Speaker 1: But our next guest joins us on a very consistent
Speaker 1: basis with a lot to get to. On a Monday afternoon,
Speaker 1: we welcome in Tom Haberstrow. Tommy, Happy Monday man. How
Speaker 1: are we doing. I'm doing great man.
Speaker 2: How are you?
Speaker 3: I'm well? I'm well.
Speaker 1: So some unexpected news dropped in our market today is
Speaker 1: the Utah Jazz and Will Hardy have agreed to a
Speaker 1: multi year contract extension through twenty thirty one. Now, as
Speaker 1: you know, when they signed Will in twenty twenty two,
Speaker 1: it was a five year deal, three guaranteed years, then
Speaker 1: two team options. They had already picked up both of
Speaker 1: those options, so prior to today he was under contract through
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five. Now he's under contract through twenty thirty one. Tommy,
Speaker 1: he gets a nine year runway. This doesn't happen often.
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts.
Speaker 2: I think it's a great indication of the trust between
Speaker 2: the front office and Hardy. Despite the record seventeen and
Speaker 2: sixty five, you get a six year extension basically through
Speaker 2: twenty thirty one, after having the worst record in the NBA.
Speaker 2: This is very clear that everyone's on the same page
Speaker 2: of what this is all about. Right, They all know
Speaker 2: what time it is is that Hardy, given the personnel
Speaker 2: and the objective, which is very clear, you don't extend
Speaker 2: the head coach for having the worst record in the
Speaker 2: league unless that is the goal, or at least that
Speaker 2: is part of the plan. And Hardy has had to
Speaker 2: deal with a lot of in and out players, differing
Speaker 2: incentive structures where you would think that a guy with
Speaker 2: not just this year, but last year going thirty one
Speaker 2: and fifty one, the year before that thirty seven to
Speaker 2: forty five. The Utah Jazz win count has gone down
Speaker 2: in each of the three years that Will Hardy has coached.
Speaker 2: But that's kind of all part of the plan, and they,
Speaker 2: I think have the right process and they are sticking
Speaker 2: by him in the same way that the Portland Trailblazers
Speaker 2: did the same thing with Chauncey Billips this offseason, and
Speaker 2: these organizations are I think, look looking after what Mark
Speaker 2: Deagnel and Emo Udoka did with Houston and saying, you
Speaker 2: know what, I think we should stick by our coach
Speaker 2: if he is demonstrating that he's about all the right
Speaker 2: things and getting the guys ready and all about development
Speaker 2: long term. We're not just going to let this guy go.
Speaker 2: Once things start getting good, we're going to stick by
Speaker 2: them and let them see through this. And I think
Speaker 2: it's a new day in the NBA where you're seeing
Speaker 2: guys get that opportunity. And on the other side, Will
Speaker 2: Hardy is in a profession in which Michael Malone and
Speaker 2: Taylor Jenkins get fired days before the postseason. So it's
Speaker 2: a very unusual coaching market right now, and I think
Speaker 2: it's an indication, it's a testament to Will Hardy and
Speaker 2: his professionalism that he was able to see this through
Speaker 2: enough to get to the other side. And that's really
Speaker 2: exciting if you're Will Hardy, And I want.
Speaker 1: To be very clear, in a profession where you are
Speaker 1: essentially hired to be fired, when an ownership group in
Speaker 1: a front office offers you this opportunity, you do not
Speaker 1: turn it down. But Tom, I've been talking about this
Speaker 1: throughout the course of the past month or so. You know,
Speaker 1: when the playoffs roll around, you're always reminded about how
Speaker 1: many cities and how many organizations have had sometimes decades
Speaker 1: of futility and very long stretches in between competitive teams.
Speaker 3: We've never had that here. We just haven't.
Speaker 1: We've had two and three years of a Scott Layden
Speaker 1: pivot or a Dennis Lindsay or a Kevin O'Connor pivot,
Speaker 1: and a Dennis lindsay pivot, and pretty quickly had been able.
Speaker 3: To get back to respectability and competitiveness.
Speaker 1: And I do not think we are close here now
Speaker 1: to seeing that happen anytime soon.
Speaker 3: So is there a part of this where Will Hardy.
Speaker 1: Is taking a little bit of a risk Because from
Speaker 1: my prism, Will checks all the boxes. He's a great communicator,
Speaker 1: his players seem to like him. He has maximized every
Speaker 1: piece of talent he's had here, and I badly want
Speaker 1: to see what an NBA team with good players looks
Speaker 1: like coached by him. But there is a risk here
Speaker 1: about committing to this organization long term where there's no
Speaker 1: guarantees on the horizon of talent landing in our market
Speaker 1: to allow the Jazz to get even close to where
Speaker 1: some of these Western Conference teams are. If we are
Speaker 1: honest and salient here Tom, there are three, four or
Speaker 1: five pieces away from the Minnesotas in the Denvers and
Speaker 1: the Oklahoma cities. Is there a bit of a risk
Speaker 1: that's taken on Will's behalf, even though, again with a
Speaker 1: profession full of so much volatility, if you have nine
Speaker 1: years of runway, you take it no matter what.
Speaker 3: But is there a bit of a risk on Will's
Speaker 3: part here?
Speaker 2: Sure? I think this is a riskless or I guess
Speaker 2: a profession that there is no safe job. There is not.
Speaker 2: I mean, we just saw two teams that had basically
Speaker 2: been at the top or near the top of the
Speaker 2: Western Conference at one point this season, either the number
Speaker 2: two or the number three seed for much of the season,
Speaker 2: and they get fired. So there really nothing's guaranteed in
Speaker 2: this league, especially when we're coming off the season in
Speaker 2: which Taylor Jenkins and Michael Malone seemed like everything was
Speaker 2: fine and they were going through a little rough patch.
Speaker 2: But we're seeing Denver win fifty games with Michael Malone
Speaker 2: and they let him go. There's no I mean, outside
Speaker 2: of Eric Spolstra, there really isn't. I think now we're
Speaker 2: seeing Greg Popovich and the torch passed the torch over
Speaker 2: to mis Johnson. You know, Eric Spolster in Miami is
Speaker 2: the longest standard head coach in the NBA now, and
Speaker 2: I remember covering him in twenty ten and he was
Speaker 2: just a baby, you know this league. If you're able
Speaker 2: to get this kind of buy in from the front
Speaker 2: off even if it's long term with some team options,
Speaker 2: what have you, I think that's as close as stability
Speaker 2: as you're going to get. So Will Hardy, I think
Speaker 2: the grass is always greener in the NBA. You think
Speaker 2: that it would be better to be in a winning
Speaker 2: environment with the competitive juices flowing. Everyone wants to win.
Speaker 2: The priority is to win every game, but that also
Speaker 2: is very stressful and a lot of times you butt
Speaker 2: heads with front offices. And it seems like Will Hardy's
Speaker 2: happy where he is in Utah, and I can't blame
Speaker 2: him for the security in a profession where there isn't
Speaker 2: much security. I mean, the Phoenix Suns are they just let.
Speaker 3: Go James Jones.
Speaker 2: And hired someone who is a longtime coach under Tom
Speaker 2: Izzo to be the GM. They fire Mike Bundholzer, they
Speaker 2: fire Frank Vogel, they cycle through head coaches. So I
Speaker 2: can understand why Will Hardy is opting for security rather
Speaker 2: than necessarily chasing the next big job that comes up,
Speaker 2: because certainly there's a lot of competition for those jobs,
Speaker 2: and as someone who lives in Charlotte. Sometimes it's nice
Speaker 2: to know, like where you're going to be for the
Speaker 2: next several years, even if it isn't a New York
Speaker 2: or in Miami or in LA so to speak. I
Speaker 2: don't know what the NBA equivalent, Maybe it is those teams,
Speaker 2: but I think happiness as an NBA head coach, I
Speaker 2: remember standing Gundy talking recently about how on Levatage Stow
Speaker 2: he was talking about, you know, people were saying, hey,
Speaker 2: at least in when you got let go in New
Speaker 2: Orleans or let go in Detroit, you had multiple years
Speaker 2: of millions of dollars guaranteed to you, How mad could
Speaker 2: you be? How upse could you be when you get fired?
Speaker 2: And he like really was hard on this and was like,
Speaker 2: if you have any sort of pride, any organization that
Speaker 2: says we don't want you here anymore, we think we
Speaker 2: can better than you going forward, and we are willing
Speaker 2: to pay you millions of dollars to not have to
Speaker 2: deal with you every day, that still hurts. And it
Speaker 2: still hurts a lot. And so as much as we
Speaker 2: want to say, like will Hardy might be able to
Speaker 2: get a better job elsewhere, a better winning situation, I
Speaker 2: understand the inclination to opt for security. Even though they
Speaker 2: could fire him tomorrow, there is still the security of
Speaker 2: the front office that he's the only front office that
Speaker 2: he's had as a head coach, and it seems like
Speaker 2: they're all aligned. I can see why there's a little
Speaker 2: bit of risk, but every job in the NBA, in
Speaker 2: this profession, I think there's risk involved for sure.
Speaker 1: One more thing here, you agree with my premise that
Speaker 1: the Jazz are not close to being competitive?
Speaker 3: Is that fair to say?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Okay, you know, I was just thinking about this.
Speaker 2: Who is their Shay Gills just Alexander? They don't have
Speaker 2: one like who is their Devin Booker? Right, the guy that, yeah,
Speaker 2: they're going to lose any games. But who's their guy
Speaker 2: that they can they can build around and say, Okay,
Speaker 2: that is that is a young piece that you can
Speaker 2: envision a rebuild around. Evan Mobley, Shay Gilders, Alexander, Devin Booker.
Speaker 2: These are types of guys that I think you can't
Speaker 2: point to Larry Marketen and say that's their version of that,
Speaker 2: because Larry is turning twenty eight years old this summer,
Speaker 2: and those guys when they were coming up there twenty
Speaker 2: three twenty four, and that's a huge difference. And so
Speaker 2: I think Larry markten is more likely to get moved
Speaker 2: in my opinion, than being the franchise cornerstone future star
Speaker 2: in the same way that Shay goes as Alexander is
Speaker 2: for okay, see.
Speaker 1: Oh well said, And I continue to say like, I
Speaker 1: cannot analyze the twenty twenty nine Utah Jazz. I do
Speaker 1: not know what that team will look like. I can
Speaker 1: only analyze what's in front of me. So before we
Speaker 1: move on, because we got a lot to do. Man,
Speaker 1: the playoffs have been so fun. Let's get the Tom
Speaker 1: Haberstrow most optimistic approach on how long the this is
Speaker 1: going to take for the Jazz to get back to
Speaker 1: competition at a high level in the West, and what
Speaker 1: are the boxes that have to be checked?
Speaker 2: Well, Cooper Flag would help. I think in this draft
Speaker 2: that guy is probably year three before you start talking
Speaker 2: to playoffs. I think in most situations about three year
Speaker 2: runway with Larry Mark and Will Hardy, I think you
Speaker 2: can look at year two as being a real playoff contender.
Speaker 2: That's how good Cooper Flag is in my opinion. He's
Speaker 2: that polished and well rounded that if he's on the
Speaker 2: floor playing thirty minutes a night for you, you're not
Speaker 2: going to have that many weaknesses. That's how good he is.
Speaker 2: And so whether they're going to be contending for a
Speaker 2: playoff in the first year, I think not. No matter
Speaker 2: how good you are as a rookie, it's very hard
Speaker 2: for you as an eighteen year old, which he's going
Speaker 2: to be eighteen nineteen year old as a rookie, no
Speaker 2: matter how good you are, it's very hard to be
Speaker 2: a playoff team right off the bat. I think year
Speaker 2: two you can start talking playing and playoff potential for
Speaker 2: the Utah Jazz with Walker Kestler, Larry Markinin and Cooper Flag.
Speaker 2: But we'll see about the backcourt. That's gonna be key.
Speaker 2: But for this team without Cooper Flag, it's gonna be
Speaker 2: four years, five years.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, now we'll see. We'll have to see how
Speaker 3: it plays out.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, every team needs that luck for
Speaker 1: all the and look, I'm certainly on a daylight today.
Speaker 1: We'll never speak illy you know, of Greg Popovich, but
Speaker 1: he'll be the first one to tell you. Without Tim
Speaker 1: Duncan or David Robinson or Jenoe Bleer, plink. You got
Speaker 1: out players. You just have to have players. There's no
Speaker 1: other way around it. On the organization walking line as
Speaker 1: well as our cornerstone, he's our building block.
Speaker 3: Well, he doesn't play, he coaches.
Speaker 1: This is a players league, leading us to the teams
Speaker 1: that are now in the postseason. What impressed you most
Speaker 1: about the way the Warriors went into Houston in won
Speaker 1: Game seven.
Speaker 2: Buddy held man. I did not see that from Buddy Heeld.
Speaker 2: I could not believe that he was the guy who
Speaker 2: came up huge for the Golden State Warriors. Given the
Speaker 2: pedigree on that roster and that experience on the roster.
Speaker 2: What Buddy Heel did to punish the way that the
Speaker 2: Houston Rockets were loading up on Steph Curry is one
Speaker 2: of the best Game seven performances I've seen a long time.
Speaker 2: It's not just that he scored thirty three points, it's
Speaker 2: the expectation level. Like Buddy Heal, has never been a
Speaker 2: playoff performer, and in fact, Buddy Healed coming into the
Speaker 2: last season, I'm not so sure he has won a
Speaker 2: playoff game ever. And so like Buddy Heald has never
Speaker 2: been big in this moment because he's never really been
Speaker 2: big on a good team before, and so when you
Speaker 2: see what he did on Sunday Night, where he's coming
Speaker 2: in there as a guy who's never won a playoff
Speaker 2: game in his life heading into this series and then
Speaker 2: coming up big in a two seven upset where he's
Speaker 2: making everything and make the smart play, moving the ball
Speaker 2: when he has to, taking advantage, and being aggressive when
Speaker 2: he has to. Buddy Healed and the way that he
Speaker 2: continued to make him so valuable on the floor was
Speaker 2: something that I needed to see before I believed it.
Speaker 2: Like acquiring Buddy Heel to the regular seasons one thing,
Speaker 2: but to see that Buddy Heal can go thirty seven
Speaker 2: minutes in a playoff Game seven and be one of
Speaker 2: the best players on the floor and lead the game
Speaker 2: in scoring is another level and a weapon on the
Speaker 2: Golden State Warriors that they're gonna need in this next
Speaker 2: years against Minnesota. I don't know about you, Spence, Like
Speaker 2: I'm a Steph Curry believer, but I didn't realize that
Speaker 2: this is gonna be the first series in which the
Speaker 2: Golden State Warriors are the underdog in the last decade.
Speaker 2: Like that's astounding to me that they've never been the
Speaker 2: underdog in a series until now in the last ten years,
Speaker 2: ten years, and part of that is the size advantage
Speaker 2: that Minnesota has. But I still I still picked the Warriors.
Speaker 2: I have Warriors in seven. They've won the last three
Speaker 2: games against Minnesota. That was even before Jimmy Butler. Kevon
Speaker 2: Looney was not a huge performer in the entirety of
Speaker 2: this series against Houston, but I think he's gonna be
Speaker 2: big against Rudy Gobert. And I just if we saw
Speaker 2: that from Buddy held, I needed to see it in
Speaker 2: a game seven. Uh, that's a new dimension for the
Speaker 2: Warriors that they're gonna have that release valve when they
Speaker 2: load up on Steph Curry with that size and they
Speaker 2: passed to Draymond Green, they cancredibly passed the Buddy Heald
Speaker 2: and get get an open shot and have him hit that.
Speaker 2: So that was man, that was a surprise. That was
Speaker 2: like in a finale, a season finale where they reveal
Speaker 2: the killer and you're like that that guy like I
Speaker 2: did not I did not know he had it in him.
Speaker 2: And I was very impressed with Buddy Heald and they're
Speaker 2: gonna need against Minnesota.
Speaker 1: All right, let's go back to Saturday, and you know
Speaker 1: there are there are simply stretches. And this might say
Speaker 1: as much about the Clippers as it does about Denver,
Speaker 1: but there's there was about a fourteen or fifteen minute
Speaker 1: stretch between the second and the third quarter. When Denver
Speaker 1: plays like that, you just go there as good as
Speaker 1: any team left, including Boston or okay see. And maybe
Speaker 1: it was lack of effort from the Clippers. It was
Speaker 1: just a decent Kawhi game. And you wrote on this,
Speaker 1: so I will stand in this microphone. It was yet
Speaker 1: another Game seven failure from James Harden, and you have
Speaker 1: doubted in the case. Maybe that's not the fairest narrative
Speaker 1: in the world, but was Game seven and baller in
Speaker 1: Was that more about who Denver can be when they
Speaker 1: do what they did the clips over the second and
Speaker 1: the third quarter? Or was that an indictment on the
Speaker 1: clips or maybe a bit of both.
Speaker 2: Man. I think James Harden is really really difficult to
Speaker 2: rally around in the playoffs when it gets deep into
Speaker 2: a series. For this reason, he is a three shots
Speaker 2: out the likes we have never seen in the NBA,
Speaker 2: and in the regular season that works. He is unbelievably
Speaker 2: good on the perimeter at hitting threes and being able
Speaker 2: to draw that three shots out, he gets his legs
Speaker 2: taken out from under him. He exaggerates contact. He gets
Speaker 2: that call. But as these games get deeper into a
Speaker 2: series and the referees have seen James Harden and the
Speaker 2: way that Denver's playing him, He's not getting that call,
Speaker 2: and Denver made them pay. Look, James Harden is not
Speaker 2: the biggest choke artist in game sevens in NBA history.
Speaker 2: I ran the numbers, I've looked at the tape. This
Speaker 2: guy has had some duds, but he has shown up
Speaker 2: in game sevens before, and his decline from his regular
Speaker 2: regular season performance, postseason performance to Game seven, his Game
Speaker 2: seven drop off isn't nearly as seismic as some other
Speaker 2: players in the NBA. And it's crazy to say this
Speaker 2: on the surface, but jokicch just has some duds in
Speaker 2: Game seven, fallen off from his normal performances. I'm not
Speaker 2: saying James Harden is better than Jokich. Certainly we saw
Speaker 2: what happened in Game seven. But the issue with James
Speaker 2: Harden is he can't shoot in these big moments. He
Speaker 2: was one of four from Downtown, two of eight for
Speaker 2: the game, and he I think, lets the referees and
Speaker 2: the whistle get in his head a little bit where
Speaker 2: he's like, if I'm not getting these foul calls, I
Speaker 2: have to turn into role player playmaker. And you saw
Speaker 2: thirteen assists that just two turnovers. Wasn't looking for his shot.
Speaker 2: Denver knew that he had another great first quarter coming out,
Speaker 2: and it just seems like he loses steam and the
Speaker 2: Clippers just aren't young enough to rely on Kawhi Leonard
Speaker 2: and be like, all right, when James doesn't have it going,
Speaker 2: we can just go to Kawhi. As the season goes
Speaker 2: on and the postseason goes on. I just think it's
Speaker 2: harder and harder to compensate for Harden in game six
Speaker 2: or game seven, and when he shifts into playmaker mode
Speaker 2: and pass first guy, he needs someone who's got that
Speaker 2: Alpha in him. And right now at James Harden stage
Speaker 2: of his career, look, James Harden is the all time
Speaker 2: leading steals guy in a game seven. He's one of
Speaker 2: the best shot blockers, is over a block per game
Speaker 2: in game sevens. He's fourth all time in assists per
Speaker 2: game in game sevens. He's got a really good efficiency
Speaker 2: metric in Game sevens. The problem is he just can't
Speaker 2: hit threes, and a lot of that I think has
Speaker 2: to do with the officiating and the fact that they
Speaker 2: were swallowing those whistles and saying, we're not going to
Speaker 2: fall for it. We're not going to fall for the
Speaker 2: Oki dope. When you fall onto the ground, Denver is
Speaker 2: gonna get that ball and they're going to go the
Speaker 2: other direction. There's a possession in the second quarter highlight
Speaker 2: on a Tomdefinder dot com that signified the problems when
Speaker 2: you build around James Harden. He's not getting those foul calls.
Speaker 2: He's just another guy, all right.
Speaker 1: Moving over now, if I told you that the Calves
Speaker 1: are in trouble, would you? And I felt like this
Speaker 1: before game one, I mean Indiana since January when Rick
Speaker 1: Carlisle made some adjustments to the rotation and they got healthy,
Speaker 1: they've just been kind of one of those teams that's
Speaker 1: a total pain in the ass. And I always try
Speaker 1: to be fairer because I hear a lot of you know,
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell playoff narratives, and Donovan has had his fair
Speaker 1: share of when the lights are at their brightest and
Speaker 1: when his teams have an opportunity to take that next
Speaker 1: step he hasn't necessarily delivered. I've also watched him drop
Speaker 1: half one hundred in playoff games a couple of times,
Speaker 1: and I think he has five forty plus playoff games
Speaker 1: and two fifty plus playoff games, so it's not like
Speaker 1: he's never getting it done in the postseason. But there
Speaker 1: is something about this matchup. And if I'm a Cavs fan, man,
Speaker 1: I'm a bit concerned.
Speaker 3: Tell me your thoughts.
Speaker 2: I'm not, I'm not. I think this is a macro
Speaker 2: miss league. And just like in Utah, when you have
Speaker 2: a team that predicated on three point shooting, you got
Speaker 2: to hit those shots. And you know what, that's true
Speaker 2: for every team in the league, like Indiana shut the
Speaker 2: heck out of the ball. Nineteen of thirty six made
Speaker 2: over fifty three percent of their three balls in that game.
Speaker 2: The Calves, led by Donovan Mitchell only at nine to
Speaker 2: thirty eight, one of the worst three point shooting performances
Speaker 2: in Calves history. That's not going to do it. You
Speaker 2: lost thirty points in the three point calm. The team
Speaker 2: the Caves that normally kill you from downtown, they had
Speaker 2: a bad night and look, some of that is scheme,
Speaker 2: but I think most of it is just the shots
Speaker 2: weren't falling, and Donovan Mitchell scoring thirty three on thirty
Speaker 2: shot attempts is not going to cut it. It's I
Speaker 2: think this is one of those games where Kenny Atkinson
Speaker 2: just says, next game, let's try to get Darius Garland
Speaker 2: healthy and try to get those same looks, because on
Speaker 2: the other side, I think Indiana hit some tough shots
Speaker 2: and they were playing harder, and sometimes that stuff gets
Speaker 2: rewarded by the three point shooting. But I'm looking at
Speaker 2: the three point calm and the fact that the Cavs
Speaker 2: out rebounded them, they took care of the ball, they
Speaker 2: shot better than them on twues and the only thing
Speaker 2: really that they got beat on was something that they
Speaker 2: got romped on is the three point calm. And it
Speaker 2: was a close game until the very end. And if
Speaker 2: some of those shots go the other way. I know
Speaker 2: it's not a very compelling answer, but in a make
Speaker 2: ro miss league, when you lose by thirty points in
Speaker 2: the three point column, I just think you flush it
Speaker 2: down the Troy and you go to game two. They
Speaker 2: might get Terius Garland one of the most dynamic backcourt
Speaker 2: players in the league. That will certainly help things. They
Speaker 2: need him healthy in order to beat the Indiana Pacers,
Speaker 2: that's for sure. They need to have a mobile healthy.
Speaker 2: They need DeAndre Hunter to be healthy. But things are
Speaker 2: more concerned about the health on the Cavs side than
Speaker 2: anything schematically. I thought that that game one was as
Speaker 2: bad as they played, especially on hitting shots and shot making.
Speaker 2: And I'm not too concerned. I think the kas are
Speaker 2: I think the Kaws are gonna still gonna win this series,
Speaker 2: but that was not a good first game out of
Speaker 2: that group.
Speaker 3: All right, before I set you loose.
Speaker 1: In ninety minutes, they're tipping off the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
Speaker 1: And I love me some Jalen, and I love that
Speaker 1: the Knicks are at least relevant again and have been
Speaker 1: for a few years since, you know, basically in my opinion,
Speaker 1: not being relevant since the late nineties.
Speaker 3: So I like this NIXT team. You know.
Speaker 1: I know that the MIKEL Bridges acquisition and even og
Speaker 1: you know, acquired with the idea of matching up with
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum and Jaln Brown and maybe Drew Holliday's compromise,
Speaker 1: but they still have Derek White, and both those two
Speaker 1: guards are capable of really making it hard on Jalen
Speaker 1: and Tom. They just asked Jalen to do everything. I
Speaker 1: feel like nobody's giving the Knicks even a Mike Heights
Speaker 1: and Uppercut knockout random, you know, even kind of a
Speaker 1: chance here. Do you feel the same, what do you
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts as we started the second round series.
Speaker 2: I got Boston in five man, Boston in five I mean,
Speaker 2: I I look at this Boston five out system is
Speaker 2: way too good and on another level than what we
Speaker 2: saw with the Pistons that often had two guys on
Speaker 2: the floor that couldn't shoot. The optionality that the Boston
Speaker 2: Celtics offense has where they got playmakers at every position.
Speaker 2: They got guys who can shoot at every position, the
Speaker 2: guys who can play off to dribble in every position.
Speaker 2: And I just think that's so much harder to defend.
Speaker 2: And then this Knicks team, it's not og and mckel
Speaker 2: bridges that I worry about. It's the fact that the
Speaker 2: Boston Celtics have a guy at every position that can
Speaker 2: hunt Karl, Anthony Towns or Jalen Brunson on any given
Speaker 2: possession and I'm sorry but that that offense, the Knicks offense,
Speaker 2: they were a bottom ten off for half the season.
Speaker 2: They were not a good offense against the Detroit Pistons.
Speaker 2: This Boston team is better in every respect, and I
Speaker 2: just think that the Knicks don't have enough on both
Speaker 2: ends of the floor with that five man unit with
Speaker 2: Kat and Michal Bridges and Og Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson,
Speaker 2: I just think that yes, they were built to try
Speaker 2: to handle the Boston Celtics, but this Boston Celtics has
Speaker 2: a different engine in that car, and I just think
Speaker 2: it's going to be a different series than Detroit and
Speaker 2: a lot of the issues that the Detroit exposed about
Speaker 2: the Knicks but weren't quite able to capitalize on. I
Speaker 2: think the Boston Celtics are going to make quick work
Speaker 2: of the New York Knicks. I just think the Knicks
Speaker 2: defense isn't that good and I think Kat and Jalen
Speaker 2: Brunson defensively are going to be really exposed in this series.
Speaker 3: Where can people get the work?
Speaker 2: Tommy Hey, Tomafinder dot com, I really appreciate people go
Speaker 2: subscribe to my sub stack also at Yahoo Sports with
Speaker 2: Kevin o'k and Dan Devine two shows a week over
Speaker 2: at Yahoo's Sports Go check out the YouTube over there,
Speaker 2: and of course I appreciate Basketball Illuminati listeners. Always a
Speaker 2: good time on that show, we got Steve Jones joining us,
Speaker 2: the former assistant coach and video coordinator for the Brooklyn
Speaker 2: Nets and Memphis Grizzy is going to join us this week.
Speaker 2: You've probably already followed him on Steve Jones twenty on Twitter.
Speaker 2: He's awesome and we have another great episode coming up
Speaker 2: on Wednesday. As at Basketball Illuminati appreciated Spence as always