Let's get into Celtic six ers. I think it's to start right, I
think we need to start here before game one. So throw it up on
the screen for anyone watching James Harden throwing up quite the flex in this outfit.
What are you? What is? What is Grant Hugh's his fashion look?
He dropped forty five after so I say, and I have something to
throw up after this? I say, make the pants bigger. But you're
seeing Draymond Green. This is someone who walks in knowing he's about to just
kill it from mid range and beyond. That's how I view this. You
can't just I know it was the met Gallen Knight, which just like you
don't wear this to the game where what looked like freaking you know, Jinko
jeans from the from the nineties, without knowing you're about to drop a forty
piece. You have to you have to know that the confidence of a man.
So here's the thing. Can we let's let's zoom out a little bit,
not literally on the picture, because the jeans amazingly do fit in the
picture without having a zoom out. The huge jeans thing one of the least
foreseeable fashion recycle moves that I could have ever imagined. Because you mentioned Jenko.
I'm glad that shows we grew up at relatively at the same time.
The Jinko jeans thing was not one that I thought would come back. But
here we are. This is what this is what pants are now, Dan,
I don't I don't, I don't know how I feel about it.
I don't know if anyone should give half a shit about my opinion about anything
to do with clothes, because I'm old. Didn't see that coming. But
if you do wear those pants, you know you're gonna have to upset a
potential title favorite to get there. There they are. Look at those I'm
back in. Blod might be cool, but it'll never be as cool as
one wearing Jinko jeans and ninety nine amazing. I'm just such a flex I'm
James Harden, but he needs I think now you you have to make the
pants bigger, and so I'm gonna throw this up there. Let me see
if I could find it did make the pants bigger on James Harden's behalf stally,
how do you do it? How do you make jeans? There?
It is? You have to bring them up because wasn't there a point where
the basically chest high pants we're getting like coming back in vogue and so you
know a wall or if they were ever like in to begin with. So
you just have to You're gonna have to like strap him up. Maybe he's
got some suspenders on under the coat that are they're holding those up. You
have to you have to at least they have to be as big as Game
one because you just dropped for it was the best performance of James Harden's career.
We can actually talk about actually best one now, but my biggest takeaway
from Game one is the pants need to be even bigger. Well just real
quick now, I'm not done talking about the pants because you think we gotta
stay on the pants. So maybe he was so good because you know how
like in the on deck circle of batter is gonna put the batting donut on
there to take his practice wings, and then you take it off and you
go up to the plate. It feels like you got a toothpick in your
hand and there's nothing. What do you think those jeans way look gotta be
like twenty pounds, you know, it's like walking around in a weight vest.
And then you take it off. So maybe maybe going bigger with the
jeans and adding more weight for that walk down the tunnel before you you know,
change that's the key, because you take those off and you feel,
you know, you feel like you can jump through the roof because they're lost
twenty five pounds? Is there a risk of tripping at some point? Though?
I never wore these, like so the Jinko stuff, Like I wore
the Jinko jean shorts at one point those were baggy. Where like it makes
my legs look like toothpicks or spaghetti noodles even more than they already do.
Like, there isn't there like a tripping risk here and he's already dealing with
some Achilles stuff? Does it make you look the path need to be bigger?
I want to make that clear. But you need to be a little
cautious. I think too. I think for several reasons. You know how
players can't write like mopeds and stuff in the off season or I don't know,
go big game hunting or whatever else like you might teams might want to
write into contracts like gene size limitations for that reason because they seem hazardous to
me. I think, well, we can't if you can't now because James
aren't just dropped forty five, and to remove the possibility that it's a thorny
issue, maybe the next, you know what, the next time there's a
workstoppage, it's going to be over this issue. This will be the one.
It won't be a hard cap, it won't be anything else. It's
just going to be Gene sizes that the players and the owners can't agree on
basketball. Biggest overarching basketball thoughts coming out of Game one between the Sixers and
the Celtics. So we talked about this a little bit last time. I
sort of asked you it was an open ended question, why we focus more
on the team that like did the wrong thing than the team that did the
right thing after a game and I left that game, the game one of
six or Celtics, thinking like that was just disappointing by Boston, which is
crazy because Harden was amazing. He looked like Houston James Harden for a lot
of that game, and I feel like that should get the focus. But
ultimately I just kind of thought the Celtics, you know, whatever you want
to use, let one get away. Laid an egg just didn't show up.
I don't know how fair that is, but that was my takeaway is
that Boston, just like Joel Embid, didn't play. How do you lose
that game at home? I don't understand. I mean, you know,
there should be things you can do defensively to either let Harden do this and
then nobody else does anything, or throw everything at Harden and force everyone else
on this, you know, super starless roster without Embi to try to beat
you. It seemed like there was just there were ways of the Celtics,
if they were really the team we think they are, to just capitalize and
it didn't happen. So that was my main takeaways. I couldn't believe Boston
lost this game the way that it did. What were your thoughts? Yeah,
I mean, look one, Boston shot two of eleven on wide open
jumpers with defenders six more feet away, So that's that's how you lose it.
In particular, they didn't get killed at the freeze on line though.
Shout out to be ball Paul for just making we make four qush free grows,
Like that's that's not easy, Like as a big man too, like
you're kind of dealing with like shooting a tennis ball. Basically couldn't feel like
for some of these guys, But shout out to him putting those question free
throwers. Jared Dubin had this up and I was just surprised that the Celtics
didn't adjust more. But Jared Dupan had this up on Twitter. But when
Harden ran pick and rolls at Horford, there were sixteen direct picks that led
to twenty eight points, so one point seven five points per possession in those
situations. That is thermonuclear as fuck times too, And even on the final
possession for the Sixers, I was almost gonna be moan the way that they
did it. I know the Sixers play slow, but they like they didn't
call time out right, so then they're just waltzing the ball off the court.
It's not like they're trying to get in s. James Harden's draining the
clock. They went out of their way, and they did this all game
to get especially in the second half, to just get the Horford switch.
There was one possession where they set like it felt like eight ball screens for
Harden just to get Horford onto Harden. And then the final shot, it's
just like it's a step back through me and yes, I know he had
a cook and all game, but I'm like, that's just what we're saying,
and then it goes in. Of course, I was just surprised we
didn't see more adjustments from the Celtics, But maybe do you not adjust more
to where it's like, is it really mission critical to throw two at the
ball in this like in these instances when you don't have Joel Embiid and it's
like, let's make the role players beat us, like Tobias Harris hits a
big three in the fourth, Tyres Maxie hit some really big shots inside the
arc. He didn't look great after he had that that injury. I just,
you know, I was I feel like it was inexcusable on Boston's behalf
to lose. And I come out of this game though, wondering, like,
I guess you beat you would be less liberal with how you're gonna have
Horford on an island against James Harden is the one big adjustment here, But
aside from hopefully Derek White is more aggressive on offense, Hopefully they shoot like
and they shot thirty eight percent from three, so hopefully you're knocking down more
of your your wide open jumpers. I just don't necessarily know, like what
is the what do you think is the counter here for them? Like if
the primary counter is it just the horford on aren't hardened stuff? And then
my father question be let's say, be does play again? Did you feel
less confident in the Celtics? I mean you, yeah, you have?
Well, I mean, depending on what version of mbi'd we get, it
sounds like he, you know, him getting up and down the floor might
be a real challenge, which like if the Celtics just get a lot of
five on fours or you know, four on threes, that's tough, doesn't
doesn't the solve have to be or at least your first attempt at it doesn't
have to be Boston just putting two on Harden and just saying somebody else do
something, And as long as it's not Maxie, you feel pretty good about
it, because like PJ. Tucker played thirty seven minutes, did not attempt
the field goal, not one and was large sectacular, right, But like,
just put two on the ball and if you can game it so that
the first outlet is not Maxie and then you can deny him and somehow make
Tucker do what he does not want to do, which is like shoot the
ball, do something, you know, pull his defender way off if he's
going to be in the corner. They moved him around a little. The
Sixers did a little more than you know, normal. It is sort of
a caricature of of Pja Tucker to say he just stands in the corner.
That's not really true. But that's where all of his shots come from when
he does shoot. So I don't know what I mean, you probably if
you're the Celtics, you say, Harden can't do that again. And probably
the Anti Mountain won't shoot five or six on three. It'll be five and
six for sure. And and like if you're the Celtics, also, that
first quarter was a layup parade. I think they were, but they didn't.
They start like thirteen or fourteen or something, and they just like it
was lobs, it was layups, it was you know, half court transition.
The Celtics shot fifty eight per percent for the game, right, Like
that's just I mean, they're gonna score. I think if a B does
not play Boston once. They scored one hundred fifteen points in Game one and
the loss. I mean that's the floor, like they they should be able
to score and get whatever they want at the basket. So I think maybe
it's an overreaction. And I know THEE coming into the series, there was
all this talk about Boston's does not like to double They they they're happy to
switch, they're happy to you know, just play and drop. They're happy,
but they don't want to scramble. They don't want to double team.
I think in this situation where one guy just lit you up so thoroughly and
you're not convinced that the other teammates of his can generate consistent offense, you
gotta just get it out of it. Just get it out of his hands.
Just make the rest of the sixers prove that they can combine to go
seventeen of thirty for forty five points. Like, just let's see if that's
possible. If I'm Boston, I think that has to be what I do.
I'm wondering though, if they're boldened at all, because he made two
shots. He only attempted two shots at the rim, five of eight from
two on two's outside the paint, and then seven to fourteen from three and
so he was only three or six. He was only in total only.
I mean, the clip was absurd, But he gets eight shots in the
paint and he's five of eight. Is there, like, is there a
chance that they kind of just live with them like how they were rolling this
time, Like, well, James Harn's not there's gonna be variability in his
performance because clearly, you know the fact that he could do damage from the
midrange is huge. But if he's not going to get to the bucket more
and generate as many shooting fouls, maybe it's because something is off with that
Achilles. It's not just an insult, but you just they needed all forty
five of James Harden's points to win, and so Boston doesn't play a great
game by any measure here, And like I mean, and also the other
thing, sixteen to six in turnovers, like that's that's been a kind of
an Achilles heal for Boston speaking of Achilles all season and even dating back to
last year. And so there are maybe some low hanging fruit like batches that
you would be able to gobble up in this series a little bit to where
you don't have to change your fundamental principle. But I would think especially if
and my other question is gonna be Do you think it makes it even if
he was I don't know what Joel and beats status is, but you think
this win made it less likely he plays in game two. Oh, that's
interesting because they got the one they needed if if if they need to split
these first two in Boston, maybe, I mean it sounds like he so
what I read was that it's it's worse than a grade one, Yes,
sprains, so like you're usually talking weeks if you're grade to anything, generally
speaking, so like to come back in game two would feel like pushing it
to come back in this series. Honestly, Like if this were the regular
season, I think and Beide would be shelved for a very long time,
just based on you know, how long guys tend to be out with Grade
two anythings or Grade one point five, whatever you want to call it.
So that that isn't I haven't thought about that. Yeah, I don't know.
I don't know what. I don't know what that makes me think.
If he's halfway ready to play, you probably just got a plan, because
if you get steal game two, then you're really in business. I just
think I think if you're the Celtics. It's really disappointing that you have to
be thinking about making concessions or like saying we're just gonna try again because you
don't have to, you know. I don't feel like the Celtics are in
a position where they even they need to even gamble that Harden can't do this
again, because they could just make sure he doesn't. They really like,
they really can just say somebody else win this game for the Sixers. And
I know, like maybe it's uncomfortable to deviate from the way you've played defense
all year, but like the playoffs are just different, you can't. So
let's say, if Harden does do this again and the Celtics don't switch up,
I feel like the criticism gets real loud, and I feel like it's
it's it's it's really risky to sort of bet that Harden can't dominate again.
So I don't know, maybe it's over and it's an overreaction, but I
just would say, Tyres Maxie, you get forty five, well, well
let's see you know that. That would be kind of my approach to it.
Yeah, And look, there's I don't know what aside from cutting down
the turnovers, which we could say after probably every other Boston sell this game
like day, do you know what they shot at the rim in this one
without embeed, say again, twenty two of twenty six right at the rim.
So it's just like the offense was there and they hit their threes.
So yeah, I guess I'm with you. I'm I'll expect to see more
aggressive against James Harrner, But maybe you judge it by the pants, like
what he shows up been forgetting. Depending on the size of the pant legs,
you decide whether you need to throw two at the ball. Yeah,
if he shows up with skinny jeans, it's like, oh, we're definitely
not gonna W. You're gonna have to prove you can. You have to
prove your pants versatility, you know before we w. But yeah, big
jeans again. Watch out the other series Nuggets for well, we're not talking
Nick's heat. I apologize to everybody put the Nuggets Suns series. What are
you thinking about coming out two games two? Oh, I think I had
as someone who had Nuggets and six, I believe I picked. I'm even
shocked that they won the first two, that the way they did in game
two was closed for it was. I mean it was closed through and through
really, but it felt like a little bit non competitive towards towards the end.
Are what are your just biggest thoughts, Oh, I have to say,
biggest overarching thoughts coming out of this series so far? I think,
well, so, I guess it's sort of a reinforcement of what we talked
about when we were previewing the series, which is to say that it was
easier for us to imagine the Nuggets giving the Sun's offense problems than the alternative,
and that's kind of been born out. I just think after games like
for the Nuggets to win a game by double digits where Jamal Murray was three
for fifteen, like that's got to give. That's got to concern you as
the Suns, because like it was clear that the game plan was to make
Yoka score a lot in game two, which is a little different than game
one, and he obliged at thirty nine on seventeen or thirty just was much
more willing to go to work in the post and even the midpost against DeAndre
Aten. But yeah, I think so this is the rare series where not
a lot of what I thought going in has changed, which is so the
Suns just don't have enough depth, Like their whole bench was a negative.
You know, Chris Paul broke down that was a concern going in, like
can can this thin star heavy roster that has injury history with Durant and Paul
hold up so far? No two is not more than three? Like that
was another angle coming in. That's really been the story, certainly after game
one. So I'm not surprised that the results are what they are or that
they were arrived at by the process that they were arrived at. So it's
just kind of gone the way that if you were forecasting a Nuggets win,
this is sort of what it would look like, right, Like, I
don't is there anything that surprised you? I guess would be the way to
flip it. He I don't know if he was tired that Kevin Durant game
was just I never would have predict two of twelve on threes and looked to
the Sun's credit, they jacked thirty plus threes, and I think what Kevin
Durant took. Kevin Durant took twelve of them, and didn't Devin Booker that
he took eight of them. So he had the right guys hoisting up those
threes. Was josh Akogi only only attempted to. I mean he missed them
a hall. I mean, first of all, Kevin Durant were the only
players on the team to make threes. You point that out already, I
apologize, no, no, but they made it's a sixth total, So
you account when you said two of twelve and four of eight that was it.
And so I think if you're the Sons, you lean on the fact
that, Okay, Kevin Durand's not gonna play like this again. Yeah,
but that's like kind of the like their shot profile does start to wear if
they're not going to hit a bunch more threes, because they're dead last in
both the share of this includes playing teams for the playoffs. They're dead last
in both rim frequency and three point of tenth three. And I get it.
The talent they have between CP three if he's going up against drop or
just Kevin Durand and Devin Booker being able to take whatever they want in the
mid range, and they did show. Devin Booker and Kevin Duranding gat to
their credit, they varied up their shot profile enough to take more threason in
game two they're gonna need to continue to do that. But the Chris Paul
injury looms large here because then all of a sudden, if he's it's good
that they don't play again till Friday for the Suns. We don't know how
severe the groin strain is right now, but it's severe enough for him not
to come back in a game that was very winnable for Phoenix, which is
concerning. And if you're not gonna have him, you become incredibly reliant on
Campaign, who's just going to be a wild card. And it doesn't seem
like I don't know if this is a trust thing with Monty Williams. And
Campaign did play seventeen minutes in game two, but he was one to seven
from the floor, four from three. He didn't play all that much in
game one, which everyone was class is it because Campaign is still dealing with
the ill effects from his injury, and so that puts more of a burden
on Kadi and Devin Booker. And I think you can latch onto the fact
that Kevin Durant will shoot better, but the matchups are starting to make me
even more uncomfortable for Phoenix than I initially thought I would have to look at
the data on this, and maybe I was facing out too much, Like
it's a problem when you just don't feel the need to throw help. Aaron
Gordon's way on Kevin Durant like that, that's a big issue. And Durant
great in Game two. He was great. He had several strips, like
just was a force it, like he was really totally that's a problem.
I have a mini rant here. I posted a video of it. Was
Bruce Brown blocked Kevin Durant's jump shot, like straight up blocked his jump shot.
Aaron Gordon was there too, and people were in my mention saying,
well, if the playoffs running, I said, this is really hard to
do. It's the Kevin Durant jump shot. They're like, well not this
postseason. The blocks that Russell Westbrook and most of the other Clippers on like
Kevin Durant, they were either like strips he's on his way up, or
they came from behind blocking Kevin Durant jump shot at the apex of the actual
four. It's hard. I don't care if he doesn't have the same lift.
It's hard. It's well, actually, everything, especially when it's not
this incendiary take, but yeah, so Aaron Doran spectacular And I mentioned this
on Twitter. He always looks like he's dribbling a medicine ball in transition and
it just works out. So he's been massive. You mentioned the fact that
Murray doesn't have a good game, still hits like two big shots by the
way down the stretch. I liked what Michael Malone said in his I don't
know if he saw the fourth quarter interview where he's just like he's thinking too
much. He's just like empowering Murray and like, does he think Murray's gonna
go back and watch this later. I'm sure he told him the same thing
in the huddle. I respected it, but there were points where I was
just like, no, like Murray's gotta he was killing him, like some
of the turnovers that he had too, but like they were able to pull
these different levers where it's like, Okay, we at this point, we
know we're gonna play through Yokich, who doesn't have his most efficient game.
And I would argue this is the least lethal version of the Nuggets where you
need him to score that many points and be that aggressive because you know,
okay, I get it. You want to milk the one on one coverage
with Eton and other bigs. But it's also because Jamal Murray wasn't giving you
anything, and Porter was off, and then even just most of the supporting
cast until KCP got hot, was off. The fact that they're able to
win this game is huge. But also look at one of the things they
did was Okay, well we're gonna go like the Bruce Brown route instead of
Michael Porter Jr. Because we need Bruce Brown gives you more creativity on the
ball, probably which is we're gonna pull that defensive lever more and put more
pressure on the Suns that way. And so I'm I think people kind of
and I saw people talking about it on Twitter during Game two, like we
all, this is someone who picked them to win the title might have just
underestimated like how versatile their defensive personnelities or the lineups that they can run.
And I've even mentioned it on this this pod, like I've said, the
Nuggets, when you look at their top six or seven guys, they have
a bunch of different versatile chords to like lean on or pull whatever strum chords
to strum any like that. Glutar or whatever. So I even underestimated that,
and part, you know, part of the underestimation is Christian Brown's and
motherfucker, he's tough. He's really just like he had a bunch of good
plays, took some charges last night. I mean that's he absolutely uh,
like he's a rookie, but defensively, that's a guy you can throw out
there and trust just full stop. Like whatever he gives you offensively is whatever.
But like that's value just compared to like when when Monty Williams goes looking
down the bench for like I just need someone to get out here and guard
or I need someone. There's just nobody there that like the you know,
there's no there's no guys. I mean, I don't know what's happened to
t J. Warren. I don't know if I honestly don't know if he's
hurt or not, or like what the situation is. But the Suns just
don't have someone that they can throw out there and say well this, you
know, they went to they Damien Lee I think played twenty six minutes last
night, and he kind of he kind of has to. Especially they didn't
push Hitt or Ross either An additional Warren. They're they're just they don't have
they don't I think honestly, Uh, it's easy to feel this way now
because the Suns are in a hole. But like, I think one of
the things we overlooked or didn't focus on enough because the playoffs this doesn't tend
to matter as much, was just they just don't have enough guys. They
just don't have, you know, forget, And that was arguing the case
to begin with, by the way, right because it's not like they gave
up this bounty of bodies. Jay Crowder wasn't playing for them, right,
So yeah, I'm not playing for the bucks either, but pay for anybody.
Also, it's a good thing that the Sun's don't that Game three is
not so Friday because you had forty four more minutes for Durant and forty five
for Booker on purpose though, because you know it's not till Friday. At
least, that's not something that was incidental, I get. I'm just saying,
like, if I'm gonna bring it up for the Lakers, like the
stars wearing down, you know, that was an issue going into this series
because they were playing tons of minutes in the first round. Two. So
yeah, yeah, that's that's helpful. You gotta get Game three. If
you're the Suns, you gotta get oh you think, yeah, if you're
the Suns, you wouldn't want to go behind three oh So historically, Dan,
you want to avoid the three hole. That's just you know, I
know people get tired of stats and they don't want to hear it. Just
watch the game's nerd. You just really want to avoid the three ohole if
you can. I don't want to get too big picture here, but when
I said this about the Calves and some of it holds true to Phoenix,
is that sometimes, and I would argue even more so, when you make
a trade like this mid season, it takes some time to balance out the
roster. The reason it feels so much more dire for Phoenix is because you're
dealing with players in Chris Paul, who's now injured. We don't know what
it's gonna have been, that growing strain, and Kevin Durant age thirty four
with a pretty checkered injury pass at this point, who don't have the window
that a Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Darius Garland, Jared Allen do and
that's why there's more urgency for this core. But if we're being if we're
being honest, or if we're being reasonable, and I know the Suns were
favored to win this series, right or is everyone just picking them to win
this series? I don't even know if I caught the series prices, you
can't remember. But if we're being reasonable, it's not so much that continuity
matters, Like you should just like we shouldn't have expected them to win this
series because Kevin Durant and Devin Booker exists. That's why we expect them to
win this series. So I don't want to get two big picture on that,
but like we have to be a little bit fair in the sense of,
well, they kind of deserve I know they're not young, but after
a shakeup like this, you might need an off season. I get inherently
you can't view it like that, but this maybe shouldn't shock us. The
other thing I will say, and he started off the game and he had
some really thunderous dunks in DeAndre Ayton amazing dunked right, And there's no one
who's going to there's no one who's going to just win the NICOLEA. Yoki
battle. It's it's not happening, and this is not Again. I had
less of an issue with DeAndre Ayton's Game two performance, and I did his
Game one performance. I don't even have an issue with You'd like it to
be more aggressive on offense still, but like the Suns aren't necessarily running,
Django says in the chat. Holding the Suns under ninety was big. Yeah,
I mean this was not. I never would have picked this to be
the series in which the winning team had fewer than a hundred points. By
the way, I never would have never would have forecasted that. But when
you start to look at the roster construction, you can't deandret and can't be
this player and also be making max money on the Suns. I'm not saying
he doesn't say he the mark, his market was his market. Good for
him for getting paid unless something even I would argue, even if they unless
they just dominate from here on out, don't lose and win the title.
You can't have DeAndre Aton on this team at his pay grade because you need
to allocate those funds elsewhere to where look you're gonna I'm not saying Landale or
Beyambo's the answer. And Beyonmbo got cooked when he first came on the floor.
Like, you're just gonna be able to approximate big man value a play,
finishing big man on offense easier than you can wing defense or looking for
secondary floor generals or ball handlers or shooters at this point, And I don't
want to go there just yet. I'm open to considering it won't be this
way. But because we have like two years is worth of evidence at this
point of how topsy turvy deandreton is, you can't have him on this roster
making what he does after especially after that Derantri. We don't have other trade
chips to play. Yeah, he needs to turn into like three guys,
you know, at least one starter, but three guys that the Suns can
feel good about having out there in a series like this. That that's totally
right. I mean, what is he? You know, at full strength?
He is the fourth option, right, I mean, I mean,
Chris Paul, I don't know how what kind of option you consider him,
but he's certainly gonna have the ball more than he is. So you're you're
a fourth option on offense who you know sometimes looks good defensively sometimes not sometimes
gets you know, really exposed on the board. Sometimes it's just yeah,
you're right, he's got to be. You have to flip him in too.
You don't even need like a star at another position. It's just got
to be like, you know, higher you know, high end rotation,
slash starter guys that can complement what the Suns have on the star front.
Basically is you had Suns in seven? Has your prediction chased it off?
You know, I thought I picked Nuggets in seven? Oh? Did you
pick nuggets in seven? All right? What's that? Are you nuggets in
four? Now? Is that? Oh? Yeah? So that maybe we
should reevaluate how many I mean, obviously, you know, we have two
warring cliches here. One is the series doesn't start till the till the home
team loses, So this series hasn't technically started by that logic. But two
oh is two oh. So if you're reevaluating it, now, how many
games do the Suns win in this series? Assuming the Nuggets are going to
win it they get I think I'll stick with my prediction because the Suns are
just missed. And you know who's been a big part of this, Kevin
Durant. They missed so many like relatively open jumpers in this series so far.
They are. Yeah, they have an effective field goal percentage of under
forty seven on open and wide open jumpers combined. So that's when defenders are
four more feet away from you. And the fact that Kevin Duran has been
a part of that just leads me to believe that, Okay, there's gonna
be I would expect him to win Game three, to be honest, and
I guess you could say, well, you can't. Look, I think
Tory Craig and like some of the stuff they're throwing at Josh, like using
Josh Kobe that they're throwing at Jamal Murray. He had tough shots in game
one, he missed tough shots in game two, and then also made some
really bad decisions. I'm not saying he's going to be that bad every single
game, but like Phoenix showed that they could really and that was without like
throwing all these bodies at Yokis. Necessarily that Nuggets offense was ugly, So
it's like they've shown they can ugly that up. And I think that their
offense is inherently ricketty, just because it doesn't feel like there's a lot of
creativity there, and I would expect We saw Monty Williams try this, I
think the first half of Game one and then the first half of Game two,
like it's you gotta be done. I know he's not winning the Yokich
minutes, but you can't do the deandreaton against the Nuggets bench line up.
There's just not enough there offensively to me that eightan's providing you. If that
changes, maybe you're even more inclined to go that route without Chris Paul.
If he's not available, I'd probably ditched those though, So I would expect
them to almost win games three. My prediction hasn't changed on this. I
think we have a tendency to just sort of we're so reactionary. It's like
they didn't get the doors they played. Their offensive process was not great in
game and they missed some e quality shots. It was not great in Game
two, and it wasn't great in Game one either, and they were in
a position to like where they could have won. They had an eight point
lead right when Chris Paul went down, and so I don't think that it
got away from a little bit. In the end. They lose by ten,
but I would expect them to win Game three. I don't expect them
to win this series, like I said, because it just feels like they
don't have You mentioned it during the preview more than I did. They don't
have enough bodies, which at once feels like an oversimplification, but it's also
just the god's honest truth. Yeah, and look, then Chris Paul is
a plus eight in the game his team lost by ten. So, like,
I mean, sometimes I get annoyed by the way that Paul plays and
just the shots that he seems to want to take. But like, I
just don't know where you go for easy shots if you're the Sons, if
one of your best generators of the shots you want to take, even if
they're bad, math is not out there and not able to get you into
your offense. So yeah, I'm pretty sure I picked nuggets in seven.
I can't even remember now, But like I might come down from that,
I might say a fewer games now I know what I might need to look
if Chris Paul's not gonna play again or let's not get too o, my
prediction hasn't changed. If we think CP three plays again before we get Daddle
here, let's spend a couple of minutes on some of the playoff exits that
we haven't tackled. The Grizzlies. We already talked about them, by the
way, seemingly kind of with the verbiage there, like you're kind of making
Dylan Brooks the scapegoat. And I'm not gonna all of a sudden be pro
Dylan Brooks. But Samus fin Jari had pointed this out on Twitter, the
Grizzling kind of turned Dyl Brooks into a sympathetic figure a little bit by making
like this is how you after everything that's happened in Memphis this season, Like
you're putting me the way that this just comes out so early under it unless
there's something truly damaging that happened behind the scenes. But like, yeah,
I'm just that makes me uncomfortable. But so the Grizzlies offseason, we all
know what they need. I'm gonna tell you what they don't. I guess
this. I've been a very big advocate of they don't need og and and
Obi because they need more on ball juice in the half court. If Dylan
Brooks is returning, is it returning under any circumstances. Does that change.
You're gonna need a big wing that can guard like that's that's kind of a
must. And if he can make shots at better than like a forty nine
percent you know, true shooting clip, all the better. Yeah, So
is this I think we sort of viewed them. You have to remind me
as sort of a disappointing offseason team last summer because they had they had the
ability right to go get a guy then whoever that was gonna be Jalen Brown
or og or whatever, and they really didn't. They still have a lot
of those same assets. They're more expensive now in terms of I mean,
they're their cap sheet is a little more clogged up now than it was.
But like, is this a big swing summer or is it just let's get
a small forward that is ready to play and we get you know, Clark
and Adams back and we just we just try again, Like is it I
think it's probably gonna be something in between that I don't think you're getting a
star. But they have they got the AMMO right, they still have the
draft picks, they still have you know, matching salaries they can throw out
there, which is another reason I thought they'd just resigned Brooks and try to
trade them potentially at some point, but yeah, they gotta get wings.
And you know, other than that, like grow up. I guess like
that's those are the two. Those are your two action items for the summer.
I think I will just say, like, unless you're just so bullish
on Desmond Baine, you've lost your best defensive player other than Jaren Jackson Jr.
And so like what do you do from here? And I don't know
that this is a decision you can make without knowing that you're going to land
a bigger name. And I'm talking about like we've now graduated from if you
thought like Royce O'Neill was gonna cut it or Dowyan Phinney Smith for this roster,
you're kind of at the point where it needs to be an og or
McHale Bridges. I don't even think them doing a sign and trade for Harrison
Barnes. And we'll get into the Kings in a minute, Like that's not
going to like move the need for what they need. And I'm trying to
think of just like other names that even could theoretically become available, and I
just don't see it, And so they obviously have more intel than I do.
But this just again, I just found it so fascinating because of how
important he is to them defensively that they made this decision so definitively so early
and then made it public, Like it's just like they could go out and
trade, like they maybe they trade for Alex Caruso. Okay, great,
that's just not like you're kind of you're letting someone who only Arsley fills a
whole go and then it creates this bigger one though that does it become it
becomes harder, like you can't I'll phrase this way. They're less likely to
look like the real deal next season if they don't acquire let's say, a
fringe star by letting Dylan Brooks Walks jump, because I do think it hurts
their defensive vibe. I know, Jared Jackson Junior spectacular in the way that
they could throw up on the front line. Unless you think Desmond baine is
is close to that level of stopper, and maybe maybe he is, but
like he's not, like he doesn't even negative wings band, like he's even
solid on defensive most part, but like you don't want him tackling the Lebron's
of the world. It's just a lot to ask as much as anything from
him because you're gonna need him. I mean, I would. I mean
not that it's a bad thing overall for the Grizzlies offense that some of Dylan
Brooks's shots now just get transferred over to Desmond Baine. Like that's a that's
a good thing, I think, But it's gonna be a heavier lift,
and you don't want It's just there's not a lot of guys that can,
over a full season and a playoff run basically half to guard the other team
his best wing or guard because you have to hide John Morant in a lot
of situations too. So Baine is already probably you know, he's always getting
the most dangerous guard generally speaking. So now it's you add small forward to
that too. That's a lot. So just looking down the roster like they
do have, you know, I don't know, I don't know if they
want to trade Luke Kennard or if you know that's fifteen million there. Clark
makes twelve and a half, Adams makes twelve. Six Achilles injury too,
missing all of next year complicates him. I hate doing it. And that
put it like it complicates one his his trade value. Now it's like always
Xavier Tilman super important to this roster if they want to continue to run the
types of front courts that they do, or you do have Santi Aldamo David
Roddy, So they're options. I was gonna say that those are two guys
that you would bank on them getting better, but they don't really fill the
Brooks role, like not, you know, they don't really. I mean
maybe Roddy can guard you know, some wings, I don't know, I
don't know if you want to, you're not going to start him. I
wouldn't think with the intention like Zarie Williams. Can he find only be the
guy we've picked as like an X factor two years running? That is that
viable? I don't know. And how much of it was just injuries to
start the season and then he was never able to regain because he just never
became a part of the rotation. And it's just put you know, you
have up in the exit interviews talking they're talking about, well we can't just
bank on youth anymore, and so r Williams would be like a perfect example
of that, right right, Yeah, they gotta go get somebody. This
page problem is not great. So I don't know. I don't know how
you. I don't know who the target is, Like they don't have the
money to go sign anybody of consequence, Like you're not in the Cam Johnson
restrict your free agency sweep stakes. You have nothing close to the cap space
to get involved in stuff like that either. So it's got to be a
trade. It just has to be, unless there's like a sign in trade
option with Middleton. But I don't know what you're giving the Bucks that would
make them want They can't like Chris Middleton walk In my opinions, I'm just
throwing nonsense out there, and to me, we know they have the ample
to do this. But I don't think the Clippers aren't making Paul Georgia quaietailable.
If they did, you, yeah, you sprint. If you're the
Grizzlies, their best bet does seem like an og or? I would say
Michael Bridges, But do you even view him as like especially gettable. I
don't think he's clearly not untouchable. Let's not go off the rails here,
but do you even consider I think if I'd framed the TV this way,
are the Brooklyn Nets more likely to trade Michael Bridges or keep Michael Bridges and
make a consolidation maybe star trade of their own option two. I think that's
way more likely because the Nets have this isn't a Nets section, but like
they have a million expiring guys next year where they can just lump those together.
You know, they still have They got those Phoenix picks they can throw
out there, like they could. They could do a lot of things consolidationwise.
But I don't think Bridges is going to be involved in that. I
think suddenly Bridges as someone you're adding pieces around in their view, as opposed
to like let's throw him and Dorian Finney Smith and Joe Harris together and we
get a Max played Like that's not I don't. I think you throw everybody
else together and you hang under Bridges and Clackson and see what you got.
Maybe Portland will be open assign and trade for Jeremy Grant. Does that do
it for you at all? Grant Jackson Front Court would be kind of fun?
Yeah? Yeah, No, I just I'm trying to think of is
like Toog is too obvious and too easy, Like that's just he's an't not
the answer anymore, because I mean, well, I shouldn't say that he's
more of the answer than he was before to me. But I just okay,
he gives you some three point volume. I just don't think he gives
you a lot else on offense right now. And we're at the point where
it's hey, we're talking about his third contract. It's time to stop envisioning
him as this like on ball creator. Just no, he's not that.
But I think that's okay. If Moran gets a little better, if Bain
stays at this level, and Jackson plays off, you know, offensively like
he did down the stretch this season, I think you might have enough spacing
an offense and shock creation within from those three. Well, you throw Adams
back out there and things kind of clog up a little bit. I don't
know. I don't need a ton of offense from whoever is Brooks. You
just seed more than Brooks offered, which was like zero. So yes,
I don't mean to overinflate the importance of Dylan Brooks on offense. I want
to make that clear. My whole point is why I didn't think was a
great fit. Well, I think Memphis Chan's probably be like, oh,
go, Pulse are moving because they're talking about we probably made fun of Dylan
Brooks. I thought it was great theater. I thought it was a damaging
offensive player who's really good on defense, who was a great character just to
follow. I don't think it's damning. I just I find this decision curious
and unsettling. And now I'm just wondering. And I would have been wondering
this anyways. Who's the worst player that they could acquire that really elevates them?
And I still think the answer Brooks are not. It's like an uncomfortably
high end player to where I don't think if you told me it was og,
I just don't think they would be there. So it needs to be
like if it was Jeremy Grant, I don't think it would be there.
It needs to be like I might say, Mchaal Bridges, which is a
pretty lofty year. And maybe I'm underestimating how good the Grizzlies actually are.
Maybe I'm mad because I picked him to win in five and they lost in
six. Uh well, first of all, I want to ask you at
the King's very qu but we know how this ends, right. They trade
for Jay Shantaid and Boyan madonovitchoud call it like an offseason, like that's like
their big solution, right, I'd be all right, I wouldn't be mad
at that. Let's talk Kings though, Like so Harrison Barnes free agency is
looming. Other than that, what else do we have of consequence? I
don't have their I have two questions for you that fascinate me is and let's
start here because I think this one's a little ridiculous, the Sabonus discourse after
the series against the Warriors. Do you really view it as they can't build,
like get to the next level with him as their centerpiece because of how
far off of him the Warriors were playing. My natural sponsor would be if
like Kevin Herder and even I had to hit more threes. Maybe it's just
a different defensive scheme. So I definitely like walked back from it a little
bit or a lot during this season. But I thought for a long time
that Sabonis just his limitations, his specific limitations, this lack of spacing,
the lack of defensive He was way more mobile defensively than in this against the
Warriors than I thought he would be. But he's not you know, he's
not shuttling all over the floor and able to switch or anything, and his
bad rim protection, the way that he can be like dominated on the glass
by a guy making you know, very little money compared to him Kavan Luny's
generational though playoffs generations. But what I'm saying is, if you were a
Sabonis skeptic, you did see a lot in that first round series that validated
that skepticism in a lot of specific ways. Like he's a he's a very
good regular season player that has a lot of defensive shortcomings and does not space
the floor with his shot. The Kings used him about as well as you
can use his skill set, like they emphasize all the things he's really good
at, and there are a lot of those things. Not to just dump
on the guy. But so I mean, maybe it's a little bit of
an overstatement to say you cannot build, you know, a team that can
make the second round with him, because like there were you know, a
couple of bounces away from making the second round, like they went to Game
seven, Like that's that's very close. Against a different team they probably would
have, you know, so anyway, but having said that, I do
think he just if you have some bonus as a key piece of your team,
you get a lot of good and you get a lot of you know
caps, I think on how good you can be. The bonus is he's
making twenty million dollars. It's not like this guy is maxed out. It's
not like you've committed Rudy Gobert resources to him. So I mean, I
think I think they'll almost definitely extend him. Uh well, if that's a
that's an interesting That's the thing is how much do you pay him in his
next deal? If you are worried about those is it? Is it enough?
Is because now you can get him for one hundred and forty percent of
his salary, is that enough for him to extend early and not hit free
agency? I don't know. I don't know what other What is one forty
off of what's his number next season? Twenty point seven? So that's gonna
be let's I'm not doing quick math. I'm typing it into my calculator.
Yeah, it's like twenty nine minute. I think that's a fair number for
him. I'm just wondering if that is he gonna sign that. My guests
would be probably not. I'd offer it because I don't think I'm damaging money
by any stretch. Do you think he signed it? I would say no,
probably because he's unhappy and Sacramento, but because he just probably has more
leverage when he's an actual free agent, I would think, And there's a
decent chance he makes all NBA this year, Like, do you're gonna sign
for less than the max? If you're coming off and all him, you're
gonna lock in an extension that much less than the max? But like we're
talking like fourteen million dollars for him. Yeah, so yeah, I don't
know. But anyway, the discourse did get a little wild, but not
like if you were some bonus doubter, you got you didn't necessarily have to
change your opinion after this series. I think that's fair. I would My
two counters would be, and you already made one of them. Look at
well Sacramento buying large defended throughout the series and the fact that they were able
to do that with him on the court. And I would argue, with
an imperfect batch of defensive personnel to begin like they leaned on Davy on Mitchell
a Ton, and I thought Fox really had some good moments defensive lead in
this series. Yeah, I don't know. So if you're looking at the
Kings, what else or did you have another question before I just straight up
ask you like he was gonna lead into that. I think the last of
bonus thing I was gonna say is I refused to believe defensively he is what
he is. But someone who doesn't turn twenty seven until tomorrow, he's May
third, happy birthday, early birthday, So don'ts a bonus like I could.
I'm not going to say that he can't branch out his offense to where
can he make defenses pay? They're gonna say that way up. Maybe it's
not a jump shot. Maybe it's him putting the ball on the floor and
not trying to back down, like just attacking from face uffs more. I
just refuse to believe that he can't get better, and I think that the
Kings and this will lead into that. I think you're gonna get to And
it wasn't my second question. There's at least a sustainable path forward to where
you have the skeleton of whether you think it's a regular season, like they
pushed the Warriors to seven games. I know the Warriors were the lower seed,
but everyone was picking them to just win that series. There's a path
forward here. You're not completely picked Barron. But I do think what is
does this series complicate what you think their biggest need is at all? Because
of how well they defended? Defend? Like how well they defended or is
it no it needs to be the A plus wing defender. And what do
you do with Harrison Barnes, Like, I don't think you can afford to
lose him for nothing, and yet bringing him back sort of feels like man,
but it's like you did kind of need him. Keegan Murray wasn't spectacular
for the I don't know more than half of this series, and so I
don't know what you do with Harrison Barnes. I guess is might like he's
going to be fascinating to me. His free agency well, and we've struggled
so much to come up with, like who teams that need you know,
combo forwards or wings that can sort of hold up on both ends. There
just aren't a lot of those guys. I think that benefits Harrison Barnes because
he's going to hit the market and be someone that maybe gets overpaid because there's
just aren't a lot of alternatives to him. I think the King's really value
his locker room presidence, his maturity, like his whole demeanor means a lot
to them. I think if you're the Kings, you hope that Keegan Murray
gets a little more aggressive offensively and just is the guy that that can handle
that role next year and you don't have to go either give Barnes twenty five
million a year or whatever it is, or go find someone else. You
give up assets to get that guy that still kind of leaves you. You
know you got Trey. Lyles is going to hit free agency too, and
I think if we learn anything, the King's backup option has got to be
a stretch guy because Alex lenn just made it makes it too easy for teams
to pick him apart defensively and to get to the rim, and just that's
I think so Lyles. You could argue Lyles is as big a retention priority
as Barnes, just because you need that change up. And Murray played some
center in college. He's just not big enough to do that, I don't
think, and hasn't shown the ability to really bang around on the boards and
fill that role. I think Murray covers your Barnes situation. And then you're
just again you're looking for someone to guard, you know, to do the
Wiggins thing, like you know, the Warriors could put Wiggans on Fox and
he's gonna guard Lebron in the next round. Like there's just you know,
those guys are really hard to find. But I think that's the that is
the obvious type that the Kings need to add. I just don't know where
they're going to find that guy. If Murphy, I have thought, I
think og and and Obi is does more for them than he does for Memphis
quite frank, I guess if Memphis is losing Dylan Brooks that changes. And
I've wondered one they have that first round pick odo Atlanta next year, but
they'll have their own this year after they use it, and then they could
trade additional first out does something like and I don't know what the Raptors timeline
is going to be. Do they have interested at all? If you would
use Harrison Barnes and assign and trade for Og with picks or is two first
round picks plus salary. Let's not even say it's Harrison Barnes does that get
you into the og business, especially knowing that he's headed into the final year
of his deal. I think two firsts and salary might do it. I
mean, it's hard to know because it seemed like three we're sort of bandied
around at the deadline as a possibility, and that that never happened. So
maybe there were three fake first rounders or you know, I think that's the
path I prefer if I'm the Kings, because you believe it or not,
Like now, the Kings are in a position where trading first rounders is probably
okay because I think they're gonna be another you know, I think they could
easily win as many games next year as they did this year. So I
will say, though, like having a trade, let's say first allowable twenty
twenty six, and then if you have to trade twenty twenty eight like that.
Yeah, you know what, though, I think the main takeaway for
Sacramento from this series is that Fox. I think Fox is that guy.
I think Fox finally we can say like he I think he might make an
All NBA team this year and I'd be fine with it. And I think,
just wow, what a ringing endorsement. Incremental. I mean, there's
a lot of good guards, incremental improvement as a shooter, and just a
little bit more consistent defense. I think he can be. I was very
impressed with Fox, and I think everybody that watched that series should feel the
same way. So maybe that makes it easier for you to trade future firsts
because you've got your sort of your your guy that's going to keep the floor
pretty high. So yeah, I don't know. Yeah, OG would be
phenomenal, just because if you go into next year, who I mean,
it was a problem this year, like who is guarding the best guy on
the other team, like right, and then you just hope he makes one
or two three so he can stay on the floor, because I mean,
it's really hard to have a point guard undersized point guard they can't shoot,
or that defenses don't care about shooting. That's like that's a tough thing to
overcome, I will say. And we didn't spend a lot of time on
this with Memphis because I think they need more offensive creation, which you're probably
not going to get with the mid level. The Kings if they get into
like the business of Tory Craig or Bruce Brown with their mid level, does
that make you feel like exponentially better about what they would be capable earlier.
They could be They could be a Dylan Brooks team. No, oh man,
that I mean he solves a lot of problems for them. I hate
that. That's like a really interesting idea. So actually, I mean Tory
Craig is you know, all those fungible you lump them all together. I
know Ross O'Neil is not a free agent, but you know, you throw
all those guys best. If there's trades that they could swing, maybe like
a bigger trade for both of those guys, that would be like again,
I think they this would be my hot take. Maybe it's probably too spisy.
I think the Kings have an easier path to reaching that next level next
season than the Memphis Grizzlies do, like finishing, you know, finishing higher
than Memphis. I feel like Memphis needs a higher caliber player then. And
maybe I'm just overvaluing some bonus in this discussion. Look, Jaw Triple J
and Desmond Bane's a hell of a corps. But it just feels like because
of what we know the Kings can already do offensively and how we've actually seen
that translate to the playoffs, but then they did ratchet up defensively, where
it's of like reverse a lot of the time for Memphis. I would I
think that at least for next season. Long term, it's a different story.
I think the Kings have a chance to reach that next tier, that
the path forward for them to get their next season feels easier than it is
for Memphis. I think a lot of that has to do with the Kings
know what kind of team they are and what kind of team they want to
be and how they want to play, and identity is like a real fuzzy
term. But I think now only the Grizzlies are only now going to try
to figure that out, I think. And so I think it's easier to
sort of plug in someone. You could take the same player and plug him
into the Kings, and I think it'll be a lot easier for him to
just fill the role that they want than it will be for Memphis, because
the Grizzlies just feel unsettled to me. So that, yeah, that's that's
interesting. Keep thinking about Tory Craig, Like Tory Craig would be okay,
you know, if you're not aiming high. I want to be clear,
but that's first of all, I want to be clear Tory Craigs and not
make them a contenders. I want I wasn't saying that, and I know
you know I wasn't saying that. But that is also the like who's the
best guy you're getting with the mid level? I mean it's like even Jay
Crowder is not going to be attractive at that number, Like going through the
like the combo forwards and wings that are available, you're not going to be
I don't know if he's the best PIP, like it would have to be
assigned and trade for Jeremy Grant, Kyle Kuzmas. I don't even know if
that does it. He's certainly not going to be in the mid level.
You'll be really funny they signed and traded for Draymond Green series that might be
wonders for their defense. I don't know. It doesn't ever respect for someone.
I was thinking like if the Warriors are just never going to play Jonathan
Cominga, and we know the King's love to have anything that used to belong
to the Warriors, whether it's like owners or players or trainers or assistant coaches
or head coaches. Kamiga would be the guy that you could just say,
you guard the best player every night, that's your job, and then you
run up and down the floor because we're good at that and you're good at
that. I just don't know what the Warriors would want back in that trade,
or if they would ever consider trading and Commiga anyway, because they held
onto him through the two timelines, so I'm not sure they do anything now.
But someone a super athletic combo forward that can guard like that's that would
do it. Oh that's all of them. Do you want to take us
out of here? I do? I mean I don't, but I will.
Everybody. Thank you for listening, thanks for your questions, for chiming
in, for following with us live, and if you have not already subscribe,
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We love we love Mitchell Robinson now so apologize to him from not all of
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