 What's the word y'all? Quick promo, I went up to Stephen A Smith's podcast the other day, man, it just came out today. Me and Stephen A Smith chopping it up with my basketball, about media, about my come up, about the future of sports media. It was a great conversation. It'll be like 40 plus minutes long. And I never thought in a million years that I would end up growing my platform enough to even get noticed by a guy like Stephen A Smith. So I would appreciate it if you hit the link in the description to go show some love because I want them, not just Stephen A Smith but the world to realize that these YouTube communities that I'm building or somebody else's building are just as big and just as important as some of the traditional media. And it genuinely ended up being a great conversation and I think you will enjoy it. So link is in the description, shout out to Stephen A. He even invited me to come on to first take. Did you hear that? Can he beat you? First take, potentially. And I'm gonna hold my ground. Oh, I'm gonna hold my ground, like I did in this podcast. So go check it out. A few things you wanna talk about today though in the NBA world. The OKC Thunder is number one. First of all, I wanna say right off the rip. I don't know exactly what the Paul George injury is gonna end up being, but I'm not a doctor or anything like that, but it just looked bad. And I'm praying that it's not anything that's gonna hold them out for the rest of the season or prevent them from going on the run because this is an important season for them. The Kawhi Paul George pairing has been together for four years now and they got a conference findings appearance out of it so far, but that wasn't the goal. The goal is to win a championship. And they had been looking like a good basketball team after that little stretch after the bio market. They went on a nice four to five game win streak. They started putting it together. They were showing advanced stats in the game, I guess I found yesterday where when it was zoo, when it was PG, when it was Kawhi and it might have even been Russell Westbrook when those players on the court together, they've been really damn good over the past five or so games. And now we don't know if Paul George is gonna end up playing another second. I'm not speculated, but I saw a tweet this morning from Shams that was saying that they don't feel great about it. So I'm praying that PG is good because well, we want them to have a chance. I just strictly as that, simply as that. You give it up, Sam. I wanna talk about the OKC Thunder, though. The OKC Thunder last year or last season, they went into a game against the Memphis Grizzlies and they lost that game. Let me look at this again. Let me just get my hair out of my eyes because I need to go back 152 to 79. That was during the 2021-2022 season, which means that it was just last season. They lost the game by 71 points and there's a video on this channel where I was just having some fun and I went back to watch that entire game front to back. I knew that they lost by 71, but I went back to just see what the hell was happening? What would they talk about on the broadcast when you downed by 56 points? Ended up being a good video in a fun time, but that team just a season ago lost the game by 70 and now they're in the playoffs, y'all. They are in the playoffs. Now, do you wanna say in that game that they lost by 70, shade in and play and the roster has looked different? But it's still, I wanna add this conversation about the jump that they've had this season. As of right now, they're a 500 team. They're half a game away from having be completely safe in the playoffs. Like it makes no sense to me. I mean, it does once we start to actually watch it, but this is the youngest team of basketball. I think I saw my boy three called Tweet that is the second youngest collection of players in the history of basketball. And they are right now in the playing with the potential to be higher. They're eight and two in their last 10 and recently, as long as Shay Gilgios Alexander has played, they have had a chance and they've won a lot of these games. There's been a lot of times in season while I'm watching this team, especially during this recent streak, while I'm watching them and I'm thinking to myself, there is no way that this is the youngest team of basketball. A couple of nights ago, I guess the Phoenix Suns, you know, they're going back and forth book first versus Shay, which was an amazing show in itself. Then we get to the fourth quarter in the OKC Thunder turned off the faucet. There was no more buckets for y'all. And that's not something that a team that is the youngest team of basketball and maybe again, Cohen ain't fact-check it, but I trust you, the second youngest collection of players in NBA history, they shouldn't be able to do that on a regular basis. And they have. And usually when we think about young teams, there are two teams that stand out in least in recent NBA history that have been young and been successful. The first will be in the Memphis Grizzlies who even right now are still one of the youngest teams of basketball. I think they're fifth or something and they're the two seed out West. They have had higher seedings over the last couple of seasons than the Thunder. Traditionally, when you are the youngest team of basketball, one of the youngest teams of basketball, the objective is to lose as many games as possible, go get a top pick, and then in three years, you're no longer the youngest team of basketball, you got this collection of players and boom, we can start to try. OKC said forget all of that. I think we, because of the bubble and because of the time scrunch that we've had, people look at the OKC Thunder and they think about all the draft picks that they have and think that, man, they've been rebuilding forever. They were just in the playoffs. The Lou Dort, the Lou Dort block. I mean, James Harden block Lou Dort. That's what I meant. But that wasn't too long ago. That was just a few seasons ago, ladies and gentlemen. And that was basically the start of the rebuild because Chris Paul got shifted here and boom, boom, boom. So that was the start of the rebuild. They haven't even been towards the bottom of the league for that long. Now, when it was bad, it was bad. But Shay told us early this season that their goal is to win as many games as possible, regardless. I remember before this season started, a lot of people were like, OK, Shay's getting traded this season because, well, he's older than a lot of the core and then they're not going to be good and he's going to be upset and then, boom, he's going to request a trade and he's going to be out to the next team. Sam Press, he loves these first round picks. He can get at least four of them things for Shay Gilles Alexander. He shut that down at the beginning of the season. They shut that down in the beginning of the season. And now here we are with just nine games left in the season. They are there. And we made a video a few weeks ago or a few days ago where we were talking about the playing race being depressing, right? Every team that is in the play-in looks like they're having an underwhelming season. But there's two teams that I said stuck out. The first one was the Indiana Pacers. And because Tyrese Halliburton is injured right now, it seems like they're more likely than not out of the race. But again, a lot of games left in the season. And then the other team I mentioned was the OKC Thunder as being the younger teams that can bring some life. Because in the recent play-in years, we did have the Memphis Grizzly year where they were like, oh my God, is this Grizzly team about to do it? And they defeated the goal to say where it's ended up being in the play-off series. Last year, it was the New Orleans Pelicans. A younger team went through the play-in, get into a play-off series and taken a few games. And this year, it might be the OKC Thunder. And every single year, those teams, the following year, at least started off great. The Pelicans were great before Zion went down. Let's not misunderstand that. They were the one-two seed for about a week's time. As long as he was back, they'd probably be still in that realm. But both of those teams, after having the play-in scenario and making a little bit of noise in the playoffs, went the following season and lit it up. The Grizzlies went from a play-in team to like the two seed just like that. And I think the consensus thing or the thing that ties these teams together is a culture. I mean, the Grizzlies have a lot of things going on right now, but one thing you cannot deny is that they have some culture. And two is a star player at the helm. Jamarrant had his big-time jump. Shake yours, Alexander, having a big-time jump. But even sometimes I'm watching this team, and it still doesn't compute to me how they're a good defensive team considering the circumstances, considering the new young single basketball, considering they still don't have Chad Holmgren, who's supposed to be their rim protector, slash man down low. They've been putting this hot, positive for players where early in the season, there was Michael Scala, and then they traded for Darryl Sarge, and then Jeremiah Robinson, Neuromite, playing league one night to start the next one, and then Jalen Williams, the big, might come in and shoot 40% from three. They've been able to make it happen. And I think another thing that ties these teams together would be, I'm just going to say the Grizzlies and the OKC Thunder, because again, the Pelicans have fallen out. As I think coaching plays a big part in these younger teams competing earlier than we anticipated. Because some of the other teams, other young teams in basketball, I don't believe that their coach is very well. Now I'm saying that these coaches are trashed, because sometimes the roster's that they have to coach with or trashed. But whether it be Taylor Jenkins or Coach Mark D, these people, these coaches have shown us, hey, I am damn good at my job. And I could get these young dudes to buy in and not care about themselves. I think that's another thing. When you come into the league and you're a top picking basketball, your mind is, I got to go get mine. I got to go do what I got to do to showcase to the world that I'm really, I don't like uses, but I'm really him. But good coaching and good culture can give it all of that. I mean, Desmond Vame's the 30th overall pick, but I don't think he came into the locker room like, all right, I need to get mine off. But a lot of these people buy in to the idea that if the team is successful, then ultimately I'm successful. I might get six shots one night. I'm cool. Do we win? Absolutely. And those things legitimately go a long way. So the OKC Thunder have been one of my most watched teams since I think since January, because Jaylen Williams has been my favorite rookie by far. Nobody's even close to him as far as like what I enjoy watching the game of basketball. So I've been watching him a ton. Josh Gideon is looking great. And I think the thing that differentiates them from the other teams is I mentioned this on our podcast of the day, that it feels like once they win the game, that's the green life of everybody on their roster to get an Instagram pick off. If we don't win, then none of y'all posting y'all fits. You know what I'm saying? But once we win, say getting his post up, getting his post up, you know what I'm saying? But if we lose, what am I showcasing my fit for, man? I wore this fire-ass fit just for us to get blown out. No, we'll save it for the next game. And then the next game happens, Shay going to post his fit pick, and then he going to go out there and post a highlighter to from that game. And that's exactly what happened. And yesterday, Lou Dorton, our last possession on Kauai Linen, I don't know what much more I could say. The Dorchal Chamber is still alive and well. Really other things around the league. Carthony Towns is coming back tonight after not playing since the end of November. It's been such a long time, and they kind of need it. I don't know how it's going to look with the gelling process. They only have a half a game difference between being in the play-in and being out of it, so they don't have time to try to figure it out. They just have to go out there and do it. And I think sometimes that is the best case scenario, because you know in your mind that you don't have time to try to figure it out, that you just have to do it. So we'll see how that looks. I'm happy to have him back because Carthony Towns, say what you want about him. But he is electric, especially on the off and side of the ball. Say a thing, Jon Moren is coming back, too. I mean, a lot of people are coming back, which makes for a good old, good old race. The Bulls have a two and a half game difference between them and the 11th seed. And I don't know how the rest of the season is going to go, obviously, because the Bulls have been up and down. They're going on a three game win streak. They're going on a five game loser's streak. But it feels like, again, the Pelicans having Tarris Halliburton being injured, it seems like that's probably their destiny. And then the Wizards, after we were giving them praise for being the best out of the bad, have just tanked it completely. Not by design, they just have not looked good recently. So the Bulls might have a tense spot. And they might have a nine spot, depending on how it goes. And if they, I'm telling you this right now, if they have a nine spot, I'm going to the playing game 100%. I'm going to be there. I don't care how much it costs. Even though we're, again, just playing to lose in the first round, I'm there. We play against Joel and Bede in the 76 again tonight. Joel and Bede is now one in 12 against the Bulls in his career. We try to make that two in 12, man. Either way, I would love for y'all to show some love in the description. And I'll see y'all soon. Peace.