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Speaker 1: welcome to Lakers Tonight, presented by fan Duel. Here on
Speaker 1: the volume, I am Jason Tim. Happy Monday, everybody. I
Speaker 1: hope you all had a great weekend. I hope you
Speaker 1: enjoyed the super Duel Super Bowl. I used fan Duel
Speaker 1: to bet a hundred dollars on Rams minus four and
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Speaker 1: So obviously I'm I'm feeling like a high rule high roller.
Speaker 1: But we're gonna talk basketball today. We're gonna talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about this report that came out in The
Speaker 1: Athletic about Genie Buss in her newfound rediscovered reliance on
Speaker 1: Magic Johnson. Uh. Then we're gonna talk a little bit
Speaker 1: about James Harden and him missing his first opportunity to
Speaker 1: play with the Sixers as well as the All Star Game,
Speaker 1: whether I think that's something or nothing. And then if
Speaker 1: you stick around to the end, we're gonna do our
Speaker 1: first ever edition of the Power Rankings, which we're gonna
Speaker 1: call Timp's Top Ten, because obviously that's what we should
Speaker 1: call it. So we're gonna try that if you stick
Speaker 1: around to the end. But let's start with the Lakers.
Speaker 1: So I'm not even gonna call it a report because
Speaker 1: this was on the record. This was Genie bust being
Speaker 1: quoted in The Athletic essentially saying that she very much
Speaker 1: has leaned a lot on Magic Johnson this year in
Speaker 1: all of the uh drama that has surrounded the Lakers,
Speaker 1: and it was immediately discouraging for anybody who's been following
Speaker 1: the Lakers over the course of this stretch. I've been
Speaker 1: covering the Lakers now for four years, and before we
Speaker 1: go any further, I just really quickly wanted to read
Speaker 1: off the highlight reel of the Laker front office and
Speaker 1: ownership group over the course of this four year stretch,
Speaker 1: because I think it does a nice job of framing
Speaker 1: what I'm gonna try to say here. Now, again, this
Speaker 1: is just in the last four years. And yes, every
Speaker 1: NBA front office has black marks, every NBA front office
Speaker 1: has made mistakes, but this is genuinely impressive. So for starters.
Speaker 1: In the summer of two thousand eighteen, they let Julius
Speaker 1: Randall walk for nothing. Mind you, this was the seventh
Speaker 1: overall pick, a legitimate lottery player who was trending in
Speaker 1: the right direction, and the Lakers just didn't want to
Speaker 1: deal with whatever was associated with keeping him, whether it
Speaker 1: was his attitude, whether it was the money, whether it
Speaker 1: was the complication of trying to sign and trade him.
Speaker 1: They just let him walk. Shortly thereafter, they let Brook
Speaker 1: Lopez walk. Brook Lopez the center who could shoot, which
Speaker 1: obviously made a ton of sense with Lebron James, but
Speaker 1: they decided to let him walk. He said on the
Speaker 1: record later that year that he wanted to stay in
Speaker 1: l A and they didn't extend the offer to him,
Speaker 1: and as a result, the Lakers ended up playing a
Speaker 1: thirty six year old Tyson Chandler for the vast majority
Speaker 1: of that season alongside JaVale McGee. And they were desperate
Speaker 1: for having competent front court play and the option is
Speaker 1: right there in front of him, they let him walk.
Speaker 1: Then they signed Lance Stevenson and Michael Beasley because Magic
Speaker 1: Johnson had the genius idea of getting the basketball out
Speaker 1: of Lebron James hands. Mind you, this was about a
Speaker 1: month after he led the Calves to the finals again
Speaker 1: with the ball in his hands, the galaxy brain idea
Speaker 1: of taking the ball out of Lebron's hands that Magic
Speaker 1: Johnson had in that summer. Then they at the deadline,
Speaker 1: Panic traded Ivica Zoo bats for Mike Muscala, which Zbach
Speaker 1: is one of the better backup centers that you can
Speaker 1: find in the league. And Mike Muscala basically was just
Speaker 1: a big guy who could shoot and didn't make any
Speaker 1: shots with the Lakers. Another disaster. Then, going into that
Speaker 1: off season, they traded Danny Green in the first round
Speaker 1: pick for Dennis Schroeder. Which again I understand the idea there,
Speaker 1: this idea of getting playmaking around Lebron, but that was
Speaker 1: the first step in the transition from the Lakers away
Speaker 1: from being a big team that had shooting to a
Speaker 1: small team and in the case of Dennis Shrewder, a
Speaker 1: huge part of why the Lakers had such spacing problems
Speaker 1: in that season. They also signed Montrese Harrold with the
Speaker 1: mid level exception that year. Again Montrese Harold a clutch client.
Speaker 1: So we had back to back off seasons where we
Speaker 1: didn't look for the best player, we looked for a
Speaker 1: clutch client to join the team in that mid level
Speaker 1: exception spot. They ditched their rim protecting bigs and Dwight
Speaker 1: Howard and JaVale McGee for slower, smaller big small like
Speaker 1: Montrese Harrold and big and slow like Marcus Al. Don't
Speaker 1: really understand why they did that, didn't make any sense.
Speaker 1: The Dwight and Javaial thing worked great. They just decided
Speaker 1: to switch things up. They then you have the Rush
Speaker 1: trade and everything that has been wrapped into that. I'm
Speaker 1: not even gonna get into it, but the Alex Crusoe
Speaker 1: decision to let him walk was very much attached to
Speaker 1: the rush trade. Now, looking at this, I'm not even
Speaker 1: sure that Taylor Horton Tucker is. Although I'm higher on
Speaker 1: him than most, he's having a rough season. I'm not
Speaker 1: even sure if he was the right guy for the
Speaker 1: Lakers to invest in financially. And then the last part
Speaker 1: this last offseason, you're desperate as a fan watching the
Speaker 1: team sign a big guy, sign somebody who's six seven
Speaker 1: and can run and jump. Nope, the only wings they
Speaker 1: signed were Trevor Reza who's old, and Carmelo Anthony, who's old,
Speaker 1: both of which were obviously going to be in adequate
Speaker 1: for what the Lakers needed out of that position. And
Speaker 1: instead they signed a million guards who can't defend and
Speaker 1: are and have gaping holes in the important areas of
Speaker 1: the game. Again, all those things I just read are
Speaker 1: just in the last four seasons. And that makes sense
Speaker 1: when you look at it from the perspective of the
Speaker 1: fact that the three biggest influencing like influential forces that
Speaker 1: are guiding Genie Buss and her decision making are Magic
Speaker 1: Johnson literally, the guy who had the genius idea of
Speaker 1: getting the ball out of Lebron's hands, and Kurt Rambis,
Speaker 1: the guy who went into Frank Vogel's coaching meeting and
Speaker 1: said more DeAndre Jordan's please. And Rob Polinka, who's obviously
Speaker 1: more in the trenches than those guys are, but in
Speaker 1: terms of when you compare him to the rest of
Speaker 1: the league, is far from the best at that specific
Speaker 1: skill set. And I don't think it's a coincidence. I
Speaker 1: think it's a it's a glaring lack of self awareness.
Speaker 1: You know, it's funny. I was joking with my wife earlier,
Speaker 1: like you remodeled the house in two thousand nineteen, and
Speaker 1: I had a bunch of experience remodeling houses because that's
Speaker 1: what I did at the time, but this was the
Speaker 1: first one I ever remodeled for myself, and going into
Speaker 1: we had a budget, and I had to decide which
Speaker 1: things I would do and which things I would outsource.
Speaker 1: And I decided to do the obvious things that I
Speaker 1: could do. I could paint, I could swing a sledgehammer.
Speaker 1: I could use a rate to do some landscaping. I
Speaker 1: could install some cabinets. What I could not do was
Speaker 1: plumbing an electrical I would have spent hours on YouTube,
Speaker 1: and chances are I would never have gotten capable enough
Speaker 1: of doing an adequate job on those things in the
Speaker 1: way that a professional could, because the professional studies it
Speaker 1: every single day, because the professional is in the trenches,
Speaker 1: because the professional uses continuing education to stay up on
Speaker 1: all of the modern areas of their profession. And that's
Speaker 1: what the Lakers need to be doing. Magic Johnson is
Speaker 1: like me calling a plumber that hasn't worked since night.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure that. Yes, he has plumbing experience, but
Speaker 1: Magic Johnson's retired. Do you think Magic Johnson is in
Speaker 1: the weeds on lead pass watching all these teams, trying
Speaker 1: to get a feel for what's working in the modern NBA.
Speaker 1: Do you think Kurt Rambis is doing that? Do you
Speaker 1: think Kurt Rambis watched DeAndre Jordan play much before he
Speaker 1: tried to force Frank Vogel into playing him more. And
Speaker 1: then Rob Polinka, the guy who is you know, I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna he's your He's more along the lines of
Speaker 1: someone who's done good and bad over this stretch, So
Speaker 1: I don't want to slander him to too much of
Speaker 1: an extent, But he's not in the trenches the way
Speaker 1: some of these other guys are. But it all kind
Speaker 1: of comes back to Genie Buss and her insistence on
Speaker 1: leaning on what's comfortable for her. It'd be like if
Speaker 1: I needed plumbing, but I decided to call my dad
Speaker 1: to help me do it. I don't understand why I
Speaker 1: would do that. He's not the man for the job.
Speaker 1: All there is there is familiarity, But that familiarity is
Speaker 1: all that matters to Genie Buss, and that extends to
Speaker 1: even Lebron and a d who clearly, with their personnel
Speaker 1: recommendation that they're making, are saying, let's sign clutch guys,
Speaker 1: when very clearly coming into the season that mid level
Speaker 1: exception needed to be used on a big wing, and
Speaker 1: instead of it being Rudy Gay, a guy who's big
Speaker 1: and can do big guy stuff, it was Kendrick Nutt,
Speaker 1: yet another little guard who's offensively oriented. And that's really
Speaker 1: troubling because you've seen as Laker fans what you get
Speaker 1: when you get a grinder, when you get a guy
Speaker 1: who's really in the trenches. The Laker scouting department, for instance,
Speaker 1: is one of the best in the league. Those guys
Speaker 1: find incredible gems in the undrafted class in the G League.
Speaker 1: In the second round in the late first round. Their
Speaker 1: track record is unassailable. You know that there is a
Speaker 1: work that's being done behind the scenes to locate those guys.
Speaker 1: But the top three guys that are influencing Laker personnel
Speaker 1: decisions are literally three people that aren't doing the work.
Speaker 1: They are family friends, They are close and familiar to
Speaker 1: Genie Bus. They aren't the right people for the job.
Speaker 1: You know, and say what you want. There's there's this
Speaker 1: war that happens on Twitter between like the blog boys
Speaker 1: and the people who have a real basketball background. But
Speaker 1: say what you want about the blog boys. Those guys
Speaker 1: are working. Those guys are watching games. Sometimes they watch
Speaker 1: too many spreadsheets alongside the games, but they're watching games.
Speaker 1: That's what the Lakers need, not necessarily one of those guys,
Speaker 1: but somebody with the basketball background that actually is in
Speaker 1: the trenches, that is traveling around and watching games in Europe,
Speaker 1: that is constantly on NBA League Pass, watching dozens and
Speaker 1: dozens of games every week, not just games that the
Speaker 1: Lakers playing, and actually doing the work that you need
Speaker 1: to do to be a successful general manager in this league.
Speaker 1: It doesn't take a lot to look at the landscape
Speaker 1: of the league and understand that the Lakers ditched all
Speaker 1: their size and that was gonna be a problem. That's
Speaker 1: literally why all of us were pleading for Wesley Matthews,
Speaker 1: or pleading for Ruddy Gay, or pleading for James Nis
Speaker 1: or whoever it was. We were pleading for the summer
Speaker 1: when we just wanted somebody who was tall on the
Speaker 1: team because we watched the games, because we pay attention
Speaker 1: to the league pass because we see what works in
Speaker 1: the NBA these days, and that's concerning there. You know,
Speaker 1: Like I said in the last show, Rob Polinka had
Speaker 1: pointed out that everybody needs to look in the mirror,
Speaker 1: and Genie Bust needs to be the next person to
Speaker 1: look in the mirror because far too often, and that's
Speaker 1: what's so crazy about this story from the Athletic in
Speaker 1: terms of just being tone deaf, How is it that,
Speaker 1: with everything that's going on, you thought it was a
Speaker 1: good idea to go on the record that the that
Speaker 1: the guy you're leaning on right now is the same
Speaker 1: guy who made a fool of himself quitting on the
Speaker 1: franchise literally during a game last in the in the
Speaker 1: two thousand nineteen season. Again, you need to apply to
Speaker 1: a certain amount of respect to Magic Johnson for what
Speaker 1: he accomplished in the league. I'm not trying to circumvent
Speaker 1: that at all. He's the best point guard to ever
Speaker 1: play the game. He deserves all the requisite respect. However,
Speaker 1: this dude is not a guy who should be making
Speaker 1: NBA personnel decisions in the year two. Neither is Kurt
Speaker 1: Rambis and neither is Kurt Polinka or Rob Polinka. So
Speaker 1: Jennie Bust needs to wake up and learn from her
Speaker 1: scouting department and find people that are actually willing to
Speaker 1: do the work on that front, because those are the
Speaker 1: guys that can look at Lebron in the face and
Speaker 1: be like, hey, actually you don't want Russ. I've watched
Speaker 1: every game he's played in the last three years, and
Speaker 1: he's one of the worst defensive players in the league
Speaker 1: when you factor in his lack of focus. That was
Speaker 1: a conversation that would have happened if it was Massi
Speaker 1: Uxurie in the front office and not Rob Polinka, and
Speaker 1: so that that that's the next area of improvement here.
Speaker 1: It's funny looking back because the Laker fans literally protested
Speaker 1: outside of Staples Center in the summer of but there
Speaker 1: was this little lightning in a bottle that was caught
Speaker 1: with that team that won the title, and it diverted
Speaker 1: the focus away from the travesty that was take place
Speaker 1: with the ownership group in the front office and bought
Speaker 1: them a ton of a margin for error. But they've
Speaker 1: made so many mistakes in the time since then that
Speaker 1: they have literally undone everything that that team had built.
Speaker 1: And that's really unfortunate, but it's the reality of the situation.
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Speaker 1: hundred gambler dot net in West Virginia. Alright, moving on
Speaker 1: to James Harden. So obviously there's a question of whether
Speaker 1: or not James Harden is dealing with something significant because
Speaker 1: he's it's been announced that he's not going to play
Speaker 1: again before the deadline and that he's going to miss
Speaker 1: the All Star break. And I think this is a
Speaker 1: huge nothing burger, for lack of a better term, you know,
Speaker 1: I think there are two big angles to this. First
Speaker 1: of all, I think Darryl Moray knows that James Harden
Speaker 1: has struggled with fatigue and injury at the end of seasons.
Speaker 1: Before last season with his hamstring breaking down, and then
Speaker 1: in previous seasons. I mean, we don't have to get
Speaker 1: into it, but this guy has one of the most
Speaker 1: miss serable playoff resumes that any NBA superstar in NBA
Speaker 1: and in the history of the league is put together
Speaker 1: and specifically at the end of series. I did a
Speaker 1: thing on hard in a long time ago that if
Speaker 1: you take a look at his numbers in the early
Speaker 1: games of a series compared to the end games of
Speaker 1: a series. They foll up a cliff and some of
Speaker 1: that fatigue related. Some of that's his lack of ingenuity
Speaker 1: and him being way too predictable, but that's all attached
Speaker 1: to each other. I think that they probably see this
Speaker 1: as an opportunity to buy him an extra two weeks arrest,
Speaker 1: understanding that he has had issues with that in the past,
Speaker 1: and then the other side of this is just simply optics.
Speaker 1: Like James Harden took a lot of criticism, including from me,
Speaker 1: for the way he behaved on his way out of Brooklyn.
Speaker 1: That has to be addressed in some way. Right in
Speaker 1: an easy way is to blame the injuries. Right, if
Speaker 1: you sit out for another two weeks, if he doesn't
Speaker 1: actually put on a Philadelphia seventy six ers jersey until
Speaker 1: late February, then he can at least claim the plausible
Speaker 1: deniability that he was hurt and that was why things
Speaker 1: went south the way that they did lastly on the
Speaker 1: hard in front. I think he's under a lot more
Speaker 1: pressure than Ben Simmons here. There's been a lot of
Speaker 1: talk about what it would be like for James Harden
Speaker 1: if he had to return to one of these places,
Speaker 1: or what it would be like for Ben Simmons to
Speaker 1: go on the road to Philly in a playoff series.
Speaker 1: You have to play in front of that crowd, which
Speaker 1: would almost certainly be you know, borderline two thousand and eleven,
Speaker 1: Calves booing Lebron type of intensity. But the truth of
Speaker 1: the matter is Ben Simmons is going up to Brooklyn
Speaker 1: as a role player. The pressure for that team's outcome
Speaker 1: falls on Kevin Durant because that's just the way the
Speaker 1: NBA works. When you're a superstar, even if you have
Speaker 1: a superstar partner, it falls on the perimeter. Initiator, falls
Speaker 1: on the guy who has the ball in his hands
Speaker 1: at the end of the game going down to Philly.
Speaker 1: That's James Harden. I think right now we can all
Speaker 1: agree Joel and Beads a better player. But because it's
Speaker 1: easy to double post players in the in the league today,
Speaker 1: because Joel Embiad is not a great passer, and because
Speaker 1: of just the way the league becomes super physical in
Speaker 1: those late playoff environments, James hardens the guy he is
Speaker 1: going to determine the outcome. The difference between Philly. Winning
Speaker 1: the title or losing to a Brooklyn or Milwaukee in
Speaker 1: the second round is going to fall on James Harden
Speaker 1: and his decision making, in his ability to make shots.
Speaker 1: That is a lot of pressure. And the truth of
Speaker 1: the matter is, when you have the resume that he has,
Speaker 1: he's starting to build some variety. I talked a lot
Speaker 1: and the Saturday Show about Lebron's variety and his success. Well,
Speaker 1: James Harden has a variety in his failure and adding
Speaker 1: another chapter to that story only further exacerbates that. And
Speaker 1: so he's under a lot of pressure here. But again,
Speaker 1: rest up, he's got two weeks off. You have a
Speaker 1: chance to make a run in it at the end.
Speaker 1: You have the talent. I don't believe James can outplay
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant or Jana Syntenna Coupon in a playoff series,
Speaker 1: but he's gonna have his opportunity, all right. Before we
Speaker 1: get out of here tonight, this is gonna be our
Speaker 1: first ever rendition of power rankings. We're gonna call it
Speaker 1: Tim's Top ten. A couple of quick rules. The way
Speaker 1: that I am making these decisions is based on three things. One,
Speaker 1: who has been best team overall to who has been
Speaker 1: the best team of late, and lastly, who projects to
Speaker 1: be better in a postseason setting. You know, you guys
Speaker 1: know me. I am constantly a denigrator of the regular season,
Speaker 1: not overall, but just I understand from my years watching
Speaker 1: the game that the postseason is almost an entirely different
Speaker 1: sport in the way that it's officiated, in the way
Speaker 1: that the teams are in terms of scheming and focus
Speaker 1: and effort. It's just a different sport, and so the
Speaker 1: ability to succeed on that level absolutely has to factor
Speaker 1: into these kinds of decisions. If the point of a
Speaker 1: power ranking is to say who's the best team, it's
Speaker 1: obviously going to be more complicated than who got on
Speaker 1: a hot streak in the regular season. But on that note,
Speaker 1: let's get started. So at ten, I have the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Speaker 1: This group just keeps grinding out wins. They're eleven in
Speaker 1: four in their last fifteen games. Second in defense, obviously
Speaker 1: that's their story. They have all of this front court height,
Speaker 1: and that really bothers teams. It's just not usual in
Speaker 1: the NBA to face three and footers in the front
Speaker 1: court that are switching and flying around and protecting the rim.
Speaker 1: It's just difficult to deal with. But this team's biggest
Speaker 1: weakness will always be their ability to generate shots, especially
Speaker 1: in a playoff environment. In their last fifteen games there
Speaker 1: in offense, they rely heavily on Darius Garland to to
Speaker 1: create everything, especially in pick and roll, and that's just
Speaker 1: something that's difficult to do in a playoff series when
Speaker 1: other teams are super physical and teams have times time
Speaker 1: to scheme. That's why they went after Carris Lavert. It
Speaker 1: gives them another guy who can help make these decisions
Speaker 1: at the end of the game. But if you're choosing
Speaker 1: in a playoff series, who's gonna execute more than a
Speaker 1: half court Lavert and Darius Garland backcourt, or you know,
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant or Chris Middleton and janasun
Speaker 1: Tennecompo or Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry or James Harden
Speaker 1: and Joel em Bad. It's just they're an exciting story,
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, but they just don't have the
Speaker 1: offensive firepower to hang with the top dogs Number nine,
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bulls. This is a team that's had a
Speaker 1: lot of up and down this season. They are thirteen
Speaker 1: and fifteen this year against five plus teams. That's been
Speaker 1: one of their biggest issues is their ability to hang
Speaker 1: with the top teams in the league. There twenty three
Speaker 1: in defense over the last fifteen games, which I think
Speaker 1: is really interesting because it's showing you how important Alex
Speaker 1: Caruso is and how important a Lonzo ball is as
Speaker 1: perimeter defenders. Those are two of the best perimeter defending guards,
Speaker 1: point of attack defending guards that we have in the league.
Speaker 1: And one of the things I've talked about a lot
Speaker 1: on the show is I believe basketball is trending in
Speaker 1: the direction of making perimeter defense immensely important. The ability
Speaker 1: to keep your man in front is one of the
Speaker 1: most underrated skills in the league. Without a Lonzo and Caruso,
Speaker 1: this team has fallen apart. I have them at number nine,
Speaker 1: number eight. The Toronto Raptors their fifth and net rating
Speaker 1: in their last fifteen games. Pascale Seacom had a really
Speaker 1: rough night tonight, but coming into tonight in his previous
Speaker 1: twelve games, he was good for ten and six on
Speaker 1: sixty three percent true shooting. That is just an outrageous
Speaker 1: stretch of two way play. From Pascal Siakam. He actually
Speaker 1: gives them yet firepower. He's had a really rough last
Speaker 1: couple of years in terms of injury and just being
Speaker 1: able to get into a rhythm. He was one of
Speaker 1: those guys that was clearly in a funk down in Tampa.
Speaker 1: But he looks like the best version of himself right now.
Speaker 1: That that as a team, they're extremely athletic and very
Speaker 1: well coached. They're gonna be really difficult to beat. Again,
Speaker 1: You're not gonna pick them over those top guys, but
Speaker 1: they have a puncher's chance in any matchup just because
Speaker 1: of their firepower and their coaching and athleticism. Number seven
Speaker 1: the Dallas Mavericks. They're fifth in defense and third and
Speaker 1: net rating in their last fifteen games. Lucas in shape.
Speaker 1: Finally came into the season weighing like two sixty pounds
Speaker 1: or something, which has been a huge problem for him
Speaker 1: this year. Um, but he's finally getting back into shape
Speaker 1: and most most importantly, he is finally embracing the defensive
Speaker 1: end of the ball. This is a team that has
Speaker 1: taken on a new identity this season. It used to
Speaker 1: be very much up and down the floor, lots of shooting,
Speaker 1: lots of Luca. We're gonna try to outscore you, and
Speaker 1: they's thrive in that switching environment, right, But now they're
Speaker 1: showing sign ends up being an elite defensive team. And
Speaker 1: I've always believed in the NBA that the elite defensive
Speaker 1: team that has some offensive shortcomings but that has a
Speaker 1: really good offensive player is a more dangerous playoff team
Speaker 1: than you know, your offensive oriented teams, teams like the
Speaker 1: Utah Jazz, teams like the Phoenix Suns back when they
Speaker 1: had Steve Nash. You know, that's why Alan Iverson got
Speaker 1: to the finals. That's why Lebron got to the finals
Speaker 1: a few times. In clear it's easier when you just
Speaker 1: have a bunch of guys that defend and then he
Speaker 1: can create everything. I like that direction that Dallas is
Speaker 1: going in and then little side note, I like that
Speaker 1: they ditched out Chris aaps porzingis the perfect first step
Speaker 1: in their long journey to find Luca a real co star.
Speaker 1: Gent down the line a little bit, but that was
Speaker 1: the first step you had to get off of all
Speaker 1: that money. Number six. The Miami Heat their fourth and
Speaker 1: defense in their last fifteen games. They have great balance
Speaker 1: in the last fifteen games, nobody on the team is
Speaker 1: averaging more than twenty points, but they have six guys
Speaker 1: averaging at least ten they and they have the high
Speaker 1: end creation in Kyle Lowry and Jimmy Butler that we've
Speaker 1: seen translate in the playoffs. They are a dark horse
Speaker 1: team to knock out the Milwaukee Bucks in my opinion,
Speaker 1: because of all their athleticism in the front court, having
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler, having p J Tucker, having Bam at a bio,
Speaker 1: having the game planned success that they've had against him
Speaker 1: in the past. They're one of those teams that has
Speaker 1: a real punchers chance to knock off Milwaukee. Speaking of Milwaukee,
Speaker 1: I have them at number five. They are losing way
Speaker 1: more games than they should, which continues to be the case.
Speaker 1: They have like a nice dominant stretch and then they
Speaker 1: go beat the crap out of the Clippers and Lakers,
Speaker 1: and then they get absolutely rolled by the Phoenix Suns.
Speaker 1: The biggest glaring problem with them this year is their
Speaker 1: defense has slipped their twelfth and defense on the season
Speaker 1: sixteen in their last fifteen games. And as you guys
Speaker 1: always hear from me on the show, you have to
Speaker 1: be a top ten defense to win a title unless
Speaker 1: you're the two thousand eighteen Warriors. That's pretty much what
Speaker 1: NBA history tells us. If you don't have Shaquille freaking
Speaker 1: O'Neill or Kevin Durant and and and and Steph Curry,
Speaker 1: you can't afford to not be a top ten defense.
Speaker 1: And Milwaukee has let way too much slip on that
Speaker 1: end of the floor this year. They will get beat
Speaker 1: unless they tighten that up here over the course of
Speaker 1: the next couple of months. Number four, our high rise
Speaker 1: or our new team in the mix, is the Boston Celtics.
Speaker 1: They're twelve and three in their last fifteen games. They
Speaker 1: have a nine defensive rating in that stretch, which is
Speaker 1: way ahead of everybody else in the field. I think
Speaker 1: second places a one oh six in that regard. They
Speaker 1: switch everything with a ton of really big athletes, which
Speaker 1: is like modern basketball personified. I saw a stat earlier
Speaker 1: today when Robert Williams is on the floor with Jayson
Speaker 1: Tatum and Jylen Brown. In over seven hundred minutes this year,
Speaker 1: they are outscoring opponents by more than eighteen points per
Speaker 1: one possessions. That is a bona fide championship contender. Stat.
Speaker 1: That's not the last fifteen games stat, mind you, that's
Speaker 1: an entire season stat. So even in the muck of
Speaker 1: all their mediocrity to start the season, they have like
Speaker 1: a really good, you know, foundation to fall back on,
Speaker 1: which is when we have Robert Williams holding things down
Speaker 1: underneath underneath the basket and we have Tatum and Brown
Speaker 1: on the floor, we're good there, We're really really good.
Speaker 1: And that's that's something real that you can build on.
Speaker 1: I like the Derek White edition. He gives them a
Speaker 1: little bit more playmaking. He's a great assist to turnover guy.
Speaker 1: Tatum and Brown. They've always struggled with generating quality shots
Speaker 1: for their teammates. Derek White gives them a little bit
Speaker 1: of that. They have a lot to go up. Still,
Speaker 1: they can get a lot better. Over their last fifteen games,
Speaker 1: both Tatum and Brown are shooting below from three, so
Speaker 1: if they start making shots, this could even go to
Speaker 1: another level. Number two the Memphis Grizzlies. They are top
Speaker 1: seven in both offense and defense for the season. They
Speaker 1: are consistent. They are fourth and net rating. Over their
Speaker 1: last fifteen games, they are eleven in four in that stretch.
Speaker 1: They are loaded in athleticism, They have a ton of
Speaker 1: shooting guys that can space the floor, and they have
Speaker 1: legit inside presences with Jaren Jackson Jr. And Steven Adams.
Speaker 1: But most importantly, the think that makes me so excited
Speaker 1: about them, the reason why they project well in the
Speaker 1: postseason setting, and the reason why I have them at
Speaker 1: number two, is John Morand he is a legitimately unguardable
Speaker 1: offensive weapon. I said on the show a while back,
Speaker 1: and I truly believe it. He has the potential to
Speaker 1: go on a two thousand six Dwayne Wade type of
Speaker 1: playoff run, because not only are teams completely ill equipped
Speaker 1: to stay in front of him or bother him around
Speaker 1: the basket, but refs have no idea what to do
Speaker 1: with this guy. They have no idea what to call
Speaker 1: as he comes flying into the lane just like oh
Speaker 1: six Wade and falls on the ground half the time.
Speaker 1: And that's just a wrinkle that could swing a playoff series.
Speaker 1: So they they are not a pretender. They are not
Speaker 1: an exciting up and coming story. They are not a
Speaker 1: young team with a ton of potential. They are a
Speaker 1: bona fide championship contender, and I have them at number two.
Speaker 1: Number one are runaway number one all season, the Phoenix Suns.
Speaker 1: They're fourteen and one in their last fifteen games. They
Speaker 1: are five games up in the lost column on the
Speaker 1: second overall seed. Right now, they're utterly dominating everybody. They
Speaker 1: have absolutely no weaknesses. They have a great playmaker, they
Speaker 1: have a great isolation score. They have great size on
Speaker 1: the wing. Their size on the wing can all shoot.
Speaker 1: They have big, strong bodies to throw at wings. They
Speaker 1: have tall, skinny athletic bodies to throw out wings. They
Speaker 1: have an interior presence in DeAndre and and they finally
Speaker 1: got him a good backup in JaVale McGee. They are
Speaker 1: good across the board except for the fact that they
Speaker 1: don't have that elite, high end star power. That will
Speaker 1: be the ultimate question surrounding the Phoenix Suns this year.
Speaker 1: If you built a perfect basketball team that didn't have
Speaker 1: a super duperstar, can you win a title in the
Speaker 1: modern NBA? We're going to find out. Phoenix has been
Speaker 1: incredibly dominant. They're a legit contender that I believe in them.
Speaker 1: I just believe in those super duper stars more, which
Speaker 1: is why I'm not sure that they can get the trophy.
Speaker 1: But right now they're the undisputed number one in the list. Alright.
Speaker 1: That is it for the first rendition of Tim's top ten.
Speaker 1: That's all I have for tonight. Thank you guys so
Speaker 1: much for coming to hang out. We will have shows
Speaker 1: tomorrow and Wednesday. We will do it on Wednesday. We
Speaker 1: will be doing a normal postgame show after Lakers Jazz.
Speaker 1: As always, I appreciate your guys support and I will
Speaker 1: see you tomorrow night. The Volume