Speaker 1: Go back on the Drive with ESPN's Dave mcminnimon joining
Speaker 1: us for today's NBA Daily Assist.
Speaker 2: All Right, special thanks to uh to Howard Beck for
Speaker 2: stopping by. So I just realized something during the break
Speaker 2: because I always refer to Howard Beck is the hippos
Speaker 2: NBA media member, the hippos NBA rider, Right? Is there
Speaker 2: a chance that Dave mcminnimon is the coolest NBA media member?
Speaker 3: Howard I think is definitely the hip guy.
Speaker 4: He's the hipster.
Speaker 3: He's a hipster.
Speaker 4: He's the Brooklyn hipster.
Speaker 3: Probably weren't a bean, even though it's.
Speaker 2: Lattes, macho LTEs. But Dave is like la. He might
Speaker 2: be the coolest NBA media guy.
Speaker 3: He might have taken that mantle. He's the most famous,
Speaker 3: Oh for sure.
Speaker 2: Dave mcminnimon, celebrity reporter on a Friday, Hello, Dave, how
Speaker 2: are you?
Speaker 1: I'm doing well, but I would willingly try to grab
Speaker 1: for that mantle that you're suggesting. I possibly could fit.
Speaker 1: But it is kind of like being the all time
Speaker 1: hole runs leader in the minor leagues. Like I don't know,
Speaker 1: like being cool amongst NBA beat riders isn't that much
Speaker 1: of an accomplishment.
Speaker 2: Well fair enough, because when I refer to Howard as
Speaker 2: the hippus NBA beat rider, he pushed back as well,
Speaker 2: and I reminded him, like I'll remind you, you are
Speaker 2: up against a bunch of nerds, so it's not like
Speaker 2: there's a massive mass, but.
Speaker 4: You might be.
Speaker 2: Here's a question, though, who's the toughest. Like if you
Speaker 2: all got in a room, who's walking out of that room?
Speaker 1: Are you like like a fist fight?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like you all go in a room, who's walking
Speaker 2: out of the NBA riders?
Speaker 4: It's not Windhorse.
Speaker 1: Wow, I've never considered this. I'll give respect to one
Speaker 1: of the ogs, Brad Turner, La Times longtime Clippers and
Speaker 1: Lakers writer currently covering the Clippers for them. He is
Speaker 1: a bad man and he has friends who can take
Speaker 1: care of business. He's ever messed with, so he's not
Speaker 1: someone I want to cross.
Speaker 2: Our guy, Ban McMahon probably can throw some punches. Timmy
Speaker 2: good time Bond Temps is tall, but he's seems like
Speaker 2: he does not have to fight.
Speaker 4: I'm not have to think about this one. I'm gonna
Speaker 4: have to think about this one. I like it.
Speaker 2: I like it all right, Dave, you are not traveling
Speaker 2: with the Lakers, so are you with Lebron?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I was lucky to find some service down in
Speaker 1: Cabo to take this call. Oh Lebron, Yeah yeah, Marguerite
Speaker 1: double please okay, yeah, sorry. So once we're done here,
Speaker 1: we're going to go back enjoy the sunset and you know,
Speaker 1: watch the game on satellite feed. But yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: that's not wor's been on our Friday.
Speaker 2: Night gotta love it. What's going on? What's the deal?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 4: Is it they're not in the Cup and he wants
Speaker 4: to chill.
Speaker 2: I mean the reports are everything from a excused personal
Speaker 2: absence to a foot issue.
Speaker 4: You're the guy for this, what's going on with Lebron?
Speaker 1: So it is both of those things. There is a
Speaker 1: foot issue that started to affect him late in that
Speaker 1: four game road trip that they had last week, and
Speaker 1: also he has an excuse absence to get treatment on
Speaker 1: the foot. But also, you know, this is like a
Speaker 1: reset and came into the season with the goal of
Speaker 1: playing in all eighty two games. That went out the
Speaker 1: window when he missed the Portland game. And then it
Speaker 1: was you know, of course, the Lakers competitive group, they
Speaker 1: would have loved to have the opportunity to make five
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars in one night in Las Vegas and
Speaker 1: do what they did last year at the NBA Cup.
Speaker 1: That did not occur. The NBA provides the teams that
Speaker 1: don't make it this kind of unique break in the schedule,
Speaker 1: and Lebron and the decision makers of the organization got
Speaker 1: together and said, you know, this is a good time
Speaker 1: for you to do what you gotta do to get
Speaker 1: right mentally and physically to be able to, you know,
Speaker 1: push through the next sixty games that are to come.
Speaker 1: And so the schedule provides him a chance to get
Speaker 1: eight days of rest while only missing two games, and
Speaker 1: so far the Lakers are wanted to know in those
Speaker 1: two games, and so you know, I think, so long
Speaker 1: as the next time we see him on the court,
Speaker 1: which could be as soon as Sunday, he looks better.
Speaker 1: This was a pretty prudent decision by everyone involved.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like people around the league because the
Speaker 2: Jazz also, of course, are out of the Cup. I
Speaker 2: know that's shocking the folks that have been watching Jazz basketball,
Speaker 2: but they they're gonna play to night. But they more
Speaker 2: or less have been off all week. Does it feel
Speaker 2: like teams around the league who are not in the
Speaker 2: you know, the finals coming up in Vegas this this
Speaker 2: next week, do you think they like this respite early
Speaker 2: in the season to kind of reset, as you put it.
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, I've talked to several people around the league
Speaker 1: that said that exactly to me. Now, I mean, it
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that a team like the Atlanta Hawks, who
Speaker 1: at the start of the NBA Cup said their team
Speaker 1: goals as a young group was to get to Vegas,
Speaker 1: that they're lamenting that they're there right now, or even
Speaker 1: I think Rivers and in staff would say, man, this
Speaker 1: Cup finally, these Cup games kind of woke our team up,
Speaker 1: and now we are in a much better place than
Speaker 1: we were at the STARTU Cup competition. I don't think
Speaker 1: they're going to be regretting it. But the teams that
Speaker 1: didn't make it, you're not going to hear them complaining
Speaker 1: about this kind of quirk in the schedule because it's
Speaker 1: allowed teams to get healthy. It's allowed a team like
Speaker 1: the Lakers. You know, they had basically eight road games
Speaker 1: in a row because they didn't come back to LA
Speaker 1: but they were for two single games, and so it
Speaker 1: was eight different cities that they played in consecutively before
Speaker 1: this little break here, so it allows you know, the
Speaker 1: NBA doesn't have a bye week, right and the NFL
Speaker 1: that's such a part of not just the physical chance
Speaker 1: for teams to rest, but kind of mentally refreshed, get away,
Speaker 1: a little bit planned something from the court, for your
Speaker 1: family of friends, all those types of things. The NBA
Speaker 1: doesn't have that other than All Star weekend, and so
Speaker 1: this gives teams a chance to have that a little bit,
Speaker 1: and I think it's a good thing.
Speaker 4: So we've been talking about this all week.
Speaker 2: You know, the Jazz played OKC last week, and of
Speaker 2: course the Jazz are bad at basketball, but every time
Speaker 2: I hone in on OKC, it feels to me that
Speaker 2: even though there are a ton of really good teams
Speaker 2: in the West, we may be dealing with an OKCE
Speaker 2: Celtics final full health assumed, of course, and obviously that
Speaker 2: could change. But defensively, Dave I used this analogy with
Speaker 2: Howard today. It's like a bunch of like football safeties,
Speaker 2: they're ballhawks. It's everybody pays attention to the brilliance of
Speaker 2: SGA and their offensive flow.
Speaker 4: With Mark Dagnall.
Speaker 2: But defensively they are impossible to break down. So I
Speaker 2: know the narrative has been the West is deep, and
Speaker 2: it is. But could we have an elite team out
Speaker 2: here that maybe people aren't talking about the way that
Speaker 2: most people talk about the Celtics.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I think so. I think, you know,
Speaker 1: like what at this stage of the year, you're just
Speaker 1: trying to see who's going to be separating themselves and
Speaker 1: I think that's it's the category and.
Speaker 2: They've been doing it, you know, without full health, and
Speaker 2: so all that leads me to this. And again we're
Speaker 2: just not even to Christmas yet, but how many teams
Speaker 2: do you feel like have legitimately separated themselves in the
Speaker 2: West where you feel comfortable saying they can actually win
Speaker 2: the thing?
Speaker 1: Well, you know, okay, See it really impressed me when
Speaker 1: they played in LA a couple of weeks ago. They're
Speaker 1: really physical. They're defensive numbers. It's no wonder that they
Speaker 1: rank it's so high, not only in transition defense because
Speaker 1: they have these young athletes being able to get back,
Speaker 1: but in the half court. They're really physical, they're really
Speaker 1: good at switching, and they have guys you know that
Speaker 1: they can and play where if a guy gets in
Speaker 1: out trouble or a guy gets needs to blow and
Speaker 1: is tired, you got another kind of raving it guy
Speaker 1: ready to ballhawk for another six minutes stretched before you
Speaker 1: need another sub. And even though they are young and
Speaker 1: you know, usually I am of the belief that a
Speaker 1: team needs to take their lumps before you're going to
Speaker 1: say they're really going to get there. They're going to
Speaker 1: be really tough out And shake goes alexander Is. You know,
Speaker 1: and this is wild to say because Nikola Jokis's numbers
Speaker 1: are insane, and and maybe I will be a bit
Speaker 1: of a victim of voter fatigue here if I continue
Speaker 1: to have this opinion. But shake goes Asander. I have
Speaker 1: a hard time seeing someone who means more of their
Speaker 1: team right now. And I think he's the MVP of
Speaker 1: the league because everything that he does is translating to them,
Speaker 1: you know, winning so many games right now.
Speaker 2: So I mean it leads us to team like Memphis
Speaker 2: Dallas who wanted a year ago Golden State the Clips
Speaker 2: with Kawhi Denver because they're on court numbers with jokichar insane.
Speaker 2: I mean, how many teams are you willing to put
Speaker 2: in that tier that can actually win the West right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Listen, Dallas just made the finals last year, so
Speaker 1: I'm not going to discount them, especially Lucas he's so good.
Speaker 1: Now they've I think they've regressed a bit, losing a
Speaker 1: guy like Derrek Shones Junior, who was so important to
Speaker 1: their defense. But they're starting to look a little bit
Speaker 1: more like the team we saw last spring, the Wolves.
Speaker 1: I think they're going to regret to call Anthony Towns deal.
Speaker 1: I get it. Financially, it was a decision they felt
Speaker 1: they had to make because they couldn't have all these
Speaker 1: guys in avoid the second Apron and they couldn't find
Speaker 1: a trade partner Rudy Gobert. So I get it from
Speaker 1: the business sense, but I don't think they're going to
Speaker 1: be as tough of an out Houston. I think again,
Speaker 1: I put them in the kind of too young category,
Speaker 1: And you know, I don't know. The Clippers have looked
Speaker 1: really plucky so far. I was just at their practice
Speaker 1: earlier this week. Kawhi Leonard is finally back on the court,
Speaker 1: participating in group activities for the first time since March.
Speaker 1: They're not going to rush him back, but he could
Speaker 1: be back before the new year. And if Kawhi looks
Speaker 1: like the guy who played sixty eight games last year,
Speaker 1: it averaged twenty four to seven and seven with high
Speaker 1: efficiency numbers. I don't discount them. Even though they were
Speaker 1: kind of written off after they didn't re sign Paul George.
Speaker 1: I think they could make some noise at Tyler is
Speaker 1: as good as a technicians there is in the game.
Speaker 1: So it's still kind of opened in the West. But okay,
Speaker 1: see's the team I think that's separated themselves a little bit,
Speaker 1: especially because there's something like eleven and two of the
Speaker 1: last thirteen and that's without chet Holmgren. And at some
Speaker 1: point the answers to big get and check back Tupac.
Speaker 2: Question here, it seems like every time I open up
Speaker 2: some sort of NBA whatever the rumor of with Jimmy,
Speaker 2: Butler's out and so much so that we have a
Speaker 2: list of preferred teams. But it's not like Miami is
Speaker 2: horrible this year. I you know, look, they're not Boston,
Speaker 2: they're probably not Cleveland, New York. Maybe we throw the
Speaker 2: magic in narrow though, friends Wagner is out for a minute.
Speaker 2: But two part question, why would the Heat trade Jimmy,
Speaker 2: And how do you think this thing plays out?
Speaker 1: It's Jimmy's thirty five years old, if I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 1: He already has fifty two million coming to him next year.
Speaker 1: He wants an extension in that range. And he's someone
Speaker 1: that has not been reliable enough in the regular season. Obviously,
Speaker 1: he's led the team to two finals appearances in an
Speaker 1: additional Eastern Conference Finals appearance, so he's done well. He
Speaker 1: has been you know, he's not a Mount Rushmore member
Speaker 1: of the Heat organization, but you know he's you know,
Speaker 1: on their all time roster, whether it's in the first
Speaker 1: five or off the bench. But this is kind of
Speaker 1: the Heat way, like, you know, they're not gonna kind
Speaker 1: of marry themselves to someone for sentimal sentimental reasons. You know,
Speaker 1: that's the reason why Dwayne Wade ended up with the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bulls and didn't come back to the Heat until
Speaker 1: he was basically part of a deal with with with
Speaker 1: the Calves. But they had a number they weren't going
Speaker 1: to give to Dwayne Wade. And certainly that's the same
Speaker 1: mentality have with Jimmy Butler. So again, it's more of
Speaker 1: a business sense type of move, and yeah, I understand it,
Speaker 1: and quite frankly, they could set themselves up because you know,
Speaker 1: if you're Miami, you're a perpetual market tracked whomever the
Speaker 1: guy is, right, so you want to be limber enough
Speaker 1: when that guy becomes available. And you know, five six
Speaker 1: years ago on Draft night, that guy was Jimmy Butler
Speaker 1: and he's given his best years to the franchise, and
Speaker 1: now they're going to reset, and I certainly anticipate him
Speaker 1: to be moved prior to February eighth.
Speaker 2: All Right, dave a couple other topics, and we're going
Speaker 2: to sell you loose. And I acknowledge that this is
Speaker 2: probably not super comfortable for somebody who works for ESPN
Speaker 2: and we are your affiliate in this market. But ultimately,
Speaker 2: and you know, it's a topic that is complex because
Speaker 2: I don't think there's one reductive statement to make. But
Speaker 2: there are data points available that indicate there are a
Speaker 2: lot of people that have turned NBA basketball off this
Speaker 2: year for whatever reason, and there are a lot of
Speaker 2: them that we could get into.
Speaker 4: We discussed this last segment with Howard.
Speaker 2: We come at it in Salt Lake City through the
Speaker 2: prism of a piece that was written by Tom Harris.
Speaker 2: Jone Town did a really good job to indicate that
Speaker 2: the two markets who suffer most from superstars either not
Speaker 2: showing up or not playing when they get here, or
Speaker 2: Salt Lake in Denver. Maybe that's a time zone thing,
Speaker 2: Maybe it's a I don't want to be cold in
Speaker 2: February thing, But that's something we run into here. It's
Speaker 2: an interesting dichotomy in our market, Dave, because our local
Speaker 2: TV ratings, like when Mitchell Gobert Quinn Snyder, when that
Speaker 2: group was really going, our local TV ratings were second
Speaker 2: only Golden State, but we were down as far as
Speaker 2: the national stuff goes in the twenties. So a lot
Speaker 2: of people watch jazz basketball here and not a ton
Speaker 2: of people watch NBA basketball here.
Speaker 4: But you're the guy for this.
Speaker 2: Why do you think a lot of people seem to
Speaker 2: be turning off pro basketball this year according to the numbers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's unfortunate. I think there's layered reasons here. And
Speaker 1: some of it, of course, is just the habits of
Speaker 1: folks and the court cutting, and the idea of the
Speaker 1: younger generation being so plugged into their phones. Where they
Speaker 1: are they're still very much consumers of the NBA, but
Speaker 1: they don't watch a game. They watch the highlights and
Speaker 1: memes and discussion and tweets and Instagram posts that come
Speaker 1: out of the game, and that's the way they consider
Speaker 1: themselves plugged in as a fan. That's not the worst
Speaker 1: thing for the NBA, and certainly we should mention that
Speaker 1: at the same time this is occurring, and of course,
Speaker 1: obviously you know this, this will be a concern for
Speaker 1: you know, the company I work for and any television
Speaker 1: partner that the NBA has moving forward. But the attendance
Speaker 1: numbers are still quite good, I think, actually I believe
Speaker 1: last year they said an all time attendance record for
Speaker 1: the most amount of people who actually paid for a
Speaker 1: ticket and set their button a seat to watch a
Speaker 1: live game. So it doesn't mean that the popularity of
Speaker 1: the league is falling off the cliff, but clearly there
Speaker 1: is a problem with getting people to tune in to
Speaker 1: games and some of that obviously, the regular seasons is
Speaker 1: very long at one point and may problem with load management,
Speaker 1: and so the league addressed that by you know, finding
Speaker 1: teams if they violate the policy. Then the kind of
Speaker 1: anecdotal evidence was if you're a general sports fan you
Speaker 1: don't think the NBA season starts until Christmas Day. That's
Speaker 1: you're not paying attention until kind of football's over. So
Speaker 1: the NBA said, Okay, we're going to create this NBA
Speaker 1: Cup in season tournament that occurs in the first third
Speaker 1: of the season prior to Christmas Day as a carrot
Speaker 1: to get people to watch. You know, at least the
Speaker 1: league is recognizing that they got to do something. Last season,
Speaker 1: the amount of fouls that were called dramatically dipped from
Speaker 1: the All Star Game forward because the anecdotal evidence the
Speaker 1: league was finding out was that games in the one
Speaker 1: fifty range just aren't that appealing to viewers that are
Speaker 1: accustomed to seeing the competition involve a little bit of defense.
Speaker 1: And so, you know, I think the leagu's got to
Speaker 1: keep making attempts to fix this because you are I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously you're a basketballuy, I'm a basketball guy. Like, there's
Speaker 1: an intrinsic appreciation we have for these athletes and what
Speaker 1: the game is. Uh, there's got to be a way
Speaker 1: to convey that to the general public, and the lead's
Speaker 1: going to keep trying. Now, one thing I will say,
Speaker 1: I'm sure Howard talked about this I'm pretty sure I've
Speaker 1: read him right about this several times, is that the
Speaker 1: homogenization of the style of play offensively is certainly hurting
Speaker 1: the game. It's because it's already my interest in the game,
Speaker 1: you know, the the Dell moorification of we're only going
Speaker 1: to go for layups, dunks, free throws and threes. It's
Speaker 1: a boring product. And you know, there we need another
Speaker 1: Phil Jackson and text winner to come through with with
Speaker 1: a more appealing offense and with a compucact lead, and
Speaker 1: that so long as that success, teams will try it,
Speaker 1: and I think more people will be interested.
Speaker 2: Octacon UFC Rules Dave Mcmannimon Howard Beck who wins?
Speaker 1: I mean, how was this pretty? He's a small guy,
Speaker 1: he's a little hes a little guy. So I don't
Speaker 1: know if we wouldn't be got in the same rink.
Speaker 2: Okay, fair enough, last thing on Sunday, eighty seven percent
Speaker 2: of the league is now eligible eligible to be traded.
Speaker 2: We talked about the Butler thing. Anything else kind of
Speaker 2: out there permeating that is of interest with players that
Speaker 2: like the Pelicans have to do something. But what do
Speaker 2: you think we could see coming up after Sunday when
Speaker 2: most of the league is eligible to be moved.
Speaker 1: Now, yeah, I mean brandon Ingram's in a very similar
Speaker 1: situation to Jimmy Butler. No one has given has given
Speaker 1: no indication that they're going to be willing to kind
Speaker 1: of resign him, and so if he gets moved, then
Speaker 1: it's kind of like, are you gonna just join into
Speaker 1: the capsule of like sweepstakes? You know, apparently they already are.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't think this was the intention of
Speaker 1: David Griffin or anyone involved, especially considering the way you know,
Speaker 1: Zion played in that plane. That's one of the game
Speaker 1: against the Lakers last year forty points and you know,
Speaker 1: New Orleans was one of the tougher teams went healthy
Speaker 1: last year, but they just haven't been healthy this year.
Speaker 1: And so if you move Ingram, well then all bets
Speaker 1: are off with Zion, And then you talk about guys
Speaker 1: like you know, Herb Jones, who you know, could they
Speaker 1: could probably get a valuable first round pick for, and
Speaker 1: then they completely reset what they're doing down there. So
Speaker 1: that's a team to keep an eye on. Then there's
Speaker 1: the buyers. You know, certainly Golden State, considering where they
Speaker 1: are with Steph Curry's career, Phoenix where they are with
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant's career. You know, the Lakers. You think Rob
Speaker 1: Polinka will will feel compelled to make some sort of
Speaker 1: move you know, they're but all three of those teams
Speaker 1: are going to be kind of fighting for the same
Speaker 1: type of pieces out there. So there's going to be movement.
Speaker 1: And I anticipate the be movement. I mean, maybe not
Speaker 1: starting right at the buzzer on Sunday when December fifteenth
Speaker 1: comes and all these contracts become eligible. But I don't
Speaker 1: think it's going to be We're going to wait for
Speaker 1: everything to come in February. There's enough teams out there
Speaker 1: that are going to feel the impetus to get the
Speaker 1: ball rolling early, and so you know, buckle up, It's
Speaker 1: see some movement.
Speaker 2: Dave, Thank you, my friend. Appreciate it. On a Friday,
Speaker 2: have a great weekend.
Speaker 1: Okay, yes, sir, thanks Beth.
Speaker 4: All right.
Speaker 2: The Great Dave mcmanhmhon covers the NBA for ESPN. He's
Speaker 2: on their daily NBA show. He's also on social media
Speaker 2: at mc ten is where you find him. Brought to
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