Speaker 1: Welcome back the drivetime on ESPN seven hundred order Larcen
Speaker 1: Tony Parks filling in for Spence check Its on the drive,
Speaker 1: of course, recapping the Super Bowl championship for the Philadelphia
Speaker 1: Eagles hometown Britton Covey now a Super Bowl champ. We'll
Speaker 1: get to all of that as the show goes along
Speaker 1: a bunch of NFL guests to close out the afternoon,
Speaker 1: Omar Ruiz of the NFL Network, Robert Johnson, the former
Speaker 1: NFL safety and ute, and then Stevenson Sylvester of course,
Speaker 1: the former Pittsburgh Steeler linebacker played in a Super Bowl
Speaker 1: himself and now covering the utes and joining the station regularly.
Speaker 1: But now we're talking oops with Tom Haberstrow, the NBA
Speaker 1: daily assist Weekly with our guy, Tom Haberstrow. Tom, how's
Speaker 1: your weekend, my friend? Crazy?
Speaker 2: Another crazy weekend in the NBA. Maybe you know last
Speaker 2: weekend was even crazier. Of course, Luca Doncha's trade. But
Speaker 2: the fact of the matter is, you know this next
Speaker 2: rescinded trade. Mark Williams. I was on the air once
Speaker 2: again with the Blazers broadcast when that news broke. It
Speaker 2: is a never a dull moment. Do I dare say
Speaker 2: Porter that the NBA stole the stage during Super Bowl
Speaker 2: Week from the NFL after the NFL tried to take
Speaker 2: that corner on Christmas Day.
Speaker 1: Well, I was gonna I was gonna ask you, what
Speaker 1: is the what does the need to look like on
Speaker 1: a on a Super Bowl Sunday for a guy who
Speaker 1: I know is very hoop centric. I know I'm a
Speaker 1: football guy, so for me, I'll be honest with you.
Speaker 1: I didn't even there was no NBA anything on Sunday,
Speaker 1: But it look like for Tom Haberstraw on a Super
Speaker 1: Bowl Sunday, is it it's still all hoops? Are you
Speaker 1: a watching? Is it in the background? It is?
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: Luckily for the NBA, they had the matinee game, so
Speaker 2: there were three games on the NBA schedule, but they're
Speaker 2: all programmed to get over and done with before the
Speaker 2: festivities begin over there in New Orleans, and so they
Speaker 2: typically do this where they all have like one or
Speaker 2: two games on Super Bowl Sunday. I had written my
Speaker 2: Tom's title Tears, which I do every Monday at Tomdefinder
Speaker 2: dot Com on my sub stack, where I will rank
Speaker 2: into tears the title contenders and usually that goes out
Speaker 2: Monday morning, but because it was Super Bowl Sunday, I
Speaker 2: was like, you know, I'm going to get it out early.
Speaker 2: So I stayed up late Saturday night, early into into
Speaker 2: Sunday morning writing that piece. And so once that piece
Speaker 2: got out to my subscribers on Sunday morning, I kind
Speaker 2: of put the NBA to bed and it was full,
Speaker 2: you know, with my kids. My wife went over to
Speaker 2: her friend's house and watched the Super Bowl, and my
Speaker 2: friend is a big Eagles fan, so that was a
Speaker 2: lot of fun. But it really was interesting how at
Speaker 2: the topic of conversation at the Super Bowl party, a
Speaker 2: lot of it was about Luca and and the and
Speaker 2: the Lakers and the potential move to Vegas, all this
Speaker 2: stuff that we talked about on Basketball Luminadi Life Week.
Speaker 2: We had the guy that the Dallas attorney who concocted
Speaker 2: the theory that this Luka Doncic trade was not about
Speaker 2: basketball reasons. This was all about the Adolesen family from
Speaker 2: Vegas that buys the team in Dallas wants to build
Speaker 2: leverage with the Texas legislature to push through resort casinos
Speaker 2: and sports gambling. That's why they traded Luka Doncic in
Speaker 2: this guy's opinion, and all of this has kind of
Speaker 2: taken a life of its own. This idea that Luka
Speaker 2: Doncic was traded as part of this larger scheme to
Speaker 2: tank the MAVs franchise and build leverage to get the
Speaker 2: Texas legislature to cave and allow sports gambling and resort casinos.
Speaker 2: We heard from Patrick Dumont, who's the governor there for
Speaker 2: the governor of the the Dallas Mavericks, who pooh poohed
Speaker 2: the idea that no, we are here to stay in Dallas.
Speaker 2: But of course Porter, that's what Clay Bennett said about
Speaker 2: Seattle before he picked up and moved the team to
Speaker 2: Oklahoma City, his backyard where his businesses were. So until Porter,
Speaker 2: until that Las Vegas expansion team is awarded by the NBA.
Speaker 2: I think this whole Mavericks Luca trade will still be
Speaker 2: in the shadows, just existing, because otherwise, ma'am, it really
Speaker 2: doesn't make much sense from a basketball perspective, especially hindsight
Speaker 2: twenty twenty. But now that we learn that Anthony Davis
Speaker 2: is out for the foreseeable future, according to Mark Stein, indefinitely,
Speaker 2: potentially a season ending injury, it just adds more way
Speaker 2: to the idea that this was a really, really bad
Speaker 2: gamble by the Dallas Mavericks to trade Luca for Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: You mentioned obviously that the Anthony Davis going down maybe
Speaker 1: indefinitely part that doesn't help the case for the Dallas Mavericks,
Speaker 1: especially when you're talking long term right there, play is
Speaker 1: this is our long term future. They didn't they didn't
Speaker 1: want to invest in Luca in that way. Well, if
Speaker 1: your long term future is on this guy, and Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: who we know is prone to not being on the
Speaker 1: floor for large parts of the year outside of last
Speaker 1: year really was the first year he played seventy plus
Speaker 1: games in the last half decade plus. And then Kyrie Irving,
Speaker 1: who again, whether it's off the floor or on the floor,
Speaker 1: stuff we know is outside of the last calendar year
Speaker 1: sometimes not as reliable. So for you, from my standpoint,
Speaker 1: I agree, it's it's hard to find much sense there.
Speaker 1: You saw Mark Cuban come out and say that like
Speaker 1: he is obviously not as part of the basketball operation stuff.
Speaker 1: There are conspiracies everywhere, Tom, I wonder, I wonder personally
Speaker 1: why we're not hearing maybe more on the basketball side,
Speaker 1: from Jason Kidd, from the the Mavericks. Maybe the only
Speaker 1: thing I can think of, Tom, is that there is
Speaker 1: something that they know about Luca basketball wise or medical wise,
Speaker 1: that maybe they made a deal with the Lakers not
Speaker 1: to open this up to the market, make the deal happen,
Speaker 1: and there's something behind the scenes that is was the
Speaker 1: reason you got this deal across the finish line. Because
Speaker 1: like you, I just I don't find any reason on
Speaker 1: the basketball side for it. Where where have you landed
Speaker 1: on the on the conspiracy needle or do we still
Speaker 1: have a lot to learn.
Speaker 2: I'm not convinced by the basketball reasons. I just can't
Speaker 2: believe they not only traded Luca, but for fifty cents
Speaker 2: on the dollar. The Lakers did not put in multiple
Speaker 2: first round picks, the twenty nine or the thirty one.
Speaker 2: They put in the twenty nine, but not the thirty one,
Speaker 2: and then that one went to the Charlotte Hornets, which
Speaker 2: has now been nixed. So the Lakers do get that back,
Speaker 2: and the twenty eight swap that they had traded originally
Speaker 2: for Mark Williams now is backing their coffers. But the
Speaker 2: idea is like the Mavericks could have extracted way more
Speaker 2: value for Luka Doncich than they did, and it begs
Speaker 2: the question why didn't they? How is it possible that
Speaker 2: they were the ones who called the Lakers wanting so
Speaker 2: badly to trade Lucadntich for Anthony Davis that they were
Speaker 2: willing to not even get extra picks in the deal
Speaker 2: or Dalton connect in the deal, and they were willing
Speaker 2: to settle for what I said on this program last week,
Speaker 2: the B minus package from the Los Angeles Lakers. Look,
Speaker 2: Dallas fans are holding on to the fact or at
Speaker 2: least they did that Anthony Davis the last two years
Speaker 2: has been healthier than Luka Doncis. But that seems to
Speaker 2: me like arbitrary endpoints, Like if we look at the scope,
Speaker 2: the larger scope of Anthony Davis, he's had six times
Speaker 2: in his NBA career in which he has had a
Speaker 2: severe enough injury that it has knocked him out for
Speaker 2: at least ten consecutive games. Luca Doncis and it was
Speaker 2: this year that's it one on his ledger in seven
Speaker 2: seasons he's had won In the last seven seasons, Anthony
Speaker 2: Davis has had six and potentially now seven with this
Speaker 2: new adductor injury that could be knocking him out for
Speaker 2: the rest of the season. This idea that Luca was
Speaker 2: more of an injury risk based on what we know,
Speaker 2: based on his his injury history, and he's chubby, et cetera,
Speaker 2: et cetera, et cetera, it's asinine. It's asinine. The fact
Speaker 2: of the matter is Anthony Davis last seven seasons, basically
Speaker 2: overlapping with Luka Doncicic's career, has played in seventy two
Speaker 2: percent of his games and Lucas Dontich has played in
Speaker 2: eighty percent of his games. So Anthony Davis has been
Speaker 2: more reliability from a physical standpoint, Even forgetting the whole
Speaker 2: he's older, He's five years older than Luka Doncic. Then
Speaker 2: when you throw in the fact that he's five years
Speaker 2: older than Luka Doncic and the fact that he's a
Speaker 2: guy that is going to be dependent on defensively a
Speaker 2: lot more than Luka Danvich's and so there's just gonna
Speaker 2: be a lot more on his shoulders going forward. It
Speaker 2: seems to me like this was not totally about basketball reasons.
Speaker 2: There's got to be something else. And Patrick Dumont has
Speaker 2: thrown cold water on the idea that this is a
Speaker 2: larger scheme to move the team to Las Vegas. But
Speaker 2: until there's a team in Las Vegas, I just don't
Speaker 2: think that that theory is going to die.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, here at MRI, we haven't seen like that's
Speaker 1: what I'm wondering. I don't know.
Speaker 3: Every time this came up, I just kept thinking, Yeah,
Speaker 3: there's something I'm missing here, Like, there's really something I'm
Speaker 3: missing here. So we'll see what happens going forward. As
Speaker 3: far as what happens with the Lakers, they played the
Speaker 3: Jazz coming up tonight. Going forward, how do you see
Speaker 3: this changing your view on how you rank them big picture,
Speaker 3: whether it be pre tender like contender contender, and when
Speaker 3: this is all said and done, where they fit.
Speaker 2: It's a great question. I love the fit between Lebron
Speaker 2: and and Luca. I think they will both benefit in
Speaker 2: the same way that Kyrie Irving kind of took some
Speaker 2: of the should the weight off of Luca Donci's shoulders.
Speaker 2: I think Lebron can do the same thing for Luca,
Speaker 2: and Lucan can do the same thing for Lebron. There's
Speaker 2: such elite passers, they're so gifted in terms of how
Speaker 2: they get their shots. Lebron and Luca you can put
Speaker 2: them on any place on the chessboard and they will
Speaker 2: be effective. Lebron could be a screen or Luca can
Speaker 2: be a screener. Lebron is six 's eight two eighty.
Speaker 2: Same thing with Luca Doncis. He's huge. He can play
Speaker 2: multiple positions, not just the point guard, but he could
Speaker 2: probably play the five in certain situations, just like Lebron.
Speaker 2: And they might need to because now that the Mark
Speaker 2: Williams trade has been rescented and Mark Williams is not
Speaker 2: a great defender. He's one of the worst defenders at
Speaker 2: the position in the NBA. I wrote about this for
Speaker 2: Yahoo and at Tom deefiner dot com. Is he's he
Speaker 2: They might have dodged a bull here in the sense
Speaker 2: that like it might be a blessing in disguise that
Speaker 2: that trade got nicked because he is not a good defender.
Speaker 2: If you look at Anthony Davis had forty and twenty
Speaker 2: against Mark Williams in the Charlotte Hornets a couple of
Speaker 2: weeks ago, Niko Levushovich, Daniel Gafford, Evan Mobley all season
Speaker 2: highs against Mark Williams so the idea that Mark Williams
Speaker 2: was going to be there kind of Grek Lively or
Speaker 2: there Walker Kessler, a guy who can protect the rim
Speaker 2: and be an anchor for them at the five, it
Speaker 2: was a pipe dream. He has never been that in
Speaker 2: the NBA and he's only played forty percent of his
Speaker 2: NBA games, So from a health standpoint and from a
Speaker 2: defensive liability standpoint, not a great fit. But you know what,
Speaker 2: they don't really have much of an alternatives because on
Speaker 2: the roster they have Jackson Hayes and that's about it.
Speaker 2: They have some two way guys and Christian Wood who's
Speaker 2: been out with a knee issue all season long and
Speaker 2: doesn't seem to be any closer to return. So it's
Speaker 2: Jackson Hayes and Lebron James. Those are your like centers
Speaker 2: on the team. And so Jackson Hayes, interestingly enough, was
Speaker 2: the guy that went to dinner. According to Dave McManaman
Speaker 2: of ESPN, he had a great story of great report
Speaker 2: today on ESPN dot com talking about how Jackson Hayes
Speaker 2: interestingly is becoming a focal point of this Lakers team,
Speaker 2: not just because he's like the only living and breathing
Speaker 2: center on the roster, but also he's a guy that
Speaker 2: is represented by Bill Daffy, who is Luka Doncis's agents,
Speaker 2: And so they all went to dinner. The three of
Speaker 2: them went to dinner, and apparently, according to Davic Menamon Lebron,
Speaker 2: James is not the biggest Jackson Hayes fan and had
Speaker 2: questions about whether he could be the anchor of a
Speaker 2: playoff contender, a title contender as the starting center for
Speaker 2: the Lakers. And this is kind of this interesting dynamic
Speaker 2: where the Lakers right now are leaning on Jackson Hayes
Speaker 2: to be their defensive anchor and lob threat, which he
Speaker 2: can really do. But defense, I'm not so sure that's
Speaker 2: his strength. And so I in all of this context,
Speaker 2: I still have them as a two star contender on
Speaker 2: my tom title tiers. I don't have them as a
Speaker 2: three star, four star, five star. The only five star
Speaker 2: title contenders I have in my book are the Oklahoma
Speaker 2: City Funder, Boston Celtics, and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Lakers
Speaker 2: are far beyond that. I don't think that they're close.
Speaker 2: And this Mark Williams trade, the upside of him figuring
Speaker 2: out defense, I think it was worth a swing like
Speaker 2: the upside. It's a high risk, high reward move for
Speaker 2: the Lakers to try to get Mark Williams. But the
Speaker 2: alternative after the trade deadline, they can't go and make
Speaker 2: a trade until the end of the season, until the summer,
Speaker 2: and so I think the Lakers They're gonna have a
Speaker 2: lot of fun offensively, but defensively it could be a
Speaker 2: disaster unless Jackson Hayes becomes this all world defender, which
Speaker 2: I'm not betting on it, but you know what, I
Speaker 2: wasn't gonna bet on Mark Williams be in that too.
Speaker 1: You mentioned obviously that the center is kind of what
Speaker 1: they have to figure out long term. What does it
Speaker 1: look like tonight, because although as of this instant, Tom
Speaker 1: Lebron James is listed as days day and Luca Doncics
Speaker 1: has now been upgraded to probable, folks on the ground
Speaker 1: are telling the station that there are Lucas shirts draped
Speaker 1: over all of the seats in the arena, So I
Speaker 1: think he's gonna play. I think you're gonna see both
Speaker 1: Lebron and Luca tonight. What does it look like on
Speaker 1: the floor for the first time. Does it takes some
Speaker 1: time to gel or as you mentioned, with these two
Speaker 1: guys being so interchangeable, the passers the shooters that they are,
Speaker 1: is it something that you think should be pretty seamless.
Speaker 2: Well, is Dalton Connect playing? Question?
Speaker 1: What's the rules there? Is he technically weird?
Speaker 2: You know? I saw Dalton Connect on Friday in Charlotte
Speaker 2: outside the Charlotte locker room walking into the Charlotte locker
Speaker 2: room because he was the newest member of Charlotte Hornets.
Speaker 2: How was that shoot around the Spurs? Victor Rebana was
Speaker 2: in town and you know, there's Dalton Connect. I was like, oh, yes,
Speaker 2: he just came over. The trade deadline was, you know,
Speaker 2: less than twenty four hours ago, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: he's already here, he's ready to play. And if he
Speaker 2: had played in that Friday night game, I think league
Speaker 2: rules would say you can't rescind a trade if the
Speaker 2: player is already playing.
Speaker 4: So it's it's a very fascinating little subplot, is you know,
Speaker 4: if if they it's somehow cleared enough to allow Connect
Speaker 4: to play, this would all be moved.
Speaker 2: But of course Jackson Hayes's likely starter for them going forward.
Speaker 2: They have no real depth there, So what's really concerning
Speaker 2: from a minute standpoint is Lebron James will probably have
Speaker 2: to play some at the five. He doesn't want to
Speaker 2: do that if they Davis didn't want to play at
Speaker 2: the five because it was so grueling and it beat
Speaker 2: him up, so which.
Speaker 1: Was ridiculous to me, by the way. That's the one.
Speaker 2: That's the point when it comes to that twenty twenty
Speaker 2: run where they had a starting five next to him.
Speaker 2: But Anthony Davis is not a good three point shooter,
Speaker 2: not a good spacer at the four. So when I'm
Speaker 2: looking at the Lakers, I think they're gonna have to
Speaker 2: basically make sure that Lebron and Luca are happy that
Speaker 2: they find some sort of synergy there. I don't think
Speaker 2: it will take long. But in terms of beating the Thunder,
Speaker 2: beating the Grizzlies, beating the Houston Rockets, it's gonna be
Speaker 2: really hard to do that with Jackson Hayes as your
Speaker 2: starting center. If he gets in any sort of foul trouble,
Speaker 2: which I'm sure the Utah Jazz were a great foul
Speaker 2: drawing team. They get to the free throw line, a
Speaker 2: ton Isaiah Collier is gonna be going right at this
Speaker 2: dude every time he gets an opportunity because they're so
Speaker 2: thin at the center position that that is what teams
Speaker 2: are gonna be doing. They're gonna be hunting Jackson Hayes
Speaker 2: and trying to get the Lakers to go to their
Speaker 2: bench because they are remarkably thin and the and the
Speaker 2: buyout market is not going to be strong. It turns
Speaker 2: out that Alex Lynn, who is weighed by the Sacramento Kings,
Speaker 2: to facilitate some of these trades, he's going to the
Speaker 2: Indiana Pacers. And so you're looking at like Daniel Tice,
Speaker 2: You're looking at some random dudes around the league that
Speaker 2: you know have been just sitting on the waiver wire.
Speaker 2: Do the Lakers try to to, you know, in a
Speaker 2: flyer on some of these guys, or do they just say, look,
Speaker 2: it's not worth it this season to spend the kind
Speaker 2: of money or wasting a roster spot they have to
Speaker 2: waive someone in order to add another center. It might
Speaker 2: be a situation where they look at this and say,
Speaker 2: let's just wait till this summer rather than giving up
Speaker 2: any sort of financial or roster assets to make this happen.
Speaker 2: Let's just roll the dice here, see where it gets us.
Speaker 2: But of course, that's another year of Lebron James not
Speaker 2: competing at the highest levels. And of course, you know
Speaker 2: he could be a free agent, and Luka Dancisch is
Speaker 2: a free agent in twenty twenty six, So the Lakers
Speaker 2: are on the clock right now, all right.
Speaker 3: So by no means am I picking DeAndre Hunter to
Speaker 3: someday be a captain for the NBA All Star Weekend. However,
Speaker 3: that move with him going to Cleveland with Donovan Mitchell
Speaker 3: and company, I did like this in terms of what
Speaker 3: they're trying to do to get as many of those
Speaker 3: final pieces needed to become a championship team. How much
Speaker 3: of this kind of changed your trajectory of what you
Speaker 3: think can be in that battle, because we all know
Speaker 3: trying to top the Celtics in the postseason is no
Speaker 3: easy task.
Speaker 2: You know what's interesting is the Atlanta Hawks traded a
Speaker 2: couple of starters, bog Don Bogdanovic at leasing core members
Speaker 2: Bogdan Bogdanovic and DeAndre Hunter. They lose Jalen Johnson for
Speaker 2: the season and they don't have their pick this year.
Speaker 2: So Utah is looking at this like, man, we're in
Speaker 2: the Cooper Flag sweepstakes. The Atlanta Hawks traded two of
Speaker 2: their better players, if not their best players. You know
Speaker 2: in this deal that we're remaining on the team. Trey
Speaker 2: Young is a question mark going forward, Accordey to Chris
Speaker 2: Haynes that his future in Atlanta is murky. And DeAndre
Speaker 2: Hunters good man, he's really good and he's a guy.
Speaker 2: He's shooting thirty nine percent from three. He's excellent on
Speaker 2: Dho's handoffs. He's the number one most efficient scorer off
Speaker 2: of the handoffs in the NBA. The only one who's
Speaker 2: close is Darius Garland of the Cleveland Cavaliers. So they
Speaker 2: already use that action a ton. He can space at
Speaker 2: the four, potentially even at the five in Spurts.
Speaker 1: They don't need it.
Speaker 2: They've got Jared Allen and Evan Mobley at the five position.
Speaker 2: What they need is a guy, a big wing who
Speaker 2: can shoot and be a really strong defender next to
Speaker 2: Jason Tatum, you know, guarding him in the playoffs. And
Speaker 2: Isaac Carro, George Niang, these guys are not big enough
Speaker 2: Max Druce to reliably guard Jason Tatum as much as
Speaker 2: they would need to in a playoff series. But now
Speaker 2: DeAndre Hunter, he's an above average defender, he's big, he's strong.
Speaker 2: I think this is a really sneaky, underrated move at
Speaker 2: the deadline with the Luka Doncrich trade, with the Darren
Speaker 2: Fox trade, I think this deal with DeAndre Hunter is
Speaker 2: not going to get much play right now, but I
Speaker 2: wrote about it on Tomdefinder dot com how much I
Speaker 2: love this deal for them because if those Celtics go
Speaker 2: small quote unquote with Christaps Zingis at the five five
Speaker 2: out system, the Cleveland Cavaliers had a tough time matching
Speaker 2: up because of that three, that big wing they did
Speaker 2: not have. And if they want to go Jared Allen
Speaker 2: at the five and DeAndre Hunter at the four, where
Speaker 2: Evan Mobley at the five and DeAndre Hunter at the four,
Speaker 2: that's really interesting. Now. Before that was kind of a
Speaker 2: blind spot, but now they're doing much better on paper
Speaker 2: with the talent they have. I think the Cleveland Cavaliers
Speaker 2: should be considered co favorites in the East. I think
Speaker 2: they're that good and Kenny Atkinson is We're that well coached,
Speaker 2: or that team is well coached with Kenny Atkinson that
Speaker 2: I think the Cleveland Cavaliers have a great chance of
Speaker 2: coming out of the East now even better chance now
Speaker 2: that they got DeAndre Hunter.
Speaker 1: Before we set you loose, I'll let you get going
Speaker 1: here here shortly, Tom zoom out on that last answer.
Speaker 1: You just gave a little bit post trade deadline now
Speaker 1: that rosters are outside of maybe a buyout or two,
Speaker 1: which we've always discussed on the show, usually amounts to
Speaker 1: very minimal as far as is moving the needle for
Speaker 1: a tea team on the roster. There are some buyouts
Speaker 1: that you know, proved to be rotational guys in the postseason,
Speaker 1: but by and large, these rosters are set. Give me
Speaker 1: a list of teams from the East from the West
Speaker 1: that you think has a plausible chance of winning a
Speaker 1: name NBA championship and if anything at the trade deadline
Speaker 1: change those opinions.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So for me, it's OK, see over Cleveland in
Speaker 2: the finals. That's what I have right now. Cleveland's just humming.
Speaker 2: They're young, They've got guys who were playoff tested last year,
Speaker 2: learned a lot, got a new head coach. Boston just
Speaker 2: looks like they are in a malaise, like they look
Speaker 2: like they're bored. Maybe this is just the dog days
Speaker 2: of the schedule that they just can't wait for the
Speaker 2: playoffs to come around. I think it's not just those
Speaker 2: two out of the East that have a chance at
Speaker 2: getting to them a finals. I think it's a three
Speaker 2: team race. I think it's it's not Indiana, it's New York.
Speaker 2: I think it's three teams coming out of the East
Speaker 2: that have a real chance at winning the East and
Speaker 2: meeting Oklahoma City in the finals. But on paper, I
Speaker 2: don't think anyone's gonna have a chance at this Thunder team. Okay,
Speaker 2: they were so good without chet Holmgren. They are forty
Speaker 2: one and nine without them, they get them back. They're
Speaker 2: forty two and nine right now, and they have basically
Speaker 2: one of the best point differentials in NBA history, and
Speaker 2: most of the season they didn't have their second best
Speaker 2: player in chet Holmgren. I just think the Thunder are
Speaker 2: running away with the season. I think they are so
Speaker 2: good and they're about to get way better with chet Holmgren,
Speaker 2: who's one of the best young players in the NBA
Speaker 2: and fits perfectly next to Isaiah Hartenstein. I think the
Speaker 2: Thunder are the team to beat, And if I could
Speaker 2: put them, you know, on a six star tier, I would.
Speaker 2: That's how much I really believe in the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Speaker 1: Wow, So what happened even just between now and last year. Obviously,
Speaker 1: you know they've drafted well and they have a lot
Speaker 1: to still draft as far as assets go. But what
Speaker 1: changed even between now and last year? Where Nicola jokicch
Speaker 1: Lebron James with with Luca on a roster, you still
Speaker 1: have some of the best players on the planet in
Speaker 1: the Western Conference where you think they are out front the.
Speaker 2: Favorite well, First of all, Isaia Hertenstein is one of
Speaker 2: the best two way bigs in the NBA. He's a
Speaker 2: guy who is an amazing passer rebounder, like kind of
Speaker 2: a demonis sa bonus hub where he's just he's a
Speaker 2: great passer, energy guy. The Knicks just hated to lose
Speaker 2: him in the offseason. That's a great addition. Secondly, you
Speaker 2: know young this team is. They're one of the youngest
Speaker 2: teams in the league. They're the fourth youngest, the Jazz
Speaker 2: of the third youngest team by minutes played minutes weighted
Speaker 2: average age. They're just a hair younger than the Oklahoma
Speaker 2: City Thunder. They're getting better. Their team, their players are
Speaker 2: on that curve where they're developing and getting better year
Speaker 2: over year, So every year they're just gonna get better.
Speaker 2: Jalen Williams took the made the leap shake, Gildris Alexander
Speaker 2: made the leap from a from a playmaking and from
Speaker 2: a scoring perspective, got even better. Chet Holmgren is even
Speaker 2: better in the ten games that he are eleven games
Speaker 2: that he's played is better. I think they are not
Speaker 2: only just personnel wise better with Isaiah Hartenstein. Internally, those
Speaker 2: young guys have gotten much more improved, and so with
Speaker 2: every game they're getting better and better. And I just
Speaker 2: think the sky's the limit for that team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's fun to watch, and that's what the
Speaker 1: Jazz now have to contend with, regardless of how well
Speaker 1: Danny Ainge and co. Navigate these next few years in
Speaker 1: the NBA Draft and the like, You're gonna you're gonna
Speaker 1: be looking at okay see for quite a while. Tom,
Speaker 1: Let the folks know where they can find you, what
Speaker 1: they can find and and where to go at the
Speaker 1: moment for Tom the Finder and your.
Speaker 2: Other work, Yeah, Yahoo Sports national writer for them at
Speaker 2: Yahoo is where I do most of my nationally writing.
Speaker 2: In addition to Timdefinder dot Com, I'm the basketball analytics
Speaker 2: insider for the Point and Trail Blazers on their broadcast.
Speaker 2: And we have a game tonight against the Nicoli Yokitch
Speaker 2: ten Ver Nuggets at nine pm Eastern. So this is
Speaker 2: not only that Basketball Illuminati Every Wednesday you're gonna want
Speaker 2: to check out. This week, we have David Purdam of
Speaker 2: ESPN dot com, the sports betting and reporter for ESPN.
Speaker 2: We have questions for him about Terry Rozier and that
Speaker 2: potential scandal and the allegations there. And then of course
Speaker 2: this Mavericks trade and the Adolesen family and the potential
Speaker 2: for them to move to Vegas. We asked them about
Speaker 2: that too, So that'll come out on Wednesday. Basketball Illuminati,
Speaker 2: Basketball Illuminati, Basketball Basketball Illuminati. I say three times, keep
Speaker 2: your third eye open. Thanks so much guys for having
Speaker 2: me on. I love it.
Speaker 1: Tom appreciate it. Man at Tom haberstro of course, Tomdefinder
Speaker 1: dot com. Of course we're talking about the much anticipated
Speaker 1: debut of kJ Martin.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I tweeted out yesterday. I mean, if that
Speaker 3: news about the game being moved to ESPN doesn't, oh yeah,
Speaker 3: it's a dead givel. Come on, I mean, that's confirmation, no,
Speaker 3: and I love it just having some fun obviously ignoring
Speaker 3: the Luca debut and all of that. I think it's interesting.
Speaker 3: I like the way he broke down the Lakers. You know,
Speaker 3: in the contention, the right there, but there's still some
Speaker 3: things you've got to get sorted out. They are not
Speaker 3: a finished product. And then his breakdown obviously the Cavaliers.
Speaker 3: I think that's an eye opening one. I think it's
Speaker 3: unique with Cleveland now changing at this time of the year,
Speaker 3: but now having more of what they needed to be
Speaker 3: a better contender against Boston.
Speaker 1: I like that he, as you mentioned, brings up that
Speaker 1: on the margins is where you a lot of times
Speaker 1: win titles. You go back to the Celtics title and
Speaker 1: some of the signings they made in the off season,
Speaker 1: bringing in Drew Holliday, right, the little things that they did,
Speaker 1: although I think that's a much bigger deal Drew Holiday
Speaker 1: than many people maybe made it to be. That's how
Speaker 1: you win a title, and you make those little moves
Speaker 1: incrementally you build up to as the Calves are now
Speaker 1: the number one team in the East, I think there's
Speaker 1: I think the East is going to be a lot
Speaker 1: more interesting than just those three. Tom is pretty confident
Speaker 1: with the Knicks, the Celtics and the Calves. I think
Speaker 1: I think the East is going to be absolute chaos
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty five, but we shall see switching gears
Speaker 1: on the other side. Omar Ruiz of the NFL Network.
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