STRAW STRAW Hello there, and welcome to part one of the Japan-only Super Famicom RPG series. There are many, many, many RPGs that were only released in Japan, like nearly a hundred. So I'm sorry I can't cover all of them in one video. I'm not insane. I just wanted to start with the more popular ones that have English translation patches. A huge thanks to BoneSnapDs from the Rocket Boy forums for providing a tremendous resource listing all of the RPGs. Click the link in the description to see it for yourself. Also a huge thanks once again to Ziggy587, also from the Rocket Boy forums for his collection of information on flash cartridges. Again, click the link in the description to learn a bit about flashcards. Those are the best and easiest way to play these games on your original hardware. Now let's get to the games. I'm only going to be talking about seven or eight at a time per video. Not too much detail, I just want to talk about the guts of each game, like the combat system and the story and such. And like I said, I'm going to start with the popular ones, like Bahamut Lagoon. This is a strategy RPG from Squaresoft. If you're into classic JRPGs straight from the vein of games like Final Fantasy 6, but with strategy-based gameplay, then you got to check this game out. The battles are turned based on a grid, like most strategy games. Your team is grouped into fours, each featuring a dragon, but you can't really control the dragons. They act kind of like the capsule monsters in Lufia 2. There's classes that allow for range attacks, or you can get close and do battle the usual way. Movement is a big part of Bahamut Lagoon, as you're allowed to use your surroundings to your advantage, or they may equally end up at your disadvantage, depending on how your battle goes. Sometimes games like this become overwhelming with the absurd amount of micromanaging you have to do, but this game stays sensible in its approach, while allowing a huge amount of customization. Unfortunately, the story is a little incoherent. The English translation did its best, and kudos to the people who work really hard on these things, but it still doesn't make a whole lot of sense. What's evident is that the story is extremely cliche, with an empire ruling over a plucky resistance, a princess is kidnapped, and develops Stockholm Syndrome for a captor. The story is not particularly unique, but the gameplay is what makes Bahamut Lagoon worth checking out. If you like the strategy grid style combat, but a little simpler, there's Treasure Hunter G. It's a much more streamlined combat system, but it still utilizes the basic strategy game components. And you can actually attack diagonally on the grid, which is nice. Really, if you're new to strategy RPGs, I highly recommend this one. It really does a nice job explaining how to play, without it being dumbed down or holding your hand too much. The story is also streamlined, without a lot of fluff or detail. It's just two brothers named Red and Blue, whose dad is always getting into trouble, going on big treasure hunts, so they want to follow in his footsteps and do the same. They also have a helper monkey, and who doesn't love helper monkeys? The only glaring flaw with Treasure Hunter G is that the menu and item system is really outdated.  And also, you have to equip items to each character, so to speak. There isn't just a huge pool of stuff to pick from. You have to hand each item to one another, which is really kind of annoying. But really, Treasure Hunter G is a really fantastic game, thanks to its smooth combat system and its strong soundtrack especially. Next is perhaps the most hyped Japan-only release, Saikenden Setsu 3, or Secret of Mana 2. This utilizes similar combat gameplay as its predecessor, but with less of a mandatory wait between attacks. That makes things way more chaotic, and I enjoy it. Unfortunately, you still have to pause the game to use magic, and that's kind of annoying, but whatever. At its core, it's still the same Secret of Mana mechanics at work. They added a lot of neat little touches as well, like the different enemies appearing depending on if it's day or night, and a class system that allows for a lot of detailed customization. The story is freaking gigantic. There are six characters, and you the player can choose who the main character should be, plus choosing two partners. All six people want the monosword, and they each have their own motivations. And yeah, some are more interesting than others. Each character's story eventually comes together to form one big narrative, but still, the replay value of this game is just crazy. It can take well over 30 hours and at least six playthroughs to get through every character's storyline. It's a really cool idea, and it's executed very well. So yeah, Saikenden Setsu 3 takes the classic Top Town beat-em-up gameplay, adds an inventive storyline mechanic that gives incentive to play the game a ton. It's beautiful looking, while all the games on this list are, but this one stands out, and plus the soundtrack is top notch. If you only get one game from this video, make sure it's this one, Saikenden Setsu 3. In Star Ocean, a disease starts turning people into stone. Your team of soldiers has to find a cure on the top of Mount Meteorix, but when you finally get there, you find these guys who politely inform you that this disease is actually a biological weapon and an active war from another alien race. So we all hop on a spaceship and cruise around the galaxy to find a cure. What really makes the story stand out in Star Ocean, though, is the private action mechanic. It's entirely optional, but when you show up to any town, your party can split up together town gossip, which can potentially trigger larger events in the story and sometimes even cause two particular characters to have a closer relationship. Which leads to really cool stuff like having an increased attack power out of rage, if your friend is defeated in battle. It's really an amazing feature that adds a ton of depth to the gameplay. The battle system is real-time, but not quite like Secret of Mana or Zelda. It's an interesting hybrid between the usual RPG battle engine and real-time top-down battles. You can have up to four party members in battle, which causes some good fun and chaos, but you only control one player at a time, and the computer AI isn't exactly the best when it comes to controlling the other characters. But yeah, Star Ocean is well worth checking out just to experience the private actions mechanic. It's very cool. Tales of Fantasia is very similar to Star Ocean in terms of the battle system, but instead of a top-down view, you have a 2D side view that scrolls the screen to the left or right depending on where the battle goes. Again, this isn't turn-based, you only control one person, so you're left at the mercy of the computer AI sometimes, which isn't always fun. As for the story, it's just okay. You start out immediately fighting this sorcerer named Deus. He's on the verge of defeat before he casts a spell to travel way into the future where he promptly runs into your party's descendants. Whoops. They seal him away into two magic pendants. Many years pass, the pendants are stolen, Deus is revived, you get the idea. The character interactions in my opinion are really cringe-worthy. I'm not that experienced with the Tales series, but I'm told that's just how it is with these games. I wouldn't call Tales of Fantasia the best game on this list. I'm not hating on it, it's just my opinion. But I gotta include it because it's a very impressive piece of work. The graphics and the soundtrack really stand out as something special. Final Fantasy V is one of the better games in its series, but it's not quite as good as the 4th or 6th game. Still, it's worth checking out because it's a little bit of a departure from the normal Final Fantasy experience because of the job system. You eventually accumulate up to 22 different jobs you can pick from to apply to your party. It's mostly your typical stuff, like knights for more powerful attacks, and black mage for black magic, and that kind of stuff. Although as you collect more crystal shards, you get more jobs available. And there's a lot of room for combinations and customization, with secondary commands available as well. You can also switch jobs at will, which is fantastic. That's really what makes this game stand out among its peers. Not only is this game unique in the series because of the job system, but the tone of the story is much lighter as well. And personally, I appreciate that, because as much as I like the stories of the 4th and 6th games, it's a much needed change of pace from the overwrought, over-serious nature of not just the usual Final Fantasy story, but the usual JRPG story. So yeah, Nintendo of America didn't think it was worth the time and effort to localize the game back in the early 90s, but thankfully, Final Fantasy 5 was re-released on PlayStation and Game Boy Advance, and it's also available in the PSN store, as well as on iOS and Android devices. It's really well done and a nice change of pace for both Final Fantasy and the JRPG genre. Then there's Terranigma. I know this game is already obviously in English because it got a European release, but it never came out in the US and I'd never hear the end of it. It's arguable whether or not this game is actually an RPG, but I gotta include it on this list. Terranigma is technically the sequel to Illusion of Gaia, which was a sequel to Soul Blazer, but it's not at all necessary to play those games to understand what's happening in Terranigma. But if you liked those games at all, then you'll love this one. It implements the same style of gameplay, which is closer to an action or adventure game than an RPG. Still, the music storytelling and visual presentation are very much JRPG-ish. There are some cleverly made puzzles to get past, and the sound of destroying an enemy is addicting. The only gameplay function that feels a bit outdated, in my opinion, is the save system. There's not nearly enough save points, but whatever. The story is that you're this little troublemaker kid named Ark. He stumbles upon a hidden door, which as a result freezes everything in his own village. Whoops. So in order to unfreeze everything, he's gotta leave the village for the first time and go to this parallel universe and revive everything. There's an interesting twist that I won't spoil, but it's well done and it keeps the story from being too generic. Personally, I like the puzzles and level design in Illusion of Gaia a bit more, but the story in Terranigma is light years more coherent and more interesting. Again, if you liked Soul Blazer in Illusion of Gaia, or stuff like Luffya 2 in Link to the Past, then you will definitely like Terranigma. Okay, that's it for now. I hope to do more of these videos, and I hope you have a great rest of your day. Thanks for watching.


Hope everybody's having a great day, safe day.  He's really growling a problem now. I told Tommy, we gotta get him on. We're gonna get him on.  Cultivate wisdom. You don't need to accumulate knowledge to become wise. Anyone can become wise.  When you become wise, your life is controlled by your heart, not your head. Macadwize! Let's take a look at it out here. We have the Dow Industries down 162. Nat, up, sorry. Dow Industries up 162. NASDAQ down three. S&Ps up 17.5. Gold contract up $15. Trading at $17.85 an ounce. You got silver up 56 cents. 24 dollars, 44 cents an ounce. Lightsweep crewed up 91 cents. 83 dollars, 87 cents. A barrel, notes and bonds. LaTaniera up one tick. Trading 130.19. The 30 year down eight at 150.801 and King dollar. King dollar's down 147 ticks. 93, 587. Euro at 116. The yen's at 114.28 and the British pound is at 138 to one US dollar. iPhone numbers 877. 9276, 648. Give us a call, folks. Wanna know what's going on in your world? And the world of the S&Ps, let's take a look at them. This is gonna be a replay, folks, of how we got to the highs and came off the highs. Now this is gonna get really intriguing. What it is is this. So the S&P wants to test the tie. I mean, the spy's right next to it right now. The high is 454.05. We hit 452.73. Huge contraction of volume again, but guess what? My take, we're gonna test it because you're way too close to it. The contraction of volume is really cool too, man. So check it out. So Monday, we did 62 million shares. Yesterday, we did 46 million shares. We'll probably do about 45, 46 million shares today. You're going into the high, it had 42, and 42, of course, was a contraction of volume beyond belief. Then you came downtown with 165 million. Now, the replay that I'm talking about is this. That you had the spy was up there, got into the highs, whereas the NVX100 just never could make it on these counter-trend bounces since we had come off the high. Same set up right now. What you have with the cues, the cues hit 376.56 today, you're at 375. The bottom line is that they made it over the swing. Now, the swing that we made it over yesterday is crucial. It's at 370.404. Now, I don't think we're gonna get underneath that today. We'll find out. I just, if it comes down another buck, it comes down another buck. But that would be the benchmark that you're looking at. That's the failure. Volume-wise, okay, the contraction is also huge. Last Friday, we did 40 million shares. Monday, you did 34. Yesterday, you did 29. We'll probably do 33 today. We're at 23 right now. Bottom line, you get the gist of it. There's more sellers than their, well, there's not enough buyers. When we do a supply and demand equation, the bottom line is that it's going up, it's going on light volume, and you got all the volume down the end, and this is, to me, not only we're in the correction, it's a monster trading range right now. I mean, and it's a monster too, that trading range. Gold, gold contract wants higher price. It's gonna get interesting with gold, man. Gold is just starting to get up ahead of steam here. You've done 166,000 contracts. You're $15.20. And that's not the number, folks, okay? Bottom line is that what you're gonna see here is that you have the equities that have been going up for about a week and a half straight. Well, actually it's two weeks. If we look at the GDX, GDX set in a low on the 29th of September at $28.83. That's at $32.85, and that's not gonna have enough volume for an ABC structure in the way up today. It was going into its B point, and there's 25 million only has 11. That's not enough. Let me go take a look at a few others. Ashante was also going into it. That's not gonna have enough either. GFI was going into it. Let's see. Yeah, we need more volume, man, on all of them. They're still up, but you need more volume. Let's see. GFI, yeah, they all hit it too. Okay, well, the bottom line, we're gonna need more juice there. Notes and bonds. You take a look at the note and bond market. It looks to me like these babies bottomed out today. What we had out here is that the note and bond market came into its lows. You had tremendously lighter volume. Thus far you've rejected lower price. You are at the bottom of the range. The 10th year, we just, for the last three months, you went from 134, 25. We hit 130,08 today and rejected it. You're up 130, 20. If we take a look at the 30 year, you're gonna see the 30 year is set up the same way. The 30 year actually is always ahead of the 20. I mean the 10, yeah, the 10 year note. So we have with the 30 year, 30 year right now is trading 150,803, and the 30 year had already come off its lows. That had hit a low of 150,703, goes all the way up to 160, pulls back, bottom line rejected lower price out here, higher volume, higher price is coming at you. Now, good old Kingdollar. What you have with Kingdollar is this. What Kingdollar has done here is that Kingdollar is now in the lower trading range.  And the number to keep your eye on a Kingdollar is gonna be 93,729. So we're only into it 126, that's not a big deal.  Because what will end up happening then, you can't break them up, you're gonna bust them down and bust them down, gets it into the price point of 89 on Kingdollar.  Oh, this is pretty cool, man. One, two, three, yeah, one, two, three, four. Yeah, I can. One is, what does happen is this, these gaps, I talked about this before, when you have a market that's gapping all, like we gap down, then we gap down again, then we gap up three days. That, most of the time, okay, is a consolidation. That's how you can pick up your consolidation when you have gaps all over the place. Let me go look at the three cues. And in the three cues case, same thing. You know, I wouldn't say that they're three gap plays.  In this particular case, they're just not big enough and wide enough.<PHONE_NUMBER>. We have the Dow Industries right now trading up 157. NASDAQ is down five, S&Ps are up 16 and a half, so they're right there, folks, so come right back.


My dear brothers and sisters, I'm grateful to speak with you today. My hope is to give encouragement when life seems especially difficult and uncertain. For some of you, that time is now. If not, such a time will come. That is not a gloomy view. It is realistic, yet optimistic. Because of God's purpose in the creation of this world, that purpose was to give His children the opportunity to prove themselves able and willing to choose the right when it is hard. In so doing, their natures would be changed and they could become more like Him. He knew that would require unshakable faith in Him. Much of what I know came from my family. When I was about eight years old, my wise mother asked my brother and me to pull weeds with her in our family's backyard garden. Now that seems a simple task, but we lived in New Jersey. It rained often. The soil was heavy clay. The weeds grew faster than the vegetables. I remember my frustration when the weeds broke off in my hands, their roots stuck firmly in the heavy mud. My mother and my brother were soon far ahead in their rows. The harder I tried, the more I fell behind. This is too hard, I cried out.  It's supposed to be. Life is a test. In that moment, I knew her words were true and we continue to be true in my future. The reason for mother's loving smile became clear years later when I read of Heavenly Father and His beloved Son speaking of their purpose in creating the world and giving spirit children the opportunity of mortal life. And we will prove them herewith to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them. And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon. And they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate. And they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads forever and ever. You and I accepted that invitation to be tested and to prove that we would choose to keep the commandments of God when we would no longer be in the presence of our Heavenly Father. Even with such a loving invitation from our Heavenly Father, Lucifer persuaded a third of the spirit children to follow him and reject the Father's plan for our growth and eternal happiness. For Satan's rebellion, he was cast out with his followers. Now he tries to cause as many as he can to turn away from God during this mortal life. Those of us who accepted the plan did so because of our faith in Jesus Christ, who offered to become our Savior and Redeemer. We must believe then that whatever mortal weaknesses we would have and whatever evil forces would be against us, the forces of good could be overwhelmingly greater. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ know and love you. They want you to return to them and become like them. Your success is their success. You have felt that love confirmed by the Holy Ghost when you have read or heard these words, open quote, for behold, this is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. God has the power to make our way easier. He fed manna to the children of Israel in their wandering to the promised land. The Lord in his mortal ministry healed the sick, raised the dead, and clung the sea. After his resurrection, he opened the prison to them that were bound. Yet the prophet Joseph Smith, one of the greatest of his prophets, suffered in prison and was taught the lesson we all profit from and need in our recurring tests of faith. Open quote, and if thou shudst be cast into the pit or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee, if thou be cast into the deep, if the billowing surge conspire against thee, if fierce winds become by an enemy, if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combined to hedge up the way, and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gave open the mouth wide after thee, know thou my son that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good." Close quote. You might reasonably wonder why a loving and all-powerful God allows our mortal test to be so hard. It is because he knows that we must grow in spiritual cleanliness and stature to be able to live in his presence in families forever. To make that possible, Heavenly Father gave us a savior and the power to choose for ourselves, by faith, to keep his commandments and to repent, and so come unto him. The Father's plan of happiness has, at its center, our becoming ever more like his beloved son, Jesus Christ. In all things, the Savior's example is our best guide. He was not exempt from the need to prove himself. He endured for all of Heavenly Father's children, paying the price for all our sins. He felt the suffering of all who have and will come into mortality. When you wonder how much pain you can endure, well, remember him. He suffered what you suffered so that he would know how to lift you up. He may not remove the burden, but he will give you strength, comfort, and hope. He knows the way. He drank the bitter cup. He endured the suffering of all.  Alma taught, open quote, and he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind. And this that the word might be fulfilled, which said he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which blind his people. And he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to sucker his people according to their infirmities, close quote. One way he will sucker you will be to invite you always to remember him and to come unto him. He has encouraged us this way, open quote, come unto me. All ye the laborer and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls, close quote. The way to come unto him is to feast upon his words, to exercise faith under repentance, to choose to be baptized, and confirmed by his authorized servant, and then to keep your covenants with God. He sends the Holy Ghost to be your companion, comforter and guide. As you live worthy of the gift of the Holy Ghost, the Lord can direct you to safety even when you cannot see the way. For me, he has most often shown the next step or two to take. Rarely has he given me a glimpse of the distant future, but even those infrequent glimpses guide what I choose to do in daily life. The Lord explained, open quote, ye cannot behold with your natural eyes for the present time. The design of your God concerning those things which will come hereafter, and the glory which will follow much tribulation, for after much tribulation come the bussings. The greatest blessing that will come when we prove ourselves faithful to our covenant during our trials will be a change in our natures by choosing to keep our covenants the power of Jesus Christ and the blessings of his toldment can work in us. Our hearts can be softened to love, to forgive, and to invite others to come unto the Savior. Our confidence in the Lord increases, our fears decrease. Now, even with such blessings promised through tribulation, we do not seek tribulation. In the mortal experience, we will have ample opportunity to prove ourselves, to pass tests hard enough to become ever more like the Savior and our Heavenly Father. In addition, we must notice the tribulation of others and try to help. That will be especially hard when we are being sorely tested ourselves, but we will discover, as we lift another's burden, even a little that our backs are strengthened and we sense a light in the darkness. In this, the Lord is our exemplar. On the cross of Golgotha, having already suffered pain so great that he would have died were he not to be God and Son of God, he looked on his executioners and said to his father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.  And from that hour, that disciple took her unto his own home. By his actions on that most sacred of days, he voluntarily gave his life for each of us, offering not only succor in this life, but eternal life in the time to come. I have seen people rise to great heights through proving faithful in terrible trials. Across the day, the church today are examples. People are driven to their knees by adversity. By their faithful endurance and effort, they become ever more like the Savior and our Heavenly Father. I learned another lesson from my mother. As a girl, she had diphtheria and nearly died. Later, she had spinal meningitis. Her father died young, and so my mother and her brothers helped support their mother. All her life, she felt the effects of the trials of illness.  The only picture on her bedroom wall was of the Savior. Her last words to me and her deathbed were these. How? You sound as if you are getting a cold. Why don't you take care of yourself? At her funeral, the last speaker was Elder Spencer W. Kimball. After saying something of her trials and her faithfulness, he said essentially this. Some of you may wonder why Mildred had to suffer so much and so long. I will tell you why. It was because the Lord wanted to polish her a little more, close quote. I express my gratitude for the many faithful members of the Church of Jesus Christ who bear burdens with steady faith and who help others to bear theirs as the Lord seeks to polish them a little more. I also express love and admiration for caregivers and leaders across the world who serve others while they and their families endure such polishing. I testify that we are children of a heavenly Father who loves us. I feel President Russell M. Nelson's love for us all. He is the Lord's prophet in the world today. I so testify in the sacred name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.


Just got out of poor things. The movie I've been wanting to see for a couple weeks now and I'm so happy I finally got out and watched it. I love this movie and keep in mind it's not going to be for a lot of people. It's dark comedy. It's quirky. It's got some great performances. Emma Stone's fantastic. Some zany characters. A good amount of nudity. A totally bizarre premise. Mainstream moviegoers are going to hate this but cinephiles will adore it. I will have a full review for this on my channel Adam Does Movies so feel free to subscribe.


What's the word, y'all? I just got back in from Vegas, man, which is crazy because there's so many content creators going into Vegas to watch Summer League, but a lot of them are getting in to date. I was there from Thursday, the first day until Monday. I took a red eye and I'm back here, but I wanted to get there early this year because in previous seasons, we went to Summer League and by the time we got there, the top prospects not even planned no more. So it's like, why are we even here? So I wanted to get there a day one and it was worth it, man. And I got to watch a ton of basketball, which was great. So in today's video, I am going to be grading slash talking about what I saw in Summer League, 95% of these prospects I've never even seen before. Until last week, I was pronouncing Paulo Ben-Kero's name wrong. So that just tells you everything you need to know about me. And in usual years, I watched a little bit of College Hoops leading up to the draft and trying to figure out who are my favorite prospects. This year, I ain't do none of that. So I don't even know what you've brought to the table until I got to Summer League. So just keep that in mind as I'm talking about these prospects. Also keep in mind, Summer League don't mean a dang on thing. You know what I'm saying? Like you can take bits of piece away from it, but there are players in NBA history that went to Summer League and tore it up. Like Anthony Randolph gave my Bulls like almost 50 in a Summer League game. For Con Corkmas put up like 40 and he's a shooter who forgot how to shoot. I still believe in your For Con. It's not a shot. I do believe that next season you're going to hit 40% from three. But you know, you can come into Summer League and dominate and then you get to the real thing. And you don't because 90% of the people that are playing in Summer League won't make an NBA roster. So it's like you're going to get people that you want to get to get some college. You're going to get people who just came back from overseas and trying to get that next attempt at the NBA. So the competition of course is raised. So we have people come in and be great at Summer League and then get to the real thing and just be average or below average. And then we've seen the opposite. Derrick Rose was bad in Summer League. Had me a little bit nervous and then he went on to win an MVP. So I'm just saying just because somebody that you're seeing drafted might be bad in Summer League don't mean he going to be bad for real. If I'm not mistaken just last year Franz Wagner was struggling in Summer League. He got to the real thing and bro it's all rookie. You know what I'm saying? So a lot of things to talk about but you don't have to dive too deep into these Summer League things. Couple of housekeeping things really, really quick before we get into these grades. Number one, I still have a newsletter. People thought that since the season was over that the boys won't go be still right and they are, but it's out of three times a week. It's two times a week. I personally believe that the stuff that they're putting out now is some of the best work because you got to get creative in what you're talking about. So hit that link in the description. We're very close to 30,000 and oh, it's a giveaway. Hold on. See I know we dropped merch a little while ago. It was very exclusive. I think we only had 500 units because we wanted people that got it to be like the real OGs. We got one more and once we had 30,000 subscribers to the newsletter we're giving away that one more shirt. It is, it's like, it's the tan, it's a large and if you already subscribed you already entered but once we had 30,000 we're auctioning one away for the free for somebody out there. So hit that link in the description. Subscribe to the newsletter. And the last housekeeping thing is that I'm going to start a series on this channel because this channel as y'all know has been very reactionary. So when a big trade happens to hop on but in the dead of the off season I still want to create content. So I'm going to do a series where I invite 30 different content creators slash people in the NBA world to talk about their favorite team. And I need your help trying to figure out who to represent your favorite team. So in the comment section it could be a content creator, small channel, big channel, it doesn't matter. It could be a podcaster, it could be a writer just somebody that you like within your NBA fandom circle. Is that what I'm saying? And just let me know who that is. So you can say, Charlotte Hornets, this guy. We want him to represent us and it's going to be like 15 to 20 minute videos of me just chopping it up with this person about their favorite team. But don't be going to look for them. I've been on the opposite side of that man. Don't be tweeting them Kenny looking for you. Just let me know who they are, who you like and you want to see on this channel talking hoops with me. And then I'll go out there and reach out to them. Thank you. Let's talk about these prospects now. Let's talk about the people that have impressed me the most. And I'm starting off with Paulo Ben-Kero. He is getting an A. Nobody's getting A plus because nobody's going to be perfect in summer league. He's getting the A for me because he looked like the number one pick. No matter who was on the court in the two games that I went to of his, he was the best player on the court and it was so very obvious. He was C69, 16 and something like that. But he always felt like the biggest player on the court whether it had been his height or his overall size. He looks like an NBA ready player. And it makes sense that the Orlando Magic said that was their guy, even though they was saying or telling people Jabaru's our dude. They was throwing a little curve ball and I don't know how it's going to work out for their entire careers but Paulo put together some amazing performances. The shot creation and shot making was elite and his playmaking was a lot better than anticipated for a guy that I knew that a lot of people who had come in as a top score. He was looking for his teammates, you know in that last double overtime game, which was crazy. It's the greatest basketball game I've ever been to by the way. He passed off a couple shots and I saw the noise. Oh, he don't want to take the big shots. They were sending doubles and he found his teammate. It's just that simple, at least in my eyes. Dude, does that mean he not a killer because he passed it off? Only time will tell. But it looked like he was making the right basketball play and that right basketball play led them to the win at the end of the day. I'm giving him an A. His defense was even a lot better than I expected because I remember coming into this, people were like, oh, will he care on defense because I guess you saw flashes when he was over at Duke that he can be a defender but he wasn't actually trying. There's a lot of times, at least in that double overtime game where he came out of nowhere with a swat. He was even one that they challenged and they overturned because he came in behind and they thought it was a goal team but it was clean. So he was giving a lot of effort on both sides. And I know he understood that the lights were on him and he wanted to come out and perform for the world to understand that I'm the first overall pick. No matter who they were going against, he tried to take the toughest excitement and I love that from one of my top players. So Paolo Ben-Kara, I'm super excited about his future which is crazy. He's the first overall pick in here. Everybody knows he can who. Heck, let's just go in order. Number two overall pick, Chet Holmgrenau. I got to watch some of him, of course, in the Salt Lake City, Summer League. I wasn't there, but of course it was on TV and everything and he started off really amazingly with that big game where he was setting records for blocks and then again, number two, he went against Kenny Lofton Jr. And Kenny Lofton Jr. bodied that man a couple of different times.  You don't see players of his size and his weight going to the NBA and do great things. So I'm a fan of him, but it's not like he's a top player in the NBA. So people are looking at what Kenny Lofton Jr. was doing and trying to say, hey, if Kenny Lofton Jr. is doing that, imagine what this player is gonna do in the actual NBA. I'm not extremely concerned about those things, at least not yet. Just because we're talking about a guy that came off one year of college, I don't think he's gonna come out in year four and be buff. He's not gonna turn into like Yanis did in this couple of years, but I do believe he's gonna fill at least a little bit more. And honestly, even though he is a supreme shot blocker, I'm not expecting him to be the guy that's always guarding the opposing team centers. I just don't think he's there just yet, which is fine. I think he's gonna be in that Romy road that we've seen over the last couple of seasons where like a guy's playing free safety and getting blocked at the rim, but also helping defensively because that's what it seemed like he was doing in Summer League as well. And you do have the times where he's trying to back down his opponents and he struggles, and obviously a lot of that comes to a side. I think I'm giving Chet Holmgren's like Summer League so far like a B. I see the flash, I understand why he drafted so high with his elite shot blocking ability and his ability to create his own shot. But you know, there's still some question marks. And the best thing about him, he doesn't need to come in and be elite elite because he's got Shay Gilles Alexander on his team who's very good. And you got people like Josh Giddy who we gonna talk about because I've seen two sides of the coin when it comes to Josh Giddy's conversations, guys that couldn't create for him. And that's why I bring up Josh Giddy because he's an elite level playmaker. So I'm not really worried about Chet really, he look fine. Jabari Smith, I'm thinking I'm giving Jabari Smith a C. Again, we're talking about two games of this person's career and it's not even like his real career, right? But still, when I was watching him, he didn't look like one of the top guys on the court. Again, it's completely fine. Everybody doesn't come out and become the dude day one of the job, right? But it's one thing that really, that I was really thinking about watching him is that he didn't have an handle. And Chet, Palo, the people that were drafted before him, they haven't handled to create their own shot and Jabari doesn't have that just yet. He was very fundamental with his movements, right?  It wasn't like that. It was like I'm gonna do a couple dribbles and I'm gonna pass to my teammate. I'm gonna do a little crossover and I'm gonna pass to my teammate. I'm gonna go and take the shot. But I do see the shot making ability, even though he didn't shoot it great, but I saw some of the shots of him like, okay, that's replicable. You know what I'm saying? That's replicable. I wanna see him with an elite level playmaker. They don't have that just yet.  And Singul might have that boy looking nice. Singul was at Summer League and his fit was fire. But yeah, I wasn't extremely impressed with the two games I saw of him. But again, it is Summer League. Kiggy Murray, I'm giving him an A, bro. I'm giving him an A. And this is what I'm giving him an A. For the third year in a row, there has been something that has happened that convinced me that the Sacramento Kings might be okay. And I say okay. Cause I'm not, as of right now, I don't know if I'm picking them to make the play in or make a playoff. You listen, the Western Conference is elite and it's gonna be hard to do it. But Kiggy Murray, and I think this is probably because of the expectations. When he got drafted legitimately, a lot of the podcasts that I listened to, I won't say they laughed, but they were like, oh, the Kings did it again. And then he gets to Summer League. He looks like the best player on the court when it seems playing. They say he was one of the most NBA ready talents and I completely understand that. Great shot, making ability to defense was great. I'm like, bro, he's making me excited about the Sacramento Kings. And then you look at what Deere Fox did after the Sabonis trade average in 29 points per game. And you look at Sabonis and now them two having a little bit more time under the belt. You think about the trades and the signage that they had in the league month coming into the team. Kevin Herter was a trade piece. I feel like they did one more thing that I'm forgetting about. Either way, it's convinced me that the Kings are at least gonna be fun again.  And I wouldn't be surprised if they're competing for a playing spot next season, which is great. Keegan Murray looked really, really good. And the shot that he hit to send it to overtime was one of the best moments I've ever been in the arena for. Jada Naivi, I can't give him anything less than A as well. I mean, he tweaked his ankle in the game that I was there and he had 11 points in like three minutes. I don't even know what else to say about that. Him, K, Cunningham, Isaiah Stewart, turning into a shot maker is very interesting to me. I guess when he was in college and in high school, he was a guy that took jump shots and stuff. But once he got to Detroit, he stopped because they needed center. And now they have Jalen Durant, and they believe Jalen Durant is their center of the future.  And he was like hitting three or four from three. I'm very intrigued about the Detroit business. I'll just say that. And it looks very good. The Pacers were benefiting math right now. If you know Summer League, the way it works is there's two different games going on at the same time. There's the main gym, which is the Thomas and Max Center. And it seems like a lot of the time Thomas and Mac is where the big time names are gonna be playing because that's where a majority of the seats are. That's where the media section is big. And we have media credentials, which is dope set out to Bleach Report for getting us those. And then while that game is going on in Thomas and Mac, there's also a game going on in the Cox Pavilion, which is another gym, like 10, not even a 10 minute walk. It's like five minute walk around the arena. There's another court. And those are for the smaller games, it felt like. The Pacers played in the smaller arena a couple different times. And I'm telling you that to tell you, I didn't get to watch a lot of the Pacers because I was watching the bigger games at Thomas and Mac. So I don't really have an impression on Benedict Matherin just yet. He seemed like a cool dude. He walked past us, we said, what's up? He said, what up fellas? And chopped it up for a couple of seconds. Seemed like a cool dude, but I didn't get to really watch him. And now I'm saying that for a lot of the other people. Shane Sharp, we were there and he got injured in the first two minutes. We legitimately walked out of the gym. We walked out of the gym when he got injured and then we got to the second quarter. He went and put it back on the court.  Because he wasn't there able to hoop. And I know he's frustrated because he didn't hoop last year. And then now he gets two minutes of total game time and he tears his labor. I've torn these labrums in both of these shoulders. Now they said a partial tear which could have him back really soon. So that's good, but like, not great, not great. And then when he did play, he didn't really get an opportunity to showcase literally anything. Jeremy So-Chan, I don't think he played. Johnny Davis, I didn't get to watch him play. Who's my, okay, can we just get to the other people? We ain't gotta go in order. Another guy that I absolutely fell in love with on the court. And I think if you go back and watch my video where I was just predicting who's gonna be my favorite prospects, I think I mentioned Jalen Williams or J Dubb because it's two Jalen Williamses. J Dubb, which is the 12th overall pick from Santa Clara. He was elite. Again, it's summer league. I gotta keep saying again, it's summer league. But he looked like an NBA ready player. And I know he wasn't one of the one and done. Like I think majority of the people within the first round, or at least in the lottery, like one and done or played one year overseas or played one year in the G League at night. He was one of the people that would spend multiple years at Santa Clara.  He wasn't playing in one of the top conferences across basketball. So can he replicate some of that stuff when he's playing against NBA players? And throughout the first couple of games of summer league, he did, he looked like one of the best players on the court when majority of the time he was there. And what I love is the diversity of the buckets. He was getting out there in transition. He was creating for himself. He was catching and shooting. He was getting downhill. Like he just looked like a well-rounded offensive player or an defensive player too. He's just a well-rounded basketball player. And in OKC, you could never get too many of those. So shout out to Jaylen Williams. He might be my second favorite prospect out of draft from what I saw. I think number one is Tarysen.  Why did I call them my co-workers? My homies through the wire podcast, they told me early, early on that I was going to fall in love with Tarysen because he is the type of player that I really like, a high-energy guy that does a little bit of everything that's not afraid of any competition. And that's what Tarysen was when they were playing. And of course, he plays with Jabarisen Jr. He's going to be playing for the Houston Rockets. He was the best player on the court for them a lot of the times. We're talking getting posters. We're talking shooting jump shots. There were some times where he was like, I'm going to take this shot. Like he will get a rebound and his guard will be like, come on, give me the ball. He's like, nah, I'm an ISO real quick. And I like that for Summer League. I don't like that for the NBA. But bro, I really, really like Tarysen, bro. Really, really like Tarysen. So one of my favorites, probably my favorite from what I've watched from Thursday to Sunday. Tatey Watson, Houston did it right. You know, Houston did it right. Whether or not you enjoyed what Jabarisen was doing, the other people that were the rookies for, the Houston Rockets really showed up. Tatey Watson hit way more shots than I was anticipating them to. I thought he was going to be one of those little guards. It's just fast, fast, fast. And he was that, but he also had some big time shots as well. Caleb Houston, second round pick, 32nd overall. Coming into it, I remember they were saying he was such a streaky shooter back at college. And I think he shot 32% in college. And they're like, ah, he was supposed to be a elite shooter and he got to college and didn't do that. When the first couple games of the Summer League, he was doing that. And even the first game, he was heat check. He like fast threes in the room. It felt like heat check, heat check, heat check, heat check. And the Orlando Magic have so many players specifically on the guard tip. I don't know if he'll ever see PT in his rookie season, but he looked like a guy that I would be interested in. Jaden Hardy gave the Bulls some work. I only got to watch one of his games though, but in that game he was very, very good. And I see the Mavis fans already super excited about him because he might be a guy that could come in and play some minutes in his rookie season. It's crazy that he felt so low. I guess he was one of the top ranked players in that class that fell to the second round. Big time steal. Another player that I really like that I feel like might be a pretty good role player for his time is Josh Minot. Is that how I pronounce it? For the Timberwolves. They traded away all of their depth to get Rudy Goubert. And I don't know if this rookie is gonna come in and play minutes or be a big time part of this Timberwolves scene is trying to win some stuff. But he looked like a guy that could come in in the next couple of seasons to help develop. And he could be one of those rangy wings that defend and he was also hitting threes, which I guess wasn't really in his game last season. So he played at the Cosperville so I'd get to watch a ton of him. But again, what I did see, I enjoyed. And the last guy was, what is his name? Santos from the Warriors. I don't remember what his first name was. I had no idea who he was. He was like the 58th overall pick in this year's draft. I don't know if the Warriors have stole enough dude, but he played with so much high energy and he was just cutting, he was doing a lot of good things. You know, the Warriors love a good cutter. And if you can defend and cut, you might find some PT. I don't think he will, not in this rookie season. But it might be the wantous kind of way Anderson replaced him. I don't know. Let's talk about the year two guys or whatever who stepped it up. I don't know why Josh Giddy, Quinn Grimes and Moses Moody. I don't know why those boys suited up. Oh, B-Ball Paul. There's just so many like year two players, year three players, whatever they fall into. They came to Summer League and just look elite. They just look a great above everybody else, which is great, you know, it is great if you're OKC fan.  But I'm like, man, why are they hooping right now? Why are they hooping right now? You know what I'm saying? I understand reps are more important than anything. But they just felt like a class above everybody else. Like Wesley, wow, I forgot about him. There's just so many people that I was impressed with. Josh Chris for another guy that's multiple years into his career, high-value score for sure. He is not afraid to shoot their boats. I kind of like, but I feel like the team has so many people on the roster that are very similar. As far as like, I'm going to try to get my own. So I don't know where he's going to fit in. But yeah, a lot of moments in those games are like, dang bro, bro out here. I guess the last guy I'll talk about is Mack McClung. We were there yesterday for the James Wiseman debut, which was amazing, by the way, to see him get back on the court after, I think it was 15 months of not being a part of professional basketball. He's an NBA champion. And now the Warriors just have these dudes. I said that Moses Moody looked too good to be out there. Jonathan Camiga struggled and gained number one and gained number two. He had like 26 points, even though he missed almost every single free throw. But Mack McClung, and I was telling the home, he's like, I'm not completely sure if Mack McClung is a real NBA player or not. But he is so fun to watch, bro. He understands the entertainment part of basketball. He's still on behind the back passes. He has crossed the people over. He's trying to do the jelly on the layups. Overall, he's just a super fun player to watch. And I would hope that some team seeing what he's doing and give him another chance at the NBA. The Bulls tried to give him a chance and it didn't work out too well once we got to real basketball. But if he can keep, I can't say if he keep this up because he put up like 25 yesterday.  But if he could just showcase a little bit more flashes and maybe try to hold his arms a little bit more defensively because that's the big thing, he's a small guard. But he was fun. He's been fun as heck to watch. And listen, like I said, I was there from Thursday to Sunday so I couldn't watch every single game. But I know I'm missing some people. It is what it is. Let me know what you've seen throughout the summer league that you've liked, that you didn't like. Man, I met so many people while I was there. That was the most fun part about everything, whether it be people that watch the channel, other content creators or NBA players and themselves, you know what I'm saying? For the first time in my life. So okay, this is the way this has been worked for my entire life as far as being an NBA fan. I would walk up to an NBA player and be like, yo, my name's Kenny. You know, I try to introduce myself and like, can I get a picture or can we chat? You know what I'm saying? Stuff like that. For the first time, it was the opposite where a player came up to me and it was my boy, Tamezi Metu, man. Tamezi Metu saw me over there because I was sitting in the media section. He saw me over there. He's like, Kenny, I'm like, yo, this is the first time an NBA player has approached me instead of, NBA player that I didn't know already. You know what I'm saying? Like me and Mezi follow each other on socials but we've never met before. So he saw me.  Let me say what up to him. And that's just super cool to me. That's just so very cool to me. Like, you know, I have people like Tarris Halliburton who's the homie. He saw me in a sense. He came to say what's up. But they don't count because we've already been friends. But for somebody, me and Mezi have never talked to each other. He saw me and went to come say what's up as fire. Met Patrick Williams. I can't say Met Dame. I can't say Met Dame. But within two feet of Damien Lillard, LeBron, Carrie Irvin, it was an absolute blast. So yeah, I appreciate all the, I mean, I wouldn't go to Summer League if it weren't for y'all showing support in these videos to help me have a platform. So it's worth them sending me to Summer League. So I appreciate all the y'all. Subscribe to the newsletter. And then lastly, let me know who you want to see represent your favorite team in a 15 to 20 minute video of Chop and Hoop Swimming. Appreciate y'all.