What is up, fellow thermonuclear A efforts. I am Davia Valley, freshly
returned from my vacation. It was by not as relaxing as it should have
been, and include the usual tug of war between me trying to unplug and
then my wife noting that I did a terrible job of unplugging and that it
was frustrating to watch. Still, it was relaxing overall. It's good to
be back in so far as you care about me being able to hit the
reset button a little bit. I appreciate everyone who has tuned into these what
If podcast Those mini pods they bombed, but hey, we're experimenting here,
and that's why I decided to record something in advance of this final installment with
the Southwest Division. I also had FOMO with all the news that I felt
like I just needed to catch up on and give some spew my takes on.
But yes, I am back. We're going to be really cannonballing into
Team look Aheads. There will be days where I released more than one podcast,
but those will be up and running beginning this Friday. We've already done
the Rockets, the Thunder, and the Why I Blanking on the third one.
There's another one up but I can't remember what it is, but go
check out the look aheads all the landing page live as well. I built
that, but I'd like to get out like five or so episodes of those.
Also, if this is your first time listening, if you're on the
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love you all. As I note at the beginning of every podcast, it
is good to be back. Some of the news we have to cover,
though, is not really all that good to be back with. We'll begin
with I guess some happy news. Robert Sarver has begun the process of looking
for someone to purchase the Phoenix Suns. This felt like it was probably always
the endgame, even though, like Adam Silver had come out and said probably
nothing that was inaccurate when he's saying that NBA owners have certain rights over just
employees, but was not a great look for the league. But even just
handing out this one year suspension and the fine, I do think that there
was at least an element of the league or a subset of the league,
maybe not with the owners, but all the employees of the league. Obviously
the Adam Silver himself thinking that maybe Silver Sarver would to public pressure, and
I know a lot of people have said it most that they were actually surprised
he didn't. I just felt like with the outrage and it's hard to kind
of step aside from the Twitter bubble that we all live in, it really
kind of felt like this was always going ahead to that point, or that
maybe at the very least it wouldn't be swept under the rug or forgotten about,
like so many other controversies in the NBA are I did chuckle in sort
of a morbid way when I read this statement that Sarver had released. This
is the part that stands out. And I'm not just pull quoting here,
but Sarver said, as a man of faith, I believe in atonement and
the path to forgiveness. I expected that the commissioner's one year suspension would provide
the time for me to focus, make amends, and remove my personal controversy
from the teams that I and so many fans love. But in our current
unforgiving climate, it has become painfully clear that that is no longer possible.
That whatever good I have done or could still do, is outweighed by things
I have said in the past. For those reasons, I'm beginning the process
of seeking the buyers for the Sun's and Mercury. I would just like to
say, on behalf of anyone who is a decent human being, fuck you,
Robert Sarver. This is him complaining, him playing the victim, him
crying cancel culture without mentioning mentioning cancel culture. And I've seen, like not
necessarily counter arguments to this but the whole thing is cancel culture is it's just
so accountability is not getting canceled. And this is if you want to talk
about having the right to atone to make amends, it's a lot harder to
believe someone leaning on that crutch insofar as they even should be in this situation.
But when you look at Sarver, this was a pattern of behavior.
It was repeated behavior, repeated offenses, and some of the claims, some
of the allega as are as recent as two and twenty one, based on
the reporting that's out there. So this is something that has spanned from two
thousand and four to twenty twenty one, that has been cyclical, it's been
consistent. He is just someone who seems like a really crappy person, and
it's not someone who learned his lesson. There were reports that he pushed back
against the league's punishment in the first place, which was a year's suspension and
ten million dollar fine. That doesn't that's not a harbinger of someone who has
changed, who is actually looking to a tone, who actually feels remorseful for
the things that he said, for the things that he did. Shout out
once again to the people that came forward, who suffered through all this over
the years, who broke non disclosure agreements at the time. I know a
lot of them were throwing out the window once the law firm got involved.
But it just takes a great deal of courage, a great deal of gall
of backbone, to come forward and talk about what was clearly for many people
just extremely painful experiences parts of their lives. And Robert Sarver is once again
just diminishing all of this and trying to play the victim here, and it's
grotesque. It's just grotesque, and there's no other word for it. I
would encourage people to listen to the Timeline podcast latest episode where they went into
more detail about who might be among the candidates to buy the team. But
I just think, look, this is good news just to get him Sarver
away from the league. What is interesting is he owns thirty five percent of
the team, and Baxter Holmes that tweeted that he does have the right as
that sort of majority stakeholder to sell the entire team if he wants to,
and it'll be fascinating to see how that plays out, and says that will
he look to sell the entire team, I think he might, just because
theoretically it should probably drum up the total cost of the Suns, which then
drums up the total money that Starve himself is getting. And so if you're
part of if you're a ultra rich billionaire or even part of a larger purchasing
group, I think you would be willing to pay more upfront for the entire
team, or an actual majority of the team rather than just that minority share.
But also like being the majority stakeholder in general. On ESPN, numbers
were floated around as high as three or four billion, I would probably Forbes
value the Suns at one point eight billion, And I think some of the
numbers that feel more accurate or realistic would be if the entire team is sold,
they can expect to fetch probably between two and two and a half billion.
If it was more, I'd be fairly surprised, but not entirely shocked,
just given how much NBA franchise values of skyrocketed. But get this guy
all the way away from this league, and he's not the only just culpable
party here. We need to see, like if they're still going to be
people at the top who helped enable this behavior if not part took in it,
that they will eventually be held responsible. And this is also just we've
seen things happen with the Mavericks in the past. We know what happened with
Sterling and the Clippers, Like there is a toxic culture throughout the NBA when
you're looking at the ownership ranks as there tends to be when you're dealing with
billionaires or in Sarver's case, like hundred millionaires and like just when you get
to that scale of wealth and how you got there, and there are story
floating around the league. So this is not just oh, the NBA is
really getting rid of all the amral owners. There's so many other discussions to
have. But after what came to light and what's already been known before this
investigation even unfolded in full, it's good that he's leaving. And I don't
want to hear anyone whinding that cancel culture is unfair and you believe in redemption,
that that's great that you believe in redemption. Robert Sarver has not shown
that he deserves the opportunity to redeem himself, that he has any interest in
doing so. This was not just him doing or saying something one, two,
three, four, five, six, seven, even a dozen times.
These are just like dozens of like fucked up interactions that he had instances
of abuse verbal and physical with people who were employees that he was his subordinates,
Like however you want to frame it, And it was just so I
said this on the when I did record on vacation as an intro, like
this just crossed so many of the you know, a moral like bingo boxes
off the list because he was dealing with issues of race and misogyny and they
were physical authorcations and verbal abuse and like sexual harass, like just just disgusting,
and so get this guy all away from league. Don't allow him to
play the victim. This is big. I'm happy for Suns fans. I'm
happy that this should make it at least a little bit easier for Suns players
to have to deal with Chris Paul. We saw came out and said something.
The onis was always going to fall on them to answer for this,
which is unfair. But Robert Sarver can't wait for him to sell the team.
And it's not a punishment, it's not a punishment he paid. I
think four hundred million dollars for thirty five percent stake of the Suns. Let's
say he sells the entire team, or if we're let's say the Suns are
valued at like two point three billion dollars. Let's just use that conservatively.
Looking at someone who's gonna get eight hundred over eight hundred million dollars double up
on his investment. His punishment is that he just got to you know,
double his investment and make almost a billion dollars off this. So they do
sell for like between three or four holy holy shit, So he is hopefully
on the way out. I'm sure there's more to come from this, but
shout out to Bax their homes as well for the reporting he did on this
situation from the beginning, and as well just all the people that that came
forward risked jobs or just had to you know, reopen these wounds that were
probably never fully healed or closed, but to have to relive a really tumultuous
turmoil. And I'm just endlessly impressed and thankful, frankly, but endlessly grateful,
however you want to frame it, for everyone who had come forward,
and just again, it just shows a level of courage that we should all
be able to appreciate. So again, let's just close with fuck you Sarvi.
The other thing, one of the other things I wanted touch upon.
This is kind of it's not old news, but it happened while I was
away, and it happened just after Adam and I had said that Anthy Edwards
should probably be one of the more marketable stars in the league, just based
off his personality. He was fined forty thousand dollars for using what the NBA
called offensive and derogatory language. Again the video of him using it, which
has since been deleted. That come out was on vacation, not making an
excuse for what we said. Clearly, we don't know him well enough to
say that he should be one of the more marketable stars in the NBA.
If you have an issue with the fine, these things and the scale of
them are usually collectively bargained. I think the real issue, aside from the
fact that Aavy Edwards used this homophomic, homophobic slur, is I'm not like
the class of tion of this offensive and derogatory language, Like, let's come
out and call it what it is is a homophobic slur, anti you know,
anti gay language, like, let's be more specific about it, not
generalize it. Members of the lgbtq I A plus community deserve to feel like
their fandom matters, that this is a league that they can root for,
and any time this happens, that's a big l for the league when you're
looking at their culture and how they want to present themselves. I know Anthy
Edwards is young. That's part of the problem, the casuality with which these
homophobic slurs are still tossed around just in general. I'm not talking about NBA
locker rooms specifically, even in locker rooms at all, specifically, just in
life like they're still like the homophobic slurs are just used like way and all
this derogatory language that could be aimed at demeaning or insulting the lgbtq I A
plus community. That's it's damaging and it's still just all too prevalent and it's
disgusting. There should be I don't know if you want to call it harsher
punt like punishments here. Financially, these are they're all gonna be for most
of these guys that drop in the bucket when you look at how much they're
making like maybe there should be just classes, like they should have to be
forced to go through, and I don't want to forced. It was like
such a crappy way to spin this. You want something good to come from
this, and that's for the players to learn something and for the other players
around them and for other people to learn something from this, and so should
they have to, you know, undergo It's like, I don't want to
call it sensitivity training, because this isn't something that you should have to grapple
with emotionally or mentally, like LGBTQ, I A like that community, Like
they deserve to feel safe and they deserve to exist and there's nothing there's absolutely
nothing wrong. So it's just so it still makes my skin crawl that we're
in the year twenty and twenty two and this is just one form of you
know, prejudice among many that are going to make me sick still, and
I just don't think it should be thrown out the window or just it and
off. And we've seen other players use this, even something like Nicole Yokitch
I think it two and eighteen had an incident with using a homophobic slur and
then Aaron Gordon coming out and it was kind of tough. He had thumbs
down quote tweeted and then deleted it thumbs down to the Anthy Edwards fine,
and then he tweeted something along like to the effect of how can I be
homophobic? And then deleted that. Dude, I unless the thumbs down was
him trying to show that he was not a fan of what Anthony Edwards said,
Like shut the fuck up there, because that's just adding to this again,
it's clearly then if those are the thoughts that Aaron Gordon has on this,
that Anthy Edward shouldn't be fine for using a homophobic slur on camera,
Like there's there's clearly that a bigger issue in the league, and that maybe
certain players need to be more properly educated on this matter and to understand that
even if they're they're thinking it's this throwaway comment, it's not. And to
see people with their platform with a scale of yo fame, even if you
want to call him, like we're talking about Andy Edward's a rising superstar,
Aaron Gordon's like the fourth best player on his own team or whatever you want
to frame that, like, that's still a pretty big platform. He's still
a recognizable face, and his brand is probably even a little bit larger than
someone who might be the fourth or fifth best player on the team, just
because of what we know about him from the you know, his scale recognition
from the dunk contest days. But that's wildly disappointing. And so this is
still clearly an issue, and I think it needs to be addressed more,
even if you don't even want to say forcefully, let's say at least convincingly
specifically to where it's just not looped under this offensive and derogatory language. It's
it's something different. It's showing a prejudice against a huge group of people,
of important of important fans that the league should be trying to ensure not not
just like feel safe in life, but feel like they could just root for
this league without having to grapple with a player from a team that they might
root for, a player that they just want to root for. Using this
language off camera when they're not going to be caught like this shouldn't be these
homophobic slurs, all this language, all this pre prejudice should not be as
common as it is, as casual as it as it is. So those
are my thoughts on that, and it's not to say Auntie Ever's cannot redeem
himself. And I would encourage everyone to listen to an episode of the Dane
More podcast. He covers the Timberwolves of His podcast is great in general,
but he spoke with Chris Hyne, and openly gay sports reporter who covers the
Wolves. He's among the beat writers. I believe they had a I went,
I went and listen. They had a fantastic conversation about this, and
I thought hend did great job just unpacking everything and it was awesome to hear
his perspective. So don't listen to some just random ass person like me ramble
on about this. I'd encourage you to check out that podcast. But that's
where I sort of land on that. We have a lot of injury news
to get to as well. Robert Williams the third another another knee issue for
my guy here. He will undergo arthurscopic surgery or procedure on his left knee
UH and he's expected to need four to six weeks to recover, which means
that he will miss part of the season. It's also this is an issue
that's come six months after he had that initial left knee surgery. He he
played through pain during the NBA Finals. Woade said that the procedure is being
described as a cleanup and it is expected quote to allow Williams to return to
full strength early in the regular season. The Celtics, they've already lost Nil
Gallinari. Now you're losing Robert Williams the third. Is this? I mean,
it's a loss. I think they'll be fine. They have the depth
in the front court to whether this overall, they probably are gonna you know,
we have they have out Horford and current Williams. That's going to help
them a ton. Luke Cornette probably gonna have a triple doubles now for forever.
I guess they did cut Bruno Kaboklo so he would be out of that
front court consideration there. It's just it's just something to watch because Robert Williams
the Third has been dealing with this leftnee specifically, he's been dogging him since
the end of the twenty twenty twenty one season, I believe, and so
to have this many knee issues even though he's so young, and then also
just you lose an element from your offense without him for a team that not
doesn't generate a ton of raw rim pressure. Overall, the Celtics were twenty
second the share of their field goal attempts that came out at the rim last
season. Now you lose someone who is just your best pick and roll option
when you're looking at the raw rim pressure. Al Horford is more of a
he's gonna pop off screens. Did oo for Graham Williams. The same thing
for Luke Cornett there too. Again, I don't think it hurts them a
ton, especially because Al Horford and Graham Williams are like good and dynamic in
those situations when you're looking at what they can do from the perimeter. But
you're good at miss Williams and he's just one of the best switch defenders as
a center in the league. And then you also look at what he's able
to do as a decision maker on short roles or off the roles in general.
This isn't someone who's just catching and finishing lobs or just being able to
finish the rim. He can make passes on the move and he's a good
screen setter. That's that's big for the Celtics, And after already losing Gallinari,
who I don't think would have factored into the center rotation. But knowing
how the Celtics like to play a little bigger upfront, losing someone who's six
ten and then losing a Robert Williams like six nine but has like the athletic
pop to make it seem like he's seven eight or whatever when he's on the
floor having that presence, it really just sucks. Did miss while I was
gone? Dennis Shrewder signed a one year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers because
they clearly needed more guards. I don't think this is insignificant, and I'm
sure you know the jokes you saw about him turning down. He's making like
two point eight a little over that million dollars this year. That's probably about
an eighth, a ninth, maybe a tenth of what he would have about
it, more like less than a tenth of what he would have made in
his four year, eighty four million dollars deal with the Lakers that he had
turned down a couple of years back. I don't mind the flyer in general.
For a minimum salary he gives you, Dennis shrewders like he's probably two
high usage for the Lakers. But if you want to have him run some
second units. He did show that final year in Okay see shot forty one
plus percent on catch and shoot threes. He's been a little over thirty five
percent on catch and shoot threes for the past two seasons, one of which
he spent with the Lakers. That's not really high enough to be locked down.
He does give you some rim pressure on the ball. Needs to get
rid of those junkie in between pull ups like he had the year and okay
see when he when Chris Paul and Shake killers Axander were both there where he
absolutely tore it up. But aside from that, he's been just sort of
mediocre to sub mediocre from those areas. It's interesting though that the Lakers signed
him trade for Patrick Beverley. They already have, uh, you know,
Kendrick Nunn is like the hottest things in sliced bread in Los Angeles apparently right
now when you talk to people, and then Lonnie Walker, the fourth is
just sitting there. What does this mean for Wessell Westbrook? Why would the
Lakers do that? If I was, to paraphrase Brian Winhorth, add another
guard to the fold doesn't do I think this makes it more likely Russell Westbrook
is traded. I'm going to say no. I do think it makes it
more likely that the Lakers decide to bring him off the bench, which is
something that seemed like he was on the table from the moment they acquired Patrick
Beverley. Maybe that's something that if they don't explore right out of the gate,
they explore, you know, a few games are a little bit more
into the season. I don't hate the flyer for the Lakers, but it
is just like they're setting themselves up for memes here if they don't trade Russell
Westbrook, and it certainly intensifies the speculation. There was the report today that
the Lakers and Pacers talks fell apart for a heeled Turner trade that would have
put Russell Westbrook Indiana. The Pacers wanted two unprotected first twenty seven and twenty
nine, and the Lakers balked at that. I kind of understand both sides
there, like the Lakers and if it's me, I just do it because
I think Miles Turner is really good. He can not only play with Anthony
Davis, but we could close games with Anthony Davis that would actually work.
But he heels valuable to that team. Is sort of a knockdown shooter who
can score just it's functional shooting. Not a lot of shooters score in motion.
With Lebron James, we've seen in the past a lot of guys just
really planting themselves at a standstill. But he has the ability to hit some
pull ups off the dribble, to fly around screens, to really fan out
in transition. And I don't think his deals that terrible. The Lakers don't
want to put long term money on their books, and Field has guaranteed money
for twenty three twenty four, where the Lakers could have near max space.
I don't know if they're still hoping in light of redacted most recent stupid ass
tweet that maybe the trade talks with the Nets could reignite. I understand not
wanting to give up the rest of your future draft equity without bringing back a
real star in return. And Milester is going to be a free agent if
you don't think you can keep him, that's something to consider. I'd probably
do it, certainly if I'm the Pacers. If I'm the Pagers, I
might even consider it. If you can get one pick in a swap where
it's like a twenty six swap and then the twenty seven first. That's something
I might still consider. Maybe they revisit that, maybe there's another deal that
materializes. But the Lakers just I'm holding off on their team look ahead specifically
because I think that their rosters going to change. So they're probably one of
the last teams that we do for anyone who cares about what happens with scheduling
podcasts. The next bit of depressing news, Shay Gilder's Alexander has a Grade
two MCL spring in his left knee. He will be out for at least
okay SE's first two preseason games and reevaluated in two weeks. That just sucks.
This season in okay See is going from enthralling for me as a national
observer to just like, we're about to fucking watch them shut down guys again
and really slow play this chat. Holme Grins out for the year. Shakils
Alexander missed the final ten games of the season with a right ankle injury.
Now he has a sprain MC on his left knee. I imagine the thunder
will continue to bring him along slowly, not just because they're not trying to
win this season, but he is also until actual these this trade speculation proves
to be accurate, he is their future. He and chet Holme Grin,
I would say, even more so than Josh Giddy without Shakils Alexander Lets.
Does he miss some games to start the regular season, I don't know.
This doesn't seem too serious, but it sucks. If he does miss the
start of the regular season, that will be really a test of how far
Josh Giddy has come and can he sort of lead the charge as a primary
playmaker and perhaps be more aggressive as a score But I want to see Shay
play a bunch this season. He is one of the I still think he's
one of the most underrated players in the league, even though a bunch of
fans from different teams are really lusting and pining after his services on the trade
market for him that should not technically exist because publicly he has not requested to
trade, and everything he said runs counter and even the way that the thunderactor
runs counter to that logic. They have all the picks in the world.
They made a consolidation trade for Rusmon Jang. They signed Shade to a five
year extension, not that they wouldn't have done that even if they were looking
to trade him. This just seems like we're rushing to talk there, and
my thoughts are well documented. You go go check out a previous podcast,
or go check out a Thunder look Ahead which is up on YouTube and in
your podcast fees where we get into that with Olivia Punchhall, formerly of the
of Daily Thunder a little bit. But yeah, this doesn't seem too serious
for Shade, but it is something to monitor. He's dealt with stuff.
Some of that has probably been overly cautiously handled. That's a terrible way to
frame it. The Thunder had probably been more cautious than they need to be
with some of his injuries or invented some of those injuries. But it's just
something to keep an eye on because Shay is like, part of what makes
his game so captivating is his ability to just change these speeds on a dime,
and if he's dealing with some knee stuff or that becomes habitual issues where
he's dealing with ankle and knee issues, that could compromise him a little bit
on the offensive end. Finally, Lonzo Ball will be reevaluated in four to
six weeks after a second left knee surgery. The first one happened eight months
ago to pair a torminiscus that was in the same knee that left knee.
This is also the third surgery lonzos Now had on his left knee. This
is big for the Bulls, who at full strength, they're probably a better
team than people are crediting just because they forgot like how long the Bulls were
good last season, but there was a material change in the way they were
able to operate, not on offense as much, but on defense. When
a Lonzo first exit in the lineup. Remember he the day after Christmas,
I think it was he went into COVID protocols and then he was dealing with
the knee injury. Shortly thereafter after he came back for a bit, the
Bulls were blown out into two like his final games, and then he's done
for the rest of the season to deal with that left knee injury. Losing
him as huge they were, I mean, they'll break it down. Before
Christmas, the Bulls were nineteen and ten, nine games over five hundred,
had a top six net rating. We're in the top eight of both defense
and offense. After Christmas, which is when they first started missing Lonzo ball,
and then he really only played in how many games was it, I'll
check really quick. After Christmas he only played in a total of six games.
So but after Christmas they still were over five hundred in general twenty seven
to twenty six, but they were twenty first in net rating and dropped to
twenty seventh in points alout per possession. So they went from eighth in points
per possession before the Lonzo injuries slash entry into health and safety protocols to twenty
seven. That's a huge drop off. If you're gonna have a healthy Alex
Caruso, if Patrick Williams is even going to be healthy and you expect to
see a bunch of progress from him, that should that should help you sort
of navigate those waters and just having Gore and Dragic, having Demard Rosen,
having zach Lavine, if he's healthy, you'll be able to make it work
on offense, but still defensively is where I'd be more concerned because Lonzo and
Caruso are part of what allowed the Bulls to play so aggressively early on and
would be part of why they're able to play so aggressively now or why lineups
where De Rosen at the four might actually work. And I think overall,
if just for this team, you want to see more of what should be
their best lineups, which is not a luxury we had last season. And
so I probably lower on the Bulls even with a healthy Lonzo. Then I
don't know even know if it's consensus, but I'm a little bit lower even
when considering their peak from last season, just looking at how much the Eastern
Conference improved in general, how deep it sort of seems at the top now.
But that look in the one hundred and eighty nine possessions which is not
a lot, but the one hundred and eighty nine possessions that Vouch, de
Rosen, Levine, Caruso and Ball played, and I looking at this roster,
that's still their best five man unit. To me, you could try
and sandwich Patrick Williams in there for somebody, but who after the season de
Rosen had, It would have to be Caruso or Bust And you know,
I don't. I'm just more intrigued defensively by Caruso Ball pairing than uh,
you know I If you have Williams at the four and then having ball in
the backcourt with Lavigne, but that unit Lonzo, Caruso, Levigne, de
Rosen and Vouch plus twenty point six points per one hundred possessions. They just
only played one hundred and eighty nine possessions. Again, not a lot,
but the Bulls didn't have a ton of continuity to begin with. Their most
used lineup only logged five hundred and twenty one possessions, and even that unit
that I outlined that didn't see a ton of time together, it was their
fourth most played lineup on the season. So want Lonzo would get healthy,
but that's a long time to miss, and he's already missed so much time
that when he does return, what is he going to look like is they're
gonna need to be a grace period there. If you're the Bulls right now,
not only do you need like let's not forget Lavine is dealing with the
stuff, but not only do you need Lavine to stay healthy, Caruso to
stay healthy, but like you need and Williams to stay healthy. You need
meaningful contributions once again from Iota Suon Moo and then Patrick Williams to be probably
even better than he showed when he was healthy last season, and you probably
at this point you need to bank on just like hitting somewhere that we're not
talking about, because like, is Gorn Dragic more effective than we're thinking right
now? Does Booch have a bounce back year as a score? He did
find from two point range last year, but does this outside shot return?
Does Kobe White all of a sudden make strides here? They need one of
You know, we talk a lot about Williams and his development, and then
Caruso and Lonzo remaining healthy, even Zaqueline remaining healthy, and we talk probably
a little bit more about the backup five situation. Now you brought Derek Jones
junior back, you signed Andre Drummond, you have Tony Williams still Tony Bradley
scuse me, still float around this roster. But you know, all of
a sudden kind of need to hit. I'm like, oh, can I
under would just like explode again? Or can we get development from Kobe White?
Or is Gorn drag or even a Dawn and Terry like what we see
him at all this season? Like you're gonna need one or two just I
don't want to say unforeseen developments, but just one or two silver linings that
we're not really focusing zeroing in too much on right now, that we're not
counting on right now to probably hang with the upper crust of the Eastern Conference,
which just includes the Calves after training for Donna Mitchell, a healthy six
or squad. The Celtics, even with the injuries they're dealing with, the
Bucks with Chris Middleton coming back, the Miami Heat are still floating around there.
I'm still pretty high on the Toronto Raptors, even though I have questions
about their half court offense there. It's just going to be a bloodbath through
the top six of the East and there's no spot there. Even if the
Bulls were healthy, I would say where they would be guaranteed one of those
six spots. I mean, like, if we're being brutally objective, I
mean, what top six, my definitive would be Boston, Milwaukee, Philadelphia.
I'm gonna throw Toronto in there, and then like Miami, I would
have to put them in there, and then just like Atlanta or Cleveland or
Brooklyn. Yeah, that's just seven teams. And I didn't even get to
the Bulls there. And like those eight teams which should be the top eight
teams in the East, Baranni surprises Miami, Boston, Milwaukee, Philly,
Toronto, Chicago, Brooklyn in Atlanta, and then throw Cleveland to be top
nine. Holy hell, like there, Yeah, there's some variants there,
Like I have no idea what the fuck the Nets are gonna be and I
would never bet on them. But the Calves or the Hawks specifically could be
due for a major jump in raw win totals from the forty three slash forty
four that they won last year. And then you have the Bucks Heat Celtics
sixers, who were very much in the not going anywhere persuasion. I think
the Raptors, having just won forty eight games, they're even better. Maybe
they don't win as many games, or maybe it's still dead on it's another
forty eight games, but they're just better. They're deeper than they were last
season, and so the Bulls might point here is the Bulls need Lonzo Ball.
I think there's aspects of their team where they are better without him than
we saw last season because of all the other stuff that they were dealing with,
and maybe some internal development they could get, but he is just mission
critical to their defensive success. It's good to be back. I missed you
all, even though I guess I didn't really leave too much. Please remember
to subscribe wherever you're getting this podcast, YouTube, Apple, and Spotify specifically
down every episode. Subscribe on every platform on both YouTube and then a podcast
player. It means a lot. Throw out recommendations, shout us out on
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discord, the link to which is in the podcast description, along with all
of our socials. Until next time, and as always, I leave you
with the shout out to the one, the only, the glorious Frank niel
Akina And I don't know why I'm making this the outro, because you're about
to listen to some what NBA what ifs? What is up, fellow thermonuclear
affer is. I am a very pumped, if a little exhausted Dan Favali
coming at you with our final installment of this NBA what if series Before we
get started, just my usual plea for everyone to subscribe to this podcast wherever
they consume it, Apple, Spotify of course, if you follow the show
and download every episode. That's the biggest way to help us climb up those
basketball podcast charts. If you've already done that, hit that subscribe button on
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follow us on the socials the links that are in the podcast description, please
please pretty please join our discord the link to that is in the podcast description.
And if you've done all those things, still consider shouting us out on
Twitter if you enjoy our content. I put out a lot of it.
These are shorter podcasts, but we have a lot longer ones. I've been
going almost daily throughout the off season. We've done a lot of cool stuff.
Look aheads are already underway and they will fire back up when I return
from my long awaited vacation that I'm trying to work ahead to be free for
You don't care about that, though, so again, shout outs on Twitter,
Retweet our promos, tell people about us if you know they liked the
basketball podcast. I always get just super excited not look people DM me a
bunch, and I appreciate that about our listeners telling telling me how much they
appreciate my effort, how much they appreciate the content. Discord is great.
The public shout outs on Twitter or in those threads where people are trying to
look for the best sports or basketball podcasts, those mean the world as well.
And finally, before we get started, just a brief reminder how this
works. This is the final installment installment of MBA. What Ifs is a
project I did for Bleach Report a couple of months ago. With their blessing,
I am putting out an audio version of it. I get that these
can be sometimes tough to follow. I've released them by division in these short
you know, fourteen to twenty minute increments and hopes that makes it easier.
I've practiced reading them. I've readone a bunch of readings because I was stammering
through. There are still some hiccups, but I do think it's at least
consumable and interesting. And the way I handled this project was I asked one
person who covers follows the roots for every team, a smart person, an
awesome person, what their biggest what if would be for that franchise. I
took their responses, included some of my own words, and that's the project
you will be listening to now if you've not checked out the other versions head
over to YouTube, where they've been released as single team clips. You can
check out our podcast feed. I released these by division. We are in
the final stage the sixth and final NBA What If episode and it is none
other than the Southwest Division. We begin up next in this NBA would If
project with the Dallas Mavericks. Initially I approached the Dallas Mavericks as part of
the shindig, determined not to go, though what if they drafted? Joannis
attent to Coupo in twenty thirteen route he was considered a stab in the dark
reach by the Milwaukee Bucks at number fifteen. We can't harp too much on
the teams that went different directions, though, to be fair, Dallas later
playing that he was on its radar card doesn't help. Steve Nash's departure in
two thousand and four is my pick. His exit almost as surely cost him
as another title during that dark Nivitzky era. At the very least, the
organization would have more Finals appearances under its belt. That did tempt Lauren Gunn,
who was a co host of the Gunshot podcast and also a credential to
NBA media member, But she ultimately went a different direction. Here's what she
told me. This is an incredibly fascinating question because the correct answer is absolutely
what happens if Nash stays. But my mind can't help but go to the
post twenty eleven. Dirk years after letting the team go, after bringing home
the trophy, they were in a position the following year to reel in the
top free agent of that class, Darren Williams. In fact, the MAVs
had the first meeting with Williams, and years later he said that he was
going to sign with Dallas, but was turned off by the fact that Mark
Cuban neglected to show up to their meeting. Pairing him with Dirk while they
were both in their primes would have likely put Dallas back toward the top of
the Western Conference. Unfortunately, the Mavericks didn't land him that year, and
the slow transition into a rebuild commenced that. I don't disagree with how Lauren
framed this, and it's actually more tantilizing. I think I'm probably then I
gave it credit for before she described it to me, just because I think
we remember what Williams sort of became, and so I very much digged this
view. Extending actual title windows are more bankable what ifs than carving out theoretical
ones around Yannis, for example. But that's why the Nash pick is still
up there. Let's also be real, we were all flabbergasted, if not
offended, the MAVs opted to move so thoroughly away from their title winning corps
in twenty eleven. Dee Will's prime ended up not lasting nearly as long as
most expected, but the next two to three years of Dallas basketball would have
unfurled at a much higher level that he joined the party in twelve. Next
up in this NBA what if exercise, we have the Houston Rockets. It's
nice when the what if decision at hand boasts a glaringly obvious consensus, and
as Salomon Ali of Red Nation Hoops outline, that's just what we have for
the Houston Rockets. Here's what he told me. There are a lot of
contenders here, but the number one spot is a no brainer. What if
Chris Paul never suffers a hamstring dre in the twenty eighteen Western Conference Finals.
There's just no other scenario that directly could have led to an additional banner for
the Rockets. He's right context is of course king in this instance, though
it's probably also painful. As Ali also wrote, the Rockets were on the
brink of taking a three to two lead over the Warriors and had all the
momentum of the series in their favor. Home court advantage was theirs, and
it seemed like they had figured out the Warriors on both ends. Defensively,
the Rockets perfected a switch everything scheme they crafted that summer specifically for the Warriors.
Paul was an integral point of attack defender for Houston. On offense,
James Harden led a masterclass against the Warriors for the first three and a half
frames. Paul, one of the greatest crunch time performers in NBA history.
Was their closure in the fourth quarter. The audacity of my media colleagues to
equate an injury to Andre Igadala, Golden State's fifth most important player at the
time, to an injury to one of the greatest point guards of all time
in his prime, was laughable in the moment and even more ludicrous in himsight.
Here the caveats what Ali says. The Warriors still could have beaten the
Rockets even if Paul had never gotten injured. At the same time, the
end result leaves open the possibility that Ali is right. Houston lost Game seven
by single digits without CP three, and if we believe the Rockets get past
the Dynastic Warriors, we might as well go ahead and believe that their sixty
five win corps also would have dispatched the twenty eighteen Cavaliers in the finals.
As Ali closed, the Rockets team should go down. That Rockets team should
go down as one of the greatest in NBA history to never win a championship,
but their collective unpopularity may prevent them from being remembered as such. I
definitely agree with this, even if you think they're bigger Rockets what ifs.
The fact that this specific team with Chris Paul and James Harden isn't remembered more
fondly for his two eighteen postseason run very much is indicative unfairly so, of
just their reputation having to do with some of the individuals on the team,
and then this track record of Chris Paul and James Harden always coming up short,
where there are some valid criticisms of both, but many of them vier
away from reality. This has to be the what if though, and you
have to appreciate if nothing else. Even though they lost, the Rockets were
one of the few teams that Italics went for it when the Warriors were at
their absolute Next up in our MBA what if exercises, we have the Memphis
Grizzlies. Because the twenty fourteen two fifteen Memphis Grizzlies have derailed the start of
the Golden State Warriors dynasty. Amy Stagmeyer of the Flyer grizz Blog thinks so
I will forever maintain. She wrote that if Mike Conley doesn't get his face
broken by CJ McCollum in the first round in twenty fifteen, and Tony Allen's
hamstring issues were resolved, the Grizzlies would have been the twenty fifteen champions.
Memphis would have won the series against Golden State and gone on to beat Houston
in the Western Conference Finals and ultimately be Cleveland to win the championship, and
we would all be having a very different discussion in the years since. Wow,
Wow, this is spicy. I love it. It's not unfounded.
Mike Conley even agrees. This is what he says. This is what Mike
Conley said during a twenty twenty one appearance on The Old Man and the Three
podcast with JJ Reddick, that series is our what if more than anything,
if we win that series. Who knows? If the Warriors of the Warriors
dynasty that everyone sees today, I get what Conley and Amy are saying.
The Grizzlies jumped out to a two to one lead in that series and for
a while appeared to be in control, but the Warriors ended up mismatching their
way to a seven game victory, in large part because they had Andrew Bogitt
quotes guarding Tony Allen, who was an offensive non entity. Well, Golden
State have gotten away with that shift. If Allen wasn't harboring a hamstring injury.
Maybe how much better off with the Grizzlies have been if Conley, playing
at a face mask, didn't shoot sub forty percent on twos and sub twenty
two percent on threes over the final four games. Who knows. Leaning towards
alternative selections is reasonable and probably my preference. Grizzly still would have needed to
beat the Rockets, who weren't yet the Capslock Rockets, but also weren't stepping
stones the two and fifteen, Calves would have been beat aboth. Both Kevin
Love and Kyrie Irving still got hurt in the finals, but they weren't barren
of fight. Even so, Amy's decision feels like the right call, and
if it isn't for me, it probably needs to be Zach Randolph's Game seven
suspension in the first round of the twenty fourteen playoffs, or the Grizzlies drafting
Cashim to beat at number two in a two thousand and nine class that saw
James Harden, Steph Curry, and Demarda Rozen all go after him and still
in the top ten. And our next team up in this MBA what if
exercise is the New Orleans Pelicans. Spotting what ifs throughout the New Orleans Pelicans
history isn't particularly difficult. There's the obvious what if Chris Paul and Anthony Davis
never esk out angles and a few ad injury moments to boot, and then
we always have though, what if the CP three to the Lakers trade was
never basketball reason into oblivion? My personal pick is game seven of the two
thousand eight Western Conference semifinals. What if they beat the Spurs. They've been
able to punch out the Lakers, and if so, could they have then
up ended the eventual champion Celtics. For his part, Brute Crew medias shem
Duo went with what feels like the actual correct choice. Here's what he told
me. The biggest what ifs for the Pelicans in recent memory is the DeMarcus
Cousins injury in twenty eighteen. New Orleans was just finding its stride that January
when Boogie went down in a win against the then dominant Rockets. The Pelicans
would later go on to trade for Nicola Mirotitch and sweep the Portland Trailblazers that
same season before fardling short in five games against the Kevin Durant Arrow Warriors.
They probably don't win a title that season, but Boogie and Davis would have
provided the Doves with a matchup they had never faced before. Cousins was also
up for a new contract that coming off season. How does the team build
around the Twin Towers and Drew Holiday moving forward? Could they have outlasted the
Warriors? Corn been around for the Bubble Ring with Del Demps and Alvin Gentry
still be the lead executives of the franchise. So many questions. We'll just
never know the answer to that from Shammitt is perfect, and I don't know
that I considered it. I definitely didn't consider it in this way going into
the exercise, and then when I thought more about it, there's another potential
implication to do as answer. Does the Twin Towers approach become in vogue sooner
if Boogie and a D had stayed together for the long haul. We're seeing
a quasi revival of the dual big lineups, not just in Boston with Al
Horford in RW three, or with Cleveland in Evan Mobley and Jared Allen,
and now Minnesota with Kat and Rudy Gobert, but also in places like Memphis
with Triple J and Steven Adams, and even in Orlando with Mobamba and Wendell
Carter Junior this past season with Palo Bank Arrow entering the mix. Now Boogie
and a D share specific similarities with the Cat Gobert pairing we're about to watch.
Maybe this approach would have reignited sooner if the Pelicans had gotten an actual
window with their own version. Our next team up in this MBA what if
exercise, and it will also be the final team team number thirty. If
you've been following us all the way the San Antonio Spurs, where would the
San Antonio Spurs and Kawhi Leonard b if Zaza Patrulia never stepped under his left
ankle in Game one of the twenty seventeen Western Conference Finals? And hell,
where would Golden State and Toronto b if that moment in time was removed from
history. This set of questions is equal parts tantalizing and emotionally eviscerating for Spurs
fans, which is why Paul Garcia from Project Spurs presumably chose to focus on
it. Here's what he told me. Yes, the Warriors were a juggernaut
with Kevin Durant and won sixty seven games that season and eventually the title.
But the Spurs were also in a lead team, winning sixty one games and
holding a twenty one point lead with eight twenty eight left in the third quarter
of Game one. What if Leonard didn't get hurt and the Spurs won Game
one, they would have stolen home court advantage, And then who knows?
Both teams had top ten offenses and defenses that season. The element a title
contender needs that game was the last time Spurs were a title contender. Garcia
continued, Leonard played only nine games in twenty seventeen twenty eighteen, and he
demanded a trade and ended up in Toronto the following summer. Had the Spurs
defeated the Warriors and then won the title in twenty sixteen twenty seventeen, does
the Leonard Spurs relationship not fall apart considering he would now be a two time
NBA champion with them. This is a great point, and I think I
might have even like skipped over it and gone right to what if the Spurs
never traded Kawai even though he was asking for out? But we needn't even
rewrite the outcome of the twenty seventeen Western Conference Finals to ponder and alternate reality
in San Antonio. That injury was the beginning of the end for those Spurs,
and it was the subsequent quad injury to Leonard that became the source of
so much discord and distance between he and the organization. So many other what
if since were born from that moment in Game one, including what if the
Spurs accepted a different, more future focused return in the Kawai trade? Or
how about does he even still injure his white right quad. Do the Spurs
put up enough of a f versus the Warriors if not upset them out right
to keep things hunky dory a while longer? Would they even have needed to
move Kawai. No other what if comes close to matching this one. There's
a case for Game six, or even Game seven of the twenty thirteen NBA
Finals, but losing that series drove the twenty fourteen championship push that we all
as basketball fans, not only Spurs fans, hold near and dear to our
heart. The biggest what if for the Spurs is just almost as shortly has
to be traced back to Kawai. And it's that moment, that injury that
proved to be unknowingly the beginning of the end that does it for our MBA
what if project. I do. Hope you enjoyed this quick, digestible series.
If you have feedback on it, hit me on my DMS at Dampa
Valley on Twitter, join our discord dm me there. I'd rather not shame
me publicly in the chat amongst everyone. Please remember to subscribe to this podcast.
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subscribe to us on YouTube, and without further delay, I leave you to
everyone's favorite portion of the podcast, the shout out to the One, the
Only, be Forever Frank Neila Key