Speaker 1: On this episode of The check Man.
Speaker 2: Have we had some momentum shifts in the last I
Speaker 2: don't know a week in three of the four second
Speaker 2: round series over the weekend, we gotta get you all
Speaker 2: caught up. And then we've got not one but two
Speaker 2: dope as interviews. The first with Brennan Glasheen WNBA Insider
Speaker 2: covers the Connecticut Sun. He's helping us break down the
Speaker 2: opening the WNBA series because that's what we're gonna do.
Speaker 2: The future of the league is right now, so let's
Speaker 2: make sense of it.
Speaker 1: Got a lot to cover.
Speaker 2: We also have Kurt Helen, who is an NBA writer
Speaker 2: for NBC as well.
Speaker 1: Let's not waste any time, Anthony. Let's drop that motherfucker
Speaker 1: be that should be Rihanna.
Speaker 2: Oh yes, let's start in Indiana. Pacers have officially feared
Speaker 2: God in the New York Next oh Man, after losing
Speaker 2: Games one and two, going down oh to Rick Carlisle's
Speaker 2: losing his goddamn mind. He's filing grievances with the NBA
Speaker 2: League office.
Speaker 1: They got uh big boy.
Speaker 2: Pants on and absolutely put a hurt on the Knicks
Speaker 2: in India on Sunday afternoon, it was like never close
Speaker 2: never close. They won by thirty two, and it was
Speaker 2: even worse at times than that. And this game, more
Speaker 2: than probably any other, has revealed what we already kind
Speaker 2: of knew, which is like maybe.
Speaker 1: The Knicks playing too many damn minutes.
Speaker 2: Maybe a five man rotation in the NBA playoffs is
Speaker 2: two or.
Speaker 1: Three men shy of what you need.
Speaker 2: It's not even injuries folks like og Andobi is probably
Speaker 2: gonna miss Game four.
Speaker 1: In game five, but like folks, the Knicks look gast.
Speaker 2: They shot thirty four percent from the field, and that
Speaker 2: is with Alec Brooks emerging from the crypt to give
Speaker 2: him twenty points. Most of the shots were front of
Speaker 2: the iron bricks, tired ass legs. No wonder Josh Hart
Speaker 2: hasn't missed a minute in what seems like ninety five
Speaker 2: consecutive games. No Knick starter was better than a negative
Speaker 2: twenty seven. Dante DiVincenzo aka Dante's Inferno went Dante ice cold,
Speaker 2: and he was an incredible negative forty negative forty plus minus.
Speaker 2: The Pacers, on the other hand, had eight players that
Speaker 2: were plus sixteen or above, including seven players that were
Speaker 2: a plus twenty one or higher. And now what seemed
Speaker 2: like an easy cruise to the Eastern Conference Finals to
Speaker 2: meet up with the Boston Celtics. Now hangs by a
Speaker 2: thread because Tibbs is like, yo, I'm not giving you
Speaker 2: a blow.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry you want to blow, go get some cocaine.
Speaker 1: Fuck off. Pause.
Speaker 2: Seriously, if the Pacers ran the Knicks out of the
Speaker 2: gym in Game five, I wouldn't be shocked, even if
Speaker 2: it was in the garden. Game five is probably gonna
Speaker 2: be the biggest game of the season out in Minnesota,
Speaker 2: though the narrative it's changed. After getting blown out on
Speaker 2: their home court twice, the Wolves go back to Minnesota,
Speaker 2: they got their swag.
Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards thinks that.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be an easy street no problem. If you
Speaker 2: were to ask Anthony Edwards, they probably thought they were
Speaker 2: gonna sweep Denver.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: No, they get marked in game three, Okay, no problem,
Speaker 2: that's fine. Like you lose one at home, but you
Speaker 2: got to.
Speaker 1: On the Rose. Fine, we still got multiple games of
Speaker 1: home court advantished. And just take take came four.
Speaker 2: Just take came four, Anthony, and just like, let's go
Speaker 2: back to Denver and figure it out.
Speaker 3: Up.
Speaker 1: I don't know three to one.
Speaker 2: Nobody told Theyaron Gordon and Jamal Murray or even Nikole Jokis,
Speaker 2: especially not nikol Jokic, who decided they would to show
Speaker 2: the world they like, we were actually unbeatable when we
Speaker 2: want to be uh three times three times, three time MVP.
Speaker 1: And he was incredible. Thirty five points.
Speaker 2: Nuggs shot fifty seven percent from the field, forty five
Speaker 2: percent from three against the best defense in the NBA.
Speaker 2: Gordon at one point in the game was ten for ten,
Speaker 2: twenty five points, eleven for twelve, Jokic fifteen for twenty six,
Speaker 2: thirty five, seven and seven, and in the second half,
Speaker 2: Jamal Murray was like, I didn't even know there was
Speaker 2: anything wrong with him. He was unstoppable, wet splash, bang boom. Edwards,
Speaker 2: it was just Edwards, It was just Dan. It was
Speaker 2: just the ant Man show. He carried the Wolves forty
Speaker 2: four five and five three stocks. And Karl Anthony Towns
Speaker 2: was of course just like turned back into a pumpkin.
Speaker 1: He is in fouled trouble.
Speaker 2: He's whining at the refs, he's missing free throws, he's
Speaker 2: missing shots.
Speaker 1: I don't even remember.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, five for eighteen, he was ooh, Nikaile, Alexander Walker.
Speaker 1: You know the guy that we thought maybe.
Speaker 2: The Portland Trailblazers and the LA Lakers just whiffed on.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, he went back to being one for seven.
Speaker 2: So he can't win when your role players don't do
Speaker 2: a goddamn thing. Ask Denver in games one and two.
Speaker 2: Now the series is tied, heading back to Denver where
Speaker 2: the Wolves need to figure it out fast. Ear'll be
Speaker 2: curtains as my friend who's a Minnesota Timberwolves fan said,
Speaker 2: this basketball game's pretty dumb.
Speaker 1: I don't like the sport right now.
Speaker 2: He said that after games of four and three, So
Speaker 2: I'll tell you where his head is at the third series, though,
Speaker 2: that took a dramatic turn, is now Okase in Dallas
Speaker 2: were after game one, everybody was ready to crown the
Speaker 2: thunder King and say that the Dallas Mavericks was a
Speaker 2: big time, big fat disappoint Nobody told PJ Washington, though,
Speaker 2: because he went ballistic in games two and three, averaging
Speaker 2: he averaged twenty eight points, nine rebounds, five assists, three
Speaker 2: steals and blocks per game. Excuse me, PJ. Washington, where
Speaker 2: have you been hiding? Then you add in Luca, then
Speaker 2: you add in Kyrie and all of a sudden, the
Speaker 2: Thunder are down two to one and they're looking for answers.
Speaker 2: You know who's got answers, The Thunder play by play guy.
Speaker 2: You know what he thinks. He thinks that the Thunder
Speaker 2: are getting mugged. And the Dallas Mavericks you can fucking
Speaker 2: touch them, but they are still getting outscored.
Speaker 1: Now played in the third quarter and it is costing them.
Speaker 2: The series has shown a few things. The Thunder are athletic,
Speaker 2: they are exciting. They are missing a few things though,
Speaker 2: some backup height and some backup rim protection.
Speaker 1: You always need backup protection. Pause.
Speaker 2: Like the other two series, this one could easily go seven, folks,
Speaker 2: it's gonna be so remember we're like, oh, this is
Speaker 2: so boring.
Speaker 1: The second round is the worst. No, actually it's just
Speaker 1: the Boston series. It's the worst.
Speaker 2: As per usual, they are dominant. About the only place
Speaker 2: where things are going to plan, like I said, is Boston.
Speaker 2: They hold a two to one lead over the Calves.
Speaker 2: Now go back play Game four without Jared Allen, who
Speaker 2: hasn't played at all in this series, and maybe, just
Speaker 2: maybe even Donovan Mitchell, who's questionable with a calf or
Speaker 2: a thigh string. The Celtics won Game three, of course,
Speaker 2: because the Boston Celtics always play with their food in
Speaker 2: Game two and they wouldn't get the Celtics come back
Speaker 2: Game three one oh six ninety three put them on
Speaker 2: their shoulders. Evan Mobley even though he uh even though
Speaker 2: the Cavaliers lost, Evan Mobley was excellent seventeen to eight
Speaker 2: and one thirty three from Spider. Spider just can't get
Speaker 2: thirty five or forty kenny. If you want to bet
Speaker 2: on Spider, bet him on like thirty one and a
Speaker 2: half points. Just not remotely enough. Though, Tatum and Brown
Speaker 2: returned to being excellent. Tatum had his best game of
Speaker 2: the playoffs. Boston shot fifty one percent from the field.
Speaker 2: All start at five starters were plus eight or better.
Speaker 2: So with the healthy, fully fully healthy, him and the
Speaker 2: Cavs probably could extend this to six. But with a
Speaker 2: banged up Mitchell, I do not think so. I think
Speaker 2: it's night night, sleep mask, see you later, goodbye, lick
Speaker 2: your wounds and start to get it.
Speaker 1: Moving forwards.
Speaker 2: The other news of the week is that we had
Speaker 2: the NBA lottery on Mother's Day on a Sunday without
Speaker 2: anything going on, and if without Twitter, you probably didn't
Speaker 2: even know what happened three o'clock. What an awful decision
Speaker 2: by the week. If you're a fan of the Detroit Pistons,
Speaker 2: it was also awful for you. For the third straight
Speaker 2: year in a row, who had the worst record in basketball,
Speaker 2: and for the third year in a row, ended up
Speaker 2: with a.
Speaker 1: Number fifth pick in the draft.
Speaker 2: If you're a fan of Jesus and you live in Detroit,
Speaker 2: are you questioning your religion because God must hate you,
Speaker 2: God must hate the Pistons. Do you know who got
Speaker 2: the number one pick this year? If you probably have
Speaker 2: not been on Twitter, then this is all news to you.
Speaker 2: The Atlanta fucking Hawks, the team that was in the
Speaker 2: play in Tournament. Yeah, the same Hawks that made the
Speaker 2: fucking play in Tournament, The same Hawks who won thirty
Speaker 2: six games even though they missed Trey Young for two months.
Speaker 2: The same Atlanta that was looking to trade Clint Capella,
Speaker 2: de Jean de Murray and maybe even Trey Young. They
Speaker 2: are now getting bailed out by the chance to get
Speaker 2: Alex Saar. Those same Hawks who had a three percent
Speaker 2: chance three snagging the first pick. They get the first pick,
Speaker 2: the fifth longest odds in history for any team getting
Speaker 2: the fifth first prick pick overall, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: a mediocre draft, a draft that we thought would have absolutely.
Speaker 1: Zero fanfare, now has a lot of interest.
Speaker 2: The Hawks have a huge decision to make. Do you
Speaker 2: keep the first pick and take Alex Saar or do
Speaker 2: you trade it? Maybe you trade Trey Young as well,
Speaker 2: maybe you rebuilt. The draft order is now as follows,
Speaker 2: number one, the Atlanta Hawks, number two, the Washington Wizards
Speaker 2: number three, the Houston Rockets, who are interested in selling
Speaker 2: or trading that pick, The Spurs at four, the Pistons
Speaker 2: at five, the Hornets at six, my Trailblazers at seven,
Speaker 2: with the worst pick we could possibly get the Spurs
Speaker 2: again at eight.
Speaker 1: Grizzlies get nine.
Speaker 2: Really good spot for the Grizzlies, who work pesky all year.
Speaker 2: The Jazz with the tenth pick, eleven, the Bulls twelve,
Speaker 2: Thunder thirteen Kings, and fourteen Trailblazers. Both the Spurs and
Speaker 2: Trailblazers have not one but two lottery picks. I get
Speaker 2: the feeling that this draft could get really, really interesting,
Speaker 2: and maybe more interesting than other drafts. Considering that we
Speaker 2: have no idea who's good, who's not, and what any
Speaker 2: of these teams are gonna do. We're gonna have a
Speaker 2: full draft show breakdown soon. But this draft, I promise you,
Speaker 2: is gonna be very, very spicy.
Speaker 1: All right, let's do it. Let's get into the guests.
Speaker 2: It's time to welcome on our first guest, Brendan Glasheen,
Speaker 2: who is the voice of the Action Network as well
Speaker 2: as the voice of the main Celtics.
Speaker 1: Play by play announcer for the Connecticut Sun.
Speaker 2: He's here to take a little talk, a little WNBA
Speaker 2: and NBA and help us get into the new season.
Speaker 2: Brendan is joined on my other show bet MGM Tonight,
Speaker 2: which air seven to eleven Eastern Standard Time on the
Speaker 2: radio in most markets, as well as live on video
Speaker 2: on twitch and YouTube.
Speaker 1: So let's get into it with Brendan.
Speaker 3: Brendan glasstem joins us.
Speaker 4: Sorry now play by play for the main Celtics Connecticut Son.
Speaker 4: We're gonna talk a little NBA, some WNBA. Caitlin Clark
Speaker 4: had twelve points last night in a preseason game. Pretty
Speaker 4: excited for that regular season to tip off. Brennan, First off,
Speaker 4: did you do anything tonight with the Knicks and the Pacers.
Speaker 4: Pacers were seven and a half point favorites they closed.
Speaker 4: The Knicks have an eight point lead right now. Any
Speaker 4: thoughts on this game so far?
Speaker 5: The Knicks are feisty, right, They've got a feel. I'm
Speaker 5: based in Boston. They've got a little Isaiah Thomas Bridge Celtics.
Speaker 6: Feel to them, taught me.
Speaker 5: Brunson is certainly stronger and has finishing ability around the rim.
Speaker 5: But man, how they've handled this postseason without Randall and
Speaker 5: how they've pieced it together with those Villanova kids.
Speaker 6: Tips hasn't playing hards.
Speaker 5: Know they could be a They could make it interesting
Speaker 5: in the conference finals, I think against Boston. But it's
Speaker 5: pretty incredible what Brunson's been doing. A little scare last game,
Speaker 5: but came back and they're a handful, right, The Knicks
Speaker 5: are a handful. They want to muck it up, make it,
Speaker 5: make it difficult in the games they play in.
Speaker 6: So they're a feisty.
Speaker 5: Team in a conference finals birth I think gives Knicks
Speaker 5: fans MSGS some life here in the in the springtime.
Speaker 2: Yeah, another team that's pretty feisty, very fun to watch,
Speaker 2: as well as the Connecticut Sun. Man boy, I do
Speaker 2: love watching them. What do you think about them this
Speaker 2: upcoming season. I know their next game.
Speaker 1: Is the Fever.
Speaker 2: They're five and a half point favorites there. I kind
Speaker 2: of feel like that's a little bit of the Caitlin
Speaker 2: Clark effect that that number is what it is, because
Speaker 2: let's be honest, outside of Caitlin and Alia Boston, there's
Speaker 2: not a ton of talent there right now. That's why
Speaker 2: they picked number one overall. Well, what do you think
Speaker 2: about the Sun this year overall in terms of how
Speaker 2: they can compete with the Aces in the liberty?
Speaker 5: Yeah, they were right there last year at Trista in
Speaker 5: the Conference finals semifinals against New York and those games.
Speaker 5: While it was a four game series, they kept it
Speaker 5: pretty competitive. They did get one game in that series.
Speaker 5: They retooled their roster a bit. They have Breonna Jones back,
Speaker 5: which is a huge boost, and they changed the way
Speaker 5: they played last year when she got hurt at the
Speaker 5: end of June Tourer Achilles and then they became a
Speaker 5: pace in space three point shooting team.
Speaker 6: They lost Rebecca Allen.
Speaker 5: They also lost Tiffany Hayes to retirement, but they brought
Speaker 5: in Rian Jefferson, Rachel Bannham. Those are two pieces Tiffany
Speaker 5: Mitchell from previously with the Indiana Fever and the Minnesota Link.
Speaker 5: So and you got a list of Thomas, who is
Speaker 5: the I think should have probably won MVP. I know,
Speaker 5: probably biased when people think Connecticut's son broadcaster, then you
Speaker 5: thought lista Thomas should have won MVP. But broke records
Speaker 5: and assists triple doubles record, double double record. She reminds
Speaker 5: me a lot of what we see in the NBA
Speaker 5: at Russell Westbrook. Can bring the ball up the floor,
Speaker 5: can also be a presence off the ball in the post,
Speaker 5: and be an elite facilitator. So Indwana Bonner. The key
Speaker 5: to her season is she didn't play overseas for the
Speaker 5: first time in her career in a decade plus, had
Speaker 5: a full offseason off, so they're expecting while she is
Speaker 5: thirty six years old, they expect to Wanta Bonner to
Speaker 5: still be an elite scorer in and around the rim
Speaker 5: and also shoot the outside shot. So they are going
Speaker 5: to be with Breonna Jones back, they are still a
Speaker 5: handful and still have quite the tandem the big three
Speaker 5: that you need in the front court. And then they're
Speaker 5: gonna need some steps from their guard play, and I
Speaker 5: think they're very much still in the picture. They've got
Speaker 5: an older team, experienced team. I mentioned those pieces they
Speaker 5: got in the offseason. All of those players eight to
Speaker 5: ten years in the league. So Opening Night will be
Speaker 5: fascinating on Tuesday. They've got some players with some chips
Speaker 5: on their shoulders and they should be very much I
Speaker 5: think if healthy, which is the key to the whole
Speaker 5: thing for every team, they should be very much.
Speaker 6: In the mix.
Speaker 2: What do you think about all of this scuttle butt
Speaker 2: where WNBA veterans have been coming out and being a
Speaker 2: little less than welcoming to this crop of WNBA rookies.
Speaker 2: I personally think it's kind of good for the game.
Speaker 2: It's what we see in the NBA. What do you
Speaker 2: think about that?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I kind of I'll be honest, it's kind of
Speaker 5: annoying at this point, like it's competition, and I don't
Speaker 5: think Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese go right down the list,
Speaker 5: Cameron Brink. These players were all on the biggest stage
Speaker 5: at the college level and they don't need I mean,
Speaker 5: we'll get into the charter flights, I'm shore, which is
Speaker 5: a huge development for the league. It's gonna sound counterintuitive,
Speaker 5: but they don't need protecting like Caitlin's handled every moment
Speaker 5: like an absolute pro. They've had microphones sticked in their
Speaker 5: faces now constantly, and for Caitlin and Angel Rees specifically
Speaker 5: the last two years, going all the way to the
Speaker 5: Final four and in LSU's case, to the Elite eight
Speaker 5: this past year, it's to the point where I'm like
Speaker 5: Diana Tarassi does this to rookies all the time. And
Speaker 5: now there are new eyeballs on the w which that's important,
Speaker 5: and this current draft class has a big part of that.
Speaker 5: Without questioning, Kitlin Clark carries a lot of weight in that,
Speaker 5: so I understand what kind of impact and gravitational she
Speaker 5: has on this league. But if we're just gonna all
Speaker 5: make it friendly, then where how does the league now
Speaker 5: take a step where we can do a show like this,
Speaker 5: We can get up and watch the mainstream media and
Speaker 5: pick a part a game. If she has a great game,
Speaker 5: if she has a bad game. You want it to
Speaker 5: be like normal sports talk debate. If someone was bad,
Speaker 5: you get on them. If they were great, you give
Speaker 5: them their flowers. That's the step, and I think we
Speaker 5: have to have that same standard now with the WNBA
Speaker 5: with more eyeballs on the league with a TV deal
Speaker 5: down the line with we'd think I would like to
Speaker 5: think healthier players better competition with these chartered flights. We
Speaker 5: have to hold them to that same standard, and I
Speaker 5: think Caitlin Clark is up for that. She's passed all
Speaker 5: those tests to this point. So the tarasseis the Brianda Stewarts.
Speaker 5: Sue Byrd was kind of in the thick of it too,
Speaker 5: Like Christy Sides, who is the head coach of the
Speaker 5: Indiana Fever, as you called out Trista, they've got a
Speaker 5: younger team. Melissa Smith, Kelsey Mitchell's from other those of
Speaker 5: some of those other supporting cast players. Like they called
Speaker 5: out Caitlin the other day. I thought she had a
Speaker 5: great game in her second preseason game. But like there's
Speaker 5: also she's gonna have some learning curves to the pro
Speaker 5: game because she's playing with other elite players and no
Speaker 5: one's ever heard of them before. And I understand that
Speaker 5: because the league hasn't had this kind of attention.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Kelsey Mitchell's the beast.
Speaker 5: Kelsey Mitchell was an all time score all time leading
Speaker 5: scorer in college basketball at Ohio State and Melissa Smith
Speaker 5: was a number two overall pick, Aleah Boston a number
Speaker 5: one overall pick. They've been bad, and by being bad,
Speaker 5: you hope to nail your draft picks. And while they
Speaker 5: only won thirteen games last year, their win total I
Speaker 5: think now is like twenty twenty one and a half.
Speaker 5: So they're asking Caitlin Clark to just put them at
Speaker 5: five hundred, which I think is very much doable.
Speaker 6: Now. Their schedule out of the gate is not easy.
Speaker 5: They got to play Connecticut twice, New York twice, they
Speaker 5: go to Seattle, they go to Vegas. That's not that's
Speaker 5: a gauntlet to start your pro career. So but long
Speaker 5: and short of the whole thing is like these these
Speaker 5: stars that are coming out of college with the shoe deal,
Speaker 5: Caitlyn just signed, the media attention they've see, they don't
Speaker 5: need to be protected. I think they get it. They
Speaker 5: understand what they're getting into. And I know they're young.
Speaker 5: I understand that, but I think they're very much ready
Speaker 5: for the moment.
Speaker 4: You know, I'm glad that you brought that up. And
Speaker 4: I don't know if this is a dumb question, but
Speaker 4: do you think that makes like home court this year
Speaker 4: in the WNBA mean less or maybe there's an extra
Speaker 4: battsfit betting the road teams. You know, because for the
Speaker 4: next two seasons, like you said, the WNBA is going
Speaker 4: to begin traveling to away games on these chartered flights.
Speaker 4: And you know, since the league's inception, like three decades ago,
Speaker 4: nearly thirty years ago, it's been a different case. So
Speaker 4: do you think that that means less for home court advantage?
Speaker 5: It's interesting, right because Connecticut is one of the toughest
Speaker 5: places to get to around me. There's twelve teams in
Speaker 5: Connecticut's and I mean, you don't know if you guys
Speaker 5: have been in Mohigan Sun it's in the middle of nowhere. Now,
Speaker 5: like Alyssa Thomas to want to Bonner, they're an engaged couple.
Speaker 5: That's a public thing. Now they've been a couple. They
Speaker 5: like their privacy, they like their time away. They like
Speaker 5: missed it Connecticut with the beaches. They like Eastlme beautiful
Speaker 5: little town in Connecticut right by the water. It's a
Speaker 5: good question though, because I think and the impact that
Speaker 5: Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese are going to have is
Speaker 5: now these teams are moving their home games. When Clark
Speaker 5: is on the road with Indiana, and when Reese is
Speaker 5: on the road with Chicago. They're moving their games to
Speaker 5: bigger arenas. So now you're asking it's now it's not
Speaker 5: just the home fans that are attending, it's visiting fans
Speaker 5: of these players when they were in college, because that's
Speaker 5: just I think, just natural casual basketball fans or fans
Speaker 5: that got into the game these last couple of years
Speaker 5: of the college game.
Speaker 6: Now they're coming out to the arena.
Speaker 5: So now I'll just give an example, like the Vegas
Speaker 5: Aces play at Michelobultra at Mandala Bay. Now they're going
Speaker 5: to play when Caitlin Clark comes to town, they're going
Speaker 5: to play over at the T Mobile Arena where the
Speaker 5: Golden Knights play. So no question, there's just going to
Speaker 5: be more more people and more casual fans going to games.
Speaker 5: I don't know about Connecticut though, because like I still
Speaker 5: think Connecticut's got a special its own spot compared to
Speaker 5: the rest of the league from a nationwide standpoint, What.
Speaker 2: Do you think in terms of like a team no
Speaker 2: one's talking about that may be better than we think,
Speaker 2: whether that's just betting them against the spread as underdogs,
Speaker 2: maybe thinking about taking the over on their season long
Speaker 2: win total, or maybe even just like a player that's
Speaker 2: kind of being undervalued that maybe we want.
Speaker 1: To look at her props.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think the Seattle Storm had a low key
Speaker 5: great offseason by bringing in their own big three with
Speaker 5: Neka Guo McKay, who has a very high role in
Speaker 5: the Players Association. Jewel Lloyd led the league in scoring,
Speaker 5: was an absolute dog when she played at Notre Dame,
Speaker 5: led the league in scoring last year. And then you
Speaker 5: add Skyler digg and Smith who was out of the
Speaker 5: league last year going through some things off the court.
Speaker 5: Now you bring in two players that in Jewe Lloyd
Speaker 5: and Skyler Digg and Smith that played together at Notre Dame,
Speaker 5: They've already had chemistry playing together in their previous ties
Speaker 5: at the college level.
Speaker 6: Seattle comes to mind.
Speaker 5: I like what Phoenix did in the offseason as much
Speaker 5: as Tarasi gut headlines for what she was saying and
Speaker 5: the smack talking the Tasha Cloud won a championship when
Speaker 5: she was in Washington. Kalia Copper was a finals MVP
Speaker 5: just a couple of years ago. They're a little they
Speaker 5: feel a little under doggish, being counted out, and then
Speaker 5: The other team I think would be the Dallas Wings.
Speaker 5: They brought back almost their entire team. Rique is a
Speaker 5: elital Score had her best year as a facilitator, led
Speaker 5: her career best and assists at four and a half
Speaker 5: a game. So Saboly is a budding star. So those
Speaker 5: three teams out West and Dallas last year gave Vegas
Speaker 5: some fits during the regular season. So those were some
Speaker 5: teams that come to mind. And as crazy as it sounds,
Speaker 5: I feel like last year's attention in the league was
Speaker 5: about New York and Vegas super team against super team,
Speaker 5: and now I think folks are forgetting it. Vegas has
Speaker 5: had their shine, no doubt. They just visited the White
Speaker 5: House this week. But like, don't forget, Like New York
Speaker 5: has its year two with that that core four Ambonije,
Speaker 5: Lany So Stewie, John Quell Jones, Sabrinio and Escu Court Evanderslout.
Speaker 5: They bring that whole team back and they just had
Speaker 5: kind of their feeling out year and they went to
Speaker 5: a finals. It kind of that New York team last
Speaker 5: year reminded me a lot of what Lebron, Wade and
Speaker 5: Bosh went through.
Speaker 6: New New super team.
Speaker 5: They're the next big thing and then you get your
Speaker 5: you kind of get smacked in the face when you
Speaker 5: went to the finals against a juggernaut like Vegas. New
Speaker 5: York's gonna chip on their shoulder and had some time
Speaker 5: together last year that should help them this year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, New York plus two thirty to be the WNBA
Speaker 2: Finals winner.
Speaker 1: What's your thoughts just kind of briefly.
Speaker 2: On Toronto getting an expansion team, and you think my
Speaker 2: hometown Portland might be next, because I was a big
Speaker 2: Portland Power fan growing up.
Speaker 6: Yeah, Portland.
Speaker 5: So Portland was in some chatter about getting a team
Speaker 5: and then I'm not sure what happened there. They had
Speaker 5: a bid and then it kind of it kind of collapsed.
Speaker 5: I'm not entirely sure what happened with the Portland thing.
Speaker 5: There are a lot of noise about Philadelphia and their
Speaker 5: basketball culture, and their fans are certainly certainly into it.
Speaker 5: So Philadelphia had a lot of chatter, but Toronto was
Speaker 5: always in the mix. They did a game in Edmonton
Speaker 5: in the preseason. They had a game in Toronto last year,
Speaker 5: your preseason game. So I think the Toronto angle also
Speaker 5: ties into the Chartered flights because now it's like all right,
Speaker 5: we want to bring Toronto into the mix. That's going
Speaker 5: to be an important component to have flights that can
Speaker 5: be serviceable in and out, in and around the border.
Speaker 5: So no, I mean, I mean, look at the when
Speaker 5: the Raptors are good, and that they they've certainly they've
Speaker 5: moved off players here the last couple of years of
Speaker 5: the Toronto Raptors, but when they had Kawhi, there was
Speaker 5: some real buzz.
Speaker 6: With that team. So and look look at the NBA.
Speaker 5: Now, the amount of talent that comes out of Canada
Speaker 5: is unreal and I would imagine that's the same case
Speaker 5: when it comes to the women. So Toronto makes a
Speaker 5: lot of sense. They are they're pumping out really good
Speaker 5: basketball players from north of the border.
Speaker 4: Would you do anything We still got about one minute left.
Speaker 4: Rookie of the Year Caitlyn Clark's minus seven to fifty,
Speaker 4: But would you do anything other than Wilson with the MVP.
Speaker 4: You have Breonna Stewart plus five fifty, Caitlin Clark's ten
Speaker 4: to one.
Speaker 3: She has the third best at crazy any other looks.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so I see Jewel Lloyd's on that board. I
Speaker 5: think a little bit further down. Yeah, I just talked about.
Speaker 5: We just talked about New York Jock Quell Jones one
Speaker 5: an MVP a couple of years ago, in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 5: and I'm not sure what her price is right now,
Speaker 5: but John Quell Jones was their best player I thought,
Speaker 5: in the second half of the year and in those
Speaker 5: WNBA finals. Now, the problem with picking a player from
Speaker 5: the liberty other than Stuart is well, there's one ball,
Speaker 5: and how do you put up elite numbers when you're
Speaker 5: in theory sharing the wealth and the balls going around.
Speaker 5: It could be someone any given night. But John Quell
Speaker 5: Jones in year two with New York, I don't know, man,
Speaker 5: she was their best player down the stretch last year.
Speaker 6: She might be interesting.
Speaker 5: I think if she puts together a full season.
Speaker 6: I like that. One hundred and twenty five to one.
Speaker 3: Brendan, thanks so much, man, really appreciate it.
Speaker 5: On again soon, thanks for having me looking forward to
Speaker 5: I'll be at the Mohegan next week for Clark's debuts.
Speaker 6: That'll be fun. Aw Ye jealous.
Speaker 3: Brendan Glastein right there play by play for the main Celtics.
Speaker 3: You can catch them on the Action Network as well.
Speaker 1: Big shout out to Brandon.
Speaker 2: Our second guest today is Kurt Healin, the lead NBA
Speaker 2: writer for NBC Sports. Kurt also came on my show
Speaker 2: Ben I'm Jim tonight and as always, he was super insightful.
Speaker 1: Let's jump into.
Speaker 3: Let's talk some more NBA playoffs right now.
Speaker 4: Let's do it with one of the best, Kurt Healin,
Speaker 4: lead NBA writer over at NBC sports dot com.
Speaker 3: Kurt, thanks so much for joining us here on a
Speaker 3: Friday night.
Speaker 6: How you been I've been good.
Speaker 7: Thanks for having me in.
Speaker 4: You know, I want to start with this series right here.
Speaker 4: So the Knicks go down. It's a two to one series.
Speaker 4: They lose og ananob obviously a huge loss. He had
Speaker 4: twenty eight points the other night. We know what he
Speaker 4: brings on the defensive end. You know, how concerned are
Speaker 4: you right now? If you're a Knicks fan, if any
Speaker 4: or if you're concerned at all.
Speaker 7: I'd be very concerned, frankly. I mean, there's a mass
Speaker 7: unit like in this team right now. Hey, they are
Speaker 7: so banged up. It is such a problem. I mean,
Speaker 7: they've already got guys playing a lot of minutes. But
Speaker 7: og gave them good three point shooting, corner three point
Speaker 7: shooting an offensive punch on top of the defense that
Speaker 7: you talked about. He was one of those guys kind
Speaker 7: of closing out from the corner and grabbing offensive rebounds
Speaker 7: and keeping balls alive. Twenty eight points in the last
Speaker 7: game before he went out. They needed that. They at
Speaker 7: some point, you're gonna run out of guys who can't
Speaker 7: step up, right, Like, at some point they're gonna just
Speaker 7: hit the max on number of guys. So I'd be
Speaker 7: really concerned because these games were already tight. This one
Speaker 7: goes to the Pacers and guys, I mean, I know
Speaker 7: the Knicks covered. I thought this was going to go
Speaker 7: back to New York too too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's a good point. The physicality feels like
Speaker 2: that's been really a constant theme of this playoffs. The
Speaker 2: most physical teams are consistently flourishing. In the teams that
Speaker 2: are more finesse, like the Pacers who do get the win,
Speaker 2: and the Nuggets more of these like spacing type teams
Speaker 2: are struggling. What do you think this means for the
Speaker 2: Nuggets moving forward? Do you have any faith that in
Speaker 2: a down two zero spot going into Minnesota that they
Speaker 2: could steal one?
Speaker 7: I don't know if they got some like water from
Speaker 7: lords and rubbed it on Jamal Murray's leg and there
Speaker 7: was some miraculous healing of some kind. Because I think
Speaker 7: that's the real issue is, Look, he was slowed against
Speaker 7: the Lakers. They didn't have a defender who could still
Speaker 7: stay in front of him in key minutes. But this
Speaker 7: is a team that's frankly, if you don't have that
Speaker 7: two man game, if you don't have the Murray Jokic
Speaker 7: two man game that has won them a title, I
Speaker 7: don't know what you're gonna do. Like this team is
Speaker 7: really gonna struggle. I mean, Aaron Gordon doesn't really create
Speaker 7: his own shot KCP same thing. They need that two
Speaker 7: man game. And if Murray isn't right there, now, what.
Speaker 4: Are you thinking right now about this Boston series, Because
Speaker 4: I mean they're the huge favorites, heavy favorites to represent
Speaker 4: the East in the NBA Finals. They lose to Cleveland,
Speaker 4: and at first I didn't think it was that big
Speaker 4: of a deal until you look at the way that
Speaker 4: Cleveland played defensively.
Speaker 3: And I think since.
Speaker 4: Joe Mizula took over as head coach at Boston, I
Speaker 4: mean like every three was contested. Cleveland played him really
Speaker 4: tough defensively, Like, is that a series that concerns you
Speaker 4: if you're a Boston fan, or do you think Boston
Speaker 4: probably wins in five to six and moves on to
Speaker 4: the Eastern Conference Finals.
Speaker 7: I'm not concerned yet. It's five six because they have
Speaker 7: these games, right, They just they you know, it's a
Speaker 7: family show, so we won't say what they do to
Speaker 7: the bad but they do it like once a series
Speaker 7: that just happens. And this was that game. They shot
Speaker 7: what twenty two percent from three and they just seem
Speaker 7: if what worries me more about them? Frankly, they've done
Speaker 7: this for a few years now, going back to when
Speaker 7: Audoka was coached. They just they don't play with urgency
Speaker 7: in games they should be playing really with urgency, right,
Speaker 7: They just kind of we're good enough, man, We're gonna
Speaker 7: coast through this kind of moment. It's an issue. And
Speaker 7: you know what, you can give away a game to
Speaker 7: the Heat without Jimmy Butler, you can give away a
Speaker 7: game in this series. I'd be careful giving away a
Speaker 7: game to the Knicks. You know, if that's who they
Speaker 7: face in the next round and whoever comes out of
Speaker 7: the West, you give them a game in your toast,
Speaker 7: like there's somebody's coming out of a gauntlet in the West.
Speaker 7: It's gonna be a culture shock for Boston already are
Speaker 7: going up against a much more physical defense. They can't
Speaker 7: give a game away like that. They've this had better
Speaker 7: be the last one in the playoffs.
Speaker 2: What do you think about the criticism about Tatum not
Speaker 2: being a big game player. I mean, he had some
Speaker 2: crucial ones a couple of I think that one game
Speaker 2: seven two years ago or last year, I forget which one,
Speaker 2: But there's been a lot of important moments where he
Speaker 2: hasn't really shown up, at least in terms of scoring
Speaker 2: the basketball.
Speaker 7: No, and he hasn't had those games where I mean,
Speaker 7: Kyrie Irving didn't score a lot of points last night,
Speaker 7: but if you watch the game, he absolutely impacted the
Speaker 7: game for Cleveland. He had a good game. Jason doesn't
Speaker 7: do that sometimes, and I think when we're talking about
Speaker 7: them kind of having these off nights, I think it
Speaker 7: starts with him and to a degree, Jalen Brown, there's
Speaker 7: just too school cool for school attitude. I'm not even
Speaker 7: sure how else to describe it. They're just we're so
Speaker 7: good we can just kind of be ourselves and they
Speaker 7: don't play with that urgency, and I'm worried about it.
Speaker 2: I thought it was super whack last night that after
Speaker 2: a loss, Jason Tatum said, we're not a super team.
Speaker 2: We don't have a Coach of the Year, we don't
Speaker 2: have an MVP, we only have two All Stars. And
Speaker 2: maybe technically that's right, but really, you've got five and
Speaker 2: former All Stars on this team. Like, I just don't
Speaker 2: understand that rhetoric after a loss.
Speaker 1: What do you think?
Speaker 7: Why does everybody need to be the underdog? Why is
Speaker 7: it like right, it's like and it's not even like,
Speaker 7: it's not even this, it's it's politics, it's you know, life, culture, whatever.
Speaker 7: Everybody's an underdog. Drake thinks he's an underdog, right, like,
Speaker 7: you know whatever. Like I'm just I'm kind of tired
Speaker 7: of the whole like everybody's got to be I don't know,
Speaker 7: everybody's picking on me when like, dude, you're the majority
Speaker 7: and you're in control whatever. It's top this and this
Speaker 7: is just part of it. Every team's looking for that edge.
Speaker 7: Everybody wants to be us against the world, right, And
Speaker 7: I guess Boston does too.
Speaker 4: Kurt So like the hardest part for me now, like
Speaker 4: betting the NBA is I grew up like in Chicago
Speaker 4: in the nineties, so every year I thought it was
Speaker 4: crazy when people would make the case for anybody, but
Speaker 4: the bulls and I like usually tend to bet the
Speaker 4: teams with the best player or the teams that have
Speaker 4: had like their bumps and bruises in the playoffs.
Speaker 3: But the NBA has changed a little bit.
Speaker 4: You know, there are a lot of people making the
Speaker 4: case against Denver land year, and then people making the
Speaker 4: case against Minnesota this year. They're too young, even though
Speaker 4: Mike Connelly's like thirty seven Cats been around forever and
Speaker 4: Go Bear has playoff experience, and.
Speaker 3: Then the same thing with ok See. Has the league changed?
Speaker 6: You know?
Speaker 4: A couple of years ago was the super teams with
Speaker 4: Miami and then Golden State. Now we're seeing like some
Speaker 4: of these younger teams and they're for real, Like has
Speaker 4: the league changed it all?
Speaker 6: Where?
Speaker 4: You know, it's it's like there's different ways now to
Speaker 4: build the team. It's not about the super teams. It's
Speaker 4: kind of like building within the draft it is.
Speaker 7: And I don't think you can build ask Phoenix. I
Speaker 7: don't think you can build just as a raw super
Speaker 7: team right now in the same way. You can do
Speaker 7: it sort of like Boston's done it. But when you
Speaker 7: look at and I wrote about this today, how Minnesota
Speaker 7: did it and how Miami did I mean Miami, Oklahoma
Speaker 7: City did it. Smart trades, smart draft picks, pick a coach,
Speaker 7: pick a style, pick a system, Decide who you're going
Speaker 7: to be and what your identity is. Build towards it,
Speaker 7: get players that fit it, then be patient, then wait
Speaker 7: a couple of years let it all meld together. If
Speaker 7: you do, I just don't think you can do the well.
Speaker 7: I think Phoenix is the perfect example. Hey we got
Speaker 7: three superstars. That's gonna be enough. It's not going to
Speaker 7: be enough. You need depth. You now need defense, especially
Speaker 7: physical wing defense. If the league is going to keep
Speaker 7: this defensive style allowed, which I think it is it's
Speaker 7: been popular. If you can be physical on defense, it
Speaker 7: changes how you want to build your team.
Speaker 2: Now, Yeah, it really does, and especially not scapegoating your coach.
Speaker 2: You know, a couple of years if there's a regression,
Speaker 2: and we saw that with you know, ok see, they
Speaker 2: hung around with Mark Dagnoll even though he regressed, And
Speaker 2: that's what they did with Chris Finch, even after last year.
Speaker 2: If you had to choose a team in the NBA
Speaker 2: right now that's up and coming that you think is
Speaker 2: doing what you're saying, like picking an identity, sticking with
Speaker 2: an identity and drafting, Well, who is that team that
Speaker 2: no one's talking about right this second?
Speaker 7: I'n say Oklahoma City is kind of the model, but
Speaker 7: we're kind of talking about them. I'm trying to think,
Speaker 7: let me run suddenly, like who took a step forward
Speaker 7: this year that I'm suddenly like not thinking of because
Speaker 7: I'm not looking at a list.
Speaker 1: Is that Orlando?
Speaker 6: For you?
Speaker 1: Do you think that they're.
Speaker 7: I was trying to run through. Orlando's a good example
Speaker 7: of hey, we're going to be long, physical, defensive. Now
Speaker 7: they need a point guard, They need somebody to organize
Speaker 7: that offense a little bit. I love Palo, but he
Speaker 7: shouldn't be your primary shot creator and down right like,
Speaker 7: but if you look at them and watch them and think, man,
Speaker 7: if you gave them Mike Conley or you know, Tyas Jones,
Speaker 7: de Jante Murray, somebody like that would be like somebody
Speaker 7: like that to just organize them. Who can create a shot,
Speaker 7: Who can run a pick and roll and guys, Orlando,
Speaker 7: if you're listening, Clay's awesome.
Speaker 8: Don't do it though, Yeah, I agree, no't Clay's unless
Speaker 8: you've got a DeLorean with a flux capacitor in the
Speaker 8: back and you can go get the Klay Thompson from
Speaker 8: about twenty sixteen.
Speaker 7: No, don't like it's it's it's not gonna fit where
Speaker 7: you want to be. But that's a perfect thank you
Speaker 7: for helping me in the fare. I was just going blank,
Speaker 7: But that's a perfect example of, Hey, we know what
Speaker 7: we want to be. We got a coach we believe
Speaker 7: in who Jamal Mosley was stirred on my Coach of
Speaker 7: the Year ballot. Let's let this marinate naturally and grow
Speaker 7: into something and I think it. Look, they've got to
Speaker 7: make a couple moves. Still, there's still work to do,
Speaker 7: but you can see the trajectory there.
Speaker 1: On how about less than a minute.
Speaker 2: But for you, I just wanted to get your thoughts
Speaker 2: on these coaching carousels. Like to fire Frank Vogel only
Speaker 2: to hire somebody who's almost exactly like Frank Vogel but
Speaker 2: better in the locker room doesn't make much sense to me.
Speaker 1: And now you got guys.
Speaker 2: With the getting paid by multiple teams because they've been
Speaker 2: fired so often, Bud Bud being one of them.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Frank Vogel, by the way, won a championship and
Speaker 7: got fired twice within four years. Welcome to the NBA. Man,
Speaker 7: like crazy, it's I love Mike Budenholzer as a person
Speaker 7: and as a coach, and I think there are great
Speaker 7: situations for him. I don't think it's Phoenix, by the way.
Speaker 7: I just I don't see his acumen changing them that much.
Speaker 7: So I look, man again, if you keep changing coaches,
Speaker 7: then you keep changing styles, and you keep changing everything,
Speaker 7: you don't have the consistency to win like the teams.
Speaker 7: We can talk.
Speaker 4: Kurt, thanks so much, Thank you join the rest of
Speaker 4: the game that I will talk again soon. Thank care,
Speaker 4: Kurt healing right there, nbcsports dot Com.
Speaker 1: Good shit, Kirk, that's all the time.
Speaker 2: After this episode of the Heat check, come back on
Speaker 2: Wednesday for an all new episode talking about the second
Speaker 2: Round series. Check out the feed as well, and for
Speaker 2: many episodes in past, episodes would drop unexpectedly like a
Speaker 2: distrack from Kendrick Lamore.
Speaker 1: That means do not.
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Speaker 1: The tell her, YO, what are you doing right now?
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Speaker 1: Leave that shit at the top.
Speaker 2: No one's yielding your fucking stroller at a place that
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