Speaker 1: This is the baseline discussing the hot button topics of
Speaker 1: the NBA. Welcome everybody, your tune to the baseline. Calie
Speaker 1: Warnshaw discussing the hot button topics of the NBA, live
Speaker 1: and direct from you and yours And as always, man,
Speaker 1: just a really, really really active time now to go
Speaker 1: on the other side of the twenty twenty four five
Speaker 1: NBA season. As far as the year goes, we're soon
Speaker 1: and very quickly approaching NBA All Star Weekend. But if
Speaker 1: you really count the number of games that have been played,
Speaker 1: we arguably are at the halfway point of the NBA season,
Speaker 1: and like quickly before, our eyes were already going to
Speaker 1: be talking about, you know, playing playoff seedings, and you
Speaker 1: know who our perennial contenders are, and you know those
Speaker 1: are still jockeying for positions to try to get into
Speaker 1: the playoff Isaure's just really really amazing how quickly this
Speaker 1: time of the NBA season has flown by. But as always, man,
Speaker 1: you always got to have a good co pilot to
Speaker 1: roll with you while the NBA flies through. And there's
Speaker 1: always when we roll out the red carpet to my
Speaker 1: right hand man, Www. Dot shot Sports A net big Ahuna,
Speaker 1: Pac my man, mister Warren Charlotte's good sir.
Speaker 2: You know what it is, brother, You know it's MLK
Speaker 2: Day as a recording, excited to be here the NBA
Speaker 2: and full of fact as you listen to the midway
Speaker 2: point of the NBA season, it really did run up
Speaker 2: on us.
Speaker 3: You know, it's about to take the jewels.
Speaker 2: But you know there's a lot of great basketball left
Speaker 2: to be played here in a lot of great conversations
Speaker 2: as we head into All Star break, but even before that,
Speaker 2: the trade deadline just the week before, so a great
Speaker 2: time to be an NBA fan is always here rocking
Speaker 2: with the baseline.
Speaker 4: So we got a great show on tap for you guys.
Speaker 1: Hopefully you and yours have been enjoying the weekend especially
Speaker 1: still has been a lot of exciting games over the weekend,
Speaker 1: also a great competitive matchups in games leading into Shaw's
Speaker 1: favorite time of the week, NBA Rivals Week.
Speaker 4: I find that even try that over here.
Speaker 1: Uh well listen, I just find it funny, you know,
Speaker 1: Martin Luther King, you know tell it, uh instills upon
Speaker 1: us peace and walk amongst you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: The Shepherd and then the very next day, we're talking about,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, tearing each other apart. So
Speaker 1: kudos to the NBA on that as well too. Right
Speaker 1: like exactly, we got a great show on tap man
Speaker 1: uh a little bit, Shaw and I are gonna keep Listen,
Speaker 1: We've been very cognizant of some guys who clearly are
Speaker 1: on a mission, and they've been keeping receipts. There's some
Speaker 1: players right now who are on one, and they're gonna
Speaker 1: make it be known that they've been keeping receipts on
Speaker 1: those who have been casting them away, that this is
Speaker 1: basically their swan song, and they literally probably won't find
Speaker 1: any NBA work come the end of this season. And
Speaker 1: they obviously is that drastic, Okay, But I'm just saying
Speaker 1: they're keeping receipts. They've been written off, you put on
Speaker 1: the as far as the notes go, written written off.
Speaker 1: I'm just giving people a more you know, a cinematic
Speaker 1: visualization of what they might actually.
Speaker 2: Look written on her and out of the league is
Speaker 2: two different things, my god.
Speaker 1: But they could they could probably resurrect themselves in the
Speaker 1: G League.
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: They could probably resurrect themselves through the g League. But anyway,
Speaker 1: we got some guys we're gonna talk about that have
Speaker 1: been keeping receipts and been putting not just our pundits,
Speaker 1: maybe even ourselves. Maybe we spoke to it at some
Speaker 1: point before the season began, but they are basically putting
Speaker 1: the world and everyone unnoticed that they are still here
Speaker 1: and they are still thriving in the current NBA season.
Speaker 4: And then a little bit later on.
Speaker 1: We always do this, We do our check in, got
Speaker 1: our mid season reports. Uh, you know, got a weigh
Speaker 1: in on some of the up you know, the the
Speaker 1: the annual season awards, and a couple of other little
Speaker 1: nuggets we'd like to throw in there to kind of
Speaker 1: spice it up a little bit to you know, as
Speaker 1: our midway check in. As as we always say, before
Speaker 1: you get them straight a's. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: The interiom report got to look pretty nice, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. Gotta make you gotta make sure you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. You You you butter up the
Speaker 1: parents a little bit. If they're trying to get you
Speaker 1: that super an ees, you come in strong with those straight.
Speaker 4: A interim report cards.
Speaker 3: Right, people don't know what they.
Speaker 4: Okay, absolutely all right.
Speaker 1: As always, be sure to get my man Sports NBA
Speaker 1: get at me again, face Lee. This shows Twitter handled
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Speaker 1: Coming up, Sean and I are going to talk about
Speaker 1: those guys out there that are going to be they've
Speaker 1: been having such a really surprisingly great year so far,
Speaker 1: and they've been keeping they've been keeping receipts, and we've
Speaker 1: been watching them keeping those receipts. So we'll definitely get
Speaker 1: into that and a little bit later on we'll definitely
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Speaker 1: go anywhere, all right, Cali Warrenshaw Baseline NBA podcast Time
Speaker 1: for us to talk about players who at the beginning
Speaker 1: of this season we were really really, really hesitant in
Speaker 1: determining and whether or not their season would be a
Speaker 1: successful season.
Speaker 4: Some of the moves.
Speaker 1: That have taken in the off season really had us
Speaker 1: questioning what role some of these guys are going to
Speaker 1: be playing, whether it's on a new team or even
Speaker 1: the same team that they have and even through the
Speaker 1: course of the year, determining where their impact is going
Speaker 1: to be and have on that team to just say,
Speaker 1: you know, hey, they're really really, really an important piece.
Speaker 1: So there are a couple of players Shaw and I
Speaker 1: know sometimes we kind of miss on this because a
Speaker 1: lot of it is more predicated or saying, is this
Speaker 1: more of like a hoops redemption situation? And it's not
Speaker 1: so much about it being a hoops redemption as much
Speaker 1: as it is recognition about what that player is and
Speaker 1: the choice that some of the players make for not
Speaker 1: just the betterment of their career, but also how they
Speaker 1: you know, acclimate themselves to the team that they're playing
Speaker 1: on the situation that the team is currently in, what
Speaker 1: the overall goal is going to be it's pretty interesting
Speaker 1: that there's a couple of guys out there who arguably
Speaker 1: we didn't see them having a really successful season, given
Speaker 1: the circumstances that they were probably putting themselves under with
Speaker 1: the teams that they play for. But alas they've said, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no no, we're going to figure out a way to
Speaker 1: make this happen. We'll figure out a way to make
Speaker 1: this work. Our numbers are going to speak for themselves,
Speaker 1: and these dudes have been keeping receipts.
Speaker 2: And to some degree, some of the guys we're going
Speaker 2: to talk about are like, all right, well, we know
Speaker 2: who they are, we kind of know what they're about,
Speaker 2: and we're not really expecting much from them. And I think,
Speaker 2: as you so eloquently put, they've not necessarily a surprised
Speaker 2: but some people have kind of resurrected themselves in terms
Speaker 2: of the court of public perception. Some guys have boosted
Speaker 2: their already low very or they're.
Speaker 3: Very very low trade value.
Speaker 2: Now you should have got in early, because now the
Speaker 2: price of the brick has gone up, as they say. So,
Speaker 2: I think it's just important to highlight some positivity even
Speaker 2: with this, and that's not to say everybody on this
Speaker 2: list is on this team that is as a title contender,
Speaker 2: because that's certainly not the case for one guy for sure,
Speaker 2: But I just like to see that, hey, you know what,
Speaker 2: they didn't take last year or even the last couple
Speaker 2: of years downside and the way that media and I
Speaker 2: think even the league itself was kind of portraying them
Speaker 2: and say, Okay, well, you know what, I'm just going
Speaker 2: to be this less than player. I can still contribute,
Speaker 2: and I can contribute at a high level and whatever
Speaker 2: the role that team needs me to needs me to
Speaker 2: do at this point.
Speaker 3: That's why I think these guys deserve some.
Speaker 4: Props, absolutely, so let's rifle through them.
Speaker 1: I love that the first person you put at the
Speaker 1: top of your list was Russell Westbrook. You look at
Speaker 1: what Russell Westbrook has gone through over the last what
Speaker 1: three four years, It's really remarkable because I don't think
Speaker 1: anyone ever has questioned the the the competitiveness, the drive,
Speaker 1: the style and the energy that Russell Westbrook plays. One
Speaker 1: thing that we can always say about Russell Westbrook he
Speaker 1: will never cheat you or the game right. He will
Speaker 1: always come in giving you everything he has, and especially
Speaker 1: when healthy, he runs the well dry. He leaves it
Speaker 1: all on the basketball court, and I just find it
Speaker 1: amazing that over the last few years, some of these coaches,
Speaker 1: some of these organizations that he's played for, have not
Speaker 1: been able to figure out a way to utilize and
Speaker 1: harness that where it's productive not just for the team,
Speaker 1: but also for Russell Westbrook himself. And I think we
Speaker 1: were talking about this at the beginning of the year,
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook electing to go to the Denver Nuggets. I
Speaker 1: was like, man, I think that this is a sneaky
Speaker 1: good play for a team like the Denver Nuggets. And
Speaker 1: I wasn't quite sure on how the Denver Nuggets were
Speaker 1: going to try to utilize him. I wasn't sure what
Speaker 1: or not he would figure out a way for him
Speaker 1: to be able to play with a Nicola Jokic and
Speaker 1: if Jamal Murray is healthy and what that might mean
Speaker 1: for Michael Porter junior. And obviously the beginning of the
Speaker 1: season you saw a lot of the rough patches that
Speaker 1: were exhibited from this team. Does that mean that they
Speaker 1: have righted the ship by no means, but you can
Speaker 1: clearly see that Russell Westbrook's impact on this Denver Nuggets
Speaker 1: team has far out it has how far I lived
Speaker 1: as expectations I think that people have had about whether
Speaker 1: or not the Denver Nuggets can at least give themselves
Speaker 1: a chance to be as competitive as they had been
Speaker 1: even for last year, only to get ousted. Like if
Speaker 1: you need a guy to come off the bench, give
Speaker 1: you energy, if you need a guy to even start
Speaker 1: and get things kind of in order. Russell Westbrook is
Speaker 1: figuring out a way and to do those things. And
Speaker 1: you see the incremental improvements here and there with the
Speaker 1: Denver Nuggets, and hopefully Mike mulhan will fully figure out
Speaker 1: a way to get this team clicking on all cylinders
Speaker 1: so that you see the most competitive version of the
Speaker 1: Denver Nuggets through and through something that they suffered last year,
Speaker 1: not having anything left in the tank to see it through,
Speaker 1: for them to get themselves to, you know, eventually, the
Speaker 1: NBA Finals.
Speaker 2: Russ has figured out a way to play work himself
Speaker 2: into the starting lineup.
Speaker 3: Some of it is because of Denver's injuries, right.
Speaker 2: You know, Murray has been banged up now seems to
Speaker 2: be kind of hitting stride. Gordon has really been in
Speaker 2: and out a lineup for good majority of the season,
Speaker 2: so some of it has just been out of kind
Speaker 2: of necessity, as Mi cal Alona has tried to figure
Speaker 2: out ways to make the lineup itself work. But in
Speaker 2: the most recent stretch, Russ now is we're at the
Speaker 2: halfway point and he's actually started half of the games
Speaker 2: that he's been in and it seems to be working fabulously.
Speaker 3: I think with he and and Joker together.
Speaker 2: Part of it, too, is that it gives the Denver
Speaker 2: Nuggets another playmaker on the floor at the same time,
Speaker 2: as opposed to where Russ was mostly those second units,
Speaker 2: and now it takes some pressure off of Jamal Murray,
Speaker 2: who's not again not a bad playmaker, but it's not
Speaker 2: his first motive operation.
Speaker 3: Let's just kind of put it that way.
Speaker 2: I like the fact that Russ has been able to
Speaker 2: get there, and there's some out there, some other reporters
Speaker 2: and pundits it's like, well, if he's gonna play with Drooker,
Speaker 2: of course his plus minus is going to be better,
Speaker 2: and Joker makes everybody better, and they just kind of
Speaker 2: want to always continue to detract from from what Westbrook does.
Speaker 2: Listen for what it is. I'm not saying he's send
Speaker 2: in the world on fire. He's always going to guy.
Speaker 2: He's always going to be a guy who's going to
Speaker 2: be able to score, you know, double figures and then
Speaker 2: get six or seven sists and.
Speaker 3: Five or six rebounds.
Speaker 2: It's just kind of like you can pencil those in,
Speaker 2: pend those in even to the day he's probably forty
Speaker 2: years old, because there's a certain level of energy.
Speaker 3: And hustle that he's always going to bring.
Speaker 2: But his off ball cutting again and is obviously his
Speaker 2: his secondary playmaking. With Joker being out there has been
Speaker 2: something Nuggets have been able to figure out and utilize
Speaker 2: to their advantage and now have them looking like a
Speaker 2: very pretty forma team in the Western Conference when we
Speaker 2: were almost writing them off, especially in the first week
Speaker 2: or two of the season.
Speaker 4: Yeah, real quick to add to your point.
Speaker 1: What I especially love about what Russell Westbrook is doing is,
Speaker 1: especially to what you're saying regarding Jamal Murray, teams have
Speaker 1: figured out how to defend the Murray Jokic, you know,
Speaker 1: pick and pop, pick and roll situation where Jokic just
Speaker 1: sets up in the middle of the circle and distributes
Speaker 1: and does others. So and I'm not saying that Mike
Speaker 1: Malone has not done anything to change it. I'm sure
Speaker 1: that he has attempted to do that, but it's very
Speaker 1: difficult to adjust and to make those type of adjustments
Speaker 1: when the rest of the other guys that are on
Speaker 1: the floor clearly are not guys that move north and south.
Speaker 1: Michael Porter Junity does not move north and south. Aaron
Speaker 1: Gordon does not move north and south. All of your
Speaker 1: players are like all around the three point line and
Speaker 1: then kind of move in accordance to where Jokic, you know,
Speaker 1: is dictating certain things. You need someone that just has
Speaker 1: an effet mentality and it goes north and south literally
Speaker 1: all the time. And yes, Westbrook doesn't shoot three ball
Speaker 1: very well, but you know what, sometimes it's not what's required.
Speaker 1: And one other thing that I think is important as
Speaker 1: well too, show I want to bring up because you
Speaker 1: mentioned him, you usually can book him getting like five
Speaker 1: or six rebounds a game. Let's not remember, let's not
Speaker 1: forget outside of Nikola Jokic and only on when there's
Speaker 1: really solid nights from Aaron Gordon, this Denver Nuggets team
Speaker 1: does not do a really good job of rebounding the basketball, right.
Speaker 1: You don't expect that from Jamal Murray. You don't get
Speaker 1: that a lot from Christian Brawn, who's still kind of
Speaker 1: coming into his own right. So a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: that was something that they didn't have to worry about
Speaker 1: because they had such a deep team, right the Jeff Greens,
Speaker 1: the Bruce Browns, the Contavious Colwell Popes. Those guys would
Speaker 1: get into the paint, they'd get into trenches and get
Speaker 1: rebounds and salvage Jamal Murray from having to make those
Speaker 1: kind of commitments. Right, they don't have that, they haven't
Speaker 1: had it the last couple of years. And so now
Speaker 1: you got that back with a guy like Russell Westbrook.
Speaker 1: So those second chance opportunities, those opportunities that you typically
Speaker 1: would need in order to get those transition baskets going.
Speaker 1: So you can get Porter out to shoot those open
Speaker 1: transition threes or fast break threes as well, wherever we
Speaker 1: want to call them, or Braun or any of those guys.
Speaker 1: That doesn't happen unless you got a guy like Westbrook
Speaker 1: on that court. And to see him still actively doing that,
Speaker 1: you can see how that is so much helping this
Speaker 1: Denver Nuggets team because if not, it's always on the
Speaker 1: shoulders of Nikola Jokic or on a good night when
Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon is not banged up and has actually committed
Speaker 1: himself down in the trenches.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll back up your point and kind of close
Speaker 2: it with this. The Denver Nuggets are leading the league
Speaker 2: in fast break points. The Denver Nuggets with Nicola Jokic
Speaker 2: as the best player in the league, leading the charge.
Speaker 3: Right, But you wouldn't out there.
Speaker 2: No one would say you know Jokic for you saying
Speaker 2: both out there on the basketball court. So the fact,
Speaker 2: I think a lot of that is the Westbrook effect.
Speaker 2: The fact that he is able to rebound and then
Speaker 2: sprint up the court for anybody to kind of get
Speaker 2: some open looks, even if it is you hit yoker
Speaker 2: joker kind of on that secondary break, you know, if
Speaker 2: he's trailing to play, or he's getting it out there
Speaker 2: to a sprinting Christian.
Speaker 3: Brawn or you know, maybe a Jamal Murray. I'm not
Speaker 3: saying it's all Westbrook.
Speaker 2: You know, mikel ownA has had to figure out some
Speaker 2: stuff to maybe make some tweaks in their offense in
Speaker 2: that's sense to be able to do that, But him
Speaker 2: being in that lineup on a regular basis, and the
Speaker 2: fact that he can rebound as well as he does
Speaker 2: from the guard position and then initiate offense the Nuggets.
Speaker 3: The Denver Nuggets are first and fast break points this season.
Speaker 1: Crazy looking golden shout out to our girl, Jill Scott,
Speaker 1: got them, got them all on that R and B
Speaker 1: track right now, got the neo soul and the digging
Speaker 1: in the Denver Nuggets. You're tuned to the baseline. Callie
Speaker 1: warren Shaw discussing the hot button topics of the NBA.
Speaker 1: Talk about players that are keeping receipts. Let's go ahead
Speaker 1: and move on to the next one. Shaw, I really
Speaker 1: like this one. You know what I'm saying, Your man,
Speaker 1: Ziggity Zach Levine, you know what I'm saying, holding it
Speaker 1: down for the Chicago Bulls.
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying, Like, what more can be said?
Speaker 1: We've I think a lot of people like to down
Speaker 1: downplay like his overall game, you know, partly because he
Speaker 1: never stays healthy enough to be on the basketball court
Speaker 1: for us to truly believe that he's going to have
Speaker 1: an impact with whatever team that he's playing for. You
Speaker 1: look at this Chicago Bulls team. I'm sure that Billy
Speaker 1: Donovan wants to hug him and then wants to to
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, like like like bury him
Speaker 1: in the locker in the back room and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: So you just if the Bulls could just finally tank
Speaker 1: because Zach Levine cannot help himself, would be just damn
Speaker 1: good on the basketball court.
Speaker 4: And he's keeping receipts on people who think otherwise.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Zach is.
Speaker 2: Twenty three and a half a game before, like oh,
Speaker 2: that's you know, kind of like maybe not all that
Speaker 2: sexy or whatever the case to be.
Speaker 3: But what you do needed to pay attention.
Speaker 2: To is the fifty one percent from the floor and
Speaker 2: the forty five percent he shooting from the three point
Speaker 2: line right now, fifty one percent is the highest he's
Speaker 2: shot like in the last six or seven seasons. In
Speaker 2: addition to obviously being healthy, he's figured out a way
Speaker 2: to let the game come to him, even with the
Speaker 2: emerging guys like Kobe Wide even Josh Giddy there now
Speaker 2: to kind of help set him up on some plays.
Speaker 2: You know, Vooch is still there, you know, getting some
Speaker 2: shots and obviously some rebounds and things like that. You know,
Speaker 2: but Zach has just matured and I think he's heard
Speaker 2: all the rumors and said, you know, hey, this is
Speaker 2: not a winning guy, and he's really kind of fostered
Speaker 2: that now into the space, and like, you know what, Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm good at scoring the basketball. I can even do
Speaker 2: some secondary play creation. But I don't need to be
Speaker 2: a ball hall to do any of those things. I
Speaker 2: can fit within the proverbial offense. And when he gets hot,
Speaker 2: he gets hot. He's got still got great balance, got
Speaker 2: great balance on his three point shot, great bounce on
Speaker 2: his jumper. In general, I'm not saying this to like,
Speaker 2: you know, cap as people say to say now, Like
Speaker 2: I just was never as down on Zach Lavine I think.
Speaker 3: As everybody else was.
Speaker 2: And I was like, yeah, he's been injured. Yeah, maybe
Speaker 2: not think he's like the biggest winning player.
Speaker 3: But he's a good dude.
Speaker 2: And there was a couple of seasons ago here he
Speaker 2: was winning games for Chicago even with the Rods in there.
Speaker 3: Listen, I like Zach.
Speaker 2: I love this kind of pseudo redemption story, at least
Speaker 2: for the season. And this is a guy where there
Speaker 2: was like second round picks and basically just salary cap
Speaker 2: match that people were saying second round picks for a
Speaker 2: guy who gives.
Speaker 3: You over twenty a game.
Speaker 2: And now look what he's doing over twenty a game
Speaker 2: on fifty percent and forty percent from the from the
Speaker 2: three point line, and he.
Speaker 3: Shoots a free throw, shoots free throws as well too.
Speaker 2: I listen, if I'm Chicago, I'm selling as high as
Speaker 2: I possibly can, and it may still not get you
Speaker 2: a first round pick, but I think you can get
Speaker 2: extractedly a little bit more equity now out of this
Speaker 2: if you're the Chicago Bulls. Either way, if you don't
Speaker 2: think zach Lavine has definitely had a bounced back season.
Speaker 4: My bad. Here.
Speaker 1: Do you think that what zach Lavine is doing is
Speaker 1: giving an opening for the Chicago Bulls to figure out
Speaker 1: a way to keep him on this roster, grow with
Speaker 1: this roster, and maybe help to assemble a couple of
Speaker 1: free agency pieces that might help him take another step forward. Look,
Speaker 1: are they gonna usurp the Milwaukee Bucks?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 4: Right, They're still not good enough to do that.
Speaker 1: I think you probably have a better opportunity of moving
Speaker 1: Vucevich before you move Zachly. But I think only in
Speaker 1: the sense that what zach Levine is completely giving you
Speaker 1: right now is so hard to find.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 1: So, if you're trading on that part of it and saying,
Speaker 1: all right, we want the highest value possible, think about
Speaker 1: who is actually out there that are actual willing trade
Speaker 1: partners to give up whatever talent that they're probably going
Speaker 1: to be grooming anyway. I think this comes down to
Speaker 1: the maturity of zach Levin. Now, I'm not saying zach
Speaker 1: Lavine was not mature. I'm just saying zach Lavine has
Speaker 1: always been caught up in a bad situation where it
Speaker 1: has always seemed to marginalize the potential of the talent
Speaker 1: that he could actually show you when he's playing around
Speaker 1: other individuals who are not quite on the same wavelength
Speaker 1: of what the Chicago Bulls were intending to do when
Speaker 1: they made the moves that they made a few years ago.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: And it's not to say that he can't get along
Speaker 1: with the likes of a DeMar Derozen, but clearly there
Speaker 1: was a different strategy involved in what was taking place,
Speaker 1: or else they probably would have never made that move
Speaker 1: to happen to begin with. Right, So, all that I'm
Speaker 1: saying is maybe now there's a different way to you
Speaker 1: look at how zach Levine can help help the Chicago
Speaker 1: Bulls and maybe figure out another retooling sort of speak
Speaker 1: or readjustment sort of speak of the right combination with
Speaker 1: what he's giving you now with what you want to
Speaker 1: see from the Chicago Bulls. I'm not saying that he
Speaker 1: should be a cornerstone player, but I am saying is
Speaker 1: is how do you get let something like that go
Speaker 1: that's giving you what you're getting right now this season?
Speaker 1: Because I feel like he could probably do that over
Speaker 1: the next few years if you're not demanding too much
Speaker 1: more than what he's already shown you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think at twenty nine years old,
Speaker 2: he's not necessarily somebody And I know you're not saying
Speaker 2: this verbatim, but you're going to start to rebuild around
Speaker 2: I think the Bulls do still need to tear it
Speaker 2: all the way down, and that could include even as
Speaker 2: much as Kobe White, like, I mean, it really could.
Speaker 2: I think they've made Patrick Williams available in trade. It's
Speaker 2: never really seemed like it's going to pan out for dude.
Speaker 2: There Vouja's voucha and you know, the Warriors are stiffing
Speaker 2: around and anybody interested the big man is stuffing around
Speaker 2: there and Zach has obviously been mentioned in Trade Room
Speaker 2: is previousy. I think while he's built his equity back up,
Speaker 2: you do need to strike while the iron is hot,
Speaker 2: because as much praise as I want to heap upon him,
Speaker 2: he is has he at least more recently, has had
Speaker 2: a history of injuries, So you don't want that the
Speaker 2: flow up again. And now you can't get the value
Speaker 2: that you could get right now, especially within the next
Speaker 2: couple of weeks.
Speaker 3: Remember they shut him down last year around this time
Speaker 3: or whatever.
Speaker 2: It was, thought, okay, maybe he would be able to
Speaker 2: get back, and then the injury just never healed and then.
Speaker 3: They were just like, all right, well, there's nothing we
Speaker 3: can do because nobody's going to trade for air quote
Speaker 3: damage goods.
Speaker 2: He's rebuilt his value, in my opinion, and I think
Speaker 2: the Bulls should continue to should try to move him on,
Speaker 2: and if they don't this year, then that's okay. But
Speaker 2: I'd be surprised if he's a Bull going into the
Speaker 2: start of next season, especially with two years left on
Speaker 2: his deal and that player option.
Speaker 1: All right, let's go ahead and transition to the next one.
Speaker 1: Shaw our man, your boy, Jordan Poole.
Speaker 2: Everybody's my guy, and my boy doesn't he lately got
Speaker 2: a large family, and I got a large family.
Speaker 4: You have an extended young son's family. There. Yeah, let
Speaker 4: me let me play, let me start.
Speaker 1: But anyway, Jordan Poole right like, and I know people
Speaker 1: are just like, come on, what do you mean? Like
Speaker 1: he's playing arguably on one of the worst teams in
Speaker 1: the NBA, right with the Washington Wizards. This is true,
Speaker 1: but you really can't argue with some of the performances
Speaker 1: that Jordan Poole has put on. And I know there
Speaker 1: have been some quite a there have been quite a few,
Speaker 1: some shocked in the full moments as well. But I
Speaker 1: would argue Jordan Poole has put up some pretty gaudy
Speaker 1: numbers given the circumstance, especially in a situation where everybody
Speaker 1: knows that you're arguably the best scorer on that team,
Speaker 1: even if you do have Kyle Kuzma, right, but you
Speaker 1: are still his best scorer and still able to pull
Speaker 1: up north of thirty points you know, per game on
Speaker 1: many a nights.
Speaker 4: It says something. It means that clearly.
Speaker 1: You have not been completely shook up by the notion
Speaker 1: or what has happened or what transpired that led you
Speaker 1: to be outcasted to the Washington Wizards. And clearly it's
Speaker 1: a shame that the you know, executives of the Washington
Speaker 1: Woods is still not done their due diligence and putting
Speaker 1: a really good quality team with the type of talent there.
Speaker 1: But needs to say George Poole, J Poole, he's been volving.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, he's averaging the career high that we thought
Speaker 2: he was going to be averaging last year. We thought,
Speaker 2: you know, everyone thought he's going to go there and
Speaker 2: be basically James hard and light, you know, going into Washington,
Speaker 2: you know, as when Hard to let the okay seed
Speaker 2: to Houston. Now that was obviously lofty in terms of
Speaker 2: expectations and catachorically wrong and incorrect. But he did not
Speaker 2: live up to any symbolance of that. His confidence really
Speaker 2: did seem shot. The minutes were weird, I think with
Speaker 2: he and the coach, and he just looked timid out
Speaker 2: there on a regular basis. He is back, he's not overshooting.
Speaker 2: He's only averaging one more shot per game than he
Speaker 2: did then last year. The minutes are still about the
Speaker 2: same and the actual field goal percentage is the same
Speaker 2: or you know, forty one and forty three. So I
Speaker 2: mean there's marked some marked improvement, but we're the biggest
Speaker 2: differences is a three point percentage. He's getting back to
Speaker 2: what we thought he could be right now, shooting forty
Speaker 2: percent from three, you know, and even two more attempts,
Speaker 2: even more volume than he was last year. So the
Speaker 2: types of shots you're taking are more threes, but you're
Speaker 2: shooting the threes.
Speaker 3: At a higher percentage.
Speaker 2: Is getting his average up to roughly about twenty two
Speaker 2: points per game. Yes, on a terrible, terrible, terrible basketball team.
Speaker 2: They are god awful and they will be in the
Speaker 2: segment that we're talking about here in the next half
Speaker 2: of the show. But I just want to, you know,
Speaker 2: take some dirt off and stop besmirching the name of
Speaker 2: Jordan Poole.
Speaker 3: He is who we think he is.
Speaker 2: He's a volume scorer, but he's doing it in a
Speaker 2: way that now I think is more acceptable and looks
Speaker 2: more like the guy that left Golden State than the
Speaker 2: guy who arrived at Washington last year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think the one thing I want to
Speaker 1: add on to this show, because you brought up all
Speaker 1: of the great points about this, Listen, say what we
Speaker 1: want to say about the Washington Wizards as bad as
Speaker 1: a team, they are scoring, right, and in this climate
Speaker 1: of the NBA, that's still going to mean something. Right,
Speaker 1: the Sacramento Kings, as much as we wanted to give
Speaker 1: praise to how much they had overachieved, part of the
Speaker 1: reason was is because you had a defensive minded coach
Speaker 1: who embraced the talent that was on that roster and
Speaker 1: he let those guys loose. And they arguably were one
Speaker 1: of the best offensive scoring teams you know, within the
Speaker 1: last ten years, right like they were even rivaling out
Speaker 1: of the Golden State Warriors. That it made for must
Speaker 1: see TV. And I'm just saying, like, if you are
Speaker 1: an organization, it's about trying to win a fan base,
Speaker 1: win some level of excitement. You got to have something
Speaker 1: excitable for people to you know, get up for. And
Speaker 1: I'm sure the people out there in the DMV are
Speaker 1: just like, all right, look, at least we got a baller.
Speaker 1: At least we got somebody out there that's gonna make
Speaker 1: it entertaining on a night and night out basis. And
Speaker 1: the next thing I think that comes to play is,
Speaker 1: all right, some of those guys they're not great players
Speaker 1: collectively as a team. But there are some guys that
Speaker 1: you can actually see some opportunities there that it may
Speaker 1: be worth keeping them on the roster if Jordan Poole
Speaker 1: playing next to them, you see quality games being played
Speaker 1: by those guys right by the Kubali's and you know
Speaker 1: and others. So you know, my whole thing is is
Speaker 1: that I think he is starting to become a better
Speaker 1: player because you're starting to see that the team you know,
Speaker 1: will go out there and will they will compete at
Speaker 1: even knowing that the stigma out there that they are
Speaker 1: a bad basketball team. They're going to compete and they're
Speaker 1: going to try to score the basketball. If they lean
Speaker 1: into that aspect of it, there's some excitement there, there's
Speaker 1: some reason for people to watch him. And I think
Speaker 1: that's going to open up the doors again for Jordan
Speaker 1: Poole not to go back to his ways, to what
Speaker 1: you're saying before, but to really give himself an opportunity
Speaker 1: to tell people it's like, yeah, I am that damn
Speaker 1: good of a player.
Speaker 4: This isn't a fluke. You know, we can make certain
Speaker 4: things happen.
Speaker 1: We just can't make it happen on a night in
Speaker 1: night out basis, we're not there yet, and I think
Speaker 1: that's the reason why I think I want to give
Speaker 1: Jordan Pool his flowers a little bit, because he could
Speaker 1: clearly be doing his solo mission like he is, and
Speaker 1: as god awful as that team is, it's a boring
Speaker 1: bariant of basketball that nobody wants to watch. They're winning
Speaker 1: some games because even while he's doing what he's doing,
Speaker 1: the rest of those guys are out there scoring the basketball.
Speaker 1: So him being out there, he has to be also
Speaker 1: partially respond before then we got to give him credit
Speaker 1: for that at least.
Speaker 2: Yeah, career hiring points career high and assists career high
Speaker 2: and steals again, bad team career highing three point percentage
Speaker 2: as well.
Speaker 3: Listen, it's it's it's a.
Speaker 2: Decent season for Jordan Poole, especially from what he was
Speaker 2: coming off of, and a lot of people wanted to
Speaker 2: just say, you know what, this guy is not a
Speaker 2: good basketball player at all and not worth you know,
Speaker 2: the not worth the trade that Golden State ended up doing.
Speaker 3: I think the.
Speaker 2: Warriors, again, I don't think they regret the move, but
Speaker 2: they could still utilize a guy like him, especially in
Speaker 2: the role that he was that he was playing for
Speaker 2: them by guns, be bygones. But you know, kudos to
Speaker 2: Jordan Poole and hopefully continues on this upper trajectory this
Speaker 2: season and beyond.
Speaker 1: Absolutely your tune to the baseline. Cali warren Shaw discussing
Speaker 1: the hot button topics of the NBA coming up. Time
Speaker 1: for us to do our mid season reports. Weigh in
Speaker 1: on you know, some important awards where guys are checking
Speaker 1: in right now, and some important markers for teams.
Speaker 4: You know what they look like, where they be.
Speaker 1: Falling into the quote unquote picking order of the NBA Elite.
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Speaker 1: More baseline Cali Warrenshaw, don't go anywhere. We are back
Speaker 1: Callie Warrenshaw. Based on NBA podcast. Time now for us
Speaker 1: to do our coveted mid season Reports, Contenders and honorable mentions.
Speaker 1: You know, like listen, while everyone's trying to slide up
Speaker 1: in everybody's dms, we'd be bringing out the hms in
Speaker 1: this part of our segment here. So time for my
Speaker 1: man Shaw and I to to kind of, you know,
Speaker 1: weighing on what's going on as we.
Speaker 4: Hit the mid season mark.
Speaker 1: And let's start right off, Shaw with most Improved Player. Uh,
Speaker 1: Definitely contenders and mentions for this coveted Award Caid Cunningham,
Speaker 1: Evan Mobley, Tyler Hero and Norman Powell.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we're more or less for these that we
Speaker 3: are going to tack.
Speaker 2: We're not going to tackle everything in the award category,
Speaker 2: but some things that I think are interesting and this
Speaker 2: is more or less based on the most current odds.
Speaker 3: That are out there by the betting bet makers out there.
Speaker 3: So these are the guys who I think have the
Speaker 3: strongest case by that.
Speaker 2: You know, maybe there's some Wald cards out there, but
Speaker 2: for my money, right now, the most improved player I
Speaker 2: think is Caid Cunningham's. He's on the cusp I think
Speaker 2: of making his making an All Star Game as well too.
Speaker 2: Evan Mobley is obviously a great selection because he's finally
Speaker 2: actualizing some of the potential that many of us have
Speaker 2: been clamoring for and is only you know, two three
Speaker 2: years in the league. Feel like, you know, we keep
Speaker 2: a lot of expectations on him early, but at the
Speaker 2: end of the day, he's finally delivering under Kenny Atkinson.
Speaker 2: So but while Tyler, Tyler Harrow and Norman Powell great
Speaker 2: great guys having great seasons as well, I think Kate
Speaker 2: Cunningham actually deserves this because this this this Piston team,
Speaker 2: you know, as we're recording here on MBLK, they actually
Speaker 2: got a great road win against the Houston Rockets after
Speaker 2: they stood a couple of games before that. But Kate
Speaker 2: is leaving the charge there, man, and I love everything
Speaker 2: he's doing in there, and that team is rallying behind him.
Speaker 2: So it's not just the stats, but it's the leadership
Speaker 2: qualities that he's showing as well too. I think can
Speaker 2: capture him this award as long as he says healthy.
Speaker 4: Yeah, man, listen.
Speaker 1: The reason why I feel like Kate Huntingham is going
Speaker 1: to walk away with this is is and I wonder
Speaker 1: about this more than anything.
Speaker 4: So hopefully one time we'll pull some stats on this.
Speaker 1: But I'm wondering Kate Cunningham and fourth quarter scoring and what.
Speaker 4: He's doing in late game situations.
Speaker 1: It's not to say that Evan Mobley doesn't have that potential,
Speaker 1: but clearly that that ball defers to Donovan Mitchell right
Speaker 1: like he's the guy and he's proven he's the guy,
Speaker 1: and the Kletan Cavillers are practically just blowing teams away
Speaker 1: that it doesn't even really matter. What I think matters
Speaker 1: is the impact that Evan Mobley now has. To your
Speaker 1: point about the upside, potentially, he's finally showing you Tyler Hero.
Speaker 4: I think we've all been waiting to see.
Speaker 1: Tyler Hero be that guy, you know, especially given the
Speaker 1: criticism that he's suffered over the last couple of years,
Speaker 1: the lack of maturity at times in the way he's
Speaker 1: handled it. You definitely have seen another level to him,
Speaker 1: which I can certainly appreciate, and we don't know what
Speaker 1: the situation is going to look like for that team
Speaker 1: when they move on from Jimmy Butler, but when that
Speaker 1: does happen, definitely look at Tyler Hero because that's arguably
Speaker 1: gonna be He's gonna be the guy offensively, right Like
Speaker 1: I know you've been waiting, We've been waiting, Shaw that
Speaker 1: this is supposed to be bamed by the Bios team.
Speaker 1: Certainly is bam bia this team as far as the energy, rebounding,
Speaker 1: everything like that. But I think from a scoring standpoint,
Speaker 1: depending on someone to hit those quality shots, it's all
Speaker 1: on Tyler Hero. And I'm not saying that he's wishing
Speaker 1: his man, Jimmy, you know, off any sooner than necessary.
Speaker 1: But I think he is solely showing you that he's
Speaker 1: ready to take that helm and make things happen. And
Speaker 1: what more can be said about normal Powell bro like
Speaker 1: the fact that he has somehow stepped in to be
Speaker 1: that number two guy given the circumstances, because everyone still
Speaker 1: believes it should be Kawhi Leonard's and James Harden. I
Speaker 1: don't know if we're going to ever see that version
Speaker 1: of Kawhi Leonard. You know what I'm saying, But I
Speaker 1: definitely think that when it comes to normal Powell, normal Powell,
Speaker 1: he has proven that at age thirty, he could be
Speaker 1: that guy to score that basketball, which I find very
Speaker 1: very remarkable given the years of him being a third,
Speaker 1: fourth off the bench kind of guy to step in
Speaker 1: and do what he's been able to do for Tyron
Speaker 1: Lewin that team crazy, absolutely crazy. All right, let's transition
Speaker 1: to sixth Man of the Year. Shaw got some heavy
Speaker 1: hitters on here, man, and you got an up coming
Speaker 1: second year player who we were not tabling to be
Speaker 1: in this conversation but has very much deservedly been putting
Speaker 1: himself into that Peyton Pritcher, DeAndre Hunter and Amen Thompson,
Speaker 1: one of the Thompson twins.
Speaker 3: Like I said, brother, I'm going off the odds. I
Speaker 3: didn't pull these out of the hat and just say hey,
Speaker 3: I'm throwing these names out here. The odds maker says
Speaker 3: these are the.
Speaker 2: Front runners for these awards currently right now. And a
Speaker 2: man is actually now starting a little bit more because
Speaker 2: Jabari Smith Junior has been out of the lineup. Men
Speaker 2: had been putting up some pretty monster numbers. Roughly, you know,
Speaker 2: had a crazy five game stretch.
Speaker 3: I was like, Yo, who is this? Why what's happening here?
Speaker 2: Then I was like, oh, he's starting now in the
Speaker 2: minutes have changed because I was like, yo, this is
Speaker 2: it was. It was a bit much even for me,
Speaker 2: But I love a man and what he's been able
Speaker 2: to do off that you know, off that Houston Rockets
Speaker 2: mench for the most part, you know him and what
Speaker 2: are they called the terror twins him and Tory Easton
Speaker 2: when they come into the game. But with the starting
Speaker 2: nine now not quite sure how long he'll qualify if
Speaker 2: Jabari Smith is going to be out for an extended period,
Speaker 2: and with DeAndre Hunter just what he's especially in the
Speaker 2: stretch right before the NBA Cup twenty points a game
Speaker 2: like every night, it's just what it was. But there
Speaker 2: is no better bench scorer. And and let's keep it a
Speaker 2: buck We say this all the time. The sixth Man
Speaker 2: of the Year over the six Man of the Year
Speaker 2: award is always who scores the most buckets off the bench?
Speaker 2: Is that about who has the most assists, rebounds?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 3: The best plus mind is like who gets buckets? And
Speaker 3: that's been Peyton Pritchett this year.
Speaker 2: Leading the league and points out the bench total, leading
Speaker 2: the league in three points, three points off the bench
Speaker 2: by a landslide, and you know, doing really giving that
Speaker 2: Celtics second second lineup a bolstering guy who can really
Speaker 2: get it done and can create for some guys here
Speaker 2: and there as well too. So I agree with the
Speaker 2: ozmakers right now that Pritchard is that dude. But I
Speaker 2: think if a man goes back to the bench roll,
Speaker 2: it could get dicey here and it would be awesome
Speaker 2: to see. Because a man is not a natural scorer,
Speaker 2: he does kind of all those intangible things. So I'm
Speaker 2: not rooting against the Celtic here, but I'm just saying
Speaker 2: a man would be a nice, nice change of pace
Speaker 2: if he were to kind of.
Speaker 3: Keep things up.
Speaker 1: Well, my sentiment is this, keep them in in the
Speaker 1: starting lineup, because I'm already salty as it is. I
Speaker 1: had him on my fantasy team and then I had
Speaker 1: to drop him, and I now regret that I even
Speaker 1: did that. But I also blame Mayudoka because he should
Speaker 1: have been starting this kid or given that kid more
Speaker 1: minutes from like the longest time, and he was dancing
Speaker 1: around his minutes quite often. Because I guess maybe he
Speaker 1: still believed, you know, Javari Smith was that guy for them,
Speaker 1: and then you know, he exploded. I forgot what night
Speaker 1: it was. He just freaking went ballistic that he had
Speaker 1: like seventeen points and fourteen rebounds and three steals and
Speaker 1: something like that, and like twenty six minutes of play,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, you're still weighing minutes on this kid,
Speaker 1: Like what the hell.
Speaker 4: Is wrong with you?
Speaker 3: You know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Like, you know so, but again, you finally are starting
Speaker 1: to see you may have confidence in the young man.
Speaker 1: And that's exactly what you're getting from that, right, Like
Speaker 1: he is showing him. He's like, coach, I need to
Speaker 1: be on that basketball court, right, I need to ride
Speaker 1: with this team, especially now in the fourth quarter. He
Speaker 1: seemed to take some significant minutes out there on the
Speaker 1: court for the Houston Rockets, which I think just bowls well,
Speaker 1: not just for his future, but clearly in the conversation
Speaker 1: with six Man in a year, you know, again, I
Speaker 1: agree with you, Peyton Prince is gonna wind up being
Speaker 1: that guy. And I'm just like, don't put them in
Speaker 1: back in the damn don't put him back on the bench.
Speaker 1: There's no reason to do it. It's not not Celtic
Speaker 1: bias or nothing like that. But if I'm ume and
Speaker 1: I'm getting what I'm getting from im in like the
Speaker 1: way he's doing it right now, No, no, no, man.
Speaker 4: That we don't read up.
Speaker 3: I mean, I mean, I don't think.
Speaker 2: I don't think Jabari Smith Junior is suited to be
Speaker 2: a bench guy, at least not right now. I think
Speaker 2: he needs the reps and he needs the confidence, you know,
Speaker 2: as a starter. So while I don't I'm not debating
Speaker 2: if I think who has a better overall impact on
Speaker 2: the team and might even have a higher ceiling going forward.
Speaker 2: But sometimes it's about a chemistry and a fit as well.
Speaker 3: And so that's where I would slightly push back.
Speaker 2: On that notion that I don't know if I would
Speaker 2: love Jabari Smith Junior coming off the bench, and I
Speaker 2: think a man is more naturally suited for at this
Speaker 2: stage of his career. But it won't be long before
Speaker 2: I'm in is a really eighty two game a night
Speaker 2: starter in this NBA.
Speaker 3: But we'll see what you Dooka does here moving forward.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, man, absolutely all right, m VP, I think it's
Speaker 1: a foregone conclusion right with the heavy hitters, Jokic Alexander.
Speaker 4: That's a koombo, right, who do you who? Who?
Speaker 1: Who really to you has the best path forward to
Speaker 1: winning that m VP when we get to the other
Speaker 1: half of the season.
Speaker 2: I'll keep this short because it's a conversation that all
Speaker 2: podcasts and people talk about a regular basis. SGA has
Speaker 2: actually kind of moved in front of your kiss right
Speaker 2: now for for odds, because of the narrative aspect, it's
Speaker 2: just like, hey, we're tired of giving the joker.
Speaker 3: Let's give it to somebody else.
Speaker 2: Okayc's number one in the Western Conference obviously has an
Speaker 2: amazing case. If I was betting or not betting, if
Speaker 2: I was voting, I would give the joker. I just
Speaker 2: he's literally having another historic season despite every season being historical.
Speaker 2: And now look what he's doing with a team that
Speaker 2: I still think is less than despite his help and
Speaker 2: buddy in Westbrook. Now, but he's far surpassing what I
Speaker 2: and the and the workload has been insane more than
Speaker 2: it's ever been in his in his career. But I
Speaker 2: think SGA will have the inside track as okay, so
Speaker 2: he can continue to win it because of the voter
Speaker 2: fatigue that's happened with Joker.
Speaker 1: I think it's because SGA is just showing you he's
Speaker 1: a clutch player, and right now he's showing you that
Speaker 1: smooth is sexy in the NBA. Okay, the way that
Speaker 1: he just seems to effortlessly score that basketball and the
Speaker 1: way that he seems to effortless, effortlessly impact the basketball game,
Speaker 1: we're starting to see that more and more. I don't
Speaker 1: know if it's because there's definitely been more of a
Speaker 1: push to feature the Thunder on primetime games that we're
Speaker 1: actually getting to see this, but it's just very interesting
Speaker 1: to me that when we talk about sg A, he's
Speaker 1: the kind of guy that you know, you look up
Speaker 1: and you say, all right, first quarter he's probably got like,
Speaker 1: you know, seven points, you know, one or two rebounds,
Speaker 1: maybe one or two assists, and then by the end
Speaker 1: of the game he's got thirty six points, you know,
Speaker 1: five rebounds, seven and a half assists, three steals. Like
Speaker 1: he somehow seems to fill up the stat sheets. But
Speaker 1: it's just when through the course of a game, if
Speaker 1: the Thunder are in it and it's against a really
Speaker 1: good team, somehow his imprints are on that he's gonna
Speaker 1: be given the opportunities for him to have an impact. Now,
Speaker 1: will he just outright blow the doors off? He doesn't
Speaker 1: do that like kind of like as a Yokic type
Speaker 1: of situation. But I again, I'm looking at the smoothness
Speaker 1: of his efficiency that I think has resurrected the conversation
Speaker 1: about why he should win it more so than I
Speaker 1: think it's about the fatigue that people are having about
Speaker 1: Yokis because Yokic is still putting up those monster numbers again.
Speaker 1: But I don't see where Yokic's numbers are being highlighted
Speaker 1: on those primetime games. It seems like he's putting those
Speaker 1: numbers up on games that you see on the bladder
Speaker 1: again on NBA TV, which to me is a little concerning,
Speaker 1: because again, you want your best players in the NBA
Speaker 1: featured as much as possible on a nightly basis when
Speaker 1: they're doing amazing things. And I just think people's eye
Speaker 1: candy right now is on Sga because he's showing up
Speaker 1: in those big games, winner lose. He's still showing up
Speaker 1: in those big games. He's putting up those monster.
Speaker 2: Numbers, all right, So you got SGAs a MVP at
Speaker 2: this point in the season, I got joker. We'll see
Speaker 2: how it ends up landing out. But I think it
Speaker 2: bleeds into the next topic of conversation. And this is
Speaker 2: not necessarily an award, but just overall a thought process
Speaker 2: on kind of where we're at right now. So here
Speaker 2: on the Baselin NBA podcast, who's the most impressive team
Speaker 2: for us here at the midway point of the season.
Speaker 2: Is it that SGA led to Oklahoma City Thunder team?
Speaker 2: Is it the Cavs who just seem frigging unstoppable, just offensively,
Speaker 2: just dusting people the point differential right now, their offense
Speaker 2: is ridiculous with the improvement of them and mobile in
Speaker 2: toe as well too. Or a sneaky pick like the
Speaker 2: Houston Rockets, who currently do sit second in the Western Conference.
Speaker 2: Nobody saw that coming and I'm I'm I'm really interested
Speaker 2: to kind of kick this one to you here, cal
Speaker 2: the most impressive team to this point of the season,
Speaker 2: calves Thunder or the Rockets.
Speaker 1: Of logic tells me it's the Cleveland Cavaliers, simply because
Speaker 1: I think we've been waiting for the anchor to drop
Speaker 1: and this team to start to sink, this team start
Speaker 1: to go through struggles this team, and clearly you can
Speaker 1: see that this is the influence of Kenny Atkinson on
Speaker 1: this squad. This team they take a loss and they
Speaker 1: right back on it and whip somebody else's ask the
Speaker 1: following night. Right, this is the kind of team that
Speaker 1: I think, shall we said? This is not what if
Speaker 1: you're the Boston Celtics, you don't want to give this
Speaker 1: team any kind of space or leverage to believe that
Speaker 1: they're on your level. And because the Celtics have been struggling,
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Cavaliers have shown you a model of consistency
Speaker 1: and the way that they score, how they score, and
Speaker 1: they're even showing you that they can play some defense.
Speaker 4: Now, are they the best defensive team?
Speaker 1: Not really, right, They're they're on a good on certain matchups,
Speaker 1: they their top ten. What I'm saying is is on
Speaker 1: certain matchups, I think over the course of a seven
Speaker 1: game series, we'll really see what is what they're going
Speaker 1: to lean into more to get them through.
Speaker 4: Right, Like if you're.
Speaker 1: Playing the likes of the New York Knicks, you're playing
Speaker 1: the likes of the Boston Celtics. There's some matchups there
Speaker 1: that I wonder through a seven game series. What that
Speaker 1: team is going to lean on. If you're the Cleveland Cavaliers,
Speaker 1: it's going to say, all right, no question. I will
Speaker 1: say this though they have definitely shown me that they
Speaker 1: can play both. It's a question of where can they
Speaker 1: lean on and most confidently when a team matches up
Speaker 1: and and and you know, counters something that they're doing.
Speaker 1: But if we're just answering this question, Shaw, the most
Speaker 1: impressive team to me by far is the Houston Rockets.
Speaker 5: Because even if I said to you that the Houstonrockets, yeah,
Speaker 5: for sure, all of that because because at the end
Speaker 5: of the day, Shaw, at the end of the day, right,
Speaker 5: the Houston Rockets arguably are where we thought the Dallas
Speaker 5: Mavericks are. And they don't have any on their roster
Speaker 5: right that you can basically say, oh, that's their Kyrie Irving,
Speaker 5: Oh that's their Luka Nankic, Right, Like this is ume
Speaker 5: Udoka putting together a team that might arguably have like
Speaker 5: they're playing house money. They've got nothing to lose and
Speaker 5: everything to gain. Because the pressure is gonna be on
Speaker 5: the Thunder, the pressure is going to be on the Nuggets,
Speaker 5: the pressure is gonna.
Speaker 4: Be on all of those teams.
Speaker 1: You don't want a team like this with as and
Speaker 1: even the Memphis Grizzlies because they got John Moran, right,
Speaker 1: you don't want a team like this now entering the chat,
Speaker 1: and I wasn't. I didn't think that they were ready
Speaker 1: just yet. I thought Ume would have to continue to
Speaker 1: mold some of those guys. The fact that he's got
Speaker 1: all of these guys and they're not even at their
Speaker 1: level yet they're they're playing.
Speaker 4: Like this, it's absolutely ridiculous.
Speaker 1: And I if I'm in the Western Conference, I'm more
Speaker 1: afraid about the Houston Rockets more so than I am
Speaker 1: afraid about what the Killing Cavaliers are doing.
Speaker 4: With what they're doing in the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't go that far, but I will agree with
Speaker 2: you in terms of Houston being the more surprised team,
Speaker 2: especially the Calves being like a number four, number five
Speaker 2: seeds Plaronnally all right, a jump to number one at
Speaker 2: this stage. Although they're dominant, it's been surprising. Okay, see
Speaker 2: we kind of saw coming anyway, but this Rockets team
Speaker 2: had most people had them at the play in.
Speaker 3: You know, maybe you had them as high as maybe eight.
Speaker 3: I don't think anybody had had them above that line.
Speaker 2: Even myself, I was like, listen, I thought this was
Speaker 2: a playing team, and I trusted the coaching of Udoka,
Speaker 2: But to have them as a number two seed at
Speaker 2: this point in the Western Conference is absolutely absurd. It's
Speaker 2: a bigger surprise coming from where they were as you
Speaker 2: compare it if you compared to coming from the Calves,
Speaker 2: where despite how dominant the Caves have been.
Speaker 3: So I agree with you in the Houston Rockets.
Speaker 1: I'll say this Shaw, because the next one I think
Speaker 1: you should you can appreciate. If I wasn't gonna if
Speaker 1: we weren't going to put them as are as one
Speaker 1: of the most impressive teams, then this next one I
Speaker 1: would have definitely had them in. But they are doing
Speaker 1: so damn well that they just you have to be impressed.
Speaker 1: So our next section is is are we Bay what
Speaker 1: the f team right like? Given what this team had
Speaker 1: looked like at the beginning of the year and the
Speaker 1: lack of confidence that people had about whether or not
Speaker 1: these teams are going to be successful, they straight up.
Speaker 4: Have us looking like web on the wild.
Speaker 3: I'm there now, I got it exactly.
Speaker 1: So are we Bay teams? The Atlanta Hawks Detroit Pistons
Speaker 1: Sacramento Kings.
Speaker 3: Holistically, I'm going to say Detroit.
Speaker 2: While I think Sacramento has had a nice turnaround under
Speaker 2: the tutelage of Don Christie, I haven't seen enough yet
Speaker 2: to kind of really get there on it. So I'm
Speaker 2: just going to continue to give flowers to the Detroit Pistons,
Speaker 2: while Atlanta's also a nice pick the Pistons Kate Cunningham
Speaker 2: as they're fighting for a playoff playoff thing. They just
Speaker 2: beat the aforementioned Rockets. As I said earlier in our
Speaker 2: show here you know on the road, I just love
Speaker 2: the vibes happening in there.
Speaker 3: JB.
Speaker 2: Bickerstaff, K. Cunningham and company. I think, to me, that's
Speaker 2: the biggest you know, yo didn't see that coming?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I think I'm leaning a little bit more in the
Speaker 1: Atlanta Hawks because of Trey Young, because I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: didn't see Trey Young coming?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 4: Like he like omar up in.
Speaker 1: His piece, got everybody or I'm saying, or like when
Speaker 1: that moment that weve was thinking he said, you didn't
Speaker 1: realize that that girl in the back seat was five
Speaker 1: to Oh He's just like, oh, you know what, I'm
Speaker 1: saying like I was not expecting this good of Atlanta
Speaker 1: Hawks team, given the circumstances and the and the turnover
Speaker 1: that the team had experienced, losing Deontay Murray and such
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. What Snyder and what Young is
Speaker 1: doing to me, this is absolutely impressive.
Speaker 4: I just want to make sure I.
Speaker 1: Call that part of it out that with all three
Speaker 1: of these teams, man, they're they're giving us one of
Speaker 1: those oh I didn't you know what I'm saying type
Speaker 1: moments this season, which I love because you don't know
Speaker 1: what the outcome is gonna be. But they clearly have
Speaker 1: put themselves back in the conversation of playing possibly playoff
Speaker 1: bound type of teams. All right, Shaw, let's do most
Speaker 1: disappointing teams. This one shouldn't be pretty, shouldn't be hard
Speaker 1: at all. Right, the fl Ladelphia seventy six Ers, Yeah,
Speaker 1: pretty disappointing, Phoenix Suns, Yeah, pretty disappointing Timberwolves, and the
Speaker 1: Dallas Mavericks round out our most disappointing teams.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, for me, it's the obvious.
Speaker 2: It's the Philadelphia seventy six ers and the Joel Embiid,
Speaker 2: Paul George Saga, whatever, the ef is going on, you know,
Speaker 2: with their health and all their injuries and whatever vibes,
Speaker 2: Nick Nurse is unable to curate to have this team
Speaker 2: in any semblance of real threat while they were able
Speaker 2: to put together a pseudo decent stretch. So, you know,
Speaker 2: about a couple of weeks ago, like around Christmas time,
Speaker 2: it's back in the dumps and beats back on the
Speaker 2: shelf again. Pg's missing games again, Tyres. Maxi's out here
Speaker 2: kind of like a lone wolf.
Speaker 3: He's more or less just chucking.
Speaker 2: At this stage, Sixers to me have been by far
Speaker 2: and away the most disappointing, and while there's still time
Speaker 2: for them to turn it around, I don't believe there's
Speaker 2: a lot of faith in that the juju of this
Speaker 2: team and the health of this team is going to
Speaker 2: be intact for them to do anything significant, despite the
Speaker 2: talent that is clearly there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I honestly think that when it comes to the
Speaker 1: Sixers itself, the Jared McCain thing, I think hurt them
Speaker 1: so much more than all this other craziness is going on,
Speaker 1: because then at least MAXI would have had somebody that
Speaker 1: he can see and move and do something with that
Speaker 1: Nick Nurse can have some semblance of hope, and now he.
Speaker 4: Just has to ride with whatever he's got to ride with.
Speaker 1: And to your point, you know, to me, I think
Speaker 1: overall the Timberwolves because there's so much it can't put
Speaker 1: my finger on why this team is so inconsistent. They
Speaker 1: really do have a good team, you know, and in
Speaker 1: the landscape of the Western Conference, I can't see the
Speaker 1: team should drop off as much as they've dropped off
Speaker 1: for what they achieved last year. So it either just
Speaker 1: speaks to the fact that most of those players on
Speaker 1: that roster are totally overachieved, or it really this this, this, this,
Speaker 1: you know, this new roster has is just clearly not
Speaker 1: all together and probably won't be all together until sometime
Speaker 1: next year, and they may have to shake things up
Speaker 1: again in order to put a team around what you
Speaker 1: were getting from Anthony Edwards and and go Bear and
Speaker 1: Conley and those guys. But it'll be so disappointing to
Speaker 1: see this as a team that could probably get knocked
Speaker 1: out of the first round or may have to fight
Speaker 1: themselves through the play in in order to participate in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. A couple of quick ones, real quick Shaw,
Speaker 1: Purple Heart Team. Now I put the Orlando Magic and
Speaker 1: I want to say, Purple Heart team on me bravery,
Speaker 1: like literally bravery for even being able to compete. And
Speaker 1: I think you would say, by leaps and boundary, Orlando Magic,
Speaker 1: take it far and away. But I put the New
Speaker 1: York Knicks on this one as part of my Purple
Speaker 1: Heart team, because what was the one thing we keep
Speaker 1: talking about when it comes to Tom Thibodeau running his
Speaker 1: players into the ground, running his starters into the ground,
Speaker 1: and the fact that the New York Knicks have managed
Speaker 1: to get this much mileage out of the roster he
Speaker 1: keeps running out there because again he's still running with
Speaker 1: a pretty thin lineup the amount of minutes. I had
Speaker 1: to make sure I give the New York Knicks their kudos, man,
Speaker 1: because I don't know how they have managed to be
Speaker 1: able to still have their starting five for the most part,
Speaker 1: competing to still win the number of games that they're winning,
Speaker 1: and he is still not backed off on these minutes
Speaker 1: when it comes to his start. It's just it's absolutely
Speaker 1: amazing to me. I want to make sure I give
Speaker 1: the Knicks their props on that part.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love it. I'm gonna throw an honorable mention
Speaker 3: in here.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna say the Grizzlies, They've they've dealt with the
Speaker 2: multitude of themselves too, and their second and third string
Speaker 2: guys from Scottie Pippen Junior to Jay Huff to Sante Aldama, guys, you're.
Speaker 3: Just like who those guys have been hooping.
Speaker 2: They've been bawling, holding it down when Moran or Bain
Speaker 2: or Marcus Smart or whoever has been out of the lineup.
Speaker 2: So I like that team to continue to just push
Speaker 2: forward despite all the injuries, because you've seen a team
Speaker 2: like Philadelty kind of going the other way and they
Speaker 2: don't have enough in their reserves in that sense to
Speaker 2: kind of keep them at the tops of their conference.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, all right, Shaw capture the flag.
Speaker 1: The race for Cooper Flag is on Toronto Raptors, New
Speaker 1: Orleans Pelicans, Charlotte Hornets.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and when the Jazz and Blazer are in here too,
Speaker 2: the Wizards are the far and away runaway, right. So
Speaker 2: but we know the new rules, Hey say, the top
Speaker 2: three teams have the best chances at the number one pick.
Speaker 3: No longer if you're just the worst.
Speaker 2: Record, you have the most The top three chances will
Speaker 2: have top three team. Worst three teams, sorry, top worst
Speaker 2: three teams would have the best chances at the number
Speaker 2: one pick. So I think joining the Wizards here, the
Speaker 2: Pelicans are probably disappointed, you know, They'rey're probably one of
Speaker 2: the more disappointing things that they didn't expect to be here.
Speaker 2: But doesn't allow them to reset things here, especially if
Speaker 2: they trade Ingram or God forbid trades ion on or
Speaker 2: with a CASEV. I think who's going to be joined
Speaker 2: the Wizards in the in the Cooper Flag sweepstakes if
Speaker 2: you will to capture the flag, I'm gonna say Toronto,
Speaker 2: and I'm actually gonna say the Charlotte Hornets, while the
Speaker 2: Jazz and Blazers could also strip things down to the core,
Speaker 2: whereas basically you and I running out there and they
Speaker 2: lose games, and in abundance towards the latter half of
Speaker 2: this season, I think it's been pretty futured for Charles
Speaker 2: Lee here in Charlotte, and I'm just not a big
Speaker 2: fan and whatever the hell is happening in Toronto.
Speaker 3: They put guys.
Speaker 2: Out there who I don't know, and I'm an avenue.
Speaker 2: There's players I'm like, who is that so, and that's
Speaker 2: not I'm not trying to be disrespectful, but I just
Speaker 2: don't know what's going on in Toronto right now. I
Speaker 2: think Scotty Barnes is gonna get shut down pretty soon here,
Speaker 2: and and it might be good that they try to
Speaker 2: bring some kind of like star like superstar changing level
Speaker 2: talent in there to play, to play alongside Scotty Barns.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So I think the Raptors and the Charlotte Hornets
Speaker 3: are going to be right there. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Man, I think those those some good points and stuff.
Speaker 1: It's kind of remarkable because when you do look at
Speaker 1: the Toronto Raptors and some of the players that they have,
Speaker 1: you know, these are transient players and they had a
Speaker 1: really surprisingly competitive year last year, you know, but.
Speaker 4: It's just gotten worse.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if that's just the head coach
Speaker 1: is just not in tune with the roster that he
Speaker 1: has to work with, or maybe to your point, Shaw,
Speaker 1: there are so many no name guys that it's hard
Speaker 1: to implement his style of basketball with guys that just
Speaker 1: don't know how to go out there and execute it
Speaker 1: in the way that he.
Speaker 4: Was hoping to do.
Speaker 1: So just really interest thing Sean and again it's you know,
Speaker 1: it's a race for the flag. Ultimately, that's what it
Speaker 1: comes down to.
Speaker 3: Uh, they say this world. Let me say this one
Speaker 3: thing real quick.
Speaker 2: I think the scariest option is if New Orleans were
Speaker 2: to not blow it up and they were still somehow
Speaker 2: able to do this. In theory, they still have the
Speaker 2: most amount of actual talent from this group to then
Speaker 2: inject a Cooper flag into which could propel them a
Speaker 2: little bit faster than anybody else.
Speaker 3: On this team.
Speaker 2: But we know theory and practicality with the New Orleans
Speaker 2: Pelicans do not go hand in hand. Somebody's always injured,
Speaker 2: somebody's always out, Zion's always dealing with whatever Zion is
Speaker 2: dealing with. But in theory, that could actually be really
Speaker 2: interesting if the Pelicans were to get into the number
Speaker 2: one seed next year, some or other.
Speaker 1: We should have had our we should have added as
Speaker 1: one of our mid seasons, probably making note of this
Speaker 1: is it for next year?
Speaker 4: But who's got to go? Right? Like who should be
Speaker 4: who should be on the outs? Right?
Speaker 1: If you're Joel and b if at this point, right,
Speaker 1: like we were talking about it as something to preview
Speaker 1: regarding you know, where teams are going to be and
Speaker 1: what the likelihood is and obviously stuff regarding to trade deadline.
Speaker 4: That's one thing. But I think the other thing as
Speaker 4: well too.
Speaker 1: Is given where the teams are and given the circumstances
Speaker 1: of what their stars have and have not been doing
Speaker 1: for their teams, which one should go first?
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying? Like literally, like who should
Speaker 4: just be? Hey, we tried it.
Speaker 1: Failed, Let's move on from this, right, And I bet
Speaker 1: you donuts to dollars, we would not be talking about
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler more so than we'd probably be talking about
Speaker 1: either Joel Embiid or Zion Williamson given the seasons that
Speaker 1: both of these guys have had.
Speaker 2: You got to go train, man, I got to clip
Speaker 2: this and put this out there.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: I don't know if the fans would agree with you
Speaker 2: just yet, but it is a very interesting situation to
Speaker 2: watch here as the season progresses, and then how how
Speaker 2: this season actually kind of finishes out? You know, do
Speaker 2: they just say, you know what, it's not working. He's
Speaker 2: a year removed from MVP.
Speaker 3: Like it's not that long ago, but it's it's.
Speaker 2: It seems like you know, dog gears, you know, since
Speaker 2: he's been healthy and been able to kind of lead
Speaker 2: the Sixers team in the way that's say.
Speaker 1: But you're looking at it from a health perspective. I'm
Speaker 1: looking at it from a leadership, cornerstone player perspective.
Speaker 4: And let me tell you this, I think.
Speaker 1: That is what is really bothering people, bothering the Philly
Speaker 1: fans more than anything there.
Speaker 4: It's it's just what it is, man, It's just what
Speaker 4: it is. And I don't blame them for that.
Speaker 1: I think they have every right to be upset and
Speaker 1: angry and frustrated by that, because unfortunately, the Philadelphia seventy
Speaker 1: six Ers don't own Philadelphia, right, It's the Eagles, right,
Speaker 1: it's the Philadelphia Flyers in that town. You got to
Speaker 1: hold your own and they're measuring you up to the
Speaker 1: other players who are out there putting in that work,
Speaker 1: doing whatever it takes to make their franchises their team successful.
Speaker 1: And when you're just not seeing it from a player
Speaker 1: like Joel Embiid, who obviously everybody recognizes as one of
Speaker 1: the great players that are in the NBA, and when
Speaker 1: healthy is an MVP candidate year in, you're out. But
Speaker 1: his demeanor and his attitude and his approach to things,
Speaker 1: I think is what's rubbing people off the wrong way.
Speaker 1: And I just don't think when you have that baggage
Speaker 1: of being a part of the process, when you have
Speaker 1: that baggage with you and it's really not amounted to anything,
Speaker 1: there just gets a point where it just starts to
Speaker 1: wear thin on the fan base and they're just not
Speaker 1: having it. So that's I'm not saying I advocated.
Speaker 2: I'm just saying in that direction, that's all you think.
Speaker 4: You think that I'm that I'm.
Speaker 2: Not thinking you are trying to push these dudes off
Speaker 2: rage because I don't know.
Speaker 3: I need to be in Philly rady at the kind
Speaker 3: of year. What are people talking about?
Speaker 2: But you are beating that drama hard, and I'm beating
Speaker 2: it because I'm gonna make it not showing me, And
Speaker 2: I'm going to get us a Philly Philly reporter on
Speaker 2: here to kind of dive into that topic, especially as
Speaker 2: the trade deadline kind of comes in here, to kind
Speaker 2: of see if there's any there's smoke where there's fire,
Speaker 2: you know, in the conversation that you're bringing up with
Speaker 2: a Joel and Bid that's thing tuned here on the baseline.
Speaker 4: No, problem anyway.
Speaker 1: Awesome show altogether, as always, my Manshaw just bringing out
Speaker 1: the worst in me.
Speaker 4: I appreciate that.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying, Jo is bringing out the
Speaker 3: worst in No man's got nothing to do.
Speaker 4: You give it.
Speaker 1: You're giving me my Drake feels worse behavior, So I
Speaker 1: appreciate that.
Speaker 3: As always, Man, good stuff. As always, we hope our
Speaker 3: fans listeners enjoyed this one. Hey man at the half
Speaker 3: our midseason report.
Speaker 2: Under based on NBA podcast at great conversations, Man, we
Speaker 2: kept the receipts, some players keeping them the seats as
Speaker 2: well as you let us know who you feel like
Speaker 2: has surprised you more than would have expected.
Speaker 3: Going into this season. And then again, who's your most
Speaker 3: improved Player MVP?
Speaker 2: All of the stuff that with this kids discuss here
Speaker 2: on our at the half NBA midseason Report.
Speaker 3: Second that great, great show. Brother, can't wait to do
Speaker 3: it again next year.
Speaker 1: Absolutely brother for the baseline. Cali warren Shaw, we appreciate
Speaker 1: you guys, you know we do, and I do appreciate
Speaker 1: Jolan B two, don't get it twisted. We'll catch up
Speaker 1: with you next time.