ASIAN GUYS TALK NBA: Is LeBron Too Old? Will Celtics Finally Win?

Well, you might as well give the Boston Celtics the Larry O'Brien trophy right now, because if they don't win it this year... Yeah, we're gonna have a riot in Boston, and you're gonna have to park your car far from half a yard. All right, you guys, we gotta talk about it. The 2023-2024 NBA season is upon us. Andrew, the preseason has started, and we have not done one of these Asian guys talk about the NBA videos in quite some time, so make sure you like, subscribe, and turn on your notifications. But real quick, Andrew, you know what else is a slam dunk? Smalasauce! Still, you can get it. Check out the Instagram page at Smalasauce to see all the content we've been making. It's been very fun. It's also very delicious, smalasauce.com. But, David, here are our hot takes for the NBA season. You guys let us know if you agree or disagree, but these are just our opinions. I'm telling you, guys, the Boston pressure is on this year. Andrew, they have the highest-paid player in NBA history, Jalen Brown, even though some people say he can't dribble with his left. I think sometimes he has it, sometimes he doesn't. Andrew, they also re-signed the taller, former Larry Bird comparison player, Christoph Porzingis. Wow, I mean, they call him the unicorn for a reason. And they have the white best American white point guard right now, Peyton Pritchard. Peyton Pritchard's going off, man. Look for him this year. And, of course, Andrew, Jason Tatum is Jason Tatum, and he's going to be on the second installment of his signature basketball shoe, the JV-1. Well, don't forget they got one of the best defending guards, Drew Holliday, coming in from the Bucs. So, I guess I would say, David, between their version of Fred Van Fleet, they got Drew Holliday, Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown, Porzingis, and almost everybody else that they had from last year, they're going to win it. Yeah, I mean, if you look at the fan-duel odds right now, you know, all the sportsbooks bettors where they got all these NASA scientists crunching all the algos and the equations, Andrew. The Boston Celtics have, like, the highest probability of winning the NBA championship right now. Yes, do they got some bench concerns? Is Luke Cornett going to be, like, you know, elevating his play because they lost a bunch of key role players? But then Derek White, he stepped it up, and he found a new dimension to his game. I mean, these are good questions, right? I think anything short of a championship will be considered a disappointment this year. Now, they better at least go to the finals. If they don't even make it to the finals, I think it's going to be embarrassing. If they don't win the finals, it will be a slight disappointment. Yeah, I mean, this is a team, Andrew, that is all in on the next three years. And let's be honest, I'll just give you my hot take right now. I wouldn't be shocked if they keep everybody healthy, and this is a big if, because Krzysztof gets injured all the time, right? They could win two out of the next three years. Doubt it. I don't believe it. What do you mean? You don't have any faith in Boston? No, it's not Boston. The Celtics are a great franchise. I don't know, something about Tatum and Jalen, I just, I don't know. I mean, there is some redundancy, right? They hunt for the same shots often. But anyways, you guys let us know in the comments down below what you think. Moving on to the Bucks, Andrew, what do you think, man? They swapped out defense for offense. I think that this season is going to say a lot about Dane Lillard, because you gave him Giannis now, he's in a different city, got out of Portland. Well, he's going to be the 1B. Can he help actually help a team win a lot of games deep into the playoffs, is the question. Oh, yeah. Are you saying that Dane, he might just like to hizzy pull 40 footers down the, you know, when he comes down the court, and that's not how we play in Milwaukee. But that's not to take away Dane's successes that he has had in Portland, you know, essentially by himself. But, you know, given another Hall of Fame talent, can they actually go to the final? Do you think Drew benefited the Celtics more or Dane benefited the Bucks more? Because the Bucks, they've always had offensive issues. Right. I think Drew, in a way, helps the Celtics a little bit more because he fits in, he plays a role. I mean, he's coming in as what, third, third option, fourth option, maybe. So I'm saying now you have a great fourth option, while Dane, he's a great second option. But I don't know. I mean, they lose defense. Dane averaged 32 point something points a game last year. What do you think he's averaging this year, realistically? Probably less, but he's going to average more assists because he's going to do pick and roll with Giannis and Brook Lopez a lot. So I think he averages eight assists and 28 points. And way better shooting efficiency splits or similar shooting efficiency splits? Probably better efficiency splits. He's going to get better shots. You know what I think a lot of people don't talk about anymore, Andrew, is Chris Middleton. If Chris Middleton can regain his borderline fringe all-star form, they are going to be a problem. Also, how much does Brook Lopez have left in the tank? I feel like his long three ability, sometimes one season he has it, another season it goes away, and then he gets it back. He's kind of inconsistent with the three-point shooting. And they're going to be spacing it crazy for Giannis to come down the lane this time. Exactly. David, the suns. Everybody's talking about the suns. Oh, also, I don't think that Giannis is going to shoot as many threes. Because you know how Giannis was always trying to expand his game because he had to? Oh, yeah. He's probably just going to give up on that project. Oh, I think he's going to launch at least one a game. Yeah, but like, you know, he was trying to shoot like more than one a game at one point. Moving on to the suns, Andrew, they got three 30-point-per-game scores. They just put up 45 in the first quarter of their first preseason game, Andrew. They have no defense. They have no point guard. They have no bench. But can they simply outscore everybody on their way to a championship? No, they're not going to win a championship this year. I don't think so. I think they're going to put up buckets. I think they're going to have incredible offensive games. I also think that this team can lose big, too. You're saying what? Who's going to stop? Listen, Bradley Beal, decent defender. Devin Booker, you know, Katie's actually a pretty decent defender, but he's getting older. And it's just kind of like all three of those guys can kind of do the same thing in a good way, but also a bad way. You know what I mean? You're talking about combo, combo, step back. They can all dribble, walk down, dribble, pull up a three. Is Yuta Watanabe going to be key? Because here's the thing. You know, if you guys know about the way the schemes work in the NBA, Andrew, you're always giving up something. That corner three to Yuta Watanabe, the teams are going to give that up every game. Even if Yuta hits like a 40% clip, they're still going to give it up. I mean, Yuta's going to have to hit that. He's going to have to hit it, man. Yo, I'm looking for Yuta Watanabe to have a Quinton Richardson on the Phoenix Suns with Steve Nash type of year. High volume, high efficiency, but open shots. Who will pass the ball on that team? Katie likes passing it to Yuta. I don't know about that. Katie's not a great passer, though. No, he always makes it if it's easy. I would probably say Bradley Beal has the most creation ability there. Creation practice, maybe. D-Book is got, you know, a lot of people always say D-Book and Jason Tatum, Andrew. These are natural scores. They always look for their own shot first. They have improved in other aspects of their game. But how much and will they get put in those scenarios? Moving on to point number four, Andrew, the Warriors. They're going to have a good flow offensively, right? Did you see the pass that CP just threw, Steph Curry? Incredibly high IQ on that team. I mean, you just added, there's only three, like four players in the league that I consider on that level of IQ. LeBron, Steph, Luka, and CP. You're talking about S-tier. And CP and Steph, the two probably highest IQ guards in the league are on the same team. Now, what does that mean? Because CP's old, Steph's getting a little older, although Steph's really good. They're small guys, both 6'3 and 6'1. So if they give it up on the perimeter point of attack, so then the other team gains penetration, who is the big that's going to step up and get the stop? Klay? Wiggins? Who knows? I mean, is Kuminga, I mean, I know he's athletic, but is he going to be playing major minutes, disrupting the defense and be crazy switchable and understand the schemes and know what plays everybody's running? Size is going to be an issue for them. But other than that, I still think that they're going to do pretty well. Yeah, you know, it's interesting, Andrew, the Celtics, and especially Phoenix, still missing a starting point guard. That's like really like pass first because, you know, obviously those guards have started to go away in modern day. And nobody's talking about Denver. They just won the chip. Everybody's just talking about how Jokic didn't touch a basketball in Serbia all summer, you know, drinking beers, racing horses. What do you think? Are people sleeping on them? Because I know you're a nugget. I would say you're anti-nuggets. I'm not anti-nuggets. I like them as a team. But as an organization, having to repeat repeats don't happen often, bro. You know who are the teams that repeated recently? Dynasties, right? Miami Heat with LeBron and D-Wade. They repeated once. Lakers repeated. That's it. Even the Spurs? Well, the Warriors and the Spurs have in the past. Not recently. Recently. Yeah. Wait. When did the Warriors? Did they skip the year? No, they repeated with KD. Oh, yeah. They repeated with KD. But, so I'm saying, do you think that they have that type of organization that can do a repeat? I think here's my honest take. Everybody's underrating them. Because Jamal could come back and be like playoff Jamal during the regular season. MPJ, yeah, they lost Bruce Brown, who was crucial. MPJ probably is only going to get more consistent, right? He's not going to stay an inconsistent, like, score forever. So, they have the chemistry. They might not have as much talent as some of the, you know, these other teams are like stacking crazy talent. But they got a chance, man. Yeah. I'm just not surprised if they don't repeat is what I'm saying. Okay. You're against it. I mean, I think out of like six teams, I think they have the third best odds, you know, right now. Behind, I believe, I want to say Celtics and Phoenix. And then Bucks are the top three in terms of probability right now. Point number six, Andrew. Which Asians have a chance to make it in the NBA? Right now, there's Yuta Watanabe, Rui Hachimura's half Asian. He was raised in Japan. Who else do you think has a chance? Man, obviously, there's a couple Korean players that are actually kind of on the cusp of, right? One's in the G League. Hyun Jung Lee. He's not going to make it. His shot's too slow, and he's probably not athletic enough. He's kind of like a, I would say, to be honest, a B grades Davis Bertans, right? Yeah. But he's tall. Yudai Baba from Japan, also in the G League. It's going to be tough for him to get a call up because he's not a sharp shooter. Right. And we're talking about players from Asia. There are some mixed Asian-Americans that are probably going to go in the league. I think Johnny Juzang will probably go get drafted at some level, maybe early second round. Zach Eady. Oh, yeah. Zach Eady's going to go. No, but I don't think he's going to go. I mean, I think, I forgot if he returned for his senior season or he's not. Oh, no. No, he returned for his senior season. So he's not in the draft. He's going to go to the G League, though. But who knows? You know, the G League is much more competitive now than it used to be. Moving on real quick, Andrew. The Nets, you know, rebuilding year. They're going with McHale. They're going with Cam Johnson. Very sensible contracts. Very highly algorithmically efficient players. I feel like the team is going to have good chemistry and a good culture now, which I think is good. But is the spotlight and the expectations on them? The answer is no. Right. But I think that it's kind of good building blocks. I think that's what people are hopeful for. Yeah. I like the guys. They seem like they're all on the same page. They work hard. Nobody's an outlier. Nobody's a diva. Yeah. And really long and switchable defensively. So a lot of teams are going to be like, man, they're tough to score on. They have a very fatherly coach in Jacques Vaughn. Yeah. Shout out to him. Moving on to Knicks. Andrew, are the Knicks going to overachieve like they did last year? Because Jalen Brunson surprised everybody being way better than everybody thought. I think the Knicks are going to do OK. They have good defense. Jalen Brunson's a great leader, great centerpiece. But yeah, what are your expectations for the Knicks? I'm thinking like second round. I'd be surprised if they made it. I mean, I could see them getting to the second round again. Yeah. Honestly. Yo, real quick, Andrew. This isn't on here. What do you think about the Indiana Pacers giving everybody like 50, 40, 30, $20 million a year? They gave Bruce Brown $20 million a year to steal him from the Nuggets. And they gave Tyrese Halliburton something like $35, $40 million a year. It'll be interesting. Tyrese Halliburton to Bruce Brown. I think there's a lot of assists to go around. But that's not necessarily the system that like Bruce Brown, I think, is designed for. Right. You're saying he's designed to elevate an already well-oiled machine rather than be a floor raiser. He's more of a ceiling raiser. Bruce Brown is a great fifth option. Great fifth option. Yeah, he did great in the finals. Andrew, is Victor Webanyama the truth or Scoot Henderson the truth? I think Victor's going to still have a learning curve in the NBA. I think he's going to show flashes of greatness. But I'm not going to expect him to go 25 and 10 his rookie year. But I think he is going to be a great player, though. I got him for 19, 7, and 4 on bad splits. Bad splits? Yeah, bad splits. Because when you're a rookie and you have the green light and your team, in a way, wants to do bad so they can get another draft pick to pair you with, they're just going to let you go out there and cook. But I think he's going to struggle with the strength. What do you think about some people saying, I don't know. I like Chet's game more than Webanyama's. I don't know. We'll see. Chet's coming back. He's healthy, so I don't know. Do you see Scoot Henderson more as a Dennis Smith Jr., as a Russell Westbrook, or more of a Derrick Rose? More of a shooter than a Westbrook. That's a good point. Scoot Henderson is, you know. He's more of a Dane kind of thing. I don't know. It'd be interesting to see how his shooting improves. I think that that's the main key. Because you haven't seen a guy, because D. Rose struggled from 3, Westbrook struggled from 3. And even like Jod, you know, he can shoot the 3 in the clutch, but you don't want him to shoot. David, what do you think about this new league rule against load management for superstars? Yeah. Kawhi kind of said, you know, man, I'm not load managing. If I'm hurt, I'm hurt. But I would say this. You know, they had to do it. Because the ratings for the NBA, Andrew, interestingly enough, even though the NBA is as popular in terms of highlights, Andrew, people watching games is going down. But people going highlights is going up. A lot of people watching highlights, right? David, Kevin Porter Jr. I don't think Kevin Porter Jr. is ever going to play in the NBA again. Not to be confused with Michael Porter Jr., guys. Kevin Porter Jr. Yeah. Both from Seattle or both played high school in Seattle at least. I would say this. I don't think Kevin Porter Jr. should ever play in the NBA again. Yeah. I think he's got too many complaints on him. And it's not just the recent one. It's literally throughout his whole NBA career he's had issues. But it's crazy because he's 23, very, very talented, like a starter level player. I don't think he was ever destined to be an all-star, even though he has all-star creation talent. I don't know. I just think the league, if anything, is going to be like at least five years. I'm interested to see if even overseas teams want that volatility, to be honest. What do you think about all the old stars coming back to Team USA because they just got their ass kicked in the FIBA World Cup? Oh, you mean it's not official, though, that like Steph and LeBron are in it. That's the talk. That's the feeling. Yeah. That's the vibe. Doesn't this always happen, though? The young players, they come in, they mess it up, they lose, and then the old guys are like, all right. They shame the American name, and then the old guys got to come in. I think this is the last time that they're going to do it. Like LeBron cannot do another Olympics in four years from now. They're kind of assembling. What was that movie series where they got Sylvester Stallone and Jet Li? Expendables. Yeah. That's kind of like them coming back. One last hurrah, like, come on, guys. Speaking of one last hurrah, Andrew, John Moran is suspended for 25 games at the beginning of this NBA season. Guess who they got to fill in for? Derrick Rose. I think that's good. I think it's good. I think Derrick Rose, you know, he's from a similar background. You know, he's from the hood. He's going to be able to mentor him well. Did you hear what D. Rose said, though? I'm not here to babysit anybody. I'm here to lead by example. Yeah. He said, I'm not going to be checking in with you, texting with you. No, no, no. I don't think that's the kind of leader Derrick Rose ever has been. Yeah. I mean, I'll say this. In the first preseason clip, and it is preseason. You're playing against second and third string guys. He essentially looked like Ja out there in replacement of Ja. But, of course, Andrew, do you think D. Rose's body could take starter minutes? No, man. I think D. Rose, after his major injury, I think he came back stronger and smarter, and I think he's got some years. Yeah. D. Rose still very, very talented. Andrew, Luka and Kyrie, you're talking about two players with signature shoes that sell a lot to the youth, right? Dude, between those two, they got a lot of moves. You are talking about Luka. He shakes people in a Euro way. Like, he's, like, faking it behind their back. They're looking. Kyrie, he's coming down at you downhill. Combo, combo, combo, combo. Has he faked? What are your expectations for the team's success? I think they would be lucky to get the sixth seed because, at the end of the day, Luka and Kyrie are not great defensive players. They're going to be amazingly fun to watch. They have a really high offensive rating. I do think, in the clutch, it gets a little predictable because who else is a shot creator that can disperse the pressure that's centered around them? They kind of play like hot potato. Like, you get a rep, I get a rep. Sort of like Jalen Brown and Tatum before they got all this help, right? So I guess I just think, like, it's going to be fun to watch, but it's hard to even bet that they'd get past the first round, in my opinion. Whoa! Because who else is there? The NBA is competitive as hell nowadays, man. It's very top-loaded. Ooh, David, that's a hot take. Wow. We got to talk about another Seattle player, Andrew, who's leading the Orlando Magic, Paulo Banqueiro. What do you think about him? Former number-one draft pick. Had a great season. Averaged 20 points per game his rookie year, but nobody cares about him. It's kind of like a Melo. I kind of see him as a Melo type. Carmelo Anthony, by the way. I think, like... Or LaMelo gets numbers but not wins. That both was true for Carmelo and LaMelo. Dude, that's tough when you're the only go-to guy as a rookie on a bad team, you know? I hope he gets some better, like, coaching and mentorship, though, because, like, it's just going to be hard to develop, like, you know, perfectly when you're on the Magic, basically. Yeah, he kind of plays like the way, like, Julius Randle wishes he could play. But Julius Randle, I feel like he's calmed his game down and calmed trying to do all the cool combo combo stuff and more. Julius Randle more sticking in his lane nowadays. Andrew, point number 16. The Timberwolves have, quote-unquote, three superstar-tier players in terms of three max contracts. It goes Anthony Edwards, Cat, Rudy Gobert, all maxed out. Really, most people would say only Anthony Edwards is a superstar. The other two guys are just tall. Are they doing anything? Anything significant? What do you think? Do they think you go to a Western conference? Hell no. Nah. I think they'd be lucky to go to seven games in the first round, too. Wow. I think they may get out of the first. OK, they may get out of the first, but maybe they get crushed in the second. I just think Anthony Edwards got to get out of the Timberwolves. I don't believe in that franchise. Andrew, the resurrection of the Houston Rockets. Ime Udoka, obviously, you know, an amazing coach. A little bit of drama around his name in Boston. They were going to the Rockets. They turned down a James Harden return because James Harden said, yeah, if I came back, I'd try to win the scoring title again. And they were like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not what we want. Yeah, I think James Harden had a lot of fun in Houston. I don't think he's had a great time ever since. Andrew, they maxed out Fred Van Fleet with the Harden money. Like, they could have took Harden or Fred Van Fleet. They're like, Fred Van Fleet's not as good as Harden, but we'll take this culture guy. Fred Van Fleet. They got Devin Brooks. They have the young Jalen Greene. Oh, they're losing Kevin Porter Jr. Well, he's like going to jail, right? Yeah, that's tough. I would say this. You know what's interesting, Andrew? I would try to package Jalen Greene and Jabari Smith for somebody else. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I know they're really young, but I feel like those guys are going to be like just empty scorers. I think Fred is going to do a lot for Jalen Greene. I think he's going to reel him in and coach him and mentor him. Champion. Yeah, I think he's good. Andrew, is James Harden's career over? I mean, it's not over, but, like, definitely a lot of teams are not going to want an aging James Harden that demands the world, right? Like, it's not really his skills still there, like, from time to time. He has it. But then do you want to deal with that? And I think a lot of people are like, man, I don't think that's worth it. So what do you think about the Sixers right now? After all this offseason drama, do you think the Sixers can actually focus in and do something significant? They are not serious contenders at all. I think even your most hardcore Philly fan, Andrew, is probably focusing on the Eagles right now because they know they do not have a chance. Embiid is not serious. Harden is not serious. Tyrese Maxey, talented player, limited in the sense he's kind of just a scorer. But, like, even though everybody likes him, you know what I mean? The Sixers are not in it. All right, Andrew, of course the Bucks, you know, the Suns, and the Celtics are in there. Who else do you put in that top tier contender tier? Do you put the Warriors? Do you put Denver? I mean, I think you have to put Denver in that top four. And do you put the Sixers? No. No, you do not put the Warriors or Sixers in there. No, I don't put the Sixers in there. The Warriors are in there. Maybe. And last but not least, Andrew, Portland is cleared out. Dame's gone. Nobody has to pretend like they like his mixtapes anymore. I'm not going to lie. It's weird. He has some good lyrics, but his flow doesn't sound charismatic enough. Andrew, is DeAndre Ayton going to be able to showcase a 20-10 season for the Portland Trails Blazers and perhaps be the Greg Oden that they always wanted? Does he become a different player on Portland? Because he's going to get, like, the old-school style, like, I guess quasi-2000s basketball post-up reps, probably that he always wanted. They'll probably give it to him just to see how he does. Is he going to be the Sabonis of the old Sabonis? The old Arvinas Sabonis, not the modest. No, he's not going to be 20-10. I think he's going to be, like, 17-11 and four assists. Yeah, makes sense. Portland's going to be bad. But maybe him and Scoot are going to have some really dope highlights. That's true. All in all, Andrew, are people very excited for this upcoming season? There was a lot of movement in the NBA. Yeah, I'm excited, man. A lot of movement, a lot of different expectations. Old stars are aging and getting older, but then you still kind of believe in them. So, yeah, anyways, guys. Oh, we didn't talk about the Lakers real quick. David? Lakers? All right, here's the thing, guys. LeBron's not getting any better. All right. I don't believe in AD. Okay. I don't believe in AD, as talented as he is, and sometimes it gives you, like, 30 and 20. So I just think that it's like, are you going to – is Austin Reeves going to catch everybody off guard? Is Rui Hachimura going to catch everybody off guard now that they're, like, watching all the film on him? Because you know how previously they were able to give you, like, 20 to 30 sometimes in playoff games because, like, everybody's like, they're not going to do anything. They're not going to do anything. But now teams are thinking they're going to do something. So, theoretically, there's more pressure their way. There's less pressure on AD and LeBron. But then who else is going to come in beyond those people? Somebody's got to come in and get 20. Hey, you guys. Let us know what you think about our NBA Hot Takes. Do you agree or disagree, guys? Let us know what you're looking forward to when it comes to this NBA season. Yeah. You know, guys, it doesn't make me happy to say that Boston is probably going to win a championship or two in the next three years. But I just got to keep it real. I mean, that's just – that's got to be the technical analysis, right? No feelings this way or that way. All right, everybody. Please hit that Like button. Check out other episodes of The Hop Out, boys. And until next time, we out. Peace.