 What's the word y'all? The last day for me as an NBA fan has been very interesting. We found out that Kimmel Walker is no longer the rotation for the Knicks and we found out that Blake Griffin is no longer in the rotation for the Nets. And immediately when I saw that notification, I felt a bit surprised, but then I had to take a step back. These are players, and when I saw the notifications, I was thinking about the name of Kimmel Walker and the name of Blake Griffin. But these are players that are later in their career that signed to their organizations for a small amount of money, that didn't have a lot of expectations for them personally, but have been performing well under that expectation. Because of that, they're out of the rotation. And it's a bit weird, man, because just a couple years, not even two full calendar years ago, Kimmel Walker was an All-Star Starter. I was there in Chicago, man. He had this puffy fur coat green in the press box. He was an All-Star Starter, and since that moment, it's been completely downhill and he's completely out of the rotation. Blake Griffin played one of his best seasons of his entire career, just like what, in 2019? When the last year in Detroit, or the second to last year in Detroit, and now he's completely out of the rotation. And when I say stuff like this, it makes me feel old. Now, I'm only 25 years old. I understand that that is not old at all. But I don't wanna say I grew up with Blake Griffin, I blew up with Kimmel Walker, but them and their primes, them as they're starting to make a name for themselves over the past decade, is what turned me from just a kid or a teenager that loved the game of basketball to someone that wanted to talk about a full time as a living. So to see them in a twilight of their careers that completely out of the rotation and maybe out of the league soon, makes me feel old and I hate it. It's so crazy to think about how much basketball these players have played in the last, so 2020 All-Star game was in Chicago, and then of course the season got shut down, then we had the bubble, then we had the shortened season, and we're right back into basketball. These dudes have been playing so much basketball in just two kind of the years. And I guess we've kind of seen that with the amount of injuries we've had in the last couple of years, but if there's anything to take away from this video, it's always something to always say. Enjoy basketball, y'all, because once the players start to hit their 30s, you never really know what's gonna happen. Kemba Walker was an All-Star star just a little bit ago, then he had some surgeries, he's had some problems his entire career, but once you hit, it's something about once you see that 3-0, these kids dramatically changed. So the 30 plus-year-old players, as you see right now, still doing their thing in the NBA, enjoy that because you never really know what can happen or when it can happen. But I do want to talk about these players losing their spot in the rotation and why we got to this point and what does it mean for the teams who start off with Kemba Walker. I think that Kemba Walker's story is even a little bit sadder because he had been advertised as the hometown kid coming home and I think majority of NBA fans saw what he did last year and kind of subverted the expectations for Kemba. We didn't expect him to go there and be an All-Star, but for the next, they need a shot creation, need a shot making once they got to the playoffs. Adding the guy like Kemba Walker was a low-risk, high-reward thing and they gave him about 20 games and boom, he's no longer in a rotation. But even just like two weeks ago, when we were doing our review of the NBA City jerseys, their photo shoot was Kemba Walker and it was revolving around the hometown kid. And unfortunately for them or for Kemba, he just hasn't been able to perform at all. When I watch next games, there are sometimes two to three minute periods where he looks great, but then all the other minutes, he doesn't. We're talking about a player that's had so many surgeries or so many injuries with his lower body, a guy that relied on his quickness, that quick first step, that crossover and those things aren't getting his defenders anymore. The only thing that he has really been bringing to the team is his ability to shoot the three ball, but that's pretty much it. You take a look at the worst lineups in the entire league this season, it's the New York Knicks starting lineup and we question how long will it take for Tom Thibodeau to make some changes? I personally didn't think it was gonna be Kemba Walker losing the spot to Alec Burks, but that is the decision he decided to make. Now there are rumors about them trying to get him to a different team because I believe everybody in the league likes Kemba Walker. I interviewed Kemba, he was the greatest dude. I didn't even know if that video was on YouTube. Let me check. It is, the Kemba Walker video went up four months ago. It's kind of crazy it's been that long. What you don't see in that video, and I recommend y'all go watch the video, we were reacting to highlights from me and Kemba Walker, but we're virtual. He was in his big old mansion because it's Kemba Walker, he made a lot of money in his career and he was like taking us around his house, trying to figure out the perfect spot for us to get his wifi connection. He dropped out of the call like six times and I remember my producer was texting him like don't worry we can reschedule, but he was like no I wanna do the show with y'all. So we went around his entire house until we found the perfect room with good wifi connection. He's just such a good guy and them trying to give him to another team gives him another chance. I respect, but I feel like it'll be hard for a team to really buy in on Kemba Walker. Now the good thing about that is that he's only making X amount of dollars. It's not a lot. So if a team did wanna take another flyer on Kemba Walker you probably could, but what is the role for him? He's probably not a star in the NBA anymore. Is he just a dude that you pay $8 million a year for and he gives you 15 of decent minutes off the bench? I don't really know. And the way Tom Thibodeau talked about it, let me read the quote. It says that Tom Thibodeau says he has great respect for Walker and all he's accomplished. That tells me that I don't know if there's gonna be another opportunity for him to potentially get back into the rotation. I don't think that's the same case for Blake Griffin. So let's talk about Blake. Blake dropped out of the rotation. I remember before the season started, what is his name? Zac Lowe's, I love Zac Lowe's podcast. And one of the major criticisms he had about the Brooklyn Nets is that they had Lamarcus Soldiers, they had James Johnson, they had Paul Milsep and they had Blake Griffin. These are all four players that at one point in their careers are like a power forwards, but now as the game has evolved, they're not fast enough to run the four anymore and the game is getting smaller. So we're talking about four players that are probably gonna play most of their minutes at center position and they all are kind of redundant in what they can and can't do. So when you have four players that play very similar, you're gonna drop the guy that plays the worst. And so far this season has been Blake Griffin. He is, last time I checked, let me go to, I think it was like 16% from three? 16% from three is what it said right now. He's average of five points per game, five rebounds to assist. Again, too slow to keep up with the power forwards in the league, but kind of too small to really raise the defensive ceiling of a team at the center position. And I love the way Blake Griffin had revitalized his career, right? He had came into the league as a dude that was known as a dunker, dunker, dunker. And I actually interviewed Blake Griffin, John Wall and Kimball Walker. Isn't that kind of crazy? All of these older dudes that are like going through their own stuff right now. And we talked about this in this interview where it's like he wanted to reinvent himself because a casual NBA fan saw Blake Griffin as a dude that can dunk, dunk, dunk, but he knew he could be so much more than that. So he started to work on his three-point shot very early in his career, but he never broke it out in games because he spent seasons and seasons trying to get good at it. And then he did. Like what season was that? His last season in LA, when they basically told, they remember they, the Clippers are kind of singing for this one. They signed Blake Griffin. They were basically saying like, we want you to stay in here. We're gonna have your number in the Raptors and they traded my boy like 30 games to the season. Quickly, like that. It's a business. I understand that, but still. But that last year, he had got to the point where he was attempting five three-pointers a game. He's shooting 45% from three, which is a little less than league average, but compared to the rest of his career before that he had never shot threes before. And this season he came into the scene, he was hitting his threes, and he ended up in Detroit. And that first full season of Detroit, all star, all NBA, he was a dude that was the, he was the team. And I remember he led them into the playoffs and he was injured in the playoffs and he tried to play through it. It was just like a lot of heart for Blake Griffin in those moments. And y'all know Chris Paul is my favorite player of all time. So I watched a lot of Chris Paul. I mean, a lot of Blake Griffin as he was the dunker, but like his rookie season, 22 points per game. And it was just, now I'm reminiscing. Again, this one makes me feel old. But he redid his entire career. Like, I mean, he said in this interview that he was always a solid playmaker, but he played with Chris Paul. He didn't really need to play make like that because he had one of the greatest playmakers of all time on this team. So he got to Detroit. They gave him the ball, let him be like this, this point forward. And it was amazing for him. And then the injury started to kick in and since then it has never been the same. But the thing about Blake Griffin is that he plays so hard. That's why I think that he still has the opportunity. I don't think this is the last run to see of Blake Griffin with the next. Like, I don't think he's gonna be at a rotation for the rest of the season. I think that they're gonna give him some more spot minutes eventually and hopefully his shot comes around because he plays so hard. He leads the league and charges drawn per game. He puts his body on the line every single night. Maybe that's one of the reasons why he struggles to stay healthy. But he draws charges. He's a good locker room dude. But with those four guys, LaMarcus is playing out of this world. And that's another thing that contributed to Blake Griffin falling out of the rotation because LaMarcus is playing so well. James Johnson has been really good for them. And though Paul Millsap has been up and down, he's been better than Blake Griffin. So it feels weird, man. Those two dudes, bro, out of the rotation. And now we got John Wall trying to be freed. And yeah, free John Wall. You should be able to play. All right, man, that's all I really have to say. Let me know what you think about these two players. If you're a Nets fan or you're a Nicks fan, how do you feel since you're closer to the whole thing than I am? I'm closing out every video by saying this from now on out. Enjoy basketball, y'all.