Speaker 1: Sound Van McMahon Van McMahon. That is Dan old Land,
Speaker 1: Texas flood as big as mud. He's a man man,
Speaker 1: Van McMahon, Van McMahon, deepn man.
Speaker 2: Good day to have our guy on the show Tuesday afternoon.
Speaker 3: An old friend is in town.
Speaker 2: Quinn Snyder and the Atlanta Hawks are here to take
Speaker 2: on the Utah Jazz and Van McMahon himself, Tim McMahon
Speaker 2: the first hit in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3: Timmy, Happy Tuesday. Are you doing, Hony Barterer, misteryear.
Speaker 2: Great to have you on. I'm on a daylight today. First,
Speaker 2: I just want to know your deepest and darkest secrets.
Speaker 2: What are the New Year's resolutions? And are we still
Speaker 2: on track?
Speaker 4: They're the same old and I'm already off track, So
Speaker 4: we'll see what we can do to get back on track.
Speaker 3: Makes two of us? Makes two of us?
Speaker 2: All right, weird, weird question. You're used to it right
Speaker 2: out of the gates here. How should How should jazz
Speaker 2: fans remember Quinn Snyder as he's in town here coaching
Speaker 2: the Atlantaks tonight?
Speaker 4: I mean I think they should remember him fondly. He
Speaker 4: took over a total rebuild. You know, he helped build
Speaker 4: that franchise up to the point where we can debate
Speaker 4: the semantics of contender. But you know, a team that
Speaker 4: was at the number one seed, a perennial playoff team,
Speaker 4: you know, a very good team that just couldn't get
Speaker 4: over the hump. And then you know that the inding
Speaker 4: wasn't the smoothest thing ever. But honestly, it was time.
Speaker 4: It was time for that chapter in jazz history to end.
Speaker 4: And it was going to end whether Quinn decided that
Speaker 4: he was leaving or not. So I think there should
Speaker 4: be nothing, but you know, but cheers for Quinn Snyder.
Speaker 4: I do have a confession. Have I told you the
Speaker 4: Quinn Snyder Sally Jesse Rafael story?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 3: And now it's all I want to hear.
Speaker 4: Okay, So you know when I say Sally Jesse Rafael,
Speaker 4: do you know what I'm talking about? Okay? So, Quinn
Speaker 4: did not know that people referred to the Red Frames
Speaker 4: as a Sally Jesse Rafael until my big mouth flapped
Speaker 4: it to him in Vegas and he was mortified. This
Speaker 4: is at the NBA Cup. I saw Quinn in Vegas
Speaker 4: at the NBA Cup. You know, you know, Quinn, Yes,
Speaker 4: just shoot up and like oh my. He could not
Speaker 4: believe that it was something that was a discussion point,
Speaker 4: and he was like, he was like, you know, I
Speaker 4: don't want to do anything extra to bring attention to myself.
Speaker 4: I'm never going to wear those again. I was like,
Speaker 4: come on, Quinn, sure enough, he's been in the black
Speaker 4: frame since. I hope, I hope maybe he'll have he'll
Speaker 4: let it go. But some folks in the Hawks front
Speaker 4: office thought it was pretty hilarious, so of their PR staff,
Speaker 4: their PR staff, well, we helped to decide the next
Speaker 4: day and said, yeah, we've kind of made a conscious
Speaker 4: decision not to fill him in on that one. And sure,
Speaker 4: sure enough, I opened my mouth and so much for
Speaker 4: the salary Jesse Rafiel.
Speaker 3: And knowing Quinn he will not let that go.
Speaker 4: Okay, I think, yeah, when when he didn't wear them,
Speaker 4: when he didn't wear him the next name, I was like,
Speaker 4: all right, then, I you know, I check in and
Speaker 4: I you know, obviously when I turned the Hawks on
Speaker 4: league pass, it's one of the first things I try
Speaker 4: to see, is he in him? Is he in him? Hope?
Speaker 4: It's been those boring old black frames. And I'd like
Speaker 4: to apologize to the UH to be super nerdy and
Speaker 4: be a fan who who notices that sort of thing,
Speaker 4: because I think I screwed it up for everybody.
Speaker 2: That is hilarious because I was honestly wondering why he
Speaker 2: stopped wearing them and I did not know is because
Speaker 2: you decided to openly mock him in front of people
Speaker 2: that he works with.
Speaker 3: That's great.
Speaker 4: I meant it as a as a you know, as
Speaker 4: a sarcastic compliment, but I truly did enjoy Besides Jesse roffeell.
Speaker 2: And I know the look, and mostly I know the
Speaker 2: look because I saw that look every time Andy Larson asked.
Speaker 3: Him a question.
Speaker 4: Andy is definitely familiar with the look that although there
Speaker 4: wasn't scorn for me, everyone's why and he would draw
Speaker 4: some scorn. There wasn't scorn for me, but there was
Speaker 4: definitely he was shocked and not thrilled.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I mean Will is pithy and sarcastic
Speaker 2: and dismissive, but Quinn will look through your soul, and
Speaker 2: yes he will. There were nights where I'd be like, Andy,
Speaker 2: you might want to leave early, dude, I don't know
Speaker 2: that you want to be walking on the street of
Speaker 2: Quinn's leaving I wonder if you've noticed any because I've
Speaker 2: shared this anecdote several times and actually talked about it
Speaker 2: with frank Leyden a couple of weeks ago, who was
Speaker 2: on the show.
Speaker 3: When Quinn first took the job. I didn't know him well.
Speaker 3: And Hubie Brown, my guy. I was in town to call.
Speaker 2: A game, and I knew Hube a little bit, you know,
Speaker 2: for just kind of being in the business or whatever,
Speaker 2: enough to say hello and ask him questions. And he's
Speaker 2: always very gracious. And I asked him about Quinn. I said,
Speaker 2: you know, I know it's early, it's his first year.
Speaker 2: Seems really sharp, really bright, really organized. You know, what
Speaker 2: do you think? And hub said to me, oh, he's great,
Speaker 2: but he'll probably burn himself out in six or seven years.
Speaker 2: And it took I think it took eight. I think
Speaker 2: it was eight full years on the bench. And look,
Speaker 2: there are several reasons why he elected to leave and
Speaker 2: take some time off. But you know, I'll exchange the
Speaker 2: text with him here or there, but I don't see
Speaker 2: him and talk to him the way I used to.
Speaker 2: Have you noticed any growth as he's taken on this
Speaker 2: new opportunity, or do you feel like this is going
Speaker 2: to be another Like Quinn's going to burn the candle
Speaker 2: on both ends and maybe find something else to do
Speaker 2: in seven.
Speaker 3: Or eight years.
Speaker 4: Yeah, honestly, man, I think that that Quinn only knows
Speaker 4: one way, and that way does not a glued to
Speaker 4: a lot of sleep, Like he's going to work around
Speaker 4: the clock. He's you know, Quinn's a maniac. Yeah, he's
Speaker 4: a maniac genius. And that's just the way that he's
Speaker 4: going to go about things. You know, Look, he took
Speaker 4: on a challenging job too. You know, if he had
Speaker 4: taken my advice, he probably would have waited and waited
Speaker 4: out that summer and kind of been the had a
Speaker 4: choice of some gigs, but he took really the first
Speaker 4: job that came open. Remember that was a mid season
Speaker 4: and hiring in Atlanta, and I didn't see a whole
Speaker 4: lot of promise. I didn't see a whole lot of potential.
Speaker 4: To really the credit of the front office and to Quinn,
Speaker 4: they have put together a really nice young core, and
Speaker 4: you know, I think this is where Quinn is kind
Speaker 4: of like just in his element when he's developing. You know,
Speaker 4: he's putting something together, he's building something up. They still
Speaker 4: have challenges in terms of future picks are being you know,
Speaker 4: out the door. But I think he's invigorated by being
Speaker 4: able to work with you know, Dyson Daniels. I mean,
Speaker 4: he was absolutely out of it. Hey, if we're making
Speaker 4: this trend, we have to get Dyson Daniels. Jalen Johnson,
Speaker 4: who you know, people are starting figure out, is really
Speaker 4: one of the great young players in the league. You know,
Speaker 4: a couple other young guys on that roster, but you know,
Speaker 4: is Quinn going to be a guy who last won
Speaker 4: place forever and ever? I'm not sure about that, but
Speaker 4: I do think he's joined kind of the opportunity and
Speaker 4: the challenges that he has right now with the Hawks.
Speaker 2: Systematically, is it kind of the same deal that he
Speaker 2: ran while he was here. I mean, obviously a lot
Speaker 2: of it is catered towards the personnel you have, and
Speaker 2: Trey Young is a ball in hand guy, unlike I mean,
Speaker 2: Donovan is certainly a ball in hand guy.
Speaker 3: But they're different players.
Speaker 2: Is this team tonight you're gonna be running a system
Speaker 2: that Jazz fans aren't familiar with because it's quinn system,
Speaker 2: or is a little bit different based off the personnel you.
Speaker 4: Know, I think that Quinn's system is like the great
Speaker 4: coaches don't fit players into their system. They fit a
Speaker 4: system around the talent that they have. Why were the
Speaker 4: Jazz such a heavy pick and roll team because that
Speaker 4: played to the strengths of the best players. You know,
Speaker 4: that played to the strengths of not just Donovan Mitchell,
Speaker 4: but especially Rudy Gobert. You know, I think it is
Speaker 4: similar with the with the Hawks, just because Srey Young
Speaker 4: is one of the best pick and roll playmakers in
Speaker 4: the NBA. You know, the Capel is not the springy
Speaker 4: guy that he used to be, but you know, he's
Speaker 4: still a capable finisher of congou those sort of things.
Speaker 4: So I think there's similarities. But like I said, I
Speaker 4: don't think that Quinn would run the same system if
Speaker 4: he was coaching thirty different teams. I think that he
Speaker 4: would certainly adapt and tweak and maybe even bring in
Speaker 4: completely new chapters of a playbook based on the circumstances.
Speaker 2: Yeah, now that's well said. Be interesting to kind of
Speaker 2: see how this rolls tonight. Now, the Jazz have been
Speaker 2: a little bit better as of late, and you know,
Speaker 2: the name and that's kind of really making the rounds
Speaker 2: because of a couple of games of just elite shot making.
Speaker 2: His Brice Sensiba and you know, they're sitting a lot
Speaker 2: of guys like we knew they would, and will tends
Speaker 2: to maximize whatever batalent he has at his disposal. They
Speaker 2: go down to Florida and they take care of a
Speaker 2: Heat team that's a little bit dysfunctional right now, and
Speaker 2: the Magic team, unfortunately, after that great start, just can't
Speaker 2: get healthy and it doesn't look like they'll be healthy
Speaker 2: for a while.
Speaker 3: So no one's hanging banners.
Speaker 2: But Bryce is shot making over the past few games
Speaker 2: is something we haven't seen before.
Speaker 3: Is there a chance they may have found something?
Speaker 2: Because ultimately their walking line was to get back in
Speaker 2: to the end of the first round. Decide to make
Speaker 2: that pick was because Bryce was available, and most of
Speaker 2: that is because he was an elite shot maker and
Speaker 2: scorer at Ohio State and it's taken some time to manifest.
Speaker 2: Could this be a player that maybe we haven't paid
Speaker 2: enough attention to.
Speaker 4: Well, first of all, you say, nobody's hanging banners, and
Speaker 4: if they take my encouragement, they will absolutely hang a
Speaker 4: Florida State championship banner tonight. And halftime.
Speaker 3: Don't tempt us. Don't tempt us to listen.
Speaker 4: You earn that, by the way, that magic team that's
Speaker 4: completely gutted by injuries went up and won a Madison
Speaker 4: Square Garden.
Speaker 3: Yeah they did last night.
Speaker 4: You so, But as far as since mug goes, look,
Speaker 4: these young guys, at some time or another, they're all
Speaker 4: going to have significant opportunity. And obviously the Jazz are
Speaker 4: looking for guys who take advantage of that, looking for
Speaker 4: guys who pop. And you know, since a Bah clearly
Speaker 4: has been popping recently. And you know, as you mentioned
Speaker 4: like his hope to be a you know, to have
Speaker 4: a nice, long, productive NBA career, he's got to be
Speaker 4: a bucket like he's not a super dynamic athlete. He's not,
Speaker 4: you know, going to be some kind of lockdown defender,
Speaker 4: you know, can he be a big time bucket getter.
Speaker 4: And it's flashes. But that's what you want to see
Speaker 4: from these young guys. You want to see flashes, and
Speaker 4: then you want to see those flashes kind of forming
Speaker 4: a consistency. Uh So, you know step one is the flashes.
Speaker 4: And he's had some big time scoring performances lately.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and he's a pure shooter.
Speaker 2: When he can get a shot off if the defense
Speaker 2: isn't paying aten to him, I mean, he really does
Speaker 2: have a chance to get buckets and score points, which
Speaker 2: is he he has over the past couple of games.
Speaker 2: And we'll see who they play tonight. We'll see who
Speaker 2: the Jazz elected to play moving forward. But one of
Speaker 2: the things that we continue to monitor here. Anytime somebody
Speaker 2: over at your spot at ESPN or the Athletic or
Speaker 2: whatever decides to talk about the trade deadline, the Jazz
Speaker 2: are inevitably brought up. And one name Tim that I
Speaker 2: keep hearing, and maybe it's just I don't know. I
Speaker 2: feel like there's this thing where maybe media members and
Speaker 2: other markets see a player here playing well and they're like, oh,
Speaker 2: we could get him. I just keep hearing that Danny
Speaker 2: and Justin are taking calls about Walker, and I just
Speaker 2: can't really wrap my mind around it. I don't know
Speaker 2: everybody's tradable, Okay, I'm not saying there isn't an offer
Speaker 2: out there for Walker Kessler, but based off of what
Speaker 2: we've seen this year and his age and how much
Speaker 2: they like him, I don't know that I'd even take
Speaker 2: phone calls on him right now, unless somebody's gonna blow
Speaker 2: my socks off.
Speaker 4: I mean, you take phone calls, but those phone calls
Speaker 4: in pretty quickly, unless unless somebody is making you with
Speaker 4: the type of offer that you can refuse. And look,
Speaker 4: the Jazz took a ton of phone calls on Walker
Speaker 4: Kessler over the summer, and obviously he did not get moved.
Speaker 4: There was a lot of interest in him. There was
Speaker 4: a lot of teams calling and trying to kind of
Speaker 4: buy low. He didn't get moved in and the stock
Speaker 4: has gone up, like you know, look, it's not a
Speaker 4: winning situation, but you have to be able to evaluate
Speaker 4: individual development and individual performance, you know, in those circumstances.
Speaker 4: And look, he's having a good year. I mean he
Speaker 4: came back and I remember, I think I told you
Speaker 4: this when I saw the Jazz in pre season here
Speaker 4: in Dallas. The first thing Will Hardy said to me
Speaker 4: was wait until you see Kesler. He had a great summer,
Speaker 4: you know, and I was like, okay, that's interesting. Then
Speaker 4: you know, hashtag muscle watch. But the guy was clearly
Speaker 4: in the weight room all summer, you know, bulked up
Speaker 4: and it's good weight. I think he was able to
Speaker 4: kind of a summer away from it. You know, he
Speaker 4: went to Summer League, but you know, not Team USA
Speaker 4: and all that kind of stuff. With the World Cup,
Speaker 4: I was able for him to kind of refresh mentally,
Speaker 4: and he's done everything that they were hoping to see
Speaker 4: from him this season. I'm not saying there's no way
Speaker 4: that he's traded. I'm saying it's going to be awfully
Speaker 4: pricey to even tempt the Jazz's front office.
Speaker 2: At the risk of a Tim McMahon eye roll on
Speaker 2: the other end of the phone.
Speaker 3: And I know what that looks like.
Speaker 2: I'm just gonna ask you this because we are in
Speaker 2: Salt Lake City, and we'll move over to other things.
Speaker 2: But the fact of the matter is marketing's numbers across
Speaker 2: the border all the way down. Now, that's not to
Speaker 2: me any indicator that he's not the player that he
Speaker 2: once was. His minutes are about the same at thirty two.
Speaker 2: He's been incrementally held out here or there, but nineteen
Speaker 2: points six boards, all of this splits are down. I mean,
Speaker 2: is there anything there there at all?
Speaker 4: I'll be honest with you, I have not inquired with
Speaker 4: anybody in UH in the organization recently about that I
Speaker 4: would be surprised. There's a whole lot of concern. You know, Honestly,
Speaker 4: he's a veteran guy. We understand what this season is
Speaker 4: for the Utah Jazz. I'm sure it's probably difficult for
Speaker 4: him to be dialed in on a day to day
Speaker 4: basis the way that you know, he probably would be
Speaker 4: in a more competitive situation. I personally don't think there's
Speaker 4: any massive reason for concern. And like I said, I
Speaker 4: I can I can speculate that the probably isn't within
Speaker 4: the organization, but I would be I would be misleading
Speaker 4: you if I had told you I'd been asked about
Speaker 4: him a lot lately.
Speaker 3: Fair Enough, we had at Haberstrow yesterday.
Speaker 2: We had bontemps last week, and they both had different
Speaker 2: answers about how this. Jimmy Butler Soga will and you
Speaker 2: just you don't mess with Pat. You just don't don't
Speaker 2: mess with Pat Riley. It's the wrong guy to mess with.
Speaker 2: And the weird thing is that if you're Miami, there's
Speaker 2: not a ton of incentive to like move him. It
Speaker 2: actually might behoove them to hold on to him and
Speaker 2: let him hit free agency for cap flexibility. So like
Speaker 2: they don't have to do anything, but this feels untenable.
Speaker 2: He's been suspended, and there are a lot of rumors
Speaker 2: concerning some teams who you cover, like Memphis, and then
Speaker 2: other teams like maybe Golden State, Phoenix, potentially Milwaukee.
Speaker 3: Just give me your best guess. How do you think
Speaker 3: this thing ends with Jimmy Butler.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's intentionally untenable, Like Jimmy has accomplished his
Speaker 4: short term goal of making the situation as uncomfortable as
Speaker 4: it could possibly be. I don't think that pat Riley
Speaker 4: the Heats are going to be bullied in to make
Speaker 4: him what they would consider to be a bad deal.
Speaker 4: At this point. Would they make a neutral deal, you know,
Speaker 4: would they make a deal where they're getting some sort
Speaker 4: of draft capital and no long term salary. I think
Speaker 4: they do that because I think it has reached a
Speaker 4: point where they're just like eight, let's just let's just
Speaker 4: get rid of the headache. Which again that's that's Jimmy
Speaker 4: doing exactly what he set out to do. There's a
Speaker 4: long time till the shade deadline. I I would lean
Speaker 4: towards and then probably figuring something out. And look, if
Speaker 4: they figure something out, maybe it's a three team, maybe
Speaker 4: it's a four team. You know, certainly the Jazz I'm
Speaker 4: sure involved on the periphery of that where maybe there's
Speaker 4: a way for them to kind of wiggle in there
Speaker 4: and get some sort of value, uh, you know, for
Speaker 4: for the future. It's not going to be easy though,
Speaker 4: for a lot of reasons. One his salary, to his personality.
Speaker 4: Three his age. You know, for all the talk of
Speaker 4: he's definitely gonna turn down the player option, I will
Speaker 4: believe that he turns down fifty two million dollars next
Speaker 4: season when it actually happens. It's a it's a complicated
Speaker 4: thing for many, many different reasons.
Speaker 3: Tell me what you think John Moran had.
Speaker 2: What questions you think JA has answered this year as
Speaker 2: Memphis is back to where we're accustomed to seeing them
Speaker 2: when John Moran is healthy and look, I don't know
Speaker 2: if it's a real reclamation story, but as of now,
Speaker 2: nothing' hit the news and they're a good team. And
Speaker 2: when he's in the lineup, he reminds us of who
Speaker 2: he is when all the noises kind of blocked out.
Speaker 2: But you cover this team, you know the situation. Well,
Speaker 2: what is there anything you think JA has set up
Speaker 2: to this point. That is encouraging if you're a Grizzlies fan.
Speaker 3: Listen.
Speaker 4: I think the biggest question that he's answered is Kim
Speaker 4: John Morant avoid you know, just shooting himself in the
Speaker 4: foot metaphorically obviously indeed by doing dumb things. And it
Speaker 4: has been fortunately very quiet around him for over a
Speaker 4: year now. And you know that's including a lot of
Speaker 4: time where he had idle time. I mean, he was
Speaker 4: traveling with the team last year when he was hurt,
Speaker 4: and I was very intense want to keep him involved,
Speaker 4: kind to keep him in that team environment and focus.
Speaker 4: But I'm not saying that that Joe is going to
Speaker 4: be getting his wee bow badges from the Voice Scouts
Speaker 4: or as a Cup Scots whatever that is anytime soon.
Speaker 4: But there's not the rumblings that there were about him,
Speaker 4: you know, a year and a half ago, fifteen months ago.
Speaker 4: And so that's the biggest thing. If Josh stays out
Speaker 4: of his own way, he's going to have a chance
Speaker 4: to have a Hall of Fame type of career, you know. Unfortunately,
Speaker 4: the other big question in him is about durability. That's
Speaker 4: again been a challenge. You know, he's had a couple
Speaker 4: of pretty significant injuries so far this season, is already
Speaker 4: not going to be eligible for all NBA. But man,
Speaker 4: you know that is a deep team that is difficult
Speaker 4: to prepare for. They do have a unique system among
Speaker 4: NBA teams these days, and if John and desen Bay
Speaker 4: and jam Jackson Junior are all healthy going to the playoffs,
Speaker 4: I think they will have answer to make some noise.
Speaker 2: What can you tell us that's the most recent take
Speaker 2: on just how dominant okay See has been. They've ran
Speaker 2: fifteen straight off and it's not just who they are now,
Speaker 2: it's what that front office has built them to be
Speaker 2: moving forward. As Bobby Mark says, we've talked about released
Speaker 2: the draft capital rankings, the Jazz were four. OKAC has
Speaker 2: won and they've also won fifteen straight games and they're
Speaker 2: thirty and five everything in the case, they're a dominant team.
Speaker 3: Out this way.
Speaker 2: What's the latest Tim mcman take on this recent run
Speaker 2: from OKAC.
Speaker 4: Well, first of all, cannot wait to watch Kaz versus
Speaker 4: Thunder tomorrow and then I'll be live when they play
Speaker 4: again at OKC on the sixteen. I mean, both these
Speaker 4: teams are on seventy win paces. It's the first time
Speaker 4: we've had teams on that kind of pace. Two teams
Speaker 4: at this point of the season, says seventy one seventy
Speaker 4: two when it was the Bucks and Lakers, Kareem versus Willed.
Speaker 4: That's a pretty heavy company. So this is I know
Speaker 4: in Oklahoma City might not be the markets the NBA
Speaker 4: would have selected, but they these two teams are awfully good.
Speaker 4: You're talking about the dumb one offense of the Cavaliers
Speaker 4: versus the number one defense of the Thunder Jego to Salazander.
Speaker 4: To me, it's a two horse race for MVP at
Speaker 4: this point, between him and Joker. He's unbelievabley He's does it,
Speaker 4: just scores thirty plus officially and does everything else that
Speaker 4: you can possibly want out of a superstar. But how
Speaker 4: dominant has this Thunder team been. Here's a stat for you.
Speaker 4: I'll even throw in the NBA Cup Final even though
Speaker 4: it doesn't officially count. They are twenty seven and three
Speaker 4: when they've had a seven foot are available for the
Speaker 4: entire game. Three of their losses one came today to
Speaker 4: night to check out or which you got to hurt
Speaker 4: in the first half, and then two of those other
Speaker 4: losses came during that brief little stretch when Chet was
Speaker 4: already out and Hart and Steinhattan recover from his broken hand.
Speaker 4: They haven't had those guys playing together for a single
Speaker 4: second year. Let me think about that. And by the way,
Speaker 4: Caruso hasn't played a whole lot. He's been dealing to
Speaker 4: Hit for a while, so they haven't had Chet or
Speaker 4: you know, for whatever, it's been a couple of months now,
Speaker 4: Caruso's playing a little bit. Those are two all defensive dudes,
Speaker 4: and they are the number one defense in the NBA
Speaker 4: by over three and a half points per hundred possessions.
Speaker 4: Oh and then they've got an MVP, if not front runner,
Speaker 4: you know, big time candidate who scores thirty plus with
Speaker 4: remarkable efficiency on a not just remarkable efficiency, but stay
Speaker 4: very rare. He has a done game. He had one
Speaker 4: in the NBA Cup Final. I'll give you that. And there, Matt,
Speaker 4: you can pretty much pencil in thirty on decent efficiency
Speaker 4: from him every single night.
Speaker 2: And they're so fun, man, They're fun to watch, which
Speaker 2: is good for a league that's looking for teams that
Speaker 2: people want to latch onto that isn't their own team.
Speaker 2: Before I set you loose since you brought up the Cavs.
Speaker 2: We started the show off with this. I mean, Donovan
Speaker 2: has shown some growth. He's playing winning basketball in a
Speaker 2: way that he has that he didn't hear. He admitted
Speaker 2: in a piece with The Athletic that he's trying on
Speaker 2: defense now and all of us were like, thanks, dude,
Speaker 2: but whatever, what are you willing to say about this
Speaker 2: thirty one and four start? Boston is still the clear
Speaker 2: favorite everywhere, but what are you willing to say about
Speaker 2: how real this is with Cleveland?
Speaker 4: Listen, man, thirty one and four, I'm not going to
Speaker 4: sit there and tell you that's a fluke if they
Speaker 4: just came through Dallas and look, they were playing the
Speaker 4: mass without Luke and ky Read. But there were times
Speaker 4: I was gasping watching that game, just the way that
Speaker 4: the Balls movie. I mean, Donvan made some passes and
Speaker 4: their hockey is his type of passes, but he made
Speaker 4: some passes that I was like, WHOA. And I had
Speaker 4: a good talk with Donovan afterward, sat down with him
Speaker 4: for about ten minutes or so before they left the arena,
Speaker 4: and like, you look at just his counting stats, they're down.
Speaker 4: That's not like a coincidence, and it's not a bad thing.
Speaker 4: You know, he's gotten over meeting to uh, you know,
Speaker 4: really kind of establish himself as a superstar honestly, even
Speaker 4: worrying about Datus or this, and that the guys had
Speaker 4: a point in his career where he just wants to win,
Speaker 4: and he recognized that him doing a little bit less
Speaker 4: one puts him in a position hopefully to be much
Speaker 4: fresher come playoff time, to be able to finish strong,
Speaker 4: to be able to you know, to feel good physically
Speaker 4: for an entire playoff run. But it's letting Darius Starlin
Speaker 4: really have have some more rope and thrive. And you know,
Speaker 4: the thing that Donovan kept coming back to though, as
Speaker 4: he said, Evan e Fan Mobley. Like again, it might
Speaker 4: not show them necessarily the numbers, but they feel like
Speaker 4: Evan Mobley has made a leap this year and that
Speaker 4: has been just a massive development for a team that
Speaker 4: was a good team last year. You know, it was
Speaker 4: a second round playoff team but wasn't a contender. There's
Speaker 4: no question they're a contender now. K beat the Celtics
Speaker 4: in a playoff series. I don't know, but I think
Speaker 4: it's possible. I don't know if they will, but they
Speaker 4: better be taken seriously because again we a'll go thirty
Speaker 4: one and four for a plus twelve net rating and
Speaker 4: have would be some sort of fluke.
Speaker 3: That was an unbelievable hit.
Speaker 2: And the only thing I can think about is how
Speaker 2: badly I wish I was there standing next to you
Speaker 2: when you asked Quinn about is Sally Jesse Raphael Glasses,
Speaker 2: because that must have been.
Speaker 3: A moment to remember.
Speaker 2: Man, But great stuff today, Be well, travel safe, chat soon.
Speaker 4: Okay, I do have great regrets now that we will
Speaker 4: never see the red frames again. I apologize to be
Speaker 4: an NBA fandom for that.
Speaker 3: There we go, There is.
Speaker 2: Tim McMahon covers the NBA for ESPN, covers the Jazz
Speaker 2: for ESPN when the jazz are worth covering respectfully.
Speaker 3: At ESPN Underscore, McMahon is where you find them.