NBA Role Player Draft | Morning Shoot Around

Prime Video offers the best in entertainment. The end of the world continues with Fallout 2. A global phenomenon, inbegred by Prime. I heard you about what to do in this situation. Look at the epic end of the unwritten story of The Witches of Oz. Buy or buy? Wicked for good now. I'm taking you to see The Wizard. There's no going back. So what you also look, Prime Video. Here you look at everything. Prime is advised, especially to buy or buy. Inhoud can be advertised 18+. All the rules are used to be used. welcome to the morning shoot around here on the athletic nba daily's youtube feed uh thanks to everybody who is tuning in live we'd love to have you guys tune in live with us every wednesday would really appreciate that i'm your host andrew select with me i've got dave defour i've got Espe or Henny pointing to a hat that, you know, Blue Jays. I mean, isn't that a painful memory? Yes, but also it's almost that time of year again. You know what I mean? Oh, yeah. Pitchers and catchers reporting. Spring training, baby. Okay. Okay. Maybe I should go to spring training. You guys want to meet up in Phoenix? We can watch some baseball. Nothing else going on this weekend. You're going to be at the festivities, Dave. Come on. Come on. You and 200 top content creators and images. Oh, yeah. Thank you, S, for calling that out because that is literally it. It's crazy. The names, guys. Okay, look. I know that I am old. I do know that. Yeah. Especially for the internet. But I just – what are we doing with these names? What names? The names of the people at these events, these creators. Hey, by the way, you're not old. Okay. Yeah, I know. It's a bit. but I'm you're a little old you know okay what's happening what is wrong with y'all you guys see this this is harassment at work I just shout out to my guy Jesser okay that's right that's what I was gonna say Jesser I've never seen a grown man freak out about Jesser the way Andrew freaked out about you know what that's in public I I would not have freaked out had I not had children that enjoy Jesser. And you know what? They do enjoy Jesser. Okay, so today, all these great players are getting all this attention, alright? It's kind of getting annoying to me. So we're going to do a role player draft, okay? Each one of us is going to pick a starting five, okay, for the role player draft. So this is about fit, this is about bringing guys in that'll help you win a basketball game. And then people, you can let us know what team that you like the most. Criteria. A lot of this is more feel than it is fact. Okay? Sure. You cannot be in the all-star discussion and be in the role-player draft. So like Dylan Brooks, who is in the all-star discussion. If the name has been brought up in the all-star discussion, you cannot be in the role player draft. Okay? Yeah. And so we will be able to kind of like, if somebody's on the edge there, we'll have to vote, okay? To see if this is allowable. And let us know in the chat too. If you're following along, let us know if this person qualifies as a quote unquote role player. Okay? I've selected an order. Okay? Dave, Zena, S, then myself. Okay? So Dave gets to go first in the role player draft. Lawrence Field, I'll be taking Air Bud Topic. You know what? Topic will not be part of this, but I'm really happy for him. He played great last night in the G and deserves a shout out, but will not be making the role player draft, but that would be great. Too many bad stories is nice to have a good one. Yeah, and the guy loves Air Bud, you know? So it's a good story all around. Okay, Dave. With the number one pick in the role player draft, Dave DeFore is going to select who? You know, I said I wasn't going to do this because we kind of briefly kicked it around, but I'm going to anyway. Nikhil Alexander-Walker. I at least just need the judges to let me know if he's a role player, because if so, he would be my first pick. he was signed to be a role player on the Hawks. Now, clearly, he's been better than that for them, and especially with the moves that they've made. I think his stock has risen internally. But if he's a role player, I mean, I just think that you look at the season that he's having, 20 points a game. I can't name more than one player on the Hawks that is better than them. Like Jalen Johnson. Jalen Johnson. But it's changed over the course of this season. So this is the thing that I'm struggling with. It's like there's a lot of guys who have maybe started the season as role players that their teams have just changed so much. Now all of a sudden they're important pieces. So it's a little bit trickier than just, you know, than we think. Okay. And do we want to look at role player over the course of someone's career or over the course of this season? Because I would say Nikhil Alexander Walker was technically more of a role player in Minnesota. It's got to be right now. It's got to be right now. Okay. So Orlando Magic, Jalen Suggs, is he a role player? Is he their third best player? I think we could debate between him and Anthony Black as their third best player. What? Wait. When everyone's healthy? What are we talking about right now, guys? Yeah. You're telling me you would put Anthony Black or Jalen Suggs over Desmond Bain, Franz, and Paolo? No, no, no. Oh, that's a good point. I forgot about Desmond Bain. Yeah, that's a good point. So I'm going to take Jalen Suggs. You took the words right out of my mouth. I'm like, wait, what's happening? What's happening? I was so confused. Well, the main reason is because y'all are trying to impinge on what I'm trying to do. Oh, okay. Okay. Right. So now we get this clear. All right. I'm going to take Jalen Suggs. Do we approve? do we approve Nikhil Alexander Walker as a part of the role player draft? No, I decline. I agree with that. I agree with it. But again, I just wanted to put it out there that I would probably go with Nikhil. He's been great. Again, 20 points a game. I mean, the defense that he plays. But I'm going to take Jalen Suggs for similar reasons. And also because don't we all think if they're healthy all year with Jalen Suggs playing, that they're top four, top five in the East. His importance to that team both ways, I think, just stands out. So I'll take Jalen Suggs. In the Eastern Conference, you got to be. Okay, Zena. Yeah, well, this is interesting. My first pick is Anthony Black. Oh, wow. Yeah, I love Anthony Black. I love everything he's doing. I think that he's a perfect – one, he's capable of scoring, obviously. He played some defense. He can play up in size and defense, and he can play down. Yeah, Anthony Black. So Orlando, shout out to y'all with the role players. Here's the depth that we've no magic to have. So here we go. Oh, man. I might be able to steal some guys here. There's some availability. There's a little bit of availability. There's some stuff available to me. Man, this is a great question. Do I just go like a rookie and steal them, and I'm just like, this is role player? You're trying to win a game today. You're trying to win a game today. Hold on. Go ahead and say what you're trying to say. S is already thinking about tanking with this team. You don't get draft picks at the end of this one. I'm just curious. Go ahead. Please tell me which one you're thinking of when you say rookies. Because I might have to debate you on if there are a role player. Yeah, I get you. I won't go the rookie. You know what? Just do it so we can debate it. Okay. I'm going to take Derek Queen. No. No. Franchise cornerstone. Zion Williamson. Does that count? Dray Murphy. I don't know. You're going to tell me Herb Jones over Derek Queen? Herb Jones is a classic role player. No. I'm going to tell you right now, Andrew, you chose chaos this morning. Yeah, I did. You did. This is working out way better than I thought it would already. Okay, then let me switch my pick. I'm going to go ahead and take the conservative pick here, A.J. Mitchell. Great choice. Okay. Yeah, that's great. And he's not their third best player, Dave. I saw that face you made. No, he's not. No, he's not. Oh, he's not. No, no, that wasn't it. It's more just, I don't know. You know what? Andrew is about to have something that we're going to feel pretty bad about our picks, I think, guys. I'm taking Isaiah Hartenstein. I knew it. Yeah, that's a great one. I don't feel bad. Yeah, I don't feel bad about my pick. I'm fine in the West. Fine in the West. AJ Mitchell. Oh, thank you. Thank you, God. I'm good. Isaiah Hartenstein. Yeah, I'm fine in the West, man. 30% usage for AJ Mitchell. Let's see what we can do. I know what I want. Let's go. Okay, so Snake style. I'll go. I go again. Okay. Oh, man. There are a lot of great role players in the NBA. There are. And trying to choose the next. I'm trying not to be like the biggest homer in the world right now because I have another guy that I would like to choose for this. By the way, I see a lot of people mentioning one specific name that plays for the New York Knicks, and he's definitely their third best player, right? OG? Yeah. Yeah. Can we hash that out right now? OG is not a role player. Yeah. Not in my mind. Because that would have been my number one pick. You got some people that maybe would argue second best player. Yeah, sure. Yeah. You ain't lying. Yeah, for sure. Definitely not a role player in OG. So does that make McHale Bridges available in the role player draft? I think it would. Sure. Five picks for a role player. Why not? Go ahead. Do it. look at s also coming in i like it salty this morning i like it you know this is my fault why well i just feel like i'm making him a little bit meaner no that's good i like i like it i'm gonna take case and wallace oh that's great that's a great one okay trying not to be a homer here but i try not to be a homer but too bad i mean i'm just gonna draft thunder from here on out i know So I'm going to go ahead and yeah, I think this is the right pick. He's not the third best player now that they traded for a center. Andrew Nembhard. Take Andrew Nembhard. Okay. A little backcourt situation here. Okay. Do we approve before I type the full name in? Andrew Nembhard? Halliburton, Siakam, Zubats, the three best players on the team. Yeah. I agree with that. Oh, that's what – wait, guys, hold on. Yeah. Hold on, hold on. I'm ganging the system. Give me a time out. Someone who's not one of the three best players. I need a 30. I'm tapping into Secaucus. Hold on. This is crazy. Are we talking? We haven't even really seen Zubats. Doesn't matter. But wait, does it? It does matter because we're talking about Nikhil Alexander-Walker is now not a role player on this team because we've seen him not be a role player on this team. And that's why we declined it. Oh, yeah. But, right, right? What if Zoo's not as good? Exactly. zoo was not a role player where we've seen him all season right that shit and capital guys guys he is definitely the third best player on the pacers though like i i would i would agree with that and also also i'll say this so so if i were to go to the wizards right and anthony davis and trey young are on the roster right now oh the chat by the way chiming in with some rules thank you nolan gasper so but you said this year so this is really just we're trying to do bots is on the roster he is currently i think the chat has vetoed it okay the chat has the chat vetoed sorry wow then let me get uh this is incredible this is unbelievable Here Let me get chat The chat going against us If the chat Yes, the chat has some some weight. So if you guys truly believe it's the mustache and number is not a role player this year. Thank you. I guess. Okay. How about Jared Allen? Oh, well, that you know what? Hang on, though. He's playing the game. He's playing the game. Jared Allen, you guys are killing me, man. No, no, no, no. That's true, right? Exactly. It's like, Evan, Jared, I don't know. Evan O'Glee is 100% the better player here. Can we accept that? Has he been better this year? I think Jared Allen is good. I do, too. I think so, too. I think this is a very smart pick for you. I'll give it to you. This is actually very impressive. I just want to make you sweat a little bit. God. Well done. Well done. killing me. She's got to make you sweat. Just a little bit. Xena. If Xena takes Andrew Nembhard, I'm leaving the pod. Xena's like, Andrew Nembhard. I don't agree that he's a role player. I had to have him. So, this isn't good. I've been so concerned about everybody else's picks. But I'm like, um... I'm struggling with my own. Um... I want a big and I want to clean the glass. So I'm taking Mitchell Robinson. Okay. Okay. That's awesome. Yeah. Good pick. Great pick. Offensive rebound. Hey, we watched the Knicks last night without Mitchell Robinson. And, I mean, they gave up 137 points to the Pacers. Yeah, it's scary that a guy that plays 15 minutes a game is that important to them. It's nuts. Yeah. Yeah, and a guy who's not totally reliable. Yeah, right. Yeah. Like, that is terrifying. It was like when Thunder had Andre Robertson, and when he got injured, the whole thing just fell apart. Like, it feels a little bit like that. Dave, we've stalled long enough. You get two picks here. All right. I'm going to go with Najee Marshall. Oh, good one. Okay. Najee Marshall. who I mean, honestly, he might be. I don't know if he's in their top three right now, but he's been one of their three best players. Let's do a quick investigation before we submit this one. Okay. Let's look at the Dallas Mavericks roster. I think he is one of their three best players. I think he's their top three. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. He's been pretty damn good this year. Look, Cooper, are we not counting Kyrie, right? Obviously, Kyrie doesn't. Yeah. I just think about Najee, like the Warriors at the deadline, if they could have gotten Najee Marshall. Oh, what a game changer for that team, right? He's that kind of player. But he might be too good on the maps now that I'm sitting here thinking about it. Yeah. I would veto this. I would veto this. Okay. Let's veto this. Come on, hurry, y'all. I've got my pitch ready. I'm ready. I'm going to go with Peyton Watson. Oh, good one. Is that a safe one? Yeah. Or has he surpassed Aaron Gordon? I think. No, no, no. No, no. Peyton Watson. We know what he's done this year. Obviously, you know, the off the dribble stuff that we're seeing from him, the defense started making threes. I think, you know, this is a guy who he looks like. I mean, this is an NBA starter. And, yeah, I'm happy to have him. Very lucky to be able to get him this late in the draft. I can't believe that S didn't take him. I was debating about a Nuggets player, but I wasn't sure. All right. You get one more, Dave. Yeah, I know. This is tough. I feel like there's a team. Rudy's too good. I need a center, guys. You guys have gotten all the good centers. Yeah, Rudy's made the all-star team. Yeah. And it's in talks for Depoy. It's like, sorry, no. Oh, there's two good centers that you could pick up. How about Namias Kata? I knew it. That was the one I was going to say. I'm going to take him. I'm going to have the most improved team and Jalen Suggs is what it's looking like right now. Just give me a bunch of guys who are popping off. Look, again, he's one of the reasons why I'm kind of high on Joe Mazzulla for Coach of the Year, the development stuff that they've been doing this season alongside of the outperforming expectations, that's hard. How often does that happen where you see them developing young players and still having a better season than expected, missing their best player? So, yeah, I'll go with that. That's a fun team for me. Also, it blocks Zena from getting him. Yeah, I know. I mean, she has Mitch Robinson. I got Mitch Robinson. I got Mitch Robinson. Listen, Dave, that's a lot of talk for the worst center on this list. Okay. All right. Zina, you're up next. I'm through. I'm through. Not too much on Kato. Not too much on Kato. All right. I am going to get me Dylan Harper. Oh, man. Okay. Okay. That's fair. Wow. I think that's entirely fair. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. That's a great defensive group. right there offensively it'll be i've got the ball in the basket i've got my value pick here and i'm very happy about it wants to jump on and simulate this you know so you guys talked about how rudy gobert is is not a role player uh-huh yeah thank you for making that distinction for me uh because obviously it's julius randall rudy gobert and anthony edwards so i'm gonna take Jaden McDaniels here. Whoa. Okay. Let's have a ruling here. This is debatable. Yo, that's – How many of you guys said three role players? Yeah, I know. It's tough, right? Chat, let us know. You're ruling on this. Julius Randle is nearly an all-star this season. Guys, the rules are – I'm with you. I'm with you. I think Jaden McDaniels – I kind of respect this choice. I think it's a good pick. I think Jaden's a good pick. I do too. I do too. I do too. I oftentimes, though, I'll say this. Jaden can be their second best and has been their best player on many, many nights. Sure. Yeah. Just like Sandro Mamoukele-Shvili can be the Raptors' second best player on any given night. Right. Right. We're not putting him in the stuff. That's right. Best player. That's right. Yeah. And just for clarity, S, for Toronto, Scotty, Brandon. Yeah, that's Mamu. Probably. Is it Mamu or is it RJ? I would say RJ. I mean, it's got to be RJ, right? Okay, I'm just saying. I wanted to make sure our resident Toronto Raptors expert. Okay, cool, cool, cool, cool. By the way, I thought about Jaden McDaniels before. I was like, in my head, I'm like, he's not a role player, but he is. He is a role player. I was glad you guys made the Rudy Gobert. Professional role players. Yes. Yeah. Okay. I like it. See, better to ask for forgiveness than permission. Sure. Yeah. Okay. I'm going to take Keldon Johnson. Good pick. Oh, good pick. Hey, does he remind anyone else of Boris Diaw? No. The way he's playing? No. Watch how he uses his body. A little bit. He's a very good athlete, but watch how he uses his body. His footwork is there. He's pretty thick. The footwork down low is there for the Boris comparison. I don't mean he plays like him but he just kind of moves like him he has the body he moves like him too a little bit I feel like he ducks underneath guys just as much as he comes over top he's a fun guy to watch I love when he's out there like a bumper car as a basketball player and he's just a fun person as well he's good energy which helps where do we land on Peyton Pritchard I think he's their third best player this season I agree too it's brown, white, and Pritchard I just want to make sure that I'm not passing him up because he has been phenomenal this season I need a wing badly I need a big wing badly same is Andrew Wiggins a role player? yes i don't know is he wait wait wait hold on hold on norman bam bam bam hero hero hero oh somebody fun techio gasp yes that's a good one okay yeah i'm gonna take i'm gonna take andrew wiggins that's a good pick that's a good good pick okay okay um s i'm like pulling up rosters now just to see what I can call you. Help us out, Chad. Who are we missing? There's going to be some egregious misses here. I've got my next pick. I'm just praying now for availability purposes. Hold on. Let me just double check this. Don't worry. Patrick Williams will be there, Dave. Don't worry. Gosh, every single time he shoots, every time, I have this tick now from him shooting. How do you guys feel about Cedric Coward? He's going to be like a cornerstone player. Yeah, I don't think that's out of here, bro. How do you feel about Cooper Flag? Yeah, get out of here, bro. Okay, so I am going to go with Tumani Kamara. Oh, I like that. The paparazzi. Okay. I like that. I like it a lot. I like that. I'm on a Kamara. Yeah. Feeling better and better. Dave. A little shade. Feeling better and better. You know what? Actually, let me see. Is it my go now? Can I change my pick? Yeah. I'm not ready. You can. I'm not ready. I'm going to go with Nas Reed. You. I knew Dave was trying to do it. I knew Dave was trying to do it, so I came in and stole it. Two Timberlake players on my role play. This is what it looks like inside NBA front offices. during the draft, by the way. It's like you. Like Captain Kirk yelling for con, which by the way, if you guys are not watching Hornets games, Eric Collins calling con can nipple threes is so fun. It's amazing. We got to get look if you're, if you're around the Hornets, tell Eric Collins, we said, what's up. I'm going to, we got to email them. I think that guy should hang on the show. Yeah, that'd be awesome. we could get him to intro the show you know that would be sick thanks S yeah we've needed an upgrade on that for a while if we could just get somebody to do it with more gusto we could you know what I can deliver that everybody for real stay tuned to tomorrow's episode I'll have a special guest intro I'll have a special guest intro I like it okay I am struggling. I need a wing, but this isn't the best option. I feel like I'm forgetting someone. All right. I think I just got to do it. I don't love this pick and I want to love my pick, but I'm going to go with Jalen Tyson. Okay. Jalen Tyson. Okay. Ooh, I like it. I need a shooter. He's 47% from three. Like, yeah. Yeah. Also, I like how young my team is. Our whole team. I mean, a lot of these guys are young. Yeah. It just goes to show, like, you know, and again, there's more opportunity there for these young guys, I think, now. All right. By the way, George Freelance Writing Network has said, can't believe nobody's taken Derek White yet. Derek White, not a role player. In the all-star discussion. No, no, no. He's the second best player. Second best player on the Celtics right now. Yes, absolutely. That the rule Yes George All right Welcome George Welcome Glad to have you George Shout out to George All right, Dave. You got your last two picks here. Oh, my God. This is tough. Last two picks. Last two picks of the role player draft. Let me get my life together. Let me get my life so I'm not holding things up. Get your life together, Zena. You mean like I am? There's one guy that I'm pretty sure you guys will get mad at if I draft. I can't wait to get mad at you one more time during this. S. There's a lot going on. I can't wait. S is going to be like Denny Obdia. Technically Denny Obdia. If you look at the kinds of shots he takes. All right, Dave. We're stalling for you now, dude. You know what? Ultimate role player. Josh Hart. Okay. okay we see your power forward man that's a good one he is your team isn't scoring at all no but neither are you yeah exactly yeah eight there'll be you don't know who my guard is yet that's true you're gonna take cam thomas you know no no no he's the superstar on the bucks right now that is that's right well he had four points the other night so he's working let him ramp up let him ramp up oh yeah you're right you're right you're right um okay you know what i'm gonna take reed shepherd as my two wow i need a shooter we're drafted for need here um so that means we're putting on men as a role player cool cool cool you take that i got our men whoa whoa wait no no no a man's a role player oh yeah yeah yeah okay my bad my bad i missed that i messed that up well now we have a place to pick at dave that's okay but now it's just like yeah i can cover it up hunt reed shepherd hunt him okay okay yeah okay so reed is a role player i meant his top three yeah got it okay okay that helps you still have one guy there yeah exactly yeah um so you're good you're locked in sure yeah let me get your bobby it's a good pick yeah that's a good jabari yeah Okay. Jabari Smith. By the way, Kelly talked about this on the show this morning. Kelly Eco. Jabari at the five. I would like to see much more of that the second half. We saw some earlier this year. Last year, we saw some a little bit earlier this season. Yeah, I think that would be a solid pick. And you know what? We actually talked about this last year when Kevin Durant came over. Yep. that this could be more of an opportunity for him. But yeah, we just don't know. It's the banging down low when he gets up against some big bucks. Yeah, you can't do it against Jokic. Yeah. Yeah, he doesn't have a ton of experience doing it, which is a little... Why you got to do it? Which kind of stinks that they didn't whenever he was younger. Yeah. Just put him in the fire when you... You're terrible anyways. Yeah, why not just try it? Why are you not giving him an opportunity there? Okay. I think Jabari will be like he feels like a guy that will eventually get traded from the Rockets and have a resurgence of sorts. I mean, the thing is, he's good, right? And he's very important to them in the playoffs. Yeah, he was awesome last year. He's good. I would even say there's a lot of like he shows a lot of maturity when he plays for a guy drafted as high as he is. Like he accepts the role that he's given. He doesn't do too much. I'm a big fan of Jabari Smith. Yeah, same. Yeah. Yeah, he's good. Okay. I'm going to give the pick that will make you guys mad first. You guys will reject it, and then I have two other options here afterwards. Vijay Edgecomb. No. What? No. How? Wait. Hold on. Let's think about this. No, he's better than Paul George right now. He's better than Paul George. If you want to pick Paul George, go ahead. Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Vijay Edgecomb. Yeah, it's – Okay. I wanted to see if the name brand of Paul George was enough to sway you guys. The stove is hot, and you touched it, all right? Okay. Stay away. Okay. All right. Now I have two options left. One of them is from the Raptors. One of them is from the Spurs. I'm going to take the guy from the Spurs. Devin Vassell. Oh, he was on my list too. That's a good one. Devin Vassell, nice shooter. They missed him when he was out. Yeah, they missed him a bunch. And I think he's really important to them in the playoffs too. He might catapult him. He's one of those guys also similar to Jada McDaniels where on any given night, he could be their second best player. Sure. That's true. By the way, Duncan Robinson hadn't been picked yet. Wouldn't be a bad one. Are you suggesting that to Andrew? That's cool. That's cool. Not my kind of guy. Who is the Spurs third, by the way? I would say Steph Castle. Stephon Castle. I don't think it's – I would say Steph Castle. At this point, it's not particularly close. in like a year or two, who knows? Yeah. Right. And by the way, if it's not Stefan Castle, I would like to take Stefan Castle as this final pick then. I mean, yeah. I mean, yes, I would have taken him like second if he was available. Okay, final pick in the role player draft. I just think he's the quintessential role player. I'm a little bit surprised that he just hasn't been taken. Is he the guy? It's going to make me the ultimate homer, but Alex Caruso needs to be mentioned on this. He just makes your team work. The Thunder don't win the title last year without him. It just doesn't happen. He can kind of do whatever you need him to do. He can guard Jokic if you need him to. And he can guard the opposing point guard. He can be a facilitator. He can guard Wendry. He guards Wendry. I really like my team. I like my team too. Let us know what you think about our teams. Should we draft a six man real quick? Yeah, sure. Why not? Six man. Okay, I'll go since I have my pick. I'm just making Dave's life art. I'm going to take Mikael Bridges. I'll take Mikael Bridges I will oblige the chat and pick Dennis Jenkins oh congratulations to Dennis Jenkins you just converted by the way over to a full contract Dennis has been awesome by the way he has been awesome all season he was huge in the stretch where they were trying to figure out Jaden Ivey coming back what's going on yeah he's been a nice floor setter am I supposed to go next? oh god I wasn't ready for a six man I got someone in the chat that says we don't know ball. I don't know, man. We're casuals. Here we go. Thanks so much. I do basketball famously. Very casually. Yeah. Yeah. It's a kid's show. Guys, guys, guys. This is tough. I was not ready for this. Do we? Well, no. Anthony Davis is now gone. You know what? Thanks, Dave. I'm just going to go ahead and do Duncan. I like Duncan for you yeah that's good yeah me too two pistons back to back you know what I'm gonna lean into chaos and I'm gonna take Tari Eason because I need another guy that's kind of like Josh Hart but bigger just defense first wow yeah okay just chaos and in a great teammate he and Dort got into it the other day Dort was going to help Kevin Durant get up and Tari runs over and just smacks his hand. And it was just like, no. Don't you dare. And then he pulls KD up, and then they went back and forth, and I was sitting courtside, so I got to hear all of the mean words they said to each other, and it was very fun. That's funny. Let's do a seventh man. Let's go ahead and do it. Let's do a full roster at this point. Do a 10-man roster. Let's just start naming guys. All right? Just name players. How about historical role players? You know, like Vinnie Microwave Johnson. I need that. All right. Let us know what team you like the most. We're here on YouTube, and so you can go to YouTube and check out, if you go to live, sometimes these videos can be hard to find. But if you go to live, you'll see it there first. Click on it, and then you can kind of see all the names out there. Let us know in the YouTube comments what team you like the best. You can also comment on Spotify. And if you're still listening on the Athletic app, you can comment there as well. So let us know who you like best. I'll read them out for our podcast listeners. So Dave has Jalen Suggs, Reed Shepard, Peyton Watson, Josh Hart, Namias Kada, and Tari Eason. Zena has Anthony Black, Dylan Harper, Jalen Tyson, Jabari Smith, Mitchell Robinson, and Duncan Robinson. Ooh, two Robinsons. Two Robinsons. we have S with AJ Mitchell, Devin Vassell, Jayden McDaniels, Nas Reed, Jared Allen, and Danish Jenkins. That's a pretty good team. It's a good team. Thank you. That's a pretty good team. Good team, S. It would have been better if I could have taken Vijay Edgecombe. I would say that my team will struggle to score. Andrew's team would have some trouble scoring. Your team probably doesn't. Yeah. Your team would score. I think Zena's team. could score probably outscore my team yeah yeah yeah and no and nobody is scoring on my team is fighting though i will say my guys you're they are gonna fight you haven't you have like three ejections happening yeah yeah that's right you should have taken isaiah stewart yeah i mean oh that would have been yeah but that's seven game suspension that he just got yeah played a factor and keeping them out of the draft. My team, Kaysom Wallace, Alex Caruso, Andrew Wiggins, Keldon Johnson, Isaiah Hartenstein, and Mikael Bridges with Isaiah Hartenstein as my point guard, by the way. All right, people that are left in the green room, that like, yeah, you could have been there. For me, I just thought about this. Like, Colin Gillespie. Oh, yeah, Colin Gillespie, yeah, he's good. Yeah, Colin Gillespie. He might be the third best player. No, no, I won't go that far. No, yeah, we can't go that far. But yeah, he's someone that I would leave in the green room like, we're going to call you next week, son. Yeah. You know? Next time we do one of these, I'd like to do a Hoopers draft where we just draft teams of Hoopers. I like that. Ooh. Because for me, I would like Bryce Sensabaugh on my team. Bryce Sensabaugh is the first Hooper you think of. That's awesome. I just saw his name, and I was like, I just would like to have that guy on my team. Yeah, I'm going to get a lot of heat for not picking any of the Raptors in Mamu or Emmanuel quickly. Oh, no, you're not. Not for quickly. I think Mamu's the third best player, so that's why I didn't take him. You know what's hilarious about this is the same person that called us casuals for not mentioning English. Yeah, it's good. Just called Khan Caniple a role player. Yeah, exactly. At this point, we've got to just move on with the conversation. We'll move on. Right. Yeah. We'll move on. Should we talk about the suspension? Yeah, I was going to say, a bit of news dropped that we did not have on the show this morning because it came out just like an hour ago as we're recording this. But the suspensions came across from the NBA. Isaiah Beef Stewart with seven games. I'm shocked it's not more. I kind of am too. Seven is a lot. That's a lot. For the NBA, that is a ton. For the Adam Silver era, seven is a lot. That's true. I didn't think he would get more than five, so I actually think seven is pretty harsh. Really? I thought he would be like 15. That's how – just because – Leaving the bench. Leaving the bench, we've seen that be historically – That's already like one or two games. And what's it called? the fact that he's obviously done this more repeat defender, repeat defender. If you will, that sounds really intense. I like, I just want to say, I know I agree. I just want to say he has done it before. Let's just say has experience in this. That's okay. I think it's okay. Listen, we need S as the commissioner. I have that's I'm voting S as commissioner. Cause he's like, I would drop the ball. Yeah. Yeah. I don know if I would be David Stern but I mean I think I would do like 10 games Yeah see that feels like justice That feels like justice right there Thanks S Miles Bridges with four games. Moussa Diabate, four games. And then Jalen Duren, two games, which I think. I was actually surprised by Duren. Sure. Yeah. Why? Because I thought maybe Duren would be one game. Oh, I see. Because he was ejected to, right? Like of the four guys, I feel like Durant did the least, but also the mush in the face. So he kind of helps start it. I think that you got to like give him like one for starting it and then one for like one of his swings maybe. But I think it's fine. But yeah. One for a swing. Wow. If that's the case, I'd be swinging all the time. But if you connect, it's more. Right. So if you're good at it, you're going to miss a lot of games. I'm just going to say this. James Johnson ain't out there fighting nobody. No. You ever notice that? That's true. That's true. But everybody is terrified. He's very measured. He's very measured. Now, Beef's too boxed, right? Now, he's the exception to the rule. That's a whole different thing. But I think that there was something to be said about, you know, I don't know who all the decision makers were in the room to make these suspensions. But one thing about men, especially, the mush in the face, I feel like if there was a roundtable, there was a man was, and it was like one game for Jalen Duren. Someone was like, uh-uh. Nah. A mush that's disrespectful. Absolutely not. Add another one. Yeah. He is going to be in the All-Star game still, by the way. They're still allowing him to play in the All-Star game. I'm not surprised by that, though. By the way, you know what could fix the All-Star game? Let's flex schedule the next Pistons-Hornets game and play that on Sunday instead. Because everyone would tune in to watch that right now. That game was awesome. And then it had, you know, obviously this explosiveness. say, all right, temporary unsuspension for everybody. Load them up. Get out to into it. Hornets versus Fistons Sunday. It'd be amazing. You know what would fix the All-Star game is if we stopped trying to freaking fix the All-Star game. Just play East versus West. Put them in cool jerseys. Either the game is good or it's not. There is not any fixing of it. There's no need. It is insane the amount of effort and mental energy the league spins on this and listen nobody cares nobody really cares the nfl has given up on their pro bowl they play flag football smart you know the issue is the nba had something with their all-star weekend and now the the it's like it's dried up it's because of the slam dunk contest it's because they can't get anybody good to do the slam dunk contest it has nothing to do with the game itself I think there's also something to be said about the fact that all of the dunks, the athleticism, they've been done, right? The things that we used to see at All-Star Weekend that were just amazing and astonishing are now being done on a, I don't want to say nightly basis, but pretty regularly. See them all over TikTok or Instagram. Yeah, you see them all the time. And there's all these influencers that aren't NBA players that are doing these things. There's literally a dunk contest show with Shaq. And the guys that are doing it are like 5'6", 5'8". You know what I mean? So it's like you don't get the same awe that you typically got before. To me, I think about the content that I was always like, oh, man, how cool would it be to be there? The Team USA competitions. Them going around with a camera and playing horse, right? Like that was fun to watch Anthony Edwards get all excited about if he could make the same shot that like stefan curry just made or drew holiday like that kind of content that kind of stuff if they've created some sort of like they had horse shout out to ray john rondo with the spin yeah yeah so like bring back horse um uh what's the what's the game where you shoot behind the person try to make it uh knockout knockout thank you like bring back the childhood games and let these unbelievable nba players that we don't think about in that context of the game, of the childlike aspect of the game. Bring them back into the childlike aspect of the game. I have a better idea than that. I'll just say, man, can we just, one sec, can we just commit to a one-on-one tournament? I know people will not be down, but make it high stakes. Take away everything else. Forget the All-Star game, whatever. Make the All-Star game a one-on-one tournament if you want to. Put a million-dollar pot down. I don't care what it is, but that, if they really wanted to save this thing and save in quotation marks. I mean, we've seen it with the cup. It's like the thing that would save it is if they would just pay the players to win. Yeah, to win. That's it. If you just pay the players to win, it fixes it. Let's do American Gladiators East versus West. Okay? Like, take away the basketball, have them do random, like Ninja Warrior. No NBA front office signs up on that. But I'd love that. I mean, that's where we're heading, right, with these iterations. Okay, if we're doing that, Why don't we just do NBA players do beast games? Okay. I don't know what that is. We just go. Beast games? We just go all in. NBA players. They already have Mr. Beast involved in this one somehow like they did last year. It's like just do beast games. All right. Just do beast games. That's all you got to do. That's where we're headed anyways. You know, this is a good idea. What if it was like Unrivaled? Shout out to Ashwood. Also, I was going to say. Isn't that what they do though? The one-on-one tournament? I was going to say, I'm plugging it for this week. The one-on-one tournament starts tonight, actually, in Unrivaled and will culminate on February 14th. So definitely check it out. And it is fun. They've changed up their format this year. Last year was a little bit messy where guards were going up against bigs in the first round, and it was just unfair. So now there's pockets. It's going to be guards versus guards, and then bigs versus bigs, and then you get to the final rounds, and you'll see what happens. But it is fun. I feel like there is so much there for the NBA. I just think they could do an East versus West game and everyone could get on with their lives. Yeah, and just give the winners money and just make it East versus West. Or don't. All the other things are just like, it's not going to work. If you did one-on-one tournaments, it's going to be like, oh man, the guys who have signed up is like Peyton Pritchard versus AJ Mitchell. Tune in for All-Star 1v1 tournament. It's like who is in the dunk contest? Jackson Hayes, Keyshawn Johnson. Carter Bryant. I think between the four of us, we should know all four, but I can't remember, right? No one's going to care. They are names of people that we rarely say. See, this is my thing. How could they not pay money to get VJ Edgecombe to do the dunk contest? Sure. Or, I mean, like LeBron never doing it in his career. And I don't want to put it on LeBron, but going from, you know, Michael Jordan doing the dunk contest to LeBron not ever doing it. We forgot Jace Richardson. Has Anthony Edwards done the dunk contest? I don't think he has. No, he does the whole dunking hurts thing, and he doesn't like it. Yeah, that's silly to me. I will say this is why it's cool that Damian Lillard's in the three-point contest. Yeah. I like it. The three-point contest is low stakes for these guys, though. Yeah, exactly. No, no, but I'm saying, though, the dunk contest should have some star power. The three-point contest, they didn't have enough people, and they're going to put Damian Lillard in. Wait, they didn't have enough people? That can't be true. I don't think they were going to have enough names that were going to do the three-point contest. Yeah. I think Damian Lillard is a great name to throw in there, and also, again, it's an all-star game. What sucks is that even if you do do a crazy dunk, If you don't have the name recognition behind it, you still don't get the same level of awe and excitement around it. If Madis Mozelis last year put up something – just did the exact same dunk that we saw Aaron Gordon or Zach Levine do, we still just wouldn't have had the same weight to it because it's like we don't think of Madis Mozelis as one of the great dunkers. That's why I think star power matters in the dunk contest. Yeah. Jay, Ant. You need to get guys like – Aaron Gordon and Zach Levine. Yes, I agree. Yeah. Because sometimes you get those guys. Zach Levine and Aaron Gordon, at the very least, were guys that were on the map. You guys are going to make me go old school. Dee Brown? Yeah. Okay. Sometimes you got some good and special. But there were other guys in that dunk contest, and also it just felt different. And part of it is there's so much stuff happening during the broadcast for sure. that it just feels like the dunk contest, it doesn't even matter at all. None of the stuff does. It's all just... The other aspect and the unspoken aspect to this is they make these players do so much stuff throughout this weekend that it's not even really a break. It's a marketing event. It's more of a sprint for them. And so by the time you get to Sunday, it's like, why am I even playing in this ridiculous non-contest of a game? If it didn't care as much about money, if they didn't care as much about money, the all-star game could be fun. And the entire, like, you know, it could be like rock and jock, right? Make it fun. I just don't think it needs to be competitive. Like there's this whole, I don't know. It's a weird thing. I want to take a step back because I think there's two ways to look at this. One, you just said, if they didn't care so much about money, let's just be real. The NBA cares about money, but the players do too. The All-Star Weekend is an opportunity for these players to capitalize on so many ventures that they're doing. They're launching shoes. They're launching books. They're doing panels. They're getting – this is their opportunity to market themselves as well. So to me, there's conflicting aspiration basically between both groups of – NBA wants to show something for the fans. The players want to show something for their own brands. That's why I think this is actually better postseason. When you're not doing this in the middle of the season where players feel like, wait, I need rest. Or if I'm not resting, I need to be making money. And if the NBA is not supplying that money, then why would I allocate my resources, my time, my energy towards doing something out of what I want to do? Like the dunk contest or whatever it is. Or even putting forth effort on the All-Star game. I think there's something to be said about what the NFL is doing. at the end of the season. Guys are having fun. It's more chill. You even saw during the Pro Bowl, the guys were way more relaxed, even with the media and the way that they address things or talk about things or were having fun on the floor. I feel like the middle of the season is where it gets a little bit iffy. Too much things are happening at that time and it's just asking for a lot. I don't think guys will play. I mean, they already have a hard time getting guys to play in the middle of the season. I don't think they're going to play at Summer League or anything. Sure. What if? Oh, yeah, never mind. That's the hard part. I mean, there's too many games. It's a culmination of the 8 million thing. I know. I was just thinking, could they do it between the playoffs? But your stars are in the playoffs. Just pay the players. The one pitch is the NBA Cup Finals is the All-Star weekend. so you have it be this like you have it lead up to an nba cup showdown between these two teams has enough time pass though like has enough but as a gm of a team that just had a poor draft i'll just say my team making the nba cup finals that means we have less rest coming out of the all-star break i don't like that do you see like this is how this is negotiated and i just it doesn't need to be fixed. It just needs to be fun. Just do East versus West. And if you can get the money to pay the players who win, then pay the players who win and just leave it at that. If you pay the players, they will not be spending their time elsewhere trying to get money and allocating their time elsewhere. Just play hard in the All-Star game. Yeah. Just, yeah. All right. Let us know what your solution is. And I'll say it doesn't need fixed. Okay? I'll let you know. We'll say it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what you say. Listen, Adam Silver doesn't care what you have to say. That's what I'll tell you. He doesn't care. I hope everybody's doing well. Appreciate you guys tuning in to the morning shoot-around. Please do leave in the comments whose role-player team you think is best. We will talk to you guys again next week. Be nice.