Speaker 1: Welcome to the Jason tim Podcast. Thank you guys so
Speaker 1: much for taking time out of your day to come
Speaker 1: hang out for part two of our season preview with Tommy. Tommy,
Speaker 1: what's up man? How are you doing? Same old man?
Speaker 1: I'm I'm back on the step of bandwagon. I got
Speaker 1: my the System shirt on. Not a System player at
Speaker 1: the System. Shoutout Warriors World, shout out Cheat the Man.
Speaker 1: We're all back, man, We're back. I need the last
Speaker 1: two games, so I'm all in. I'm back in MVP candidate.
Speaker 1: Let's go. He looks good. I it was funny. It's
Speaker 1: funny because I couldn't actually watch the entire games. I
Speaker 1: saw a couple of minutes of one when I was
Speaker 1: in a restaurant, and then I would just periodically check
Speaker 1: on the box scores. And it was a little bit
Speaker 1: of a roller coaster ride for you, because it started
Speaker 1: awesome in the first game and then went off the
Speaker 1: rails a little a bit late, and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden last night, it was like the exact is
Speaker 1: the exact opposite. It started rough, and then he just
Speaker 1: had one of his vintage Steph quarters there in the
Speaker 1: third quarter that looked like the old staph, which was awesome. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's I mean, that's a step Curry experience. You know,
Speaker 1: he can beat three for thirteen and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, he makes six straight shots in the third
Speaker 1: quarter and the game puts on its head. So yeah,
Speaker 1: he looks like the same old guy. I'm still slightly
Speaker 1: slightly concerned about his off the dribble shooting, but I'm
Speaker 1: assuming it's a rhythm thing at this point and it
Speaker 1: will come back. So it's funny because I remember, now
Speaker 1: you and I used to have like debates a long
Speaker 1: time ago about because remember I remember having this big
Speaker 1: thing that thirty It was like twenty nine of his
Speaker 1: first ninety playoff games, so roughly like thirty percent of
Speaker 1: his first nine playoff games he shot below and and
Speaker 1: my one of my biggest things that I talked about
Speaker 1: was like, he's just prone to having cold shooting spells,
Speaker 1: and I believe that's what got him beat in two
Speaker 1: thousand and sixteen. The reality is is that will inevitably
Speaker 1: that's the beauty of a seven game series, as you
Speaker 1: can afford to have bad shooting games because it'll the
Speaker 1: math will just inevitably work out in your favor. But
Speaker 1: I always looked at that as something that was just
Speaker 1: kind of a characteristic of his game, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. But as long as the good is still
Speaker 1: there and as long as it happens at least twice
Speaker 1: for every one time he's bad, I'm I'm still a
Speaker 1: believer in what he can do. Me too. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: he's just, you know, out of the top twenty guys
Speaker 1: of all time. He's probably the most Hiberians player there is,
Speaker 1: hotter than anybody, but we've see it can also get
Speaker 1: colder than anybody because he's still reliant on jump shooting.
Speaker 1: That's what jump shooting. That's what jump shooting is exactly exactly,
Speaker 1: So it is what it is. But he looked good
Speaker 1: the last couple of games, So I'm I'm optimistic. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm excited to see how it goes, especially once he
Speaker 1: gets all of his guys on board there. So we're
Speaker 1: gonna we're gonna be doing the Eastern Conference today. We're
Speaker 1: primarily going to be focusing on Brooklyn, Milwaukee, and Philly,
Speaker 1: but we'll kind of do like what we did on Tuesday,
Speaker 1: will rapid fire through some of the other teams in
Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference. Um, but you know, when we get
Speaker 1: to talking about Brooklyn, we're gonna be harping on defense
Speaker 1: just the most the thing that gets brought up with Brooklyn.
Speaker 1: But it's one of those classic kind of cliche things
Speaker 1: that gets said so much that I think it almost
Speaker 1: loses some of its meaning. And I don't think people
Speaker 1: realize that, as is the case with most cliches their
Speaker 1: cliche for a reason. The reason why people preach defense
Speaker 1: wins wins championships is because it literally does. And so
Speaker 1: I was doing some digging into the numbers, and it's
Speaker 1: crazy because the stat that everybody hears is that if
Speaker 1: you're not a top ten defense can't win a title.
Speaker 1: And it goes back like that goes back decades. Basically,
Speaker 1: the only outliers are teams Rockets, and I believe ninety
Speaker 1: five I remember correctly. I think he is one of
Speaker 1: the greatest defensive players of all time, so that makes sense, right,
Speaker 1: He could probably turn it on and shut down the
Speaker 1: RIM for an entire series exactly. And then there was
Speaker 1: the Shaq Kobe Lakers, and then there was the uh
Speaker 1: the Warriors in two thousand eighteen, all out like just
Speaker 1: outlier talent teams at least that came not so much,
Speaker 1: but it was a different era and MJ was out
Speaker 1: of the league, so there was kind of like an
Speaker 1: opportunity there that opened up for him. But so what's
Speaker 1: crazy is I dug I dug a little bit deeper
Speaker 1: in the numbers, And what's wild is just going back
Speaker 1: in this centuries so from there's been twenty one champions,
Speaker 1: and yes, the all of them made the top ten,
Speaker 1: except for the three that I mentioned or the two
Speaker 1: that I mentioned a second ago. But what's even crazier
Speaker 1: is fourteen of the twenty one weren't just top ten defenses.
Speaker 1: They were top five defenses. They were defenses that, uh
Speaker 1: that weren't just capable of having stretches where they defended well.
Speaker 1: They were the elite of the elite on the defensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor. And I looked at what I
Speaker 1: thought was really interesting to your point earlier about like
Speaker 1: having a defensive identity to fall back on, even if
Speaker 1: it was from previous seasons. The two thousand eighteen Warriors
Speaker 1: were eleventh in defense, but the previous season they were second,
Speaker 1: so you could attribute a lot of their defensive slippage
Speaker 1: to just normal regular season apathy. Same thing with the
Speaker 1: two thousand thirteen heat they were ninth, which is outside
Speaker 1: of the top five, which, like I said, was somewhat
Speaker 1: rare as well. But the previous year they were fourth,
Speaker 1: so they had a defensive ended identity that they could
Speaker 1: fall back on, and I believe they were even higher
Speaker 1: than fourth. In two thousand and eleven. The two thousand
Speaker 1: nine Lakers one as a sixth best defense in the league.
Speaker 1: They were top five the previous season even though they lost,
Speaker 1: so there was a defensive identity they built up. And
Speaker 1: then famously, the shot Kobe Lakers in two thousand one
Speaker 1: were twenty second in defense, which is just absolutely atrocious,
Speaker 1: but that I thought it was like they weren't there
Speaker 1: were twenty second if I'll double check, but I'm pretty
Speaker 1: sure that's what I had. And what's crazy about that
Speaker 1: they were number one the previous year, They were the
Speaker 1: best defense in the entire league in two thousand one,
Speaker 1: and then they you know, fell off the rails the
Speaker 1: next season. Point point being though, is that they were
Speaker 1: able to, you know, fall back on a defensive identity
Speaker 1: that they had at some point in the past that
Speaker 1: allowed them to kind of regain some momentum on the
Speaker 1: defensive end in the playoffs. And you know, it's funny
Speaker 1: because I remember vividly watching this Laker team, because this
Speaker 1: is like one of the first teams I've readed for
Speaker 1: were since the Miami Heat, that had uh such a
Speaker 1: strong defensive identity, and I believe that was why they
Speaker 1: were winning games. And there were a couple of stretches
Speaker 1: that I wrote down Game two against Portland after they
Speaker 1: dropped Game one, the Lakers didn't allow over twenty one
Speaker 1: or they didn't allow over twenty points in a quarter
Speaker 1: until the fourth quarter, so they literally just shut them
Speaker 1: down in the first three quarters of the game, as
Speaker 1: like as they tied up that series. Um Game two
Speaker 1: against Houston after they dropped Game one and Russ was
Speaker 1: flexing to the non crowd and all that stuff, uh,
Speaker 1: seventeen points in the fourth quarter they allowed, and then
Speaker 1: famously at the There's a bunch of other examples over
Speaker 1: the course of the next few rounds, but famously, in
Speaker 1: Game six against Miami, they gave up only fifty eight
Speaker 1: points through three quarters, which is arguably one of the
Speaker 1: more dominant defensive performances in NBA playoff history. The point
Speaker 1: being is that you know that we get fixated on highlights,
Speaker 1: we get fixated on skill sets, we get fixated on
Speaker 1: the things that that are more you know, appealing to
Speaker 1: the eye when it comes to winning basketball games. But
Speaker 1: you have to be a very good defense to have
Speaker 1: any chance of winning the title, and chances are roughly
Speaker 1: two out of three in this century. You have to
Speaker 1: be the elite of the elite on the defensive end
Speaker 1: of the floor. And even if you don't put up
Speaker 1: the statistics, you have to have some sort of previous
Speaker 1: iteration of your current roster that can defend with the
Speaker 1: elite of the elite. And so that's what I'm going
Speaker 1: to use to bring us to Brooklyn, because what I
Speaker 1: would ask you, Tommy, is what in the world can
Speaker 1: we lean on there, not just to think that they
Speaker 1: might be an okay defensive team, but that they could
Speaker 1: defend well enough to win in a league where all
Speaker 1: of their contenders that they're going to be going against
Speaker 1: can absolutely for extended stretches of the game lock in
Speaker 1: and give you absolutely nothing easy. Um, well, I think
Speaker 1: what you have to look at is Kyrie Irving consistently
Speaker 1: playing like he did in the finals on the defensive ender.
Speaker 1: He was physical, he used his hands well, he kept
Speaker 1: his body in front of his man, he was relatively
Speaker 1: alert and didn't get lost off ball. You'd have to
Speaker 1: have Katie tap into the guy that he was in seventeen,
Speaker 1: and you'd have to do that consistently, because he has
Speaker 1: the potential to be UM. Maybe not an Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: level room protector, but somewhere near that. When he's really
Speaker 1: locked in UM, and then you have to hope that
Speaker 1: that DeAndre Jordan is DeAndre Jordan from again instead of
Speaker 1: the guy that just puts his hands in the air
Speaker 1: as guys drive at him and just kind of plays
Speaker 1: ol a defense UM. And then there's just not a
Speaker 1: lot of defensive personnel on that roster. You have have
Speaker 1: to hope Spencer dinwoodi UM really takes a step forward
Speaker 1: in that direction. Same with Carris Lavert. Landry Shammont isn't
Speaker 1: a bad on ball defender, but he's small. Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: You just have you would have to have the best
Speaker 1: defensive season for a lot of guys on that roster,
Speaker 1: either in their career or in a long time, so
Speaker 1: their path is basically bucking trends that have existed and
Speaker 1: becoming an entirely new team, which, as you're kind of
Speaker 1: pointing out, isn't common in the NBA. It's it's not
Speaker 1: common for people just to change who they are overnight,
Speaker 1: especially when they've been in the league for a long time.
Speaker 1: So I've said this before. I think Brooklyn has the
Speaker 1: highest ceiling in the league, possibly because of the offensive
Speaker 1: talent on that roster. They have the two best ISO
Speaker 1: scorers in the league potentially in Kyrie and Katie, and
Speaker 1: then they have really nice pieces to go around them.
Speaker 1: And on offense, really good shooters and Shamut and Harris,
Speaker 1: good secondary handlers with Dinwoodie and Lebert who can even
Speaker 1: be primary handlers. They have lob threats with Jordan and
Speaker 1: Allen Um. But the defense is obviously the concerning part,
Speaker 1: and that's where the floor could just fall out, and
Speaker 1: this team could if wrong injury happens. They missed the playoffs,
Speaker 1: so like a lot of the East, to me, they're
Speaker 1: a super interesting team that has a wide range of outcomes.
Speaker 1: And I would assume you you kind of stand somewhere
Speaker 1: near this because I've heard your skepticism too. Well. It's
Speaker 1: funny because, like you know, as I was digging into
Speaker 1: this like even the teams that slipped outside of the
Speaker 1: top five head near missing, like the two thousand eighteen
Speaker 1: Warriors who slipped to eleventh, they damn near lost to Houston.
Speaker 1: Like that was that was a real possibility. Now you
Speaker 1: know we have that's a much more complicated topic what
Speaker 1: happened in that series. But the point is is like
Speaker 1: they didn't dominate their way through and the and they
Speaker 1: had no business even being remotely competitive with those with
Speaker 1: that Cavalier team. But the reason why it was close
Speaker 1: as they were not cohesive defensively and Lebron literally ripped
Speaker 1: them to shreds in that finals. The two thousand sixteen
Speaker 1: Calves slipped the tent literally like they won by the
Speaker 1: slimmest of possible margins. The two thousand thirteen Heats slipped
Speaker 1: to night They got pushed to seven twice in the
Speaker 1: last two rounds. The point being is that, like it's
Speaker 1: just extremely difficult to UH to to win in long
Speaker 1: drawn out playoff series without the ability to do that,
Speaker 1: and and and you know it's crazy because you know
Speaker 1: when you look at UH that that Brooklyn Nets team,
Speaker 1: the truth is is that they have a foundation UH
Speaker 1: were that that's capable of being built on defensively as
Speaker 1: crazy as as crazy as the sounds, and a lot
Speaker 1: of people don't know this, but the Brooklyn Nets were
Speaker 1: a top ten defense last year. They were right at
Speaker 1: number ten. But and some of that has to do
Speaker 1: with Eastern Conference lack of offensive talent, whatever you want
Speaker 1: to call it. But the truth is is that's not nothing.
Speaker 1: That's that is an identity within the existing role players
Speaker 1: on that team that they are committed on the defensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor. So the question becomes, as you're
Speaker 1: swapping in minutes with Kyrie Irving and as you're bringing
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant to the table, is it fair for us
Speaker 1: as basketball fans to ask them to do the same
Speaker 1: things that we ask of other top ten players in
Speaker 1: the n b A, because you know, we constantly are
Speaker 1: on stuff about how dedicated he is on the defensive
Speaker 1: end and whether or not he can impact that end
Speaker 1: of the floor. Like Lebron has been slandered at stretches for,
Speaker 1: you know, for being lazy during the regular season, and
Speaker 1: James Harden obviously as a world famous reputation for that.
Speaker 1: But like all these guys that are considered Kevin Durance
Speaker 1: peers are all defense level defensive defensive players for whenever
Speaker 1: their team needs them to be that, you know, that's
Speaker 1: what they bring to the table. And so my concern
Speaker 1: would be, what what would possess us to think that,
Speaker 1: what's Kevin duran in his fourteenth season now? Something? It's
Speaker 1: not that? How it might be because steps twelve, it's
Speaker 1: thirteen or fourteen, Yeah, which doesn't even seem possible. But yeah,
Speaker 1: how so, so Kevin Durant and I've had this long
Speaker 1: standing theory that he very well should have been the
Speaker 1: greatest basketball player ever because he was that good on
Speaker 1: the offensive end of the floor. But the problem was
Speaker 1: is despite his ridiculous uh skill set, athletically like he
Speaker 1: he is Anthony Davis as a physical specimen, He's not
Speaker 1: quite as strong, but it was just because he stayed
Speaker 1: out on the perimeter. The truth is is he's got
Speaker 1: the length, in the size, and the movement and all
Speaker 1: that stuff to be that type of impact defensive player.
Speaker 1: He just never cared about it over the course of
Speaker 1: his career. You and I talked about this a lot
Speaker 1: in our NBA Hierarchy pod. But the truth, the truth
Speaker 1: of the matter is is for whatever reason, for thirteen
Speaker 1: or fourteen seasons. Now, he's never really put that together
Speaker 1: for an extended stretch. So what would be the indicator
Speaker 1: that now after an achilles tear, you know, playing on
Speaker 1: a team that has less defensive talent than he had
Speaker 1: in his other In his other settings, because Oklahoma City
Speaker 1: could lock down and Golden State could lockdown, they had
Speaker 1: athletes that had the versatility on the wing, They had
Speaker 1: all of that stuff, And so my concern would just
Speaker 1: be there, like, is it possible that those two figure
Speaker 1: it out and Kyrie resumes what he was in two
Speaker 1: thousand sixteen and Kevin Durant kind of resumes what he
Speaker 1: was in two thousand seventeen. Sure, but like the evidence
Speaker 1: that would that would lead us to believe that that's
Speaker 1: a likely outcome just isn't there in my opinion. So, like,
Speaker 1: I don't think it's likely, But I think what we
Speaker 1: could maybe point to is Kde being more motivated than
Speaker 1: he has been almost at any point in his career.
Speaker 1: U He obviously reads a lot of the press about himself. Um,
Speaker 1: he lets it bother him at times, But that being said,
Speaker 1: he hears all the noise. So he heard that his
Speaker 1: titles were fake or fraudulent thousands, probably millions of times.
Speaker 1: So if anything, maybe that points to him being the
Speaker 1: most motivated he's ever been in his career, and he
Speaker 1: taps into something that really we've seen in the two
Speaker 1: thousand and sixteen Western Conference Finals and then the following
Speaker 1: year when he joined the Warriors, like I referenced before
Speaker 1: seventeen regular season in playoffs, when he was probably an
Speaker 1: all defensive level player. And what it really is, it's
Speaker 1: just the it's the effort stuff. And it's the same
Speaker 1: thing with Katie and Kyrie. And that's what you're pointing
Speaker 1: to as well. It's are they going to bring effort
Speaker 1: consistently because the tools are there for both of them
Speaker 1: to be either you know, solid to good or great defenders.
Speaker 1: It's just committing to doing it. So maybe them being
Speaker 1: together and and being happy helps motivate them to do that.
Speaker 1: But I wouldn't say it's a likely outcome, but I
Speaker 1: think it is possible. I think it's very possible that
Speaker 1: they do it and they're, um the best team in
Speaker 1: the East if they do that. Honestly, if both those
Speaker 1: guys commit defensively all year, um, they will be the
Speaker 1: best team in the East in my opinion. So the
Speaker 1: reason why I put Brooklyn first in our list of
Speaker 1: topics was because I believe they will win the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 1: And I'm more when the when the Eastern Conference in
Speaker 1: the playoffs, they're gonna win the Eastern Conference in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: I believe they're gonna make it to the NBA Finals.
Speaker 1: And the really the reason why is just simply that
Speaker 1: you know, for as much of a flaw as high
Speaker 1: end you know, elite defense, and you know, the defensive
Speaker 1: versatility and all the all of those things lead to uh,
Speaker 1: you know, contending for a championship, you also need to
Speaker 1: have elite, high end offensive talent, something that you and
Speaker 1: I have talked about a lot. And the truth of
Speaker 1: the matter is when I go down the list, you know,
Speaker 1: especially as I was prepping for this podcast, there's just
Speaker 1: there's just nothing else out there among these other teams
Speaker 1: that brings enough on the offensive end for me to
Speaker 1: you know, really feel confident that they could overcome what
Speaker 1: Brooklyn brings on the offensive end. And you know, there
Speaker 1: to win the Eastern Conference. If you're Brooklyn and you
Speaker 1: bring what Kevin Durant and Kyrie do on the offensive end,
Speaker 1: of the floor. I don't think you need to be
Speaker 1: a top ten defense now. You absolutely have to to
Speaker 1: be whoever comes out of the West in my opinion,
Speaker 1: But in the Eastern Conference because of the like you're
Speaker 1: looking at Milwaukee. We know everything we've talked about with
Speaker 1: and we're gonna talk about it later with johannest and
Speaker 1: his offensive shortcomings Philly, the clunkiness of Ben Simmons and
Speaker 1: Joel Embiad. It's it's hard to imagine them necessarily being
Speaker 1: hard to guard in a playoff series. And you know,
Speaker 1: Atlanta and Boston, they their flawed teams, and there's just
Speaker 1: a lot of like potential for those teams to end
Speaker 1: up in a situation where regardless of who's guarding them,
Speaker 1: they're just gonna they're just not gonna have any sort
Speaker 1: of offensive creation when it gets to a tight moment
Speaker 1: late in a key playoff series. So I think Brooklyn
Speaker 1: has enough to get it done in that regard. It's
Speaker 1: just this is all just about like basically what the
Speaker 1: two thousand eighteen calves. You know, it's it's you know,
Speaker 1: as as cool as it is to make it to
Speaker 1: the finals, you know that team got absolutely destroyed when
Speaker 1: they made it to the finals, and it was because
Speaker 1: of the fact that they couldn't guard anybody, you know,
Speaker 1: and and obviously, like the Warriors, brought a lot of
Speaker 1: talent in that regard. But the point is is, like
Speaker 1: I do think in the circumstances that are at play
Speaker 1: in the Eastern Conference, Brooklyn can get away with being
Speaker 1: a little less effective defensively to get through the East.
Speaker 1: Now here's where it gets tricky. So can I push
Speaker 1: back real quick on that? Just a little bit ahead?
Speaker 1: Not even pushed back. But it's funny that Brooklyn is
Speaker 1: the favorite to win the East in a lot of ways,
Speaker 1: especially in the playoffs. But I also don't think they
Speaker 1: would be the best matchup against the Lakers in the finals.
Speaker 1: I think Philly or even Milwaukee would be a better
Speaker 1: matchup because they are better defensively and if they can
Speaker 1: bog that Lakers team down in the half court, then
Speaker 1: you have a better team chance of beating them. But Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: for the reasons you pointed out, still might be the favorite,
Speaker 1: just because their offensive talent is so much higher than
Speaker 1: any other him in that conference. But I wouldn't I
Speaker 1: would not be high on them having any chance to
Speaker 1: meet the Lakers. I would probably higher on Philly or
Speaker 1: or even Milwaukee or even maybe Miami for that matter,
Speaker 1: But yeah, go ahead. So I understand the idea behind that,
Speaker 1: I guess. I guess for me, Like it's what I
Speaker 1: said about the Lakers going into the finals last year,
Speaker 1: which was the challenge of guarding these high end Western
Speaker 1: Conference offenses like Yo Kitchen Murray, like you know, James Harden.
Speaker 1: I I thought that they presented challenges that that made
Speaker 1: it difficult for the Lakers to you know, stop them.
Speaker 1: They still were able to for enough stretches to win
Speaker 1: the series. Is but my thing is that when you've
Speaker 1: got a defense as he lead as the Lakers are,
Speaker 1: and again just the other night against Phoenix, they went
Speaker 1: through like a it was like a fifteen or seventeen
Speaker 1: minute stretch where they gave up like sixteen points. Like
Speaker 1: the Lakers still have this absolutely suffocating defense when they
Speaker 1: lock in. And so from that standpoint, I think that
Speaker 1: that would expose limited offenses, which I which I believe
Speaker 1: came out to be true, Like they absolutely laid eggs
Speaker 1: in the finals against Miami when they when they tricked
Speaker 1: off a couple of games, but when they really dialed
Speaker 1: in there in Game six, Miami just literally couldn't find
Speaker 1: an inch of space, whereas super high end offensive players
Speaker 1: like Yo Kitchen Murray are able to kind of soften
Speaker 1: up the Laker defense enough, like a guy like Steph
Speaker 1: would be able to soften up the Laker defense enough
Speaker 1: to find some openings. And for the record, I think
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant and Kyrie would have moments against the Laker
Speaker 1: defense where they're gonna light them up, but more than moments.
Speaker 1: They're so talented they have more than moments. In my opinion,
Speaker 1: they'll be able to take over whole games and whole
Speaker 1: stretches of the series, but it might not be enough.
Speaker 1: If they can't get stops exactly over the course of
Speaker 1: seven games, it would probably bear out in the Lakers
Speaker 1: favorite the Ironically, the best example would be the two
Speaker 1: thousand sixteen Calves. You're kind of a fringe top ten defense.
Speaker 1: You're going against a team that has that has all
Speaker 1: the boxes checked, but your top two guys just go
Speaker 1: absolutely supernova for a series and you steal it. That
Speaker 1: would be what that what their path is. But anyway,
Speaker 1: so let's bring in the prospect of a James Harden trade,
Speaker 1: because this is where it gets interesting, because James Harden
Speaker 1: is a guy that, in my opinion, look at two
Speaker 1: thousand eighteen, if you give him a situation where he
Speaker 1: has an alpha dog personality next to him, I et
Speaker 1: Chris Paul or in this case, Kevin Durant or or
Speaker 1: Joe l Embid, because we're gonna be talking about Philly
Speaker 1: and Brooklyn. If you put an alpha dog personality next
Speaker 1: to him that won't shrink from the moment the way
Speaker 1: that James has in his career. And if you put
Speaker 1: him alongside any a truly high end E leade defense
Speaker 1: like the two eighteen Rockets were, they can win as
Speaker 1: even as flawed as James Harden is, because he does
Speaker 1: even with his offensive flaws, he's he's still one of
Speaker 1: the very best offensive players in the league. So you know,
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about how I think that the James
Speaker 1: Harden trade makes a lot of sense for Philly here
Speaker 1: in a minute. But I think that him going to Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: which appears to still be on the table, although I'm
Speaker 1: reporting from last night said that uh Houston is basically
Speaker 1: asked Brooklyn to bring a third team into the trade
Speaker 1: because they don't want Brooklyn's pieces in particular, so requires
Speaker 1: siphoning a star from another team in Brooklyn sending pieces
Speaker 1: over there. It gets complicated. It almost sounds like Billy
Speaker 1: or nothing at this point, but for sure, Yeah, but
Speaker 1: the point being like all of the like any hope
Speaker 1: of that top ten defense from last year that Brooklyn
Speaker 1: can build on, that goes out the window if you
Speaker 1: bring in James Harden just in the complicated nature of
Speaker 1: matching salaries, and you're you're probably gonna have to give
Speaker 1: up Jared Allen, You're probably gonna have to give up
Speaker 1: you know, maybe Joe Harris, Like who knows, You're gonna
Speaker 1: have to give up a lot of the core pieces
Speaker 1: that major defense at least a fringe top ten last year.
Speaker 1: And I do think there's so much of a I
Speaker 1: talked about this with the Clippers last year when when
Speaker 1: Lou Williams wasn't or when Paul George was out because
Speaker 1: he was rehabbing his shoulders. I was everyone was like,
Speaker 1: oh man, wait till Paul George gets added to this,
Speaker 1: And I wanted to be like, actually, you know, when
Speaker 1: you're humming on all cylinders offensively, there's kind of like
Speaker 1: a like a plateau there, there's something turns at some point,
Speaker 1: there's a and if you have three guys that need
Speaker 1: the ball as much as Hardened, Kyrie and Katie, one
Speaker 1: guy is getting left out. And we've seen this play
Speaker 1: out time and again. The Calves are a perfect example
Speaker 1: with with Lebron, Kyrie and Katie. You had too heavy Yeah, sorry, Kevin,
Speaker 1: you had two heavy eyes. So guys, and Kevin Love
Speaker 1: got relegated a lot to being a spot up shooter.
Speaker 1: They give him looks early in the game, they give
Speaker 1: him some post touches, keep him happy, and then he
Speaker 1: would be a spot up shooter for the rest of
Speaker 1: the night. It is just unless two of your three
Speaker 1: stars are off ball supernovas like Steph and Clay are,
Speaker 1: it is really hard to mix three stars in that
Speaker 1: are going to score twenty plus points and have it
Speaker 1: have any type of continuity offensively. It's just gonna be
Speaker 1: really clunky on on a lot of nights. Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: and and and and again. I think it's all about
Speaker 1: shot quality. So, for instance, like the what worked for
Speaker 1: the Lakers, even though their role players were flawed, was
Speaker 1: the fact that their primary too offensive threats generated such
Speaker 1: high quality looks that guy's Rondo and Danny Green and
Speaker 1: KCP and Alex Caruso and Markis Morris, guys who are
Speaker 1: all considered like below average closeout threats. KCP was pretty good,
Speaker 1: but the rest of them were considered like close out
Speaker 1: you know, like guys you kind of not want to
Speaker 1: leave open, but you're not like super worried about worried
Speaker 1: about it. But they were making shots. And it's because
Speaker 1: of the fact that like there is like you said,
Speaker 1: there's diminishing returns. The gap between you know, a guy
Speaker 1: like Alex Caruso and a much better spot up shooter
Speaker 1: is limited when you factor in that they're always gonna
Speaker 1: be wide open, and and and and and it just
Speaker 1: it just changes, you know, your prospects in that regard.
Speaker 1: So with James Harden, you gotta ask yourself, like, the
Speaker 1: are the Brooklyn Nets as currently constructed, gonna have any
Speaker 1: issue scoring the basketball, not even not even one bit.
Speaker 1: They're not gonna have any issue. Two great players and
Speaker 1: two great other secondary creators scoring is not going to
Speaker 1: be an issue exactly. So the so the question simply
Speaker 1: becomes what what are you and how like what percentage
Speaker 1: are you increasing your offensive ceiling by adding James Harden
Speaker 1: in conjunction with how much if you're because you're not
Speaker 1: only are you losing a bunch of bodies to match salaries,
Speaker 1: but you're gonna have to replace them with veteran minimum
Speaker 1: players who are still available for some reason. So not
Speaker 1: the Wesley Matthews veteran minimum guy. You're gonna have to
Speaker 1: find the like the literally the junk at the bottom
Speaker 1: of the barrel. Then you're gonna have to Scott Anders
Speaker 1: and a guy trying to make the Warriors ruster right now,
Speaker 1: he's probably gonna be on a two way. He would
Speaker 1: be a guy that would maybe go to Brooklyn that
Speaker 1: happens just because they need minimum guys and he's he'd
Speaker 1: come cheat h exactly. And So from that standpoint, like
Speaker 1: I just I personally as a basketball fan, hope they
Speaker 1: don't make this move because if they do, I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna end up horrible for all three stars involved.
Speaker 1: They're gonna get absolutely slandered all summer long because they're
Speaker 1: gonna end up losing in some stupid fashion. Because once
Speaker 1: you start getting into some late round playoff series and
Speaker 1: you're playing your stars forty two minutes a game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Like it makes a lot of sense in the regular season,
Speaker 1: just in the sense that you can do the perfect
Speaker 1: stagger of two stars and any given time, so like
Speaker 1: you're always having this like like there's one guy on
Speaker 1: the bench while the other two are playing, and it
Speaker 1: kind of works and makes sense like that, But when
Speaker 1: you get to the playoffs, they're all on the floor
Speaker 1: all the time because you're just not resting that much.
Speaker 1: And I don't know, I just you know, when I
Speaker 1: when I look at Philly as we as we transition here,
Speaker 1: when I look at Philly, the there's this clear need
Speaker 1: for what James Harden brings to the table. He is
Speaker 1: he is the the perfect puzzle piece for the holes
Speaker 1: that currently exist in Philly's title like title contention path
Speaker 1: this season. And they have the they have the necessary
Speaker 1: pieces to fill in his weaknesses, which is like we
Speaker 1: talked about a really really high end defense. Like they're
Speaker 1: still gonna have Atias Table, They're still gonna have Tobias Hairs,
Speaker 1: They're still gonna have Joel Embi, They're still gonna have
Speaker 1: you know, uh Simmons. Well, yeah, well they might have
Speaker 1: to give up bets. Are we assuming they give up Simmons. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think the cleanest open Like, I think they're gonna
Speaker 1: have to give up Ben Simmons to get him. And
Speaker 1: and but the point is is that like it's it's
Speaker 1: kind of a partnership that makes sense. And then now
Speaker 1: you can stare Brooklyn in the face and be like,
Speaker 1: I've got James Harden and Joe el embiide in a
Speaker 1: top five defense, and you've got Kyrie Irving, who's you know,
Speaker 1: resting on back to backs, and Kevin Durant who's not
Speaker 1: really focused on the defensive end, and you guys have
Speaker 1: had a lot of crazy highlights this year. But we're
Speaker 1: a we are a surefire proven method to win a
Speaker 1: title on paper, at least we'll see how it actually
Speaker 1: would would would turn out. But that is a that
Speaker 1: is a that is a proven pathway. We've seen that
Speaker 1: that exact pathway time and time again win championships in
Speaker 1: this league. And it may it just makes sense. And
Speaker 1: so and then if you're Houston, I want Ben Simmons
Speaker 1: or like like like over Brooklyn. So I am I
Speaker 1: am excited for Philly to potentially get James Harden because
Speaker 1: I think it completely changes the prospect of how the
Speaker 1: Eastern Conference is going to shake out over the next
Speaker 1: uh six months. Yeah, And and to be honest, I
Speaker 1: think Philly has a shot at winning the conference without
Speaker 1: heart of I think I'm a little bit higher on
Speaker 1: them than maybe a lot of people are, because they've
Speaker 1: kind of replicated, at least somewhat similarly the lineup that
Speaker 1: they had in when they had both when they had Reddick, Butler,
Speaker 1: Simmons and Eimbid and whoever the fifth wasn't that Covingtons.
Speaker 1: That lineup I believe had the best net rating in
Speaker 1: the league that you're of any five man lineup. They
Speaker 1: haven't recreated it perfectly, but they've created something similar with
Speaker 1: the lineup of Simmons, Curry, Harris Embiid and Danny Green.
Speaker 1: So that's gonna be a super high level defense. They
Speaker 1: have one of the best shooters in the league in
Speaker 1: Seth Curry, who I don't know if he's quite a
Speaker 1: starter level player, but if you put him with a
Speaker 1: bunch of guys like that, he is a starter level player,
Speaker 1: he'll be just fine. And he's actually a pretty good
Speaker 1: on ball defender too. Um So I think they actually
Speaker 1: have a chance to win the East even without hardened.
Speaker 1: But if they get hardened, then I think they become
Speaker 1: the favorites for sure, because you have deploy candidate and embiid.
Speaker 1: Danny Green is still a solid defender, even though he's
Speaker 1: falling off a little bit on that end. Tobias Harris solid.
Speaker 1: They wouldn't need the Lakers needed Dan danny Green to
Speaker 1: guard on the ball, which he was just terrible at
Speaker 1: the Between thible And and Tobias Harris and uh and
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons, they have so much on the ball talent
Speaker 1: that Danny Green will be off the ball all the time. Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: exactly exactly. So I think this Philly team is definitely
Speaker 1: a team that could when they when these they have
Speaker 1: seven really good players once you add Dive Bole and
Speaker 1: Howard into that starting five mix that I just named,
Speaker 1: and then I like Shake Milton too. He's a guy
Speaker 1: that can bring some offensive creation jobs. He looked good
Speaker 1: at times last year, and if he takes another step,
Speaker 1: he he provides some of that on ball creator stuff.
Speaker 1: Obviously nowhere near the level of the hardened, but some
Speaker 1: of that stuff that they are missing in the starting lineup. Um,
Speaker 1: So I think they really do have a chance to
Speaker 1: win the East if it all comes together correctly, and
Speaker 1: we had seen in the past Doc Rivers with the
Speaker 1: right team have some offensive creativity. It wasn't great last year,
Speaker 1: but I'm who was at a function of the personnel
Speaker 1: and the personnel kind of being funky on the offensive end.
Speaker 1: Or is that a function of Doc Rivers the year before.
Speaker 1: I thought he was super creative offensively the year before
Speaker 1: they got Kauai. So I think a new voice in
Speaker 1: the room is really going to help them. Brett Brown,
Speaker 1: by all accounts a great guy, but Phillip Pans has
Speaker 1: been complaining about him for years, so in the room
Speaker 1: probably helps um. Doc can definitely captain a great defense.
Speaker 1: They have all the personnel there to do that. If
Speaker 1: they can figure out things on the offensive end, I
Speaker 1: think they actually will win the East, even though Brooklyn
Speaker 1: is the favorites for now. If Philly's offense is top
Speaker 1: ten level and Ben Simmons takes another step as kind
Speaker 1: of a career on ball creator, if Shake Milton takes
Speaker 1: another step, if embied and who was a top seven
Speaker 1: top six player consensus Lee a year and a half
Speaker 1: two years ago and has fallen off just because that
Speaker 1: situation became messy. But if he takes another step just
Speaker 1: as kind of an isoscore and a post up threat
Speaker 1: and stops floating on the perimeter so much, I think
Speaker 1: they will win the East, and then I think they
Speaker 1: can give the Lakers some problems. I would still pick
Speaker 1: the Lakers in a potential match up with Philly and
Speaker 1: l A, but I think they have the size to
Speaker 1: bother l A, which most teams do not. They have
Speaker 1: bodies to throw it iron and they have bodies to
Speaker 1: throw it a dat multiple of each, So I think
Speaker 1: if the ball bounce right for them, they could absolutely
Speaker 1: be a title team. We just haven't seen it yet.
Speaker 1: They have that they've taken some playoff lumps, which is
Speaker 1: kind of one of the the traditions for any team
Speaker 1: who does end up winning a title. You don't just
Speaker 1: go from zero to hero, like they had a Tesugh
Speaker 1: series of Boston a couple of years ago. Last year,
Speaker 1: they had some injuries so they lost in the first round.
Speaker 1: But like I said, I am higher on Philly than most.
Speaker 1: I think they can. They're going to be a really
Speaker 1: good team. They're a top three seed in the East.
Speaker 1: As long as they don't have any injury concerns, And
Speaker 1: I think they can definitely beat Broken that can definitely
Speaker 1: beat Milwaukee, and they can give the Lakers a series
Speaker 1: or whoever comes out of the West in the follow
Speaker 1: So I think they're they're gonna be a really really
Speaker 1: good team. Well, I you're right, I probably should have
Speaker 1: I should pay the their proper respects as currently constructed
Speaker 1: as a hard harden changes the whole equation. But yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: And and just bringing into you know, Danny Green had
Speaker 1: a rough shooting season last year, but it wasn't as
Speaker 1: bad as people like Laker Twitter. Lakers Twitter can be
Speaker 1: very hard on people, and and I was hard on
Speaker 1: Danny Green two, but primarily for what he did on
Speaker 1: the defensive end. But the truth of the matter is that,
Speaker 1: you know, bringing in Curry and Green just open things up.
Speaker 1: Ditching Horford out of their rotations are gonna open things
Speaker 1: up for Mbeed. That was huge. I I agree with
Speaker 1: you that they have a legitimate chance to win the East.
Speaker 1: I would pick Brooklyn now, but I agree with you
Speaker 1: that they have a chance. Where I where I fall
Speaker 1: where I give where I would push back on the
Speaker 1: idea of keeping Ben Simmons and not going after someone
Speaker 1: like Harden is my classic ideology as it pertains to gambling.
Speaker 1: You know, like if I was betting on, you know,
Speaker 1: the Dallas Cowboys this weekend and I put two bucks
Speaker 1: on the game, I'm just I'm not gonna get rich.
Speaker 1: I don't know what to tell you like that. You're
Speaker 1: you're only gonna get rich if you push your chips
Speaker 1: into middle. And all I know is as good as
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons is, and as as good and as bright
Speaker 1: as his feature, as bright as his future looks, the
Speaker 1: reality is as as currently constructed. I don't think they
Speaker 1: can beat the Lakers. I'm not even sure they could
Speaker 1: beat the Clippers. So as far as I'm concerned, and
Speaker 1: it's it's kind of a toss up with Brooklyn so
Speaker 1: but as far as I'm concerned, bringing in James Harden,
Speaker 1: who you and I disagree because you think he's outside
Speaker 1: the top ten, but I think he's around the eighth
Speaker 1: best player in the league. Bringing in a bona fide
Speaker 1: top a top ten player with Joel Embid, who I
Speaker 1: think I had at thirteen in my on my list,
Speaker 1: and then with all of the surrounding pieces, because it's
Speaker 1: a it's a straight up swap, Like, even if you
Speaker 1: have to give up draft draft picks, which we'll talk
Speaker 1: about in a second, I'm a big believer of the
Speaker 1: fact that that, as crazy as it sounds, And even
Speaker 1: though it seems like you're giving up some of your
Speaker 1: long term prospects and and you know, Ben Simmons is
Speaker 1: future and future and stuff like that, I think it's
Speaker 1: an opportunity to steal a ring. And and and and
Speaker 1: I think that as good as their prospects are this
Speaker 1: season with the with Ben Simmons is currently constructed, I
Speaker 1: think they're discernibly better with James Harden in that role,
Speaker 1: filling in that elite offensive creation that they need and
Speaker 1: allowing them to have a clear cut pathway to potentially
Speaker 1: be the best team in the league. And and and
Speaker 1: here's the other thing too, Like, over a couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: guy watched that All Star game again, um, the one,
Speaker 1: the one where they played with the elm ending Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: and Joel Embiide with the game on the line, is
Speaker 1: posting up Lebron and it's not game point yet, but
Speaker 1: it's almost game point, and he just hits Lebron with
Speaker 1: this vicious dream shake and drains like a ten footer
Speaker 1: or over the top. And I don't know if you
Speaker 1: remember that game. That game was like super high pressure
Speaker 1: for intense. It was the first intense form of basketball.
Speaker 1: There is no more intense. It was insane. Every single
Speaker 1: player was sweaty palms, like losing their mind, like like
Speaker 1: like Joanna said, the greatest block I've ever seen in
Speaker 1: my life when he payed the bronze lap on the
Speaker 1: class like it was insane. And in the reality is
Speaker 1: is Joel Embiid has not had a chance to go
Speaker 1: toe to toe with the game's greats at the highest
Speaker 1: level because of the fact that Ben Simmons has had
Speaker 1: some flaws and he's had some bad injury luck over
Speaker 1: the years. He's not you know, I mean, and he's
Speaker 1: he's not a hundred percent blameless. But my point is is,
Speaker 1: like James Harden can gets you to that spot. James
Speaker 1: Harden can get Joel Embiid to a high game in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter of the Eastern Conference Finals against Kevin Durant,
Speaker 1: and joe El Embiid can can just rely on his
Speaker 1: ridiculously like his alpha mentality is up there with the
Speaker 1: best players in the league. And James Harden could help
Speaker 1: unlock that. And so I think it's such a no
Speaker 1: brainer and and and honestly I hope they do it
Speaker 1: sooner than later. But I mean I to to kind
Speaker 1: of put a bow on this. They should absolutely do it.
Speaker 1: If it's if it's on the table and it's basically
Speaker 1: just a hardened Simmons swap, you gotta do it. Like
Speaker 1: as much flak as I give Harden, I do always
Speaker 1: preface that by saying he is one of the most
Speaker 1: talented offensive players in the league. It's all the other stuff.
Speaker 1: And if you can trust Dalc enough, um, if you
Speaker 1: can trust like you're saying and beating up, and then
Speaker 1: some of the veteran leadership on that team, uh, Mike Scott,
Speaker 1: Danny Green, Tobias Harris, all really good guys with really
Speaker 1: strong leadership qualities to bring out the best and Harden
Speaker 1: and get rid of some of that stuff that that
Speaker 1: makes him kind of a franchise tanker at times. And Yeah,
Speaker 1: they definitely go to They would instantly probably be number
Speaker 1: one or number two in terms of UM title favorites.
Speaker 1: And they brought in the right guy in the front
Speaker 1: office to push in all the chips. Well, I've definitely
Speaker 1: been critical of Mori in some respects, and that's more
Speaker 1: related to how he views offensive basketball and kind of
Speaker 1: the math equasion of the whole thing and how that
Speaker 1: plays out in the playoffs. The guy absolutely pushes all
Speaker 1: of his chips in and he's an incredible GM when
Speaker 1: it comes to just acquiring talents, um, you know, working
Speaker 1: salaries to make sure every everything goes right. And I
Speaker 1: mean we saw that this offseason. He changed that entire
Speaker 1: roster in like three weeks. It was incredible. Um. I
Speaker 1: mean he has a chance if he pulls off the
Speaker 1: Harden Dealds too, he'll be executive the year for sure. Um.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean the Harden deal is a no
Speaker 1: brainer if it's on the table, and they should absolutely
Speaker 1: do it today if they can get James hardened, because
Speaker 1: they become at worst the second favorite to win the title.
Speaker 1: So let's uh really quickly, I think, because this is
Speaker 1: something that I think is one of my ideologies too,
Speaker 1: that it gets lost from time to time. The the
Speaker 1: and Darryl More happens to be from the ideology of
Speaker 1: not overvaluing first round picks, especially not late round first
Speaker 1: round picks, because just like what happened with the Lakers
Speaker 1: this year. Yeah, they had like I think they had
Speaker 1: like the pick or something like that. But I mean
Speaker 1: in terms of what it's league value was worth, it
Speaker 1: was considered worth Danny Green for Dennis Shrewder. That's what
Speaker 1: it was considered to be worth. And and whoever that
Speaker 1: draft pick could be used on is not going to
Speaker 1: be used on anybody of enough quality to really help
Speaker 1: you in your rotation anyway. And Philly's really really deep.
Speaker 1: So this is where I this is where I would
Speaker 1: say pull the trigger. What is continuity worth? Because if
Speaker 1: I could get James Harden in here tomorrow, I basically
Speaker 1: have a full season to build this with him. And
Speaker 1: of course, if they hold out to the trade deadline,
Speaker 1: they can probably get it to be a clean swap
Speaker 1: with Ben Simmons for James Harden, just as all the
Speaker 1: other trade offers kind of disappear into the ether. But
Speaker 1: the reality is is like, if they want two first
Speaker 1: round picks, give them two first round picks, give them
Speaker 1: your next two first round picks. They're not worth anything
Speaker 1: to you. They're worth very little to you, I guess.
Speaker 1: And the and the reality is is that Continuity is
Speaker 1: going to be what gives you that chance, especially since
Speaker 1: James Harden coming in gives you a small window to contend.
Speaker 1: I know he's got a couple of years left on
Speaker 1: his contract, but he's getting a little bit older too.
Speaker 1: So the reality is you've got this two or three
Speaker 1: year window here where you can go after it get
Speaker 1: some continuity. This year's punky, weird season anyway, The team
Speaker 1: that is considered the best in the league has a
Speaker 1: thirty six year old, thirty six year old superstar who
Speaker 1: two years ago got hurt and missed the playoffs. So
Speaker 1: the point is, it's like, like I am of the
Speaker 1: persuasion that they need to do this now and that
Speaker 1: bartering over this this stupid stuff. Not only will it
Speaker 1: hurt them in continuity, but who knows what team could
Speaker 1: come flying in out of nowhere and make a James
Speaker 1: Harden trade. I mean, like like it could have been.
Speaker 1: It could be Minnesota could just lose their mind tomorrow
Speaker 1: and give Anthony Edwards and and and D'Angelo Russell and
Speaker 1: go we're gonna do you know, Carl, Anthony Towns and
Speaker 1: James Harden for a few years, Like you don't know
Speaker 1: what could happen I think they need to go after it. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: they should. But the only thing I'd say is Maury
Speaker 1: doesn't like the optics of ever losing a trade, and
Speaker 1: he just gave up some picks to get off the
Speaker 1: Horpord money. And also he doesn't value things like continuity
Speaker 1: or chemistry. He said it like on record before that
Speaker 1: he really just doesn't value that stuff. So I don't
Speaker 1: think that will factor into too much of a mathematician, No,
Speaker 1: he totally, He totally is. That's his issue. That's his issue.
Speaker 1: He said, you know, just get as many stars as
Speaker 1: you can then figure it out and without really looking
Speaker 1: at Okay, how did the team dynamics playing this? And
Speaker 1: maybe he's learned a little bit. I think he has,
Speaker 1: probably through losing to the Warriors over and over and
Speaker 1: over again, he's he's probably learned his lesson a little bit.
Speaker 1: But if that's like the deciding factor whether the conduity's
Speaker 1: gonna matter or not, I think he's gonna hold out
Speaker 1: and wait until the deadline. But they should do it now,
Speaker 1: like no question. I agree. I would get him in
Speaker 1: there and and just start because there's gonna be also
Speaker 1: this extended process where he's got to get in shape
Speaker 1: and stuff like, might as well have him learned in
Speaker 1: the playbook pictures real of course not there, of course
Speaker 1: they've been edited one but the one from the Bubble
Speaker 1: was faked, but I think the one from the other
Speaker 1: night was supposed to be real. He he looks huge
Speaker 1: even in like game the game action. He looks really big,
Speaker 1: even for James Harden. I, I definitely have an unending
Speaker 1: amount of skepticism for pictures of people's physical fitness after
Speaker 1: what I thought was I on last year before the
Speaker 1: Pubble and then he was fat and slow. But but
Speaker 1: that said, like, you know, the the thing with James,
Speaker 1: and he actually came out and said in his interview, um,
Speaker 1: yesterday after the game, or it might have yesterday or
Speaker 1: the day for but he basically said, like, I haven't
Speaker 1: played five and five and forever. All I've done is
Speaker 1: individual workouts, and NBA players will tell you that, you know,
Speaker 1: the only real conditioning is five on five, which I
Speaker 1: think is NBA players speak for. I put on a
Speaker 1: few but like, but of course that's what happened. But
Speaker 1: my I I he's famously durable. He's gonna get back
Speaker 1: in shape a lot of and you know, never get injured.
Speaker 1: He never ever gets injured. It's pretty crazy. Yeah, and like,
Speaker 1: and don't get me wrong, like he's been a literally
Speaker 1: a whiny little bit for lack of a better term,
Speaker 1: this last season. But the truth of the matter is
Speaker 1: he's gonna get into Philly. He'll be reinvigorated. The Philly
Speaker 1: fans won't let him get away with his bullshit by
Speaker 1: the way. That well, I don't. I don't think dok
Speaker 1: will even I think the situation in LA was just
Speaker 1: weird last year for whatever reason, just because the the
Speaker 1: roster dynamic and some of the stuff the PG and
Speaker 1: docks pass whatever. But yeah, I don't think he would
Speaker 1: take crapromarten either, really, So yeah, no, I think they
Speaker 1: would definitely whip him into shape more than almost any
Speaker 1: franchise cut outside of like Miami for sure. Alright, so
Speaker 1: we have four rapid fire teams to go through before
Speaker 1: we get Owau the forgotten number one seed. Well, just
Speaker 1: I think the honest extension is good for basketball in
Speaker 1: a couple of ways. Not to get too crazy about,
Speaker 1: like player empowerment, player movement, all that stuff, but I
Speaker 1: think it it helps the casual fan feel like every
Speaker 1: superstar isn't just going to go to the next super
Speaker 1: team and team up with three superstars. And even though
Speaker 1: we see the ratings increase when that stuff happens, people
Speaker 1: complain more. So there's less of like bad energy around
Speaker 1: the league, which I think does matter, even though all
Speaker 1: that stuff is kind of fake in a way, but
Speaker 1: it does matter that there's less bad energy around the league.
Speaker 1: But I think the more important point is it makes
Speaker 1: small markets feel like they actually have a chance again.
Speaker 1: The last couple of superstars who have like really been
Speaker 1: extension eligible, and like Lebron and Katie, basically the guys
Speaker 1: who were two of the three best players of the
Speaker 1: last fifteen years are ten years. Let's say they both
Speaker 1: left smaller markets to pursue bigger markets super teams. Lebron
Speaker 1: did it a couple of times, Katie's done it, I
Speaker 1: guess twice now. Even though the Warriors are a big market,
Speaker 1: but Booklyn's even a bigger market. So I think it
Speaker 1: it it's gonna help during the next c B a
Speaker 1: UM from a perspective of the small market owners aren't
Speaker 1: just gonna, you know, demand all kinds of crazy stuff
Speaker 1: as protections against superstars leaving. And I think what this
Speaker 1: really does, though, is it puts the onus on the
Speaker 1: honest to bring a championship to Milwaukee. He could demandag
Speaker 1: right in twenty four Buns, I think you have to
Speaker 1: be at least one year into the extension before you
Speaker 1: can actually get traded if you sign the super max UM.
Speaker 1: But I think he's taken responsibility for saying, look, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna bring a championship to this city, which is a
Speaker 1: huge burden. We all know that's a huge burden. But
Speaker 1: he can definitely be better to to kind of go
Speaker 1: into the the buck situation here. He can become a
Speaker 1: better player, Like there are there are massive holes in
Speaker 1: this game. And I know you agree with me on this.
Speaker 1: There are massive holes in his game that keeps showing
Speaker 1: up during the playoffs and he's still unbelievable. Nobody's saying
Speaker 1: he's not a great player. Um, But the lack of
Speaker 1: a jump shot, the lack of super high level decision making,
Speaker 1: which is harder developed than I think the jump shot, UM.
Speaker 1: That that stuff that he has to improve on. And
Speaker 1: if he does, then I think they have a chance
Speaker 1: to win a championship. But he has to go to
Speaker 1: an entirely another level against the best teams in the league,
Speaker 1: not against the Charlotte Hornets on a Tuesday at five pm.
Speaker 1: But yeah, old to my basic thoughts on the Gaunt extension.
Speaker 1: So for to be clear upfront, I hope the honest
Speaker 1: days for the entire contract. I truly do for all
Speaker 1: the same reasons you just mentioned. However, I am fearful
Speaker 1: that this is the new NBA free agency for a superstar.
Speaker 1: And what I mean by that is, if you look
Speaker 1: back in NBA history, recent NBA history, there are a
Speaker 1: lot of examples of of a team being informed that
Speaker 1: a player was leaving and so they conduct a sign
Speaker 1: and trade. So essentially, you know, for you know, when
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant went, or when Kevin Durant went to Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: they shift back to Angelo Russell. When when Chris Paul
Speaker 1: decided to go back to go to Houston, they shipped
Speaker 1: back you know, Montrese, Harrold and Williams and Patrick Beverley.
Speaker 1: When Lebron went from Cleveland to Miami, Miami sent back
Speaker 1: some draft picks and train exception, right, and he didn't
Speaker 1: trade exception. The point is is like once they decided
Speaker 1: they were going to lose him, for nothing. Once they
Speaker 1: understood they were going to lose those players for nothing,
Speaker 1: they were willing to accept whatever came. And so what
Speaker 1: I'm fearful of is that similar to what happened with
Speaker 1: Paul George Um because there's been some reporting done that
Speaker 1: there was an under the table agreement with him and
Speaker 1: Sam Presty about him potentially wanting to leave, which makes
Speaker 1: sense when you think about it, because it was confusing
Speaker 1: that he signed that three year extension when he did
Speaker 1: after a night free agency started, like immediately right away,
Speaker 1: when when when they lost in the first round in
Speaker 1: horrific fashion, when his co star basically shot them out
Speaker 1: of the series, Like, it was really confusing when that happened.
Speaker 1: And so my concern would be that that Janice went
Speaker 1: up to them and was like, here's the deal. You
Speaker 1: have two options. I could go into free agency this
Speaker 1: year and decide where I want to go, or you
Speaker 1: can lock me up for five years and you'll have
Speaker 1: me under contract. But you have to understand, under the table,
Speaker 1: this is an agreement between my agent and you privately
Speaker 1: that if I wish to be traded somewhere, you trade
Speaker 1: me where I want to go, and you can pick
Speaker 1: whatever assets from that team, you know, within reason to
Speaker 1: get back so that you don't lose me for nothing. Yep,
Speaker 1: I mean, and let's not forget the same thing happened
Speaker 1: with an Anthony Davis exactly, and I don't know if
Speaker 1: there was any under the table agreement there, but he
Speaker 1: signed his extension, essentially got his money and thought, you know,
Speaker 1: four months down the road, I can do whatever I want.
Speaker 1: I can MANI trade and they literally have to listen
Speaker 1: to me because I just won't play. Yeah, I see
Speaker 1: where you're going and it it definitely could be an
Speaker 1: issue for the league, but continue well, because the thing
Speaker 1: is is like, so now say you're Milwaukee. So your
Speaker 1: Milwaukee and Joannice has just come to you and said,
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about even you know or I'm not sure
Speaker 1: and I don't know, and there's a chance you lose
Speaker 1: me for nothing. So now I get to choose between
Speaker 1: the risk of losing him for nothing or signing him
Speaker 1: to this deal and potentially losing him at some point
Speaker 1: in the future, which the which the reality is if
Speaker 1: he's gonna stay, Like if over the course of this
Speaker 1: season that Janice wins a title and he decides he's
Speaker 1: going to stay, then he would have signed a five
Speaker 1: year max in the summer anyway. So regardless of what
Speaker 1: happens this year, Milwaukee's in the same position this summer,
Speaker 1: no matter what. The extension doesn't really necessarily change that
Speaker 1: the pressure. No matter what. The only way the the
Speaker 1: the extension really gives Milwaukee power is if it is
Speaker 1: really the traditional extension where Janice has told the front
Speaker 1: office he wants to stay here forever, which very well
Speaker 1: may have been the case. And like I said, I
Speaker 1: hope that's what he said. But what I'm saying is
Speaker 1: kind of like what happened with Paul George, And who
Speaker 1: knows what this Paul George situation with the Clippers if
Speaker 1: it's not a similar type of format. But I'm worried
Speaker 1: that this might be a new trend of essentially strong
Speaker 1: arming franchises into saying you can either lose me for
Speaker 1: nothing potentially, or you can let me get traded to
Speaker 1: where I want to go and you get to then
Speaker 1: take your pick of whatever you want from that team.
Speaker 1: They'll be thrilled because they're getting honest. You'll be thrilled
Speaker 1: because you're not losing me for nothing if you don't
Speaker 1: sign me to this extension, I might just leave for nothing.
Speaker 1: So this kind of just it's it's almost like it's
Speaker 1: almost like a delay. It's it's yeah, it's it's like
Speaker 1: you're kind of in pseudo free agency. Every year, even
Speaker 1: the franchise a grace period. You're given the Franchi the
Speaker 1: grace period basically, and and then and then you basically
Speaker 1: threatened them with all hell from your agent if they
Speaker 1: did violate their end of the verbal agreement, basically the
Speaker 1: way it would work. Yeah, exactly, No, I think you're
Speaker 1: spot on. But how do we feel about the Bucks
Speaker 1: this year? Do we think they have any shot to
Speaker 1: win the title? So? Real quick? They added you to Holiday,
Speaker 1: but they lost George Hill, Eric Blood so in West Matthews,
Speaker 1: So they lost three of their best perimeter defensive players
Speaker 1: on the team, at least perimeter defensive players at the guard.
Speaker 1: Here's the here's the biggest thing that scares me. Uh,
Speaker 1: Drew Holiday is incredible. He's a really really good player,
Speaker 1: especially on the defensive vent and he has a resume
Speaker 1: of getting of raising hell with with the best guards
Speaker 1: in the league. With on the defensive end, without a doubt,
Speaker 1: here's the problem with Drew he can't guard wings really
Speaker 1: well and well defined wings because he struggles against Lebron,
Speaker 1: but Lebron just overpowers them, That's what I'm saying. So,
Speaker 1: so Drew Holiday in the inevitable trip to the finals,
Speaker 1: Drew Holiday is gonna have to guard potentially you know
Speaker 1: what they're what they might ask him to guard is
Speaker 1: a is a Lebron or Kevin Durant, and that that
Speaker 1: role used to fall to Wesley Matthews on that team.
Speaker 1: And Wesley Matthews is one of the better big, strong
Speaker 1: wing defenders in the league. And so that was my
Speaker 1: concern was just that, like you know, Drew Holiday failed
Speaker 1: to fix their biggest problem, which was high end e
Speaker 1: lee offensive creation. And he may or may not have
Speaker 1: been a defensive wash, if not a loss, because while
Speaker 1: he's a little bit better against cards, he's not as
Speaker 1: good against wings as Wesley Matthews was. Like Wesley Matthews
Speaker 1: was their go to guy against the best wings in
Speaker 1: the league, so that they could have Janice be a
Speaker 1: help defender. That was what they were doing with Jimmy Butler.
Speaker 1: They were having you know, uh, Janice play the help defender.
Speaker 1: And and the point is is unless Janice wants to
Speaker 1: take that role, which maybe he does, unless Heihannie wants
Speaker 1: to take that on ball role. Like, I just don't
Speaker 1: see the trade off. It kind of It kind of
Speaker 1: reminds me of the idea of Brooklyn executing a James
Speaker 1: Harden trade. It's like, okay, cool, but you're not fixing
Speaker 1: your problems. Yeah, and that's where I get concerned. I'd
Speaker 1: say they addressed issues, right, Like they addressed some of
Speaker 1: the offensive creation stuff that they've been lacking, especially if
Speaker 1: we're going to compare it to Eric Bledsoe and George Hill.
Speaker 1: We're fine players, good players in the NBA, but Drew
Speaker 1: Holiday is much better. And yeah, they they addressed issues,
Speaker 1: but it might not be the right ones. As you're
Speaker 1: alluding to that their wing defense is not any better.
Speaker 1: It really isn't. So the NBA is so matchup based
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, and if you don't have the right
Speaker 1: guys to guard the best players in the league, you're
Speaker 1: probably gonna lose the series that you're playing it. And
Speaker 1: if you don't have the right guy to guard Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant or Lebron James or Kawai Leonard or Steph Curry,
Speaker 1: any of these guys, you're you're going to be in
Speaker 1: hell and so just looking at the roster, I don't
Speaker 1: even know who they would put on the brand at
Speaker 1: this point. You' putt Middleton on them? Are you putting
Speaker 1: your honest on them? And maybe maybe the goal is
Speaker 1: having three really good offensive creators. With the honest Middleton
Speaker 1: and Drew, you can allow your honest take on some
Speaker 1: more defensive responsibility. You can even allow Middleton take on
Speaker 1: some more defensive responsibility because their offensive load isn't so heavy.
Speaker 1: So maybe that's the thought process with Drew is Okay,
Speaker 1: let's get another guy who's a really good creator in here,
Speaker 1: who can get his own shot, who can create for others.
Speaker 1: You know, he's been upboards of six assists multiple times
Speaker 1: in his career, even though he does dribble too much.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I would assume that was their thought process. But
Speaker 1: all in all, I don't think they address the right issues,
Speaker 1: and I still have them as a They might be
Speaker 1: a great regular season team again, and they probably will be,
Speaker 1: just because of the way they play and the fact
Speaker 1: they play in the Eastern Conference, but I still see
Speaker 1: them as a fake title contenderfinitively third behind Brooklyn and Philly. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: and especially if the Harden trade happens. I don't even
Speaker 1: think it's a question that they're in the conference. But
Speaker 1: even as currently constructed, I would still have them. If
Speaker 1: we're just talking about chances to make the finals, I
Speaker 1: would have them third, and maybe even fourth or fifth.
Speaker 1: I would maybe even like Austin, Yeah, Auston or even Miami.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm a Heat, you know, sell it to a
Speaker 1: certain extent. I always believe in the culture there. I
Speaker 1: believe in the guys they have there um and I
Speaker 1: think some of the young guys would take another step.
Speaker 1: But I could see them easily being kind of fifth
Speaker 1: in that picking order in terms of teams that can
Speaker 1: make the finals. They just, like I said, they addressed issues,
Speaker 1: but not the correct ones. So well, we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1: But I'm I am maybe just on the same level
Speaker 1: in terms of optimism for their year as I was
Speaker 1: last year. But I picked the Heat to beat the
Speaker 1: Bucks in the playoffs last year, so I feel the
Speaker 1: same way. I still think the Heat, well, the Bucks
Speaker 1: will probably address some of the issues that plagued them
Speaker 1: in that series. I still think that he would beat
Speaker 1: him in a seven game series. I really do well.
Speaker 1: Drew is a clear you know, is a clear improvement
Speaker 1: as a pick and roll ball handler, as a primary
Speaker 1: decision maker over George Hill like and and taking the
Speaker 1: ball out of Honest's hands a little bit without a doubt.
Speaker 1: But the point is is, like, like Drew Holiday is considered,
Speaker 1: you know, somewhere around the best player in the league
Speaker 1: because of what he brings on the defensive end. Offensively,
Speaker 1: he's pretty sporadic, Like he's solid. Yeah, he's really up
Speaker 1: and down. Yeah, he's He's like, Drew Holiday is a
Speaker 1: lot closer to his brothers in terms of offensive creation
Speaker 1: than he is to the like, to the high end
Speaker 1: guards in the league. And I'm not saying he's better
Speaker 1: than his brothers, but my point is is he's closer
Speaker 1: to that than he is to the high endguards game
Speaker 1: or staff or any of these are the best guards
Speaker 1: in the league, definitely. So so your idea was to
Speaker 1: improve that offensive creation element. The truth of the matter
Speaker 1: is is you're gonna find yourself in these matchups where
Speaker 1: Drew is gonna not be the best guard on the floor.
Speaker 1: So yeah, and so I don't understand how how it
Speaker 1: necessarily raises their ceiling enough to be especially when you
Speaker 1: factor in like what they paid for him, like it's
Speaker 1: it's unbelievab perst round picks. Three first round picks got
Speaker 1: assign the extension, so it achieved a goal. But you're
Speaker 1: still giving up so much capital for Drew Holiday. Like
Speaker 1: you said, fine player, but nothing special. And you took
Speaker 1: yourself out of the Harden race. And he actually came out, well,
Speaker 1: he didn't come out and say, but he leaked to
Speaker 1: UH to either Sham's or Woach that he potentially wanted
Speaker 1: to go to Milwaukee. And and I tweeted on the
Speaker 1: night of the Drew Holiday trade, I said, well, why
Speaker 1: would you take yourself out of be Like, why would
Speaker 1: you take help out of whoever else might come. I
Speaker 1: don't know why they didn't go after Beal. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't understand why more teams haven't pursued you. I
Speaker 1: think people are just because he's stuck in Washington and
Speaker 1: he was really, really, really bad defensively last year. He
Speaker 1: would have helped two or three title contenders immediately and
Speaker 1: bothered them to one of the favorites to do. He's
Speaker 1: one of the most dynamic offensive players in the week.
Speaker 1: He is incredible on that end of the floor, So
Speaker 1: if you put good defensive personnel around him, he'll be
Speaker 1: passable on that end. And then he gives you one
Speaker 1: of the more high level shot creators in the weak
Speaker 1: the whole thing that can throw a wrench in This
Speaker 1: from Milwaukee in a good way. As if Janice becomes
Speaker 1: one of the best post players in the league, which
Speaker 1: which is his path to a title. I still don't
Speaker 1: know why they have him hanging out around the three
Speaker 1: point arcs so much. Yes, you want him in transition
Speaker 1: bringing the ball up, I get that totally. He's he's
Speaker 1: one of the most lethal transition forces in the league
Speaker 1: and the half court. They need to do more stuff
Speaker 1: off the elbow for him. They need to do more
Speaker 1: stuff kind of midpost, low block, because that's where he's
Speaker 1: really good. They started going to that in the Miami
Speaker 1: series right before he heard his ankle, and he was
Speaker 1: absolutely destroyed Miami in that first half. I want to say,
Speaker 1: he had twenty four points on like ten of twelve shooting.
Speaker 1: They couldn't stop him. So that is the way that
Speaker 1: they would have a chance to actually win the title
Speaker 1: is he becomes just this absolutely dominant post player because
Speaker 1: he has obviously the strength and the athleticism to do it.
Speaker 1: It's okay, Kenny add really simple a hook with each hand,
Speaker 1: you know, six ft in the rim, and Kenny had
Speaker 1: a little fade away. That's not it doesn't have to bet.
Speaker 1: But Kenny shoot at you know, Kenny, Kenny shoot at
Speaker 1: forty two to where it's like, all right, we don't
Speaker 1: want to give it up to him because he can't
Speaker 1: make it. The problem is he released a video of
Speaker 1: him shooting step back jumpers and then he in his
Speaker 1: preseason came out in his preseason interview, he basically came
Speaker 1: out and said this year, I'm gonna have the ball
Speaker 1: more out on the premium. It's basically what he said.
Speaker 1: It's the craziest thing going. Man, I don't understand it.
Speaker 1: After the life of me, I don't understand the development
Speaker 1: tract that they're taking. But to your point, though, and
Speaker 1: I was gonna add the same thing, and you you
Speaker 1: beat me to it, and I think you're absolutely right.
Speaker 1: The big wild card for Milwaukee is, be honest, if
Speaker 1: he goes from being the sixth best player in the
Speaker 1: league to being the second or third best player, in
Speaker 1: the league, all of a sudden they become a way
Speaker 1: more interesting team. All right, So for time purposes, let's
Speaker 1: let's hit our rapid fire here. So we're gonna do it.
Speaker 1: Since you just brought up Dealist to Washington, first, what
Speaker 1: are your thoughts on Washington. Um, I think there'll be
Speaker 1: a playoff team for sure. As much crap as I
Speaker 1: give Russ for being this highly, highly flawed player, he
Speaker 1: definitely raises when he has the ball a lot. He
Speaker 1: raises your ceiling as um or raises your floor, I
Speaker 1: should say, as a regular season team, So he's gonna
Speaker 1: he's gonna play hard every night. I think he'll and
Speaker 1: he'll remotivate deal in some ways to maybe play a
Speaker 1: little bit harder on the defensive end. They have too
Speaker 1: high level shot creators. Now. They have a bunch of
Speaker 1: shooters there. If I'm recalling it correctly, I think they
Speaker 1: were the best offense in the league last year, but
Speaker 1: they were also the worst defense. They have a ton
Speaker 1: of offensive talent, and they should get the defense to
Speaker 1: maybe passable levels, like instead of thirty in the league
Speaker 1: and in the East. If you're a top five offense
Speaker 1: in the twentieth defense you should definitely make the playoffs.
Speaker 1: So I think off team, but they're low level playoff teams,
Speaker 1: somewhere six through eight. And yeah, I think there'll be
Speaker 1: a fun team on a lot of nights because Russ
Speaker 1: is still Russ and he can still do Russ stuff
Speaker 1: and feel, like I said, he is one of the
Speaker 1: best shot creators in the league. That dude is incredible
Speaker 1: as a perimeter shot creator. They'll they'll be a fun watch,
Speaker 1: but there you know, a first round exit, no likelihood. Yeah. So,
Speaker 1: I think one of the biggest reasons why they were
Speaker 1: so good offensively last year is that they were so
Speaker 1: bad as a team that they got the worst defensive
Speaker 1: effort from everybody every night. I think they still will
Speaker 1: be one of the best offenses in the league this year,
Speaker 1: but as a team that gets everybody's better shot because
Speaker 1: Russ and and Bradley will beat you if you don't
Speaker 1: bring your better shot. Um that I would put them
Speaker 1: as about the second best offense in the Eastern Conference
Speaker 1: behind Brooklyn in terms of you know, a team that
Speaker 1: would as a team that's going to get a better
Speaker 1: focused defensive effort from the people they play every night. Again,
Speaker 1: they don't defend anywhere near well enough to have any
Speaker 1: hope of really competing or contending. But I think they're
Speaker 1: going to be a very interesting team in the East
Speaker 1: all year long, somewhere middle of the pack, bottom of
Speaker 1: the East, and they're gonna be huge pain in the
Speaker 1: asked to beat in a playoff series because in any
Speaker 1: given series, they might have the two best players on
Speaker 1: the floor, depending on if Russ brings you know, any
Speaker 1: sort of uh like Russ is. Just the thing with
Speaker 1: us is it's like he's so used to playing one
Speaker 1: way that when Houston leaned on him playing that way
Speaker 1: in the middle of the last season, they want a
Speaker 1: bunch of games, and he put up crazy numbers. But
Speaker 1: as soon as things kind of shift, and whether it's
Speaker 1: based on him getting injured or whether it's based on,
Speaker 1: you know, just James Harden doing James Harden stuff, as
Speaker 1: soon as things shift into him being in a beta role,
Speaker 1: he his impact falls off of a cliff. Like in
Speaker 1: an alpha role, he's like a fringe top fifteen player,
Speaker 1: but in a beta role he's like barely a top
Speaker 1: thirty player. That I mean, that's the issue if you're
Speaker 1: if you have to be the alpha and you're only
Speaker 1: top ten, top fifteen. When you do that, you're basically
Speaker 1: a first round exit. That's basically you're ceiling, or maybe
Speaker 1: a second round if you get lucky. I don't see
Speaker 1: them pushing anyone because of Russ's flaws that always become
Speaker 1: more evident in a playoffs year, especially if he's having
Speaker 1: to share touches with bo and it's like kind of
Speaker 1: a pseudo one A one B type thing where Russ
Speaker 1: isn't the main guy. We we saw it with Paul George.
Speaker 1: I think he is probably a better offensive player than
Speaker 1: Paul George. He's more dynamic in my opinion. But they
Speaker 1: lost in the first round both year in a row
Speaker 1: when they were together, so I think it's gonna be
Speaker 1: actually a somewhat similar situation. Okay, see they won't be
Speaker 1: as good defensively, but offensively it'll probably be somewhat similar,
Speaker 1: and they won't in my opinion, I don't think they
Speaker 1: even have a right matchup. Maybe they can get somebody
Speaker 1: in the first round, but I don't see it. No,
Speaker 1: I agree with you. Think the reality is the Eastern
Speaker 1: Conference is different than it used to be. I railed
Speaker 1: on the Eastern Conference all year last year for being
Speaker 1: weak at the bottom, and they were, they were historically
Speaker 1: at the bottom, but at the top they were as
Speaker 1: strong as they had been in decades. And the reality
Speaker 1: is is Brooklyn, Milwaukee, Philly and Boston is a hellish
Speaker 1: first first round a series to go on the road
Speaker 1: for and swap one of those teams out for the
Speaker 1: Miami Heat, the team that made the finals last year,
Speaker 1: if you want to. But again, like I'm with you,
Speaker 1: I just think they're gonna be interesting, and I like
Speaker 1: interesting in it and it adds to the overall talent
Speaker 1: level that exists in the Eastern Conference. All right, let's
Speaker 1: do Atlanta, um. But they added Rondo, Dinero, Gallinarian, Bogdan Bogdanovitch.
Speaker 1: I think there's a clear mandate for them to make
Speaker 1: the playoffs right from ownership. It seems like, you know,
Speaker 1: this is kind of a make or break here for
Speaker 1: that front office maybe, and I think maybe they have
Speaker 1: the pieces to do it. I like a lot of
Speaker 1: their young guys. I'm a big fan of Herder, I'm
Speaker 1: a big fan of fan of Cambraddish. I really like
Speaker 1: the a Kong Woo pick. I think he's gonna be
Speaker 1: a really dynamic defensive player right away. In the NBA,
Speaker 1: John Collins is an awesome offensive four slash five man.
Speaker 1: He can pick and pop, you can shoot threes. He's
Speaker 1: an incredible role man with really good gravity. And then
Speaker 1: of course Trey Young, I mean Trey Is. I'm super
Speaker 1: super critical of Trey because of play style and shot
Speaker 1: selection and literally not even trying on defense. But he's
Speaker 1: also like maybe a top three, top five most dynamic
Speaker 1: creator in the entire league. He has greater natural passing,
Speaker 1: vision and feel. He's an incredible shock creator for himself.
Speaker 1: He can get threes off from thirty five ft. He
Speaker 1: has a really good floating game for a guy his size.
Speaker 1: He draws fouls really well, he can get to the rim.
Speaker 1: He's a super duper dynamic offensive player. The key to
Speaker 1: them making the playoffs, I think is maybe listening his
Speaker 1: role a little bit on offense and giving some of
Speaker 1: these other guys Bogdanovich Um Gallinari some more offensive touches
Speaker 1: to take the burden of Trey and getting him to
Speaker 1: not the worst defensive player in the league. I don't
Speaker 1: even think he'll ever be a possible defensive player just
Speaker 1: because of his size. He is a tiny, tiny dude,
Speaker 1: um with not great defensive instincts, but you've got to
Speaker 1: get him to just at least be like a regular
Speaker 1: negative instead of maybe the worst defender in NBA history,
Speaker 1: at least in modern history. Um. So I think they
Speaker 1: can make the playoffs. A lot of that I think
Speaker 1: is gonna come down to what type of player Tray
Speaker 1: is because I think most of their role players, you
Speaker 1: basically know what you're gonna get, especially the bets that
Speaker 1: they brought in. They brought in some solid vets and
Speaker 1: they also run in Chris Dunn, who was actually a
Speaker 1: really nice guy to pair with Trey and some minus
Speaker 1: because of how versatile he is defensively. So I think
Speaker 1: they'll probably be bottom run play off team. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: if Trey can bring the requisite level of effort on
Speaker 1: the defensive, and because if he can't, they're going to
Speaker 1: be so bad defensively. Yet again, he's just he's a
Speaker 1: turnstyle on that, but he's He's also one of the
Speaker 1: most talented offensive players in the league. So I think
Speaker 1: he can lead a top five offense if everything breaks right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree, And and they do have some defensive pieces
Speaker 1: around him. At least the ironically their younger players, not
Speaker 1: their events. Yeah yeah, those guys. But so what's interesting
Speaker 1: to me about Atlanta is there like the anti Philly
Speaker 1: in this regard where you know, as we talked about
Speaker 1: in in the Tuesday Pod, like you kind of have
Speaker 1: to have really good luck to end up as a
Speaker 1: team not a small Atlanta is not a small market.
Speaker 1: It's a huge city, but it's a small NBA market
Speaker 1: because they don't have a huge, you know, expansive fan base.
Speaker 1: But the truth matter is is like to win as
Speaker 1: a to have to really truly contend for a title
Speaker 1: in a smaller market, you need to hit on multiple
Speaker 1: draft picks, and so a lot of teams just don't
Speaker 1: have the patients to do that the way that Philly
Speaker 1: did to get Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid or you
Speaker 1: know the way that you know, Golden State just hit
Speaker 1: the absolute lottery on three consecutive massive draft picks that
Speaker 1: Step at seven, Play at eleven, and then Draymond at
Speaker 1: thirty five. It's impossible to replicate that exactly two of them,
Speaker 1: Like Clay is almost not even a lottery pick, and
Speaker 1: Draymonds the second round pick that doesn't happen exactly. And
Speaker 1: so what's interesting to me about this is this is
Speaker 1: Atlanta basically saying, like, we don't have the patients to
Speaker 1: sit here and try to win the lottery a couple
Speaker 1: of times to contend. We got one star that we
Speaker 1: really like who's great for our fan base, so we're
Speaker 1: gonna leave. We're gonna go pay a bunch of veterans
Speaker 1: uh more than they probably deserve, and we're okay being
Speaker 1: a fringe playoff team and and just you know, trying
Speaker 1: to contend that way, not entirely unlike the Joe Johnson experience,
Speaker 1: but but it's just funny to me because like it's
Speaker 1: like it's it's kind of like they have these teams
Speaker 1: that are in this situation usually have lots of cap
Speaker 1: space every season, but instead of doing what Philly did,
Speaker 1: like just throwing you know, twenty million at J. J.
Speaker 1: Reddick first season to just fill cap space to keep
Speaker 1: to maintain your flexibility, they're just like, screw it, We're
Speaker 1: gonna sign all these guys and we'll go all in.
Speaker 1: And it kind of sucks because unless you know, like
Speaker 1: literally unless John Colins or like John Collins just blows
Speaker 1: up into a top fifteen NBA player, They're just never
Speaker 1: gonna to raise their their their ability to raise their
Speaker 1: ceiling at this point is now significantly limited because now
Speaker 1: they're gonna be picking in the fifteens every year, even
Speaker 1: lowering their chances even further to potentially hit on another
Speaker 1: draft pick. Sorry, Kevin Herder's not Clay Thompson, and you know,
Speaker 1: and and it's it's just it's kind of like they're
Speaker 1: an example of just like of of NBA small market
Speaker 1: purgatory from better time. I think they are a sleeping
Speaker 1: giant in a lot of ways. I think they have
Speaker 1: the chance to be a big market if they were
Speaker 1: to actually have some real, real playoffs success. But I
Speaker 1: think the Joe Johnson Hawks are actually a great comparison
Speaker 1: point because it seems like they're just contemp saying, you
Speaker 1: know what, through we're gonna be a bottom two mid
Speaker 1: run playoff team. Um, they signed Bobdanovitch to what like
Speaker 1: four years seventy two, uh, galling our his contract is
Speaker 1: at least a couple of years. So yeah, they're just
Speaker 1: they're gonna be second NBA purgatory, which, hey, if you're
Speaker 1: just trying to to make a little bit of money
Speaker 1: every years ownership, that's your goal. If you don't actually
Speaker 1: care about winning titles, then yeah so, but it could
Speaker 1: all blow up in their face because I don't think.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Trey Young seems like a guy to
Speaker 1: me who really cares about the optics of his career.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if he'll ever want to be
Speaker 1: on a championship contender, but I can see that, you know,
Speaker 1: just from an optic standpoint, he wants that because he
Speaker 1: wants to be considered in the upper one of the league,
Speaker 1: and Atlanta isn't going to provide that to him. It
Speaker 1: doesn't seem like especially made this off he'son, unless you
Speaker 1: know Herder isn't Clay but maybe Reddish Relie pops Um.
Speaker 1: If everything goes right for him, he could be a
Speaker 1: damn good player on both ends of the ball. He's
Speaker 1: already a good defensive player, and if he keeps progressing
Speaker 1: like he did in his rookie year on the offensive
Speaker 1: and he could be a really really good player on
Speaker 1: that at a dynamic off the dribble shooter with some
Speaker 1: creation shops, a guy with a mid range game can
Speaker 1: shoot from three, can get to the rim just enough
Speaker 1: to keep you honest, Um, So it could work out
Speaker 1: for them. I mean they're I think they're ding big
Speaker 1: on the young guys that they have right now. But
Speaker 1: we'll see how that works. It's a big bet because
Speaker 1: besides Tray, none of these guys have a clear path
Speaker 1: to top ten Top Tip team. Yeah, no, I agree,
Speaker 1: and the Reddish real quickly. Reddish, my my worry with
Speaker 1: him is his confidence. When I watch him play, he
Speaker 1: strikes me as a player that has like like the
Speaker 1: mentality of a tenth man off the bench with the
Speaker 1: talent of Paul George. I was gonna say, there are
Speaker 1: big Paul George vibes there, like if it breaks the
Speaker 1: right way, Paul George is kind of the same guy,
Speaker 1: is really good by the way. Yeah, Atlanta becomes infinitely more.
Speaker 1: That's a win. Um, all the tools are there. But
Speaker 1: I mean Paul George goes through about to re struggles
Speaker 1: with his confidence. So maybe Reddish is just so talented
Speaker 1: it ends up working out for them. M I'll see.
Speaker 1: So two more we got, We'll do Miami next. So
Speaker 1: Miami added Mo Harkless and Avery Bradley, but they're more
Speaker 1: or less the same team. I I don't see more
Speaker 1: more Heartless or Avery Bradley is moving the needle. I
Speaker 1: think they're more or less going to be relying on
Speaker 1: the same Heartless is basically going to slide into Jay
Speaker 1: Crowder's role. Um. Avery Bradley to me is kind of
Speaker 1: redundant because they brought back draw Jich and they're gonna
Speaker 1: be leaning on Harrow a lot. And I guess maybe
Speaker 1: Avery Bradley takes Kendrick Nuns minutes um, which is which
Speaker 1: is a clear upgrade of my opinion. I And I'm
Speaker 1: not a Kendrick Dunnan, and he just he's one of
Speaker 1: those guys where it's like, oh, he looks great on
Speaker 1: a bad team because he can do some stuff on
Speaker 1: offense and he can score some points, but he's such
Speaker 1: a sive on defense, and then he doesn't create well
Speaker 1: enough on offense to actually make you a good offensive team.
Speaker 1: It just looks good. It's a it's an aesthetic thing.
Speaker 1: And you've talked about that a lot with certain players,
Speaker 1: how the aesthetics matters so much and how we evaluate
Speaker 1: certain guys on the offensive end, and it really is crazy. Well,
Speaker 1: that's the if Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving make it
Speaker 1: to the finals. It's gonna be the aesthetics Championship because
Speaker 1: it's gonna be too to somewhat ugly offensive players who
Speaker 1: who do so much more to impact winning against two
Speaker 1: of the prettiest basketball players ever offensively, and if the
Speaker 1: Lakers win, it's gonna be kind of a referendum. But
Speaker 1: I I don't think Miami's championship run was a fluke.
Speaker 1: I don't know. But Brooklyn and Philly are here now
Speaker 1: and they weren't here last year, and I think they're
Speaker 1: clearly better. So that's kind of where I'm at. It's
Speaker 1: not that I disrespect Miami. It's just that if Janice
Speaker 1: gets any better, and if Brooklyn and Philly are what
Speaker 1: we expect them to be, your best case scenario suddenly
Speaker 1: becomes being the fourth best team in the East, even
Speaker 1: if you're the same team that took the Lakers. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And the the issue is they did go to the finals, right,
Speaker 1: so they only got seventy whatever days off, So any
Speaker 1: of their young guys who were looking to improve, bam hero,
Speaker 1: I mean, any any of their young guys no off season,
Speaker 1: no off season, no offseason all, They're gonna be tired.
Speaker 1: They're two best offensive creators and they're old, so now
Speaker 1: coming off pretty bad. Yeah, Dragon is coming off a
Speaker 1: pretty bad foot injury, like he couldn't even really play
Speaker 1: towards the end of the bubble. So yeah, I just
Speaker 1: I love Miami. I'm always a believer in what they do.
Speaker 1: And I think they have a punch of chance in
Speaker 1: any playoffs series just from an overall toughness standpoint, Like
Speaker 1: you're gonna get everything that they have UM in every
Speaker 1: game in every series, So they could beat anybody. But
Speaker 1: I think they're at best the clear cut third team,
Speaker 1: and I could see the bottom falling out and their
Speaker 1: six or seven if you know, a couple of injuries,
Speaker 1: a couple of things don't go right, and you know,
Speaker 1: Jimmy injury, a Bam injury really really sets them back.
Speaker 1: Those guys are both so important to them. UM. Anytime
Speaker 1: that those two guys missed, they could almost miss the
Speaker 1: playoffs in a way. So and and the last thing
Speaker 1: I'll say about Miami before we move on to Boston
Speaker 1: is just kind of similar to the honest But a
Speaker 1: lot of their ceiling just has to do with how
Speaker 1: much better band gets if Bam kind of starts to
Speaker 1: expand because what murdered the heat in Game six is
Speaker 1: Bam Bam couldn't shoot, and so Anthony Davis was literally
Speaker 1: just playing like two three zoning the paint, which absolutely
Speaker 1: shut Miami down. And if Bam literally becomes a dependable
Speaker 1: three point shooter, if if if Ban becomes a if
Speaker 1: Bam just kind of progresses and that next level of
Speaker 1: his star rise to startom, that could be something that
Speaker 1: raises their ceiling as well. But like no offseason, Yeah,
Speaker 1: what do we think overall about his offensive ceiling Because
Speaker 1: I go back and forth on it. He's obviously a
Speaker 1: really good like point center or whatever you want to
Speaker 1: call it. He's an incredible creator for his size. He's
Speaker 1: super fluid with the ball in his hands. But I
Speaker 1: go back and forth on his scoring potential because some
Speaker 1: nights it looks like, oh, he's comfortable shooting jump shots,
Speaker 1: and then other nights it's like like the one you
Speaker 1: just pointed out, it's like he's terrified even look at
Speaker 1: the rim outside of fifteen, and guys like that, Guys
Speaker 1: who were like really scared to even shoot jump shots,
Speaker 1: they tend to not develop as scores too much. Like
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis was like willing to shoot jump shots as
Speaker 1: soon as he came into the NBA, and eventually he
Speaker 1: became a good jump shooter, like a really good one.
Speaker 1: We saw that this year in the bubble. I don't
Speaker 1: know if Bam can become even close to an a
Speaker 1: D level jump shooter, he'll be one of the best
Speaker 1: players in the league for sure. I just don't even
Speaker 1: know if that's a realistic outcome for him. As much
Speaker 1: as I wanted to that he follows a Kauai esque
Speaker 1: were early in his career leans on his defense. But
Speaker 1: the team privately, with their player development, is just refining
Speaker 1: and refining and refining, because there are examples of players
Speaker 1: with immense physical gifts who weren't much offensively early on
Speaker 1: and then they developed. So that would be that that
Speaker 1: would be the hope. And if there's a team that
Speaker 1: can do it, would be Miami for there. Definitely, definitely,
Speaker 1: And he does have good touch. You got good touch
Speaker 1: on floats and stuff, so the potential for a solid
Speaker 1: jump shot at least is there. It's definitely a big
Speaker 1: swing factor for them for the coming couple of years.
Speaker 1: I agree, and and look, I mean like I picked
Speaker 1: Milwaukee to beat Miami because I massively underrated Jimmy Butler,
Speaker 1: and it's clear that he's capable of going toe to
Speaker 1: toe with the best players in the league. So if
Speaker 1: you add Bam as a top fifteen level player to that,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden they become much more interesting. Boston
Speaker 1: lost Gordon Hayward, added Tristan Thompson. Those are the main
Speaker 1: key ones, although Kemba Walker is going to be out
Speaker 1: for at least a month with something going on with
Speaker 1: his knee. At how bad is that Mba contract looking?
Speaker 1: How bad is that especially when really bad? Um, it
Speaker 1: would have made a hell of a lot more sense
Speaker 1: to overpay Gordon Hayward because at least he's a big
Speaker 1: wing and there's some versatility there that he brings. Or
Speaker 1: just keep Cherry Rose here at a lesser price. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like a Kimball's. Kemba is way better than Terry Rozier.
Speaker 1: Don't get me wrong, I don't want selfic fans angry
Speaker 1: self expands. I mentioned, but small guards in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Man Kenba is a true small guard, Like he's smaller
Speaker 1: than even step and Daymar and those guys have such
Speaker 1: a tough time deep in playoff series and now he's
Speaker 1: apparently he has knee issues. So the thing that he
Speaker 1: relies on is his quickness and his and his and
Speaker 1: to end speed, and now that might take a hit.
Speaker 1: Like I think he's still got three years or ninety
Speaker 1: million left, good luck. And I think Tatum popps bilier
Speaker 1: than they expected, so that they weren't expecting Tatum to
Speaker 1: be Tatum as early as he is. UM. But yeah,
Speaker 1: So overall thoughts on Boston, I think they're more or
Speaker 1: less the same team. Christan Thompson will obviously help us
Speaker 1: an interior presence which they didn't have last year. UM,
Speaker 1: And that's why Miami beat them because absolutely destroyed by BAM,
Speaker 1: Tristan is not going to get destroyed by BAM. Tristan
Speaker 1: is at least at the very least, he has the
Speaker 1: toughness and the grit to kind of stonewall BAM enough
Speaker 1: in a series to where he doesn't just absolutely dominate. Um.
Speaker 1: They're a middle tier playoff team unless Tatum takes another
Speaker 1: huge step and becomes the sixth fifth best player in
Speaker 1: the league, and then they can win any series because
Speaker 1: as a score, he's super, super dynamic, and where he
Speaker 1: really struggled lest year was late in games, which is
Speaker 1: what a lot of young really good scores do. They
Speaker 1: can score for the first three quarters, you know, but
Speaker 1: late in the game, they just don't quite have the chops.
Speaker 1: And it really showed in UM in both the Toronto
Speaker 1: and the Miami series. I thought even the Toronto series
Speaker 1: he struggled down the stretch and a lot of those games.
Speaker 1: So it would it would. Their ceiling ultimately depends on
Speaker 1: Tatum and Brown taking another step as players, and once
Speaker 1: again weird off season, short off season. I'm not banking
Speaker 1: on any young guys who were in the NBA UM
Speaker 1: this last year taking a big step at least that
Speaker 1: they were in the playoffs, because just wasn't enough time
Speaker 1: to work on their games. Boston played into the Eastern
Speaker 1: Conference finals. They got more time off than Miami, but
Speaker 1: not a lot more, maybe twenty more days. So to me,
Speaker 1: they're a middle tier playoff team. They'll be the fourth
Speaker 1: of the fifth seed. They'll be a tough out like
Speaker 1: they'll they're going to give almost anyone in the Eastern
Speaker 1: Conference a really tough SERI he's probably at least six games,
Speaker 1: but I don't see any kind of championship ceiling for them.
Speaker 1: Unless multiple of their young guys really really improved. So
Speaker 1: I agree with you, and I think one of the
Speaker 1: biggest things to keep in mind is how important Gordon
Speaker 1: Hayward and Kemba Walker were as primary decision makers, because
Speaker 1: Jayson Tatum has a similar flaw to what you see
Speaker 1: with Kawhi Leonard, which is he's an amazing two way
Speaker 1: score guy who can guard on the other end and
Speaker 1: is an absolute positive impact on the defensive end, and
Speaker 1: if you put him on an island with any player,
Speaker 1: he's capable. He's not as good as Quiet, but he's
Speaker 1: capable of getting really really you know shots that he
Speaker 1: can make, and he was I think he was like
Speaker 1: a twenty six point per game guy last year in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. Like he is, he is on that path
Speaker 1: to to being that elite two way wing. Here's the problem.
Speaker 1: He is not necessarily capable of running a coherent NBA
Speaker 1: offense without the help of primary ball handlers. Uh That
Speaker 1: role was filled by Hayward and Kemba last year. Kemball
Speaker 1: what was their best for last year, and Kimba's out
Speaker 1: for the first month of the season. Jeff Tigue is
Speaker 1: a pro. He's an okay guard but he's not going
Speaker 1: to be that. He's gonna be the worst guard on
Speaker 1: the floor in most games that he plays in. And
Speaker 1: so the real the reality is, especially early on in
Speaker 1: that first month and a half or so without Kemba,
Speaker 1: they're gonna basically be going to Kempa to Jayson Tatum
Speaker 1: and Jalen Brown and saying, run our offense. Now, they'll
Speaker 1: be able to guard. They'll be able to guard like crazy.
Speaker 1: Especially with Tristan Thompson. I think I think he unlocks
Speaker 1: a lot of what their defense could be in terms of,
Speaker 1: you know, reaching their defensive ceiling. But the reality is
Speaker 1: they're gonna be in this game, in these games, and
Speaker 1: in this NBA season where there's like twenty good teams,
Speaker 1: and they're gonna and they're literally gonna be relying on
Speaker 1: guys in their early twenties that don't have a lot
Speaker 1: of reps running offense to run everything. And so I
Speaker 1: think it's very possible that they get off to like
Speaker 1: a five and seven start or something crazy like that
Speaker 1: because the fact that they're gonna be extremely limited in
Speaker 1: terms of their basketball i Q. Because they don't have
Speaker 1: that grown they're grown up on the floor that can
Speaker 1: be like, Hey, we're gonna do this, and then Tatum, Jason,
Speaker 1: we're gonna give you the ball down on the block here,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, four times in the next ten possessions.
Speaker 1: But we're gonna run coherent offense around that. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be like Tatum, bring the ball up the floor, make
Speaker 1: a move and shoot. Then Jalen bring the ball up
Speaker 1: the floor, make a move and shoot. Like it's gonna
Speaker 1: be just kind of a little bit, a little bit
Speaker 1: uh like, like what's the word I'm looking for. It's
Speaker 1: just gonna be like, it's gonna be immature. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be an immature NBA offense. Yeah, And I think I
Speaker 1: think Tatum has a higher ceiling as a kind of
Speaker 1: a primary initiator offensive creator than a Kauai. I really do.
Speaker 1: He showed some like real improvements in that area last
Speaker 1: year where he's like reading the week side defense coming
Speaker 1: over and he's throwing the skip like as they're rotating,
Speaker 1: stuff that only the best creators do. But I don't
Speaker 1: think he's quite there yet. But I think the early
Speaker 1: season could be a way for him to really continue
Speaker 1: to grow that part of his game. He has the potential.
Speaker 1: I think he does have the potential to, like maybe
Speaker 1: not run an offense. He'll probably always need another guy
Speaker 1: who is a primary creator, but he has more potential
Speaker 1: in quiet that specific aspect. In my opinion, would you
Speaker 1: trade any Would you trade Jalen Brown and Marcus Smart
Speaker 1: for effort James Harden? I think, I think I trust
Speaker 1: Boston's culture enough to withstand that. So I think so,
Speaker 1: I don't know, that's a that's a funky one. They
Speaker 1: would get off a kemba's money, which I think is huge,
Speaker 1: but they really they love Jalen Brown, so I don't
Speaker 1: think they smart. Yeah, yeah, so I think Smart can
Speaker 1: actually run the point guard capably too. He's a really
Speaker 1: good passer, and he's not a guy that minds aking
Speaker 1: on extra responsibility. As as wild as he is, his
Speaker 1: only issue is shot selection. He'll just take the most
Speaker 1: wild shots. But if you tell Marcus you're running the
Speaker 1: offense for the time being, we can't have you taking
Speaker 1: wild threes eighteen seconds into the clock, then maybe he
Speaker 1: gets that part out of his game. I don't know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they might struggle in the early in the year. I
Speaker 1: could see it, But I think I don't know. If
Speaker 1: you're giving Tatum enough credit as for the strikes he
Speaker 1: took as a creator last year, because he took real,
Speaker 1: real strides in that area. So we'll see who are
Speaker 1: you picking too in the East. We can't agree on this,
Speaker 1: so I'm gonna say Philly, I think, I really like
Speaker 1: I think they have a realistic shot at beating Brooklyn
Speaker 1: no matter what happens, if they get hardened, I would
Speaker 1: actually pick them to be Brooklyn. Yeah, I think they
Speaker 1: can beat him without without getting hard him. I'm taking
Speaker 1: Brooklyn now, but if Philly gets hard now, would take Philly.
Speaker 1: That's what That's where I'm at right now. But whoever
Speaker 1: it is, you know, I I got. I got the
Speaker 1: Lakers beating him inevitably. I just I saw all I
Speaker 1: needed to see in one in one fifteen minute stretch
Speaker 1: of presee's in basketball. I'm sold. I'm just already I'm
Speaker 1: already pissed about it. I'm already pissed about the Lakers
Speaker 1: just being the proverbial favorite again. It's gonna be an
Speaker 1: interesting year, man to get ready to because yeah, I
Speaker 1: think it's gonna get sloppy on Twitter too, because like
Speaker 1: steps in for a rough start, even though I know
Speaker 1: they played the Nuggets and the Kings, who aren't exactly
Speaker 1: defensive stalwarts, but they looked honestly better than I thought,
Speaker 1: especially without drinking. Draymond is kind of so key to
Speaker 1: everything they do, even offensively. He just he connects plays
Speaker 1: so well. He gets guys that extra half second of
Speaker 1: space that guys like, honestly, Andrew Wiggins and Kelly you
Speaker 1: really need. They need like an extra half foot of separation.
Speaker 1: But he's such a smart pass where he's such a
Speaker 1: good screener. He's gonna help their offensive flow. And I
Speaker 1: hope he plays Game one. We'll see if he does.
Speaker 1: But the issue was the schedule for Golden State. They're
Speaker 1: starting with Brooklyn and Milwaukee, and it's gonna be tough
Speaker 1: out of the gates for them. Um, we'll see, we'll see. Man,
Speaker 1: I'm still to you know, and this with some warrior stuff.
Speaker 1: I'm still high on their seeing an ultimate team, but um,
Speaker 1: it might might be ugly coming out of the gates here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I just I feel bad because if it does get ugly,
Speaker 1: that dude is gonna be it's gonna I might have
Speaker 1: to go into hiding. But then again, it's like I mean,
Speaker 1: I remember when Lebron missed playoffs from two thousand nineteen,
Speaker 1: and the lasting the lasting memory was who's that dude,
Speaker 1: Maria Hazonia blocking him on the game winner? Like, sometimes
Speaker 1: it just gets ugly and like and there's not really
Speaker 1: a whole lot you can do about Anybody who really
Speaker 1: knew what was going on, knew that, like that team
Speaker 1: was ravaged with injuries. But people aren't interested in being honest.
Speaker 1: They're interested in standering. This protect doesn't matter. Context never matters.
Speaker 1: But hey, dude, you give me three hours of your
Speaker 1: time this week. I really appreciate it. I'm gonna I
Speaker 1: would imagine sometime in the next week or two, we'll
Speaker 1: get together again and talk some more. Uh, whatever's whatever
Speaker 1: interesting happens, hopefully even to James Harden's right at that point, Yeah,
Speaker 1: let's talk hard and if that happens, definitely alright. Body
Speaker 1: have a going all right, Thanks man,