Speaker 1: All right, finally, we have a special interview with Jared Greenberg.
Speaker 1: Jared is a reporter for TNT and NBA TV and
Speaker 1: joined my other show bet MGM tonight along with my
Speaker 1: co host Nick Ash. You great interview, so let's get
Speaker 1: into it.
Speaker 2: All right, we bring on Jared Greenberg NBA on TNT
Speaker 2: and there are teams that obviously do care when we
Speaker 2: talk about the N Season Tournament. I love what we've
Speaker 2: seen so far from it. Some of the courts are
Speaker 2: a little bit much, but that's maybe they'll work some
Speaker 2: of those kings out. Now we're getting ready, obviously for
Speaker 2: the knockout stage, the quarterfinals, and now we've had some
Speaker 2: teams eliminated. What has been the early I guess returns
Speaker 2: that you've heard from people in terms of whether it's teams, players, whatever,
Speaker 2: and how that N Season Tournament is felt.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks for having me, guys, just a long time
Speaker 3: to talk.
Speaker 1: I know, have me on. I know we got to
Speaker 1: have you on more often.
Speaker 3: Let's go. Let's go on me. I heard this pays
Speaker 3: a lot of money, so I'm excited relationship with you guys. Yeah, no,
Speaker 3: I listen, I'm fired about the N Season Tournament is
Speaker 3: it is it perfect? No, do they need to make tweaks? Yes,
Speaker 3: But I've been somebody who's been trying to argue with
Speaker 3: people for it feels like two decades that the regular
Speaker 3: season is important in the NBA. It is, there's and
Speaker 3: we've lost some of that integrity. It's been watered down,
Speaker 3: and the complaints that I've heard about it are just
Speaker 3: to me mind boggling. It's just the skit off my
Speaker 3: law and mentality of Ooh, change is hard and change
Speaker 3: is not good. No, Like this is fun. Tuesday night,
Speaker 3: I was on the ari I host our our whip
Speaker 3: around show it's called crunch Time on the NBA APP.
Speaker 3: And the fact that we not only had meaningful basketball
Speaker 3: with team's playing hard, but over the last ten years
Speaker 3: we've had trouble getting guys on the court for regular
Speaker 3: season games. Now I got Jason Tatum in the fourth
Speaker 3: quarter up by thirty trying to maintain a thirty point lead.
Speaker 3: If you don't like that, like, that's great, And people
Speaker 3: are saying that's not basketball. Who said that's not basketball?
Speaker 3: And why does that person fifty years ago get to
Speaker 3: dictate what how weapons? Now? It was great to see
Speaker 3: games being played for forty eight freaking minutes in November.
Speaker 1: When did we get to the point where unwritten rules
Speaker 1: were a thing in the NBA. This isn't Major League Baseball.
Speaker 1: I heard Devin Booker. He was like that, I would
Speaker 1: love this every single night because to me, it feels
Speaker 1: like sitting your starters in the fourth quarter actually makes
Speaker 1: really really bad teams seem more good or mediocre than
Speaker 1: they are, which gives these GMS coaches and players cover
Speaker 1: for really just how terrible they are and the accountability
Speaker 1: that's lacking.
Speaker 3: No question. I mean, you guys talk about the betting aspect.
Speaker 3: We do that too on crunch time on the NBA
Speaker 3: app all the time, where you know, you think you
Speaker 3: know what the you feel good about the bet you're
Speaker 3: going to place, but then a coach, whether he's on
Speaker 3: the winning or losing side, decides to pull his starters
Speaker 3: midway through the third quarter because he's waving the white flag,
Speaker 3: and now that affects everything that you thought all day
Speaker 3: about the bet you're going to place on the game.
Speaker 3: So I agree, you know, this is not baseball, And
Speaker 3: that's one of the things that I love about Adam Silver,
Speaker 3: the commissioner of the NBA, who has said from almost
Speaker 3: his first day on the job that just because something
Speaker 3: has been done since nineteen forty seven does not mean
Speaker 3: that's the way it has to be done moving forward,
Speaker 3: whether that's an eighty two game regular season, whether that's
Speaker 3: our playoff format, whatever it is, and injecting a little
Speaker 3: life into the regular season, to me, there is absolutely
Speaker 3: no negative about it, And if you want to argue it,
Speaker 3: I'd love to go to war with you on that argument.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the NBA has always been willing to try new things,
Speaker 2: and I think that's what makes the league great because
Speaker 2: if he just gets stale, right, people get bored. I mean,
Speaker 2: they're just Sometimes you've got to at least give these
Speaker 2: types of things the shot talking to Jared Greenberg bet
Speaker 2: MGM tonight. So with the early thing that I've kind
Speaker 2: of noticed with this too, when you talk about like
Speaker 2: games being played forty eight minutes, and thank god too,
Speaker 2: because there's nothing worse than when a prop dies in
Speaker 2: the fourth quarter because all the starters are sitting and
Speaker 2: you're just going I was on the right side, and
Speaker 2: now I'm screwed because Jokic played twenty seven minutes and
Speaker 2: the Nuggets won by thirty five. But you know, there
Speaker 2: are some younger teams where it feels like this tournament
Speaker 2: maybe does mean a little bit more to them than, say,
Speaker 2: you know, a team that's got their eyes on an
Speaker 2: NBA title. Now that may be perception, that may not
Speaker 2: actually be the case, but that's kind of the early
Speaker 2: feel that I'm getting from a team like the Pacers,
Speaker 2: who obviously plays the Celtics in a few days and
Speaker 2: we're going to kind of start seeing I think a
Speaker 2: little bit more of a sample size of what this
Speaker 2: tournament looks like when it's all said and done. Does
Speaker 2: that kind of feel that way for you too, where
Speaker 2: some of these young teams this is their chance to
Speaker 2: kind of take that next jump, knowing that, Okay, if
Speaker 2: we're being honest, we're not an NBA title contender yet,
Speaker 2: but maybe we can sneak in and win this tournament.
Speaker 3: Right Yeah, nick, I thought that there would be two
Speaker 3: different approaches to the nd season tournament, and the first
Speaker 3: is what you're talking about young teams who are a
Speaker 3: little bit more hungrier, who haven't won anything, so winning
Speaker 3: something for the first time in an NBA Cup would
Speaker 3: be cool then maybe valued more than an older team.
Speaker 3: But I also think that there are teams like the Lakers,
Speaker 3: like the Suns, who can't afford to wait until January
Speaker 3: or February to figure out who they are. It might
Speaker 3: be too late, so to play some pressurized games. I
Speaker 3: think this early in the season is good for you.
Speaker 3: It's good for the players, it's good for the coaching
Speaker 3: staffs to figure out what rotations, what lineups look like.
Speaker 3: And then I think it's really great for front offices. Listen,
Speaker 3: if the Lakers bomb out on Tuesday Night against the
Speaker 3: Phoenix Suns or vice versa, then Rob Polinka and James
Speaker 3: Jones in the front offices for LA and Phoenix are
Speaker 3: going to have to look in the mirror and say,
Speaker 3: we just played a pressurized simulation playoff game and this
Speaker 3: group is not ready for it. What can we do
Speaker 3: between now and maybe the trade deadline or you know,
Speaker 3: in terms of free agents that are out there, not
Speaker 3: that there is that many, but what can we do
Speaker 3: around the edges to get our team prepared for April
Speaker 3: and May basketball?
Speaker 1: What do you think about the Magic and why they've
Speaker 1: become so potent defensive magic? Jared I took him to
Speaker 1: won the division and boil boy bet MGM keeps giving
Speaker 1: me cash out options, and I'm no coward. I'm not
Speaker 1: taking it.
Speaker 3: No, I wouldn't take it either. I've I've loved the
Speaker 3: Magic for a while this If you've been a true
Speaker 3: diehard Magic fan, you've been on the fun bust that
Speaker 3: they park outside of Amway Arena, then then you would
Speaker 3: know that this has been a slow churn, a slow burn, right,
Speaker 3: It's taken a long time. They really swung and missed
Speaker 3: at a lot of draft picks. They made some really
Speaker 3: questionable draft picks over the last few years. But Franz
Speaker 3: Wagner is probably the best player in the NBA that
Speaker 3: casual NBA fans are not talking about. Paulo ban Caro
Speaker 3: is sensational. They are so freaking big on their front
Speaker 3: line with Wendell Carter and you know, obviously he's dealing
Speaker 3: with some issues, but Carter, Wagner, Isaac and Betadze who's
Speaker 3: come in out of nowhere and filled in thank Caro. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and the fact that there's deep in the guard rotation,
Speaker 3: like their guards even I don't you know, Cole Anthony's
Speaker 3: had some really good games, thirty point game the other night,
Speaker 3: But I don't even think sugs and folks are gelling
Speaker 3: to that point that they can be that good. But
Speaker 3: it's been It's all about patience, right And Jamal Moseley,
Speaker 3: I don't know if you guys have ever spoken to him,
Speaker 3: but he is one of the coolest guys. Like I
Speaker 3: just feel like he connects with his players and it
Speaker 3: just makes sense that they're ready listen again, like you said, Nick,
Speaker 3: like the Pacers, they're not a team that's gonna win
Speaker 3: a championship this year, but they're a team that I
Speaker 3: thought was going to be a lock for the play
Speaker 3: in Tournament. Right now, I'm excited to see the Magic
Speaker 3: battle with teams that are gonna take it easy in
Speaker 3: February and March and they're gonna put pressure on them
Speaker 3: to make the top six in the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 1: Yea.
Speaker 2: Sometimes it just takes one season for all these young
Speaker 2: players to just click at the right time, and it
Speaker 2: really feels like that's starting to happen with the Magic.
Speaker 2: On the other side of things, there's the Warriors, who
Speaker 2: at this point might be struggling to get into the
Speaker 2: play in Tournament. This continues the way that they look
Speaker 2: right now. Obviously, look, they're older, we know they've had,
Speaker 2: dealt with some injuries, the Draymond's suspension. Like, there's a
Speaker 2: lot going on. It's an eighty two games schedule. Klay
Speaker 2: Thompson's not worried. That's fine. He probably shouldn't be with
Speaker 2: all the success they've had in the past. But when
Speaker 2: you watch the Warriors right now, do you see a
Speaker 2: team who's at this point maybe just a fringe playoff
Speaker 2: team at best.
Speaker 3: Yeah. You know, to me, some of their roster construction
Speaker 3: decisions have been questionable over the last couple of years.
Speaker 3: I understand why they went out and got Chris Paul
Speaker 3: because their bench unit was just so bad. And let's
Speaker 3: not kid ourselves, Nobody in the Warriors organization, if they're
Speaker 3: taking a live detector, thought he would come in and
Speaker 3: start as many games as he had. He has that
Speaker 3: and they kind of placated him, saying we'll figure it
Speaker 3: out in training camp. That's garbage. He came in because
Speaker 3: they had no one to control the second unit last
Speaker 3: year and the second unit was the worst second unit
Speaker 3: all of basketball. But to me, as bad as that was,
Speaker 3: their bigger issue is they can't rebound the ball. They've
Speaker 3: got no consistency behind Draymond. Steve Kurr does not trust
Speaker 3: Jonathan Kuminga, who now is obviously dealing with some things.
Speaker 3: But you know, they they just don't have enough. They
Speaker 3: not put enough attention on their other weaknesses, like you know, defense,
Speaker 3: like they're they're they're playing the post. And to me,
Speaker 3: you know, Wiggins is starting to come on, he's playing
Speaker 3: a little better. But yeah, the whole Wiggins Clay thing
Speaker 3: has to resolve itself. And now you know, with Gary
Speaker 3: Payton's going to be out, he might be alcohol year
Speaker 3: with his calf injury. You know this, it's just it's
Speaker 3: devastating for them. But but I'm not as down on
Speaker 3: them as I think some people are, just because I
Speaker 3: believe in Steph Curry and what Steph Curry did. What
Speaker 3: I don't think people are appreciating enough is what Steph
Speaker 3: Curry did in the first month of the season with
Speaker 3: as bad of a supporting cast as he had, should
Speaker 3: make him one of the top three m VP candidates.
Speaker 3: Now he won't last there if this continues, but he
Speaker 3: has been just so superb. But we saw it the
Speaker 3: other night. You know, if Clay and Wiggins can hit
Speaker 3: big shots and the decision by Steve curR to take
Speaker 3: Moses Moody out of the game. I don't. I'm curious.
Speaker 3: He probably hit his prop. I would imagine that game
Speaker 3: because of how hot he was. But how do you
Speaker 3: take a guy on a heater off the court when
Speaker 3: all you need is other guys other than Steph that
Speaker 3: can score.
Speaker 1: Yeah, now, Clay and Wiggs feel like they're kind of
Speaker 1: turning on each other to talking about who should be
Speaker 1: sitting and coming off the bench. We have just about
Speaker 1: a minute. I wanted to get your thoughts on what
Speaker 1: team right now is waiting in the weeds, kind of
Speaker 1: hanging below the radar that you think has the potential
Speaker 1: to be dangerous, say like a Pelican, Say like a
Speaker 1: Clippers or a Caves or Timberwolves.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I love the Timberwolves right now. I think the
Speaker 3: fact that they're playing defense the way they are, they're
Speaker 3: consistently through the first month of the season, been top two,
Speaker 3: top three, and Anthony Edwards is a bona fide superstar.
Speaker 3: I did not think he would be this good, particularly
Speaker 3: this quick. And the way they've gotten Cat and Rudy
Speaker 3: Gobert on the same page remarkable. They get McDaniels back
Speaker 3: into the lineup in the next few weeks. This team
Speaker 3: is going to be a big problem in the West.
Speaker 2: Jared Greenberg, NBA on TNT NBA TV. You see him everywhere.
Speaker 2: You know the face, you know the name. Love having
Speaker 2: you on, man. I appreciate the time spitting.
Speaker 3: Thank you, guys. Righteous.
Speaker 2: He brings up a good point too, about like young
Speaker 2: team or like older teams, kind of testing out what
Speaker 2: they are, what you're like in a playoff scenario. That's
Speaker 2: it's almost like a preseason playoff. I think that's another
Speaker 2: really good way to.
Speaker 3: Look at it.
Speaker 1: That's all the time that we have for this episode
Speaker 1: of the Heat Check. Many thanks to Jared and my peeps.
Speaker 1: I bet MGM the night. Come check us out seven
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