This is the baseline discussing the hot button topics of the nb A. Welcome
everybody, your tune to the baseline. Cali Warrenshaw discussing the hot button topics
of the NBA as we continue our scope, looking and giving a bird's eye
view of everything that's been happening so far in the NBA playoffs. Also,
it allows us more opportunity to raise the dead, as a few more teams
are gonna get put on the slab their exodus. Maybe what we'll discuss about
them might be nicer than the way that they were exited stage left out of
the playoffs. So you might have an idea of who are who we might
be talking about. But as always, man, it's always good to chop
it up and talk hoops with my man fifty grand www dot Show Sports dot
Net, Bigger hunipenc my man, mister warren Shaw, what's up man?
Listen? I was trying to make a little make light of the scenario because
you know, we knew that this was coming, right, Like we knew
that once teams start dropping like flies, it's going to start getting hot and
heavy and before the body's rot, we gotta come, We gotta come.
In here, and we got to make sure that you know, we we
we we do the crosses that hail Mary's, you know, shake the holy
water out of them and stuff like that, so that we can pray for
better times for some of these teams, maybe for their fan base as well
too. Well. Do you know what it is, Man's it's really interesting
this time of year, especially when you get to the latter part of the
first round. You know, it's like a punched up up to get beat
down right, and we're here to to be the cleanup cleanup crew, reservoir
dog style, my guys, so exciting times three teams that did not expect
to be here this early, not this soon, but here we are nevertheless,
so we don't want them to decay to too much before we put them.
I love how you segued into the cleanup crew. I love that part,
you know what I'm saying, because the first thing I thought of mine
was John Wick. And you know who one of my favorite characters is is
our man. You know, it leads the cleanup crew. He's like,
you know what I'm saying, And if people remember who he is Man,
he was in a lot of movies during our generation that always plays the sleazy
bad guy. I love how you know what I'm saying, it's intellectual sleaziness.
Right. He's like, I'm so good at what I do. He's
like, You'll never find a better clean up crew than this, especially when
you cleaning up john wickbodies, right like, so right about now, first
round of the NBA playoffs, Man, we got john wickbodies being laid out
by the elite teams in the Eastern Western Conference, respectively. And it's always
great for you and I to continue to kind of dig in. And you
know, this is why we do our coveted autopsy reports and why it's it's
gotten you know, a lot of attention. It's gotten a lot of conversations
from people, not because of the cleverness from it, but you know,
again, we can sit here and harp on all of the controversial bad that
kind of emanates from what happens when teams get eliminated from the playoffs. But
I also think that it gives us a scope about what the priorities really should
be for some of these teams as they're heading into the off season. And
if we're expecting these teams to take a step forward or you know, we're
looking at it, you know, realistically for fans, because you know,
sometimes fandom gets the best of them. We want them to understand like,
look, man, this is a team that this could have been their final
window. This is a team that you know, ultimately, you know,
maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel and there's a team
that you know, there's a lot of great space before we start talking about
any space with them, and that has to get cleared away. So that's
the reason why we love doing these autopsy reports. We absolutely do. My
guy and I think our fans listeners. Again they tap in and this one
is is going to be special, I think, not necessarily venomous. But
again, these teams too specific specifically, they're not expect to be here in
the form in which they they got to us, brothers, So it's going
to be a lot of one. They were delivered with they were you know
how they say delivered with care, hand handle with CAREA this was this was
handle. This was not handle with care. They all just like they got
treated like spirit airlines back just however which way you wanted. They were thrown
our way, brothers, So we gotta put them in some symbolance of an
order here exactly do the property because this was their god Jane Doe, Jane
John does all over the place. Man, all right, listen, so
as you well know then you know the cats out the back. You know
this this edition of the Baseline, we'll be talking about the the LA Lakers,
the Phoenix Suns, and New Orleans Pelicans. And it's ironic that I
was sitting here saying, you know, with autopsy and and you know,
Eastern Conference Western Conference seems respectively, it looks like all this damage has done
all the Western Conference. So you know, so far, so far,
but that that's what makes for good conversation. So as always, be sure
to get at my man Astra Sports NBA Get at me a gay Face Leader
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So, so with that being said, and I know that there's this
antis patient for us to be getting right into the autopsy report, I did
have a question for you as it pertains to the status of where we are
with the NBA's appetite to look at the way officiating is taking place right now
currently in the NBA Playoffs and the consistency by which it has been kind of
scrutinized or talked about through the course of the regular season. And the only
reason why I'm bringing this up too is because I have found that this year's
playoffs offers a lot more physicality than I think we've seen previously. And I
don't know if this is a prelude to a larger conversation about them trying to
trend back to that yesteryear time, you know, reminisce of the glory days
of the nineties ease, and you know what I'm saying of how basketball is
being played, But do you think that this is an appropriate time to set
that type of tone given the elite talent that is out there and the way
that the game has been played up until this point, that this is what's
being used to profile whether or not you know, you know, the let
the bodies hit the floor type mentality with how they're calling these games. I'd
say eye test is telling me the scoring is down in general, and you
alluded to the physicality is up. Skirmishes are up, if you will,
you know, the k fluffles, you know, those types of situations.
The term marginal contact has been bantered about, you know, almost as almost
like a dirty word, as coaches get their challenges reviewed and kind of shot
down as hey, that was deemed to be marginal contact not significant enough for
where right now in terms of playoff basketball. I think there's been an underlying
message basically since All Star that they wanted things to regress. If you will,
and not to have some much focus on offense. And I think we're
getting a better overall product in general. So squall scoring is down, the
intensity is up because the physical play is also up as well too. So
that's kind of like where I stand on it right now. I don't know
that they're going to make any further proclamations, if you will, about how
they've instituted this, but I think the eye test tells us, hey,
scoring is definitely down and the physical play is up. I mean, the
Pelicans, who will discuss later on, didn't score more than ninety two points
in any single game, and maybe that's an indictment on their overall offense without
Zion Williamson, but I think it's also a testament to how the games are
being called as you look to Yeah, and I think it also is shedding
a light a little bit on the teams I think that really want it right.
When I say that, I mean, you know, the teams that
we're going to be talking about we probably would have thought would have been the
table setters of that level of physicality, maybe with the exception of the Phoenix
Suns, but the way that they wound up losing and and to their detriment,
I think made us really question whether or not that team exhibited that level
of physicality that I think would be required to offer the balance. Right of
what we're what we're speaking to. The teams that are still in it are
the teams that we were questioning in the beginning of the season and whether or
not they would be physical enough to be able to run the table, you
know what I'm saying, to get themselves in a position to possibly compete in
the conference finals or even in the NBA Finals. So I you know,
again, I just found it kind of interesting, you know what I'm saying
so far as my observations of what I've been seeing so in the playoffs,
as far as you know, how those teams have been exited out and how
you know the current teams are and you know, it's not like a night
and day like a jeckul and High kind of thing. What I'm saying with
this team, it almost seems like they've unlocked that aspect of themselves, Like
it's almost like they've had it sitting in the wins. If you're Oklahoma City
Thunder team, if you're in Minnesota tim Wolves team, if you are a
I'm not going to say the Knicks. I think the Knicks have prided themselves
and being a physical basketball team, and finally it's it's swaying in their direction
in a series where you probably would have anticipated the affiliate, the Sixers,
who have been in the playoffs a lot more over the last five six years
than the Knicks right to be a more physical team. But you're seeing the
Knicks show that physicality even against the biggest and the you know, the most
dominating player you know probably still remain that was still remaining in the in the
in the playoffs with Joel Embiid. So it's just interesting seaw the dynamics because
I think now you're seeing what that physicality can lead to, what it means
where it takes a toll on teams that really are not prepared to play with
that level of physicality, especially in the playoffs, and I think it makes
for good basketball. It's ugly in the sense that we're so used to the
one hundred and fifteen, hundred and twenty point teams. When you have a
team like the Indiana Pacers, you get to that next round, what can
you live with only scoring maybe one hundred points? Because you know that the
team that you're going to be playing up against next is going to be about
as physical as you probably have seen all season long. Yeah, well side
brother well said, So hopefully fans listeners are enjoying this aspect of the NBA,
this version of the NBA, it has really transformed itself. I think
from where we were in late October early November to where we are now here
now heading out absolutely all right, So we are about to get right into
our autopsy report and the first team we're going to put on a slab is
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Sew not put the Lakers on the slop the autopsy Report, don't go
away. We're back Cali Warrenshaw Baseline NBA Podcast and time now for our coveted
autopsy Report first Team. But putting on a slab Shaw the Los Angeles Lakers.
I know I'm a man Jabari right now would love to be on this
segment for him to kind of make sure that there's no celtic bias being bantered
about, you know what I'm saying, Like he would be the person to
speak truth to what has actually taking place with the Lakers. But I am
very confident you and I can hold our own and we can speak objectively about
the Lakers you know, falling by the wayside, and you know, listen,
there's no question this was a disappointing, you know, outcome to a
season that has had its ups and downs, and probably more than anything else,
has really raised a spotlight on the what the overall outlook of this team
is going to be and feel like over the next few years, especially with
the murmurings that have still been continuing to to go on about Lebron James in
his future, how long he plans to play basketball, Bronni James now probably
being out there in that space, all of that stuff. Man, it
again, it's it's it's tinsel Town, it's lilaline. We expect that.
But I think what people have those expectations, it's knowing that through all that
white noise, it's there, it's still championship or bust and the fact that
they just could not figure out a way to defeat which arguably now is they're
arch nemesis and the Denver Nuggets. I think it speaks volumes and exposes a
lot more of the deficiencies that the Los Angeles Lakers are going to continue to
fight through over the next few seasons, even with the combination of James and
Anthony Davis. I mean, it's hard because this is a forty seven win
team, right, so despite all of that, like they were still they
scraped their way. I guess eve with the forty seven wins and they have
the luxury again like a lot of teams do, to feel like, well,
we weren't ever healthy. Lebron made an interesting soliloquy I think in his
postgame pressure but The Lakers also doubled as their exit interviews. This is the
first time that's ever been done, you know, in NBA history, that
they won't actually have exit interviews in their hometown after a playoff series. They
did them right then and there in Denver. So that says to me that
there's a vibe about this that this team just wanted things to be over.
They wanted it to be done. And that's where you start to get concerned,
because this, again, forty seven wins is not a bad basketball team,
but it did put you into the play in tournament. But and this
is a team that can't stay healthy. And this time it wasn't Lebron,
and it wasn't Anthony Davis who weren't healthy. They were mostly healthy for the
majority part of the season, but it was auxiliary parts that they needed to
take some pressure off of those guys, and it just didn't work out,
and Lebron came off as a little bit defeatus. Here, I'm going to
play a quick clip that I'm sure you've seen already, but I want to
get your reaction to Lebron, you know, talking about his potential future tonight.
Was there any thought at all that you know, this could have been
your last game with the Lakers. I'm not gonna answer that. Appreciate it,
I'm not gonna answer that always wanting to leave people on pins and needles
for whatever reason, because that is Lebron way. Your thoughts on that aspect
of how Lebron is trying to play chess with the Lakers team, I don't
know. I just to me, I wasn't surprised by it. I was
waiting for maybe I was waiting for for Lebron, you know, to give
something very snarky pertaining to Darwin Ham. I was maybe waiting for him to
say give something maybe snarky to Rob Polenka. I was probably waiting for him
to say something snarky as it pertains to the style of fashion of how they
lost the game. But I'm not surprised by this because this is what it
really comes down to. I mean, let's be realistic, Shaw, all
of this, all of this has been pretty on the desperation of the Los
Angeles Lakers wanting to keep Lebron James engaged and in tune for as long as
possible because they're not ready to hand the reins over to Anthony Davis right,
they want the allure and the magnanim nation. As my own word for this
of Lebron James, Lebron James is box office. Lebron James is Los Angeles.
As much as you know, I'll manage a barber will come out here
and he'll always forever in to day say, you know, Lebron James is
not a true Laker, but he's a Laker enough for me. He delivered
me a chip in the era of Lebron. He did something that we struggle
to get with most superstars that come from other places and other parts who think
they can handle being in Los Angeles. So this is what comes with being
Lebron James. I don't care. That could have been nineteen year old Lebron.
That could have been Lebron James when he was in the YMCA with them
little kids sitting around giving us the cryptic language until the very last minute about
what his decision was going to be. It's only packaged up in a thirty
nine year old man. This has always been him. But to your point,
Shaw, I think where it surprises me more than anything is how the
Lakers should or would want to respond in kind to this It's not that it
to be in vidriol or questions or whatever. It's now you understand right now,
you truly understand you need an exit strategy, not with Lebron, but
with the future of the Los Angeles Lakers post Lebron, because he is going
to continue to dance this dance. It wasn't realistic two years ago because his
mind and everything was focused on trying to win the chip. But now I
think that those circumstances have completely changed, and I think he's recognizing it like
how Tom Brady recognized it. I think he's recognizing it like a lot of
legendary players who've put up all the nominous numbers, got all of the chips,
and he'll probably never catch Michael Jordan maybe or whatever the case may.
All that stuff does it matter at this point in his life. He's like,
am I really interested in playing a game of basketball and dealing with all
of this only to see myself get bounced in the first round because teams are
better set up for success during the years that I still have remaining left for
me to try to get that ship. So losing to the Nuggets is it's
there's nothing to hang your head on. I think it's in the manner that
it's in five games, but it was a close five games, but again
it's five games nonetheless, right, And so you're out in the first round,
which is hard for anybody to think of his ilk to to just digest.
It's the first time a team I was gonna say, y'all, that's
the earliest exit in Lebron's career in the playoffs. But how do they get
better? And with a salary or a roster that is often injured, maybe
or maybe does not fit together, but you don't know because they're so often
injured, whether that be Lebron and Ad that wasn't the case, as I
said this year. But the pieces you bring in, like do you just
feel like the luck is just not going to change for them? And he
can opt out, he can opt in, you can try to opt out
and then obviously extend and you know, get maybe sixties million dollars a year
or whatever for however long he's gonna play. But the question remains is what
are they doing to solidify their standing in the Western Conference? Clearly, forty
seven wins and being the play in is not where they ultimately want to be.
Are they going to go big game hunting again? And we're already seeing
the names, and like it's going to be a little bit of the theme
of the show with the autopsy report, because the Trey Young conversations are back
into the fold, that the Jenttey Murray conversations are back into the fold.
Anybody else who becomes available and loses in the first round is going to come
into the fold. And it's just really interesting because I think the Lakers are
going to consistently do the same thing that they've always done, and I don't
know that it's going to get the different results. But you have to say,
but on the other hand, you understand it because it's like you said,
you don't have a whole lot left with Lebron, like you have another
year two. And I'm not buying the clip that we played in terms of
him saying, oh, well, he's not ready to answer that, you
know, like there's this air of doubt. Earlier in the thing he said
he was absolutely going to play for Team USA, and I don't believe and
this is this is going to sound like a slap in the face, but
I don't believe his ego will let him just walk away like that. I
think he wants in some ways the adulation, the farewell tour, all of
those things, and quite frankly, he effen deserves it. So whatever,
whenever that time comes, we will properly get in line and give him the
praise that is due a player of his milk, which we get to see
in terms of his overall accolades, like the accumulation of accolades. But this
Lakers team is in very much in arrears, I think right now in terms
of understanding of how they can not have the same thing happen to them for
the next year or two. Isn't it interesting that in our you know,
conversation of the autopsy report, where typically we talk about the team holistically,
that it all seems to still come back to Lebron James. Like, we're
not talking about Anthony Davis, We're not talking about D'Angelo Russell, We're not
talking about Riacha Mora, We're not talking about any of those guys because quite
honestly, no matter what we say about them, particularly at the end of
the day, it really just comes down to what does Lebron James want?
Right We're not talking about the organization we're talking about what is leb because the
organization conceded that when they brought Lebron James, and I don't blame them.
I don't blame them. You know that has always kind of been the moo
with with most teams that operate in the space of dominating the free agency market,
like the Los Angeles Lakers have, especially in this era of basketball.
I want to ask you this question Shaw real quick, okay, because I
think to me, it's interesting with what you said that the Lakers are probably
going to go big game hunting right maybe is it? Do you think it's
because they don't have a choice, or do you think it's because Lebron James
and his principle and his standards dictate and demand that this comes down to I
need a quick, ready made team that's gonna compete. Right Whereas and we've
said this right, sometimes it starts again at the very beginning. You look
at the Boston Celtics, you look at the Minnesota Timberwolves. You gotta find
a diamond and a rough in a draft. Man, you gotta find someone
as you as your you know what I'm saying, as your catalyst, your
starter, so to speak, your building block. You gotta find that person
that fits right in with the gamut the culture of the organization, and even
if you've got a couple of stars, you will see whether or not you've
got that gem because when that person leaps leap frogs over whatever you got on
that roster already, they will recognize that the torch needs to be passed to
them, that they need to take the mantle and run with it. Right.
And so the Lakers have been trying to do this non since now for
the last five or six years, and they've been going through free agency,
top in free agency selection, through top in free agency selection. Right,
they got to Anthony Davis. But I think it's it's a foregone conclusion.
Anthony Davis is a one B type player. He's got one A play talent
exactly, but one B as far as him being that person that you are
gonna ride the shoulders when that's gonna take you to the promised land. I
think that forever will always be Lebron James. And I think until you find
the next person who has the I want to say the kahonas to say this
is my team, right, I think this is where the Lakers are gonna
be They're gonna always be at the hostage of the persona of a Lebron James
led basketball team, and I think that's very, very true. So I
don't know what other names might become available for them. You would have presumed
that they're going to kick the tires on a lot of different scenarios. They
are committed to Anthony Davis for the next three years at almost two hundred million
dollars. It's a lot of money, right and you know, but Anthony
Davis is still in his proverbial prime. He'll be thirty four to thirty five,
I think by the time that deal ends. But the key here is
what do you what do you have and what can you do with Lebron And
can you alternate, sorry, operate within two timelines the now and the future
for Ron, you know, potentially leaving. I'm not even gonna get into
the whole Bronnie James aspect of drafting him and what that might mean. And
you know, do you do Lebron a wink wink favor and all of that.
If he's truly considering not playing for this organization anymore, then that's that's
a completely different, different, different equation altogether, and if we're look at
their cap, that's fifty million dollars that will come off off of their books.
They probably don't pick up the options well as player options, But like
Christian Wood and Jackson Hayes and Cam Reddish and those guys, you can create
even more caps potentially with some of that stuff if you were to try to
move through it and then you know you're you're you're almost at the floor and
you could try to be active. But as we've said many times over,
this is not a great free agent draft class. I mean pool, it's
not a great draft class on top of it as well. So what is
the equity? What are the moves that can be made in essence to bring
people over, you know, to to the to the Laker organization, depending
on what happens with the Clippers. Could you snip over and say could you
bring PG over and or you know, have them switched sides like Anakin and
come over to that side. I don't know, but you have to have
the cap flexibilion in essense to do that. But it all hinges on Lebron's
actual decision to be with this team, whether that be for one year or
if he's trying to sign an extension one way or the other. All right,
Well, as far as I'm concerned, you know, the Los Angeles
Lakers, you know, really have you know, a lot of soul searching
to do. And and I know we didn't talk about this. I don't
and I don't want to blame you know, Darvin Ham, but I do
think that the murmurs and the hot seat sort of speak conversation about Darwin Ham's
job. I think there's two things that can be looked at. One.
I can't question whether or not you feel like, hey, this probably just
isn't gonna work out, okay. I mean, he's had opportunities to try
to make things work. It looked like he had, you know, the
the you know what I'm saying, the ears of the guys in the locker
room. But I sense that that's probably not what's kind of going on.
And I don't know who who his allies are and who clearly whose enemies are.
I think most of the guys who are enemies certainly did themselves a disservice,
more so than Darvin Ham's. But I do think though, if you're
the Los Angeles Lakers, isn't this gonna start getting tiring? Now? Like,
how many head coaches are you going to run through before you actually find
someone that is building a culture where even even Lebron James and anyone else who
rolls with Lebron James can't argue with the fact that the culture means a lot
more than the standard that he sits. I'm not saying that Lebron's standard is
not you know, is something that we're dissing. What I'm saying is that
if it's not, it's not yielding success. At some point you have to
concede to just like how he conceded to Eric Spolstra and pat Riley. He
ultimately had to give in and it can't be Lebron's way of things. I've
got to give into that culture, the heat culture, what's going on there
to win that chip. And he did that, and maybe that's where the
Lakers have to be. Again, I saw a stat and I don't I
saw it, so I don't know. I didn't vet it to see how
true it is. But there it's said or a meme on Instagram that Eric
Spolsho is the only Lebron James kochha have never been fired, I guess while
Lebron was there in some capacity, So just like and how many times and
how many times did we put Eric Spolster on the hot seat? Yeah yeah,
I mean I'll I'll never forget the infamous bump in that first year,
you know, as he's walking by him and all that, and I feel
like that that sat can't be true. You got to figure out what like
when Lebron left the Calves and what happened with the coach there or whatever.
But in any event, there does seem to be a trail of dead bodies.
You know when Lebron's wake, you know when the results are Ron and
obviously what all teams want. Every team wants to win a championship. But
he, his teams and his coaches are held to the highest of standards,
and there's not many that have been able to meet that standard or come away
unscathed, if you will, from from coaching mister Lebron. I'm sure I
got to make a note, man, we might have to call on lbj
You know what I'm saying, Get an extra get an extra white jacket,
man, Lebron, listen, mate, it can't you can never have a
person you know what I'm saying, to cover these that that what do we
call them? The crime scenetter. You know what I'm saying you, You
know you can never have too much of You see how many crossovers there are
for CSI, it's like LBJs I your tune to the baseline Cali Warrenshaw discussing
the hot button topics of the NBA. Coming up, we'll focus our attention
on the Phoenix, on the Phoenix suns. I don't think that we're gonna
spend too much time speaking on it, because I think the whole universe is
spoken to what took place with the Phoenix Suns. I gotta tell you though,
man like it's yeah, well, you'll just find out where we're coming
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We're back, Cali Warrenshaw based one NBA podcast. Time now for the
next team to put on the slab of our autopsy reports. Time for us
to discuss the Phoenix Suns. Not a whole lot really could be said about
this team, Shaw. I mean, look, I had them peg to
be one of the finalists in the Western Conference and to ultimately get outsted by
the Denver Nuggets. Yeah, they certainly fell short of that. That did
not happen. Yeah, So I'll let you, I'll let you speak to
this is. I'm still trying to wrap my head around whatever the hell that
that was that that took place with this team really all season long. So
and I think that's that's the key right there. All season long, they
haven't looked right. Yes, Beal Booker were in and out of the lineup
to some degree. Durant had some some miss games as well too, but
they just they went too heavy. They were too top heavy and didn't have
enough augillary parts to assist, didn't have enough guys to stabilize that offense on
a regular basis, the whole point guard thing. And now Bradley Beal has
become He's only thirty, but he's become the worst contract in the NBA,
worse than Ben Simmons for for some people's accounts, just because he gets paid
a lot more money than than Ben Simmons. And that's a tough place to
be from where we were two years ago, where everyone was free, free
Bradley Beal and you know what, Bill wanted his bag, He got his
bag, and it just hasn't been good I think since that time. Now
Frank Vogel looks like to be their scapegoat after getting fired from La Thank You
Lebron and somehow landing on his sweet in Phoenix, and now Kadi, another
notorious guy who's had issues with coaching, has said, hey, it doesn't
like the way the offense has been ran, and Vogel could also be on
their way listen man Phoenix and managed to be a They knew what they were
doing. There took a shot they so long and they missed. And I
think it's foolish to just put this on Frank Vogel, But this is where
this is a society we live in, especially in the NBA. Coaches are
always the first ones to go. But where Phoenix goes from here is going
to be really interesting. And now when you talk about the rumors that are
out there, and we talked about the Lakers and Trey Young, there's already
Kadi might have to be on the move, Katie may ask for a trade.
Here comes Miami again and that familiar conversation, and ironically, here comes
the Golden State conversation again, going back to the comforts, the welcoming arms
of number thirty Steph Curry. If those things happen, whether he pushes for
it openly or the Sons ultimately decide that this is their best path forward.
I know his legacy is going to continue to take hits, and he may
not care, and maybe he shouldn't care. But this Phoenix Sun's team is
one of the bigger disappointments I think in recent history and Unfortunately, Kevin Durant
has been at the center of some of the bigger disappointments in history when it
comes to talent on rosters. But he played well, So I'm not saying
that. I just but something about where he goes doesn't always seem to work
out in the way that he intends it to be. Yeah, so let
me first say this. I feel the person who I feel bad for is
Devin Booker. And the reason why I say this is because I don't know
if whether or not I don't know if whether or not the Phoenix Sons really
really truly, in their heart of hearts, believed that Devin Booker was that
guy. But everything that the Phoenix Sons organization has done, I really don't
think that's a strong statement. It's a strong here where I'm coming from for
a moment. What I'm trying to say is, you know how there's some
guys who work hard enough to earn the respect of being given the keys to
the kingdom. And when you say, hey, I need help, and
you're saying I want help, I'm saying I want people that I know that
I can play with, guys, that I can ball with, Guys that
I want to roll with. I'm going to give you the opposite side of
that. Look at what happened with the Knickson Jalen Brunson. Let's be real,
the Knicks did not have Jalen Brunson as their number one option. They
were trying to get Spider Mitchell right, did not Jalen Brunson earn the respect
of the New York Knicks to say, if there are guys that you can
run with, guys that you want, who do you want? And I'm
sure that he was just like, look, man, you saw what I
did when I played in Villanova. When I have my man Josh Hart,
when I have my man Dante gi Vincenzo, you want to know what winning
basketball looks like. Despite what they do moving forward, everybody knows there is
no question that this team is Jalen Brunson's team. I want to ask you
this question Shaw, straight up and down. Given the path by which the
Phoenix Suns have gone about. Remember they drafted DeAndre Ayton first and he was
supposed to be the future of the Phoenix Sons. Devin Booker, by leaps
and bounds proved that that team should have been his. They went to go
get Chris Paul, which in many respects could have been a knock to saying
you might have the talent to go out there and score to basketball, but
you don't have the dog in you to really shoulder a team and put him
on the shoulder and take us to where it is. I know these are
strong states. What I'm saying is this is what the perception is becoming to
look like, because look what happens now by getting Kevin Durant. You brought
Kevin Durant and this whole year. Then you also brought Bradley bial Kevin Durant
last year, but then you also not have Bradley Beal. These are all
alphas or wanna be alphus? Right? Where is Devin Booker in all of
this Shaw It's not like his he had a disappointing he dropped forty in this
series. But I can guarantee you that after the dust settles with this whole
team, you're now questioning more about Devin Booker and his leadership and how a
team can roll with anyone With Devin Booker at the helm, then you all
worried about what's gonna happen with Bradley Beal. Then when you're worried about what's
gonna happen with Kevin Durant, and that's who I feel bad for. I
mean, well, I mean but you feel bad for him, but are
then but at the same time are you criticizing him as well too? So
that's where I think I'm not I'm not connecting the dots because I think Booker
is somebody who they've wanted to build around and said, well, let's get
you the records at help to get you there. Kevin Durant looked at that
situation said hey, I want to go there to play with that guy.
And Durant, for as great as he is, and there's no denying that
he's amazing, is better suited when he has another alpha alongside him, even
from the aspect of not just the heavy lifting offensively, but the locker room
presence. And I think Booker learned in some ways from Chris Paul what it
means to try to be the leader and be the locker room guy. So
I think the sons are all in on d book right now, and I
would be stunned. And I've heard some stuff in the short days that that
have come since they lost that. Hey, maybe they trade both of those
guys, or maybe you can't trade Durant because he's older, and so Booker
is the guy who you ultimately have to move because nobody's touching the Bradley Beal
contract. And and and look, whether you're saying whether whether you think that
I'm saying that I should or I shouldn't be criticizing him. And I understand
where you're saying, well, maybe I'm just not connecting the doubt. What
I'm trying to say is if you're having a hard time trying to figure it
out, well, then guess where I've been about this. You see what
I'm saying, Like it's not supposed to like, this isn't where we should
be having that conversation. But if it's in the Airshaw, it's in the
air for a reason, right, And let's keep the other thing in perspective
too. I think it's now said and done. Kevin Durant just wants to
play basketball. People have to stop this illusion that because Kevin Durant is coming
to a team, or Kevin Durant is going to an organization like the Brooklyn
Nets or whatever the case may be, that he is supposed to be leading
that team to the Promised Land. If Kevin Durant goes out and balls out
and everything else is in its place, you'll probably be a successful basketball team.
But if you're asking Kevin Durant to go out there and do the things
that I'm saying should have been, if the idea was that it's on Devin
Booker, if that's what you're doing, then you're putting a situation that is
in conflict with the maturation of that player getting to that point. Because much
like everything else, Devin Booker still wants to score the basketball. Right.
I think people forget that. That's what that was his claim, right,
him dropping sixty points, dropping what's seventy against the Boston Celtics. That's why
we talk about Devin Booker. But then what happens when he plays in games
like the Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Mavericks, or he plays in a
playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks and watches his team get shellacked by damn near
fifty points at one point, or this is a situation getting swept. Now
you have to start questioning whether or not Booker has the heart to really call
out his teammates, to call out the team when they're not playing as hard
as he should be playing. Then that makes you question whether or not there
really is a leader on this basketball team because all of these guys, it
makes it look like they're all contract guys, not you know what I'm saying,
like culture guys, I mean book He called him out, you know,
and I'd say it was more of a call out of the ownership in
terms of the roster construction than it was even though Vogel as a coach and
saying, hey, we're missing the details. We don't have guys who do
the small things. It's nice to have offensive firepower. I'm paraphrasing kind of
like what he said here, but that was like the quotable. That was
a clip that everybody latched onto. So I think as a leader, you
need you need those things to be said, even to your management, and
then if you don't have regular conversations with them, well then you say it
through the media to put put the proverbial pressure on. There's just not a
true pathway because they have no picks. They owe everybody, like four or
five guys a crap ton of money and they got swept in the first round.
So what is there a path other than moving off some of those higher
level guys, which is not the path they want to go to. Yes,
you can still find some teams that will happily pay some sort of a
ransom for Kevin Durant, and there's some people who pay a ransom for Booker.
But Booker is a guy who you still want to build around because you
can't. You can't strip it to the bones and leave it with Beal like
that is just that is that is that's asking for, you know, lottery
for the next five years. You know what makes basketball so interesting? Shaw?
You want to know what makes it like so crazy? You know?
In football, there are certain players who are willing to take pay cuts if
it's for the greater good of them putting together a championship team, right,
And I wonder if whether or not we will be in a situation where a
player who's thinking more about the well being of his legacy is going to be
willing to take, say, a pay cut, if it's going to open
up opportunity. Obviously, that has to be a lot of trust with the
management to be able to do something like that. But I'm saying that this
is what it's getting to when you're talking about some of the guys who we
hold on such a high pedestal, right with the expectations that they should be
more successful than the way that they that how the team, like this Phoenix
Suns team, even even though we can say Shaw is way too top,
there was still no excuse to get molly wopped the way that they got molly
wopped in this first round of the series. And and really, in all
honesty, due the course of the last year and a half, right,
Like when I say that, I'm saying all of the speculations of the moves
and everything like that, we shouldn't have to be questioning whether or not the
guys you're bringing in really want it bad enough, you know what I mean?
Like it should never get to that point, But that's what it makes
it. That's what it seems like when you when you talk about these particular
moves are either a moves of desperation or their moves of incompetence. And at
some point, if you're a player, I'm sure you don't want to be
a part of that. And at the same time, if you're a coach,
do you really want to be coaching that? So well, I'll say
this and closing, Vogel did a pretty good job because I thought I thought
this team's defense was going to be absolutely atrocious. Somehow they were in the
middle of the pack, I think thirteenth or fourteenth the thinking defensive rating what
that team this resources. So when people want to point to Vogel and say
he was the issue, sure could he been maybe a little bit more creative
offensively, I'll give you that. But when you have three and in some
ways potential Hall of Fame track guys, and obviously the beal stuff is questionable,
so dominated players, and that is the other problem. And then you
did and you didn't give him somebody to set them up. You chose not
to go and get a point guard. How many opportunities do they have,
you know, going into the trade deadline to try to address that, even
in some some form of things say that it's like, now we're good.
Didn't we say that, y'all? How many times did we say that?
He said? My question, Remember, I remember we had this conversation back
in the beginning of the year, and I said, it's the only thing
that I wondered, is what role is Devin Booker or Bradley Beal playing on
this team. Is Bradley Beal going to be more of a facilitator or is
he going to be a person who's going to be the true two guard or
is Devin Booker going to play the point? And I don't think they ever
figured that stuff out. I don't think there was enough time to ever figure
that stuff out. Not that I've buy into the idea of either one of
them really being a point guard for the team, because again, their true
calling card is them going out there and scoring the basketball. But to your
point, they need somebody to write that ship, and they need to do
it very quickly. I don't care if they do it through free agency or
they find a dominant a rough in well in what draft, But they got
it, They're gonna have to find it somehow, some way. You know,
it's it's definitely not on the coach though. Your tune to the baseline
Cali Warrns y'all discussing the hot button topics of the NBA. Coming up,
we'll talk about the New Orleans Pelicans. Well, probably won't hit them as
hard and heavy they they've been going. They've gone through a whole They've gone
through a whole lot. You know what I'm saying, We ain't gonna We're
gonna Willy Greenham. We ain't gonna Willy beat them. So anyway, more
baseline, Cali Warrenshaw, don't go away. We're back. Cali warns y'all
basedline NBA podcasts, And the last team we're gonna put on the slab is
going to be the New Orleans Pelicans. So the Pelicans, Shaw not whole
lot, you know, I know everybody is really focusing on well, you
know, the Pelicans team is definitely a different team without Zion Williamson. We
had talked about this as part of last week's episode, you know where we
caught where we basically or no, I'm sorry, not last week's episode,
but our last episode where we had Milk Carton players right, and we were
talking about CJ. McCullum and Brandon Ingram and they've been in pretty much M
I A and I chalk it up to the fact that I just don't think
that this is a dynamic that works even if you bring back Zion Williamson to
wait that the Oklahoma City Thunder played to me, I don't think Zion Williamson's
best performance ever would have stopped the way that Oklahoma City Thunder just ran rough
shot against the New Orleans Pelicans. So I think it speaks to a much
larger issue sort of speak about if you're the Pelicans, it's not so much
how you lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder, It's about how competitive do you
think that you can be in a division? Right that can up and coming
Rockets team that's gonna have John Morant back for the Memphis Grizzlies, that's gonna
have a very competitive Dallas Mavericks team, which if they win this series,
you know, hey, man, these guys are still set for the future
with the dynamic of Dantis and Irving. Right, Like, if you're thinking
about the New Orleans Pelicans, that window of you capturing something is now more
tight knit just within your own division, let alone the damn Conference. And
it just makes you wonder can you afford to compete with that trifecta that you're
rolling out, you know, with the type of team that you have.
So the theme I said is gonna be guys potentially on the move. And
I think with Ingram the way that he played coming off of injury, and
we said in the Milk Carton episode that Loudort was not having it, like
he was wearing brandon Ingram out. So that is not the guy you want
to be facing coming off of injury in the first round of a playoff series,
and he was just like locked in, Like it was almost like box
on one side is wherever Ingram was, lou Dort was an inch away from
him, I think at all times. And now the Pelicans are faced with
the aspect of and you said that's going into it, what is do they
truly have a trio that is meant to play together. It's a little bit
like the Lakers scenario because guys can't stay healthy and sometimes it's like, again,
you get fooled into feelings like well if you could just we could just
and as as incongruent as it may even seem, sometimes the mix just doesn't
work, like maybe guys are just not going to be healthy together here,
and then all of a sudden, Zion gets traded or collum or Ingram,
somebody goes somewhere else and then they play seventy five games next year. That's
just that's just the breaks. But I think they have to look at what
it looks like. Do they want to keep this team together because they have
guys like Herb Jones and Trey Murphy who are itching and ready to take steps
up. And while they I don't know that they're as offensively gifted as Ingram
could potentially be, they could probably fill some of that with greater offensive delineation,
kind of parsing out to some other guys, you know, if one
of those three were to be moved on, And ironically, again here come
the Warriors kicking the tires on a potential brand of Ingram thing again fresh.
This is all very fresh, but the Warriors at least would be interested and
exploring an opportunity like that. And I don't know that that's going to happen.
And I think other teams will obviously get in here on this if if
Ingram does become available, But for some reason, he seems like he's going
to be the potentially be the odd guy out. Despite all the injuries that
Zion has also faced with, Zion was as healthy as as he's ever been
in his entire career this year, and it's very much of what have you
done for me lately? A year, and I think that's what's going to
be sticking fresh in their minds in addition to the fact they have some draft
picks. So if they really wanted to try to go in and retool in
another way, they could offer you know, two first rounders even this year,
if they wanted to try to do something to improve this team immediately.
Where are you with brandon Ingram just in general? Do you see him like
I think the the idea maybe was you know, Zion one A, brandon
Ingram one B and then you have you know McCollum as a you know,
two av type player. Again, I'm more of the mindset that I found
CJ. McCullum to be more effective when he is you know, an aggressive
CJ. McCollum and not this passive, you know, kind of search me
out type of guard. You know, he needs to he needs to get
the basketball and he needs to, you know, get a rhythm going,
and it's hard to do that with volume guys like brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson
on the roster. But I'm just curious about where you see brandon Ingram as
far as in the in the hierarchy you know of a constructed basketball team.
Well, to me, they are a little like the Suns to some degree
only in the aspect of like, I don't know if those three guys work
together. So I think Ingram is twenty six sold feasibly get you more on
the open market if you were to move him. But he's a guy who
can apply when he applies himself, can play good defense, has been able
to play create. I think, you know, look at the stats.
I think you have like twenty five and five or twenty one five and five
this year. That's that's those aren't bad numbers, but it's just how do
you make it all work cohesively, you know, with that roster. So
to me, McCollum is the is the non point guard who they have on
the team, you know, almost in the Bradley Beal role. You know,
I'm not. I know that's a little bit of a lazy narrative only
because of the conversation we're having right now, But I think you know,
to me, I would see if I can move McCallum and see if I
can get more of a of a conductor in there to get both of those
guys Zion and Random in their spots. I wouldn't give up on b I
just yet. But I think it's trending in that way because I don't know
the same thing. I don't know how many people are interested in CJ at
this stage. And he was just as awful if well, if he will
in this four game sweep. But I still like b I and I wouldn't
I wouldn't give up the goals on him just yet. But I don't know
that that he'll be a Pelican going into next season. Yeah, probably not.
But I you know, to your point, I think he is a
savvy scorer, and I think he needs more opportunities for him to show how
savvy a score he is. And I feel like he's been doing a lot
of making up sort of speak because of Zion Williamson's absence, And I think
that's what's hurt brandon Ingram more than anything, because when the pressure is on
for him to produce and he's not doing it, kind of like in the
he reminds me he listened. I mean, his his stature is very similar
to Kevin Durant, but even his mentality is very similar to Kevin Durant in
many respects. I think that it has to come on his terms for you
to see the abundance of talent that that brandon Ingram displays or exhibits. And
I think when it's under forced circumstances or outcomes that really he doesn't have control
over. He doesn't seem to, you know, kind of get in his
bag, sort of speak like it just that's just what I sent I tend
to feel like unfortunately in New Orleans, that just seems to be the way
things go around there, right, like loeu of a natural disaster. Right,
these are the things that are going to tend to happen with with brandon
Ingram. As it pertains to the rest of the roster show, what do
you think should probably take place? I'm interested to see what to see what
they do with with Theonis valentiunas does not have a deal. No extension was
was given to him, and I think he's been a huge part of what
they've done, uh in the years that he's been there. Just kind of
an underrated pro to me. I like him a lot, but I understand,
you know, kind of as a plotting big uh, not really a
space. He shoots the three occasionally, but you know, not in any
real volume or even real like great percentage. What do they do there?
You know, or do they try to go small play zie more and five
play small ball five with larren Nan says they did a lot in that OKC
series as well. But then there's the development of the young guys, because
I think they've they've drafted well, Jordan Hawkins, Dyson Daniels, all those
guys can play. So to me, they're getting to a point of of
a debarcation, if you will, It's like, all right, well who
are who are our core guys? And I think in some ways, you
know Zion has to be one of them. But then do you make a
choice between McCollum and Ingram. But then the supplemental pieces. How much of
a role are you willing to give for Jones? How much of a role
you're willing to give Trey Murphy? And again, as I said, to
start this, you know, to start this conversation, you know, what
do they do with Valanchotonis? And I think Valents will probably end up being
a casualty and and and having to find a contract elsewhere. But this is
a team that has has some options, you know, a little bit better
off than the other two teams we talked about, despite not being as successful
in theory I mean, well, they all got beat in the first round,
right, But you know, I think there's there's there's there's more hope
I think for the Pelicans because of the way they've drafted, the draft picks
they even have on top of it, and I think tradable pieces if they
were to try to make a move on some of their larger known names.
Yeah. So if where I where I kind of I agree with you,
But where I kind of disagree with you when it comes to the Pelicans is
that you know, and again I always keep coming back to this, is
I come back to that window in that timeline. A lot of it could
be just the natural way of things and the other time and the other part
of it could really just be, you know, because of the type of
player that you have on your roster, that being his Ion Williamson. Now,
he obviously is a person, you know, who decided to stay on
board, and you've pushed your chips all in into the table and you're saying,
you know, this is your corner piece guy. So with that being
said, that MIS mean that you have to assure that your corner piece guy
is going to be available for the foreseeable future. If not you're going to
be riding a lot of these supplemental role guys, you know, and I
think they have a ton of wings, right, but how many wings could
you possibly have? And then you're not filling in the other you know,
necessary player uh sorry, necessary positions excuse me, just to to really make
the team about as well rounded as possible, because part of the problem again
comes down to the health factor of your core guys being available for the majority
of the NBA regular season and then ultimately being available for the playoffs. And
so it's a very tight squeeze, so to speak, and a very fine
line that has to be walked. And it all comes back again, not
to the leadership of a of a player, which I often talk about,
but it comes to the availability of a player. And so I think a
lot of this is gonna come down to and let's also speak about it as
well too, that you know, guys like c J. McCullum and Zion
Williamson have been you know, you know, been injured, right and it's
at critical times where they've needed guys to fill in. They have other guys
doing things, you know, playing roles and assuming responsibilities, but you know,
they don't have those guys right and to back up that gap or that
hole that that that's not being filled when they go out. So it'll be
interesting, you know, if they're giving up you know, say Brandon Ingram
and they're giving up Jonas Valanciunis, is it that they're they're only you know,
filling in those spots, or they're trying to look for more hybrid light
type players that when their core players go out, they have a much more
well rounded team. They can plug and play and have more versatility, because
it doesn't seem like there's versatility still with the with the nor Leans Pelicans,
it's basically you know, Willie Green, like you know, pulling a rabbit
at the hat sometimes with the way that he constructs the roster or plays the
roster, you know, in order to achieve goals of winning games. Yeah,
well I'll close in this, and I think I think what you said
there's a lot of great points to that, especially if they can get some
role delineation and maybe more classic positions positionality I think on the roster, especially
at the back corp position, getting somebody who's a true distributor. While Zion
and Ingram and CJ can all playmake that shouldn't be their primary responsibilities. And
an Alvarado is not a playmaking guard. He's he's an irritant. He can
get into the teeth here and there, but he's not somebody that give you
forty eight minutes to lead. So yeah, and and to be fair,
there's not a lot of those guys out there anyway, So I don't know
that that's something that they can just manufacture. But I think they need to
be trending in that direction to some degree, uh, to give them the
best hope for the future and some viability. But like I said, man,
I like their young guys. They do have some wings. They have
some young talent that is still very much in development. And they have draft
picks, draft equity from the Drew Holiday trade, from the Anthony Davis trade
as well too, so they can be very active and they don't necessarily need
to, you know, push put some accelerant on here in the summer.
If they don't like what they don't, if they don't see something they like,
they can wait to see. Hey, well what happens becomes of the
trade deadline, so forth and so forth. So you know, I think
this team will be very similar next year in terms of overall production, although
I think the pieces around the might shift a little bit as again, especially
with Valentunas and potentially a brandon Ingram. But I think this team can still
be very competitive because I think WILLI Greens are pretty good coach as well too.
All right, man, well there you go. Man. We went
through three teams, not like our quadruple body up that we did, you
know, a few weeks ago or a month ago, but nonetheless pretty good
stuff going going over the Lakers, Suns and the Appelicans respectively. Yes,
it was so as always, tap in, let us know your thoughts.
What do we miss? What do you think these three teams should do?
Who has the highest ceiling of the three teams in terms of what their future
may look like going into the twenty five No, twenty four, twenty twenty
five, twenty where are we going? Twenty four twenty five four five?
No, you were in brother, Yeah, but ultimately well neither did neither
did the Suns? Yeah neither? And also the one not necessarily important aspect,
But the final aspect I'll say is like, just what are your all
thoughts on the Super Team era? You know? Is it truly truly dead,
especially when you see what happened to this Phoenix Suns team. Yeah,
it's it's tough sletting out there, I think for these high priced teams.
But here we have a team like the Boston Celtics who maybe nobody have used
those that team as superstars, but they're gonna be paying pretty hefty build here
in a little bit, go and stay the pain and have to build right
now. But they're out of the playoffs. It costs to be good.
So I think parody is definitely coming up. Absolutely absolutely. Once again,
we like to thank you and yours for hopping over board with us this week
for the baseline Cali Warre show. We appreciate you guys, you know we
do, and we catch up with you next time.