This is the Baseline discussing the hot button topics of the nb A. Welcome
everybody, your tune to the Baseline. Kylie warren Shaw discussing the hot button
topics of the NBA. And while my man is out there gallivanting around the
world, you know that the train, the baseline train, don't stop,
man. And it's always awesome when a show like the one that we've had
the opportunity to build and construct has the ability more than anything else, to
like stand on its own, you know, to continue to move forward.
And we always love and appreciate those those opportunities to be able to bring on
uh, people who we've had on our show previously, people who we've collaborated
with in this industry. And we always feel like whenever we bring family on,
man, we never skip a beat, nothing's missed. And so I
would be remissed if while my man is out there living his best life,
you know what, I'm s and euro tripping with his significant other and we
got everything happening right now in the association, had to put the power pile
together and say, who do we want to come on here to help hype
things up, And of course, out out of the You know what I'm
saying out of the Magic Blue A man, Steven Cameron. If everybody remembers
him rolling with the nineteen media family and he had his show, but now
he's doing bigger, better things as well too. Don't get it twisted.
Still down with the Magic, still doing his thing, but you can always
now catch him on the Close Up with Orlando Magic HQ. He does it
every other week on Tuesdays. You go to www dot Orlando magichq dot com
on Man, Steven Cameron stiff. We canna make you say, I stepfortless?
What's going on? My brother? Yo? Cal? What is going
on? Man? It's always good to come on this show and chop it
up with you. Energy's high, psych is high. I just watched the
Orlando Magic at their asses kicked by the Dallas Mavericks. So we are but
we're letting that page just kind of simmer and we're moving forward and uh man,
I'm like to talk some basketball with you. Man, exactly, not
the type of magic trick that you wanted the week to start off with,
right, Like, you know what I'm saying, That's not what you wanted
to pull out of that. You know what I'm saying when it came to
but you're hoping to get the W but we're here. We're here. This
is good because we've gotta we've gotta say called shock and awe. Right,
yes, so we got a little bit of all you got a little shock,
We got a little bit of aut are we going to discuss when it
pertains to the Orlando Magic, but also as well to man our show.
You know, we're gonna cover some things going on so far. Was the
first week or so of the NBA season, kicking off NBA Tourney, which
is in full gear, I guess you can say, and just you know,
all together, man, it's just been an excited first couple of weeks
of NBA basketball being played and so you know, let let's let's do this
right like, so, I know it's been a minute since I've had you
had the opportunity to jump on. Let our listeners know and remind everybody,
you know what I'm saying, what it means for you to have the opportunity
to talk basketball, cover the magic, you know, doing what you've been
doing for as while. Let give people a little insight of how sc operates.
All right, all right, all right, so uh yeah, I'll
give the backstory, but I'll keep it short and sweet. Been covering the
team since like twenty and sixteen. Started doing my own show outside of what
I was doing in the beginning around twenty eighteen, called The Close Up Magic.
That's when I got connected with you guys. The baseline show you guys
were actually uh I think it was like my third guest on the third episode
you were. You were on my third episode, third or fourth somewhere around
there, so very early in it was September, mid September of twenty eighteen.
I remember looking this up. Just a few weeks ago. I was
kind of wrapping up shop on that chapter of my life, but pretty quickly
got a credentialed media with the Magic living here in the West Coast. I
grew up in Orlando, flew out to the West Coast in twenty fourteen,
got bored of talking to Warriors fans, so I started a podcast to talk
about magic. And then just recently this summer, I decided to wrap up
and close up shop on my old show called The Close Up Magic. That
was a podcast I was doing by myself. I had some people helping me
out on the back end and stuff, But it was really just kind of
me running the ship and doing all the back end work and things like that,
and decided to join ship with my homies Alan Anthony over at Orlando Magic
HQ, who've been doing a phenomenal job covering the team in article and podcast
form, and I am just now joining my show similar format, a couple
less time, a little less frequent. It's now twice a month occasional,
we'll do a bonus episode in there maybe three times a month. You can
find it on Wednesdays on the Orlando Magic HQ feed. We have reporters that
go to every single home game. We got people that watch and write articles
based on every single game and transaction and news and rumor that comes on the
Orlando Magic. So it's not just a podcast platform, it's a It truly
is a Orlando Magic news centric platform. I mean, if you remember,
like the forms on Real GM, we even have our own form for the
Orlando Magic on Orlando Magic HQ. So that's how I'm rocking, That's how
I'm covering the team right now. It's been a lot of fun with this
new transition. Uh but but honestly, right now, the most exciting thing
is being right here in this chair talking to you on the baseline talking about
the NBA. Gonna get digging, get deep into some thoughts tonight. Absolutely,
man, And look, let's not let it be said. The NBA
always finds a way to kind of surprise us with how they you know,
roll the season out right, So I know we'll talk a little bit about,
you know, the emergence of the you know, inaugural in season tournament,
but I wanted to get your thoughts about how this NBA season has has
started. Like, you know, first of all, props to the Orlando
Magic, right, and we're gonna take us spend a few minutes talking about
them, But props to the Orlando Magic because we've been waiting for a long
time to see what comes of what's taking place with Orlando over the last five
or six years, with the massive talent and and and you know what they've
drafted, and I mean, you can even make the argument that they are
still players that have not really even helped to scratch the surface of what this
team could potentially be. But the foundation is absolutely solid. And I always
believe that you have a good indication of whether or not there is longevity in
what they've done. If the team finally takes advantage of coming out of the
gate strong, not showing signs of struggles early, and that this is going
to be a much longer season than everyone anticipated. I think this is finally
the year where people have a reason to feel optimistically excited, regardless of what
the circumstance is going to be at the end of the regular season. People
who are you know, loyal Magic fans, people who are wanting clamoring to
be Magic fans, are really excited to see these group young group of guys
go out there and really compete in ball out and it's yielding early results already.
Yeah, I mean it's fun. So, I mean, the Magic
did just lose to the to the Mavericks tonight, and so they are now
four and three. But you know, you got a young team that had
a very very strong home opener versus the Houston Rockets, a team that they
should beat, and they beat them, and then they immediately went on a
four game West Coast road trip after the very first they get one game on
the East Coast and they go straight out west to hit the Blazers back to
back versus the Lakers and the Clippers hit the Jazz come right back home,
just to have the Lakers come to Amway Center in Orlando and have to face
them after a four game road trip. So it was it was no rest
for the Wicked, right, they just had to go right right into it.
And my whole thought was, if they can come out of this West
Coast road trip be in five hundred or or you know, close to that,
we'll be good. You know, we young team goes straight on a
huge West Coast road trip to start the season. That's tough. That's tough
even for a veteran team on the East. So, you know, we
come out of that West Coast road trip three and two. Then we stomped
the Lakes by nineteen points at home to go four and two, and then
we are out four rotation players and have a really good fight against the Mavericks
tonight. We kind of let the rope go a little bit on the third
quarter, couldn't bring it back up. But I mean, I think I
just say all that without getting too detailed in every single game, but more
so just to talk about the culture to be able to go through that adversity
of having a really rough schedule right in the beginning, you know, you
have some injury issues kind of right towards the beginning too, Game four or
five versus the Jazz, our starting center when olcartera junior, goes up for
a last second rebound to help control that win of the over that team and
breaks his hand and he's out. We win against the Lakers with a third
string center and a third string point guard in the starting lineup because Markel Foltz
was also out, and that third string center Goga Bitatse and our third string
point guard Anthony Black, who we just drafted in the sixth pick. They
have the highest UH plus minus on the team and on the court for the
entire night when we whooped the Lakers. But so again not going too deep
into all the little ins and outs of the game, but I just say
that is like this team is deeper than people realize. They have a very
strong culture. They want to play for each other, and I think you're
seeing that right now with how they're fighting through the adversity of a hard schedule
and already dealing with some unfortunate injuries with this team. So it's been fun.
You're seeing Paulo continue to to take that step as Rookie of the Year
from last year. A little bit of a slow start in the beginning,
but already had a thirty point game, twenty five point game, Franz Wagner
being a two way beast after his Foba summer. It's just been a lot
of fun Caalid and I can't be more excited as a as a Magic fan
today. Well, I want to I want to touch on polow And and
Wagner because I truly believe that you're seeing the emergence of a legit dynamic duo.
And it's interesting to me because I was a little bit on the fence
about whether or not the Orlando Magic really are totally dug in or have bought
into Pollo being the man for that team, because I think for a while
the Magic have been resting on the hopes. I think of Jonathan Isaac being
that guy, you know, and he's just it's weird, how you know,
his career so to speak, has kind of, you know, tail
spinned out where people are not even really people are just even like if you're
the Magic, you're grateful that he's even probably going to be able to be
on the basketball corporate under no circumstances do you find that there is a level
of confidence that he should be the person who is, you know what I'm
saying, the franchise player for this team moving forward. I think everybody recognizes
Apollo is that dude. And then now you've got, you know, know,
an opportunity for Wagner to come in and he doesn't necessarily have to be
the man. I think there's still a lot of work ahead of him,
but you see the upside and potential. And this to me iterily reminds me
a lot of what people are seeing or saying about the Oklahoma City Thunder,
you know, out in the Western Conference right like what we're seeing from the
Magic in the East, that there is a young core of you know,
dudes that are ready to run, some thoroughbreds ready to go. And I
think they just need the right coaching, they need the Rite system, and
they just need to build around that right mentality of learning how to win even
when they're losing. And I think this is the season that we're kind of
starting to see that, especially with the kind of schedule that was already presented
to them in the first week, Like you can really see that this team
is persevering. Yeah, one hundred percent agree on a lot of that.
This is kind of like the season for the Magic where expectations for the team
have been laid out. It's playoffs, it's not it's not almost making the
play in. It's not let's get a good lottery pick, it's not making
the play in. Like I think if the team made the tenth seed or
the ninth seed and didn't get out of the play in, I think the
team and the coaches in the front office would consider it a failure because they
want this team to get to the next step, because they want to see
what Paulo and Franz can do in the playoffs and see how to continue to
build this team around those individuals. So they've been preaching it all year,
which is is interesting because it's not something they've spoke about in years past.
Right, It's been the cute word that's been said, but without real kind
of expectations there, and now it is they're saying it with a different tone,
a different their chest held out just a little bit differently this year when
they say the word playoffs and that's where they want to go, and that's
that's the expectations, and so I think this is the year we we don't
even just kind of like, was Paulo a one off? Or is he
going to continue being the man that we think he can be? Is he
gonna take his game to that next level defensively and as a playmaker and as
a high IQ score to be that superstar corner franchise player for this team.
Is Franz Wagner going to be able to live next to him? Can they
both be Batman and Batman, not Batman and Robin, Because that's kind of
what these guys are right now, and that's kind of how they view each
other too. They don't have a problem sharing the ball with each other.
They love to set each other up with different cuts and passes to the open
three, or sometimes just step back and let them cook an iso the guy
in front of them. They really do truly enjoy playing with each other,
and I think they recognize the power of having two six to ten wings that
can dribble, pass and shoot and defend. Right that's rare, that's really
special for this league. And I think they kind of understand the foundation that
those two can have together. So it's fun, man, It's watching them
if you ever get a chance this year, you know, tap into a
couple of magic games and then just kind of key in on those two individually
and how they communicate, how they act on the court together, because it's
it's a lot of fun, and sure there's some growing pains, right Franz
the other night took twenty eight shots versus the Lakers. We still got the
w wasn't the most efficient of his of his shots. He's kind of figuring
out, like, yeah, I gotta continue to be aggressive with my scoring,
but you know, like maybe I gotta be a little bit smarter with
how and when I take that. And he's gonna figure that out. He
ain't gonna be taking twenty eight shots every night. But you know, right
now, Franz is averaging nineteen points a game, almost twenty. Paulo,
he's had at he had a little bit of a slow spart. He's averaging
seventeen to eighteen points a game right now. That'll get closer to twenty in
a couple more games, I guarantee, And so it's been a lot of
fun. Jonathan Isaac, he's just bonus at this point. He comes off
the bench for us. If we can keep him healthy towards the playoffs,
you know, we'll be using him really key on key defensive matchups here and
there, because that really is his calling card. It's it's not the offense,
it's the defense with him, and you know it's he's already yeah,
So I'll just leave it at that. Man, those two are are are
gonna be special. We got to figure out kind of what the rest of
this team looks like around them. Are the guards going to be able to
apply enough enough shooting and spacing for Franz and Paulo to kick out to and
help create that space. Right now, teams are really kind of dropping in
and clogging the pain a little bit, making a little bit harder to operate
because we don't have the best outside shooting on this team. So there's some
roster decisions that will be made in the next twelve months on this team as
well. But that's what the season is all about, figuring out how this
team operates on a high level with high expectations. Well, so you bring
up a couple of really good points, and I think we'll have an opportunity
to highlight that in a moment or so. I'm curious you know, from
from your perspective, what is it going to take like, So we can
already see that this team has a defensive mindset that I think Jamal Mosley has
has really kind of amped up the and influenced them. You know, if
they want to compete, if they want to be in games, they have
to be better defensively, which is one of the things that the Magic you
know, suffered greatly over the last few seasons, not because they're just you
know, a bad team that doesn't know how to defend. They just don't
know how to play together to defend right, And so I think you can
see they marketably have improved that. Just even the first you know, seven
games played, you can tell that there is an emphasis on them, you
know, really helping out and defending you know, the opposing team's best players.
And I'll be interested to see what those metrics would look like, you
know, as the season moves forward, because again to your point, these
are young guys. But at the same time, this is something where last
year I think was a was an eye opening experience for how important it is
that they need to play better defense down the stretch of games where they have
an opportunity to win. So with that being said, what my concern typically
comes down to is, you know, again the Magic figuring out what kind
of backcourt they want to supplement what they're getting from their wings and their and
their bigs. There has to be a table setter, and it just still
feels like they're still trying to figure out who and what that's gonna be and
what that's going to look like. Where are you on that if you had
to grade you know, on the scale of one to ten, you know,
ten being read alert, you know what I'm saying about how this needs
to be addressed, or you know one basically saying it's nothing to worry about.
This is what's going to come with the territory. Where would you be
on that scale when we're talking about how the backcourt for the Orlando Magic really
needs to find, you know, you know, identify, like show an
identity of what type of you know, back court does the Magic really want
to be for the star players that they've got, you know, at the
front court level? Yeah, man, great question. So a little bit
of the backstory on our backcourt. Our front office has very much a defensive
mindset for drafting and just building a team in general. That's why this team
right now, at least going into tonight's game, was sitting second in the
entire league and defensive rating. They are a high end defensive team and will
continue to be that probably the rest of the year because of the way this
roster is built, and part of that is the way the guards are built.
We held Luca and Kyrie Irving too. I think it was like sixteen
and seventeen points tonight. Neither one of them cracked Neither one of them cracked
twenty. And that that's a testament to our guards because you're talking about two
of the best scorers on the planet on the same team not being able to
hit their average. You know, Luca, I think is averaging like twenty
eight or thirty something points night right now, early into the season. Small
sample size, but just a testament to how this team is built, you
know. I I'm gonna say, like where my alert level is is like
a five, and I'll get to that as to why in a second,
I don't think it's like a major red flag. I think we can like
kind of take this season two. I think our guard rotation is good enough
right now to help us get to the goals that we need to be.
We're not gonna be this like crazy offense, like super efficient offensive team with
it, Like we'll probably be around like twentieth in offensive ranking, which is
not great. It's certainly improved, yeah, certainly improved compared like a bottom
twenty five, right exactly. And given where you guys are, which you
know, I was gonna speak to us as well as well too, the
division that there is opportunities, yeah, where the team can struggle shooting the
basketball, but as long as their defense of consistency maintains, they can still
win those games. Because listen, I know that divisions don't matter a whole
lot nowadays because of the way that you know, leagues have structured. You
know, it's more about the conferences and things. But you got a ton
of games that you still play against the Atlanta Hawks, the Miami Heat,
the Washington Wizards and keeping it a hundred, those are winnable games with the
talent level that the Orlando Magic has exhibited that yeah, Charlotte Hornets, so
like, it's a winnable division. But more importantly, those are winnable games
that you consistently can go back to to draw from. Whereas if you were
playing in the Atlantic Division, you're playing the likes of the Celtics and the
Sixers and the Raptors, Like you know what I'm saying, Like that is
just that's nuts, you know what I mean, that's murderer's row. Probably
would not be ready for that just yet, but the Magic are getting there.
I think part of this this year is going to be figuring out what
we have in the guards. Right that's kind of the question mark because we
have two guards in our starting unit, Jalen Suggs and Mark hal Foltz,
who are defensive focused guards. You know, Mark hel Folts have taken a
really nice step in his defense, but he is kind of like that playmaking
quarterback that the game manager that kind of can set up the offense. He's
got a really nice mid range and a good like finish at the basket.
But but both of these guards and and and Suggs is a disruptor, really
good in transition. Uh you know, attacker at the rim too. Can
do some step backs and stuff, but not efficient with his three point shooting.
But I truly think, just to kind of wrap up that, that
guard thing is like one of those positions between the one and the two has
to be a sniper from three on a on a high end basis, like
the whole Buddy Yield rumors, Like, Man, I would love Buddy Heal
to be on on the Magic because you you, you got guys that are
meant to play in the paint and get to the basket, draw fouls with
Franz and Paulo, and they need someone to kick out too because they're both
phenomenal passers. And how awesome would it be to have that sniper from three
to just get buck gets right? And I think that's what it's gonna take
for us to get to that like mid tier league average in offensive standings.
But you're right, man, even without that, even if we just had
like a twentieth defensive rating, I mean offensive rating and like you know,
a top ten, top five defensive rating, that's enough for us to be
a top eight team in this in this Eastern Conference. I'm not gonna say
top six. I will say top eight. Despite the Magic talking that they
are going to be a playoff team, not a play in team, I
still think they land somewhere in the play in you know, in that seven
to eight range is kind of like seating goes. Yeah, I guess six
is possible too. They started hot, there's always that fun story. But
man, you also got teams like Chicago and the Raptors that could blow it
up at any moment. Right now, rightly, you know this could be
the year that both those teams probably should blow up their franchise and make some
significant changes, and that that would be a story where the Magic can also
make up some ground and continue to prove the Magic just gotta beat the teams
are supposed to beat cal and then they gotta win some extra ones along the
way versus the upper teams and playing close games. That's how they're gonna make
it where they want to go. Absolutely your tuned to the baseline. Calie
Warnshaw discussing the hot button topics of the nb A and on par with my
man Steve Cameron. You can catch his show The Close Up with You Orlando
Magic HQ. Catch that every other Tuesday. Go to www dot Orlando Magic
hq dot com. One last question I wanted to ask you, you know,
before we before we end this segment, is what do you think it's
gonna take? And And look, I'm gonna sound cliche when I say this,
I don't know if it necessarily means that this should be how the Orlando
Magic should adopt this mentality of what it's going to take for them to be
an established playoff basketball team. But obviously pollows off to something of a slow
start, not significantly so, but slow to the standards of what I think
a lot of people are expecting him to do in year two of his of
his you know, Magic career, right, But my thing is is that
they're always going to draw to this. You're going to need a go to
guy. You're going to need a guy who's going to be able to get
your clutch buckets when it matters the most. Where are you on who the
Magic should hone in on to be that guy? Like what will it take?
Will it take Pollow being twenty seven to twenty eight point or would you
be satisfied if it's Pollow maybe doing twenty three twenty four points, but Wagner
giving you twenty two to twenty three points, like the balance or leaned heavily,
or the way that you're looking at this team and how they play,
and and and and to your point about the offense efficiency, is that gonna
come down to those two growing together or Polo taking that step saying, you
know, I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna be that dude, you know, especially
in those clutch situations. Yeah. Man, that's a good question. I
think for them to be a solid playoff team, they can lift balanced,
no problem. I think for them to be contenders, like legitimate contenders,
cal not just pretenders. You need Paulo to be that guy that can be
a top ten player in this league, that can put up twenty six twenty
seven average, you know, twenty twenty seven to twenty eight points a game
on a regular basis, while Fronz is still getting his buckets and and and
you know, probably averaging twenty something points a game as well. I think
that's possible. But but I think I think what's gonna happen is I don't
think we're gonna see Paulo be able to take that step until this team addresses
the spacing, because right now, I was I was kind of hinting at
it earlier. Paulo can get to the line as much as he wants,
but what's gonna limit this team is the offense. And even with Paulo averaging
twenty let's say you average twenty five points a game this season, which technically
as possible, I don't know if it will probably average maybe closer to twenty
two to twenty three this year, if I had to guess. But even
if it was averaging twenty five points a season, they're still gonna struggle because
teams literally just sag off on the wings and they just clog the paint,
and when they do kick out to people, they're not hitting the shots down
and that just hurts. You're missing open shots. So you have guys hesitant
to take open shots, and that's going to limit them this season. But
when they can address that problem, that's gonna open up more things for them
boys to work in side the pain in the mid range because there's guys hugging
to their their their guys on the rim on the perimeter, which will allow
our guys to do what they need to do to be more efficient and be
able to close games better. Right when Paul is getting double and triple team
trying to close a game, he needs someone to kick it out to and
right now he doesn't really have that. So I think we can live balanced
and be a good playoff team. But again, I think if order for
us to be a true dog in this fight, uh, you know,
Paula probably needs to take that jump to superstardom in the next couple of years.
All right, my man, Stephite like laying it down, boy,
making it sound Steppordlessyan Bryan your tune to the baseline Cali Warrens Show discussing the
hot button topics of the NBA with our special guest Stephan Cameron from the close
up with Orlando Magic h Q. Coming up. Well, man, step
and I we're going to do a little shock in awe, Yes, sir,
we're gonna We're gonna lay it down. What we gonna believe is stuff
that makes you say aw shucks or stuff that's gonna make you say all damns.
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don't miss out all right, we are back. KLi am a man,
Steph Cameron here joining us here on the Baseline NBA podcast. And so
this segment, now we got man, it's been a while. I feel
a little bad. I'm doing this with you, Steff, So you gotta
appreciate this because my man and Sean might have something to say to when he
returns, but I'll try and represent it well for him exactly, So I
won't won't won't let you down. Bro, We'll be gonna be saying all
shah instead of saying all shucks. But this segment is called shock in Awe
right, So basically, the NBA season has started. It's underway, right.
Obviously, there's some you know, storylines and things that have been happening
already the outset of this season that I'll either make you say all shucks,
are gonna make you say ad damn. Right. So my man stuff is
joining us here, and I'm gonna start it off with the Boston Celtics,
Orlando Magic, Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia seventy six Ers off to a strong start,
right, which one is making you say, all shucks? The Atlanta
Hawks? Man. I mean, honestly, it's like that the Magic all
shucks. Like I love seeing us have a hot start. But the Hawks.
Man, I was not high on this team going into the year.
I just like, they're in my division. I kind of already hate them
in general. They do have one of the better coaches in the league,
so like, I knew things were going to get better, but like just
offensively, I didn't know if they were gonna have it. There's always a
little bit of drama around Trey Young and how that team operates and stuff like
that, and I just I don't know, man, I just always thought
that was gonna be. So when I see them have this this start,
I'm like, oh, all right, all shucks, that's cool, Like
good for them. I mean, not great for the Magic because we're in
the same division, but I mean, it's it's good for them to have
that start that I did not expect. I'm gonna agree with you there.
I'm having an awe shucks moment about the Atlanta Hawks, but more importantly because
of the fact that they are the second best offensive team in the NBA,
and I think about Quinn Snyder. While his calling card has been you know,
this is offensive. Over the years that he was coaching the u Utah
Jazz, the Utah Jazz were recognized for being one of the better defensive teams.
Now right now, the Atlanta Hawks, you know, are twentieth as
far as you know opposing teams points scored per game. But when you look
at their defensive rating, their defensive net rating, they're a top ten team.
And I think it balances out when you're arguably one of the best offensive
scoring teams. Now, again, it's early, but this to me,
for a team that I'm thinking is gonna be somewhere in the middle of the
pack, this is a very strong start. And it also has us keen
in it, keying in on Deontay Murray and Trey Young and their ability to
you know, really help spearhead this team and and keep them in games,
and and the dynamic that the both of them bring to the table. I
think we're now seeing it somewhat come to fruition where they struggled to be able
to show that when you know, the deal was made last year and Deontay
Murray was on this on this roster, so to me, I would agree
with you on that. One other though shucks thing though is the Celtics.
I was not anticipating the Boss and Celtics, and you know, I don't
know I whether or not they will maintain being an undefeated team by the time
this show drops. But the fact that this team has looked every bit the
part of a team that is getting back to its defensive principles with elite defensive
play coming from Drew Holliday, Tatum and Brown and the rest of the guys
Derek White and the crew. Christaps Porzingis is even showing you defensive you know
what I'm saying, mastery At times like real, I don't understand this because
I thought that the reason why you put this team together was all right,
we may not be able to defend teams the way that we used to,
but we're just we're definitely going to be a much better team to outscore whoever
it is that we're playing against. We're going to create all these different mismatches.
But you look at this this Celtics team, man, they are balanced
on both sides of the ball, and you can clearly see that there is
a market improvement in their ability to defend. Now, I still think that
because it is a scorers league, that you'll probably see them take a step
back. But I think it's stabilized when you've got a heady guy like Drew
Holliday really commanding the rest of that team to be where they need to be
and stabilizing their backcourt play, to close out on the three ball and all
of the This is a good Celtics team, man, And I'm really really
surprised that they are hot out the gate the way that they are. I
thought maybe this would be something that picks up momentum and steam and my god,
that making Missoula look like a freaking master at the coachings. You know
what I'm saying on the sidelines, it's crazy. It's a testing I mean,
to be fair, it's gonna be pretty hard for any head coach to
have failure with with when you're starting five has has you know, Drew Holiday,
Brown, Tatum, Chris tops White, Like that's just such a strong
starting five. But I mean, like, yo, man, he's looking
really prime with that. You know. It's it's absolutely it's the only undefeated
team in the league right now. It's pretty special. Absolutely, And listen,
let's not snuff the Sixers given the drama that has taken place before the
season has even started. But I think everybody knew. I think everybody knew
that once they got rid of James Harden, they finally lifted that black cloud
off of that that franchises. You know what I'm saying, demeanor that they
now are getting back to playing basketball. I don't know if it's sustainable,
I really don't, but I can definitely tell you that it's much more enjoyable
to watch a team that wants to play together, that wants to compete together,
than dealing with all the unnecessary stuff. And I'm not blaming James Harden
about what's going on out there and what had to happen, but you can
clearly tell that the team didn't need all of that for them to go into
the start of this season with so much already on the line. And now
with the speculation of Joel Embiid talking about, you know, exploring other places,
you know, if things don't go right in Philadelphia, you can clearly
see that he is making a statement that this is his team and that the
Sixers need to stop. You know, throwing players that don't want to play
with him on the roster so that he can work with the dudes that do
want to play with him. You know, I just want to say,
like it's a shout out to Nick Nurse and Jewel Embiid. I don't necessarily
like love either one of them as leaders, Like Nick Nurse is is one
of my least favorite coaches in the league. And then Joel Ebiid, like
there's just I just don't know if he's like the leader that I think he
a team needs. But you know, James Harden just got off the team
a couple days ago. This is like they had to go through what four
games training camp dealing with all that, but they still were able to keep
culture vibes, team focused players focus kind of blocking out the noise and go
off to this strong five and one start. And oh yeah, the one
loss was like a buzzer beater, or not a buzzer beater. It was
a very close game to I think it was the Bucks maybe or something like
that, like a very respectable team. It wasn't just like they didn't show
up. It was a very very close game. And so, yeah,
man, you're right that that is another team that definitely deserves to be having
that all shucks moment because I remember thinking, Man, I can't wait for
James hard to get traded because I'm just so tired of hearing about James Harden
wanting to get traded from the from the seventy six ers. You know,
it's like who You're right, all shucks for the for the seventy six ers,
All shucks. All right, Now we got to throw on another team
in there as well too. And funny how these are like all East Eastern
Conference teams. How about the Dallas Mavericks. You know what I'm saying,
I'm teetering on this as saying aw shucks, because damn, you know,
they're really, you know what I'm saying, showing you that they're a team
to not, you know, snuff at. And it's hard to imagine because
I'm still trying to figure out how this dynamic of Irving and Luca is playing,
but they're really making it work. But the other part of me is
saying, oh damn, because now if we have to take the Dallas Mavericks
seriously, I mean, that just completely opens up the floodgates about where the
Western Conference might might tilt towards you know what I'm saying, Like I think
people are saying, well, the Dallas Mavericks might be good enough, but
they may not be They may be playing worthy, but they're definitely probably not
a playoff team. And I keep saying, you get off to a good
start, you give yourself a chance, and you can allow yourself to separate.
You know, some of those teams are gonna probably you know, pull
you down or bring you back a notch or whatever, but you're still ahead
of the game. This is what this is where it comes down to.
Because the West is so deep, you know what I'm saying, From basically
one to twelve, it's very, very deep. So ultimately, if you're
the Dallas Mavericks, you can come off basically winning five of your first six
basketball games. That bowls well for you, really really good. Yes,
absolutely. I mean they're second in offense right now in the league at one
hundred and twenty pace, which is insane. That didn't change with their most
recent game versus the Magic. That's gonna stay the same because I think they
actually scored like one hundred and twenty or something like that. You know,
their defense is where you gotta have the question marks long term is still there's
still at ten defensive team and they got to figure that out a little bit.
They you know, they just they got to figure that out. I
think they got to hope to get that above twenty, get into that sixteen
range in the defense with the league. But man, you know, it's
like, is this the season that Kyrie Irving is like focused and has a
really kind of reminds everyone like, yeah, the off court stuff is kind
of I'm keeping that to the side, and I'm just going to remind everyone
that I am a baller and can can be a great teammate to another baller.
And Luka Doncic, like I think so he's really good. Absolutely man,
absolutely all right, shocking aw man, the uh Milwaukee Bucks, Memphis
Grizzlies, Utah Jazz off to abysmal starts. All right, Maybe abysmal is
too strong a word, but they're struggling, right, Which one makes you
makes? Which one makes you want to say, oh damn, excuse me?
Almost got you choked up thinking about that too, right, Yes,
sir, I got a couple of them that I mean, I could say
something on all of them. I say the one I'm least surprised about is
the Jazz. I just I don't know if I ever viewed them as as
like true threats in the West. It's just so deep this year. Like
I kind of just knew they were they were going to be a team that
has talent and can give teams a good run for their money. But but
that probably is just gonna come up short too often because they are just They're
just in a hard, hard conference. Man. But but but the one
that really gives me all shucks is is the Bucks because, like, man,
I knew they were going to lose a little bit of defense when they
lost Drew Holiday, but they still have two time Defensive Player of the Year
Joannison Tenakumpo. They have h Brook Lopez, who's no shrub on the defensive
side. He's a really good player. He was a defensive player defen Yeah.
Man, he's he's a really good player, you know. But man,
they are a twenty six in defensive rating right now, and they are
just bleeding points left and right that that that trade happened a little bit late.
Going into training camps, there's gonna be some vibes. I gotta get
worked out to kind of shore things up. Whose turn is it to take
over? When and where and stuff like that. But you know, I
thought it would be a little bit better than I mean, it's early.
They're three and two, but it just doesn't feel like they're really three and
two, you know. It feels like they're they're a little bit less.
Well, I got thoughts on the Grizzlies, but I'll let you hit that
first. Bro. Yeah, So the Utah Jazz part, I think I'm
a little surprised by it because you know, when I when I look at
the Jazz itself as a team cohesively, they shocked a lot of people last
year, and I thought that this year, because you know, there was
so much movement with especially in the Western Conference, that they would be able
to win some games, you know, you know, just based on the
fact that they've played together. They kind of overachieved a little bit, and
I think maybe would be able to kind of carry that momentum going into into
this season. But you know, unfortunately, that's that's that's not what's happened
for them, you know what I mean. So it is what it is,
you know, But I wasn't expecting them to struggle as bad as they
do, like I mean, like they you know, getting blitzed in a
few of the games that they've played already. The Milwaukee Bucks situation, though,
I think what really surprises me is just how bad this team is defensively.
I understand that Drew Holliday, you know, was a bulldog. He
really stabilized their back court. And I would not go as far as to
say, you know, would the Milwaukee Bucks you know, be as bad
a defensive team as you're seeing right now. Knowing that you have Giannis you
know, as your defensive stalwart, right and then getting the kind of defensive
effort you've gotten the last couple of seasons from Brook Lopez, It's hard to
imagine that this team is just so bad defensively. And I think this is
more about Giannis. I think this is more about Adrian Griffin, and I
think this is more about the Milwaukee Bucks front office and when they made the
move to bring Damian Lillard over there. I think they really believe that this
is more about them and scoring the basketball, and that they're just gonna outscore
basketball teams, you know, on a night in, night out basis,
and to hell with the defense and If that's what they think is gonna get
them to a championship, They're not getting there. They're just simply not gonna
get there. I don't understand how you have already a defensive Player of the
Year person. You had a defensive Player of the Year candidate in Brook Lopez
last season who many argue could have won that thing last year if not for
Jaron Jackson Junior's year that he had. You've got two defensive player of the
year stalwarts, right. I understand Damian Lillard is not the best defensively,
and then you still also have Chris Middleton, who is was a marginally good
wing defender before his injury, and I'm not saying he's back to who he
used to be, but he's still good enough. And you also have Bobby
Portis. You've got depth on that team. Jay Crowder, I don't understand
how this team is so bad defensively. I really don't understand it. And
I think that, to me is the part that makes me say, aw
damn, because if they can't figure this out. And I understand it's early,
but it's not early to see what glaringly is what I saw last year
with the Boston Celtics. The Boston Celtics really believe that they were a team
that was just gonna outshoot everybody and stop playing defense. And you can see
how at some point it caught up with them, because when you play against
a really competitive team, where you play against guys that know how to beat
what you bring out to the floor on a night in, night out basis,
it's gonna rear its ugly head during critical situations down the stretch. And
I'm just saying people need to pay attention to this. This is not a
good formula. If you are the Milwaukee Bucks, knowing that on a night
based, night and night out basis, their best players are not playing defense,
that you can't have that that's just it's unimaginable. So it's just crazy
we were saying that about the Milwaukee Bucks. You know, they got a
new coach that is is not super proven and and I think part of this
isn't just personnel. I mean that is that is part of the problem,
but like like you just mentioned, like they got plenty of capable defenders on
that team, but I think there is definitely some coaching aspect that we are
we are seeing right now with a brand new coach that doesn't have really the
experience of coaching a team of this caliber with with with you know, a
player like Giannis on it that have these expectations and then we're just kind of
seeing that that that that gap there, and I definitely think that's part of
the contribution to why they are struggling so much on the on the defensive side
of the ball. I'm gonna throw something else out there. Let's not act
like losing Darving Ham has not also had an impact on this Milwaukee Bucks team's
ability two yeah, to have an identity of what they were defensively, absolutely,
you know, and now you're seeing how he's having an impact over there
with the Los Angeles Lakers. So I'm just letting people know, like,
listen, I want to believe in Adrian Griffin. I want him to have
his opportunity to have his chance, but he's gonna need to put some foot
in this uh, put some foot in some asses. If this is what
the Milwaukee Bucks is going to is gonna basically you know, parade out there
to the fans and to the people watching. As far as your product goes,
They're they're calling card of what got them that Championship was their ability to
play defense even though they had a good offensive basketball team. And there's no
way that they're gonna they're gonna be able to replicate that with the way that
they're playing defensive right now. Really quick. I wanted to get your take
on the on the Memphis Grizzlies. Look, we knew that the Memphis Grizzlies
were gonna struggle. We understood that, but damn man, I mean,
the only winless team in the NBA. I thought we were talking about that
with the Washington Wizards. I did not think we're gonna be talking about that
with the Memphis Grizzlies. Yeah. Yeah, they're like one in six,
man, and they get they got they got one, they got one win.
I think last night was I'm yeah, yeah, it was like a
shooting star exactly because it it just goes right over your head, you know,
man. It's like, I think it's real simple with the Grizzlies.
You got your best player out for the first twenty or twenty five games.
Uh uh. You know, whether you agree with that punishment or not,
that that's going to affect a team, and then you have your defensive anchor
and Steven Adams. Uh oh, maybe not the anchor Jaron Jackson Junior is
that. But but you you you, we all know how important Steven Adams
is to this team. Then he's out right before they started, like I
mean, he goes through training cap and then he is out days before the
start of the season and he is out for the entire season and they're scrambling.
They eventually pick up Bismack Biambo. Oh wow. The first game they
put Bismack Biambo in as a starter is the game that they win. Like
they just they're just missing too many key pieces. And that is like a
this isn't all damn not because I'm like dissp like something bad as they're in
my opinion, they're not doing anything wrong. They just don't have the personnel
to keep up man. And I do think you know you have you have
Marcus Smart, who's a bit on the I think he's losing a step of
what what made him so specially a couple of years ago. I think he's
just taking a step and they'll decline a little bit. So those are my
two my quick thoughts on on the Grizzlies. I think I think he's still
I think he's still kind of how do I say he's part he's been caught
with the shock and awe of not playing with the Boston Celtics. How about
that? You know, Yeah, that makes I think it's gonna take some
time for that to to to wear off. But he is supposed to be
the one who is gonna influence and help mature, you know, John Morant,
and it will be interesting to see, you know, this type of
adversity. What that's gonna do, you know, for the Grizzlies as a
whole. I mean, obviously it's highlighting how important John Morant really is to
that franchise with the way that this team is struggling in the outset. But
at the same time, I think if you have a guy like Marcus Smart
on that team, he is gonna basically really you know, get at these
guys, toughen up their metal and they'll they'll figure out a way to persevere.
I think they're a runaway from kind of helping quell that. But I
really wasn't expecting this type of level of struggle. You know, maybe two
three games, you know, under five hundred lose or whatever. But like
the way that they're playing, you can clearly see that there's gonna be struggling
and they're gonna be starting to ask those questions like where are they gonna get
their help? Where they're gonna get their relief? You know, knowing that
for the first quarter of the season, John Moran's not there. Hashtags jaw
free joh there you go. All right, couple couple more shocking offs for
you, my man. All right, Chris Paul and the Golden State Warriors
and the start that they've had to this season. Man, man, you
know, I live out here in the Bay I uh second favorite team because
I've been out here for a decade. Not necessarily a bandwagon fan. I
just happened to move over here when they were killing it. But I didn't
like this move with Chris Paul. When it happened. I'm sure a lot
of people didn't like or at least didn't understand it. Yeah. Man,
he's old, he's he's he's you know, is he gonna accept this role
coming off the bench. There's all these question marks. Is the right fit.
The team's pretty small and there's still some question marks. We just saw
them go up versus the Calves the other night, and there their lack of
size definitely hurt them. But but man, Chris Paul, he's limited turnovers.
You and I were talking about this before we started recording. If this
team can continue to limit turnovers, that's gonna be really good for them in
crunch time in close games when when they're out there. Chris Paul seems to
be willing to come off the bench right now, which is a good thing.
I think what really has to happen for this team to kind of like
get get really. I mean, they're they're six and two, but I
think what's holding them back even more from being even more dominant is is Andrew
Wiggins isn't quite there yet. He's not quite himself yet with his normal rhythm
with this team. I think when Andrew Wiggins starts getting really to to his
comfort level, this team's gonna be on all cylinders, which is gonna be
wild to think about. But but I do still think I still question,
do they need to bring in another big man to kind of like at the
deadline, to kind of shure up some size when they go up against these
bigger teams in the in the postseason. So what what's you feeling about the
But the Warriors, My mancal All shucks, this is a problem because to
your point, if all it takes is them to look for I mean,
because it's not gonna work with Dario. Sorry, I'm sorry, Like,
no, he's he's okay. But you know, I don't know how many
times like the Warriors actually think that they bring in someone who's supposed to be
their solution, you know, to to their big manute, and they still
wind up with Kevon Looney. Just like when it's all said and done,
they're gonna need they're gonna need some extra help. They're gonna need some extra
girth in that front court. But the key again with this offense and the
way that it's designed and the ball movement, and it's the high risk,
high reward mentality that they have. You give me a guy who can stabilize
not only the first unit, but the second unit in their ability to get
consistent guard play with minimizing turnovers. They're gonna be a problem for the rest
of the league in and of itself because you arguably now have to make sure
that you're you know, whoever the opposing team's back court legitimately knows how to
play up, not just for Steph but also play up for Chris Paul,
but also play up for Gary Payton. The second it also play up for
Klay Thompson, it also play up for Draymond Green. There are multiple,
you know, ball handlers on that court, and they all land on the
side of the Golden State Warriors. You know. So unless the gold and
State Warriors beat themselves when it comes to their ability to move the ball and
execute their offense, you can make the argument that they are the most well
put together team when it comes to ball creating, ball movement of everyone else
that's in the NBA. The problem is they all ain't six' ten,
they all ain't playing you know what I'm saying. They're all not gonna be
able to match up the same way. So they're gonna have to shoot the
basketball. And you can see Klay Thompson Wiggins. They're struggling early. If
they find rhythm as the season goes along and they stay healthy going into the
playoffs, that is a team you do not want to face. And the
fact that they're right now already off to a good start for the season,
I think speaks boldly because again they're minimizing turnovers and they're playing better defensively,
and those are two things that always spell CHAMPI being ship aspirations for the Golden
State Warriors, that's championship run mentality for the Golden State Warriors. If those
two things are happening for them. Couldn't have said it better myself, man,
I mean, like, yeah, they got steph, they got some
they got some nasty players that can do a lot of really nice things with
the ball in their hands. And we'll we'll see how got clutch shooters.
Man, They've got clutch shooters. And you don't want to be you don't
want to be you know, you got to be basically beating this team by
ten twelve points, you know what I'm saying down the final stretch of games
if you want to secure victories, because you're probably not want to be that
team that's hanging around with a five or six point lead when the Warriors can
actually go on that you know, proverbial clutch run that they love to go
on. You know, so you don't ever want to go into the boxing
match with two of the best shooters to ever touch the planet. They just
and one of the best defenders and smartest defenders and Draymond Green. It's it's
just it hasn't been a very good track record for those that have absolutely all
right, man, final one, final shocking off for you. Heat struggling
early in the outset of this season. Uh, all shucks. Oh damn
man, all shucks. I'm a Magic fan. I love it when they
Heat struggle. Let's go, man. I mean I like a lot of
I like some of the players on that team, Jimmy Butler or someone I've
always admired by, like man. I don't like cal Lowry, never really
have enjoyed him. You know, he was an enemy of the Orlando when
he was with the Raptors, coming from the from the Orlando, you know,
with the Orlando rap Orlando Magic and Toronto Raptors series that happened, Uh
you know twenty nineteen in the playoffs. You know, kind of a questionable
player respect the franchise because they always figure it out some way or another.
But I am I'm all shucks. I love seeing them struggle. Talk about
talk about shocking. Oh man, you don't sound like you and be welcome
in those Miami waters. They'll be driving down ninety five ninety five more time
soon. Oh well, Seaw'll give you cover. He'll definitely give you cover
because you know he's in the He's he's right in the he's in the middle
of the jungle right down there. Man. You don't want no part of
that heat. So anyway, man, this has been an awesome show this
week, Steph. I appreciate you jumping on man, and you know what
I'm saying, filling in, filling in big shoes to fill. But you
handle it very nicely, and you know, it's always great to have you
on. Man. It's great to be able to talk basketball. And once
again steff Man, just hit people up and let people know where where they
can catch you and what you got going on. Yes, yes, yes,
uh. You can find all of our work at Orlando Magic, HQ
dot com or on u x X Twitter. You know you can find that
on oh Magic or if you want to reach out to me personally, it's
steven S t E P H E N zero six one zero right there.
If you are looking at it on YouTube, holler at you, boy.
I'm always down to talk up some basketball. Tell you my bias takes on
the Orlando Magic and the league. Let's go absolutely my man. Sc you
know what I'm saying, it's our SC thirty right here, that's rocket it.
You know what I'm saying that that's the Steph brand right there, Real
Steph brand once again. Man, we appreciate everybody for hopping on board with
us this week for the baseline. Kl Lee my man, Steph Cameron.
We appreciate you guys, you know we do, and we'll catch up with
you next time.