Not providing complete access to everything NBA. It is our friend of salta Adam
Auslin. Let a transition there, Fred, you had to access some gray
matter to get to that. I like it. Do you like that?
Well done? What's up? Fred? What's up? Rodney? All good?
Double a, all good? Man. You had a good weekend.
Everything's good here. It's gonna be back with you, guys, after being
here with you on Friday and in a different role, but happy to do
it. I'll come in every day if you want. What the hell,
No, that's great. It won't be necessary, but that is great.
Appreciate it. You turn that down quick. All right, So let's go.
The finals are set. It's Miami and Denver. Denver are prohibitive favorite
going in. But my god, Boston, what a collapse. I mean
they fought their way back, give them that, but at the end,
just just really a disappointing year for the Celtics. Jason Tatum gets hurt on
what the first play of the game, and he was playing through it.
Jalen Brown had a miserable ball game of John starks S like game seven out
there. I think he had eight turnovers. It was they struggled but they
at least made it a competitive series, and I don't think it's going to
be enough to keep Joe Missoula. We'll see what happens with that. But
obviously, after coming off the finals loss of the Golden State Warriors last year
in six games, it was disappointing, but the Miami Heat were on a
mission. They lost last year in seven to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern
Conference Finals. Jimmy Butler said after that in the postgame presser, We're gonna
come back. We're gonna be right back in this position, and the next
time we're gonna win. And damn it. The third guarantee was finally the
charm for him. After guaranteeing a win in pretty much every game after Boston
won the first one to climb back into the series, they finally closed him
out in seven. And I was impressed with some of the other guys.
I mean, Caleb Martin had a hell of a series twenty points per game,
shooting almost fifty percent from the outside, same with Gabe Vincent. Some
of the others really stepped up to the point that some thought maybe Caleb Martin
should have got the MVP of the Eastern Conference Finals. But Jimmy Butler still
the draw that stirs the drink there. I don't know though, if they're
ready for a test like they're gonna get in the NBA Finals now against Denver.
Nah. Yeah, it's gonna be more in the test. It could
get very well ugly because of the matchup situation. But you never know.
People counted Miami out, you know, year after year after year, and
to that point, Adam, we're not giving Miami credit. I know people
talk about spots. He's probably the best, if not the best coach in
the league and making adjustments and getting the most out of his team. But
these guys, like you mentioned, they were there last year, they were
there in the bubble in the finals. They're there this year, but nobody
talks about him. Is it because the regular season is such a whatever and
we just get us to the playoffs. Look, they're just the second eighth
seed ever to make it to the NBA Finals, following the Knicks in ninety
nine, who lost in five to the San Antonio Spurs on that magical run.
Coincidentally, they took out Miami in the first round with a game winner
in Game five, which was the maximum amount you could play. Then Alan
Houston running job bar got it to go. So Miami they were the act.
We knew they were better than that, but I think a lot of
people figured they would lose to Milwaukee in the first round. Jannis doesn't play
two of those games, although Milwaukee still won one of them. He was
beat up and they had some really hot shooting in the first round and then
the Eastern Conference Finals. Now, I think that's gonna come back to bid
them. I think shooting variants. Eventually it's going to go the other way.
Because before Boston won a game when they were up three zero to start
off the Eastern Conference Finals, Miami was shooting forty five percent from three in
the playoffs. Now that started to regress to the mean. Eventually they ended
up at thirty nine percent so far in the playoffs. But this was not
a good three point shooting team during the regular season. But all of a
sudden, gave Vincent and Caleb Martin, We're shooting fifty percent from the outside.
I don't know how sustainable that is. It sounds like Tyler Hero could
return for Game three in Miami in the NBA Finals. They could use him,
but He's not a great defender on the other end, so some of
that hot shooting and they're gonna need to be that potent against the Denver Nuggets
team that has the best offense in the league. I think it's gonna have
to remain for them to have a chance, and I just don't see it
happen. I would take the Denver Nuggets in five or six games because also
they have nobody outside of Bam to throw at Nikola Yokis, and he has
dominated Bam out of Bayou in the twelve appearances they've had against one another in
the NBA. They're ten in two the Denver Nuggets and Nikola Yokis against Bam
and he's dominated him with the numbers twenty three and twelve, sixty three percent
shooting against him, and Bam on the other end was just getting just thirteen
and seven. So that's the matchup to me. Because Miami elects to junk
up the game defensively, they like to throw zones out of nowhere. Eric
Spoelstra is a fantastic coach, maybe the best in the game right now.
They find ways to grit out wins because of good coaching and a culture they
have there, but when they go zone against the Denver Nuggets, Nicola Yoki
is just gonna pick him apart. He's gonna find guys on backdoor cuts,
He's gonna find guys for open three pointers. Ksep, Bruce Brown. Both
those guys playing very well throughout the playoffs. Some of the others have been
huge for them as well. Aaron Gordon can guard Jimmy Butler. They just
have so many problems they throw at you, and specifically problems that Miami doesn't
have a lot of answers for. I think Boston would have been the better
matchup against Denver just because they have more guys to throw at Yokis. I
don't know what Miami's gonna do because if they try to double him, He's
going to kill them. Yeah, when you talk about the matchups, and
we talked about this in the Laker series, don't you gotta just say the
Joker's gonna be the joker, and the Joker's gonna get his It really is
about the others. It really is about Jamal Murray. Is he gonna be
as hot as he's been? It's casey, he gonna be able to knock
down shots, with he's showing he's been able to do but the joker and
fixating on trying to stop him or control him, I think that's just gonna
get you more problems because not going to be able to do that out here's
kind of the conundrum. You want to make him one dimensional. This is
something the Clippers dealt with with Luca Donchets. You can't let him score and
get everybody else involved at the same time. That's when they become most dangerous.
It's just hard to stop Yokich in that respect, even if you're letting
him score. He's such a willing passer. He's going to continue to look
for guys. He's averaging a triple double in the playoffs right now. And
for somebody, and I know there was a lot of talk about Mike Malone
getting testy and press conferences saying we get no respect. Look, first of
all, it worked for him to use that angle with his team and keep
them playing with an edge and with a chip on their shoulder. They had
zero letdown so far in the playoffs, unlike the Boston Celtics, who had
multiple. If they didn't get down three oh, they would have won that
series. But for whatever reason, they just would have these letdowns every other
game. The Dever Nuggets didn't, and Mike Malone kept his guys locked in
whether or not you want to say, it's tired to use stuff for bulletin
board material that the media doesn't believe in us. Nobody picked us when they're
the number one seed in the Western Conference. It worked, but also there's
some truth to it. Think about it. There were guys out there like
Kendrick Perkins saying it was race related why Nikolayoki won the MVP the last couple
of years. That's absurd. Then you have Mark Jackson not put him on
his MVP ballot because he forgot apparently, that's ridiculous. They have an argument
that we aren't getting enough respect if they win in four games, and the
conversation turns into is Lebron James gonna retire still instead of talking about the eventual
NBA champions in the Denver Nuggets, which I expect them to be, Mike
blow is still gonna be out there angry as ever, looking like angry Jim
Carrey. That's what he's got going for him right now. I think it
fuels their team, whether it's sure or not, they feel disrespected and it
seems to get them to play harder. And specifically with Nikola Yokich, he
has been disrespected by the media this season, multiple guys. I just brought
up their names. That stuff was over the line. I would say over
the line to go after Yokichen that way, he was one of the most
deserving MVPs the last two years. Is you could have with everything he does
to affect the game out there, So I think they got a lot going
for him. Plus a week and a half off of rest. Celtics did
them a big favor by continuing to extend that series out against Miami and wear
them down. And they got guys who are beat up. We've seen Jimmy
Butler. He looks a little bit hampered at times out there. And what
they got two days now to get ready for Game one of the NBA Finals,
where they don't have the home court advantage. They got to be in
Denver, the toughest place to play Thursday night. I expect Denver. I
think they're favored by about eight. That's a big line for an opening to
an NBA Finals, but there's a reason for that. People are gonna say
they're gonna cover, They're gonna come out and step on their throat. They're
gonna be the more ready prepared team and the healthier team, and they're the
best conditioned team in the league. Even when Denver had bad teams back in
the day, they still usually have had a winning record at home just because
of the altitude, just because of the thin air, Guys would be a
little bit more conditioned out there. And Nikolaiokis, remember he lost weight the
last couple of seasons after being a heavier player coming out a second round draft
pick. Mind you, maybe once he realized he had MVP potential, he
had to lose some weight. But they're primed. Both teams are peaking at
the right time. But I just feel like the Denver Nuggets have so much
more going in their favor. Adam, let me ask you about the Lakers.
Reports today that the Lakers do not intend to offer de'angelo russell a Max
Steele that a lot of team would. What I'm saying is the feeling is,
you know what, there's not going to be a lot of need for
guards. Teams have their guards, and if that's the case, why would
they offer de'angelo Russell a max deal. First, do you think they should
hold on to him. Let's start with that. You don't want to bid
against yourself, obviously, to your point, you don't need to drive up
the price. I think he's eligible for a two year extension of sixty seven
million million dollars. If you wanted to give him less years but still a
lot of money, that's an option. But he was pitiful in the Western
Conference finals, and as much as he helped them when he had good games,
they were almost impossible to beat. When he was I think scoring eighteen
or more, they had only lost once or something like that. In the
playoffs. He was really good in those situations, but he fell apart when
the moment became a little bit too big or the lights got a little bit
too bright for him out there. As Jared Allen said after the Cleveland Cavaliers
lost to New York Knicks in the first round, he just didn't look right.
I don't know if you want to invest too much money with him.
I think the price has to be right. Remember how they let shrewder go
the first time. Initially, apparently they offered him eighty million earlier in the
season. He turned it down. He ended up getting just five million from
Boston on a one year contract to rebuild his value. It could be something
similar where de Lo really misses out on a ton of money, takes less,
and is on a lesser deal or lesser longer contract so he can come
back, rebuild his value because he's still young, and then go for that
big deal. I could see something like that happening. But Dennis Shrewder is
also an understricted freeation, by the way, once again with the Lakers,
so I would think he's more of a priority just because the price is going
to be right for somebody like him compared to Delo. Some bad team that
has cap room that just has to get to the cap floor might end up
paying him. But if I'm the Lakers, that's not what I'm most concerned
about. I mean, they couldn't start him in Game four, and they
probably shouldn't have been starting him by Game two in the series against the Denver
Nuggets, he was that bad for them. He had one good half the
first half of Game one and then it was over. I don't think you
can rely on a guy like that. That's just that streaky where you don't
know what you're going to get well, and the defensive liability that he has
sure that you can't play him, especially in the fourth quarter or anytime down
to stretch when you need defensive stops switching real quick. But standing in the
West, Adam, what do you make of Golden State and where they're going?
Meyers resigning and I just never got that unless he is tired. Is
there friction with him and Lake him an ownership or him and some of the
players. Maybe, I mean nobody plunched him on the quarter or anything like
that, like Draymond didn't get to him. But yeah, I'm saying,
like what happens in that situation. They went four titles with him in his
eleven years there and it's been obviously the standard and successful. What happens up
there in Golden State? And why do you think he stepped down? It's
interesting. Maybe it's just run its course. But everything coming into this season,
with the situation with Draymond and Jordan Poole, I think it's just put
a dark cloud over them, the reigning champs trying to defend that title,
and for whatever reason, they could not win on the road all season long.
It was the wildest thing to see their home and roads splits and just
how much they struggled on the road, and a lot of guys. Jordan
Pool, he didn't have a very good season. He didn't follow up where
he did in the playoffs last year where he was great during that run,
and then carry it over. He wasn't very good. Draymond Green, I
believe has a player option, So there's a big decision to make there if
they want to pay play a guy or pay a guy who's over the age
of thirty now, who's been integral to what they've done. He's been huge,
But are you gonna gi him two hundred million dollars? You're gonna give
him a hundred and fifty million. Maybe it was just time for him.
And Bob Myers is great and he has made a ton of good moves for
them, but he didn't draft Stephen Clay. Those two guys were there now.
He made the move to bring in Steve Kerr, andre Igadala, Kevin
Durant, of course, Sean Livingston. He was as important and as instrumental
as anyone to them getting to the top. Eventually, he pushed them over
the top with some of those big moves, but he'll have a job tomorrow
if he wants one. That's when you have a guy like that, usually
it says you shouldn't let him go, right if you're the Golden State Warriors.
But it looks like it's more on his decision. From the press conference,
it sounded like there was an offer out there and he didn't want to
stay. Maybe he's just looking for a new challenge. That's something I think
Jerry West was interested in over the years, just trying to find a way
to reignite that fire within you. You know, he goes to Memphis,
he wins Executive of the Year. No, they didn't win the championship there,
but he made them respectable and they were a consistent playoff team in the
Western Conference. And now he's with the Clippers and they're trying to win their
first championship. And by the way, there are some ties there between Bob
Myers and UCLA and so Cal and Jerry West and Bob Myers worked together with
the Golden State Warriors as well. That's what I was going to say,
What do they do to replace Michael Winger and with Bob Myers, because if
he became the general manager here, that would be kind of a lateral move.
He'd be under Old. No, it would be a demotion in some
ways because he was president of basketball operations and general manager. He had the
Rob Polinka role with the Golden State Warriors. So I don't see him as
someone that's going to be under Lawrence Frank, who's President of basketball Operations with
the Clippers. But maybe as he's just trying to, I don't know,
take a little bit of a step back kind of recharge, he takes a
lesser role with the team like the Clippers, helps out there before his next
big job. Could something like that happen Maybe, I don't know. I
haven't heard anything. I know a lot of Clipper Nation would be interested in
bringing in a guy like Bob Meyers. Of course, if you can get
him, you find a way to do so. But Lawrence Frank has done
a very good job there, so you don't want to lose him either.
He was Executive of the Year just a couple of seasons ago, and he's
built a really good roster. Unfortunately, they haven't been able to stay healthy,
but the pieces are there, and when they are on the court,
they look like a championship contender at times. I mean Kawhi Leonard before he
went down with another knee injury, looked like the best player in the playoffs.
Yeah, but you're gonna have availability and those guys aren't available, Well,
what are you gonna do selling prepennies on the dollar? Fred restless solution.
So you gotta double down. You gotta find a way just put together
a better, younger, more athletic supporting cast around them that can help carry
the load a little bit so they aren't as prone to injury as they have
been the last couple of seasons. That's the hope. But when you have
two guys that are that good, at least you always have a chance.
The other side of it is people were talking about that report from the Portland
Trail Blazures. They have the third pick, they have Anfrety Simons. Would
they trade those two pieces for somebody like Paul George because they were a rumored
to be looking at a small forward. Well, are you closer to a
championship if you trade Paul George for a young player like Anthony Anthony Simons and
the third pick? No, it doesn't get you any closer today with Kawhi
Leonard still being there, who wants to win right now, So I think
you just have to double down and hope that luck finally is on your side.
Because I say this all the time, but sometimes you stay the course.
The Dallas Mavericks did sew with Dirk Davinski after they were up two oho
on the Miami Heat No. Six and lost in the next four games,
then came back one sixty seven games the next season and got bounced in the
first round by the Golden State Warriors. After he won MVP, people said,
you can't win with him as your number one option. Well, five
years later they won the championship in twenty eleven. With Dirk. They just
continued to read configure the roster around him, and eventually it worked out and
they got a little bit of lucker along the way. And I think that's
what the Clippers are looking for. Yeah, yeah, I think so too.
You get you can't you can't break it up because you're too you're too
close with those guys being helpful, healthy, and you just know when they
are they're one of the best teams in basketball, So why you break that
up. It's similar to you know, people talking right now. Obviously it's
it's fresh, so everybody wants to talk about Boston and you break up Tatum
and Brown. Yeah, that guys is twenty twenty five and twenty six years
old, right, and their wings. They're two of the most pivotal positions
you want in the league, two of the most important positions. You run
it back, run it back, like, come on, how quickly we
forget. I don't think Michael or Lebron won until they're eighth and ninety years
in the league. People are always looking for. Not everybody's Dwayne Wade who
won in two thousand and six. I think his third year in that stuff
is rare. Kobe winning right away because Shack was there in his prime.
That stuff is rare. It takes time. You have to build that culture.
And to polink us credit with what he said postgame or what he said
the exit interview he had last week, we're looking for a little bit more
continuity. Keep the team together, Keep the young guys together, because we
just got beat by a team that did that in the Denver Nuggets. And
they play so well together because they've been together for so long. So maybe
that's the thing. Just stay the course and hope that window continues to be
open. For you, Adam, thanks for coming in. Good job all
right, Love you guys, Salta, Adam Awsome, Rogan and Rodney La Sports