NBA GURU Kenny Beecham JOINS! Talks Lakers’ Struggles, Title Contenders & MORE
Oh he is back host of the through thewire podcast the Kenny beachum podcast a basketball Guru Kenny uh first of all happy holidays to you we’re just going to jump right in because there was so much to watch yesterday so right off the bat your takeaway of the Christmas
Games it didn’t hit the same this year I don’t know why maybe because maybe because it wasn’t all basketball you know I have a household that have football lovers so now we got the split screen so I couldn’t really dive in as much as I want to I’m always a fan of
The year maybe it was the lack of jerseys or whatever but it wasn’t as good as I remember you know what I I agree with you we were talking about that during the break like there was just almost too much dare I say to watch I know that
Sounds unamerican um The Warriors are five- two since Draymond got suspended we talked about it a little bit in the first segment whether or not he’s part of the long-term plans moving forward if it’s you where are you leaning on this is it’s hard to really say um I
Think a lot of things that might happen with the front office has to do with Steph Curry and and Steph Curry is a very unique star in a sense that he is isn’t a player that from our knowledge has added a bunch of pressure to his front office traditionally because that
Team as long as they’ve been healthy has been really successful right uh we see Braun we see I guess Kevin Durant we see Janis adding pressure to their front offices to make adjustments make Trad to make their team better and with Steph Curry being 35 36 years old we don’t
Know how many more years we have of Steph Curry playing as great as he is right now so I would want him to add the pressure and the way some of the young guys are hooping right now some of that pressure might be hey maybe we don’t
Need Draymond as much now as we did two years ago or five years ago when we last won our championships I agree with you Kenny uh moving on to to the Lakers they they’ve been struggling to say the least ever since this inseason tournament Championship they’ve benched DLo if
There’s one move that you’d like to see them make what would that be they need another I mean I guess bucket getter and and I’m not just saying that because the Chicago Bulls have Zack LaVine in the market and I’m looking forward to him moving to his next team
That’s not why I’m saying that but when I when I watch this team play uh they have a couple different identities and I was a guy that was high on them coming into the season because I saw what they did at the second half of last year how
They clamped up defensively and let the offense kind of work well now I know they’ve dealt with a bunch of injuries between like Vanderbilt or Gabe Vincent but the defense is not holding as well this year and the offense hasn’t been there like when they have like
Vanderbild on the team or on the court their defense is Stella but now we can guard LeBron a little bit easier and and Anthony Davis a little bit easier because Vanderbilt isn’t much of a threat I want to see them make some adjustments and again I was a guy that
Was really high on their offseason I had them in my contention list and right now I’m kind of hesitant to say that 30 games into the season what about you know there’s always going to be the first thing is well let’s look at the coach is Darin ham safe
No no it no Lebron coach is really safe after the first season it’s just the way it works should he be safe it’s hard to really say um I know a bunch of Laker fans that that are in my personal life that hate his rotations that you know
And I kind of like the idea of him switching it up having D’Angelo Roso come off the bench having AAR ree come off the bench eventually but I I guess I’m not really into Laker fandom enough to say like oh he’s he’s the problem but Lebron team you usually got like a 18mon
Window and then you can get on the hot seat Kenny let me ask you this you you once said that you felt like the the Celtics were the best team in basketball what makes this team different than the teams in the pass better equipped to win a
Championship I think they also have a bunch of different identities where so far they are 23 and six they’ve had a bunch of games where porzingis wasn’t there we’ve seen some games where Drew holiday missed we’ve seen Derek white Miss games and they’ve always been able
To really put it together um they have the best top six in all of basketball and when I think about playoff time and I think about them being healthy because that’s obviously a big thing there’s not going to be a team that can match the versatility where there’s not many bigs
That can play the defense that they can guard Chris porzingis when he’s 30 feet away from the rim and simultaneously protect the rim what we saw that last night where they were really able to to just have a bunch of players contribute we had a whole stretch where it was
Payton Pritchard dropping 10 straight points when he’s cutting back door on LeBron James in the next play coming down and pulling up for three they just have so many different options and we haven’t even seen the best version of Jason Tatum just yet like he’s been
Great don’t get me wrong but like we’ve seen better versions of him last season I feel like he’s still trying to adjust to having five other players on the court that can create for themselves and create for others so this team just has it all and they still have what a $6.2
Million trade exception because of the gr Grant Williams deal so they still have room to add Maybe the eighth man because I I really do like Sam Hower and Peyton Pritchard as far as the playoff rotation but like a eighth man that can really put it all together the eighth
Man look there have been some hot starts so far this season it’s been fun to watch if you had to pick one who you given that award to it is the Boston Celtics it is the Boston Celtics they have had the I think third hardest schedule all the
Basketball in the game we’re sitting at 30 games into the season basically with only six losses and it’s only going to get easier as time goes on again is a big part with them when you think about the players that are on their roster with the older guys and like Al
Horford or porzingis who struggled to stay healthy over the last five seasons or so but that team feels in my eyes right now unbeatable in a seven game series based on the comp competition so if you had to pick the hottest player start is that person coming from the
Celtics I’m sorry say that again if you had to pick the hottest start for an individual player are you picking anyone from the Celtics or is that someone else Al together that’s that’s probably someone else and it feels bad saying this right now because he just had his worst game
Of the season last night but I might say tyes Maxi as the hottest start to the season um I I wanted him to go on national TV and just have a great game in front of the national audience and of course he did he didn’t do that but I I
Think his leap is the reason why the 76ers are still as good as they are this year versus last year when they had James Harden now K not the best player on that team I know I know he’s not hey Jolan beid is is my MVP right now but having a good
Number two goes a long way and and tyres Maxi is that all right all right I get that hot starts Lou hot starts yeah Kenny the Clippers yeah everyone was everyone was ready to run them through the mud and write them all why they make this trade for James Harden and they’ve
Lost their last two without kawhai letter they’re now 17 and 12 fifth in the west are are they real is this a contender ah it’s it’s a question that I’ve been wrestling with during their win streak um there was a stat that they put up on the broadcast a couple games
Ago that when when kawh Leonard scores over 30 points in his his Clippers tenure they win 82% of games and we just saw him for for three weeks average 30 points so if we’re getting that version of Kawai and we saw what he did in the playoffs last year before he got injured
Then I would say yes but we also haven’t seen kawhai play this much basketball early into the season I don’t know what he looks like at the end of it I don’t know how resty he will be for the playoffs right now I’m still very hesitant to say contender but if they
Aren’t a contender they’re very close to it right now so I switch Pace with you timber wolves best team in the west are they title contenders or you think this is just regular season success I I got a lot of love for Anthony Edwards I got a lot of love for
Rudy goer as a rent protector it’s so they’ve had um a schedule where they’ve gone against teams and a lot of the teams they’ve gone against or missing their best player they have a win against the Heat without Jimmy Butler they had a win against this team without
Their best player so I’m not saying that their 22 and six start is fraudulent but I do want to see them play against the best teams with the best players playing before I really say that uh their defense is really good this is really going to be a testament to who Rudy
Goberry is because we’ve seen him in the playoffs before uh half ser where he really struggled but now he has other pieces around him that can can help him anchor that defense where you have Jaden McDaniel and Anthony Edwards who don’t give up defensively are they cont are they
Contenders I’m gonna say I’m gonna say yes what but if they didn’t if they didn’t end up doing it I’m not really upset about it you think this who do you like the West is all over place I’m still I’m still Denver Nuggets until they show me otherwise I know joic
Hasn’t had the same start to the season as he normally does but I I talked to Michael Porter Jr he he admits that they have the championship hangover right now I’m sure by April when things matter the most it’ll be all gone so I still them H
Have them as my favorite out west but it’s it’s wide open though it’s not like they’re World beaters they’re not destroying every team that they go against but I still give them the benefit other the doubt right now all right let’s talk a little Grizzlies obviously John Mor is back and since
Then they’ve won all three games I mean the hole that they’ve dug for themselves is obviously very deep can they still make the playoffs yeah because we have some teams out west that are not competitive at all we have like the Spurs we have the UT Jazz where they could just they could
Just jump up them really easily and they’re playing a different brand of basketball well I get it’s the same brand that we saw last year when when J was healthy but a new brand compared to before he was healthy where I do believe that they could win at a pace of about
50 wins and that would put them in like a playin range um I mean I don’t know I’m not saying they’re finishing the season at 50 but I’m saying that from the point J out there until the end of the season a 50 win pace and that will
Put them like at the seven seed and we’ve seen them go into a play game before in the jar era and win gamees so I think they can still make it happen um there are some teams out there that are really taking a step up like the Houston
Rockets that we don’t know for sure if the Rockets are going to be a team that can hold on for a full season so I would give the gries the benefit of the doubt it’s going to take a lot for that team to climb uphill you know they they
Basically got to win 85 to 90% of their games they got to play perfect basketball but they have one of the top point guards to do it what is what is J ranking your list of point guards so far man what does he rank so we last
Time I was here we were talking about point guards and we didn’t mention John Morant because he didn’t play I mean when you look at the first his first game back versus the Pelicans that was like a story book movie type stuff like coming back and hitting the
Gamewinner putting up 30 points he’s he’s comfortably in my top five I don’t know if he’s comfortably in top three though so maybe maybe maybe four or five maybe four or five why why are you laughing jaylor like that I’ve been drinking the juice on the jayen brunson’s the Tyrese halberton the
Tyrese Maxis and now John Mor’s back I feel like I feel like it’s Steph Luca and then I feel like it’s John Mor like he’s I feel like he’s that he’s the next one up which is crazy though we have so nuts um Kenny Zion seems like he’s
Always taken all this crazy criticism whether this is work ethic his weight and hurt whatever it is do you think some of that all of that none of that is warranted I think some of it is um I think it get a little bit too personal
For my liking um but it’s only thing I do is compare Zion to Zion right the best version of Zion a couple years ago where he was averaging 28 on 60% shooting and he was missing shot to get in his Zone rebounds that’s the version
Of Zion I want I’m not comparing him to this fictional version of him that was supposed to be the next LeBron James whatever they said after the his uh his rookie season or whatever if we could get him back to that version again I know it’s a stretch because stuff um he
Is going to be one of the top 10 players but we haven’t got that and the Pelicans are a team that have the depth to be really really good but they need their onea to be a onea every single night and there’s too many times I’m watching
Close games of the Pelicans and he’s just sitting in a dunker spot where he’s not really involved in the actions and he had been involved in the actions through the first three and a half quarters and I think that’s something that happened in that johnar return game
We kind of just waited around and let Brandon Ingram do his thing and bi is a killer in himself but having both of those dudes be be really good options offensively can go a long way so I think it’s somewhat warranted but it has been overdone at this
Point I like that it does feel personal at times um let’s talk Cleveland for a second here they’re 17 and 13 and something bad is in the water injury-wise because now you got Evan Mobley Darius Garland the the Donovan Mitchell stuff it will never quiet right
But at this point if you’re the Cavs are you really entertaining the idea of maybe trying to move Mitchell and and make a change I I would say yes uh because all we’ve heard since he got to Cleveland is that one day he wants to play for New
York he obviously is going to be done with his contract relatively soon I think he’s got another season after this and then a player option at the end of it um and if if we believe that that’s the case then this is the time to get
The most value I feel like in the league we get so many organizations that tell themselves that we can convince him we can convince him to stay and then we get to the point where he’s got three months left on his contract and then we’re
Trying to trade him and we don’t get the same value back I mean I think it was a worthy shot to trade for him but I think the core and and the version of them that’s going to compete for championships have to do with Darius Garland and Evan Mobley hitting their
Their next steps and I think they might have just increased the timeline a little bit too fast for me and I just saw Craig Porter Jr act like Andre Miller against the Bulls the other night I think they’ll be fine they’ll be fine if they make that trade and they’ll get
Back pieces that can improve their depth and it’ll be all right okay okay so Cleveland’s fine then let’s concentrate on the Nick side of things because now it looks like Mitchell Robinson’s out for the season that’s a big loss um if they were in fact to figure out a
Way to bring Donovan Mitchell over talk to me about who you move and what does that look like on the court um I think that the the tra so the Knicks have a bunch of different draft uh draft Capital picks which obviously would go very long way because the Cavs
Already traded three to get Don vitu into the door so I don’t know the exact number but some trade uh trade pieces and and draft Capital probably like RJ and then whether it’s quickley or Grimes who’s already been relegated it to the bench it’s it’s something like that
Again I’m not a GM um Shams will probably do it way better than me you know telling me what what the the noise is um but I I have a my my closest friend is a Knicks fan and he loves Donovan Mitchell but he also loves
Jaylen Bronson and he is a guy that’s like if the trade happens I’m cool but if it doesn’t happen I’m cool too because though he he didn’t go full Becky Hammond he does believe that having two six2 point guard or six2 guards as your back court it would be a
Little bit tough to win a champ sh that way but if Donovan is saying he wants to come to the team I think Leon Rose has to do what he can do to make it happen because it’s only so often that you can get a a guy of that caliber in the
Locker room and you figure out the rest later well said uh your Bulls they’ve been kind of sneakily playing pretty good lately without Zack LaVine they’re eight and four since he’s went to you know on anactive list here what’s going on here do they move him do they roll
With this team what we got I think that they should still be trying to move him um obviously all the rumors are that the market isn’t as great as the Bulls kind of anticipated but I’m loving having uh Kobe white with the ball in his hands uh
We we saw this towards the end of last season where he did look really good the second half and then the first 10 or so games here in Chicago I mean he was shooting very poorly and I was just like that’s not him now he’s also not the
Player that’s gonna shoot 60% from the field 50% from three and 97% from the free throw line but he has been really good and this team has a new uh I guess flare to him we set our our record for most assists in a single game a couple times since Zack LaVine injury
So I would still be looking to move him when he gets to the point where he is healthy it’s going to be an interesting conversation to figure out what do they do because again the team has been rolling and they were awful when he was playing maybe we get him buying back in
I don’t really know I’m kind of enjoying the Good Vibes this was a team that I had no plan to drive into the United CER a watch and I’ve been to three games since Zack lv’s been out so it’s it’s been it’s been really nice now for Zack LaVine fans where
Where should Zack LaVine go if you’re following that um well there was a a year where the allstar game was here in Chicago in 2020 and Zack LaVine was uh you know doing his thing and doing his media run and then he went on TV and said I would
Love to play with a player like LeBron James and a defensive anchor like Anthony Davis he he said that and then Bulls fans everything Conor fire because he was up for extension soon we like no he’s leaving to La he’s leaving to La uh and obviously that didn’t happen but I
Know that they got connections with his agent in the Los Angeles Lakers for him he probably love LA but again we don’t know if La would really uh they would have to trade a bunch to make it happen because we’re talking about a $40 million contract so I think that’s the
Best place for him uh for for the Lakers maybe not so much Kenny let me ask you this you were at you were at the game you said you you know you’re starting to like go into the games but you you were there when joic was ejected do you feel like this season
The referee doing a little too much you think they’re exerting their power in the games too much this season I think so um and I guess it’s hard to quantify really but just the ey test just says we’ve seen some really tough ejection so far whether it be joic or I guess Tatum
Had won this season jayen Brown also had won this season where it felt like the the actual result of the technical or the ejection wasn’t really warranted I I think that Nicole didn’t even get a warning before it was just two texts immediately and you’re out the door and
It happened to be a game where it wasn’t Serbian Heritage night but there was a large Serbian population in the United Center for the people that don’t know outside of Serbia Chicago has the most amount of Serbian like the the biggest Serbian population so anytime joic is in
Town everybody’s there to see yic I was there to see yic and he only played like 12 minutes and I was really upset about it um so they they has been a power Dynamic where there are players that don’t have as much of a leash as far as
What they can and can’t get away with and other players like joic has have a shorter leash and when you’re talking about one of the top players in basketball we don’t want to see him ejected without a warning give him a technical for the worst that he said and
Let’s go back to basketball luckily for them the Nugget still pulled out that win but for the fans I I saw a lady that literally walked out of the United Center when yic got ejected like that’s not even like that’s not a story that’s real real life so um for fans when you
Think about all of the people that are buying tickets to these games it’s just too much did you real quick did you Boo and then I’ll ask you my real question yes yes okay good I just want to want to make sure that you were booing uh that’s
Important to me Kenny that you boo all right Pistons it’s 26 straight games right now here’s the next I think five games net Celtics Raptors Rockets Jazz can this thing go 31 it definitely can it definitely can uh so I there was a night where there was seven games of
Basketball in the one game that I watched was jazz versus Clippers no Larry Markin no konay George no Jordan Clarkson I was like if history is going to stop it’s this game and they lost that game by double digits this this team has no business being as bad when I
Look at the roster they have talented pieces right this is not a team that looks like 26 straight losses but we might get to 30 and oh God history is history I’m here for it I mean maybe there’s stinks yeah like in the locker room is that’s like that’s damn near two
Months of just straight L’s like that’s hard to do what would you guys do would you fight with each other I can’t imagine a practice facility right now no it’s just dead quiet in the practice facility surprised there’s no stories coming to blows or altercations because at some point there’s got to as
A man you got enough’s enough right like K Kenny what if you’re in that locker room you’re in that front what do you what do you do do you try and get better players is it just that simple is it it’s bad at this point nobody is safe
You cannot go 20 26 straight losses on the fourth year of your rebuild like they they blew it up four years ago and and this is what we got you know there has to be something um obviously I’ve never been in a high level locker room
Like you two but from from my days of high school Hoops we lost three in a row and I was ready to call it quit so I can imagine 26 in a row and their coach has an absolute bag too so fire on their coach well I mean maybe can you forfeit
The season and then just write it off as a loss taxwise right off is oh The Season’s forfeited already oh that’s a that’s a great Point Kenny love having you on can’t wait till the next time you’re here thank you so much sir thank you everyone
NBA expert, Kenny Beechman, sat down with the crew on the latest episode of ‘Run It Back’ on FanDuel TV. He gave us his HONEST thoughts about topics around the league. It’s worth the watch! 👇
Full episode: https://youtu.be/2gnebpxu0Is
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