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Speaker 3: All right, weldo to hoops tonight, you're at the volume.
Speaker 2: Happy Thursday, everybody, Oh of allth you guys are having
Speaker 2: a great week. Just a quick show tonight. We were
Speaker 2: blessed with just one game and it was a game
Speaker 2: that was somewhat predictably a blowout as the Minnesota Timberwolves
Speaker 2: got a game back on the Golden State Warriors. We
Speaker 2: are now one one heading into the Bay. So we're
Speaker 2: gonna spend just a few minutes on that game. Then
Speaker 2: we're gonna have our Player of the Week section with Microsoft.
Speaker 2: Then at the tail end of the show, Jackson and
Speaker 2: n word textan earlier today and I got this crazy
Speaker 2: hair brained idea for a trade. So we're just gonna
Speaker 2: purely for fun, purely in fantasy land of the NBA,
Speaker 2: We're going to discuss an idea of a trade involving
Speaker 2: the Boston Celtics for this summer as a little teasers.
Speaker 3: You guys owe the job before we get started.
Speaker 2: Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channels you don't miss
Speaker 2: any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at
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Speaker 2: O Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful if you leave
Speaker 2: a rating and a review on that front. Don't forget
Speaker 2: about our new social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and
Speaker 2: Facebook where Jackson's doing some great work, and then keep
Speaker 2: dropping mail back questions in those YouTube comments. Also, no
Speaker 2: playback tonight. We're gonna take advantage of the earth. This
Speaker 2: is our twentieth consecutive live show at night, so I'm
Speaker 2: going to take advantage of this opportunity to spend a
Speaker 2: little bit of extra time with my wife tonight. But
Speaker 2: we do usually go on playback after these live shows.
Speaker 2: Make sure you guys head over to playback dot tv
Speaker 2: slash Hoops tonight for our playback after show tomorrow night.
Speaker 2: But again, no after show tonight. We'll get back into
Speaker 2: that tomorrow. So let's talk some basketball and nice bounce back.
Speaker 2: When for the Minnesota Timberwolves. I just thought from the
Speaker 2: start they were much sharper staying attentive to Golden State's
Speaker 2: ball and player movement. The dead giveaways they played him into.
Speaker 2: So many of these, like late clock ISOs where you know,
Speaker 2: Jackson and I were joking earlier because Jimmy Butler just
Speaker 2: seemed to he took a few of them early in
Speaker 2: the game, but there were several examples where he was
Speaker 2: kind of just passing out of those situations, and it
Speaker 2: was you could tell Jimmy kind of was sensing the
Speaker 2: moment that it was a game that might be out
Speaker 2: of reach, and so it was almost like he was
Speaker 2: kind of holding something in reserve. Stan Byan Gundy was
Speaker 2: obviously a little bit critical of him about that, but
Speaker 2: at the same time, you could feel it. You could
Speaker 2: feel this game as being somewhat of a landslide for
Speaker 2: Minnesota from the opening tip as they go up thirteen. Oh,
Speaker 2: but the dead giveaway, so many of these light ISOs,
Speaker 2: whether it's Moses Moody or it's Brandon Pajemski, or it's
Speaker 2: Buddy Healed, or whoever it might be, with three seconds
Speaker 2: on the shot clock with an elite defender in their
Speaker 2: face having to just throw something up. We had shot
Speaker 2: clock violations, we had shots that didn't even come close
Speaker 2: to the rim. The Timberwolves forced a bunch of turnovers
Speaker 2: and kept getting out in transition off of them for
Speaker 2: easy ones. It was just a much better defensive performance
Speaker 2: from Minnesota. We'll talk a little bit more about that
Speaker 2: in a minute, because that's going to be an interesting
Speaker 2: trend going through the rest of the series. And then
Speaker 2: on offense, Ant is still struggling a bit with just
Speaker 2: figuring out how to attack this defense. First of all,
Speaker 2: glad to see him come back in the second half.
Speaker 2: The way he was limping, I was seriously concerned that
Speaker 2: that might have been some kind of like severe high
Speaker 2: ankle spraying with the way that Trace Jackson Davis landed
Speaker 2: on top of him. But to have him come back
Speaker 2: in the second half obviously a good sign. You don't
Speaker 2: want to see anybody get hurt, especially in a way
Speaker 2: that could have an impact in their ability to even
Speaker 2: be available to their team. But he's been sped up
Speaker 2: a little bit by Golden State's ball pressure, and he's
Speaker 2: definitely going to have to get that a little more
Speaker 2: under control as the series progresses into Golden State. It's
Speaker 2: a very different kind of series than the Lakers series,
Speaker 2: where he was given more space, there wasn't pressure, and
Speaker 2: he could kind of like be comfortable as he was
Speaker 2: processing the defense. The idea the old game plan with
Speaker 2: Golden State is if they can pressure Ant, he'll rush
Speaker 2: into drives. And if he rushes into drives, he won't
Speaker 2: process the floor quick enough to be able to make
Speaker 2: the right reads when he gets downhill, and so it's
Speaker 2: gonna be key for Ant to solve that problem over
Speaker 2: the course of the series. But everyone else on Minnesota
Speaker 2: took a good step forward tonight. A bunch of their
Speaker 2: shooters started to get into rhythm. Nas Red Nazrie, Dante
Speaker 2: de Vincenzo, Nikile, Alexander Walker, Mike Conley, and Anthony Edwards
Speaker 2: all hit multiple threes in this game, which is obviously
Speaker 2: a good sign, a good sign after the horrendous shooting
Speaker 2: that they put forth in Game five against the Lakers.
Speaker 2: In Game one of this series, we saw a little
Speaker 2: bit of Jada McDaniels getting back to some of that
Speaker 2: weak side scoring that he did in the first round.
Speaker 2: Took a little bit of an audacious step back three
Speaker 2: over Draymond Green in the left corner that I thought
Speaker 2: was kind of funny.
Speaker 3: But other than that, a.
Speaker 2: Bunch of these like good, you know, closeout attacks where
Speaker 2: he's euroing through a help defender, spinning off of a
Speaker 2: guy who's closing out on him, and just hitting those
Speaker 2: little short floaters and jump shots that are shots that
Speaker 2: we know that he can hit. And then I thought
Speaker 2: Julius just had a really nice bounce back game. I
Speaker 2: thought he was really bad in Game one and really
Speaker 2: started to get his feel out of the post, just
Speaker 2: taking simple kickout reads that are there as Golden State
Speaker 2: was pinching down on him, doing some scoring in the
Speaker 2: middle of the floor. Just a nice step forward for
Speaker 2: the Wolves offense, which is gonna be the problem, like
Speaker 2: we as we move forward in this series, the job
Speaker 2: is all mental for Minnesota. We're heading to Golden State,
Speaker 2: and Minnesota fans, if you haven't had a chance to
Speaker 2: watch much of Golden State this year, they just have
Speaker 2: this level they can get to at home, even without
Speaker 2: step on the defensive end of the floor and getting
Speaker 2: out in transition and feeding off of the energy of
Speaker 2: that crowd. They're gonna be a tough out in the
Speaker 2: same way that I kind of kind of like felt
Speaker 2: like tonight was going to be a blowout. I think
Speaker 2: both Game three and Game four are going to be
Speaker 2: dog fights, and those the job from Minnesota on both
Speaker 2: ends of the floor is going to be simple. On
Speaker 2: the offensive end of the floor, like we talked about,
Speaker 2: Anthony Edwards not getting rushed, but him and Julius together
Speaker 2: having to process that defense when it's more engaged, when
Speaker 2: it's flying around, feeding off the energy of that crowd,
Speaker 2: not turning the ball over, not settling for bad threes.
Speaker 2: Ants had an issue knifing through the defense and taking
Speaker 2: high degree of difficulty layups in traffic that he's missing
Speaker 2: at a high clip. But the mental processing piece is
Speaker 2: going to be key for them on offense as they
Speaker 2: go on the road and then on the defensive end again,
Speaker 2: like we talked about, it was a good step forward
Speaker 2: for them tonight, but that's same attentiveness to all the
Speaker 2: ball in player movement. This is a team that if
Speaker 2: you can play them into those lake clock ISOs, cause
Speaker 2: again it's not like Golden States planning to take a
Speaker 2: lake clock ISO. They're running their motion offense to try
Speaker 2: to get you to make a mistake and if you
Speaker 2: make a mistake leaving a cutter open or a shooter open,
Speaker 2: they're going to take that opportunity, right, But if you
Speaker 2: can take away those opportunities in the motion, all of
Speaker 2: a sudden, it's like Jimmy Butler's really the only guy
Speaker 2: other than maybe Jonathan Kmingo when he's in rhythm, which
Speaker 2: we'll talk about. He did seem to build a little
Speaker 2: bit of rhythm tonight, But Jimmy Butler's really the only
Speaker 2: player that can create his own shot against an elite
Speaker 2: defender in that sort of situation, and at this phase
Speaker 2: in his career, he's not as good at it as
Speaker 2: he used to be. Right, So, like, if you can
Speaker 2: be attentive and shut down the motion, you can play
Speaker 2: them into late clock. ISO's you got a great chance
Speaker 2: to win Game three in Game four on the road,
Speaker 2: But if you lose sight of that and you let
Speaker 2: Golden State feed on the energy of their crowd and
Speaker 2: a couple role players get confident, they will hit open shots.
Speaker 2: As you guys know, I mean, that's what happened in
Speaker 2: game one after Steph went down. Every time Minnesota made
Speaker 2: a mistake, they knocked the shot down and it just
Speaker 2: wasn't anything that they were able to regain control of.
Speaker 2: You got to play these guys into those misses, and
Speaker 2: so it's they have the physical tools necessary to do
Speaker 2: the job, but they've got to have the mental focus
Speaker 2: and discipline, attention to detail to get it done on
Speaker 2: the road. And I do think they need to win
Speaker 2: both of those games. I think if they end up
Speaker 2: in a scenario where Golden State takes this thing to
Speaker 2: two back to Minnesota in Game five, even if you win,
Speaker 2: I think Steph Curry's going to come back in that
Speaker 2: game on the eighteenth, And as we saw in Game one,
Speaker 2: I think this is a tough matchup for Minnesota when
Speaker 2: Steph is healthy. Now whether or not he'll be healthy
Speaker 2: enough to even be a factor remains to be seen,
Speaker 2: but I think Minnesota needs to be going to the
Speaker 2: Bay with the goal of trying to win both of
Speaker 2: those games. Now on the Golden State front, we talked
Speaker 2: about this last night in playback. We talked about it
Speaker 2: two nights ago after Game one, but we viewed this
Speaker 2: game too as basically a game that Minnesota was going
Speaker 2: to win and was going to win by a lot.
Speaker 2: It's just the combination of a bunch of factors. We
Speaker 2: talked about this last night with Oklahoma City versus Denver.
Speaker 2: On the one hand, your road team is a veteran
Speaker 2: team that already stole home court advantage, So there's such
Speaker 2: a natural pullback in terms of effort, focus, and energy
Speaker 2: because you know you're going home with home court advantage.
Speaker 2: We just saw that with Denver last night with Oka See. Also,
Speaker 2: just like Oka See, Minnesota is a damn good basketball team,
Speaker 2: a damn good basketball team led by really good players,
Speaker 2: so like they got the talent to have a bounce
Speaker 2: back the game. It's also an absolute must win. Unlike
Speaker 2: the Boston series, Boston is arguably more comfortable on the
Speaker 2: road than they are at home. Unlike the Boston series,
Speaker 2: Minnesota could not afford to go down Oh too. It
Speaker 2: was like an absolute must win type of game for
Speaker 2: a great team against a veteran team that had already
Speaker 2: taken home court. There was a natural pullback that was
Speaker 2: gonna happen. And so one of the things we talked
Speaker 2: a lot about over the course of the last two
Speaker 2: days was how can the Warriors get some sort of
Speaker 2: positive progress out of this type of game that's going
Speaker 2: to be so difficult to win, and the key was
Speaker 2: a couple things we talked about giving Jonathan kaminga long leash.
Speaker 2: Now we discussed it more within the context of him
Speaker 2: being in the starting lineup. Wasn't in the starting lineup tonight,
Speaker 2: but he did get twenty six minutes and got plenty
Speaker 2: of opportunity to create his own offense, and he scored
Speaker 2: eighteen points on eleven shots. We'll zoom in on that
Speaker 2: in just a minute. But the second piece of it
Speaker 2: was digging way deep in the rotation and giving a
Speaker 2: ton of guys opportunity. Right, Steve Kerr ends up playing
Speaker 2: let me count.
Speaker 3: This is.
Speaker 2: Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen different players tonight. So Steve
Speaker 2: Kerk gave everyone a chance just to see, Like, Steve's
Speaker 2: got to rebuild a basketball team on the fly here, right,
Speaker 2: Like what works with Steph is different than what's going
Speaker 2: to work without Steph. And so Steve Kerr, in a
Speaker 2: lot of ways, has to come up with a completely
Speaker 2: different way to win basketball games from scratch here on
Speaker 2: the fly. And so he used Game two as an
Speaker 2: opportunity to test a lot of things out. A simple
Speaker 2: thing after the thirteen to zero run Quentin Post gets
Speaker 2: the hook goes to Tray Jackson Davis. Tray Jackson Davis
Speaker 2: was impactful in this game. His athleticism pop fifteen points
Speaker 2: and six rebounds was really providing some of that rim
Speaker 2: pressure at a ball screen action, just rolling hard to
Speaker 2: the rim and getting vertical. As much as Quinton Posts
Speaker 2: is a very good player, we've joked on the show,
Speaker 2: he can't jump over a a phone book. He's not
Speaker 2: exactly the most athletic dude in the world, Tray Jackson
Speaker 2: Davis brings some of that vertical pop. I thought that
Speaker 2: that was a kind of like a useful little bit
Speaker 2: of information that came out of this game. And then
Speaker 2: the second piece of it was Jonathan Kaminga had a
Speaker 2: little bit of success in face up situations and ISOs
Speaker 2: got comfortable as a catch and shoot player. Hitting another
Speaker 2: corner three. The one he missed in the fourth quarter
Speaker 2: two I thought was pretty close. He looked like he
Speaker 2: was in good rhythm there. Diggy hit his first eight
Speaker 2: shots in this game. He just started to build some
Speaker 2: of that rhythm. Why that matters is because in those
Speaker 2: games in Golden State, I think in order to win
Speaker 2: one of them or let's put it this way, you
Speaker 2: give yourself a good chance to win one of them
Speaker 2: if in one of those two games, Jonathan Kaminga had
Speaker 2: as a twenty twenty two point night, and I think
Speaker 2: that he was in such a funk coming into this
Speaker 2: that tonight was the perfect opportunity to just give him
Speaker 2: a long leash and just see what he can put
Speaker 2: together in terms of rhythm building towards Game three and
Speaker 2: Game four. Again, like I said, with Minnesota on the
Speaker 2: Golden State front, the goal needs to be like obviously
Speaker 2: the goals to win both games, but if you can
Speaker 2: get one game in Golden State and you can send
Speaker 2: it back to Minnesota too too, you guarantee that you're
Speaker 2: playing on the eighteenth, And if you're playing on the eighteenth,
Speaker 2: I think there's a decent chance that Steph Curry comes
Speaker 2: back and plays and gives you a chance to win
Speaker 2: the series. If you win both, obviously you're in fantastic position.
Speaker 2: But if you can win one of those games, you
Speaker 2: give Steph Curry the chance to return in twelve days.
Speaker 2: All right, Welcome to course correction brought to you by Microsoft.
Speaker 2: Just like star players and teams navigating performance hurtles, business
Speaker 2: decision makers today are under immense pressure to get things right.
Speaker 2: They must rise to the occasion, turning challenges into opportunities.
Speaker 2: Microsoft empowers these visionaries with AI solutions, simple fight cloud
Speaker 2: and data management and trustworthy responsible AI. And when you're
Speaker 2: in the NBA, you have your own hurdles to face.
Speaker 2: In this segment, we will highlight the player every week
Speaker 2: that has risen to the occasion when his team needed him.
Speaker 2: Whatever challenge you're facing, Microsoft empowers you with the expertise
Speaker 2: to say, bring it on. This week's Player of the
Speaker 2: Week is Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets. On Monday night,
Speaker 2: we saw the best playoff performance that I've seen since
Speaker 2: Steph Curry scored forty three points on the Boston Celtics
Speaker 2: in the twenty twenty two Finals in Game one against
Speaker 2: the Thunder, just two nights after he led his team
Speaker 2: to a victory in Game seven against the Clippers on
Speaker 2: the road against one of the best statistical performing defenses
Speaker 2: in the history of the NBA, against the team that
Speaker 2: had already won seventy two games in this season sixty
Speaker 2: eight in the regular season, in the four to zh
Speaker 2: sweep in the first round, he goes for forty two points,
Speaker 2: twenty two rebounds, six assists, a steal in two bl
Speaker 2: in the fourth quarter, he walked the thunder down, just
Speaker 2: dominating in the middle of the flour. He had eighteen
Speaker 2: points just in that fourth quarter, keeping the Nuggets in
Speaker 2: striking distance so that they could have a chance to
Speaker 2: win the game.
Speaker 3: Late.
Speaker 2: Hit several big shots late, a hook shot over Alex Crusoe,
Speaker 2: a driving foul that got to the line, a huge
Speaker 2: three that cut the lead to one over Isaiah Hartenstein
Speaker 2: using like kind of a jab step sequence, ultimately ending
Speaker 2: the game with an Aaron Gordon game winning three in
Speaker 2: transition off the left wing to steal game one and
Speaker 2: get home court advantage for the Denver Nuggets. One of
Speaker 2: my favorite things about basketball is the ability of a
Speaker 2: star player to transcend surrounding circumstances. Yes, it's a team sport.
Speaker 2: Basketball is beautiful when it's flowing, but in the most
Speaker 2: intense moments, defenses, especially defenses as good as Okasee, can
Speaker 2: reach a level where that flow is basically impossible, and
Speaker 2: you need a singular force of nature who can transcend
Speaker 2: that environment because he has a superpower. These are the
Speaker 2: moments when you see a superstar, dig deep and reach
Speaker 2: that special level that lead to some of my favorite
Speaker 2: moments in NBA history. So shout out to NICOLEA. Jokis
Speaker 2: for giving us another one of those. They're rare and
Speaker 2: I always really appreciate them when they come around. That's
Speaker 2: it for this week's course correction. Remember Microsoft's AI solutions
Speaker 2: empower you to take bold steps and make informed decisions,
Speaker 2: sparking new ideas to help drive your business forward. Microsoft
Speaker 2: is your trusted partner. You can navigate your journey with confidence,
Speaker 2: finding innovation, innovative solutions, and reaching new possibilities. Visit Microsoft
Speaker 2: dot com slash challengers to learn more. All right, so
Speaker 2: here's the deal. I'm gonna bring Jackson on stage because
Speaker 2: he's our resident Celtics fan as well in addition to
Speaker 2: being very important to the process of this show. But
Speaker 2: Jackson and I were texting earlier today and I want
Speaker 2: to This is a disclaimer upfront. Okay, this trade's not
Speaker 2: going to happen. It's unlikely for a variety of reasons,
Speaker 2: but I want to talk about it because it's fun.
Speaker 2: We have some time, and after a boring game like that,
Speaker 2: it's nice to have a little just to get into
Speaker 2: fantasy land a little bit.
Speaker 3: So here's the deal.
Speaker 2: I pitched the idea to Jackson today. If your GM
Speaker 2: of the Celtics, or excuse me, if you're a GM
Speaker 2: of the Bucks. Actually no, we'll call it the Celtics.
Speaker 2: Your GM of the Celtics. Bucks call you and they
Speaker 2: offer Giannis for Jason Tatum. Do you say yes or no?
Speaker 2: Now before I want to make the case. I'm going
Speaker 2: to make the case again. Disclaimer, this is just for
Speaker 2: fun and primarily meant as a thought exercise. Okay, here's
Speaker 2: the case. It's being widely reported that the Celtics are
Speaker 2: going to start finding ways to cut payroll as soon
Speaker 2: as this summer. In this theoretical scenario, the Celtics have
Speaker 2: just again this is important context here this. I'm only
Speaker 2: pitching this in the event that the Celtics lose to
Speaker 2: the Knicks. So they lose to the Knicks. The reason
Speaker 2: why in this hypothetical scenario, Okay, so the Celtics have
Speaker 2: just lost the series as a minus eight hundred favorite,
Speaker 2: literally because their stars shit the bet. So the premise
Speaker 2: would be that the Celtics roster would lose a decent
Speaker 2: amount of talent as part of the cost cutting, and
Speaker 2: they would suddenly drop to a second tier contender because
Speaker 2: their stars aren't good enough to lift that roster, so
Speaker 2: they wouldn't be really good enough to compete anymore. Another
Speaker 2: way to reframe the situation is, this is a very
Speaker 2: short window of contention for the Celtics. Maybe next year,
Speaker 2: maybe the following year. Giannis is a much better basketball
Speaker 2: player than Jason Tatum and has developed into an excellent
Speaker 2: passer this phase in his career. You'd be surrounding him
Speaker 2: with a roster that fits his skill set super well.
Speaker 2: He's the kind of player who could capitalize on that
Speaker 2: short window to get you a second championship. Presumably he
Speaker 2: could still win even if they lost two of their
Speaker 2: core five. So let's say they lose Drew Holliday and
Speaker 2: krisops Porzingis. Those are the two guys that they look
Speaker 2: to shed salary. You still have Giannis, Derek White, Jalen Brown,
Speaker 2: Horford probably comes back on a minimum. You have Hawser Pritchard,
Speaker 2: Luke Cornett. You still have like a solid rotation around him.
Speaker 2: Then in two years, when Jannis is thirty two years old,
Speaker 2: if he loses the juice and the roster isn't good enough,
Speaker 2: you can still flip you honest to another team to
Speaker 2: restock your asset trope. Case for Milwaukee really simple. Tatum
Speaker 2: has literally four years and an option after this season,
Speaker 2: and he just turned twenty seven. You can rebuild around him,
Speaker 2: and you probably could get a couple draft picks out
Speaker 2: of Boston in the deal that you can flip to
Speaker 2: help improve your role player talent. So essentially, for Milwaukee,
Speaker 2: it's a bet on Tatum's future, and for Boston it's
Speaker 2: a bet on this current roster just needing better play
Speaker 2: from the star. So Jackson, in this hypothetical scenario, you're
Speaker 2: the GM of the Celtics, they offer Giannis for Tatum,
Speaker 2: what are you saying?
Speaker 4: It's a really galaxy brain idea. And I am trying
Speaker 4: to not forget about the connection to the city element
Speaker 4: after we just saw what Niko Harrison did shipping off
Speaker 4: Luka Doncic. However, I do think in this hypothetically, it
Speaker 4: would be a little bit different because of how sour
Speaker 4: it would feel to lose to the Knicks in this fashion.
Speaker 5: Right coming off for the Mavericks.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you lost in the finals, but you got to
Speaker 4: the finals with Luka Doncich. It felt specifically kind of
Speaker 4: buziz you're and they were under if you're losing in
Speaker 4: four or five games to the Knicks in the series,
Speaker 4: that you were heavy, heavy, heavy favorites. People are I
Speaker 4: saw someone say on Twitter today, is this would be
Speaker 4: the kind of thing that results in people getting fired
Speaker 4: or people getting traded, right, And that's and I think
Speaker 4: that's totally a valid take. What are people expecting Jason
Speaker 4: Tatum to be traded?
Speaker 5: I don't think so. But if someone was like, we need.
Speaker 4: To fire Joe Mizzoula after this, I would not agree,
Speaker 4: but I would be I would understand the thought behind it, right,
Speaker 4: So I I do think if you lose this series,
Speaker 4: especially if it's in four or five games. I don't
Speaker 4: think it's before, but if it's in five games, it
Speaker 4: makes sense to make a little bit of a shakeup.
Speaker 4: It's hard to run that back after this way the
Speaker 4: series has looked, at least through two games, trading Tatum
Speaker 4: for Yannis though, that is a crazy idea, and I
Speaker 4: don't I don't hate it. Of all the if you're
Speaker 4: gonna offload one of your two stars, I don't want
Speaker 4: to in the if they're gonna shake things up this summer,
Speaker 4: which they're probably going to payroll. We're if they lose
Speaker 4: to the Knicks in a weird way, you're probably making
Speaker 4: some sort of significant trade. If if you're saying you're
Speaker 4: gonna trade one of a major shakeup, if you're expecting
Speaker 4: a major, major shakeup for the Celtics, like getting Giannis
Speaker 4: is the best case scenario for a major shakeup. So
Speaker 4: in that sense, I don't hate it, and I think
Speaker 4: you're actually absolutely right that it's even with the departure
Speaker 4: of whoever drew Howaday, Kristaps won or both of those
Speaker 4: guys for salary purposes, it's still a close to perfectly
Speaker 4: designed roster for around Yanni's much better than I would
Speaker 4: even argue the championship level the Championshi Bucks roster, Like
Speaker 4: he's never played with the player as good as Joan Brown.
Speaker 4: He's never played with the player even as close as
Speaker 4: good as Joe Brown, frankly.
Speaker 2: Or defenders that could shoot as well as the defenders
Speaker 2: can shoot right.
Speaker 5: Exactly, And you're really surrounding him with.
Speaker 4: A lot of shooting talent, a lot of versatility if
Speaker 4: you if you plug him into this roster.
Speaker 5: So it's not the I don't hate it, it would
Speaker 5: it would be the kind of it would.
Speaker 4: Be one of the few trades that could top the
Speaker 4: shock waves created by the Luca Doctors trade, you know
Speaker 4: what I mean, Like it's one. It would be one
Speaker 4: of the craziest trades. It would be up there with
Speaker 4: the the kd summer and the Kawhi summer.
Speaker 5: Is maybe even bigger than both of those. Man, maybe
Speaker 5: not bigger than Katie, but I think it's probably bigger
Speaker 5: than Kawhi of the Clippers summer.
Speaker 4: If you're ranking you know, early July moves, as there
Speaker 4: have been many, as there's been some some bombs over
Speaker 4: the course of the last you know, ten years, it's it's.
Speaker 5: Kind of breaking my brain a little bit.
Speaker 4: But of all the the ultimate ultimately my answer is
Speaker 4: if of all all the major shakeups that would you know,
Speaker 4: be pitched and be potentially required in a in a
Speaker 4: summer after you lose an ugly ugly, Ugly ugly series
Speaker 4: where Jayson Tatum is not good, it would be probably
Speaker 4: the best case scenario.
Speaker 2: I'm glad that you mentioned the the just the mood
Speaker 2: that would be surrounding the team, because that's the important
Speaker 2: part of this, like Tatum would in this hypothetical scenario
Speaker 2: at age twenty six and age twenty seven, which is
Speaker 2: typically the age where stars figure it out, would have
Speaker 2: a playoff run where he was very important in them
Speaker 2: winning the title, but two playoff runs where he operated well.
Speaker 3: Below that of a top tier superstar.
Speaker 2: And essentially, like when you have a payroll like what
Speaker 2: they had, it's almost like championship or bust in a
Speaker 2: lot of ways. And I almost look at it like
Speaker 2: the there's like a certain amount of urgency to capitalize
Speaker 2: on this window because like, let's take a look at
Speaker 2: like what the scenario would look like if Tatum did
Speaker 2: not get traded. So Tatum doesn't get traded, you you
Speaker 2: drop a couple of bodies. Let's call it porzingis, And like,
Speaker 2: let's call it porzingis in Holiday, just as an example,
Speaker 2: even if they just get rid of porzingis, okay, they
Speaker 2: just get rid of porzingis. Horford's a year older, Drew
Speaker 2: Hollidays a year older, Derek White's a year older. Are
Speaker 2: though Derek White, Tatum, and Brown are still firmly in
Speaker 2: their prime. So in this scenario, like you are a
Speaker 2: less talented version of this year's team that just got
Speaker 2: eliminated in the second round in embarrassing fashion. So in
Speaker 2: that scenario, like you look forward and it's like, actually,
Speaker 2: they're completely hamstrung other than draft picks. They have draft picks,
Speaker 2: but they don't have any like free agent flexibility at all.
Speaker 2: You're in this situation where you have to ask yourself,
Speaker 2: like Cleveland is going to get better as Evan Mobley
Speaker 2: gets better, and as Darius Garland gets better, and as
Speaker 2: Jared Allen gets better. You look at the East and
Speaker 2: it's like all the sudd the Pistons are looking a
Speaker 2: little bit frisky as a team that could be a
Speaker 2: problem in the East. The Pacers right now are playing
Speaker 2: at extremely high level. You have the thunder who are
Speaker 2: going to keep getting better. You have Wemby and Darren
Speaker 2: Fox and who knows what else they're going to do
Speaker 2: this summer. Houston could make a trade for Kevin Durant.
Speaker 2: Like the teams around you would be getting better while
Speaker 2: your team would be getting worse and we would have
Speaker 2: just seen them not be good enough. And so then
Speaker 2: you ask yourself, like, Okay, now Tatum's twenty eight to
Speaker 2: twenty nine years old, are you even close to good
Speaker 2: enough to win the title with your roster that you had.
Speaker 2: And that's where I think it gets fascinating. Essentially, what
Speaker 2: you're saying is like this roster is destined to some
Speaker 2: form of blow up anyway like Tatum as like like
Speaker 2: in this hypothetical where he's, you know, had these two
Speaker 2: kind of somewhat disappointing playoff runs, he.
Speaker 3: Would literally be.
Speaker 2: A player that you would look at as not like
Speaker 2: you would need to surround him with an enormous amount
Speaker 2: of talent for him to win, right. And so with
Speaker 2: that being the case, Giannis is the type of superstar
Speaker 2: talent that can lift up a roster that's just another
Speaker 2: great roster and make it into a championship worthy roster.
Speaker 2: And so I think it just kind of like makes
Speaker 2: some sense on that level. But again, I think I
Speaker 2: think the part, the part you mentioned about the human
Speaker 2: element is real, Like I just don't think Boston would
Speaker 2: do that to Tatum. But yeah, if he throws a
Speaker 2: couple of stinkers down.
Speaker 5: There, yeah, I mean, it could get real.
Speaker 4: The Discords is gonna get real ugly if they if
Speaker 4: he has a even if they lose in if they
Speaker 4: lose in five and he starts playing better, It's like, Okay, get.
Speaker 5: In the lab, you know, come back, come back better
Speaker 5: next summer.
Speaker 4: That's but if if he has well, if he doesn't
Speaker 4: have a great game the rest of the series, or
Speaker 4: even if he just has three mediocre games and they
Speaker 4: and they lose in five, if the discourse is gonna
Speaker 4: get quite ugly.
Speaker 5: The discords is getting quite ugly.
Speaker 4: I I was briefly checking out the I was like, okay,
Speaker 4: maybe there's a way to include Kristaps in a deal.
Speaker 4: So you're shedding some salary in the same trade. What
Speaker 4: can we you want obviously want to give up more
Speaker 4: salary and you're getting back, but is there anyone useful
Speaker 4: on the bucks you can get back? And guess what
Speaker 4: the answer is, No, that roster sucks. Their roster sucks.
Speaker 4: Most of their roster's on one year deals. It's like
Speaker 4: I was like, oh, aj Green's okay, Okay, he's two
Speaker 4: million dollars, Like maybe that's Aj Green to make a
Speaker 4: great making great Like I don't really want Kyle Kuzma
Speaker 4: brooks on on the last year of his deal. Bobby
Speaker 4: portois Uh, I think he actually know he could be traded,
Speaker 4: but like somebody portis is okay, I suppose you could
Speaker 4: take back Bobby.
Speaker 5: Ports, but it's pretty bleak in terms.
Speaker 4: Of the buck situation, which we knew that obviously, that's
Speaker 4: why they're going to blow it up this summer, but
Speaker 4: it's I don't.
Speaker 2: Know, well in a poor zingistrait too. In a theoretical
Speaker 2: cost cutting move, they would look to move him to
Speaker 2: a team with cap space so they didn't have to
Speaker 2: take salary back and uh so like but that's that's
Speaker 2: my point though, is like, if Boston's gonna be in
Speaker 2: a substantial cost cutting like position, you have to have
Speaker 2: a serious conversation with yourself about whether or not Tatum
Speaker 2: is going to be good enough.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that's fair.
Speaker 4: I think the counter for and the rationalization for me
Speaker 4: as a Celtic span and the counter for most Healthics
Speaker 4: fans is the point you're making about the age of
Speaker 4: the two superstars. They are entering TAM's gonna be twenty
Speaker 4: seven next year, Jalenn Brown's gonna be twenty eight next year.
Speaker 5: They are entering.
Speaker 4: The theoretical, theoretically the best part of their basketball career,
Speaker 4: and like not, and they're not.
Speaker 5: Thirty or thirty one. Like they got.
Speaker 4: Theoretically, you're entering a four to five year prime window,
Speaker 4: as these stars seem to be keeping up that highly
Speaker 4: elite level at like thirty two thirty three these days,
Speaker 4: So you're entering a four to five year elite elite
Speaker 4: window where you got. Where the hope would be those
Speaker 4: guys continue to get better, even if it's marginally better.
Speaker 4: You're not expecting a giant leap at this point in
Speaker 4: need of their careers. But if they're gonna get a
Speaker 4: little bit better each of them over the summer, you're
Speaker 4: hoping that can make up for any of the the
Speaker 4: talent drop you're getting that you're gonna have to make
Speaker 4: reportedly in a cost cutting move this summer.
Speaker 2: The thing that would scare me with that is, yes,
Speaker 2: players do get better in that twenty seven to thirty
Speaker 2: two range, but they tend to get better at the
Speaker 2: expense of some athleticism. It's usually in that like twenty
Speaker 2: five twenty six range that you're moving really well. I mean,
Speaker 2: I already saw I saw video today of like young
Speaker 2: Tatum like he was.
Speaker 3: He's a lot less explosive than he used to be
Speaker 3: even back then.
Speaker 2: And is Tatum a good enough shot maker to do
Speaker 2: this at a lower level of athleticism, and that arguably
Speaker 2: has been the thing that he's never been able to
Speaker 2: figure out. And so like there's it happens a lot
Speaker 2: in Like I keep thinking about the comment that Matthew
Speaker 2: had on playback a couple like three four nights ago,
Speaker 2: where he just was like he basically was just saying
Speaker 2: Tatum streaky, and like he's like he's, yeah, yeah, he
Speaker 2: can be hot from three, but he can just as
Speaker 2: easily be cold. And so that's where it gets triggy.
Speaker 2: But I I and the point you're making is fair
Speaker 2: in the sense that, like if you just bet on
Speaker 2: Tatum and Brown progressing year over year, but is it
Speaker 2: enough to make up for a substantial and loss and
Speaker 2: roster talent. The last thing I'll say about it is
Speaker 2: Joannis is thirty, Like you can easily get three great
Speaker 2: years out of him and then pivot, you know. But uh,
Speaker 2: but yeah, it's a fascinating concept. And I, for the record,
Speaker 2: I'm still in the like gun to my head. If
Speaker 2: you asked me who's gonna win the Celtics Knicks series,
Speaker 2: I think I'd still I think I would too.
Speaker 3: I think I would too. It's this.
Speaker 4: We've seen a lot of ups and downs from this,
Speaker 4: you know era of the Jason Tatum, Joon Brown playoff.
Speaker 5: Era, and more often than not, someone said this.
Speaker 4: On playback, maybe it was Mike uh that more often
Speaker 4: than not, And it's true the regular season as well.
Speaker 4: They are they play well when they're backs against the wall.
Speaker 4: They respond when versus well. They do not respond to
Speaker 4: success well. They when they're when it seems like there
Speaker 4: might be a little bit overconfident, it crumbles quickly. But
Speaker 4: they have yet to lose three times in a row
Speaker 4: this season. They're gonna try to keep that streak alive.
Speaker 4: Tomorrow Tomorrow, right, No, Saturday, actually Saturday, actually.
Speaker 3: Actually, yeah, they gotta sit with that lost.
Speaker 4: So I do think that the series, like I was saying,
Speaker 4: if they lose in four or five, I think it's
Speaker 4: gonna go at least six. If I if I was betting,
Speaker 4: I would I would.
Speaker 5: Say it's at least six. So in that sense, anything
Speaker 5: can happen.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I uh, I would be shocked if they didn't
Speaker 2: win one in New York, and then I would be
Speaker 2: shocked if they didn't win Game five. But like, yeah,
Speaker 2: if New York wins it feels like they're gonna win
Speaker 2: in six, but yeah, I I it still feels very
Speaker 2: open ended for me. It's just the hardest thing is
Speaker 2: like they're right there. They're right there, even with the
Speaker 2: twenty point leads. It's like, you get a stop on
Speaker 2: Jylen Brunson, you win game one, you're a game two.
Speaker 2: Game Game one literally goes to overtime. So like, yeah,
Speaker 2: it's still it's still right there. I just have been
Speaker 2: I've been just fascinated with the concept. I've been fascinated
Speaker 2: with the concept because we haven't really seen anything like
Speaker 2: this in NBA history, not in a very long time,
Speaker 2: and so it's like I was trying to think, like
Speaker 2: I think this would probably be the worst playoff loss,
Speaker 2: like factoring in Superstar play, like since Lebron in twenty eleven. Probably,
Speaker 2: But it's it's a different it's a little bit of
Speaker 2: a different vibe because Lebron Lebron. No one was gonna
Speaker 2: bail on Lebron, because that one series kind of stands
Speaker 2: out as like a blip among like mostly playoff greatness,
Speaker 2: you know, but with Tatum, there are just so many
Speaker 2: of these kinds of examples, and then to have two
Speaker 2: in a row, right in the heart of his prime.
Speaker 2: I think it would be it would be weird, but
Speaker 2: we're gonna see what happens, and it is. It was
Speaker 2: just kind of a little fun thought exercise with a
Speaker 2: relatively boring night around the NBA. That's all we have
Speaker 2: for tonight, guys. No playback again tonight, but we'll be
Speaker 2: back on playback tomorrow night. No film session tomorrow morning either,
Speaker 2: so we're gonna take a little break. We will be
Speaker 2: live tomorrow night after the final buzzer of Game three
Speaker 2: thunder Nuggets. Very excited for that game. We'll see you guys.
Speaker 3: Then. What's up guys.
Speaker 2: As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting
Speaker 2: hoops tonight. It would actually be really helpful for us
Speaker 2: if you guys would take a second and leave a
Speaker 2: rating and a review.
Speaker 3: As always, I appreciate you guys.
Speaker 2: Supporting us, but if you could take a minute to
Speaker 2: do that, I'd really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: The volume