Speaker 1: Hey, welcome into the All Ball Podcast. I'm Doug Gottlieb
Speaker 1: and you can listen to the Doug Gottlieb Show whether
Speaker 1: it's on Sirius XM on a daily basis or on
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Speaker 1: in which you can get the Doug Gottlieb Show, and
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Speaker 1: rate us, but tell a friend have them download as well.
Speaker 1: This week we're gonna deep take a deep dive into
Speaker 1: the Boston Celtics as well as to the d m V.
Speaker 1: My boy Darren Mclinton is going to join us. Uh.
Speaker 1: He was a tremendous planet player at James Madison played
Speaker 1: overseas I played with him in the c b A
Speaker 1: for a minute in usb L as well. Uh. He's
Speaker 1: not only a trainer but also in a you coach
Speaker 1: and a guy who just knows and loves hoop. I
Speaker 1: thought you'd enjoy me catching up with de Clint, who
Speaker 1: has his own podcast with his brother who played ball
Speaker 1: in Maryland. I thought that would be uh interesting, entertaining
Speaker 1: and enlightening. Also joining us as Keith Smith, the covers
Speaker 1: the NBA for Yahoo's Sports. You can follow him on Twitter.
Speaker 1: He also does the Celtics blog as well. So I
Speaker 1: want to get you sense for what was going on
Speaker 1: with the sas maybe what's going on with the Wizards.
Speaker 1: I'll give you my my two cents here real quick
Speaker 1: on a couple of things we've seen. I will point
Speaker 1: out this about the Houston Rockets, and I'm not laughing
Speaker 1: saying I told you so, because they're much worse defensively,
Speaker 1: much worse offensively now they've had, uh, you know, subtraction
Speaker 1: by addition, by bringing in Karmelo Anthony. I think some
Speaker 1: of that we saw in Fairness. In fairness, you know,
Speaker 1: they had they had a suspension with Chris Paul and
Speaker 1: they got James Harden hurt. So if you lose Chris
Speaker 1: Paul for a couple of games, and you lose James
Speaker 1: Harden for a couple of games with with that top
Speaker 1: heavier team and that top heavier salary scale, you're not
Speaker 1: gonna be as good. On the other hand, it's really
Speaker 1: really hard to hide Carmelo Anthony. His game is one
Speaker 1: that doesn't really fit in the modern pace. In space
Speaker 1: three and D, you know, spread you out NBA, and
Speaker 1: I think it's also a fair early even though some
Speaker 1: of their pieces are Um has some consistency him last year,
Speaker 1: it's still kind of a new team and they're still
Speaker 1: kind of figuring it out, so I'm not giving them
Speaker 1: a pass. They haven't played well. But neither of the
Speaker 1: Ocloma City played well. Neither is the Wizards played well.
Speaker 1: Neither of the Lakers played all that well. And some
Speaker 1: of it is new pieces. Some of it is some
Speaker 1: guys learned to get along. Some of it is hey,
Speaker 1: other dudes in the NBA are tired of hearing about
Speaker 1: some of these other top teams and they're coming ready
Speaker 1: to play. And some of it is some of these
Speaker 1: teams aren't as good as we thought. I think there's
Speaker 1: a combination of it. But my my fear with Mellow
Speaker 1: is what happens when you signed him to the bench.
Speaker 1: I think you'll see some success coming off the bench.
Speaker 1: It's just really hard for a guy who's always played
Speaker 1: thirty thirty five minutes and got starters minutes and been
Speaker 1: a go to guy to suddenly be an ancillary part.
Speaker 1: There's there's a pride nego thing to it, you know.
Speaker 1: Derrek Jeter Win moved to the one, moved to second
Speaker 1: base for a rod He should have but he didn't.
Speaker 1: And the Machifs. But people think the machiese moo basketball
Speaker 1: is the only play. It's like, No, not necessarily. Lara
Speaker 1: fitzhild is one of the only wide receivers to move
Speaker 1: from being outside the number one threat to moving in
Speaker 1: the slot. You know, hinz War did it some as well,
Speaker 1: became a great blocker. But those guys are a few
Speaker 1: and far between. That that the that the evolution or
Speaker 1: um devolving, or well maybe it's evolving into understanding your
Speaker 1: body and your age and how you fit in. That
Speaker 1: takes a supreme amount of kind of emotional balance and
Speaker 1: we don't necessarily create and foster that in the NBA
Speaker 1: when guys are seeing as superstars and a guy like Mello,
Speaker 1: who's the all time leading scorer of USA basketball. We'll
Speaker 1: dig in there with the day McClinton upcoming. My thoughts
Speaker 1: and the Lakers are I think Lebron is really trying.
Speaker 1: He's trying to play this new way of moving to basketball,
Speaker 1: and I think he's picking his spots. For example, at
Speaker 1: the time of this recording, last night, they took down
Speaker 1: the Dallas Mavericks, had a big league kind of gave
Speaker 1: it away and survived late. He made only one or
Speaker 1: two free throws late. Um, but I think he's trying
Speaker 1: to move the basketball. And the third quarter he took
Speaker 1: over and side all right within the confines of the
Speaker 1: offense and in the transition. I think the problem is
Speaker 1: that they're waiting on Brandon England to play better. He
Speaker 1: hasn't Rondo his first night he played well. Outside of that,
Speaker 1: hadn't played well and uh and and some of their
Speaker 1: best shooters aren't shooting the basketball. Well, that's happened with
Speaker 1: the Wizards, right like the Wizards didn't expect to play
Speaker 1: Yon Mihemi this many minutes, and they expected to shoot
Speaker 1: the basketball better. And just like Clay Thompson ends up,
Speaker 1: you know, going from a shooting slump to hitting fourteen
Speaker 1: threes in the game. Eventually, the expectation is Water finds
Speaker 1: its level. But it's going to be curious to see
Speaker 1: what happens with Ingram. He has to play better because
Speaker 1: if there's one guy that could be moved, it would
Speaker 1: be Ingram. Remember he's the longest tenured laker, right, the
Speaker 1: longest he's the only guy drafted by Mitch cup Check
Speaker 1: I believe still on this roster, and they they I
Speaker 1: think they all think he has more in them, but
Speaker 1: he hasn't played all of that well so far. It's
Speaker 1: one of the reasons the Lakers are struggled, although their
Speaker 1: schedule also being preyed totally difficult, and Jimmy Butler stepping
Speaker 1: up and making three fourth quarter threes is one of
Speaker 1: the reasons that three and five right now too. Um.
Speaker 1: As for the Thunder, a lot of people are talking
Speaker 1: about Andre Robertson still being out and Russell Westbrook not playing.
Speaker 1: That's why in preseason, that's why they're not playing as well.
Speaker 1: It's important I think to mention our vision of Andre
Speaker 1: Robertson is he was before he got hurt. Now he
Speaker 1: had a major knee surgery and then a cleanup knee surgery.
Speaker 1: We have no idea his level of athleticism and bounce
Speaker 1: when he gets back. Um So, as far as the
Speaker 1: NBA goes, even the Celtics have been a little bit disappointing,
Speaker 1: and I think we gotta take a breath, see what
Speaker 1: we like, see what we don't like. Then Gordon Hayward
Speaker 1: has been a little too passive at times. Kyrie Irvan
Speaker 1: has been a little too aggressive. We'll talk with ke
Speaker 1: Smith about that. But in the NBA, the team that
Speaker 1: is most interesting has to be the the Milwaukee Bucks
Speaker 1: because people in the league have talked about Nice and
Speaker 1: his ability to take over games, to take over the league,
Speaker 1: and he has Mike Budenholzer, who has done some made
Speaker 1: some nice adjustments, and I think they've kind of adjusted
Speaker 1: the roster accordingly. I don't think they can keep up
Speaker 1: this that I gotta right undefeated, but I don't know
Speaker 1: if they'll keep up the pace of being the best
Speaker 1: team record wise in the East. Bud has done it before,
Speaker 1: back when he was with the Atlanta Hawks. But I
Speaker 1: do think you combined a player who continues to improve
Speaker 1: his jump shot and his decision making with a team
Speaker 1: who's kind of played mostly together for a couple of
Speaker 1: years now, and a coach who fits how they want
Speaker 1: to play and understands how to utilize the spacing and
Speaker 1: also the length that and versatility has defensively, and maybe
Speaker 1: the Bucks of the team that we didn't talk enough
Speaker 1: about that have a legit shot to come out of
Speaker 1: the East. And Janice is the type of game breaking,
Speaker 1: game changing player that we might be missing because because
Speaker 1: he's in Milwaukee, because he hasn't gotten to an NBA finals,
Speaker 1: because he's not playing for a traditional power in the NBA,
Speaker 1: we're not talking about enough. But it's gonna be fasting
Speaker 1: to see what what happens next. Al Right, quickly on
Speaker 1: college basketball, as we're getting ready for next week, we
Speaker 1: have UM the showdown in Indianapolis. He had four premier
Speaker 1: college basketball programs, and I just I want you to
Speaker 1: start the season with this thought in your mind. Get
Speaker 1: old and stay old. As as I'll release my preseason
Speaker 1: rankings and my early season rankings. It's really hard to
Speaker 1: tell how good teams are going to be because we
Speaker 1: don't know the pace by which the freshman will improve. UM,
Speaker 1: but I can tell you that teams like a Kansas State,
Speaker 1: teams like a Clemson, teams like a Wisconsin UM teams
Speaker 1: that that that bring back, teams like an Oregon State
Speaker 1: teams being that bring back a couple of the best
Speaker 1: players in their league that are juniors and seniors are
Speaker 1: Barry Brown and Trace Tinkle and Ethan hap Um. Even
Speaker 1: David's another other mean, he's only a sophomore obviously from Wisconsin.
Speaker 1: But there's so much youth in college basketball that if
Speaker 1: you start the season with guys with experience in three,
Speaker 1: sometimes twenty four years old, you're gonna be ahead of
Speaker 1: the curve. It's one of the reasons I think Clemson
Speaker 1: has an absolute shot, along with Virginia, to take down
Speaker 1: Duke in the a c C. Even if Duke has
Speaker 1: more draft picks, you know, more more first round draft picks,
Speaker 1: and the year, I think in the n c A
Speaker 1: Tournament we're likely to see some combination of Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, Duke Kentucky, Kansas, who am most of my forgetting, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, in the final four. And then you have
Speaker 1: the Tennessee's in the Virginia's of the world. Oh, Gonzaga
Speaker 1: as well. The Gonzaga of course, they have age, they
Speaker 1: have experience, They have transfers, which gives you age, an experience,
Speaker 1: and and the question about Gonzaga is always you know,
Speaker 1: they front load their schedule and they try and sprinkle
Speaker 1: in some non conference in the middle of their schedule.
Speaker 1: But this is a really young St. Mary's team, as
Speaker 1: we chronicled with Randy Bennett in one of our previous
Speaker 1: All Ball podcasts, and the point is that I don't
Speaker 1: feel like Gonzaga is going to be as severely challenged
Speaker 1: in the w c C as they have before by
Speaker 1: teams like a B y u Is beating them twice
Speaker 1: on their court, or or like a St. Mary's who's
Speaker 1: the last team to win the league. And when the
Speaker 1: league tournament outside of Gonzaga, so you know, we'll have
Speaker 1: to figure out what Gonzaga is and what the level
Speaker 1: of play is heading into the tournament when they have
Speaker 1: this kind of weirdly unbalanced schedule compared to everybody else.
Speaker 1: That said, it should be a fascinating college basketball season
Speaker 1: and hopefully most of the scandals have been put to
Speaker 1: bed and we can actually enjoy it. And when when
Speaker 1: you when you watch Duke play and you're gonna fall
Speaker 1: in love with Zia Williamson's athleticism, Um, it's r. J.
Speaker 1: Barrett who's actually the better player. And then I think
Speaker 1: the fact that Duke has a true point guard makes
Speaker 1: me think that Duke can finally achieve what their talent
Speaker 1: says they can achieve. They have experience playing together going
Speaker 1: to Canada, they got a point guard, they have just
Speaker 1: enough returners, just enough depth. I think they'll have enough shooting,
Speaker 1: especially if they play Zion Williamson at the five, definitely
Speaker 1: at the floor, and I think there'll be some games
Speaker 1: which they overwhelmed their opponents because even though they're exceptionally young,
Speaker 1: college basketball generally is young, so many have jettison college
Speaker 1: basketball to go to the NBA. But those are the
Speaker 1: five or six teams. The vat is of course hanging
Speaker 1: out there, and Auburn is hanging out there. We'll see
Speaker 1: what else. The Pack twelve if an Oregon behind Peyton
Speaker 1: Pitchard and now incoming freshman Bull Bull can can make
Speaker 1: a run at the Pack twelve title and be another
Speaker 1: potential Final Four representative at USC as well. They they
Speaker 1: lose Um, a four year starter at point, which I
Speaker 1: think people are under selling. But USC a very very
Speaker 1: talented roster as well. But the schools you need to
Speaker 1: know about outside of the Kansas States and the Clemsons
Speaker 1: and the Wisconsins and the older teams, maybe New Mexico
Speaker 1: as well, San Diego State as well, is Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Gonzaga,
Speaker 1: throw in Virginia can learning how good they were in
Speaker 1: the A C. C and how much they returned. I
Speaker 1: think that that's where your final four is likely to
Speaker 1: have two or three teams at least come from that
Speaker 1: that that group of teams. All right, let's get you
Speaker 1: to the All Ball Podcast. Let's get you to some
Speaker 1: of the interviews of the week. Um he's a contributor
Speaker 1: to Yahoo Sports, NBA, at Real GM and to the
Speaker 1: Celtics Blog. Who better to talk about with maybe the
Speaker 1: most interesting team that is not discussed enough, I think
Speaker 1: on a national basis in the Boston Celtics. Keith Smith
Speaker 1: joins us here in the All Ball Podcast. And Keith,
Speaker 1: we're coming off of watching Kyrie Irving breakout last night
Speaker 1: and and get a big home victory over a Pistons
Speaker 1: team that has played really well out of the gate.
Speaker 1: But I think that the bigger question is here we are,
Speaker 1: when we two weeks into the NBA season. How would
Speaker 1: you characterize what you've seen from the Celtics so far? Yeah,
Speaker 1: a little up and down, in a little messy, I
Speaker 1: guess is the best way to put it. It's it's
Speaker 1: tough when you're bringing back Kyrie Irving and Gordon Henward
Speaker 1: and adding was two players who are really guys who
Speaker 1: need the ball a lot, you know, you said, being
Speaker 1: the ones that kenned an offense, and you're adding to
Speaker 1: them to a team that came with a game of
Speaker 1: the NBA Finals. It's bound to be a little messy,
Speaker 1: but I think they're starting to figure it out. Seen
Speaker 1: signs of that over the last couple of games. And
Speaker 1: you know, it's one of those things. I know everyone
Speaker 1: in Boston is. You know, they were a little nervous
Speaker 1: early off, like it was what the team feel like,
Speaker 1: it'll be okay, we're gonna get this sorted out turned
Speaker 1: around them later. Yeah, It's it's kind of interesting because, yes,
Speaker 1: the Raptors are off to a hot start and saw
Speaker 1: them get a big home win last night, and the
Speaker 1: Bucks are undefeated. But like, look, if you don't like
Speaker 1: the way the Celtics are playing, you're gonna hate the
Speaker 1: way the team, like the Rockets are playing right or
Speaker 1: the way the Wizards are playing. So it hasn't been
Speaker 1: as smooth a transition as people would hope. But it's
Speaker 1: not like they're the Rockets where all of a sudden
Speaker 1: there's finger pointing, or the Wizards where people are talking
Speaker 1: about trading. Players are firing coaches already. Yeah, absolutely not,
Speaker 1: there's not that going on. These guys all get along great,
Speaker 1: they're all you're really happy. I think thing that really
Speaker 1: helps is you have a group of players there in
Speaker 1: Boston who are extremely honest about what their role are
Speaker 1: and what their hopes are, both for themselves and for
Speaker 1: the team. You have guys like Terry Reginior Marcus Morris
Speaker 1: who are on the record they ensure, I'd love to start,
Speaker 1: but I know that's not going to happen here, and
Speaker 1: I know what my role is and I want to
Speaker 1: win right now and starting and more money and those
Speaker 1: things that will come down the line if it's supposed to.
Speaker 1: So it's one of those things where rarely do you
Speaker 1: have guys who are so open about their role in
Speaker 1: the NBA and then also accepting of that role. And
Speaker 1: that's where you know Boston's likely compared to a couple
Speaker 1: of those other teams you mentioned, where I think guys
Speaker 1: have a falsely inflated view of what their role maybe
Speaker 1: should be within their team or really even just how
Speaker 1: good their teams should be. Yeah, it's it's fascinating. Let's
Speaker 1: talk about Kyrie because there was some discussion I think
Speaker 1: Tommy Hinson said he thought he looked heavy, which I
Speaker 1: hadn't heard from anybody. Maybe it was that, maybe it
Speaker 1: was his haircut or his beard or something. Um, I
Speaker 1: was old in the preseason and in training camp he
Speaker 1: looked great. He just wasn't hitting shots either in the year.
Speaker 1: And you know, Kyrie is a as a guy whose
Speaker 1: game is really based upon his shot making. Everything else
Speaker 1: falls into place. Of course. You know, we're recording this
Speaker 1: podcast on Wednesday after Kyrie in a back to back
Speaker 1: matchup with the Pistons, lights them up, goes for thirty
Speaker 1: one and only sixteen shots. That places as the fishing
Speaker 1: of basketballs he has all season long in Europinian? Was
Speaker 1: he out of shape? Was there something that changed? What's
Speaker 1: your assessment of why at least shooting percentage wise? He struggled. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that one came out of nowhere for me as well.
Speaker 1: I had heard that until I really mentioned laughter the
Speaker 1: game against the Pistons on Tuesday night, and you know,
Speaker 1: here we are now. It's kind of become a little
Speaker 1: bit of a story that you know, I glad to
Speaker 1: give myself in better shape since Tommy Hunton called me fat.
Speaker 1: You know that seems a little a little out of nowhere,
Speaker 1: because all the reports were that he looked good. For
Speaker 1: my own view, he looked great. I thought he looked
Speaker 1: physically fine. You know, he was quick, he was explosive,
Speaker 1: He really had his you know, handle going and moving.
Speaker 1: And I think it was just the reality of missing
Speaker 1: the shots came from two places. One, he was taking
Speaker 1: some contested jump shots that you weren't really in the
Speaker 1: flow of the offense. I think, trying to get himself going,
Speaker 1: which I think that's a big chunk of what has
Speaker 1: changed over these last few games. I think Brad Stephen
Speaker 1: Jerry said, hey, we got to move the ball, get
Speaker 1: back to the team we were for all last year,
Speaker 1: and you know, your shots will come. And then I
Speaker 1: think the second one, he was um taking a lot
Speaker 1: of these looks that were coming, you know, in points
Speaker 1: of the game where I felt like he maybe felt
Speaker 1: I have to carry the offense here and didn't have
Speaker 1: the trust and some of those younger guys like Jaylen
Speaker 1: Brown Jason Tatum, because you know, he missed that whole
Speaker 1: playoff run. So now that it's settled back in and
Speaker 1: now he's able to kind of just function within the
Speaker 1: offense and then pull it out when he really has to.
Speaker 1: It's starting to look a lot better, and he started
Speaker 1: to look like the Kyrie Irving Evold. And then I
Speaker 1: feel like Gordon Hyward's the opposite. Like I feel like
Speaker 1: Gordon Hayward, who was a low twenty game All Star
Speaker 1: with Utah Jazz. He's like like Kyrie is a you know,
Speaker 1: your force of will. I'm gonna show everybody how good
Speaker 1: I am take questionable shots, whereas Gordon Hayward has been
Speaker 1: a little bit too passive and tried to fit in
Speaker 1: a little bit too much. Is that a fair assessment
Speaker 1: of why statistically he hasn't been um as good or
Speaker 1: maybe as important as ultimately he will he will or
Speaker 1: should be. Yeah, I think that is fair. I think
Speaker 1: Gordon Hayward, I think one of the things that attracted
Speaker 1: him to coming to Boston. You know, even before Kyrie
Speaker 1: was very agreed. You know, when I saw Isaiah Thomas
Speaker 1: was I don't think he wants to be in a
Speaker 1: situation where I'm the man and I have to shoot
Speaker 1: it every time down. I think he wants to be
Speaker 1: part of their system and part of something bigger. And
Speaker 1: I think for him, what it is is, but you
Speaker 1: need to take those shots when you have them, and
Speaker 1: when you have the mismatch, you need to take advantage
Speaker 1: of that. That's when the Celtics offense works best. They
Speaker 1: they're really good at guy I taught, wentlessly hunting mismatches.
Speaker 1: They find the guy who has the best uh chance
Speaker 1: to score, and they'll go to him over and over again.
Speaker 1: I think that's something that Heyward has to get that mindset.
Speaker 1: And again more startency did not come a little and
Speaker 1: one thing that's hoping can get there. They're putting the
Speaker 1: ball in his hands a lot and saying, hey, you
Speaker 1: be the playmaker here, but the other guys play off
Speaker 1: You the one that's scoring it for himself or get
Speaker 1: setting somebody else up. We're seeing you know him, you know,
Speaker 1: excel at doing both of those. I think that's a
Speaker 1: great point. It's you know, he actually plays a good
Speaker 1: amount of what you would call point guard or playmaker.
Speaker 1: Brad is very comfortable with him playing any position one
Speaker 1: through five. I do think he's probably, you know, the
Speaker 1: most natural passer you know, Brad. Brad was trying to
Speaker 1: convince me this summer when we're talking that you know,
Speaker 1: Kyrie Evering's one of the five best pastors in the league.
Speaker 1: I was like, well, that'd be great if he showed
Speaker 1: the rest of the world how good a pastor he is. Um,
Speaker 1: but I think I think Kyrie has the capability, not
Speaker 1: the mindset, whereas Gordon has some of the capability but
Speaker 1: a lot of the mindset. And it is It's one
Speaker 1: of those guys. It's one of those things that we
Speaker 1: I think that's why he's the right fit. And people, Uh,
Speaker 1: if you don't watch the Celtics as much as as
Speaker 1: you do Keith, you don't realize. You're like, wait, well,
Speaker 1: how's this all gonna work. You have to have guys
Speaker 1: that are willing to sacrifice themselves in order for Jason
Speaker 1: Tatum ultimately to become what he can become, or Jalen
Speaker 1: Brown to become what he can become. And then, as
Speaker 1: you smartly pointed out, this is the new wave of
Speaker 1: the NBA, which is relentlessly searching for mismatches. The difference
Speaker 1: with the Celtics as opposed to like a Lebron James
Speaker 1: lead team is, you know, Lebron James team, You're just
Speaker 1: trying to get a mismatch on Lebron and then create
Speaker 1: help and then he kicks off for a jump shot,
Speaker 1: Whereas the Celtics have so many guys that can score
Speaker 1: simply moving the basketball. The mismatch will then present itself.
Speaker 1: Right that. That's more the way in which Brad's system
Speaker 1: and with this personnel it works, isn't it. Yeah? I
Speaker 1: think the way I refer to it as it's it's
Speaker 1: manufacturing a mismatch. We're swetting it come naturally. I think
Speaker 1: the Lebron example you use, that's manufacturing that mismatch. We
Speaker 1: saw that when the Felt explained the Cavaliers last year
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, they did everything they could to get
Speaker 1: Terry Roger matched up with Lebron James because Lebron just
Speaker 1: gonna overpower him and do whatever he wants. With the Celtics,
Speaker 1: what they do is they just kind of let the
Speaker 1: ball flow, cause the defense to react, and then they
Speaker 1: find it generally somewhere, you know, halfway through the Shaw
Speaker 1: Clalker Show. So okay, here's what switched, here's what what
Speaker 1: was created. Now let's get to that guy. And that
Speaker 1: may not mean it's the same guy all game long.
Speaker 1: It may just mean play to play, or we found
Speaker 1: the right one. Let's get after to get that shot. Here.
Speaker 1: Here's what I want to do. I want to go
Speaker 1: through the teams that since he watched every game, go
Speaker 1: through the team to me one quick thought on for example,
Speaker 1: the Pistons go. Yeah, Blake Griffin I think has been
Speaker 1: really really game. I think he is really stepping up.
Speaker 1: I think you know, he is, you know, get the
Speaker 1: ball in his hands a lot. I'm really excited to
Speaker 1: see him develop into that kind of truly being the
Speaker 1: franchise guy and stepping forward for Detroit. Yeah. With interesting
Speaker 1: is how much he struggled in that game in Detroit
Speaker 1: in which they were blown out. Obviously played much much
Speaker 1: better in the game in Boston, but this, you know,
Speaker 1: coming off of the explosive fifty fifty point game he
Speaker 1: struggled against against the Seas going back to last Saturday, Um,
Speaker 1: the Thunder finally got a big win last night, but
Speaker 1: when Boston traveled in there, it felt like a playoff
Speaker 1: atmosphere and Jayson Tatum played great. When you see the Thunder,
Speaker 1: what do you think? Yeah, I think what it's there.
Speaker 1: It just still something doesn't feel right with their offense.
Speaker 1: It feels almost like it did when Kevin Durant was
Speaker 1: there was your turn, my turn, a little bit of
Speaker 1: that with Russ and Paul George. I know, you know,
Speaker 1: Russ missed all the training camp. He's really still kind
Speaker 1: of playing himself the game to a full peak, you
Speaker 1: know ability there. But there's just something that's an employed
Speaker 1: did they miss Andre Robertson? People still under aid his
Speaker 1: importance to that team. Everybody says, I can't hit a
Speaker 1: free throw and can't hit a three, but that dish
Speaker 1: regards just how good he is defensively and against the
Speaker 1: team like Boston or even a team like Golden State.
Speaker 1: Teams like that, you need his defense and they're really
Speaker 1: missing it right now. Yeah, and then the question becomes
Speaker 1: when he does return having an a c L injury
Speaker 1: and then having a back up another surgery, is he
Speaker 1: ever going to be the Andre Robertson athletically of old
Speaker 1: like that? You know, that's a legit question in addition
Speaker 1: to the fact that you're playing four on five on offense.
Speaker 1: You can make up for it if he's that good
Speaker 1: a defensive player and rebounder, but if he loses a
Speaker 1: step defensively, will that team ever live up to what
Speaker 1: I think their potential is um your thoughts on the
Speaker 1: Orlando Magic, a franchise which seems to have been in
Speaker 1: rebuild mode now here for the last five years or so.
Speaker 1: Uh Bushovic Obviously Vic is a very talented player, but um,
Speaker 1: you know they paid Aaron Gordon a bunch of money.
Speaker 1: I don't think he'll ever be a stretch let alone
Speaker 1: with three men when you see Orlando. Is there hope there? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think there's some hope, but it's you have to
Speaker 1: project it down the line a little. You have to
Speaker 1: believe in Jonathan I like Mo Bamba and Aaron Gordon
Speaker 1: are going to be able to develop and met the
Speaker 1: three of them are going to be able to play
Speaker 1: together on the floor, And then you're gonna have to
Speaker 1: hope that John Willman and Jeff Hammond are able to
Speaker 1: go find cards that fit around them, because right now
Speaker 1: they just don't have enough shooting. The only confidence shooter
Speaker 1: on the roster is Terence Ross and your Russell let
Speaker 1: a fly from anywhere on the floor. You get that,
Speaker 1: a rational confidence, if you will. But the rest of
Speaker 1: the guys, it's just rough there there you are, you know,
Speaker 1: they're they're guys who should be good backups on a
Speaker 1: good team instead of being starters for the Magic, which
Speaker 1: is why they're in the position they're in right now. No,
Speaker 1: I mean, like, listen, if you want length and athleticism, Gordon,
Speaker 1: you mentioned Jonathan Isaac who is super versatile, and Mo Bamba,
Speaker 1: who you would think two or three years from now projects,
Speaker 1: But they're all just kind of long athletic range Like this,
Speaker 1: this has become a game where you need that, but
Speaker 1: you also need skill. It's a it's a shotmakers league,
Speaker 1: and they don't have any shotmakers, let alone, let alone
Speaker 1: true ball handlers as well. All right, last one is
Speaker 1: the Toronto. Well I'm gonna get this way to the
Speaker 1: Sixers too. The Raptors beat the Celtics in Toronto, obviously
Speaker 1: their second game of the year. But the sense you
Speaker 1: get when you watch Toronto you think Kauai can take
Speaker 1: them a further step now that Lebron's not in not
Speaker 1: in the Eastern Conference. Yeah, I really do. And the
Speaker 1: thing with the Raptors is just everything fits so well
Speaker 1: with them. Everybody knows what their role is, everybody's content
Speaker 1: to play that role. You've got really it's gonna be
Speaker 1: Kyle Lowry and Kauai are going to be the ones
Speaker 1: who get us our offense, and then everybody else is
Speaker 1: going to play off the two of them. Danny Green
Speaker 1: looks like, you know, the guy who he looked like
Speaker 1: with the Spurs a few years ago. You know, he's
Speaker 1: playing great defense and knocking down every open jumper he gets,
Speaker 1: and then the Bigs are doing some stuff. Pascal Siaka
Speaker 1: has come almost from out of nowhere as this guy
Speaker 1: who all of a sudden, he's defending, he's bringing the
Speaker 1: ball up. He gets a little out of control sometimes.
Speaker 1: But but I think that's almost okay because they leave
Speaker 1: them a little more unpredictable. So I think the there's
Speaker 1: you know, they still get that deep bench too, so
Speaker 1: they're they're gonna be really toxic. It's one of those
Speaker 1: things where when you watch them play Boston is only
Speaker 1: the second game of the season for both teams, where
Speaker 1: you really said, well, I hope we could get seven
Speaker 1: games of this compass brain. Yeah. I guess my fear
Speaker 1: is I do think that Lowry hits his ceiling once
Speaker 1: he gets to the playoffs. That guys lock in on
Speaker 1: him a little bit more. And you know, he's about
Speaker 1: six feet tall, he's in his early thirties. He's gonna
Speaker 1: be like thirty three here in March. And I think
Speaker 1: one of the things that people don't talk enough about
Speaker 1: with Toronto is there are times in which he struggles
Speaker 1: with the longer, better point guards and and teams you know,
Speaker 1: much more focused on it. But I agree with you.
Speaker 1: I mean, like, look, if last year you had your
Speaker 1: best season ever and you had to Mark de Rosen,
Speaker 1: you get rid of them Rosen, and you add in Kauai,
Speaker 1: and you add in a guy like Danny Green, who
Speaker 1: is a perfect fit for the way in which they
Speaker 1: want to play, the Raptors should be better. I still
Speaker 1: think the Celtics are better, but I'm not I'm not
Speaker 1: convinced as of yet that the Celtics have figured out
Speaker 1: exactly who does what and when they do it. Last
Speaker 1: one is the Philadelphia seventy sixers. Um look and beads.
Speaker 1: A guy who everybody likes because of his personality and
Speaker 1: what he can be. Everyone likes Ben Simmons because of
Speaker 1: his ability to create for himself and for others. But
Speaker 1: there seems to be a post of shooting there as well.
Speaker 1: And I'm not convinced the folk you'll be able to
Speaker 1: fix folds during the years nobody's guarding him. When you
Speaker 1: see the seventy sixers, are they are they going to
Speaker 1: take that next step this year? Yeah? I don't think
Speaker 1: they're going to take that step further than really what
Speaker 1: they were this year or this past season. They should
Speaker 1: say they are in a spot where they're chief rivals
Speaker 1: of Yeast. Boston and Toronto are just are horrible matchups
Speaker 1: for them. Because the Celtics they do two things. One
Speaker 1: may play that seventy sixers, they say, all right, we're
Speaker 1: gonna we're just gonna drop off Ben Simmons because he
Speaker 1: isn't not going to shoot. We're not worried about him
Speaker 1: shooting at all. And then they have enough side that
Speaker 1: most teams they'll drop off him, but he's still think
Speaker 1: he can still get to where he wants to go,
Speaker 1: you know, even though guys are giving him three and
Speaker 1: four steps. Celtics have enough side that they can still
Speaker 1: hold their own when he gets there. And then the
Speaker 1: other thing they do is they bring in Aaron Banes
Speaker 1: and say sign embid. You might dunk on him once,
Speaker 1: but the other ten possessions he's just gonna be up
Speaker 1: in your face for shooting and stupid stuff and taking
Speaker 1: these terrible shots. And then that's where Ebid just plays
Speaker 1: right into it because he's still, you know, is in
Speaker 1: the sense at this point in his career he wants
Speaker 1: to beat guys and go act guys. And we see this,
Speaker 1: you know, with certain guys and Aaron bans Is that
Speaker 1: guy Baines doesn't care if you dunks on him. Banes
Speaker 1: is like, that's fine, I'll shut you down on the
Speaker 1: other ten possessions. I have no issue in Toronto. We
Speaker 1: saw it the other night. They're starting to play them
Speaker 1: the exact same way. So Philadelphie's definitely get some problems
Speaker 1: and a lot of it does revolve around the shooting
Speaker 1: as well as they just don't have another creator off
Speaker 1: the dribble other than Simmons unless Bolts can get there,
Speaker 1: and then that's only two and I don't know that
Speaker 1: that's enough to win when you're you know, getting into
Speaker 1: the playoffs, and playoffs is being about, is about care,
Speaker 1: get in your own offense. If you can't do that,
Speaker 1: things that are going to break down and really get
Speaker 1: tough for you. I think it's fast thing. It's fasting.
Speaker 1: Let me I said that was the last thing. Why
Speaker 1: are they Why are the Wizards so bad? It just
Speaker 1: doesn't It's a lot of personality in one room, and
Speaker 1: Dwight Howard's coming back, and I don't know that that's
Speaker 1: going to make things any better, you know, to kind
Speaker 1: of conditioned at this point to believe that's probably gonna
Speaker 1: make things worse. I just it feels like it's one
Speaker 1: of those where they've been together too long to you know,
Speaker 1: we're going into year four is five of this same group.
Speaker 1: We have the same core guys all together. And when
Speaker 1: you when you're not winning at a high level, like
Speaker 1: say Golden State, is when it's the same guys together
Speaker 1: all the time, they just wear on each other and
Speaker 1: it's really time to break it up, and unfortunately wear
Speaker 1: Withking at it and you're saying, how are they going
Speaker 1: to break it up? They've got all these terrible contracts.
Speaker 1: They've only got five players with guaranteed salaries next year,
Speaker 1: and they're already over the salaries cap just those five players.
Speaker 1: So it's one of those where, if you look at it, it,
Speaker 1: I don't know how this gets better unless they can
Speaker 1: really get somebody to take on for every deal or
Speaker 1: on the quarter and just break things up. And I
Speaker 1: think that might be the direction I have to go
Speaker 1: is just break things up, go in a different direction
Speaker 1: and see if just change for change sake, spark something
Speaker 1: in Washington. Keith Smith, he's awesome stuff, great information, and
Speaker 1: I can't tell you how much I appreciate you joining
Speaker 1: us in the All Ball podcast. Absolutely thanks for having me.
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Speaker 1: u i P dot com slash Doug. This is a
Speaker 1: special trade guy I've been trying to get on the
Speaker 1: All Ball podcast and we'll have to do a longer
Speaker 1: version where he's gonna tell stories about playing overseas and
Speaker 1: giving it to dudes and UH and growing up in
Speaker 1: the d m V and all the guys he knows.
Speaker 1: But he's a he's a former pro bowler who was
Speaker 1: a tremendous, tremendous scoring point guard. He's turned into a
Speaker 1: skill development guru. He's a coach. He's got the McClinton
Speaker 1: Basketball Academy Worst of Team Takeover, he's got the McClinton
Speaker 1: All Stars. Uh from UH from Maryland, USA, and follow
Speaker 1: him on Twitter at d MAC Basketball, Darn McClinton joints
Speaker 1: us Uh Darren. Now, you guys have your own pod
Speaker 1: right now, which tell me about your own podcast that Jeff, Yes,
Speaker 1: we do. It's called the Hot Box and I started
Speaker 1: it um based on you know, there's still a lot
Speaker 1: of guys in this area we still played basketball in
Speaker 1: and go at it because we're still competitors, a lot
Speaker 1: of former former players. And afterwards we go into the sauna, man,
Speaker 1: and we just talked sports and talk junk and and
Speaker 1: you know, kick ideas off each other and argue and
Speaker 1: all of it encompassed, and you know, getting a sweat
Speaker 1: and and and and cooling off after the after you know,
Speaker 1: getting it in on the court. So you know, I like,
Speaker 1: you might as well just take that idea and and
Speaker 1: you know, get on the air with it. So, so
Speaker 1: who is doing it for about it a year. It's
Speaker 1: my It's myself and my brother. He's a former point
Speaker 1: guard at University of Maryland. So your brother was play Maryland.
Speaker 1: You played James Madison. So he was really better than you, right,
Speaker 1: So that's it starts with with that, is like, look,
Speaker 1: he was more highly recruited, more highly touted, and so
Speaker 1: that little inferior or the time plex I think it
Speaker 1: comes up all the time, right, it does? It does?
Speaker 1: We argue, We go back and forth. We uh, you know,
Speaker 1: some people that listened to the show, they asked who's better.
Speaker 1: You know, he's humble, and you know I got something
Speaker 1: to prove. So it comes up a lot. Okay, so
Speaker 1: let's let's get to a couple of things that I mean,
Speaker 1: you're perfect for this. Um uh, Let's start with the Wizards.
Speaker 1: They have John Wall Brad Beal. I don't, I don't really.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know Scott Brooks and we had him
Speaker 1: on the podcast, so he kind of explained the Dwight
Speaker 1: Howard thing, like, look but I don't I don't know
Speaker 1: when Dwight Howard since Orlando a long time ago. It
Speaker 1: hasn't really worked in terms of the team, but he
Speaker 1: hadn't played yet, so we can't blame their dysfunction on
Speaker 1: Dwight Howard. What the hell's the matter with the Whiz? Now?
Speaker 1: I have two things with the Wizards now. First off,
Speaker 1: there awful rebounded team. They're lasting, re total rebound um
Speaker 1: and the presence in the middle. Uh now marching Gore
Speaker 1: Toon who is now with the Clippers. They we traded
Speaker 1: him away and he's a former teammate of mine. We
Speaker 1: played together in Germany. He he wasn't the inside physical
Speaker 1: force that you you kind of want to see, but
Speaker 1: he was a total team guy man, and he he
Speaker 1: did a lot of a lot of things that don't
Speaker 1: show up in the statue that clearly the Wizards are
Speaker 1: missing right now. Um, Dwight Howard has yet to suit up,
Speaker 1: so I can't say anything more than he'll be a
Speaker 1: rin protector. He'll change that. Um, he'll be able to
Speaker 1: start the fast break immediately with the shot blocking ability
Speaker 1: and rebound ability. But uh, it's it's yet to be seen.
Speaker 1: He's supposed to debut on Friday against the when the
Speaker 1: Thunder come to town, so we'll see. But okay, but okay,
Speaker 1: so that's one. So rebounding is one, and Dwight Howard
Speaker 1: can rebound. Although like, look, the game has so changed
Speaker 1: now because the game is so spread out that you know,
Speaker 1: you have to you have to have a guy who runs.
Speaker 1: You have to have a guy who sprints to a rebound, right.
Speaker 1: You gotta Jordan Bell types guys that run into rebound
Speaker 1: both offensively and defensively. And the thing that they have
Speaker 1: with Gore Tott was like, look, he frustrated him because
Speaker 1: he's standing on there with with his hand up and um,
Speaker 1: and you know wants the ball, and those guys are like, look,
Speaker 1: that's not you know, in terms of efficiency wise, posting
Speaker 1: up is not a good is not is not terribly efficient.
Speaker 1: But there were other things that he brought. He brought toughness,
Speaker 1: he said, you know, he said good screens, which I
Speaker 1: think I think, you know, but loosen like like Andrew Bogat.
Speaker 1: People don't realize how important he was for the first
Speaker 1: championship for the Warriors, right because like that dude said
Speaker 1: great screens and sometimes the legal screens. So when you're
Speaker 1: guarding Steff, you don't have to worry about Steff. We
Speaker 1: had to worry about sometimes running into Andrew Bogat, who's
Speaker 1: a huge human being. Gore Todd had some of that.
Speaker 1: So maybe they undervalued him and we'll see how it
Speaker 1: works with with with the twelve. I guess the big question,
Speaker 1: maybe this is your second part. Can Wall and b
Speaker 1: O co exist? And that's my second part is the
Speaker 1: it's the locker room because you know, and you're you're
Speaker 1: a point guard like myself, and you know that leadership
Speaker 1: starts at the point guard position. And and just as
Speaker 1: recent as after the last game, I listened to the presser,
Speaker 1: the postgame pressor, and they were talking to John Wall,
Speaker 1: and he was stating, how, you know, it's up to him,
Speaker 1: he's got to, you know, galvanize these guys and get
Speaker 1: them get them together and and and get out of
Speaker 1: this slump. And then they talked to Bradley Bill and
Speaker 1: he's saying it's up to him that they've got he's
Speaker 1: got a galvinize the guys and bring them together, and
Speaker 1: he takes the blame for that. Um, I don't think
Speaker 1: it can be both of them. And so one is
Speaker 1: telling the truth and one is not so. And they're
Speaker 1: posted elite All Star players. And I'd be fine if
Speaker 1: they were saying if Wall said me and being Bill
Speaker 1: or me and Brad and then Bill said, yeah, me
Speaker 1: and John that we've gotta you know, we've got to
Speaker 1: get these guys raised, these guys level. But they were
Speaker 1: each saying me and and and I just there's something
Speaker 1: about that. And after the Clipper game. After the Clippers game,
Speaker 1: DC Rivers said, the first thing that Scotty Brooks said
Speaker 1: to him was, you guys really look like you all
Speaker 1: love planning with each other, and you know you play
Speaker 1: together as a team, So there's something to be said
Speaker 1: there as well. And I don't think that the locker
Speaker 1: room problems is a is a fixed by D twelve.
Speaker 1: He's not. He hasn't been a great locker room guy,
Speaker 1: you know in his past as well, So I don't
Speaker 1: think him coming into the myths. You know, he hasn't.
Speaker 1: He hasn't showed up yet. And and the togetherness is
Speaker 1: what they need. And he you know, he didn't he
Speaker 1: had to go on tour in China, UM when the
Speaker 1: team had their outing out in UH in California, so
Speaker 1: he wasn't there for that either. You know, there's there's
Speaker 1: a lot to be said with you know, continuity and
Speaker 1: cohesiveness that that starts in nof season three, when you
Speaker 1: got a new free agent coming in town. Why do
Speaker 1: you think, um, why do you think that the thunder
Speaker 1: has struggled? WHOA? I don't know whether they're gonna try
Speaker 1: to start uh shrewder and and and UM Westbrook together
Speaker 1: even when UM Robson comes back. I think Robson missing
Speaker 1: these two months is really hurting them. UM, great defender,
Speaker 1: great team guy, great blue guy. UH, and then bringing
Speaker 1: shrewder In, who's a starting point guard UM into you know,
Speaker 1: Russ's town, which is see I see. I think I
Speaker 1: think if you go back to when Russ had k
Speaker 1: D and they went to the finals, obviously James Harden
Speaker 1: is better than Shrewder. I'm not not sitting here, but
Speaker 1: but what the thunder guys told me, then Scotty told me,
Speaker 1: then the front office guys like, look, as good as
Speaker 1: Russ is as a point and he's dynamic, you put
Speaker 1: him off the ball where he doesn't have to worry
Speaker 1: about running things, just gets it and goes. And I
Speaker 1: think that whether they start him or not, I do
Speaker 1: think that they want that to be their finishing group.
Speaker 1: And you mentioned continuity, but like, look, if you don't
Speaker 1: have Russ for the whole preseason and now of a
Speaker 1: sudden you're trying to do it's hard on fly. It's
Speaker 1: like it's like Mark hell Folds trying to fix his
Speaker 1: jump shot on the fly. Like you need a long
Speaker 1: time together to get cohesiveness. And there's great expectations of
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook two years in row AFGENI and triple double.
Speaker 1: There's a great expectation that team because everybody thought, well
Speaker 1: Paul George's back second year, more cohesive, they'll start winning
Speaker 1: right away. I actually I still think that will work.
Speaker 1: My fear with the Thunder is there's this hope they're
Speaker 1: holding out hope for robertson coming back and being the
Speaker 1: same dude. You come aft off two surgeries and the
Speaker 1: same knee, You're not gonna be the same athletically. And
Speaker 1: that's his whole game is defense and rebounding. That that's
Speaker 1: really my fear with this team. I think the rest
Speaker 1: of the stuff kind of gets worked out. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: all about how you finish and that and not how
Speaker 1: you start. And you made a great point about you
Speaker 1: know what, which team with which lineup they want to
Speaker 1: finished games with UM and go down to stretch with.
Speaker 1: And I do think it will end up being shrewder
Speaker 1: and and Russ in there together. Uh, it'll take some time.
Speaker 1: It'll take time to iron out because you know, I
Speaker 1: worked with UM Jeremy Grant in the off season. He's
Speaker 1: from here as well, and you know he we were
Speaker 1: working on some pick and roll stuff and I I
Speaker 1: was telling him, I was like, you know, where where
Speaker 1: do you usually get it? And he kind of told
Speaker 1: me when you're dealing with Russ, you know, you just
Speaker 1: gotta be ready to get it whenever. You never, you know,
Speaker 1: you just gotta play off of him. So that's you know,
Speaker 1: that's different from you know, if if Shrewder's hand on
Speaker 1: the ball. So you know, there's some things that we'll
Speaker 1: we'll get ironed out. And I think, uh, down the stretch,
Speaker 1: they'll they'll be in the mix. Um. Yeah, but it's
Speaker 1: just it's gonna take. It's gonna take some time. Shrewder
Speaker 1: was gonna show the whole reseason. Do you like Lebron
Speaker 1: with the Lakers? Yes, Actually I do. I do. Um.
Speaker 1: I think Lebron is kind of coasting right now, and
Speaker 1: he's so good that he can do that because he's
Speaker 1: giving he's giving guys, you know, an opportunity to to
Speaker 1: really express themselves, Guys like Josh Hart, guys like uh
Speaker 1: Brandon Ingram. You know, they're coming into their own and
Speaker 1: and and I think that when it comes down to
Speaker 1: the nitty gritty, Lebron is just gonna take games over.
Speaker 1: And that's what that's what happens when you get towards
Speaker 1: playoff time and uh second half of the season after
Speaker 1: the Christmas break, so all after the All Star break,
Speaker 1: I think the Lakers will be fine. I think they'll
Speaker 1: be better, and I think they're still trying to. I
Speaker 1: agree with you, he's trying to figure out who can
Speaker 1: play and who can't play. I think they're trying to
Speaker 1: figure out, you know, Alonso or Rondo. They played Rondo
Speaker 1: down the stretch against Minnesota. I thought that was a mistake,
Speaker 1: even though Alonzo wasn't playing well that night, just because
Speaker 1: Alonzo can make he can make a catch and shoe
Speaker 1: jump shot. Rondo is doing so many other little things,
Speaker 1: but can't. You won't even take a catch and shoe
Speaker 1: jump shot. And they they do need, they need some
Speaker 1: of their shotmakers to jump up and make shots. I
Speaker 1: like Heart more off the bench than I do as
Speaker 1: a starter. I think sometimes his ceiling kind of gets exposed.
Speaker 1: And I know I'm talking a bad about guys from
Speaker 1: your area, but I'm not really talking bad about Heart.
Speaker 1: I think he's a really good player. I just think
Speaker 1: like that's a hard position. Like you know, Jimmy Butler
Speaker 1: can just jump up and shoot over him. He's just
Speaker 1: bigger and a little bit better, right, Um he's and
Speaker 1: he's an energy guy as well. Yes, you know, as
Speaker 1: you know energy guys. You know, if you play them
Speaker 1: long periods the time and long stretches, you know some
Speaker 1: some of their weaknesses do show. Yeah, No, I mean, look,
Speaker 1: that's the that's the part that I don't think. I
Speaker 1: don't think people do a good enough job on TV
Speaker 1: and sometimes on radio of understanding that that positions like
Speaker 1: there's different guys for different roles, and like a Josh
Speaker 1: Hart coming off the bench as a six man, even
Speaker 1: if he plays the exact same minutes as a starter,
Speaker 1: you're matching up usually against inferior players. He gives him
Speaker 1: a chance to ramp up the energy, kind of change
Speaker 1: the tempo of a game. There's a lot of starting card,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of guards, like like I would I
Speaker 1: would contend that Shrewder is the is another example of that.
Speaker 1: Like I don't love Shrewder playing thirty five minutes a game,
Speaker 1: playing forty minutes a game. But if he plays, you know,
Speaker 1: twenty five minutes a game, and you go, hey, man,
Speaker 1: when Russ is out, I want you to just go
Speaker 1: and try and score an attack. And when Russ is
Speaker 1: in the game, I need you to, you know, beyond
Speaker 1: the ball defensively so he can chill a little bit
Speaker 1: and I need you to facilitate a little more. I
Speaker 1: think that's sometimes guys have specific roles that they fit in.
Speaker 1: Some of it's about who they match up with, some
Speaker 1: of it's about kind of the pace of the game,
Speaker 1: and some of it's about just the makeup of guys.
Speaker 1: You have to know the makeup of those guys. And
Speaker 1: I kind of think that's what Lebron and frankly Luke
Speaker 1: Walton is trying to figure out, because like you and
Speaker 1: I know that you and I know this, and and
Speaker 1: other people don't. They see it, but they can't really
Speaker 1: express it. It's that last year with the Lakers, people
Speaker 1: weren't getting up for Laker games like they were crummy,
Speaker 1: like they were bad, and they had a bunch of
Speaker 1: young guys. Now you're now every game that you step
Speaker 1: on the floor of Lebron James, that's like a playoff game.
Speaker 1: And so you have no idea how Brandon Ingram is
Speaker 1: going to react in a real game or how For example,
Speaker 1: is Jimmy Butler like he ain't been playing that great
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden he plays out of his mind.
Speaker 1: Why because he's playing against Lebron James and the Lakers,
Speaker 1: a franchise he might want to play play with this
Speaker 1: season or next season, and he's trying to show out
Speaker 1: for them. I think that. I think that Luke and Lebron. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's a different It's the same sport, but it's
Speaker 1: a different game. Yeah, now that The thing about playing
Speaker 1: with a guy named a guy like Lebron is every
Speaker 1: possession when he kicks out to you, you're expected to
Speaker 1: make that shot, you know, and if you don't, if
Speaker 1: you can't consistently make it, you know, you're under that microscope.
Speaker 1: And now and now they're saying, you know, normally these
Speaker 1: guys are considered pretty good shooters, but you know, it's
Speaker 1: a more pressured shot when it's coming from Lebron because
Speaker 1: he needs you to knock that down, as you know,
Speaker 1: in your role with that team. And now they're saying
Speaker 1: that Lakers have you know, shooting woes him major problems
Speaker 1: on the perimeter. Uh where if guys were able to
Speaker 1: just relax and shoot their normal shot, you know, I
Speaker 1: think they shoot a higher percentage. It's it's tough to
Speaker 1: playing alongside Lebron, you know, no, no, listen, Chris Bosh. Uh,
Speaker 1: Miles Simon is one of my closest friends. I remember,
Speaker 1: you know, he was Chris Bosh's guru and Chris Bosh
Speaker 1: would say, like, look, Lebron's gonna get Lebron has no
Speaker 1: problem passing to people. He and he gives you a
Speaker 1: good path, he gives it to You're right in your
Speaker 1: shot pocket, right where you wanted. But you've better making
Speaker 1: the first half or he is not going to pass
Speaker 1: you in the second half like he just he You've
Speaker 1: got to earn his trust. If you earn his trust,
Speaker 1: he'll always find you. He does not care, but you've
Speaker 1: got to earn his trust. And I think those guys
Speaker 1: are struggling with the level of play being amped up
Speaker 1: and the level of importance of every shot, whether it's
Speaker 1: the pressure of it or the expectations of of Lebron. Now,
Speaker 1: are you a Lebron guy or a Jordan guy? Jordan guy?
Speaker 1: What Jordan's the ultimate competitor. Jordan's has that killer instinct.
Speaker 1: I compare Kobe more to Jordan's than I do Lebron
Speaker 1: to Jordan's. Um. I think if they play, if they
Speaker 1: were to played one on one, and I've seen and
Speaker 1: I've seen this, Uh people have brought this up. They
Speaker 1: played one on one, Jordan would win regardless of Lebron's Uh.
Speaker 1: Size advantage. I think Jordan would win because Jordan will
Speaker 1: cut your throat to beat you. I agree with you.
Speaker 1: I'm completely with you. It's it's a way of and
Speaker 1: I think it's it's basketball is so different than anything else,
Speaker 1: especially to basketball players generally. And you tell me if
Speaker 1: I'm wrong. Every level I've ever played at, the guy
Speaker 1: who's your best player at the end of the game,
Speaker 1: you give him the ball and sometimes even if it's
Speaker 1: a questionable shot, you have a feeling that he's gonna
Speaker 1: take it and he's gonna make it. And Lebron it's
Speaker 1: just different in that he has always been willing to
Speaker 1: let his teammates make those shots, even if he starts
Speaker 1: with the basketball. He's told people like he gets great
Speaker 1: joy out of other guys making shots, other guys win
Speaker 1: winning games. It's just that it's a different sort of wiring.
Speaker 1: And people equated to Magic Johnson, but people good but Magic.
Speaker 1: We had the killer instinct, Dude, Magic would he made
Speaker 1: the biggest guy hook in the lane. And so I
Speaker 1: do think that for the best of the best, like
Speaker 1: those guys are licensed killers. And I think I don't
Speaker 1: think Lebron, even though he's made more shots recently. Um,
Speaker 1: I don't think he's wired the same way as those guys.
Speaker 1: And that's why I think a lot of former players,
Speaker 1: plus you know, we we saw Jordans, We lived the
Speaker 1: Jordan thing. We understood all the different shots and ways
Speaker 1: in which guys were draped all over him. The game
Speaker 1: was different. You couldn't play downhill, you couldn't play you know,
Speaker 1: guys were hand checking you, and there was a powerfulward
Speaker 1: in the lane as well as the center in the lane.
Speaker 1: And now oftentimes there's nobody in the lane, and so
Speaker 1: it's a much easier path for for him. So it's
Speaker 1: a different sport. But I tend to agree with you.
Speaker 1: All right, here's here's a question, Um, who's better Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant or Lebron James right now? Ah, that's the tough one. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go with Lebron. Kevin Durant a better scorer,
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant, He's closing the gap and I would say
Speaker 1: that probably equal as far as a defender, Um, Lebron
Speaker 1: a little bit of reputation defensively, A little bit reputation
Speaker 1: defensively because he can't guard guards anymore. He doesn't move
Speaker 1: like he used to and he's smartly you're watching now.
Speaker 1: He guards a lot of centers, so he can take
Speaker 1: some plays off. But you know, I think his story
Speaker 1: right on a money A lot of his block shots
Speaker 1: are from chasing and a lot of his block shots
Speaker 1: come from off the ball where Kevin Durant, she'll get
Speaker 1: on the ball block shots. And he's and you're right.
Speaker 1: You know his wingspan is he's able to slide his
Speaker 1: feet with he moves like a guard. Umh Lebron used
Speaker 1: to move like that, uh, you know, some years some
Speaker 1: years back. But I just think um Lebron's ability to
Speaker 1: guard from the five two some twos you know, UM
Speaker 1: that versatility too, and to be able to to bang
Speaker 1: in the post a little bit, uh and be more
Speaker 1: physical than um than k D. I say it's almost
Speaker 1: almost even on the defensive end, but overall and effect
Speaker 1: on the winning uh to go along with those skills
Speaker 1: offensively and defensively, I give the slight edge to Lebron
Speaker 1: right now. Even though Katie's a home guy, homegrown, No,
Speaker 1: I'm asking, I have all homegrown questions for you. Okay,
Speaker 1: here here's one. Are you are you willing to admit
Speaker 1: that that Carmelo is going to ruin the Rockets. It's
Speaker 1: it's looking that way. And I said, and I said
Speaker 1: this on my podcast. My brother was saying that he
Speaker 1: was going to ruin the the Rockets, and I was like,
Speaker 1: you can't as offensively minded as d' antonio and the
Speaker 1: Rockets are that you you've got to think that he's
Speaker 1: gonna add some value to them and uh and give
Speaker 1: Chris Paul some really good options on offense. But you know,
Speaker 1: his lack of defense and his lack of conditioning is
Speaker 1: it's glaring right now. And you know, with with Harden out,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's looking bad for the for the Rockets,
Speaker 1: there's you know, they're trying everything they can to get
Speaker 1: bring Butler in. Um. I don't know how he is
Speaker 1: as far as the locker room guy. UM. I know that,
Speaker 1: I know that Chris Paul is a is a fiery
Speaker 1: type leader. Um and and I don't know how that's
Speaker 1: working out, but he's he seems to be detrimental to
Speaker 1: that team right now. Yeah, I mean, I I do
Speaker 1: think I actually think some of it. Over the last
Speaker 1: couple of years, there's been more effort defensively. I think
Speaker 1: his body now is kind of shot and he's kind
Speaker 1: of washed. And I also think his game, he was
Speaker 1: the best score in the league. What what Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: is now? He was you could go back five seven
Speaker 1: years ago, but remember he was amazing in the mid range,
Speaker 1: in the post and probably the weakest part of his game,
Speaker 1: but he could do it was was shooting the three.
Speaker 1: And now once he's become kind of a secondary or
Speaker 1: even tertiary player on offense, it's it's much more about
Speaker 1: shooting jump shots. And that's that's not his game. Like
Speaker 1: his his game takes to give me the ball, get
Speaker 1: out of the way. Yes, and and you know what
Speaker 1: people do understand, right, this is the it's like the
Speaker 1: hardest part of for you for example, right, and for
Speaker 1: people don't know, Darren was a great I think scoring
Speaker 1: point guard. Right that you could get the ball and
Speaker 1: you could go get buckets and probably if you were
Speaker 1: coming out of college now, I think you would have
Speaker 1: an even better shot of making it. Is that a
Speaker 1: fair fair way of especially as a backup guard, to
Speaker 1: come in and just get buckets? Huh Okay. So, so
Speaker 1: as as the game is evolved, it's kind of evolved
Speaker 1: in your favorites evolved against him. But the hardest part
Speaker 1: about making it in the pros when you're when you're
Speaker 1: coming in as a backup is all of us from
Speaker 1: the time we started, like fifth grade, sixth grade, we
Speaker 1: had the ball in our hands a bunch. We had
Speaker 1: a ton of a volume of touches, a volume of possessions,
Speaker 1: a volume of opportunities to take shots. And now you
Speaker 1: get to the NBA and you're like, hey, listen, you're
Speaker 1: gonna play against better players. You're gonna play half as
Speaker 1: much time as you used to. You're gonna have to
Speaker 1: shoot from further out against better competition, and you're gonna
Speaker 1: get a quarter of the shots you used to and
Speaker 1: you got to shoot a higher percentage than That's a
Speaker 1: really hard he's having to make that adjustment as like
Speaker 1: a thirty whatever he is, thirty three year old man,
Speaker 1: Like that's thirty four year old, thirty five year old dude.
Speaker 1: That's really hard to do when you've done one thing
Speaker 1: what he has been a go to score, get me
Speaker 1: twenty five shots a game since birth and now the
Speaker 1: sudden old dog new tricks. It's really really hard to learn.
Speaker 1: And his body is a little shot and his game
Speaker 1: doesn't fit the way the Rockets or really the NBA
Speaker 1: is trending. You're right, you can't. It's it's very hard.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say you can't, but it's very hard.
Speaker 1: Like you said, to ask a volume shot guy to
Speaker 1: become a corner three jump shooter and be efficient in
Speaker 1: a less amount of time with the less amount it's it's,
Speaker 1: it's it's very hard to do. All right. Did his
Speaker 1: podcast called God of his Caliber? That's that's the leading
Speaker 1: scoring team USA history. And you know, with all the
Speaker 1: accolades and the way he's gotten it done in the past,
Speaker 1: every everybody said, everybody says, hey, I'll sacrifice, I want
Speaker 1: to win a championship. And then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: you're getting five shots a game and maybe you're out
Speaker 1: at the end of the fourth quarter. You're like, but
Speaker 1: that's that's not really the way I saw it playing. Right.
Speaker 1: Here's here's the most important question that you're going to
Speaker 1: use on the hot box on your next podcast. The
Speaker 1: best player from the d m V to never make
Speaker 1: it is who to never make it? Yes? Like, like
Speaker 1: in California, there's a guy named Jimmy Man, and there's
Speaker 1: Shake Cotton right. Shake Cotton is on the cover Sports
Speaker 1: Illustrated eighth grade right. And Shay was left handed, beast
Speaker 1: six five when he was like a freshman in high
Speaker 1: school and never played the game in the NBA. So
Speaker 1: when I say didn't make it, you could have made
Speaker 1: it and played a little bit in college, but made
Speaker 1: it to the league. And you're like, everybody who grew
Speaker 1: up around here knows this dude should have made it.
Speaker 1: Whether it was drugs or women, or bad luck or
Speaker 1: making the decisions off the court, on the court with
Speaker 1: coaching or whatever. He never made it. Who's Who's your guy?
Speaker 1: There are a lot of those cases from from from
Speaker 1: the DC area. This is this is an unbelievable hot
Speaker 1: bed for basketball. It's a tough question. I would have
Speaker 1: to say, Um, if I was to go with one,
Speaker 1: it would be Stacy Robinson Sr. Stacy Robinson's a year
Speaker 1: tell me god Heim. As a player, it was McDonald's
Speaker 1: all Americans, you know, his parade, all Americans, all that
Speaker 1: out of Dunbar High School here in Washington, d C.
Speaker 1: He was bigger. Phelps called him the best high school
Speaker 1: player in the country, hands down, coming out of high school.
Speaker 1: And you know, he had some issue substance abuse issues
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, behavioral things that kept him from
Speaker 1: you know, even playing in college. So you know it's
Speaker 1: stopped after high school. And who who It's scary to know,
Speaker 1: you know how far he would have taken his game
Speaker 1: if he didn't have those things in place. And it's
Speaker 1: it's a lot of guys uh like that, but that's
Speaker 1: the one that would stand out for me, uh first
Speaker 1: and foremost. Now, now you are super close, you're super
Speaker 1: close with franchise with Steven Francis, who of course did
Speaker 1: make it, But I would say the lasting image of
Speaker 1: Franchise is a guy who didn't live up to his potential.
Speaker 1: Was it just off the court? Is that? Is that? Why?
Speaker 1: Is it? Why? Why? Why did Steven Francis not last
Speaker 1: as long in the NBA or have as big an
Speaker 1: impact as they should have? It was also injury. Um.
Speaker 1: A lot of Steve's game was predicated on athleticism and explosiveness. UM.
Speaker 1: And you know guys like uh Stadomeyer come to mind,
Speaker 1: Mcdyce come to mind when they had that micro fracture
Speaker 1: surgery that takes away their explosiveness. You know the difference
Speaker 1: between Steve was six to six three on a good night.
Speaker 1: And these guys were you know, so they can kind
Speaker 1: of change their game and still be effective. But it's
Speaker 1: hard when you're um, when you're when you're a guard,
Speaker 1: an explosive point guard at that and and that is
Speaker 1: in your game and a lot of that is taken
Speaker 1: away from you. So I would say, you know, a
Speaker 1: combination of those two. Yeah, he's bad boy though, whet
Speaker 1: he Oh my goodness, Yeah, I've he could do some
Speaker 1: things athletically that I you know, I could only only
Speaker 1: dream of and have never seen before. We used to
Speaker 1: work out together in the summertimes, and you know, running
Speaker 1: a four hundred, he was doing it at track star level,
Speaker 1: you know, Olympic track star level without stretching. It was
Speaker 1: I had, like I got stories for days, you know that,
Speaker 1: And I know we're gonna we're gonna tell some of
Speaker 1: these stories in an upcoming podcasts. You're just a ton
Speaker 1: of great information. By the way, what's funny about Steve
Speaker 1: Francis is you'd be like, did he have a good
Speaker 1: NBA career for like, like, dude average to over twenty
Speaker 1: game three different years, like for a six three guard.
Speaker 1: And that's one of those things to which you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's weird. It's it's like Stephon Marbury, who has
Speaker 1: like a museum in China, right, Like Stephan Marby was
Speaker 1: an All Star. Like but Stepan Marbury could have been,
Speaker 1: you know, a perennial All Star, could have been, but
Speaker 1: I think he didn't live up to it. And he
Speaker 1: had some of the off the court stuff and also
Speaker 1: his game was so based on athleticism as well that
Speaker 1: the lack of development of some of the basketball IQ
Speaker 1: stuff and when to do what I think, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of hurt him. But um, Steve Francis was an
Speaker 1: unbelievable player. Man, what a what a talent? How can
Speaker 1: someone download your podcast? All right, it's uh, we're right now.
Speaker 1: We're on Facebook Live. The page is First Amendment Sports
Speaker 1: with the number one st Amendment Sports. And as soon
Speaker 1: as you like the page and follow the page, the
Speaker 1: podcast will come on. We go every Tuesday every Tuesday night. UM,
Speaker 1: we will soon be on UM. Well have have it
Speaker 1: on our YouTube page as well, UM for everybody to download.
Speaker 1: But it's it's just it's a great, uh show about
Speaker 1: the DMV area. UM red Skins, We're all heart Redskin fans, Wizards, nationals,
Speaker 1: uh in capitals. You know, we just we just got
Speaker 1: to say, are you gonna talk keep you don't, don't
Speaker 1: don't start talking hockey. Come on, man, you got to
Speaker 1: talking hockey. Well, our show is the hot Box and
Speaker 1: it's a it's a basketball they show. We also have, uh,
Speaker 1: we also have other other podcasts on under First Amendment Sports,
Speaker 1: which our producer, he does a really good job of
Speaker 1: covering all everything d n V. But but we go
Speaker 1: national to I like to talk about the NBA as
Speaker 1: a whole and the whole n C Double A and yeah,
Speaker 1: we've got the We cover the w C a C
Speaker 1: which is the Catholic League here and in d d
Speaker 1: n V UM. So we just got a two year
Speaker 1: deal to covert that conference. You know, you know all
Speaker 1: the games that we're gonna be streaming them. So I'm
Speaker 1: pretty excited about what we got going forward. Well, listen,
Speaker 1: I'm happy for You'm happy that you're you're helping so
Speaker 1: many guys trying and fulfill their basketball dreams. More importantly,
Speaker 1: happy they'd love to catch up. That's because I don't
Speaker 1: what what you don't know is like I always came
Speaker 1: in with the mentality. Wherever I was, I struggled to
Speaker 1: be come be friendly with other guys that played my position,
Speaker 1: you know, like in college when I was in Oklahoma State,
Speaker 1: Joe Atkins one of best friends, but he played he
Speaker 1: played the two guards he played with me, right, So
Speaker 1: when when you and I were going at it with
Speaker 1: whether it's in the c BA or with the Oklahoma Storm,
Speaker 1: we're on the same team. Like, I just struggle with him,
Speaker 1: Like this guy is so cool to me and he's
Speaker 1: so nice and I like him so much, but we're
Speaker 1: fighting for the same minute. It was such a conflict.
Speaker 1: But but but I I learned from watching you that like, look,
Speaker 1: you can you can want to kick somebody's ass every
Speaker 1: day and still be boys with them, right, and and
Speaker 1: still really really enjoy their presence. But I I will
Speaker 1: tell you that before I met you, I had never
Speaker 1: experienced that. And so after our first year with the
Speaker 1: Storm together, I went and I played in Russia, and
Speaker 1: I'll never forget the other point guard was the Lithuanian dude,
Speaker 1: and I was like, I want to kick his ass
Speaker 1: and practice every day, and but I was just trying
Speaker 1: to be cool, like it didn't and he was having
Speaker 1: none of it, like none of it. Like he didn't like.
Speaker 1: He wouldn't look at me, he wouldn't talk to me,
Speaker 1: he wouldn't shake hands with me. They would speak in
Speaker 1: Russian about me. And then I learned to speak some Russians,
Speaker 1: so I knew he was talking on me or whatever.
Speaker 1: But it was the It was the one thing that
Speaker 1: I took from you, which is you can absolutely try
Speaker 1: and be a killer and earned minutes for somebody in
Speaker 1: practice or in games, and still just be a good
Speaker 1: dude afterwards, because we all just love ball and love
Speaker 1: to hang out. And it's something that I I try
Speaker 1: and share with other people that I learned about being
Speaker 1: a true professional. For sure, you hit the nail on
Speaker 1: the head man. I've I've played so many places just
Speaker 1: like you. And you know that I've I've got teammates
Speaker 1: that you know, I still keep in contact with and
Speaker 1: you know, for great relationships with. You know, we played
Speaker 1: with some great talented guys, even at the same position.
Speaker 1: You know, your Randy Livingston, You're the Wan, we Rusty LaRue,
Speaker 1: guys like that. You know that we're all great players,
Speaker 1: And think about it, we all played that that same position.
Speaker 1: And I'm still you know, in contact and and you know,
Speaker 1: just just goes to show even if we still stay
Speaker 1: in contact and I've been following what you're doing, you're
Speaker 1: doing great things. Then you know, I'd like to catch
Speaker 1: you up on a lot of the stuff that I've
Speaker 1: been doing as well. So all right, thank you for
Speaker 1: having Yeah, well we'll do that offline. I do will
Speaker 1: tell you this about Randy Rutherford. You know, you and
Speaker 1: I did battle. We battled off like thirteen dudes to
Speaker 1: make the Oaklahoma to make the Idaho Stampede. Right, you've
Speaker 1: played there the year before and Aubrey Reese was hurt,
Speaker 1: so you and I kind of made the team. We
Speaker 1: did team pictures. I don't know if you remember this.
Speaker 1: We did team pictures of the Downtown Arena. And Brian Gates,
Speaker 1: who is now an assistant with the with the with
Speaker 1: the King's Right, he calls me. He's like, yo, dude, Yo,
Speaker 1: You and d Clinton you're are guys. You made it. Like,
Speaker 1: why don't you and Angie get together? My girlfriend who
Speaker 1: was now his wife, driving up from Oklahoma like you
Speaker 1: we can share you hauls like straight bet right, So
Speaker 1: we go and we take the we take the team
Speaker 1: picture and I looked down at that little La vomitorium.
Speaker 1: We're dudes walk on and off the court, and I
Speaker 1: see this tall dude and I was like, that's Randy Livingston.
Speaker 1: I just got cut. And we go and play the
Speaker 1: College of Southern Idaho and where it was gonna be.
Speaker 1: It was a scrimmage right before you're gonna play opener.
Speaker 1: And all of a sudden, I go from like battling
Speaker 1: you for minutes to not even taking off the sweats.
Speaker 1: And I was like, dude, why didn't they Why did
Speaker 1: they take me on this trip if they weren't even
Speaker 1: gonna play me? And yeah, so, but I love Randy
Speaker 1: to death. Uh he was. He was one of those
Speaker 1: guys that I know he made it to the league.
Speaker 1: But man, if he hadn't heard his knee at ABC
Speaker 1: D camp, what what what could have happened? We gotta run, Darren,
Speaker 1: thanks so much for doing us. Love what you're doing
Speaker 1: in the d MB, and we'll talk to you real soon. Hey,
Speaker 1: thanks thanks for having that's hit for all ball. Remember
Speaker 1: not only download, subscribe, and rate, but make sure you
Speaker 1: tune into the Doug Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio,
Speaker 1: The I Heart Radio apples Serious XM on a daily basis.
Speaker 1: It's three to six Eastern time, twelve three Pacific in
Speaker 1: the meantime. Next week we'll do a recap of that
Speaker 1: incredible showdown in the Annapolis. What we make for the
Speaker 1: elite programs in college basketball, seeing them bang heads on
Speaker 1: on on the hardwood floor for the first time. I'm
Speaker 1: Doug Gottlieb. This is all ballot