overseas. No, she was in Unrivaled.
So was Melissa Smith and et cetera. But, you
know, so the two main players on the team, one
was in Unrivaled and one was in college basketball.
It's not like the NBA where a player gets drafted.
you know, in July, June, July -ish, July, and
they don't play their first game until October.
Well, they've got to have rookie camp. They're
going to have the summer league, rookie camp,
mini camp, training camp, basketball. Before
they play one real game, they're going to have
two to three to four months in the organization,
working with the staff, working with the coaches,
working on the training, working with the players.
They're going to meet somewhere in the summertime,
play pickup runs together. They used to play
with each other and et cetera. And that's not
going to happen in the W. Now, I think next year
they're going to look a lot better. But you always
see teams in the W, especially, like I said,
Dallas. Enrique Gumbuale started going ballistic.
She dropped 37, most of it in the second half.
She's going absolutely ballistic. Every time
she touched the ball, it was one screen and people
just stood there. And she shot the ball. Paige
Beckers gets it, and it's more movement. But
it's moving. I feel like everybody's setting
her a screen. It looks like everybody was screening
for her. Melissa Smith came and set a screen.
They go wild and did like a bluff screen. Somebody
else came and did a screen. Like, I don't know
if that's coaching or what, but it feels like
when you have that one good ball handler in high
school basketball and everybody else trying to
get him free or get her free, that's what it
felt like. It felt like, okay, well, Arike is
going off. She's going to do her thing if she
gets it. But while Paige has it, We're going
to just try to get her free for a bucket. And
it was very, very AAU -ish, very high school
basketball -ish. I think when Chicago and Tyler
Marston, Chicago's head coach, kind of figured
out what was going on, he kind of just made her
a force. He made her get the ball up on the screen.
Because at that point, you weren't really looking
to score your own. You were looking to screen
for pays to get her open. Either the spoon, Fiji
for a layup. or to shoot a jumper herself. And
like I said, with the Rike going off, it made
you watch the Rike shoot the ball. So that was
pretty interesting there. On the other side,
oh, and Paige Beckers is doing things that was
a lot better than Kaitlyn Clark's doing them.
I'm going to be the person to just say that.
Statistically, sorry, she is definitely the best
player. Best rookie we've seen start. Now, Caitlin
Clark had the explosive plays. She had the 35
-foot bombs, et cetera. But Paige Becker, as
people forget, in that famous class of 2020,
that high school class, Paige was the best player
in the class. She's the reason why Caitlin Clark
didn't go to UConn. So she's always been the
person that, The person that was kept just a
little bit better than Kaitlyn Clark, right?
It was never a massive chasm, but she's always
been just a little bit better. So at this current
juncture during her rookie year, she's better
at this point in her rookie year than Kaitlyn
Clark was. I'm not shading Kaitlyn Clark. It's
just the truth. Again, Kaitlyn had the fanfare,
and Kaitlyn had the 30 -foot bombs, and so on
and so forth. Paige right now is a little bit
of a better player at this stage in their careers.
And, you know, one year ago for Kaitlyn. You
know, because Kayla really picked up in the second
half of the season. And then a couple of personnel
notes. A couple of personnel notes. Nafisa Collier
might be the best player in the world. Minnesota
links forward. Nafisa Collier might be the best
player in the world. She's insane. And I pushed
back on it and I said Asia Wilson. It might be
Fee. Fee might be the best player in the world.
She is ridiculous. I mean, her numbers are insane
this season. She's looking like a player who
I know I'm the best player in the world, and
I'm going to play like I'm the best player in
the world. And when a player begins to do that,
it makes it hard to beat them. I mean, right
now she's averaging 20. Right now Fee is averaging
26 .8 points a game. Eight rebounds a game, three
assists, two and a half steals. I mean, she's
doing this. I mean, she's only done five games
so far, but she's doing this along with one and
a half blocks on 52 % shooting from the field,
44 % from three, 94 % from the free throw line.
I mean, she's playing like she's the best player
in the world. Kudos to her. And my personal best
player in the world, Asia Wilson. I think it's
time for her to move on from Vegas, or she needs
to do a lot of demanding of Las Vegas. I don't
think the team is built around her to succeed
at the maximum level that she needs to succeed
at right now. I think that they're, but again,
they're gelling. Again, they don't have the situation
that the NBA is happening. So I think right now
she's going to look at potentially other opportunities,
maybe in this offseason, if this season were
to continue to go the way it is. I think they're
very, very herd dependent in the league with
so much talent. And they have talent. They have
Chelsea Gray. They have Jackie Young. They have
Jewel Lloyd. They have talent around her. I just
think currently the mix isn't mixing as best
as it could. And therefore, I think it may be
a situation where not the rumor mill has started.
This is Asia's last run with Vegas. Will she
move on after this season? The rumor mill has
started. Personally, I say no. I don't think
she moves on. I think there's maybe wholesale
changes if the season were to continue to go
the way it goes. But I don't think she moves
on. Ultimately, I think the A's get it fixed.
I believe too much in those four players I named,
along with head coach Becky Hammond, to just
kind of throw the season down a total, especially
what, five games in, six games in. I think it's
too early to make any massive. any massive judgments
or massive decisions again it's early it's a
40 game season they're on game like five or six
um so i think it's very early in order to just
make a wholesale change oh she's gone um but
i do think it's something to discuss i do think
it's something to keep an eye on as this season
progresses but up next and our best for last
we're gonna have a quick chat about cosmo ball
26 Welcome back into the show. And now we're
going to have our best for last, which is going
to be a discussion on CFB 26. EA College Football
26 has been released. and in the trailer for
it looks amazing there's dynamic lighting so
one of the big things people complain about was
that night games and day games kind of felt the
same right and it's not one of those things you
really notice until like it rained so i know
like when the game first came out and that's
and it was they said it when the 25 came out
it was a base game it was the smallest game on
the market pretty much it was half the size of
a madden a third of the size of a 2k You know,
like, it really was just a good base game. One
thing that I noticed almost immediately when
I played it was that lighting kind of felt the
same. And lighting is not something you notice
until it's bad. And I remember playing in the
Superdome, Sugar Bowl game, playing in the Superdome,
and it was so bright. I remember going, oh, my
God. I've been in the Superdome. It's not this
bright. It was so bright. It was ridiculous.
And I ended up updating it and toning it down,
et cetera. um was an issue um and then they listened
to community notes big time on this and i'm gonna
get into all this a lot more in nerdology or
on the on the nerdology show with cl smooth gaming
and that'll be tonight so then make sure you
tune into that whenever that is released i think
he live streams it actually so tune in i'll definitely
make sure to uh put it on social media whenever
it's aired but um There's 2 ,800 new plays. There's
unique schemes, like Rice's Modern Option or
Penn State's Gadget Heavy. And the Gadget Heavy
options went like they were putting, like, offensive
linemen were at receiver. Tyler Warren was at
O -line. Tyler Warren was slipping out, but the
O -linemen were, like, it was, they all kind
of said weird stuff. Anyway, there's 300 coaches,
300 real world coaches. So, and when the number
came out, like, 300, that's not 300 Division
I teams. There isn't. There's 112, I think, FBS
teams. Not every coach is in there. Not every
head coach is in there. For instance, nobody
on Colorado staff is in. Nobody on North Carolina
staff is in. Dion and Belichick both said no.
However, a lot of schools have at least their
head coach. Most have both coordinators. So it
was interesting with LSU, for instance, they
went Joe Sloan because he's really out to see.
Blake Baker is the D .C. and Brian Kelly is the
head coach. They're all in. Ohio State staff
is in. So that's going to make it interesting
in terms of dynasty mode. So let's say you're
a dynasty team and you have a school and you're,
let's say you're OC. Let's say I pick LSU, for
instance. My HC, let's say Joe Sloan leaves and
goes to be the head coach at Oregon State. Well,
Oregon State only has their head coach in, but
let's say it would be the head coach of Oregon
State. And then Dan, Ohio State tanks for some
reason. Dan, I can't think of his name in Ohio
State right now. But let's say Dan Lanning gets
fired at Oregon. I can bring in Dan Lanning as
my DC at LSU. That's pretty cool, right? And
that's something that I hope they do because
that's not something that was done in Madden.
Madden never had the coordinators in. So if your
head coach got fired, if you wanted that coach
had to fire your head coach to get that head
coach. But NBA 2K does that where like Taylor
Jenkins gets fired from the Grizzlies. I can
have Taylor Jenkins, my lead assistant coach.
He's on my bench now. So that, you know, that's
pretty cool. They updated the wear and tear.
They've done way more stuff to the tackling.
Home Fit Advantage is supposed to be insane.
They've also added a lot more game day stuff.
In the trailer, they show Clemson getting off
the bus, which is something that is what they
really do. They get off the bus, and then they
run down the hill. They do a lap around the stadium
in the buses, and then they run down the hill.
In the game 25, they just ran down the hill.
Cross -playing Dynasty mode is going to be wild.
Road to Glory, apparently, you can throw the
hat. You can commit and decommit. And then team
builder from 25 is translating over into 26.
So I know me personally. I'm a Southeastern alum.
Of course, we're not in the game yet. I'm also
an LSU alum. We are in the game. But as a Southeastern
alum, I built Southeastern from scratch. Now,
I took some liberties with uniforms. I took some
liberties with stadium. But I built them from
scratch. So I'm actually going to probably go
back in now that I know that we're translating
from 26. And you can do team builder offline
in 26. I'm probably going to end up redoing them
and just changing the stadium because right now
I'm in Georgia State Stadium and stuff like that.
But without getting into too many details, and
I'll get into more details on Nerdology, like
I said, we'll see us move gaming tonight. So
make sure you guys tune in for that. But that
is all I have for today. Covered a wide range
of topics. Wasn't supposed to have any football
in it, but broke news in football. And then with
the NBA, WNBA and CFB 26. Again, tune into Nerdology
tonight with CS Move Gaming. I will be on there
along with Jai, who you guys see from the JTS
After Dark show. He will be on there as well
at some point. Don't know if he's going to be
there at the beginning, but he will be there
on. He will be on there at some point. I will
be on there for at least the CFB 26 segment.
But that is all I have for today. This is your
host, Justin Jackson, signing out.