Speaker 1: On the Drive.
Speaker 2: Tim McMahon dropping dimes for your NBA daily assists.
Speaker 3: Van mcman batted dude in all the Landtective blood as
Speaker 3: Dick at Mud. He's a man, Van McMahon, Vanman the Man.
Speaker 2: More than hour of the Drive is here, Order Larson,
Speaker 2: Tony Parks filling in for Spence. Check its on this Tuesday.
Speaker 2: We'll be with you once again tomorrow as we set
Speaker 2: you loose for the Thanksgiving holiday. Before we do that, though,
Speaker 2: of course, some more football chatter coming up on the
Speaker 2: program as the week rolls along. Talk some NBA switch gears,
Speaker 2: talk some hoops one. Tim McMahon of the ESPN of
Speaker 2: course band McMahon joins the program now, as we appreciate
Speaker 2: him for doing so each and every week.
Speaker 1: What's up, Tim?
Speaker 2: How are we.
Speaker 1: How many days off does Spence get? Right? I mean
Speaker 1: he's just going to take like the rest of football season.
Speaker 2: I feel like we've done like the last two or
Speaker 2: three of these.
Speaker 1: Haven't We Maybe maybe get them back after the trade deadline,
Speaker 1: maybe be able to unload a contract. Trade deadline.
Speaker 2: I think we're hoping for around the holiday, around around Christmas,
Speaker 2: and then you know, it's load management until then, and then,
Speaker 2: as you know, Tim, it's the home stretch where we're
Speaker 2: we're playing for seeding after that and going from.
Speaker 1: There, Yeah, I think you would be playing for Lobbtery position.
Speaker 2: What are he's saying? What he's saying, I'm just saying,
Speaker 2: NBA Cup action tonight, Tim McMahon, give the folks a
Speaker 2: little reset of the NBA Cup where we are right now? Because,
Speaker 2: like me, I'm sure a lot of fans are are
Speaker 2: they're following the NBA Cup, but they're also kind of
Speaker 2: following them just as if they were one of eighty two.
Speaker 2: Where are we with the groups, the teams that are
Speaker 2: fighting for tonight a potential to clinch a knockout stage
Speaker 2: and what we're seeing before the quarterfinals get going on
Speaker 2: this Tuesday.
Speaker 1: You didn't tell me I was gonna have to be
Speaker 1: prepared for this, Like I don't have my NBA Cup
Speaker 1: standings handy. I know Houston Minnesota is a good one tonight.
Speaker 1: The Rockets two and oh, with the best point differential
Speaker 1: in the West, can certainly put themselves in prime position.
Speaker 1: I'll be honest with you, I'd have to look through
Speaker 1: the rest to figure it out. I don't have the
Speaker 1: Cup standings that will memorize.
Speaker 2: Well, well it's okay because I got in front of me,
Speaker 2: so we'll we'll go there.
Speaker 1: Houston. Well, you ask me, you're the one who knows
Speaker 1: the answer.
Speaker 2: Tim, half a half of radio is asking questions I
Speaker 2: know the answer to. But we'll get Houston. Houston today
Speaker 2: clinches with a with a win, that is Group A.
Speaker 2: Toronto is eliminated today with a Milwaukee win. Utah. Utah
Speaker 2: is eliminated today with a loss, as is Washington. So
Speaker 2: those are are kind of the game changers on tap tonight.
Speaker 2: Of course, the schedule tonight TIM includes San Antonio and
Speaker 2: the Jazz. We're gonna see teams mostly full strength. Of course,
Speaker 2: Victor Wemenyama, Lowry Markinen to of the premier team players
Speaker 2: on both of those teams have been dealing with some
Speaker 2: injuries last couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: Alright, listen, I don't know how the NBA is gonna
Speaker 1: be able to market the Cup, Semis and so on
Speaker 1: in Vegas. If there's not the Jazz, the Wizards or
Speaker 1: the rappings, it's gonna be challenging.
Speaker 2: You're not wrong, all right, Spurs Jazz Victor webbin Yama
Speaker 2: in town for folks who haven't seen this yet. Tim
Speaker 2: This specimen of Victor Wembanyama give Jazz fans who might
Speaker 2: be on site tonight a little bit of a pre
Speaker 2: view of what they're going to see in Victor Wominyalla
Speaker 2: compared to really any basketball player that they've seen in person.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's not been anybody who has his combination of
Speaker 1: size and obviously in terms of height, athleticism and skill,
Speaker 1: and he's still very much kind of in the process
Speaker 1: of figuring out how to harness all that. You know,
Speaker 1: he's seven foot four some five whatever he is, and
Speaker 1: half the shots come from three point range. And listen,
Speaker 1: sometimes he's going to hit eight out of sixteen, like
Speaker 1: he did when he scored fifty against the Wizards. Sometimes
Speaker 1: he's going to go, you know, three out of fourteen.
Speaker 1: You know, I at some point I think that the
Speaker 1: shot diet will be a bit better balanced, I would say,
Speaker 1: But you know, he's he's still very much in the
Speaker 1: early process in terms of developing and filling out his physique.
Speaker 1: So it's it's easy to say, hey, you should be
Speaker 1: down in the pay morts. It's more difficult to get
Speaker 1: that position. But then honestly, Defensively, he's probably already the
Speaker 1: best defensive player in the league. And it's not just
Speaker 1: the size, the athleticism, the length, like the instincts are insane,
Speaker 1: and he blocks shots that you can't even believe that
Speaker 1: he's able to get to. So you know, when the
Speaker 1: threes are going down. Offensively, he's awesome. You know, that's
Speaker 1: kind of a hit or miss deal. Defensively on a
Speaker 1: nights night basis, it's a site to behold.
Speaker 4: You talk about defense, the Houston Rockets number one defense
Speaker 4: of the last eight games, I know for sure it
Speaker 4: might even extend beyond that. But the level that they've
Speaker 4: played where they have a defensive rating that's like at
Speaker 4: ninety seven, there's so many things to be impressed with
Speaker 4: with the way that they play on that side of
Speaker 4: the floor. As you kind of evaluate them and what
Speaker 4: could be coming for them in the future, what jumps
Speaker 4: out to you most also about other ways that they
Speaker 4: could be possibly a bigger threat threat that we expected
Speaker 4: before the season.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, and defensively, you got to give email
Speaker 1: Youdok a ton of credit because you know, the question
Speaker 1: about Alfer and Shagoon is hey, can he can be
Speaker 1: he anchor a good defense and you know they were
Speaker 1: good last year, they're better this year. You know, it
Speaker 1: helps to have a Dylan Brooks, it helps to have
Speaker 1: Aman Thompson and Tory Brooks. I'm sorry, Tory Easton coming
Speaker 1: off the bench. You know, Jabari Smith Jr. Is very
Speaker 1: good defense. But they've got some good defensive personnel. But again,
Speaker 1: to be able to do that with Chagoo as your
Speaker 1: center is extremely impressive. And I think like in terms
Speaker 1: of the Rockets having a real ceiling as a contender,
Speaker 1: I do think they are a big move away from that.
Speaker 1: You know, if you talk to people down there, they'll say, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe there's a group can grow into that.
Speaker 1: But like the Jena and Green contract, they'll tell you
Speaker 1: you they hope that there's a bigger deal in his
Speaker 1: future for them. That contract what looks like a deal
Speaker 1: that was made to be included in the trade. They've
Speaker 1: got all those Suns picks and it's still got to
Speaker 1: swap with the with the Brooklyn Nets in a couple
Speaker 1: of years, and they've they've got extra picks to play with.
Speaker 1: And there's a reason that the Rockets are one of
Speaker 1: the teams that's coming up in every conversation about a
Speaker 1: potential superstar type of trade, and you know they've been
Speaker 1: linked with like a KD with a Jimmy Butler, guys
Speaker 1: who hypothetically could become available those it's still in my
Speaker 1: hypothetical sense. What I would tell you is, I'd be
Speaker 1: surprised if it's somebody who's not still approaching or in
Speaker 1: their prime, because they do have a bunch of young
Speaker 1: players that you know, things break right for you and
Speaker 1: they could eventually have a pretty long runway.
Speaker 2: Tim Since you you kind of brought that up a
Speaker 2: big move away team, I think there's a few teams
Speaker 2: around the league that are probably in that camp. Has
Speaker 2: your radar changed since the beginning of the year on
Speaker 2: maybe players that you're looking out for when the trade
Speaker 2: deadline does come about? Maybe you know teams that are
Speaker 2: underperforming with a star that maybe you didn't think was
Speaker 2: on the trade block before the season, but now maybe
Speaker 2: you have a slightly bigger eye on, like Milwaukee. Well,
Speaker 2: where's your your your trade deadline radar sitting as we
Speaker 2: get closer to December and closer to January.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I don't know that it's changed. I
Speaker 1: would be very very surprised. If Phoenix doesn't keep their stars,
Speaker 1: that would definitely be like a drastic shift in plans
Speaker 1: and direction. You know, Katie coming back tonight. I think
Speaker 1: they'll get back to winning games. The Bucks actually have
Speaker 1: started stacking some wins together. It's against the saw stretch
Speaker 1: of schedule, but I just i'd be I don't think
Speaker 1: Giannis he's going to barge into the front off and
Speaker 1: demand the trade for the deadline, And I don't see
Speaker 1: any way that they would consider trading him unless those
Speaker 1: are the circumstances. You know, if if Milwaukee is going
Speaker 1: to make a major move, I would think it would
Speaker 1: be shopping Dame. But again, if they're able to continue
Speaker 1: with the little bit of momentum they've built, and that
Speaker 1: probably didn't have. You know, Jimmy Butler is the name
Speaker 1: that's been coming up, and we'll see how that goes.
Speaker 1: You look pretty good when the Heat beat the Mess
Speaker 1: the other night. But and the other thing, like when
Speaker 1: you start talking about all these trades, it's a lot
Speaker 1: harder to pull off these kind of trades, especially mid season,
Speaker 1: than it was under the previous CBA. So this, you know,
Speaker 1: you never say never, especially this far out from the
Speaker 1: trade deadline, but maybe there's not like a a star
Speaker 1: caliber player that's moved for the deadline.
Speaker 4: That's one reason why I asked about that too, is
Speaker 4: it is tougher to do that. It's then also a
Speaker 4: situation where you if you're going to spend something to
Speaker 4: get a player in there, you have a team with
Speaker 4: a defensive identity and a defensive culture and an established
Speaker 4: set and expectation in the way that you would want
Speaker 4: to play. Would you then also have to get very
Speaker 4: specific about the player you're going to bring in because
Speaker 4: it has to fit with that and they're going to
Speaker 4: have to want to want to play that way.
Speaker 1: About the Rockets in particular, Yeah, the Rockets.
Speaker 4: In particular, because whenever a team is going to add, like,
Speaker 4: you know, whatever it is, they're one move a way, okay,
Speaker 4: but that cultural fit has to go to where someone
Speaker 4: you know is in mental alignment with the type of
Speaker 4: mindset that that team plays with.
Speaker 1: Uh One, I would say, I think the Rockets, if
Speaker 1: they're going to make a major splash in the trade market,
Speaker 1: it's more likely to be a summer situation. Okay. You know,
Speaker 1: for one simple fact of the extension signed by Jade
Speaker 1: Greenman in particular. You know, it's complicated, very complicated, traded
Speaker 1: guy in the final year of his rookie deal when
Speaker 1: he signed that extension just because all the cat nerd stuff.
Speaker 1: But you know, hey, Emodokah has gotten al parents and
Speaker 1: Goon to play defense, He's gotten Jaden green to play defense.
Speaker 1: I think always it's going to be important to to
Speaker 1: have if you have a superstar, to have that superstar
Speaker 1: b aligned with the coach's philosophy. But you know, I
Speaker 1: think players in the league in general, if you show
Speaker 1: them something can lead to success and can lead to winning,
Speaker 1: they will jump on board. And you know the fact
Speaker 1: that they we'll see what the Rockets end up record wise.
Speaker 1: But you know, there are twelve and sixteen right now
Speaker 1: that is, you know, just a couple of years out
Speaker 1: of a complete teardown and rebuild. So like, why wouldn't
Speaker 1: you want to, you know, kind of get on board
Speaker 1: with the way that they've been handling their business.
Speaker 4: And that's one reason why I wanted to go down
Speaker 4: this exact area because the Utah Jazz are a team
Speaker 4: in that kind of rebuild, wanting to start from the
Speaker 4: very beginning of this. They have a lot to work with.
Speaker 4: They have a number of options in front of them.
Speaker 4: Defensive culture has to eventually start at some point and
Speaker 4: get some good momentum going forward. So as you look
Speaker 4: at them, does it look like an even bigger, longer
Speaker 4: road ahead with that still being so far behind.
Speaker 1: I mean, I understand the question. I would say a
Speaker 1: big part of their defensive culture unfortunately suffered a gruesome
Speaker 1: leg injury when they came to Dallas round the season.
Speaker 1: You know, like the Jazz being able to put together
Speaker 1: a respectable defense, A lot of that was based on
Speaker 1: Taylor Hendricks developing and e merging into the kind of
Speaker 1: multi position defensive stopper that certainly they were optimistic that
Speaker 1: he could give me. He was the guy who you know,
Speaker 1: whether it was John Morant or Luka Doncic or you know,
Speaker 1: Joanna Sannakoupo like I'm talking his name, three very different superstars,
Speaker 1: and he was going to get that assignment. You know,
Speaker 1: they had the weird Memphis Dallas Milwaukee road trip, like
Speaker 1: those are the three guys he would have matched up
Speaker 1: with to begin those games. So that's challenging. It's it's
Speaker 1: going to be challenging when you've got as many young
Speaker 1: players in the rotation as they do. You know, they've
Speaker 1: at least got an anchor in Walker Kessler. And you know,
Speaker 1: I think, well halready to ail of a coach. I
Speaker 1: think that over time he'll figure it out. But part
Speaker 1: of him figuring it out is going to have to
Speaker 1: be either these young guys developing or probably a blend
Speaker 1: of the young guys developing him just personnel upgrades.
Speaker 2: Outside of that, Tim the Atlanta Hawks were fined one
Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars to Trey Young sitting in a Cup game. Obviously,
Speaker 2: we've seen Joel Embiid, although he has been injured, take
Speaker 2: some heat for some of the time he's missed. Obviously,
Speaker 2: this is a conversation that is not new. But where
Speaker 2: where are you know, NBA? NBA folks around the league.
Speaker 2: What are the rumblings you're hearing about how teams are
Speaker 2: handling the way the league is addressing load management players
Speaker 2: not being able to play. Maybe tricky language in the
Speaker 2: the injury report to explain away why players are not playing.
Speaker 2: What's your feel on on how teams are are handling
Speaker 2: that and how they're discussing it with the league office.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Trey Young thing was interesting because Hawks actually
Speaker 1: beat the Celtics that night. And you know, those load
Speaker 1: management rules only apply to certain players, and I forgot
Speaker 1: the exact language, but you know, they you have to
Speaker 1: have some level of All Star are all NBA type
Speaker 1: of accomplishments to be even be on that list. So
Speaker 1: there's only certain players that have applied to But like,
Speaker 1: for example, a guy like Joel Embiid, as long as
Speaker 1: they don't like completely omit him from the injury report,
Speaker 1: there's pretty wide leeway there, just because he does have
Speaker 1: chronic medical issues, you know, And I think what the
Speaker 1: Sixers have been guilty of is is, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: either not putting him on an injury report or being
Speaker 1: very evasive with the information on the injury reports. And
Speaker 1: you know, but I honestly, outside of just the mess
Speaker 1: in Philadelphia, and that's like there's a lot of mess
Speaker 1: in Philadelphia, the in the load management, I don't feel
Speaker 1: like it's been a massive part of the NBA conversation
Speaker 1: this year. I mean, like with Kawhi Leonard, it's just
Speaker 1: assumed like, okay, maybe he'll play at some point. The
Speaker 1: Pelicans obviously have been just gutted by injuries. But it's
Speaker 1: not by choice, like guys keep getting hurt. You know,
Speaker 1: Zion is not a load management thing. He's a can
Speaker 1: never stay healthy thing. So I think that the NBA
Speaker 1: has pretty significantly cleaned up the perception issue on that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and that perception issue has been one where it
Speaker 4: used to be talked about so much. Now it's just understood,
Speaker 4: like you said, like it's just a normal part of
Speaker 4: what goes forward in an NBA year. Boy Jay Crowder
Speaker 4: set to join the Sacramento Kings. All right, talk about
Speaker 4: the turnaround with the Kings headed for the Western Conference finals. No,
Speaker 4: I'm kidding, But with that tmbing eight and ten, and
Speaker 4: then also the Phoenix Suns, who have now dropped five
Speaker 4: in a row. As you look at some of these
Speaker 4: Western Conference teams that had bigger expectations that really haven't
Speaker 4: they haven't lived up to in the early part of
Speaker 4: the year, what are the things you would be concerned
Speaker 4: about with, say, Phoenix and Sacramento, What are the things
Speaker 4: that would give you enough patience to understand that they
Speaker 4: can turn it around?
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, Phoenix, it's real simple. Kdt's coming back, right,
Speaker 1: you know, and like they were, they were a first
Speaker 1: place team, when he went out and then Beal was
Speaker 1: out along with it. Beal's also coming back to Let's
Speaker 1: be honest, like, Beal's not not a superstar. Beel's not
Speaker 1: an All star anymore. When KD is healthy, the Suns
Speaker 1: are are pretty good. But he's not, they're not very good.
Speaker 1: So that hey, if they can keep KD healthy, uh,
Speaker 1: they'll be in the mix. And honestly, like maybe the
Speaker 1: Kings had higher expectations. Did you think the Kings are
Speaker 1: a playoffs team coming into the year?
Speaker 4: You know, the quality of play, I'll say, and the
Speaker 4: way that I watched them like that's uh, I thought
Speaker 4: it was kind of a in some ways lifeless performance
Speaker 4: against the Clippers, right, Like, there's some things that just
Speaker 4: look a lot worse than I thought they would. By
Speaker 4: no means did I think they were, you know, hosting
Speaker 4: the West Finals, But I did think that they would
Speaker 4: be better in just overall watching them, they don't look
Speaker 4: as good as I.
Speaker 1: Thought they would. Well, the DeRozan thing, like, I get it,
Speaker 1: when you're and you know, when you're Sacramento, you don't
Speaker 1: necessarily get to be extremely selective about adding you know,
Speaker 1: star caliber talent. I always thought the DeRozan thing was
Speaker 1: kind of like a weird fit, you know, just they're
Speaker 1: already the team to have pretty good offensive firepower. You know,
Speaker 1: he certainly doesn't improve them on the defensive end of
Speaker 1: the floor. You know, they do have like the Deer
Speaker 1: and Fox. You know, there were financial reasons for him
Speaker 1: not to agree to a contract extension, but still, you know,
Speaker 1: we talked about stars who might become available at some point.
Speaker 1: He's you know, he's left his options wide open. I'll
Speaker 1: say that. Yeah, So you know that can kind of
Speaker 1: hang over an organization. I mean, I tell you guys
Speaker 1: that you look through the Donovan Mitchell uncertainty hanging over
Speaker 1: the Jazz like a black cloud. But again, I just
Speaker 1: like if they were in the Eastern Conference, I would
Speaker 1: tell you they should be a playoff team. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't think they should be a playoff team in
Speaker 1: the West. I don't think they're one of the best
Speaker 1: eight teams in the West. They might not be one
Speaker 1: of the best tens.
Speaker 4: No for a team that won forty six games last
Speaker 4: year too, And by all means were they not expecting
Speaker 4: to host the hoist to Larry O'Brien, But they were
Speaker 4: probably hopeful they could take a step forward, and it's
Speaker 4: clear I don't see that happen. I think the big
Speaker 4: thing with me is I'm stunned with how poorly they've
Speaker 4: competed in a few of these games, Like that is
Speaker 4: one thing that I look at. And then Mike Brown
Speaker 4: obviously has had a chase down situation and issues with officials,
Speaker 4: Like it's just there's there's too much there that that
Speaker 4: has surprised me a bit.
Speaker 2: It's also a testament to how good you have to
Speaker 2: be to stay good in the Western Conference, right it's
Speaker 2: year to year. You can't just kind of stan pat
Speaker 2: or you're gonna fall backwards in the West. So we'll
Speaker 2: follow that as it goes. Tim McMahon joining us for
Speaker 2: the NBA Daily Assist as he does each and every
Speaker 2: week courtesy of esp and Tim uh covering the the
Speaker 2: NBA Cup from home tonight, or you you find your
Speaker 2: way to an NBA arena.
Speaker 1: I'll be sitting on the couch, have the league pass
Speaker 1: fired up. Good Son, you got the YouTube quad box
Speaker 1: thing go on? What a well, I mean, what a
Speaker 1: wonderful invention. That is great.
Speaker 4: It's a great way to spend the night.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 2: Tim McMahon at ESPN Underscore McMahon of course, at ESPN
Speaker 2: dot com, and on the television screen. Every once in
Speaker 2: a while you'll you'll, uh, you'll look up and catch
Speaker 2: old Tim McMahon on the big screen. Tim, appreciate your time.
Speaker 1: As always. We'll chat you next week, all right, appreciate it. Brothers.
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving to you,