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Speaker 1: slash Basketball terms. All right, okun hoops and I here
Speaker 1: at the volume Havy Monday, everybody. I hope all of
Speaker 1: you guys had an incredible weekend. In case you missed
Speaker 1: it earlier, Yovan Bujaf from The Athletic came on the
Speaker 1: show for about an hour of Lakers talk. You can
Speaker 1: find that a little bit further back on the feeds
Speaker 1: this video. We're just doing our latest edition of Power
Speaker 1: Rankings like we do every Monday, and then I have
Speaker 1: two tweaks that I want to make to my contenders
Speaker 1: list after what I saw last week and then last
Speaker 1: not least, we have four mail bag questions for the
Speaker 1: end of the show as well. You guys are the
Speaker 1: Joe forourt we get started. Subscribe to our brand new
Speaker 1: YouTube channel. It mean a lot to me if you
Speaker 1: guys would take a second to scroll down and hit
Speaker 1: that subscribe button. Don't forget about our podcast feeds wherever
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Speaker 1: at underscore Jason LT so you guys don't miss any
Speaker 1: show announcements as well as the film threads that I
Speaker 1: do most mornings. And then also keep dropping mail bag
Speaker 1: questions in the YouTube comments. That's the best way for
Speaker 1: you guys to tell me or try to direct the
Speaker 1: show and directions that you guys want. If you guys
Speaker 1: want to hit specific topics, drop them in the mail
Speaker 1: bag question so that we can hit them throughout these
Speaker 1: throughout these shows towards the end. All right, let's talk
Speaker 1: some basketball. So one team dropped out from last week
Speaker 1: and then one new team made an entry. So our
Speaker 1: new team is the Los Angeleslikers. Obviously they dropped off
Speaker 1: last week, but if you guys remember in that in
Speaker 1: that video I said that they're getting healthy, they're getting
Speaker 1: their forwards back. I expected them to quickly enter back
Speaker 1: into the list, and not only did they enter back
Speaker 1: into the list, but they shot quite a ways up
Speaker 1: it after dominating the n season tournament the way they
Speaker 1: did last week. And then the team that I dropped
Speaker 1: out was the Denver Nuggets. They've lost three games in
Speaker 1: a row. They're just six and eight over their last
Speaker 1: fourteen games. Now. Nicole Jokic's counting stats are good in
Speaker 1: that span twenty eight points, thirteen rebounds, and eleven assists,
Speaker 1: but his efficiency is tanked relative to his normal standards.
Speaker 1: In his first nine games this season, Jokic was sixty
Speaker 1: two percent from the field and thirty three percent from three.
Speaker 1: In his last fourteen games, he's just forty eight percent
Speaker 1: from the field and twenty eight percent from three. The
Speaker 1: big thing there that stands out to me is the
Speaker 1: jump shot. This is like kind of a thing with
Speaker 1: Jokic's career. It's like one year he's making the jump shot,
Speaker 1: and then the next year he's not. Like you go back,
Speaker 1: last year, shot really well throughout the regular season, like
Speaker 1: I think, like thirty eight percent ish from three, and
Speaker 1: then in the postseason he shoots like forty six percent
Speaker 1: from three. It was a huge part of the offense
Speaker 1: for Denver as he was picking and popping, But then
Speaker 1: you go back one year before that and he couldn't
Speaker 1: make a three at all in regular season, and then
Speaker 1: he couldn't make a three in that one playoff series
Speaker 1: against the Warriors, as he was in the low thirties
Speaker 1: during the regular season, and then in the twenties versus
Speaker 1: the Warriors, and so like again, here we are into
Speaker 1: this season and the jump SHOT's not there right like
Speaker 1: the for the season, he's at thirty point four percent
Speaker 1: from three, which is the lowest mark of his career. Now,
Speaker 1: am I worried about Jokic in the grand Scheme? No?
Speaker 1: Am I saying he's not the best player in the league. No,
Speaker 1: that said he's If his jump shot isn't there this
Speaker 1: year in the postseason, that is something to factor in
Speaker 1: because that was a legitimate ceiling razor for Denver, and
Speaker 1: it's just something to keep an eye on. If he
Speaker 1: can get it going before the end of the season,
Speaker 1: complete non issue. But if he finishes the year shooting
Speaker 1: like thirty one thirty two percent from three, that would
Speaker 1: be something that I'd be concerned about going into a
Speaker 1: playoff series, just because it makes it a little bit
Speaker 1: easier to guard Denver if you don't have to close
Speaker 1: out hard to Yokich on those picking pops. It's literally
Speaker 1: that simple. It's an element of Denver's offense that you
Speaker 1: don't want to see weekend because I don't think this.
Speaker 1: I think this team is my championship favorite, but I
Speaker 1: don't think they're a runaway favorite. I think they're a
Speaker 1: favorite by a small gap, and so things like that
Speaker 1: are things to keep in mind that could potentially shrink
Speaker 1: that gap. Over this fourteen game span, their defense has
Speaker 1: slipped as well. They're down to eighteenth in defense, also
Speaker 1: sixteenth in offense over that span, although Jamal Murray missed
Speaker 1: most of those games. And then I did want to
Speaker 1: hit this because I'm sure somebody's gonna ask Jason, why
Speaker 1: isn't Dallas in your power rankings? They are third in
Speaker 1: the Western Conference, that's true, but they've played the third
Speaker 1: easiest schedule in the league, and they've lost five of
Speaker 1: their last seven games against teams that are five hundred
Speaker 1: or better. They do have the Lakers and the Minnesota
Speaker 1: Timberwolves this week, both at home, so obviously Kyrie's out
Speaker 1: after taking that unfortunate fall from Dwight Powell. But if
Speaker 1: they can get if they can look impressive in both
Speaker 1: of those games and win one of them or win
Speaker 1: both of them, then they're definitely on the list. But
Speaker 1: they just don't have as impressive a set of wins
Speaker 1: as some of the teams that I opted to put
Speaker 1: in over the top of them. So starting with Number ten,
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Cavaliers. They beat the Orlando Magic and the
Speaker 1: Miami Heat this week. They're nine and three in their
Speaker 1: last twelve games, and they are third in defense over
Speaker 1: that span. Some impressive wins as well. They beat Miami,
Speaker 1: they beat Orlando, they beat Atlanta Toronto's not an easy win.
Speaker 1: They beat Philly, and they beat Denver. Now they're winning
Speaker 1: with defense, but they're also getting balanced scoring. They have
Speaker 1: six players averaging double figures over this span, and they
Speaker 1: should be getting Caris Lavert back on this road trip.
Speaker 1: They got a couple of tough games coming up to
Speaker 1: They're at Orlando tonight and then they have two games
Speaker 1: in Boston after that. So we're gonna find out a
Speaker 1: little bit more about this Cavs hot streak at the
Speaker 1: end of this week. Number nine the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Speaker 1: Now they lost in Houston, but everybody does, right. Houston
Speaker 1: is nine to one at home this year. But even
Speaker 1: their win against Golden State, I wasn't super impressed by them.
Speaker 1: It took a Draymond Green bailout foul on chet Holmgren
Speaker 1: at the buzzer to send that game to overtime. The
Speaker 1: Warriors led the vast majority of that game and out
Speaker 1: executed them in crunch time sands the Draymond Green foul. Right,
Speaker 1: they are nine to one against teams that are below
Speaker 1: five hundred, but they are just five and six against
Speaker 1: teams that are five hundred or better. I am. I
Speaker 1: will say this though, I was really impressed by their
Speaker 1: perimeter defense again in that Golden State Warriors game. The
Speaker 1: shot like just in general, the job that Lou Dork
Speaker 1: can do not just on bigger players like Lebron and
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum and other big wings around the league, but
Speaker 1: also your smaller athletic guards, guys that are difficult to
Speaker 1: kind of keep in front from a shiftiness standpoint. He
Speaker 1: does really good in those jobs as well. They Oklahoma
Speaker 1: City was flying around at the end of that game
Speaker 1: and really did a nice job containing Golden State off
Speaker 1: the dribble, wore them down, and when they got that break,
Speaker 1: when they got the Draymond Green foul, they basically ran
Speaker 1: away with the game in overtime. It never really felt
Speaker 1: like Golden State had a chance there in that ot.
Speaker 1: So again I remained super impressed by their shot creation,
Speaker 1: ball handling, shooting passing. I remain incredibly impressed by their
Speaker 1: perimeter defense, but their interior defense and their rebounding continue
Speaker 1: to concern me. Moving on to number eight, the Philadelphia
Speaker 1: seventy six er is really light week for them. They
Speaker 1: beat the Wizards and the Hawks. Those two teams are
Speaker 1: combined twelve and thirty, and Bid did score eighty eight
Speaker 1: points in the two games on just fifty three shots.
Speaker 1: He also had this is a crazy stat for six
Speaker 1: Ers fans, Joel Embiid had another seven assist game against Washington.
Speaker 1: That's the tenth time this season that Joel Embiid has
Speaker 1: put up at least seven assists in a game and
Speaker 1: we're only about a fourth of the way through the year.
Speaker 1: Last year, all season, he totaled nine games with at
Speaker 1: least seven assists, So already more seven assists of games
Speaker 1: than he had seven assists games than he had all
Speaker 1: of last year. That's an encouraging stat as we've seen
Speaker 1: Embat's playmaking go up a level this year. Nick Nurse
Speaker 1: has just kind of simplified as reads and make the
Speaker 1: game easier for him, and then they're also heading into
Speaker 1: a super easy stretch of their schedule after making it
Speaker 1: through a tougher stretch. Their next five games are against Washington, Detroit, Detroit, Charlotte, Chicago.
Speaker 1: So there's a really good chance that we're gonna be
Speaker 1: here two weeks from today talking power rankings, and the
Speaker 1: Sixers will probably be nineteen and seven when we get
Speaker 1: to that point. Number seven the Sacramento Kings, they'd be
Speaker 1: the best team in the league if they could beat
Speaker 1: the Pelicans. The win on Friday in Phoenix was the
Speaker 1: seventh time in their last eight tries against five hundred
Speaker 1: or better teams that they beat not named the Pelicans.
Speaker 1: That's what's crazy about this. They beat Phoenix, they beat Denver,
Speaker 1: they beat Dallas, they beat Minnesota, they beat the Lakers,
Speaker 1: they beat the Calves, they beat the Thunder, but they're
Speaker 1: oh and three against the Pelicans. Now, what I find
Speaker 1: really interesting about this is it's been a similar theme
Speaker 1: that we saw because they're actually also zero to two
Speaker 1: against the Houston Rockets, another team that has excellent point
Speaker 1: of attack defenders to throw out their quick guards. And
Speaker 1: this is something that I noticed in the Pelicans' matchups,
Speaker 1: and I think is something that's a little concerning with
Speaker 1: this particular team. When teams have I have multiple great
Speaker 1: perimeter defenders to throw at Deeron Fox and Malik Monk
Speaker 1: and contain their dribble penetration, their offense can get stuck.
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, in those They're zero to
Speaker 1: five against Houston and New Orleans, but in those five
Speaker 1: games they were held below one hundred points three times.
Speaker 1: Think about how crazy it is for a team that
Speaker 1: plays as fast as Sacramento does, for a team that
Speaker 1: is as skilled offensively as Sacramento is, to not reach
Speaker 1: one hundred points that frequently in that type of matchup.
Speaker 1: I think it's just something to keep an eye on
Speaker 1: from a matchup perspective when we get to the postseason.
Speaker 1: You know, if the Kings run into a series against
Speaker 1: a team that has excellent point of attack defenders, that
Speaker 1: could be something that could be a big problem for
Speaker 1: them from a matchup standpoint Number six the Indiana Pacers.
Speaker 1: I found their back to back wins against Boston and
Speaker 1: Milwaukee incredibly impressive, not just because of their ability to
Speaker 1: score against those teams. They hung a one to twenty
Speaker 1: two offensive rating against Boston, they're the third best defense
Speaker 1: in the league, and then they hung a one to
Speaker 1: twenty eight offensive rating against the Milwaukee Bucks, just completely
Speaker 1: exposed Malik Beasley and Damian Lillard as not good enough
Speaker 1: defensively at the point of attack for a team that's
Speaker 1: serious about winning a championship. But in addition to that,
Speaker 1: the Pacers also had a pretty solid defensive week, not
Speaker 1: just the job that Aaron Nee Smith did on Jason
Speaker 1: Tatum and Giannis and Lebron, but also just as a team,
Speaker 1: a better job in rotation kind of wrecking havoc with
Speaker 1: their foot speed. Something I've been talking about all season, like,
Speaker 1: this is a team that is capable of being a
Speaker 1: way better defensive team than they've shown to this point,
Speaker 1: and we saw a little bit of it last week
Speaker 1: until they ran into the Lakers. The first team, one
Speaker 1: of the best teams in the league is specifically at
Speaker 1: punishing interior mismatches, which they did all game long on
Speaker 1: their way to just basically bullying the Pacers out of
Speaker 1: that tournament. But I was really impressed with him on
Speaker 1: both ends of the floor against Boston and Milwaukee. Tyrese Haliburton,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, is having one of the six or
Speaker 1: seven most impressive individual regular seasons this year, bona fide
Speaker 1: MVP candidate. I don't only think he's a superstar on
Speaker 1: the rise. I think he's an all time great on
Speaker 1: the rise. I'm super super high on Tyrese Haliburton. And
Speaker 1: here's the thing. You know, the tournament, and this is
Speaker 1: what I think is a great example of what's great
Speaker 1: about the Ncason Tournament. It's like a miniature Playoffs, right,
Speaker 1: It's clearly not the playoffs, but it's a miniature version
Speaker 1: of it in the sense that, like everybody wants to
Speaker 1: win it, and everyone's playing super hard. The stakes are
Speaker 1: crazy high, the games are super physical, super intense, so
Speaker 1: you learn some things about basketball teams that kind of
Speaker 1: translate to the playoffs. And I thought that that tournament
Speaker 1: was actually a clear indicator for the Pacers that they
Speaker 1: can win the East. They're capable of it, and I
Speaker 1: think that that's gonna color the way that they approach
Speaker 1: the trade deadline. I think they're gonna be aggressive and
Speaker 1: if they nail that trade, they could be a real
Speaker 1: contender in the East. And as currently constructed, there's still
Speaker 1: a puncher's chance threat just because of how good Tyres
Speaker 1: Haliburton is and how difficult it is to guard him.
Speaker 1: Number five the Orlando Magic lost to Cleveland and then
Speaker 1: bounced back against Detroit. They're gonna have a revenge opportunity
Speaker 1: tonight against the Calves, this time at home, and reinforcement
Speaker 1: should be on the way soon. Wendell Carter Junior should
Speaker 1: be coming back from his hand injury any day now,
Speaker 1: markel Folt said, sounds like he's still not practicing, so
Speaker 1: I'm guessing another week or two at least, But getting
Speaker 1: those guys back will help because they've been kind of
Speaker 1: thin in some specific position groups during this last run.
Speaker 1: I think they're like nine to one in their last
Speaker 1: ten games if I remember correctly. Palla Bancaro's heating up.
Speaker 1: He had forty two against the Calves on Wednesday. Last
Speaker 1: ten games for Palo twenty four points, six rebounds, and
Speaker 1: four assists on fifty four percent from the field and
Speaker 1: forty two percent from three Watch out for the Atlanto Magic.
Speaker 1: Number four the Milwaukee Bucks. They still have the third
Speaker 1: best record in the league. They're up to third in offense,
Speaker 1: but the Pacers loss shine a bright light on their
Speaker 1: biggest weakness, which is that point of attack defense, right
Speaker 1: they could never make Tyre's Halliburton feel remotely uncomfortable at
Speaker 1: the point of attack, struggling with him in every single coverage,
Speaker 1: Tyres's went for twenty seven points, seven rebounds, and fifteen
Speaker 1: assists with zero turnovers. They hung a one to twenty
Speaker 1: eight offensive rating on them in a must win environment
Speaker 1: like that. To put it simply, this defense right now
Speaker 1: is not good enough to win the championship. They're in
Speaker 1: that boat where like it's clear that something has to
Speaker 1: be done at the point of attack. I don't think
Speaker 1: that they're as seamless offensively as they need to be. Now,
Speaker 1: they could get there. I think that's the bright side,
Speaker 1: right Like, If you're looking for an upside to this
Speaker 1: buck situation, it's you're the third best offense in the league,
Speaker 1: and Dame is still playing well below his usual level,
Speaker 1: right like and Giannis, by the way, he's playing some
Speaker 1: of the best basketball of his career, probably the best
Speaker 1: he's been at least since the trophy two and a
Speaker 1: half years ago, if not the best he's ever played.
Speaker 1: But Dame's effective field goal percentage this season is a
Speaker 1: full five percent down from last year. So like I
Speaker 1: think you're seeing like a very capable offense, but an
Speaker 1: offense it's not where it needs to be yet. They're
Speaker 1: still a little clunky at the end of games. It
Speaker 1: didn't really look like they knew what they wanted to
Speaker 1: run down the stretch against Indiana. That's concerning that to
Speaker 1: some turnovers. So like, the point is, they're capable of
Speaker 1: being devastating offensively, but they're not yet and right now defensively,
Speaker 1: excuse me, they're capable of being devastating offensively, but not yet,
Speaker 1: and defensively they're not even close to where they need
Speaker 1: to be. And so again, as long as they have
Speaker 1: Damon Giannis on the team and with what Brook Lopez
Speaker 1: is capable of and Chris Middleton is starting to look
Speaker 1: a little more explosive every game, a lot of exciting
Speaker 1: stuff there. But I think this team is officially in
Speaker 1: the has to do something with that backcourt athleticism piece
Speaker 1: if they're really serious about making a run, because you're
Speaker 1: gonna have to go through a Tyres Halliburton, right, You're
Speaker 1: gonna have to go through a Jalen Brunson. You're gonna
Speaker 1: have to go through those guys in Boston and it's
Speaker 1: just and right now, you're just not good enough on
Speaker 1: the perimeter defensively. It's something to keep an eye on.
Speaker 1: Number three, the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers are playing
Speaker 1: some of the best basketball in the NBA right now.
Speaker 1: They've won twelve of their last sixteen games. They have
Speaker 1: the second best record in the league over that span.
Speaker 1: They are third in defense over that span, and you
Speaker 1: saw in that Saturday game the Lakers do what the
Speaker 1: Celtics and Bucks could not do, which is slow down
Speaker 1: that high powered pacers offense. Another encouraging stat. I've talked
Speaker 1: a lot about how the Lakers are are not a
Speaker 1: good shooting team, but they're not a bad shooting team either,
Speaker 1: and that it was only a matter of time before
Speaker 1: shots started falling. Over the last fifteen games, they're eleventh
Speaker 1: and three point percentage. Another encouraging trend for them on
Speaker 1: the offensive end of the floor. They've won four straight
Speaker 1: games against winning teams. They have nine wins against teams
Speaker 1: that are five hundred or better, which is the second
Speaker 1: most in the league behind Boston and Lebron. James and
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis just had two of the greatest individual performances
Speaker 1: you will ever see, Lebron just became the first player
Speaker 1: in NBA history to notch a thirty five and five
Speaker 1: in less than in less than twenty three minutes. And
Speaker 1: then Anthony Davis in the championship game puts up a
Speaker 1: forty one point twenty rebound, five assist, four block game
Speaker 1: to win the trophy. And this is, like to put
Speaker 1: it simply, People have asked like, oh, what is the
Speaker 1: n season tournament means? And the reality is we don't
Speaker 1: know because there's no reference point. But just put it
Speaker 1: on face and put it on its face from the
Speaker 1: same point of trying to see its value. There were
Speaker 1: eight teams in a single elimination tournament that all thirty
Speaker 1: teams were capable of getting into. Right, there are eight
Speaker 1: teams in a single elimination tournament. In those eight were
Speaker 1: four of my top tier contenders, right Boston, Milwaukee, Phoenix,
Speaker 1: and the Lakers. Right at the end of that single
Speaker 1: elimination tournament, it's tournament tournament, Lakers had the trophy. Lebron
Speaker 1: was the best player in the tournament. That's something to me.
Speaker 1: It's not a championship, not even close, but it's something
Speaker 1: to me, and it's a it's a strong validation of
Speaker 1: the fact that the Lakers are a clear Inner Circle contender,
Speaker 1: and why some of our issues that we had with
Speaker 1: them early in the year, which I pointed to effort
Speaker 1: and specific issues with forwards being out of the lineup
Speaker 1: with injury, seem two have been the reality of what
Speaker 1: was going on there. This team is very much capable
Speaker 1: of beating the top teams in the league. Now you
Speaker 1: might say, why, like the Lakers only had to play
Speaker 1: you know, the Suns, the Pelicans, and the Pacers, And
Speaker 1: to that I would say, like, you know what, the
Speaker 1: Celtics and the Bucks had a chance to beat the
Speaker 1: Pacers and they couldn't. So like, at a certain point,
Speaker 1: it's a win over the Suns, which is a championship
Speaker 1: contender with Devin Booker and Kevin Durant playing right, It's
Speaker 1: a win against the Pelicans, a really good Western Conference team,
Speaker 1: where they utterly dominated them, and then they beat the
Speaker 1: team that won the Eastern Conference bracket. It's not nothing. Now,
Speaker 1: not only do I have the Lakers at three in
Speaker 1: my power rankings, but I'm also moving them past the
Speaker 1: Bucks to third in my contender rankings. I actually have
Speaker 1: two tweaks that I want to make to my contender rankings,
Speaker 1: so still of Denver at one, Boston at two. The
Speaker 1: Lakers are just better right now in my opinion than
Speaker 1: the Milwaukee Bucks, so I have them at three, Milwaukee
Speaker 1: at four. I'm also moving Minnesota over Phoenix. I thought
Speaker 1: the game against Phoenix on Tuesday was another strong indicator
Speaker 1: that their physical limitations are going to be a problem
Speaker 1: when they run into teams like Denver and the Lakers
Speaker 1: in Minnesota in particular, And so as of right now,
Speaker 1: until we see something from Bradley Beal that demonstrates an
Speaker 1: offensive ceiling that makes that other stuff not matter, I'm
Speaker 1: putting Minnesota over Phoenix. Phoenix will be at number six,
Speaker 1: and then I still have the Golden State Warriors at
Speaker 1: the bottom of that tier at number seven. So Denver, Boston, Lakers, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Phoenix.
Speaker 1: Golden State. Lakers are also heading into an easier stretch
Speaker 1: of their schedule right now. They have Dallas on a
Speaker 1: back to back on Tuesday. Dallas is on the back
Speaker 1: to back, the Lakers are on. The Lakers obviously haven't
Speaker 1: played since Saturday. Then the Mavericks are also going to
Speaker 1: be without Kyrie Irving. Then they have two games in
Speaker 1: San Antonio against the Spurs, where they'll be heavy favorites
Speaker 1: in both. Then they come home to play the New
Speaker 1: York Knicks, and then they go on the road to Chicago.
Speaker 1: So I expect them to go four and one in
Speaker 1: that stretch, put five and o's on the table, and
Speaker 1: if they go four and one, that's eighteen and ten
Speaker 1: at that point, and they'll very likely be the second
Speaker 1: or third seed in the Western Conference at that point,
Speaker 1: depending on what happens. Excuse me with the Minnesota Timberwolves,
Speaker 1: which we'll get to in a minute because wait to
Speaker 1: hear about their upcoming schedule. Number two the Boston Celtics.
Speaker 1: I was really disappointed in their performance in the Pacers game,
Speaker 1: specifically because one, that's a defense that you expect to
Speaker 1: be able to slow down the Pacers, and they just couldn't.
Speaker 1: They put up a one to twenty two offensive rating
Speaker 1: and really had no luck at the point of attack,
Speaker 1: which is crazy to me, because like, like, that's the
Speaker 1: strength of that defense is they just have a plethora
Speaker 1: of guys they can throw on the ball, and they
Speaker 1: just didn't do a very good job. And because their
Speaker 1: late game offensive execution once again was bad. Now Celtics
Speaker 1: fans were complaining at me in the comments about this, like, oh,
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum had thirty two points? How could you blame
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum? And again, I'm not blaming Jason Tatum. We're
Speaker 1: just having a conversation about the Lakers late game execution.
Speaker 1: This is what I would ask you. Has anybody here
Speaker 1: has anybody been concerned about Jason Tatum's ability to fill
Speaker 1: the box score? Ever? I mean, the dude averaged over
Speaker 1: thirty points a game for an entire season last year,
Speaker 1: back to back seasons with twenty six something before that, right, So, like,
Speaker 1: no one's been worried about whether or not Jason can
Speaker 1: put up the points. The question has been can he
Speaker 1: generate consistent quality shots over a fifteen to twenty possession
Speaker 1: span at the end of a tight, high stakes game.
Speaker 1: And in that game, Tyre's Halliburton was getting great shots,
Speaker 1: high percentage pull up jump shots for a high percentage
Speaker 1: pull up jump shooter in Tyres Haliburton and driving and
Speaker 1: kicking and creating high quality opportunities for aaron Ne Smith
Speaker 1: guys like that, Like he was playing excellent offensive basketball
Speaker 1: and on the other end of the floor, Jason Tatum
Speaker 1: got a bunch of contested pull up jump shots. For
Speaker 1: a player who gets less than a point for contested
Speaker 1: pull up jump shots, It's really that simple to me,
Speaker 1: Like at the end of that game, a Tyre's Halliburton
Speaker 1: looked clearly like a better shot creator, And that to
Speaker 1: me is what concerned because no matter what happens, no
Speaker 1: matter how much talent is on this team, no matter
Speaker 1: what they're capable of in the big picture, if Jason
Speaker 1: Tatum can't look I to eye with another superstar when
Speaker 1: there's real stakes on the line and consistently outplay that guy,
Speaker 1: the Celtics are not gonna win. It's literally that simple
Speaker 1: to me. And what's crazy is the Celtics have way
Speaker 1: more margin for error than most teams because of their talent,
Speaker 1: and they had more margin for error than everybody last
Speaker 1: year and Tatum couldn't bring him over the top. They
Speaker 1: had way more margin for air than everybody the year before.
Speaker 1: He got out played by Steph and almost outplayed by
Speaker 1: Jimmy and the conference finals. And again I'm not hating
Speaker 1: on Jason Tatum. He's still in his mid twenties. I
Speaker 1: would imagine he will be this guy by the time
Speaker 1: he's twenty eight, twenty nine, thirty. Right. My thing is like,
Speaker 1: this is what's tough about the Boston Celtics predicament, is like,
Speaker 1: there's a window here where you can actually afford to
Speaker 1: keep all these guys. Five years from now or like
Speaker 1: called three four years from now, it might be a
Speaker 1: very different roster at that point. And so there's an
Speaker 1: opportunity here for the Celtics, and that opportunity hinges on
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum's late game shot creation, and that Thursday game
Speaker 1: against the Pacers was another opportunity for him to show
Speaker 1: all of us that we're wrong to be concerned about that.
Speaker 1: And I didn't like the shots that he generated at
Speaker 1: the end of the game. Two switches against Tyree Saliburton,
Speaker 1: long pull up jump shots, you know, switches against AARONI Smith,
Speaker 1: straight up ISOs and post ups, can't back him down
Speaker 1: even and is just settling for really tough jumper. He
Speaker 1: made some of them, made some tough shots, drew a
Speaker 1: Follen one of them, but like at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, there just was no real cohesive offensive flow
Speaker 1: for Boston down the end of that game, and that
Speaker 1: concerns me, especially against a Pacers team that they had
Speaker 1: so many physical advantages against. That's it. They've played the
Speaker 1: toughest schedule in the league. Their opponents have won fifty
Speaker 1: four point four percent of their games, which is been
Speaker 1: the highest percentage in the league. Despite that, they have
Speaker 1: the second best record in the league and they have
Speaker 1: a league best ten wins against teams that are five
Speaker 1: hundred better. So I can't put him any lower and
Speaker 1: two on this list, and I still have them as
Speaker 1: the second best contender behind Denver. But like, I'm not
Speaker 1: going to pick the Celtics to win the championship until
Speaker 1: I see clear evidence that Jason Tatum is ready to
Speaker 1: execute at the end of close games down the stretch
Speaker 1: when the trophy is on the line, when I see that,
Speaker 1: and we may not even know it until it's June, right,
Speaker 1: and it'll probably be one of those things where we
Speaker 1: find out when he's hosting the trophy. But right now,
Speaker 1: they're just safer bets, and that's why I have the
Speaker 1: Celtics at two in my contendered here. Number one Minnesota Timberwolves.
Speaker 1: Light week for them. They won versus Memphis and then
Speaker 1: one against San Antonio, but they are sixteen to two
Speaker 1: in their last eighteen games, best defense in the league
Speaker 1: by a mile. Over that span, they're two point seven
Speaker 1: points per one hundred possessions better than Orlando is in
Speaker 1: second place. But they are heading into a really tough
Speaker 1: month of basketball. This is Minnesota's schedule over the next
Speaker 1: sixteen games, which is roughly a month, So basically the
Speaker 1: next month of Hoops at Pelicans at MAVs versus the
Speaker 1: Pacers at the Heat at the seventy six Ers, versus
Speaker 1: the Lakers at the Kings, at the Thunder versus the Mavericks,
Speaker 1: then versus the Lakers at the Knicks versus the Pelicans
Speaker 1: at the Rockets, at the Mavericks, at the Magic at
Speaker 1: the Celtics. That is sixteen straight games against winning teams,
Speaker 1: eleven of which are on the road. So like, I
Speaker 1: have Minnesota at what did I put him at the
Speaker 1: gout him at five on my contender list, right, yeah,
Speaker 1: because it was Denver, Boston, Lakers, Bucks, Wolves, Suns, Warriors, Right,
Speaker 1: So I have them down at five, and yet they've
Speaker 1: been the best team in the league so far this
Speaker 1: year in the regular season, and the main reason why
Speaker 1: I have them down that far is they're not a
Speaker 1: known commodity. I don't know a ton about them in
Speaker 1: high leverage playoff situations, right, Like, I've seen Dame play
Speaker 1: in big playoff series. I've seen Giannis playing big playoff series.
Speaker 1: I've seen Lebron, seen Ad seeing Tatum and Brown, seeing
Speaker 1: Yokichen Murray. I've seen all these guys play, right, And
Speaker 1: Minnesota is just a little bit more of an unknown
Speaker 1: commodity in the sense that like, yeah, I know it
Speaker 1: played really well in a couple of playoff series over
Speaker 1: the last two years, but they lost in the first
Speaker 1: round both times, and so like I just want to
Speaker 1: it's just they're a little bit more of like an unknown, right. Well,
Speaker 1: that's sixteen insane games, and I think we're gonna find
Speaker 1: out a lot about this team over that span. And
Speaker 1: if they rip through this stretch and go like eleven
Speaker 1: and five, then yeah, we need to start having serious
Speaker 1: conversations about moving them further up the contender list. But
Speaker 1: to me, the next month for the Minnesota Timberwolves is
Speaker 1: very much a show us what you got type of month,
Speaker 1: and like to me, again, like for the record, I'm
Speaker 1: not expecting them to rip through and win all these games.
Speaker 1: Like to me, it would be a gigantic win if
Speaker 1: they went nine and seven. Why because eleven of those
Speaker 1: games are on the road. It's very difficult to win
Speaker 1: road games against good basketball teams, very difficult, and you
Speaker 1: got eleven of them in the next sixteen. So again
Speaker 1: I would say, like, if you go nine and seven
Speaker 1: over that stretch, you're rejoicing. But the thing is is
Speaker 1: that they go nine and seven, it's very possible, but
Speaker 1: that they lose some ground in the standings, which again
Speaker 1: is another indicator of the thing that I'm always talking
Speaker 1: to you guys about, which is the standings and different
Speaker 1: runs of games where you go seven and three versus
Speaker 1: three and seven usually comes down to health, strength of
Speaker 1: schedule like that. That's literally what dictates this stuff more
Speaker 1: often than not. But number one Minnesota Timberwolves for this week.
Speaker 1: All right, moving on to our mailbag. Four questions for
Speaker 1: you guys, Hi Jason. Watching the Lakers Pelican semi final,
Speaker 1: I was really stunned over Zion's fitness levels. Guys like
Speaker 1: Chuck and Stephen A blasting him off during the broadcast.
Speaker 1: Clearly the messaging over the off season that he was
Speaker 1: in the best shape of his life was just pr
Speaker 1: spin and it's evident that it's affecting his ability to
Speaker 1: consistently be the downhill force that we anticipated from him.
Speaker 1: I even watched a ton of Pelicans basketball this season,
Speaker 1: so I don't have a good feel over what this
Speaker 1: team needs to take the next step. But would you
Speaker 1: look to trade him now just to get rid of
Speaker 1: the distraction, even if it's for thirty cents on the dollar.
Speaker 1: The Pells are doing fine with his version of Zion,
Speaker 1: so a case could be made to keep him and
Speaker 1: hope he gets in shape. I would counter that now
Speaker 1: is the best time to move him because the team's
Speaker 1: playing well with Ingram and powered is the number one
Speaker 1: option and guys like Trey Murphy back from injury. We
Speaker 1: love your thoughts because I've been going back and forth
Speaker 1: over this, but I've just lost faith in his ability
Speaker 1: to take his fitness seriously. So here's the thing. None
Speaker 1: of us really know how bad it is. Right. What
Speaker 1: I mean by that is like, we don't really know
Speaker 1: what Zion Williamson's attitude is. Like we hear stories, we
Speaker 1: hear secondhand accounts, right, but what we don't see, we
Speaker 1: don't We're not actually in the room like I saw
Speaker 1: Stephen A. Smith do this thing this morning, as like, oh,
Speaker 1: every chef in New Orleans like wants to be friends
Speaker 1: with Zion because they know he'll eat everything. I'm like,
Speaker 1: that's some weird anecdotal shit that, like what do you
Speaker 1: even make of that? Right, Like, we don't actually know
Speaker 1: what his eating habits are, Like, we don't actually know
Speaker 1: what his work out habits are, Like, we don't know
Speaker 1: how committed he is in the film room. We don't
Speaker 1: know how committed he is in practice. So a lot
Speaker 1: of this is guestimation, right, Like, for instance, I heard
Speaker 1: a lot of people slandering Zion for his defense over
Speaker 1: the past week, and like, I've actually thought he's had
Speaker 1: some moments as a help defender this year. Not a
Speaker 1: good week, but this year, I think he's had some
Speaker 1: moments as a help defender. And so like again, like
Speaker 1: I think a little bit gets sensationalized for the sake
Speaker 1: of the take, you know what I mean? That said,
Speaker 1: Like it is deeply concerning from the standpoint like Lebron
Speaker 1: James looked more athletic than him in that game. That
Speaker 1: can't happen because that's what you came into the league
Speaker 1: as is the one of the best athletes we've ever seen.
Speaker 1: And so from that standpoint, like if I'm inside that
Speaker 1: franchise and i know because of first hand information that
Speaker 1: this is a shit show and that he's a lost
Speaker 1: cause from a personality standpoint, meaning like he's never gonna
Speaker 1: be willing to do the work, then yeah, you need
Speaker 1: to look to move him. But definitely not right now.
Speaker 1: This would be the worst time to move him, because
Speaker 1: Iron is good at basketball, and there will be some
Speaker 1: ten game stretch over the course of the next forty
Speaker 1: where he averages you know, twenty nine, ten and seven
Speaker 1: and and shoots sixty two percent from the field, Like
Speaker 1: he's gonna have a better stretch of games. And if
Speaker 1: internally you know you want to move him, you don't
Speaker 1: do it now. You wait and you find an opportunity
Speaker 1: when his value is at a higher level. At this point,
Speaker 1: there's just no rush because as you said, they are
Speaker 1: good right now. Now in the big picture, looking at
Speaker 1: this team, let's talk about what the identity of the
Speaker 1: Pelicans should be, because what I really look at here
Speaker 1: is essentially a version of the Boston Celtics, right, because
Speaker 1: you have all of this rangey length on the wing,
Speaker 1: right like it's Brandon Ingram and Herb Jones and Trey
Speaker 1: Murphy and Dyson Daniels like it. Like just even CJ.
Speaker 1: McCollum is like a sixty six kind of lanky guard, right,
Speaker 1: although he's nowhere near the athlete and defensive player that
Speaker 1: those guys are. But I kind of look at this
Speaker 1: more as a driving kick team, and so like what
Speaker 1: I would view the long term version of this team
Speaker 1: is like finding more of a athlete rim protector, thinks
Speaker 1: someone in like the Nick Claxton mold, right, and then
Speaker 1: essentially I would lean on just incredible linked and athleticism
Speaker 1: at every position where all the guys can dribble and
Speaker 1: shoot except for Claxton, right, and then you run essentially
Speaker 1: a screen and roll system, or you could probably get
Speaker 1: away with five. I haven't seen a lot of Nick
Speaker 1: Claxton lately to know if you'd be up for that,
Speaker 1: But it just just depends on what type of player
Speaker 1: you get, right, because we're not actually talking about Nick Claxton.
Speaker 1: I just mean that archetype, like an athletic center that
Speaker 1: can protect the win the rim and switch out onto guards, right,
Speaker 1: Like in the big picture, That's what I envisioned this
Speaker 1: team as is like a long, switchy athletic team that
Speaker 1: has a lot of ball handling and shooting to drive
Speaker 1: and kick you to death. And so right now, it's
Speaker 1: kind of like this weird group where it's like you
Speaker 1: have CJ. McCollum, who's kind of like a slow down,
Speaker 1: like methodical, herky jerky shot creator. Right then you have
Speaker 1: Jonas Mallanciunas is like this throwback center who's like a
Speaker 1: post up guy, can take threes although teams don't really
Speaker 1: guard him out there, but is below average defensive player.
Speaker 1: And then you have like all these rangy wings in
Speaker 1: the middle. And so it's kind of like a weird
Speaker 1: mix of players. And even Zion as the four is
Speaker 1: a very strange fit from a basketball standpoint with everyone else.
Speaker 1: And so again, in the short term, what I would
Speaker 1: do if I was running the Pelicans is you just
Speaker 1: ride it out to the deadline and you see how
Speaker 1: everything looks then and you make a call. At that point,
Speaker 1: my guess is they're gonna keep it. My guess is
Speaker 1: that they have no intentions of getting rid of Zion.
Speaker 1: But like, yeah, if you ask me what the best
Speaker 1: version of this team is lean into your strengths. What
Speaker 1: is this team good at. We have lots of wings.
Speaker 1: Herb Jones is one of the best defenders of defenders
Speaker 1: in the league and is showing a lot of off
Speaker 1: the dribble pop this year. Right, Trey Murphy is kind
Speaker 1: of like the opposite version of Herb Jones. He's like
Speaker 1: he's the three and D guy, whereas Herb Jones is
Speaker 1: like the D and three guy. Right, Like, Trey Murphy's
Speaker 1: more of a got a lot more off the dribble pop,
Speaker 1: a lot more like a much more reliable jump shot.
Speaker 1: He could shoot it out to like almost thirty feet,
Speaker 1: comfortably more athletic than Herb Jones in my opinion. So
Speaker 1: like you've got that, and then you have Brandon Ingram
Speaker 1: is like one of the best three level scorers and
Speaker 1: shot creators that we have in this league, and so
Speaker 1: like that, to me, it would be the direction i'd
Speaker 1: go is just leaning into your lanky athleticism, right. I
Speaker 1: think this team has looked its best when Dyson Daniels
Speaker 1: has been at the point guard position too, Right, But like,
Speaker 1: as far as it pertains to Zion, we don't know
Speaker 1: how bad it is. Only they do and you sure
Speaker 1: as hell don't trade him now. You wait until you
Speaker 1: have better value at that spot. If the Warriors are
Speaker 1: in the same corner as the Celtics were back in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two, which is about five
Speaker 1: hundred and mid January, which single trade would you suggest
Speaker 1: by them come trade deadline? The Celtics auded Derek White
Speaker 1: and they went fifty one and thirty one in total
Speaker 1: that season. Massive improvement since the addition, what trade is
Speaker 1: there for the Warriors to have a similar regular season
Speaker 1: in playoffs to those Celtics back in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two. I said this with the Nerdsash guys
Speaker 1: the other day, but to me, it's so clearly Siakam
Speaker 1: for a couple of different reasons. One, I think he's
Speaker 1: gonna be a little bit more affordable than some of
Speaker 1: the bigger names out there, guys that go gannob Guys
Speaker 1: like Lori Mark and I just think they're gonna be
Speaker 1: very expensive. Jeremy Grant, I just Jeremy Grant's a guy
Speaker 1: that I would consider as well, but I'd have him
Speaker 1: as a backup plan to Pascal Siakam. Siacam to me
Speaker 1: makes for a super dynamic defensive front line with Wigans,
Speaker 1: Siakam Draymond right, those three can switch and guard just
Speaker 1: about every position. And then Sakra has a ton of
Speaker 1: playoff experience too, not just with the Raptors when they
Speaker 1: won the title, but also with the Raptors before they
Speaker 1: won the title. The dude's guarded Lebron in the conference
Speaker 1: finals or the conference semi finals. I think obviously he's
Speaker 1: played awesome in the twenty nineteen NBA Finals. And then
Speaker 1: also you can kind of structure his next deal in
Speaker 1: a way that makes sense to you in your in
Speaker 1: your team's future. Right, So Siakam is the guy that
Speaker 1: I would target. I think I saw this stat today
Speaker 1: just for your Warriors fans. The Warriors have played three
Speaker 1: games against teams that are below five hundred three all season.
Speaker 1: As a point of perspective, the Sons have played thirteen
Speaker 1: such games. So, like, I'm very much bullish on the
Speaker 1: Warriors still, I think they're a smart trade away from
Speaker 1: being a top tier contender. That's why I can't write
Speaker 1: him off to this point, Siakam is the guy that
Speaker 1: I'd be targeting next one. Can someone please tell me
Speaker 1: if I'm crazy for preferring Lauri Markin In over Siakam
Speaker 1: as a Warriors fan. Not crazy, it's just less achievable, right, Like,
Speaker 1: it's just Danny Age is gonna want everything you have
Speaker 1: and it's just not worth it if you have to
Speaker 1: give up a Zemski and Tray Jagson Davis and Moses
Speaker 1: Moody and Jonathan Like ideally, if you're the Warriors, Jonathan
Speaker 1: Kaminga is your big trade piece, right. Like I saw
Speaker 1: a lot of Warriors fans in the comments like Kminga
Speaker 1: is one of our best players, and like, again, yeah,
Speaker 1: Jonathan Kaminga is is an incredible athlete and I'm very
Speaker 1: high on his long term ceiling. But within the scope
Speaker 1: of this Warriors team, within the scope of this seasons,
Speaker 1: he's young, he's inconsistent, and it's weird basketball fit in
Speaker 1: the five out system and so and to put it simply,
Speaker 1: he's your best asset. He's the guy that, like, if
Speaker 1: you call mass Aujerry and you say we're offering Kaminga
Speaker 1: in this deal, He's gonna listen to you. And again,
Speaker 1: if you want Pascal Siakam, you're not getting him for free.
Speaker 1: So Warriors fans, I wouldn't look at it as like,
Speaker 1: why would we trade Jonathan Kaminga, He's one of our
Speaker 1: best players. You'd be bringing back a player who would
Speaker 1: be definitively your second best player, Pascal Siakam, second best
Speaker 1: warrior overnight. Pascal Siakam gives you one of the best
Speaker 1: starting fives in the league overnight. That's the way you
Speaker 1: have to look at that deal. It's it's less about
Speaker 1: Kaminga and more about bringing in a veteran forward with
Speaker 1: tons of playoff experience who's a natural basketball fit that
Speaker 1: will anchor your defense with Draymond on the front line,
Speaker 1: and a guy that's just gonna make you from a
Speaker 1: team that is capable of beating the best teams in
Speaker 1: the league on any given night to a team that
Speaker 1: will be favored against all the best teams in the
Speaker 1: league on any given night. That, to me is the
Speaker 1: way that I would look at that dynamic. But as
Speaker 1: far as Lori goes, totally different vibe, not as good
Speaker 1: as a defensive player, definitely bigger and stronger, But at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, it's just more about the price.
Speaker 1: I think Siakam is a more achievable goal in that situation. Lastly,
Speaker 1: looking back at the Sabonus Haliburton trade, who do you
Speaker 1: think won that trade? Thanks love the show, So obviously
Speaker 1: the Kings won that trade. I do think there's a
Speaker 1: little bit of revisionist history. There's kind of there's two
Speaker 1: different ways to look at this, right, Like one, the
Speaker 1: Kings have had just a horrible stretch of luck that
Speaker 1: has still led in their most interesting stretch of basketball
Speaker 1: over the last you know, basically since the early two thousands. Right,
Speaker 1: this team is a ton of fun. They're really good.
Speaker 1: I've consistently had them in my power rankings this season.
Speaker 1: I'm a believer in the Kings. That said, like, obviously
Speaker 1: having Halliburton go off as a bone if I'd superstar
Speaker 1: with the Pacers is discouraging because Sabonis is not that right,
Speaker 1: and then drafting Marvin Bagley over Luka Doncic is obviously
Speaker 1: a catastrophe. That said, let's zoom in on each thing individually.
Speaker 1: Did they fuck up on the Luka Doncic thing? You bet,
Speaker 1: you bet your ass they did. And like, I'm not
Speaker 1: sure there's a single Kings fan that would disagree, Like
Speaker 1: hot take, Marvin Bagley not as good as Luka Doncic.
Speaker 1: That was just it was stupid in the moment. It
Speaker 1: was it's stupid now, it'll always be stupid. It was.
Speaker 1: It was self sabotage on their part. It was overthinking
Speaker 1: the job and and and they reaped some consequences from that. Right, However,
Speaker 1: Haliburton was really good with the Kings, but none of
Speaker 1: us thought he was going to be this good. None
Speaker 1: of us thought that. I personally don't remember a single
Speaker 1: person saying when Haliburton was with the Kings like this
Speaker 1: dude has all time great potential. I don't remember saying
Speaker 1: anybody saying that. That's the way I feel now. I
Speaker 1: think Caliburton has all time great potential. And so like
Speaker 1: it's revisionist history to be like, oh man, they missed
Speaker 1: out on Halliburton. Yeah they did, but from the front
Speaker 1: offices perspective, you look at it and it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: they wanted to have an offensive fulkrum in the front
Speaker 1: court and just basically an anchor in the front court.
Speaker 1: They had these two excellent guards and Dearon Fox and
Speaker 1: Tyres Haliburton that they viewed to be a little bit redundant,
Speaker 1: and they made a deal that in the moment. Everyone
Speaker 1: knew there was some potential that Halliburton would exceed Sabonis
Speaker 1: in the long run, but in the short run, they
Speaker 1: looked at it as an opportunity to do something that
Speaker 1: made more sense for that basketball team. And for the record,
Speaker 1: the Kings are a better team after the trade than
Speaker 1: they were before the trade because of that natural basketball
Speaker 1: fit and because Halliburton wasn't that good back then, right,
Speaker 1: So it's obviously unfortunate now to look back and be like,
Speaker 1: holy shit, Halliburton's probably better than Fox. Now, by the way,
Speaker 1: I do think Tyres Haliburton is better than Daron Fox.
Speaker 1: But that's new in from me the information we had
Speaker 1: at the time, even though maybe I wasn't covering the
Speaker 1: league when that trade happened, and I was a little
Speaker 1: bit disconnected from the standpoint of the Pacers and the
Speaker 1: Kings individually. So like obviously all the factors involved there,
Speaker 1: I don't know what I would have done if I
Speaker 1: was in that seat. That said, like, it is a
Speaker 1: little it's a lot more defensible in the moment than
Speaker 1: it is at this point in time. Right, Like when
Speaker 1: we look back at that point in time, it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: sa bonus for Halliburton, Like Haliburn's good, that's that's a
Speaker 1: tough player to give away. But Sabonis is good too.
Speaker 1: Sabonis and Fox are going to be incredible together. This
Speaker 1: is going to be interesting, Like this might work, Like
Speaker 1: that's the way you look at it, right, And then
Speaker 1: only now that we know Haliburton is is a superstar,
Speaker 1: can we look back and be like, oh shit, that sucks,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? But to me, the the
Speaker 1: Luka Doncics piece surrounding Marvin Bagley, that was way more
Speaker 1: obvious of as screw up right, And so I think
Speaker 1: that that. I think when we talk about the Kings,
Speaker 1: they've had a really unfortunate run of things. Some of
Speaker 1: it's self inflicted, some of it's bad luck too. And
Speaker 1: you know, again, like that we were talking about with
Speaker 1: the Warriors with Kaminga, there's a version of this where
Speaker 1: you trade Kaminga for Siakam and in two years Cominga
Speaker 1: makes an All Star team, and then two years after
Speaker 1: that he makes an All NBA team, and then two
Speaker 1: years after that he's a top tier superstar. Like that's
Speaker 1: on the table. I think it's far less likely, but
Speaker 1: it's on the table. And so again, when you are
Speaker 1: operating as a front office like those are the kinds
Speaker 1: of risks that just kind of come with the job,
Speaker 1: if that makes sense. All right, guys, that is all
Speaker 1: I have for today. The plan as of right now,
Speaker 1: we have Chris Mannix coming on for a Celtics deep
Speaker 1: dive tomorrow. We're recording around noon, so actually I think
Speaker 1: I'm recording around one o'clock here in Arizona, so that
Speaker 1: should be up in the early evening time tomorrow, and
Speaker 1: then we're actually staying up to cover the night slate tomorrow,
Speaker 1: so we'll have an instant reaction Tuesday night. Then we're
Speaker 1: taking Wednesday off, and then we're gonna have film sessions
Speaker 1: on Thursday and Friday, old school sessions where I'll break
Speaker 1: down a bunch of games after watching film, and then
Speaker 1: we'll hit some mailback questions at the end of those shows,
Speaker 1: So keep dropping mail back questions as always. I appreciate you, guys,
Speaker 1: and I'll see you guys with Mannix tomorrow. The volume