Speaker 1: Game three pacers.
Speaker 2: Okay, see you will be Wednesday at six thirty Mountain
Speaker 2: time joining us now to talk some NBA. It's been
Speaker 2: a minute, but good friend of the show, Rob Perez
Speaker 2: back on the program on a Monday, Rob, Happy Monday, man.
Speaker 1: How you doing?
Speaker 3: Got a couple more gray hairs on my head since
Speaker 3: the last time we spoke? Better than that? The sun
Speaker 3: rose in the east and it's set in the west.
Speaker 3: There you go, can't complain, and my.
Speaker 2: Beard is much wider than it was last time you
Speaker 2: and I spoke. So you and I odd bedfellows there, Rob.
Speaker 2: I wanted to start with the situation in New York, where,
Speaker 2: for the first time in a number of different years,
Speaker 2: the Knicks are relevant and good and fun and they.
Speaker 1: Also need a new head coach.
Speaker 2: Your response and reaction to the news when you heard
Speaker 2: it that they were letting Tom Thibodeau go, and I'm
Speaker 2: just wondering who you think is going to get that gig?
Speaker 3: Yeah, So initial thoughts it was very neutral, which is
Speaker 3: strange for me considering I'm a Knicks fan and being
Speaker 3: old enough to experience the highs and the lows and
Speaker 3: everything in between. This is not something new where the
Speaker 3: governor of the team, James Dolan is sitting in on
Speaker 3: exit interviews with the head of basketball operations, who is
Speaker 3: now Leon Rose. In the past, that could have been
Speaker 3: a Donnie Walsh, It could have been Phil Jackson, you know,
Speaker 3: someone like that. But Dolan reappearing is certainly brings up
Speaker 3: memories of that time. But the Knicks have moved on
Speaker 3: past that, right, I mean, you brought it up yourself.
Speaker 3: This team is fun, They are relevant. They are moving
Speaker 3: in a direction that I haven't seen since I was
Speaker 3: a child. And a lot of that building up was
Speaker 3: due to Tom Thibodeau. I mean, this team went from
Speaker 3: complete irrelevancy where the entire roster was built on power
Speaker 3: forwards who were on one plus one contracts meaning under
Speaker 3: contract plus a team option that second year, Taj Gibson
Speaker 3: and Marcus Morris and all these names, right, and they've
Speaker 3: evolved into this over four or five year span. And
Speaker 3: you got to give Tom Thibodeau most of the credit.
Speaker 3: Theres he's been at the helm coaching these guys through
Speaker 3: thick and thin, and the New York Knicks have been
Speaker 3: a roller coaster of emotion. They go on losing streaks,
Speaker 3: they respond with a seven game winning streak. Now there's
Speaker 3: been this resemblance of consistency and taking that step forward.
Speaker 3: So for all of those reasons, I am certainly appreciative
Speaker 3: of what Tom Thibodeau accomplished in New York. You know,
Speaker 3: there's a Comma butt coming a comma however, dot dot
Speaker 3: dot However, I do certainly believe that what's holding back
Speaker 3: the Knicks from taking what's now the next step to
Speaker 3: the NBA Finals is the ability to deploy and develop
Speaker 3: a roster that is more than seven to eight deep.
Speaker 3: And if we have learned anything from Tom Thibodeau these years,
Speaker 3: it's that he is always going to go down in
Speaker 3: Tom Thibodeau's way, right, He's going to play his seven
Speaker 3: to eight trusted guys, and only out of necessity, not
Speaker 3: necessarily preference, will he go to the Delon rights, the
Speaker 3: Landry Shammitz, of whom played pretty decently in that conference finals.
Speaker 3: But you're going to need a lot more than that
Speaker 3: to beat these pacers. So maybe it was the belief
Speaker 3: from Nick's ownership and the executive level that we're very
Speaker 3: thankful for you getting us here, but for us to
Speaker 3: become this publicly traded company. We got to go with
Speaker 3: a different CEO, right, That's the only way the board
Speaker 3: is going to improve this IPO price is if there's
Speaker 3: someone else at the Helm who can take what's there
Speaker 3: and push them even further. And I think the second
Speaker 3: part of your question was who's next? Got me? I
Speaker 3: mean they're trying to seek permission to speak with Jason
Speaker 3: Kidd from Dallas, and you can put the pieces together
Speaker 3: on that one. What that would mean potentially for the
Speaker 3: roster as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, to me, Rob, that also indicates they did not
Speaker 2: have contingency in place, Like if you're going to fire
Speaker 2: a coach who just took you to the Eastern Conference
Speaker 2: finals for the first time in twenty five years and
Speaker 2: one fifty ball games back to back years for the
Speaker 2: first time since ninety four ninety five, you better know
Speaker 2: what you're doing next.
Speaker 1: And I honestly don't think that they do.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I really did expect to hear the news of
Speaker 3: someone getting the next job within forty eight hours, because
Speaker 3: you're only firing Tom Thibodeau. If you have something lined
Speaker 3: up that's going to help you take that next step,
Speaker 3: and it's now been a lot more than forty eight hours,
Speaker 3: so people were thinking, is Michael Malone just you know,
Speaker 3: being part of that CIA mafia with Leon Rose and
Speaker 3: Worldwide West? You know, is he next up being the
Speaker 3: New Yorker And he also has proven success championship success
Speaker 3: in managing a veteran laden team, But he's not the
Speaker 3: head coach in the Knicks yet. You could figure maybe
Speaker 3: Jay Wright would have been the guy because of his
Speaker 3: connection to those national champion Villanova Wildcats and how much
Speaker 3: those guys liked playing for him, But supposedly he has
Speaker 3: denied that as well. And the Jason Kidd thing has
Speaker 3: some serious equity with me because I would certainly understand
Speaker 3: why he wants to leave Dallas with all the turnover
Speaker 3: and overhaul that's been going on with you know, their
Speaker 3: ranks at the players and the coaching staff. If Jason
Speaker 3: Kidd wants to come back to New York, we know
Speaker 3: that he's close, not the but one of his closest
Speaker 3: allies in the NBA right now is Giannis Antennacumbo from
Speaker 3: their time in Milwaukee. So is there some back channeling
Speaker 3: that's been going on that the Knicks have learned? If
Speaker 3: Giannis excuse me, if Jason Kidd gets the New York
Speaker 3: Knicks job that if Giannis ends up getting traded that
Speaker 3: he will make it a point send me to New York.
Speaker 3: Because he can't. He doesn't have a no trade clause.
Speaker 3: He can't. He can't decline trades the way that Bradley
Speaker 3: Beal can. But star players have a ton of leverage,
Speaker 3: and if they say I'm only going to play in
Speaker 3: New York, he can potentially call out the bluff of
Speaker 3: some of these teams that are going to be offering
Speaker 3: the Milwaukee Bucks a package for Janis's services. And we
Speaker 3: don't know what the bucks official choice is going to
Speaker 3: be in regards to moving him or keeping him on
Speaker 3: the roster, because they've got their own issues there with
Speaker 3: the second Apron and Damian Lillard being out. But if
Speaker 3: Jason Kidd ends up getting signed by the New York
Speaker 3: Knicks and they go above and beyond to get him
Speaker 3: out of his contract there in Dallas, I think they
Speaker 3: would only be doing that if they know something about
Speaker 3: Janis in the future of his tenure with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Speaker 1: One more thing on this, they'll move on.
Speaker 2: And you just kind of alluded to what I was
Speaker 2: going to ask you whether it's Giannis or anybody else,
Speaker 2: because part.
Speaker 1: Of me Rob believes they do have a little bit of.
Speaker 2: A roster construction issue if they want to take the
Speaker 2: next step, and you know, the East is going to
Speaker 2: be interesting because we don't know what's gonna happen with Giannis,
Speaker 2: and Tatum's out for the year and Boston's has some
Speaker 2: economic decisions to make.
Speaker 1: So when you look at where the Knicks reside in.
Speaker 2: This ecosystem, they could make a case that they're right
Speaker 2: there with everybody else next year. But I think if
Speaker 2: they want to take the next step and go to
Speaker 2: a final and maybe actually win the thing, there are
Speaker 2: some roster construction issues they have to look at.
Speaker 1: And your points about Delon Delon.
Speaker 2: Wright, who was a ute we had them out here,
Speaker 2: and you know Landry Shaman and others are you know,
Speaker 2: they're salient fair points that I won't push back on.
Speaker 1: I don't know that.
Speaker 2: I love their bench, and Tom's track record does speak
Speaker 2: for itself. Whether it's Delon right or Manu Ginobile, he
Speaker 2: might have a tough time playing off the bench. I
Speaker 2: understand that. But do you think they look to do something? Look,
Speaker 2: I don't know what it looks like because they obviously
Speaker 2: traded five picks for bridges. He's up for an extension,
Speaker 2: kat Og and Jalen are all signed for quite some time,
Speaker 2: so I'm not sure what sort of flexibility they have.
Speaker 2: But do you think they look to tinker with this
Speaker 2: roster this offseason?
Speaker 3: Yeah, even if you liked some of those bench pieces
Speaker 3: that had a hard time seeing the floor under Tom Thibodeau,
Speaker 3: those Delon Wright's, Landry Shaman's Precious Atchewa, they're coming off
Speaker 3: the books. Yep, They're not under contract. So even if
Speaker 3: you liked them, you got to resign them and come
Speaker 3: to a completely separate negotiation. And now if they end
Speaker 3: up you thought the Knicks were thinned before, what happens
Speaker 3: when Pacombe Donnie and Tyler Kohlik and Ariel huck forty
Speaker 3: are asked to step in and fill those minutes. Right,
Speaker 3: those are supposed to be the farm system of which
Speaker 3: the Knicks are replenishing that bench talent with. But they
Speaker 3: may not even have the horses in the stable to
Speaker 3: be able to do it with a coach that can
Speaker 3: properly develop because they are very much in win now mode.
Speaker 3: We know the way that this collective bargaining agreement works.
Speaker 3: Your championship window lasts about three to four years before
Speaker 3: the players or the front office have some really tough
Speaker 3: decisions to make. The good news for the Knicks at
Speaker 3: their star Kalen Brunson has taken what is essentially a
Speaker 3: pay cut right by signing his contract early, not maximizing
Speaker 3: on an extension, and McHale bridges as a team friendly deal.
Speaker 3: A lot of these guys are willing to take less
Speaker 3: dollars because they enjoy playing with each other. And I
Speaker 3: thought they made that very apparent. But you're right. Even
Speaker 3: with all of those guys in the math work out
Speaker 3: like this, they still have about duce McBride off the
Speaker 3: bench right now, in one more year of Mitchell Robinson.
Speaker 3: And that's about it. And if the Oklahoma City Thunder
Speaker 3: and Indiana Pacers have proved anything to us as playoffs,
Speaker 3: it's the importance of not only having twelve to thirteen guys,
Speaker 3: but twelve to thirteen guys that can play efficiently and
Speaker 3: have that same influence and seamlessly replace the starters in
Speaker 3: the form of any basketball adversity. The New York Knicks
Speaker 3: do not have that right now. They play slow, They
Speaker 3: play in the half court, and they're top heavy with
Speaker 3: their Iron five. And there was once a time where
Speaker 3: you know what, if you have six to seven guys
Speaker 3: like the Hampton five with the Golden State Warriors, you
Speaker 3: just needed a Shawn Livingston off the bench. You just
Speaker 3: needed some David West and that was it. You could
Speaker 3: still win a title. I'm afraid those days have come
Speaker 3: and gone in the age of Payston space.
Speaker 2: Moving out this way, we'll end with the finals, but
Speaker 2: I did want to kind of kick the tires with
Speaker 2: you on where we find ourselves here in Salt leg
Speaker 2: with a team that's in during the fourth year of
Speaker 2: the post Mitchell Gobert Quinn Snyder group. That was really
Speaker 2: fun here for about eight nine years before it fell
Speaker 2: apart famously and dramatically. So Austin Ainge is brought in
Speaker 2: now is the president of basketball ops. Ryan Smith, the
Speaker 2: owner out here, said during his opening presser when he
Speaker 2: introduced Austin that he is now the guy. He's the
Speaker 2: loudest voice in the front office. All the final decisions
Speaker 2: will be his, meaning his dad Danny reports to him,
Speaker 2: and the general manager, Justin Zanik reports d Austin Ange. It's
Speaker 2: interesting the other thing they did, rob is you know,
Speaker 2: is they extended Will Hardy. You know, Tom Thibodeau goes
Speaker 2: to the Eastern Conference Finals, he loses his job. Will
Speaker 2: Hardy's won thirty three percent of his games and he
Speaker 2: has a contract through like twenty thirty one. So what
Speaker 2: they've done is solidified a coaching staff in a front
Speaker 2: office and giving them all long term extensions in the
Speaker 2: hopes that at some point the talent on the floor
Speaker 2: will look a little bit better that has prior to
Speaker 2: this will be year four, okay of this project that
Speaker 2: really hasn't brought a lot of progress. They were front
Speaker 2: facing about being on serious concerning competition last year to
Speaker 2: try to get the number one pick.
Speaker 1: It didn't work there at five.
Speaker 2: So what are your thoughts on a coaching staff in
Speaker 2: front office that is in place while talent on the
Speaker 2: floor is badly, badly needed here in Salt Lake.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, first of all, the coaches can't go on
Speaker 3: to the floor and play themselves, right, So you're gonna
Speaker 3: have to get some talented players out there at some point.
Speaker 3: Even the great red hourbacker John Woulden wouldn't be able
Speaker 3: to take last year's Jazz team to the Western Conference playoffs. Now,
Speaker 3: with Will Hardy, the example that I like to use
Speaker 3: is if he was a baseball pitcher, what do you
Speaker 3: think is more important their win loss record or their era?
Speaker 3: And you know the answer to this, right, yeah, sure, yeah,
Speaker 3: you like wins and losses is dependent on the bullpen
Speaker 3: on the offense that day, and you could have a
Speaker 3: seven point zero ERA on the best team and have
Speaker 3: a great win loss record that doesn't show a whole lot.
Speaker 3: So with Will Hardy, he's coaching a team that had
Speaker 3: a player participation policy violation last year because the Utah
Speaker 3: Jas failed to be properly announcing, you know, the presence
Speaker 3: of lowry market in for some of these games and
Speaker 3: getting accused of load management. So even the players that
Speaker 3: don't have the talent to compete at a championship level
Speaker 3: aren't even being provided, you know, to him, and every
Speaker 3: game was something different. There'd be a week of Walker
Speaker 3: Kessler out there with Sexton and Clarkson and then they'd
Speaker 3: be gone for a week. You know, I don't know
Speaker 3: many coaches that would be able to succeed. And Ryan
Speaker 3: Smith's a sharp guy, you know, certainly Danny Agees too,
Speaker 3: and they saw something in will Hardy that they feel
Speaker 3: like has longevity and sustainability towards whatever they're working towards. Now,
Speaker 3: Austin comes in, and I'm sure a lot of fans
Speaker 3: that don't understand, you know, the experience that he has
Speaker 3: probably just see that last name and think, oh, we
Speaker 3: know why he got this job, right, Is he qualified? Yeah? Like, listen,
Speaker 3: he's been with the bosson Celtics, have been responsible for
Speaker 3: a lot of their draft picks, coaching G League teams,
Speaker 3: you know, being in the being in the front office there,
Speaker 3: making a whole bunch of those this helping make a
Speaker 3: whole bunch of those decisions that ultimately led to a
Speaker 3: title in them being the favorites for a majority of
Speaker 3: this season before they were upset by the New York Knicks.
Speaker 3: So this is not just you know, tap it in
Speaker 3: the kid from a scene from Succession who has like
Speaker 3: no experience involved with parks and tourism and now you're
Speaker 3: the that senior vice president of this entire division. No, no, no, no.
Speaker 3: He has been in these trenches for many, many years.
Speaker 3: So if he's the loudest voice in the room, I
Speaker 3: think it's that cohesion that he has already with Ryan
Speaker 3: Smith and Will Hardy because of his father. That'll make
Speaker 3: this such a seamless transition. And it may not pay
Speaker 3: dividends right away because you brought it up yourself. This
Speaker 3: team just doesn't have the talent to compete. But the
Speaker 3: long term vision, you know, I trust them to make
Speaker 3: sharp decisions for sure.
Speaker 1: One more jazz thing along with the finals, because.
Speaker 2: You know, one of the things that's been interesting about
Speaker 2: trying to break down where the jazz are now and
Speaker 2: where they could be if some good decisions are made
Speaker 2: and then compound interest kicks in over time, is you
Speaker 2: try to measure them against It's unfair to do this
Speaker 2: because Oklahoma City is so good and they're so young,
Speaker 2: and they have so many assets at their disposal to
Speaker 2: continue to add talent when they have to make tough
Speaker 2: economic decisions with it, which they will in a few years.
Speaker 2: But the Mitchell and Gobert trades at the time were
Speaker 2: kind of met with his like, holy smokes, Danny Ainge
Speaker 2: got what for Rudy, He got that much for Gobert,
Speaker 2: and he got that much for And the reason I
Speaker 2: bring it up is essentially the main piece, well there
Speaker 2: are two main pieces, but the main piece they were
Speaker 2: able to get for. Mitchell has turned out to be
Speaker 2: Larry Lowry Markenen, who was a really good player in college.
Speaker 2: He was a Pac twelve kid when the Pac twelve
Speaker 2: existed at Arizona, and then he had some interesting moments
Speaker 2: in other stops Chicago, Cleveland, et cetera. Lands Here year
Speaker 2: one and when he was playing with ground ups Mike Conley,
Speaker 2: Kelly Olynock, et cetera.
Speaker 1: Made an All Star team.
Speaker 2: The past two years, when they've surrounded him with kids,
Speaker 2: quite frankly, he hasn't looked the same. And I don't
Speaker 2: view that as an diamond on him because I still
Speaker 2: think he can be a really good player for a
Speaker 2: team that is trying to win.
Speaker 1: But he also is twenty eight.
Speaker 2: He'll turn twenty nine next year, which is hilarious to
Speaker 2: bring that up as an ageish issue.
Speaker 1: But they're so far away that I don't know that
Speaker 1: he fits the timeline. Do you think they.
Speaker 2: Kick the tires on a market and move on a
Speaker 2: Kessler move to even reset this thing even more and
Speaker 2: start with number five this year, number twenty one next
Speaker 2: your number twenty one this year as well, and simply
Speaker 2: just play kids and try to develop their young talent
Speaker 2: and move off of market and Kessler.
Speaker 1: You think we see some movement this offseason.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think there's any untouchables on that roster,
Speaker 3: even with Larry markinin. Who would be you know, the
Speaker 3: most desirable asset of any team that feels like they
Speaker 3: are one seven foot three and d guy away from
Speaker 3: being NBA champions, Right, And it certainly hurt that the
Speaker 3: Jazz didn't get a top two, top three pick because
Speaker 3: the whole point of keeping these guys on the roster was, well,
Speaker 3: if we get Cooper Flagg or an Ace Bailey or
Speaker 3: whoever is at the top here, you know we can
Speaker 3: hit the ground running and return to playoff relevancy because
Speaker 3: of the lowie market and Walker Kessler. But falling that
Speaker 3: far down into the draft, you're really going to have
Speaker 3: to find I say, diamond in the rough. Like the
Speaker 3: number five pick has these expectations the equivalent of the
Speaker 3: second rounder. But we know that there's a pretty significant
Speaker 3: difference between Cooper Flag and the rest of the field,
Speaker 3: So I think that will change. You know, they what
Speaker 3: their design is for this franchise moving forward. In the
Speaker 3: Oklahoma City example is what everyone is trying to replicate
Speaker 3: by the way. You know, coming into the twenty four
Speaker 3: to twenty five season, everyone was trying to be the
Speaker 3: Boston Celtics. They have success shooting threes, so we're going
Speaker 3: to shoot threes too. Guess what happened When the Charlotte
Speaker 3: Hornets at ten fifty five threes in the night, It
Speaker 3: does not hit the same like the Boston Celtics. You
Speaker 3: are not the Boston Celtics and you need to stop
Speaker 3: emulating them. I think the same theory applies to Oklahoma
Speaker 3: City too. Now, it's certainly admirable that they were on
Speaker 3: this four year plan where the Jazz are right now,
Speaker 3: like the Thunder were so bad they were losing games
Speaker 3: by seventy plus points to the Memphis Grizzlies with some
Speaker 3: of those rosters right they were stacking up their draft picks,
Speaker 3: they were getting healthy, they were assembling in the shadows.
Speaker 3: But there was two to three years where they had
Speaker 3: to go through it, and then their young talent got
Speaker 3: so good so quickly that shake builds with Alexander and
Speaker 3: Josh Giddy led that team to the play In Tournament
Speaker 3: as the ten seed, of which they ultimately lost in.
Speaker 3: But then that next year they end up tying from
Speaker 3: the number one overall seat in the Western Conference with
Speaker 3: their second round exit and then shake guilds as Alexander
Speaker 3: becomes MVP in year four when OKACE is clearly the
Speaker 3: best team. So now someone like the Utah Jazz is saying,
Speaker 3: how can we do that? How can we grow our
Speaker 3: talent internal and then not have to stack our assets,
Speaker 3: not have to trade for a mercenary and do this
Speaker 3: the slow, methodical, authentic way, And someone like the Houston
Speaker 3: Rockets is trying to do that right now, right that
Speaker 3: they are refusing to trade their core the Amen Thompson's
Speaker 3: and the Jalen Greens for Kevin Durant's out there. You
Speaker 3: want to beat the Golden State Warriors like they lost
Speaker 3: in Game seven this year, if you have Kevin Durant,
Speaker 3: that certainly wouldn't have been the case. Well, by trading
Speaker 3: for Kevin Durant, you do trade some of your long
Speaker 3: term future as well, right because they're not going to
Speaker 3: give them to you for free. The biggest question here though,
Speaker 3: is Jazz fans need to think about this too. Who's
Speaker 3: your Shae Gilds is, Alexander, if you're trying to replicate
Speaker 3: what OKAC has accomplished, You're going to need someone to
Speaker 3: ascend to MVP status, doesn't actually have to win the award,
Speaker 3: but finish on the podium. And that's why I think
Speaker 3: Houston's gonna fall short because Jalen Green and alpahin Shangoon
Speaker 3: do not qualify for that right now, Who on the
Speaker 3: Utah Jazz can be that guy that franchise cornerstone that
Speaker 3: will affords you the luxury of time to do this
Speaker 3: the right way. I don't know if that's on the
Speaker 3: roster right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think that it is.
Speaker 2: And that's why I kind of always bring up the
Speaker 2: Mitchell trade in context, like ultimately, maybe at the time
Speaker 2: when both Indiana and OKAC, ironically enough moved on from
Speaker 2: Paul George, Paul was probably thought to be a little
Speaker 2: bit better of a player than Donovan was three years ago.
Speaker 2: But Donovan's gone on to First Team All NBA in Cleveland.
Speaker 2: And you know what Oklahoma City was able to turn
Speaker 2: Paul George into was SGA and five draft picks, one
Speaker 2: of which turned into Jalen and the Jazz didn't turn
Speaker 2: Mitchell into a star.
Speaker 1: Yet.
Speaker 2: There are plenty of picks that will convey then maybe
Speaker 2: they can find a diamond in the rough. But whenever
Speaker 2: I try to analyze the Jazz against some of these
Speaker 2: other teams, like Detroit was the worst team in pro
Speaker 2: basketball last year, but Detroit has Kate. Orlando is a
Speaker 2: team that not too long ago was wandering in the wilderness,
Speaker 2: but they've got Pollo and maybe even Franz Wagner depending
Speaker 2: on how you analyze them. The Jazz don't have Rob
Speaker 2: one of those guys on this roster. They just don't,
Speaker 2: at least not as of now.
Speaker 3: That's that's going to be solved, man. I think that's
Speaker 3: what everyone's trying to figure out too, because Sam, every
Speaker 3: executive in the NBA is probably sitting there, Sam Man,
Speaker 3: I wish I could have the same amount of time
Speaker 3: that Sam Presty had to execute his game plan. Kobe
Speaker 3: Altman in Cleveland was the only one who can probably
Speaker 3: say that I had that same amount of time. Now
Speaker 3: was after Lebron left where all of those expectations cratered. Right.
Speaker 3: The whole world knew that it was going to take
Speaker 3: years and years for Cleveland to return to relevancy, but
Speaker 3: eventually they got They got there a lot quicker and
Speaker 3: they expedited that that reloading because of that trade for
Speaker 3: Donovan Mitchell, the emergence of Theorius Garland, you know, so
Speaker 3: on and so forth. But not every front office is
Speaker 3: given that time. I looked at Phoenix, where you get
Speaker 3: a new owner and a new governor in town, and
Speaker 3: the new owners syndrome is need to make a good
Speaker 3: first impression. You're only get one chance, right, so we're
Speaker 3: gonna go out there and we're going to make all
Speaker 3: of these trades to win. Now we're going to liquidate
Speaker 3: our future assets and we'll see what happens. Well, it
Speaker 3: didn't work out. You didn't even make the playoffs, and
Speaker 3: now you're stuck in the second apron and it's going
Speaker 3: to take years to recover. And those general managers get
Speaker 3: thrown under the bus, even though they probably didn't want
Speaker 3: to even do that in the first place. I'm sure
Speaker 3: they all would love this long term plan that doesn't
Speaker 3: always parallel with the front office's direction of the business
Speaker 3: as well. So will Utah afford, will Ryan Smith afford
Speaker 3: that front office the time to try and replicate what
Speaker 3: Oklahoma City did. And if you don't have Shay Gilgess Alexander,
Speaker 3: then it's going to take more than four years. How
Speaker 3: long is the fan base willing to sit there and
Speaker 3: go through that process? Punintended before you realize, like, all right,
Speaker 3: this is enough. Like you've tried to reset, it's time
Speaker 3: to just like return to some form of relevancy. So
Speaker 3: it's not as easy as it sounds. Otherwise everyone else
Speaker 3: would be doing it.
Speaker 2: Well, said all right, Rob, before I said you lose,
Speaker 2: let's do a little NBA finals. I am curious how
Speaker 2: you've digested this Indiana Pacer run as a Nick fan
Speaker 2: watching Halliburton do the Reggie Miller choke sign, I am
Speaker 2: curious how you digested that game one collapse from New
Speaker 2: York and then look, I am so wildly I cannot
Speaker 2: stand the Pacers as a Nick fan, as you know,
Speaker 2: but I'm so wildly impressed with what Rick Carlile has
Speaker 2: done with them. I don't think they have a shot
Speaker 2: against OKAC. That's just my opinion. Like everyone else, I
Speaker 2: feel like I picked OKAC in five and impressed that
Speaker 2: they're leaving OKAC with a split.
Speaker 1: We'll see what happens back in Indianapolis.
Speaker 2: But before I say you lose, how have you digested
Speaker 2: this Pacer run and you think they can make it
Speaker 2: interesting the rest of the way against just a juggernaut
Speaker 2: thunder team.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not an accident at this point. What the
Speaker 3: Pacers have accomplished is earned. I mean, coming into this
Speaker 3: post season, only once out of nearly two thousand tries
Speaker 3: had a team come back from seven point or more
Speaker 3: deficit in the final fifty seconds of regulation or overtime.
Speaker 3: And the Indiana Pacers have done it thrice in one Playoffsky.
Speaker 3: That is not a statistical anomaly. That is not an impossibility,
Speaker 3: it's a mere improbability. Now that they have made that
Speaker 3: a reality is crazy. And it's earned because Tyre's Halliburton
Speaker 3: keeps putting himself in this spot where he can create
Speaker 3: his own luck. And whether it was the shot to
Speaker 3: eliminate the Milwaukee Bucks, it was the step back on
Speaker 3: ty Jerome in game two where they really exhausted Donovan
Speaker 3: Mitchell and then you allow Halliburton to get to that
Speaker 3: right hand for the game winning three. We know what
Speaker 3: the shot in Madison Square Garden in Game one. It
Speaker 3: hits off the back iron, it goes up into the
Speaker 3: rafters in somehow, some way it falls through that circle
Speaker 3: of iron. Twenty feet below it. You know, the math
Speaker 3: just does makes sense anymore. But these things keep happening.
Speaker 3: And then Game one happens as well, and against the
Speaker 3: team with this just historical defense in Oklahoma City, for
Speaker 3: them to steal that game, I am shocked, but I'm
Speaker 3: not surprised, right, I'm shocked. I'm not surprised because this
Speaker 3: should be two to oh Oklahoma City. It has been
Speaker 3: utter domination in these finals thus far, both sides of
Speaker 3: the ball. The biggest lead for the Pacers in both
Speaker 3: of these games is three points. They led for point
Speaker 3: three seconds in Game one, and Oklahoma City probably feels
Speaker 3: like we are the far superior team because we can
Speaker 3: replicate everything that they do, but better right, they have
Speaker 3: made Tyree's Haliburton look quite mortal other than one shot
Speaker 3: in this series. So not to take anything away from
Speaker 3: the Pacers, but their influence, especially on the defensive side
Speaker 3: of the ball with Andrew Nemhard and Aaron Neismith, is
Speaker 3: not being felt in the same way against Shay gilg
Speaker 3: as Alexander as it was some of the stars previously.
Speaker 3: It's due to shade size, his skill, his talent. But yeah,
Speaker 3: I do believe they're gonna fall a little short, and
Speaker 3: I've got OKC five as well.
Speaker 2: Rob, good stuff, my friend. I always appreciate the time,
Speaker 2: Keep up the awesome work.
Speaker 1: Love to do it again soon.
Speaker 3: Okay, you got it, my friends?
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 2: Rob Perez better known online as Worldwide Wob with a W.
Speaker 1: That's where you can get them on social media. Sirius XM.
Speaker 2: Bleacher Report does a bunch of different radio and TV
Speaker 2: shows really entertaining fun NBA personality. Appreciate his time today,
Speaker 2: all right, Rob stoff By today courtesy of our friends
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