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In episode one fifty nine, What's Right with Nick Wright? 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:20.800 We have a new NBA champion for the first time 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:27.680 in the history of their franchise. The Denver Nuggets are champions. 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:31.680 Right as I say that, my monitor goes out. I 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:34.720 assume we're still on the air. You guys will tell me. 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:38.160 If not, maybe this is the basketball gods trying to 0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:42.800 torture me. Also new to the show a new sponsor, 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:48.040 our friends at Starbucks. Today's episode brought to you by Starbucks. 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:51.200 Ready to drink coffee. Tune into moments that matter with 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:56.800 the uplifting boots of Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino chilled coffee drink 0:01:56.840 --> 0:02:02.040 available now online or wherever you buy your groceries. So 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:04.120 we have a ton to do today. As you may 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:05.680 or may not be able to say, hey, I can 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:09.640 see myself again. My daughter Diora, my co host for 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:12.200 the last couple months, is not here today. She is 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:17.160 doing graduation rehearsal for her graduation from high school, which 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:21.040 is on Thursday. So it is just me. But you 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:23.440 know what, it's kind of perfect because we have a 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:27.560 lot to discuss from last night, from the Finals as 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:32.200 a whole, from my commentary on Niko lejokicch over the 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:36.640 last few years and where he and this Nuggets team 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:40.800 falls in NBA history, and of course, on the losing 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:45.040 side of the coin playoff, Jimmy and heat culture fell 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:49.400 just short. Once again. We will discuss all of that, 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:53.840 But here's what missed the cup for today's show. DeAndre 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:57.400 Jordan winning a ring before Chris Paul. You know, I 0:02:57.440 --> 0:02:59.760 didn't even think about that, but that is true. Is 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:04.400 this the closest Russell Wilson gets to a title in Denver? 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:08.840 I would imagine that is true. And Trey Young saying 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:13.160 he is next up? Well, I you know, maybe that's 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:17.079 a trade demand. If it's not a trade demand, it's 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:21.160 a laughably incorrect tweet. But let's get to the actual 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:27.480 game now. The producers wrote today's show out as if 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:30.320 I were going to have a co host to poke 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:34.679 me and prod me and mock me, even though I 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:37.080 don't know that I deserve much mocking. By the way, 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:41.000 congratulations to Daniel, producer, Daniel, his team won. More on 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:44.360 that in the moment. I'm begrudgingly happy for you, Daniel. 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:48.240 Well done. That is a nice sweatshirt. You guys want 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:51.320 a title, you know what? Good for you. Now let's 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:56.200 get to the show. So, as I mentioned, the Nuggets 0:03:56.200 --> 0:04:00.440 are champs and this script says Jokich is undeniably the 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:02.440 best in the world. More on that in a moment. 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:06.960 Your Jokics take, My Jokic take is officially an l 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:10.560 They say, did you have the producer to raise all 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:19.000 your previous episodes. Yet here's the thing, guys, Niko Lejokic 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:26.440 right now this moment is, without a doubt, one of 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:32.000 the twenty five greatest players ever. Yesterday he was not. 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:38.720 That's simply how this stuff works. And we will discuss 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:43.280 what the top fifty would look like later in the show. 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:52.520 So in a weird way, because I am such a 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:58.320 nerd to NBA history, I like the fact I don't 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:02.039 like that I was wrong in picking Heat, but I 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:07.560 like the fact that Jokic has a ring and a 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:15.159 truly dominant start to finish, finish, playoff run because it 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:20.840 makes those two MVPs that he won makes sense in 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:25.120 a way that Steve Nashes never will, in a way 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:28.680 that Russell Westbrook's won. And I know some people still 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:31.680 defend that Ohie average a triple double. It didn't at 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:37.400 the time and it won't in history make sense. And 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:43.200 we got to a spot that I felt we don't 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:47.760 have to rehash it today that we were changing the 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:54.280 rules in a way that favored Nikola Jokic in a 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:59.320 way that I was uncomfortable with, but that knife cuts 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:05.520 in both. It is now incumbent upon us, most notably 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:11.080 the most ardent or vocal critics or skeptics of Jokic, 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:17.960 to not then do the same thing to him, change 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:21.000 the rules in a way that go against him. He 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:28.520 gets the exact same treatment Yanis did. When Yannis was 0:06:28.560 --> 0:06:35.680 a two time MVP with minimal deep playoff runs and 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:44.760 then broke through, he instantly became the not universally but 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:51.680 near universally accepted best player alive. And on top of that, 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:57.279 he instantly vaulted into the top twenty five all time. 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:01.159 I had him in the top fifty of the last 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:07.320 fifty years. Now, Jo kicch is not the defender Yannis is, 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:10.600 and I don't have Yokich ahead of Yiannis on the 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:17.120 all time rankings, but he is now in that same neighborhood. 0:07:18.120 --> 0:07:23.400 When your team goes sixteen and four in the postseason, 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:28.920 when you go eight to one in the conference finals 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:35.520 and NBA Finals, and you do it by averaging a 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:43.160 thirty thirteen to nine, he was eight total, no, ten 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:49.560 total assists, ten total away from averaging a triple double, 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:55.720 a thirty point triple double for the postseason, and you 0:07:55.800 --> 0:08:01.320 do it on fifty five forty six split. It's you 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:07.840 get all the flowers. You have answered all the questions. 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:14.560 I'm not into step skipping, and I really wasn't into 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:19.840 giving a six seed an MVP, much less a second 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:26.120 straight MVP. But it all kind of evens out, I suppose, 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:33.120 because while if my vote was the only vote that counted, 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:38.200 Jokich would have one MVP right now. You can very 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:41.719 easily justify his first one to me far more than 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:46.320 his second one. And if he had only had one 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:49.800 and hadn't won last year or last year was his first, 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:54.520 this year he would have won it, and he would 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:58.440 have two. So maybe in that way he has the 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:03.920 right number of MVP and now has had the right 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:09.840 amount of postseason success. There are no holes to poke, 0:09:11.240 --> 0:09:15.400 And I understand that there is going to be a 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:23.680 kind of smug media cohort that is going to today 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:26.920 if they have not already say yeah, some of us 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:30.559 didn't need to see him win a championship. Well some 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:37.840 of us did, and I don't think that is a 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:43.240 flawed way of looking at things. Playoff basketball is different 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:48.640 than regular season basketball. If it weren't, James Harden would 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:50.800 be one of the ten greatest players in the history 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:56.480 of the sport. And Harden, I think is a good 0:09:56.559 --> 0:10:03.160 player to bring up because if you simply skipped the 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:08.760 steps with Harden and said, oh, you see what he 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:11.720 does in the regular season, you see him get to 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:16.240 a conference finals with an overmatch team. You see he 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:20.000 loses in the postseason. If we go years back, I'm 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:23.920 talking about those first few years in Houston, he loses 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:26.800 in the postseason to teams that are markedly better than him. 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:29.720 Why can't we call him the best player in the world. 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:33.880 Why can't we call him one of the twenty greatest 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:41.080 players ever? The answer then would have been proven out correctly. Well, 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:43.840 because until you see a guy do it in the 0:10:43.880 --> 0:10:48.120 playoffs on a not a two round run, but a 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:52.000 four round run, and you don't always have to win 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:54.120 that fourth round. You don't always have to win the 0:10:54.120 --> 0:11:00.200 finals to prove it to us. Durant didn't win his 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:02.640 first finals, but he proved it to us. Lebron didn't 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:05.880 win his first two finals, but Lebron had proven it 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:13.280 to us. Once you see it, you know, we've now 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:18.320 seen it undeniably with Jokic, and I feel like even 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:23.559 if the Heat had won this series now would he 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:28.000 be one of the twenty five greatest ever? No, but 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:33.440 he would have answered all the questions. His biggest liability 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:37.760 is his defense, and defensively, I thought he was pretty 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:42.760 damn good these last couple rounds. He did not wear down. 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:48.720 He averaged forty minutes a game this postseason. He went 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:53.920 through Durant, He went through Durant and Booker, Lebron and 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:59.199 AD and then a Heat team that folks are now 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:05.920 going to try to once again confirm their preconceived notions 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:10.840 of disregarding the fact that this Heat team dispatched of 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:14.240 Milwaukee in five and was up three to zero on Boston. 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:21.000 This is a great championship, Nikola Jokicz just won, and 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:23.480 I understand folks would be like, I'd be an eight seed, 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:25.720 a four seed to seventh seed, and an eight seed 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:32.920 that's bull. He beat Katie and Booker, Lebron and AD 0:12:33.920 --> 0:12:37.800 and then the team that leads the NBA in playoff 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:41.679 victories over the last four years, a team that was 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:44.920 in the finals three years prior and in the Game 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:49.199 seven of the Conference finals. Last year, they beat worthy 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:56.200 opponents and they didn't just beat them, they dominated him. 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:04.480 The Nuggets, it's a weird spot because they didn't really 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:12.160 have all that many close games this postseason. In the 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:17.520 first round they won by twenty nine nine nine, lost 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:21.920 in overtime, closed them out by three. They beat the 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:27.240 Suns by eighteen and ten, then lost two, then won 0:13:27.320 --> 0:13:31.720 by sixteen and twenty five. The Laker games, all four 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:34.400 of them were That was their one series where they 0:13:34.400 --> 0:13:38.719 were all close games, but they won them all. All 0:13:38.800 --> 0:13:41.120 those games were in the balance at the end, and 0:13:41.160 --> 0:13:44.760 the Nuggets, most notably Jokic and Jamal Murray, made the 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:49.440 plays they had to make, and they beat Miami in 0:13:49.480 --> 0:13:54.440 their four wins by nine, fifteen, thirteen, And then last 0:13:54.520 --> 0:13:57.000 night was a hell of a game and it did 0:13:57.040 --> 0:14:00.600 feel like Miami was gonna steal it at the end. 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:03.240 They won last night by five, and it was actually 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:09.360 closer than that. This is a great championship. It's a 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:15.360 great championship. And this is where if I may be 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:25.680 self focused for a moment, folks ask me and have 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:29.040 asked me during this playoff run. Oh, Nick, it is 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:32.240 brutal for you see what people are saying about you 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:37.560 on Twitter, the old clips that are going around. Does 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:44.440 it bother you? And it The only thing that bothers 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:50.800 me is if an old clip from eighteen months ago 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:54.680 is being positioned as if it was said eighteen days ago, 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:58.840 that I think is a little unfair, like the you 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:01.840 have clips of what I was saying about Jokic when 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:04.320 we were back doing this from my house and it's 0:15:04.360 --> 0:15:07.160 being positioned like I was saying it during this playoff run. 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:12.040 That's a little fake Newsy. But other than that, none 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:20.520 of it bothers me. And it's because I know the 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:27.080 standard that I hold all great NBA or potentially great 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:31.280 NBA players too. And one of two things is going 0:15:31.320 --> 0:15:35.680 to happen with the guys i'm skeptical of. Either I 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:39.720 am going to be proven right or they are going 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:44.800 to clear those hurdles, and I will, without any hesitation, 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:50.480 give them all the credit that they have earned. I'm 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:57.960 just not into microwaving it. With the exception, of course, 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:01.240 of Luca. Dontitude is as you guys, my large adult 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:05.000 Slovenian son. Sorry, blood's thicker than water. I'm gonna always 0:16:05.040 --> 0:16:07.440 have a special place in my heart for him. Now. 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:13.160 The one thing I said more on in a moment 0:16:13.160 --> 0:16:18.680 that we didn't get to yet was Jokich undeniably the 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:24.760 best player in the world. He gets to hold the 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:30.120 crown and the belt, he gets to fairly be called that. 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:37.440 But much like and I disagreed with these people when 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:41.160 Yannis won his title and I said he's clearly the 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:44.360 best player in the world, some people were like, yeah, 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:51.640 I I still think Durance better. If I were hooked 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:57.560 up to a polygraph and I were asked if I 0:16:57.600 --> 0:17:01.560 had the number one pick of the draft, every player 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:08.080 is a free agent. Who am I taking me? Personally, 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:13.919 I'm probably not. Probably I'm still taking Yanni's first. I 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:21.359 am jo Kich would be second. But that's just my 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:29.240 own personal It's close enough that I totally understand the 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:36.040 alternative argument. Totally understand it. And if people call them 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:38.160 the best player in the world, as I think they will, 0:17:39.320 --> 0:17:42.199 they have a lot of evidence on their side, a 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:48.560 lot of evidence, and that's what they've earned. And it 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:54.720 is a great championship. Man. And well, we'll talk Jamal 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:57.879 Murray when we get into the dynasty stuff. Some of 0:17:57.920 --> 0:18:01.200 the other questions on this the producer has written, where 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:04.080 is this rank in terms of all time championship runs? 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:10.520 I I don't have that. I've never made that list 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:14.399 the like you know, there are some that certainly stick 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:20.320 out to me. Dirk's in twenty eleven, it's pretty damn great. Uh. 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:26.959 I think Lebron's in twenty twelve, the last two rounds 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:31.400 of it, beating the Big Three in Boston, then beating Katie, 0:18:31.520 --> 0:18:34.960 Russ and Harden's pretty great. I was just doing contemporary ones, 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:45.960 the Warriors in eighteen beating the sixty five win Rockets 0:18:46.440 --> 0:18:49.960 and then but the No in eighteen that cavsine was 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:59.000 terrible except for Lebron, So in contemporary NBA history it's 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:07.520 pretty damn good man, and going through who they went through. 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:11.439 A sneaky good one is is and it looks better now, 0:19:12.160 --> 0:19:14.800 maybe now than ever. A sneaky good one was the 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:20.040 Lakers in the Bubble. Round one against Dame, Round two 0:19:20.080 --> 0:19:24.480 against Russ and Harden, Round three against Joker and Murray, 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:29.040 Round four against the Heat. That's like a sneaky, really 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:36.840 good one. But a lot of how we view how 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:41.399 heavy of a load Jokic carried in this is going 0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:47.520 to be how we end up viewing Jamal Murray and 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:49.560 we'll talk about that when we get to the Dynasty stuff. 0:19:49.600 --> 0:19:54.520 Now to the other side of it, the producers, right, 0:19:54.560 --> 0:19:57.040 for all the talk about playoff Jimmy disappeared when the 0:19:57.040 --> 0:20:00.679 heat needed him most. Was all the Jimmy bucket type unjustified. 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:06.879 That's the that's so dumb, Sorry producers, guys. Did Jimmy 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:12.440 Butler have a disappointing finals? He did? To Jimmy Butler, 0:20:12.560 --> 0:20:17.720 did this Jimmy Butler finals remind you of anyone's finals 0:20:18.119 --> 0:20:24.440 an undeniably great player. And if you're like, yeah, Lebron 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:29.280 and eleven, no, no, no, no, no, that Lebron and eleven had 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:35.680 an objectively bad series, Jimmy, these finals averaged twenty two 0:20:36.640 --> 0:20:41.320 five and six on forty one from the field thirty 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:47.280 seven from three. Twenty two five six, forty one thirty seven. 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:57.080 In twenty sixteen, Stephen Curry in those finals averaged twenty 0:20:57.200 --> 0:21:03.240 three five four on forty percent from the field forty 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:08.120 percent from three, so one more point, the same rebounds too, 0:21:08.200 --> 0:21:12.920 fewer assists, field goal percentage one point less, three point 0:21:12.960 --> 0:21:17.160 percentage three points more. It was not a great finals. 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:21.520 It was not a disastrous debacle of a finals and 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:27.240 the idea that we are going to This is one 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:31.920 of the things that I hate. I hated when it 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:35.680 happened to Lebron, I hate when it happened to I'll 0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:41.399 pick out some of my favorite guys Mahomes in twenty twenty. 0:21:42.760 --> 0:21:49.600 I hate when it happens really to anybody who gets 0:21:50.359 --> 0:22:00.280 penalized or more criticized for coming up a little short 0:22:00.320 --> 0:22:06.679 in the final round. Then someone gets criticized that was 0:22:06.800 --> 0:22:13.439 beaten along the way to the final round. The people 0:22:15.400 --> 0:22:18.159 today on the pre show call for First Things First, 0:22:18.480 --> 0:22:20.359 they were like, do is Jimmy still deserved to be 0:22:20.400 --> 0:22:25.000 in Club Superstar? And I almost ended the zoom call, 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:28.600 like what are we talking about? So you're not kicking 0:22:28.680 --> 0:22:32.159 Jason Tatum out of Club Superstar who had his lunch 0:22:32.160 --> 0:22:35.720 eaten by Jimmy in the previous round and that's why 0:22:35.760 --> 0:22:38.480 he didn't get to play in the finals. But now 0:22:38.480 --> 0:22:42.119 we're gonna kill Jimmy because in the finals he wasn't great, 0:22:42.160 --> 0:22:44.240 And don't get me wrong, he wasn't great. Now last 0:22:44.320 --> 0:22:49.000 night he was really bad until the end when it 0:22:49.080 --> 0:22:53.280 looked like he was going to have a vintage playoff 0:22:53.359 --> 0:22:56.120 Jimmy moment with the threes and the free throws and 0:22:56.160 --> 0:23:00.320 getting them back, and then he had two really rough 0:23:00.359 --> 0:23:07.440 plays down the stretch. But this is where I think 0:23:09.520 --> 0:23:15.439 an interesting thing sports media does, and I gotta say 0:23:15.960 --> 0:23:25.760 I actually kind of agree with it, is we criticize 0:23:25.960 --> 0:23:30.800 more harshly. Two guys can have the same level of 0:23:30.840 --> 0:23:38.960 performance and receive very disparate amounts of criticism based on 0:23:39.000 --> 0:23:46.919 how close that performance was to what we think their 0:23:47.080 --> 0:23:53.560 peak performance is. Meaning a player with slightly less talent 0:23:54.160 --> 0:23:59.760 or natural ability gets more of a pass than a 0:23:59.800 --> 0:24:05.280 player with immense amounts of natural ability that can't seem 0:24:06.320 --> 0:24:13.840 to rise in the biggest moments. And so there will 0:24:13.880 --> 0:24:19.800 be guys like Tracy McGrady who probably get a little 0:24:20.119 --> 0:24:26.160 unfairly maligned by history because those of us that watched 0:24:26.240 --> 0:24:31.520 him new at his best he had an argument wasn't 0:24:31.560 --> 0:24:33.959 a strong argument, but an argument that he was the 0:24:34.000 --> 0:24:42.600 best player in the entire sport. Conversely, a guy I'm 0:24:42.600 --> 0:24:47.600 trying to think of an example that's not Jimmy Butler, 0:24:49.320 --> 0:24:56.200 but a guy whose overall talent level is not nearly 0:24:56.320 --> 0:25:01.520 that player's level, who seems to consistently be getting the 0:25:01.560 --> 0:25:05.000 most out of it. We have massive admiration for those guys. 0:25:05.520 --> 0:25:08.240 And Bruce said this on TV yesterday and I'd never 0:25:08.280 --> 0:25:09.840 heard it put like this, and I think he's right 0:25:10.600 --> 0:25:18.440 that Jimmy's single best trait is his competitiveness. That that's 0:25:18.520 --> 0:25:22.000 what he is top three in the world at just 0:25:22.280 --> 0:25:29.040 raw competitiveness. And it did seem like he ran out 0:25:29.080 --> 0:25:33.600 of gas a bit. He didn't seem anywhere close to 0:25:33.760 --> 0:25:35.879 Joker when it came to best player on the court. 0:25:37.760 --> 0:25:47.119 And honestly, that's probably okay. And this is where even 0:25:47.160 --> 0:25:51.240 though I again I picked the heat, so I probably 0:25:51.240 --> 0:25:54.800 should have seen this part coming, but this is where 0:25:54.880 --> 0:25:59.800 it is worthwhile reminding people that if you don't have 0:26:01.640 --> 0:26:06.320 one of the twenty five greatest players in the history 0:26:06.960 --> 0:26:11.600 of the sport, or just let's just go the last 0:26:11.640 --> 0:26:14.240 fifty years, if you don't have one of the twenty 0:26:14.280 --> 0:26:19.000 best of the last fifty years, you're not winning a 0:26:19.040 --> 0:26:25.439 title unless you were on the four Pistons. If we 0:26:25.520 --> 0:26:30.080 can go from nineteen eighty to now, and it's like, 0:26:30.440 --> 0:26:35.240 who did the champions have, well, the entirety of the eighties, 0:26:36.119 --> 0:26:44.480 the champions were Kareem slash Magic Bird, Moses slash Doctor Jay, Isaiah. 0:26:45.720 --> 0:26:48.240 Those are all top twenty of the last fifty years, 0:26:48.800 --> 0:26:54.880 the nineties, Michael Jordan, Akeem Tim Duncan, check check check 0:26:56.240 --> 0:27:03.879 the two thousands, Shack slash Kobe, the four Pistons, d 0:27:04.080 --> 0:27:08.000 Wade slash Shack. I'm not gonna do this in exact order, 0:27:08.119 --> 0:27:10.520 but you guys are gonna follow me, of course. Duncan 0:27:10.720 --> 0:27:16.880 a bunch of times, Dirk Novitzky, Kevin Garnett, who is 0:27:17.400 --> 0:27:20.400 right there along with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen who 0:27:20.400 --> 0:27:26.280 are not but Kevin Garnett, Lebron, James, Steph Curry, Duncan, 0:27:26.400 --> 0:27:31.560 Somemore or Duncan again. Kawhi Leonard would be the other. Yeah, 0:27:31.640 --> 0:27:35.240 but he's not top twenty of the last fifty years. 0:27:35.560 --> 0:27:38.800 But he's a unique case because he was certainly trending 0:27:38.840 --> 0:27:43.639 towards that and his body betrayed him. And Giannis and 0:27:43.720 --> 0:27:48.119 Lebron again, and Steph again, and Durant with Steph and 0:27:48.200 --> 0:27:54.119 now Jokic, who's in there. Jimmy Butler's are not the 0:27:54.160 --> 0:27:58.000 best player on Champions typically, and they should not be 0:27:58.080 --> 0:28:03.399 crushed for that. It is a very unique thing that 0:28:03.480 --> 0:28:09.119 in the NBA post the seventies, essentially since the NBA 0:28:09.240 --> 0:28:20.160 ABA merger from nineteen eighty to now. The worst player 0:28:21.000 --> 0:28:25.119 who was the best player on a champion it is 0:28:27.119 --> 0:28:31.600 And again this is not an insult, but it is 0:28:32.600 --> 0:28:46.880 Chauncey and then Kawhi and then KG and Dirk. Those 0:28:46.880 --> 0:28:51.240 are the worst guys who were the best guys on 0:28:51.320 --> 0:28:57.920 a champion. Think about that, honestly. And so I don't 0:28:57.960 --> 0:29:01.000 think we should be in the business today of crushing 0:29:01.080 --> 0:29:04.160 Jimmy Butler. I think that'd be ridiculous, all right. Next, 0:29:04.960 --> 0:29:07.560 Jamal Murray said that this title would be the first 0:29:07.640 --> 0:29:12.000 of many. Are we witnessing the beginning of the next 0:29:12.120 --> 0:29:16.400 NBA dynasty? And if not, who's standing in their way? 0:29:18.120 --> 0:29:20.760 So I want to pump the brakes on dynasty talk 0:29:20.880 --> 0:29:27.200 for now because there are a few things standing in 0:29:27.240 --> 0:29:29.240 their way. But before I get to that, where I 0:29:29.280 --> 0:29:32.280 do want to give the Nuggets credit and their front 0:29:32.280 --> 0:29:38.120 office credit, is they made a let's try to get 0:29:38.160 --> 0:29:41.920 a final piece of the puzzle trade in Michael I'm 0:29:41.960 --> 0:29:45.640 sorry and Aaron Gordon, and they got it. He was 0:29:45.720 --> 0:29:51.640 great for them. They made some very savvy pickups in 0:29:52.200 --> 0:30:01.880 KCP and Bruce Brown, and they built a champion. There 0:30:01.880 --> 0:30:06.520 are two things and they just made a trade recently, 0:30:07.080 --> 0:30:10.000 understanding that due to the new CBA they're not going 0:30:10.080 --> 0:30:13.000 to be able to be big free agent spenders. They 0:30:13.080 --> 0:30:16.280 grabbed another first round pick because they want cost certainty, 0:30:16.760 --> 0:30:22.120 they want young, cheap players. That's very smart. There are 0:30:22.160 --> 0:30:24.920 two things that would concern me if I were a 0:30:25.000 --> 0:30:29.800 Nuggets fan about could this be a dynasty? The first 0:30:29.840 --> 0:30:33.640 one is obvious, what do you have in Michael Porter Junior? 0:30:34.600 --> 0:30:37.160 Because I know what you have in his contract? Well, 0:30:37.200 --> 0:30:41.920 you have in his contract is four more years? Sorry, 0:30:41.960 --> 0:30:44.560 let me take a sip of this delicious Starbucks new 0:30:44.560 --> 0:30:49.440 sponsor of the show. What you have is another four years? 0:30:50.160 --> 0:30:56.200 And how much is it? Another one hundred and fifty million? Right? 0:30:57.000 --> 0:30:59.960 So four years one fifty left for Michael Porter Junie. 0:31:01.280 --> 0:31:07.600 That's a swallow, hardened hope situation. But the other question, 0:31:08.400 --> 0:31:15.200 and the biggest question too, can this team be a dynasty? 0:31:16.440 --> 0:31:21.680 Is not about Nikola Jokic. It is about Jamal Murray. 0:31:22.480 --> 0:31:33.360 How good is your second guy? Because if we are 0:31:33.440 --> 0:31:41.800 being honest, Klay Thompson, as great as he was pre injuries, 0:31:43.640 --> 0:31:46.520 was not good enough to be the second best guy 0:31:46.560 --> 0:31:49.960 on a dynasty. Was the second best guy own a champion, 0:31:53.000 --> 0:31:55.040 and it looked like he could be the second best 0:31:55.040 --> 0:31:59.200 guy on a dynasty, and you had Draymond Green there 0:31:59.520 --> 0:32:05.960 and they needed to go get Kevin Durant. Now, is 0:32:06.040 --> 0:32:09.400 Jamal Murray good enough to be the second best guy 0:32:10.400 --> 0:32:14.880 on a team that wins another title? I think on equivocally, 0:32:16.200 --> 0:32:21.120 Joe Dumars was there's a lot, you know, we can 0:32:21.200 --> 0:32:25.440 find that a team didn't really have a second best 0:32:25.480 --> 0:32:28.720 guy on the first team, on the second team at Clyde, 0:32:29.360 --> 0:32:36.840 but a dynasty you need Jamal to take a significant leap. 0:32:39.320 --> 0:32:48.160 And everybody, we do this weird thing where certain guys 0:32:48.840 --> 0:32:54.360 go from wildly underrated to a touch overrated without ever 0:32:54.440 --> 0:32:59.479 being properly rated. And I do fear that that is 0:32:59.600 --> 0:33:04.760 about to happen with Jamal Murray, because folks are gonna 0:33:04.800 --> 0:33:13.960 be throwing around the term superstar pretty liberally, and I 0:33:14.280 --> 0:33:17.720 just I think we are a couple leaps away from 0:33:17.720 --> 0:33:23.080 that for Jamal, unless you think this league's got twenty superstars. 0:33:23.480 --> 0:33:31.160 But unquestionably, I'm just looking at my club superstar right now. 0:33:32.280 --> 0:33:38.440 Guys who are currently better than Jamal. Yeah, I just 0:33:38.880 --> 0:33:41.640 this is not in order, but it's just guys. Ad 0:33:42.280 --> 0:33:52.760 Jannis bron Dame Luca, Jimmy Tatum, Booker Durant, Steph Embiid Jokic, 0:33:54.800 --> 0:33:59.960 assuming he gets back on the court. Jah I think 0:34:00.080 --> 0:34:04.200 Donovan's better than him. I think Sga is better than him. 0:34:06.440 --> 0:34:13.120