Speaker 1: This is the baseline. Discussing the hot button topics of
Speaker 1: the nb A welcome everybody, your tune to the baseline.
Speaker 1: Cali Warrenshaw discussing the hot button topics.
Speaker 2: Of the NBA. The season is right around the corner.
Speaker 1: I mean so close you can touch it, you can
Speaker 1: smell it.
Speaker 2: Ever freshets, Yeah, it's a good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly that word that word too, because you know,
Speaker 1: I like to be making up words as well. But
Speaker 1: it's kind of like, you know, grilling summertime right out
Speaker 1: in the yard with your people's you know, and they
Speaker 1: and they know you.
Speaker 2: You're getting it in right.
Speaker 1: You know, they can appreciate, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: the aroma of an exciting season on the precipice.
Speaker 2: That's what that is.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: As always, man, let me go and run out the
Speaker 1: red carpet to my right hand man. He needs no
Speaker 1: introduction because he usually chimes in and hits me up
Speaker 1: with the you know, reality check, my man, mister warren
Speaker 1: Shot rapping out of Fort Florida to Florida.
Speaker 2: What's good, brother? Were ready for some NBA season.
Speaker 1: We're ready for some NBA basketball, Ready for the dramatization
Speaker 1: that is the NBA.
Speaker 3: He know, we are, brother, It's it's that time of year.
Speaker 3: It's the best time of the year. NBA is set
Speaker 3: to tip off. We are about to start or whatever
Speaker 3: it is, our twelfth season, diving into the long process
Speaker 3: of eighty two regularly twelve.
Speaker 1: I thought it was lucky thirteen. That was Lucky thirteen.
Speaker 1: No twelve, Okay, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. Maybe
Speaker 1: maybe for us we need lucky thirteen for the you.
Speaker 3: Know, well, the baseline is not going to stop anything, Okay,
Speaker 3: good keeping it pushing, So you know, we might have
Speaker 3: twelve more years, thirteen more years, who knows, But you know,
Speaker 3: another season here, twenty four or twenty five season for
Speaker 3: the league, and it's abound to be a good one.
Speaker 3: We're coming off, you know, some personal highs because you know,
Speaker 3: as fans, our team won the NBA championship, but there's
Speaker 3: it's going to be very hard for them to be
Speaker 3: able to repeat. And there's a lot of conversation that's
Speaker 3: going to be centered around this league over the course
Speaker 3: of the next you know, seven to eight months here
Speaker 3: as we get into all the way into June, you know,
Speaker 3: before we crown, we hope what would be a repeatd
Speaker 3: champion for US, but the league has not had a
Speaker 3: repeat champion in six years, So we'll see if that
Speaker 3: trend continues.
Speaker 1: As well as should you know, I think if we
Speaker 1: want to really appreciate a team who does go out
Speaker 1: and win the championship and really to you know, they say,
Speaker 1: you know, iron sharpens iron. You know, if there's an
Speaker 1: expectation that we want to treat these Busts and Celtics
Speaker 1: with the level of respect that these guys have obviously earned, right,
Speaker 1: it can only be magnified by what they do the
Speaker 1: following season. So it'll be very interesting to see shaw,
Speaker 1: you know, like what version of the Boston Celtics come
Speaker 1: out the beginning of this this season. It'd also be
Speaker 1: interesting to see what the teams that have made a
Speaker 1: whole lot of noise in this off season to build
Speaker 1: and structure a roster that is supposed to contend, compete,
Speaker 1: and neutralize what the Boston Celtics were able to do
Speaker 1: last season. So all of that is going to come
Speaker 1: into play in a conversation which leads us into this episode. Right,
Speaker 1: this is you know what I'm saying. I call this
Speaker 1: the Faith Evans episode. We got questions of burning up,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, the burning questions that I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people are going to be asking
Speaker 1: themselves as we you know, get ready or as we
Speaker 1: walk into this upcoming NBA season. And while we had
Speaker 1: some awesome guests on previously to help us preview the conferences,
Speaker 1: this is really what the follow up kind of feels like,
Speaker 1: right Like I know, in most cases, a lot of
Speaker 1: people like to have shows that do predictions on you know,
Speaker 1: who's gonna wind up poisting trophies, and we've done that
Speaker 1: even ourselves. We figure we take things a little bit
Speaker 1: differently because these are going to be some of the
Speaker 1: ongoing storylines that will kind of more into additional storylines
Speaker 1: of things that we're gonna have to follow and watch
Speaker 1: and trend on as the season, you know, commences, the
Speaker 1: season continues forward. So great episode in conceptualization by Manshaw
Speaker 1: and what we were thinking about, because I don't think
Speaker 1: we don't get to this point without what happened last
Speaker 1: season coming to fruition. I think we don't get to
Speaker 1: this point until we've seen the kind of craziness that
Speaker 1: took place in the off season, the trades that were
Speaker 1: happening even in the midnight hour before media day, you know,
Speaker 1: takes shape. Teams obviously recognize the riding on the wall,
Speaker 1: whether they think they smell blood in the water or
Speaker 1: whatever the case may be. Everybody is getting ready to
Speaker 1: shoot their shot. And I think that's what makes it,
Speaker 1: you know, an interesting episode for us to put down
Speaker 1: a little bit, is to kind of really hone in
Speaker 1: more on those topics that I think are going to
Speaker 1: kind of resonate with people as they're watching and following
Speaker 1: their teams and the season throughout.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, shout out to Ekam and Grant,
Speaker 3: those two gentlemen join us for our for our previews,
Speaker 3: you know, but it's it's clutch time, you know, this
Speaker 3: this is our time.
Speaker 4: Are we ready to rock?
Speaker 3: Can kind of do and put our spin on things
Speaker 3: only the way that the baseline can. So for us,
Speaker 3: it's a little bit of a cipher session, you know,
Speaker 3: tapping into our hip hop roots.
Speaker 4: We know with the burning questions, and I'm excited for
Speaker 4: this one. Brother.
Speaker 3: Like I said, there's some stuff out here and some
Speaker 3: of the questions, yes, they are typical. I guess maybe
Speaker 3: you know, for the formal standard but you know we're
Speaker 3: going to have our take on it for sure, and
Speaker 3: some of the things that are again are indigenous to
Speaker 3: us and questions that we specifically have going into this
Speaker 3: twenty four to twenty five.
Speaker 1: The absolutely as always, be sure to get them my
Speaker 1: man Shaw at Shaw Sports, NBA, get at me a
Speaker 1: game face, lead the shows, Twitter, hand A, NBA. Based
Speaker 1: on available and all the major platforms, you know where
Speaker 1: to find us. If you're catching this on the YouTube
Speaker 1: channel and you see the blue and white logo, that's
Speaker 1: the nineteen Media Group family, so we say hello to
Speaker 1: you and yours, be sure to go to www dot
Speaker 1: ninety MediaGroup dot com to not only check us out,
Speaker 1: but also the great content creators that are part of
Speaker 1: the nineteen Media Group family. And always, and as always,
Speaker 1: if you want to catch just this episode, but all
Speaker 1: of our episodes, be sure to go to www Dot
Speaker 1: the baselinemba dot com in order to catch us and
Speaker 1: download those shows at your leisure. So with that being said,
Speaker 1: we're gonna get ready to do our burning questions, basically
Speaker 1: looking at what we're expecting to see and talk about
Speaker 1: and things that we have to kind of make sure
Speaker 1: we're paying attention to for the upcoming NBA season. But
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Speaker 1: now for the breakdown, Cali Won't Shaw Basline NBA podcast.
Speaker 1: And as we're breaking stuff down, breaking it down to
Speaker 1: the to the very last molecule, brayed us blow it up,
Speaker 1: just incinerate stuff, you know what I mean, just burning questions.
Speaker 1: So you know, these are questions that I think, you know,
Speaker 1: between myself and Shaw or Shaw myself are saying to ourselves, like,
Speaker 1: these are the things that we're thinking about as we're
Speaker 1: getting you know, as we're embarking into the NBA season.
Speaker 1: And a lot of this has also been driven with
Speaker 1: the conversations that we've had through our special guests over
Speaker 1: the last month or so in in lieu of what
Speaker 1: was going to take place for this upcoming season. So Chayl,
Speaker 1: let's get right into it. One of the first burning
Speaker 1: questions that stick out is which team in the East
Speaker 1: is not green with envy and could actually beat the
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics.
Speaker 2: Who is who is who is going to be.
Speaker 1: That devil devilish leprechaun to the Celtics. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, Who's trying to rob their pot of gold?
Speaker 4: Bro I mean, the short answer is to the entire East.
Speaker 3: Now, I think that our question is the best suit
Speaker 3: is like again, it's like who is best suited who
Speaker 3: actually could potentially make this happen? You know, injuries aside.
Speaker 3: This is always assuming health for all parties, right, because
Speaker 3: otherwise those are the qualifiers that proclude people for being
Speaker 3: able to do other things that they set out to do.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 3: The teams that made the most of the biggest splash
Speaker 3: in the Eastern Conference are obviously the seventy six ers
Speaker 3: in the New York Micks. But she talked about on
Speaker 3: our Eastern Conference review and their ability in essence to
Speaker 3: upset the applecart.
Speaker 4: Right can they catch Boston?
Speaker 3: I personally think the Knicks are going to go so
Speaker 3: hard for getting a number one, number one seed. You know,
Speaker 3: Tims is going to play guys throughout the course of
Speaker 3: the regular season while we know Boston is gonna have
Speaker 3: not have Perzinga stil December, maybe even January. Sixers are
Speaker 3: already having issues, you know, and we didn't play any
Speaker 3: preseason games for precautionary reasons. It also comes out and
Speaker 3: says that he will he may not play back to
Speaker 3: backs for the rest of his career, let alone this season,
Speaker 3: and Paulo Paul George is already playing with the Bone Brewers.
Speaker 1: Why do players make these admissions out in public?
Speaker 2: Like it's just me.
Speaker 1: I understand, Like, I understand that the intent of doing it,
Speaker 1: you know, is to say something to speak more to
Speaker 1: you know, I want people to understand I'm not trying
Speaker 1: to be phony, fake or whatever, and I'm not taking
Speaker 1: anything away from it. It's but I oftentimes think, like, bro,
Speaker 1: this just is a bad look for you, right, Like,
Speaker 1: It's not like we don't know that you're injuries have
Speaker 1: really hindered your ability to maintain the highest level of
Speaker 1: play that you've shown us because you've won an MVP.
Speaker 1: But we also recognize as well too, that everyone believes
Speaker 1: the only way that the Sixers will win a championship
Speaker 1: is that you have to be at the highest peak
Speaker 1: of your physical abilities. When it matters the most, which
Speaker 1: has never been the case for the time that he's
Speaker 1: been a Philadelphia seventy six er.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean firm to say that is one thing
Speaker 3: will come out in application that that remains to be
Speaker 3: seen because I think everybody who's if you're following sports
Speaker 3: radio or o their podcast, the questions are like, all right, well,
Speaker 3: in theory, if you're back to back is you know,
Speaker 3: Charlotte and Atlanta or Charlotte in Portland or something like that,
Speaker 3: then yeah, maybe you don't need to play.
Speaker 4: But if you're back to back is Boston and New York,
Speaker 4: then you may want.
Speaker 2: To consider reconsiderative, right, right, So.
Speaker 3: You know, I think everything is with the grain of salt, right,
Speaker 3: But I think you know, those are the teams that
Speaker 3: you know, on paper, constructed themselves in essence to be
Speaker 3: able to take on the Boston Celtics by the roster
Speaker 3: moves that they made, getting more periminteral help on the
Speaker 3: wings and now trying to also add in theory some
Speaker 3: some additional shooting, especially the Knicks trying to go five
Speaker 3: out and being able to space the Celtics, same with
Speaker 3: the Celtics space everybody else.
Speaker 4: So those are the two teams that kind of come
Speaker 4: to mind.
Speaker 3: There's obviously some other teams in here that feel like,
Speaker 3: you know, they're probably being slept on, but I'll kind
Speaker 3: of pass the eight to you in terms of your
Speaker 3: thought process on the Sixers, the Knicks, and anybody else
Speaker 3: who might be able to beat Boston and the East.
Speaker 1: I mean, the best equipped team I think would be
Speaker 1: the New York Knicks. And it's really not even just
Speaker 1: for what they're trying to do offensively shaw as much
Speaker 1: as what I think people can expect to see of
Speaker 1: the Knicks defensively.
Speaker 2: I feel like.
Speaker 1: Where things can go awry is this false sense of
Speaker 1: believing that Tom Thibodeau's is going to have an innovative
Speaker 1: way of getting the Knicks to suddenly just start scoring
Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty something points per game. I think
Speaker 1: that's purely on the talent of what you have with
Speaker 1: Brunson and with the Big Bodega. You know, it's hard
Speaker 1: pressed not to feel like the Knicks have the best
Speaker 1: type of roster that can compete against the Boss's Celtics,
Speaker 1: whether or not they're going to be able to execute
Speaker 1: at that level. Given the fact that all of your
Speaker 1: pieces are really new pieces to that puzzle.
Speaker 2: That to me is going to be the bigger question.
Speaker 1: The most formidable team from a matchup perspective, I feel
Speaker 1: like could be the Milwaukee Bucks because of the fact
Speaker 1: that you do have Dillard, I'm say Lillard and you
Speaker 1: have Giannis together for as long as a season already
Speaker 1: ahead of the iterations that you're getting from the Sixers
Speaker 1: and the Knicks, and then you also maybe throw the
Speaker 1: Miami Heat into the mix. But I think a lot
Speaker 1: of that is really predicated on how aggressive vam Adebayo
Speaker 1: is going to be for this upcoming season and what
Speaker 1: version of Jimmy Butler is going to be a part
Speaker 1: of the you know, Nicks. I'm sorry this this this
Speaker 1: Heat version as well too, So it's it's kind of interesting,
Speaker 1: and I know people are like, well, what about the
Speaker 1: Indiana Pacers. I think that there's still the new kids
Speaker 1: on the block. I still think that there's some proving
Speaker 1: to do. But I think when it really comes down
Speaker 1: to it, when you're talking about matchups and styles, most
Speaker 1: well rounded team from my purview is gonna wind up
Speaker 1: being the New York Knicks. But the biggest caveat with
Speaker 1: that is you know, you're asking a lot of guys
Speaker 1: to do a lot of things in a season in
Speaker 1: which all of them are coming from different circumstances as situations,
Speaker 1: and somebody's gonna have to make the ultimate sacrifice play.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if there's enough time for them
Speaker 1: to be able to do that even in a season,
Speaker 1: given the way that the Celtics have shown us what
Speaker 1: they had to do in order to get to this
Speaker 1: point just to win a championship, and you're asking, and
Speaker 1: you're basically asking these guys to leap frog that formula
Speaker 1: of success.
Speaker 2: Hard pressed, hard hard, hard pressed.
Speaker 1: But I think it's gonna to come down to maybe
Speaker 1: the Knicks and possibly the Bucks, depending on what version
Speaker 1: of Giannis and Lillard actually come out this season cohesively
Speaker 1: together and with the mentality in a mindset that they
Speaker 1: felt like they were being disrespected and not being taken seriously,
Speaker 1: which they didn't do what they were supposed to do
Speaker 1: last season.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, walk as to all of famers, and we're
Speaker 3: going to get to them here in a short minute.
Speaker 4: The next thing.
Speaker 3: For me, I like that not only because of the
Speaker 3: roster moves they made, but they also show a level
Speaker 3: of grit and toughness that Celtics at times have seemed
Speaker 3: to lock. Now, obviously they got over the hump, but
Speaker 3: New York has this ever tay Die mentality. The biggest
Speaker 3: questions for me is not really the FC and their
Speaker 3: starting lineup. You know that's going to be solid, but
Speaker 3: one of Brunson or Towns is kind of always going
Speaker 3: to need to be on the floor. I'm just not
Speaker 3: sold on Bridges as a primary scorer. So if you
Speaker 3: can't have Bridges leading the offense, so to speak, I
Speaker 3: just don't. I don't think that's not for championship level
Speaker 3: basketball at least, So Brunchon and and and Towns need
Speaker 3: to be out there. And then if they staying an
Speaker 3: injury to one of those two, then they do get
Speaker 3: really really a thing. I know Ojan Andobi is like, oh,
Speaker 3: I could probably do it, but nah, bro.
Speaker 1: This is this is exactly the reason to your point, Shaw,
Speaker 1: where I think the biggest indictment that I think you
Speaker 1: can make about this trade and getting the big Bodega
Speaker 1: is losing Dante DiVincenzo. And I say this people so
Speaker 1: that people can really understand, you know what what you're asking,
Speaker 1: you know, Karl Anthony Towns to do is essentially you're
Speaker 1: asking him to be what you had gained through DiVincenzo,
Speaker 1: who's while he's shooting was was great, awesome. Right, You're
Speaker 1: now saying that's you know, uh, pass the torch to Bridges,
Speaker 1: Pass the torch to Anobi.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I've said this before Shaw and maybe I just just
Speaker 1: nauseate people and saying is those guys are volume shooters.
Speaker 1: Those guys need numerous touches to find rhythm to how
Speaker 1: they score that basketball. You do not have the luxury
Speaker 1: of playing like that, even if you have Brunson and
Speaker 1: you have the big cat on your roster, because those
Speaker 1: guys are gonna need the ball, right, and now you're
Speaker 1: asking Brunson to what, take a step back. You're asking
Speaker 1: him to not be as aggressive. You're asking the cat
Speaker 1: not to be as aggressive because you got to find
Speaker 1: a way to get Anobi and Bridges, you know, into
Speaker 1: the mix. Some guys may only need six or seven shots.
Speaker 1: DiVincenzo was kind of that dude, right, Like he was
Speaker 1: doing so many other things to help out that he
Speaker 1: opened up that ability for him to be able to
Speaker 1: get that many shots.
Speaker 2: But he made his shots.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you're getting that same thing, you know,
Speaker 1: with with bridges and with Anobi even when they're healthy.
Speaker 1: And I think that to me is the one thing
Speaker 1: that scares me the most when I look at this roster.
Speaker 1: When you need guys with minimal shots to have access
Speaker 1: to can make the majority of them, you know who
Speaker 1: on the Knicks are they going to look at to
Speaker 1: to be able to do that? If not, you have
Speaker 1: to put the own back on the Cat and Brunson
Speaker 1: to shoulder that load and be efficient with their scoring
Speaker 1: ability because teams like the Sixers, teams like the Celtics
Speaker 1: are going to minimize the amount of touches that teams
Speaker 1: like the Knicks want to have for them to be
Speaker 1: able to score the basketball.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I mean they have to be stars in
Speaker 4: their role.
Speaker 3: So with whatever shots they get, whether those be corner
Speaker 3: threes or above the break threes or you know, slashes
Speaker 3: and you know, maybe getting out on the break a
Speaker 3: little bit, I don't know. Bing bridges I think are
Speaker 3: the key to some level offensive consistency for for the Knicks,
Speaker 3: but they need to be set up. That's why I'm
Speaker 3: saying we're losing brunts or if they were to lose
Speaker 3: Brunton in any amount of time, they would really really get.
Speaker 4: Things, struggle to score offensively.
Speaker 3: But that's not the that's you know, that's not talking
Speaker 3: about today right now. I think on paper, they are
Speaker 3: best suited. They have those level of toughness, They feel like, hey,
Speaker 3: they could have been there last year. They are well coached,
Speaker 3: and they're going to play their starters a crap ton
Speaker 3: of minutes. So as long as that doesn't get them,
Speaker 3: you know, in the infirmary award, I think the Knicks
Speaker 3: are going to be right there. The Sixers probably have
Speaker 3: the single most biggest domination threat in terms of EMBIID.
Speaker 3: But again it's always about the mentality and then will
Speaker 3: they be healthy you know when when when things come
Speaker 3: up and then think about us too. Is like if
Speaker 3: the Celtics plays their cards right, two of these three
Speaker 3: teams are probably going to play each other before they
Speaker 3: even get to Boston. So you know that's where things
Speaker 3: kind of land. So why don't we switch gears here
Speaker 3: you now from this conversation and talk about your Milwaukee Bucks,
Speaker 3: and why don't you lead us into that?
Speaker 1: So which team will stand on business? Which team will
Speaker 1: channel their Marlowe Stanfield, right, they your name is your
Speaker 1: name right? No more of you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: You know, petty hand to hand getting some props because
Speaker 1: you know, you made a couple of deals in here
Speaker 1: and there and you got like your quote unquote Big
Speaker 1: three or whatever the case. Maybe now is the time,
Speaker 1: right if you are the Milwaukee Bucks or the Phoenix Suns.
Speaker 1: To me, Shaw, this really comes down to which one
Speaker 1: of these teams are going to stand on business and
Speaker 1: really be legitimately a threat to whoever they're playing to
Speaker 1: position themselves to you know, being a part of the
Speaker 1: NBA Finals. Now, it's I think it's safe to say
Speaker 1: I don't really foresee neither the Bucks or the Bucks
Speaker 1: and the Sons getting to the NBA Finals. I I
Speaker 1: it's gonna it's to me, it's a one er. It's
Speaker 1: an either or kind of thing.
Speaker 2: Right. So out of these two, which one is channeling
Speaker 2: their marlow Stanfield.
Speaker 4: I want to believe in Milwaukee.
Speaker 3: I want to believe in Doc and his ability to
Speaker 3: get them to defend from the very from the very
Speaker 3: get go. Dame being a little bit more focused than
Speaker 3: in shape coming into the season, he still got the
Speaker 3: issue of Chris Middleton, you know, in those ankles.
Speaker 4: So while I want to believe.
Speaker 3: I just have a little bit more trust I think
Speaker 3: in what's happening in Phoenix. I love the fact that
Speaker 3: they got tyas Jones to get them a ball distributor,
Speaker 3: Biel and Booker to be secondary and tertiary, you know,
Speaker 3: playmakers as opposed to primary and backups.
Speaker 4: And then the addition of but.
Speaker 3: There, while but ironically maligned from his time in Milwaukee
Speaker 3: now going over to Phoenix already has them playing with
Speaker 3: the semblance of structure that I think is just different
Speaker 3: than than Vogel did you know in the years past.
Speaker 3: So of the two teams, you know, gun to the head,
Speaker 3: I would pick the Suns here as a better pick
Speaker 3: to stand on business in the Western Conference that still
Speaker 3: has some questions and is very very very wide open.
Speaker 3: So if if there's any team that could make a
Speaker 3: run here, it would be the Sun's team because KD.
Speaker 3: Booker and Beale are obviously so so amazing, and now
Speaker 3: getting Ties shows to organize them on a regular basi
Speaker 3: of all offensively just as another level to them, and
Speaker 3: they were solid defensively despite all things like last year,
Speaker 3: like nobody thought they were gonna be as good as
Speaker 3: they were again middle of the pack, and but is
Speaker 3: also a defensive kind of you know, type of coach.
Speaker 4: I think this. They have the longest runway I think
Speaker 4: to be successful in the two teams.
Speaker 2: So I agree with you about the long runway. I
Speaker 2: genuinely do.
Speaker 1: I think those sons have the best opportunity for them
Speaker 1: to stand on business because if you really think about it,
Speaker 1: it's not that we don't believe that the Dallas Mavericks
Speaker 1: can replicate what they're doing.
Speaker 2: It's more so of the fact that.
Speaker 1: There are other teams and the way matchups were set
Speaker 1: up in the playoffs that may have had something to
Speaker 1: do with whether or not the Mavericks. I guess in
Speaker 1: a way we're able to wind up at the top
Speaker 1: of the pack, right because I think it exposed certain
Speaker 1: things that are lacking for those other teams. Maybe it's
Speaker 1: not so much roster and talent as much as it
Speaker 1: is about what strategies they have to implement against whatever
Speaker 1: type of matchup that they had going into the playoffs.
Speaker 1: So I say all of that to say, I think
Speaker 1: to you, you have a lot of faith in Tias
Speaker 1: Jones and maybe in some respects he won't be someone
Speaker 1: that we may mention later on in the show we
Speaker 1: have to ask the question about who needs a hoop redemption.
Speaker 1: I will say Tys Jones is a great added piece,
Speaker 1: but I don't know. Man like I think, if nothing else,
Speaker 1: Budenholzer and what he does with Bradley Beal, Budenholzer and
Speaker 1: how he sets up KD.
Speaker 2: Budenholzer and the structure.
Speaker 1: To your point, I think speaks more volumes than me, say,
Speaker 1: personally worrying about whether or not they've got a true
Speaker 1: point guard because of the fact that this, to me
Speaker 1: is about as good an opportunity I think the Phoenix
Speaker 1: Suns will actually have with that roster that they've got
Speaker 1: and where Katie is in his career as the type
Speaker 1: of player he is. I'm not saying that you know,
Speaker 1: he's old man legs or anything, but you kind of
Speaker 1: hear him talking about, oh man, I'm getting too old
Speaker 1: and everything like that. I just think that there comes
Speaker 1: a point where there's that where and tomentally on how
Speaker 1: much more you want to continue to go through this
Speaker 1: with iterations of a roster that you know, at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, it's still on your shoulders, and
Speaker 1: maybe he wants it to be like, hey, this really
Speaker 1: should be on Booker's shoulders, this should really be on
Speaker 1: Beal's shoulders.
Speaker 2: So it'll be interesting to see what the Suns.
Speaker 1: Actually show us, especially now that the Western Conference has
Speaker 1: re emerged itself with six seven teams deep. I don't
Speaker 1: think that they're running away with anything, which leads me
Speaker 1: to believe about the which leads me to say about
Speaker 1: the Milwaukee Bucks. The level of drop off that people
Speaker 1: have about the Bucks respecting them. It almost makes people
Speaker 1: feel like they're questioning how legitimate were they about winning
Speaker 1: that that chip in twenty nineteen. And I say this
Speaker 1: to say, yeah, you should be mad. You should be pissed,
Speaker 1: Like if you're Giannis, if you're a Lillard, you should
Speaker 1: be pissed, and you should, you know, go out there
Speaker 1: and you should start imposing your will. So it'll be
Speaker 1: interesting to see what comes of the Milwaukee Bucks, because
Speaker 1: nothing from what we've seen about the Milwaukee Bucks is
Speaker 1: new to what their struggles have been since they won
Speaker 1: the championship. It's a question of whether or not the
Speaker 1: players really, you know, buy into the idea that they
Speaker 1: are they content with knowing that they got that one championship.
Speaker 1: It's the first championship, you know, in so many years
Speaker 1: for this Or is it more about the fact that
Speaker 1: we still believe that, you know, we have two players
Speaker 1: that should be considered top ten players in the NBA.
Speaker 1: We have a defense that ultimately has gotten significantly better
Speaker 1: under Doc Rivers. Doc Rivers believes that he should be
Speaker 1: still considered as one of the premier coaches that are
Speaker 1: still out there, should be still respected. Like all of
Speaker 1: this stuff is about a respect factor for the for
Speaker 1: the Milwaukee Bucks, and I think if there's a team
Speaker 1: that really does need to stand on business more than anything,
Speaker 1: it should be Milwaukee.
Speaker 3: Well, I don't disgree in terms of they probably need
Speaker 3: it more. I just don't know that it's going to happen.
Speaker 3: Luke Warman on the Doc Rivers thing right now.
Speaker 4: Just's he is who he is.
Speaker 3: There's just a lot of excuses and a lot of
Speaker 3: weirdness that comes out sometimes. So you know, I'm not
Speaker 3: I'm not jj reddikin right, I'm not, you know, just
Speaker 3: saying that he's not worth his salt. But there's just
Speaker 3: there's something that's missing and not connecting for me. Right
Speaker 3: now in terms of his coaching ability per se or
Speaker 3: the way to command a locker room at his coaching ability,
Speaker 3: but his impact on the locker room, not quite sure
Speaker 3: where that currently stands. So I need to see the
Speaker 3: Bucks obviously be successful, you know under his quote unquote
Speaker 3: regime in a way that Okay, there's not this excuse
Speaker 3: I took over the team, you.
Speaker 4: Know, thirty games of the season and this is hard.
Speaker 3: Like, okay, bro, like you have the entire entire summer,
Speaker 3: You've had the entire training camp. Now what and once
Speaker 3: we get there and get that version, Doc Rivers is
Speaker 3: not you know, looking for excuses for not being able
Speaker 3: to reach certain levels.
Speaker 4: Then you know, the Bucks I think will be much
Speaker 4: better off.
Speaker 2: But for the.
Speaker 3: Money they had, Getentorian Prints, getting Gary, Trentz and and
Speaker 3: and Delon right onto this roster. Those are solid additions
Speaker 3: that can help, especially if you need to kind of
Speaker 3: stem the tide. Stem the tide, if you will, for
Speaker 3: Milton injury. All those guys are capable of scoring their
Speaker 3: basketball and defending to a certain level.
Speaker 4: You get militant back.
Speaker 3: This team has the talent in essence to be right
Speaker 3: there at the top and sent on business as we're
Speaker 3: alluding to.
Speaker 1: All Right, so let's quickly transition Shaw to the next
Speaker 1: question on which coach we think might be on the
Speaker 1: hot seat. In other words, what we're saying is which
Speaker 1: coach can ill afford to have a disappointing season with
Speaker 1: the roster that they have and the circumstances of the
Speaker 1: situation that the organization and the fan base are going through.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it starts from where where we're left off.
Speaker 3: And I don't think Doc is actually in the hot
Speaker 3: seat in terms of being well he will he be
Speaker 3: let go, But I don't think Adrian Griffin thought he
Speaker 3: would have been let go after games either. So you know,
Speaker 3: it's what have you done for me lately? And I
Speaker 3: think you know this is this is a roster that
Speaker 3: has to perform as you can pus the rest of
Speaker 3: the league. There's a lot of i'd say air quotes,
Speaker 3: pseudo stability, you.
Speaker 2: Know, in.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of coaches in really good situations for
Speaker 3: from from where they are relative or they're they're in
Speaker 3: a legacy spot.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 3: If I had to pick somebody outside a doc who
Speaker 3: needs to perform in a way that is different from
Speaker 3: what they did in the in the years to that,
Speaker 3: I'd probably go to New Orleans and say, Willie Green, Uh,
Speaker 3: they've made some changes, they made some some adustion. They
Speaker 3: don't have a true center there at least somebody that
Speaker 3: you want to rely on a regular basis.
Speaker 4: But will they blame him for that.
Speaker 3: You know, and say, well, you know what, Zion at
Speaker 3: the five is the way they should go. You also
Speaker 3: have Brendan Ingram with a contract situation, but to me,
Speaker 3: it's Willie Green I think would be the next coach.
Speaker 3: I'd be like, you know, how much more runway does
Speaker 3: he have there in New Orleans?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: That was a that was a legit person. And I
Speaker 1: feel like, just really to add to what you're saying,
Speaker 1: I think that he would be scapegoaded, right because I
Speaker 1: really think that Griffin Griffin hasn't really done him, done
Speaker 1: him many favors. I genuinely believe that you know that
Speaker 1: whole idea about you know, coach and and general manager
Speaker 1: and they're being a being a symmetry in the relationship.
Speaker 1: I think it speaks volumes and I just genuinely feel
Speaker 1: like with Willie Green, I don't know, he to me
Speaker 1: seems like he has to do a lot of handholding
Speaker 1: with the quote unquote stars, maybe with the exception of CJ.
Speaker 1: McComb because he handles himself pretty professionally. Right Well, the
Speaker 1: situation with Brandon Ingram and with Zion Williamson, who we've
Speaker 1: been talking about this for such a long time, Shaw,
Speaker 1: I have failed to see where those two combined have
Speaker 1: have have really worked. I'm not saying that individually they
Speaker 1: are not great players, and when they're not on the
Speaker 1: floor together, when they're not dealing with whatever each other's situations,
Speaker 1: you know, whether it be front office stuff or just
Speaker 1: injuries or whatever. When it's separate the side, when one
Speaker 1: of them had to be on the court and has
Speaker 1: to step up and you know, kind of be the
Speaker 1: alpha for the team, really helped lead the team.
Speaker 2: They've been great. But when they're together, we don't see it.
Speaker 1: And part of that is gonna is gonna hang on
Speaker 1: the hat of Willie Green, like how can you not
Speaker 1: make this work with these two types of players.
Speaker 2: So I find it kind of interesting that you brought
Speaker 2: that up.
Speaker 1: But to me, Sean, I think the bigger point that
Speaker 1: I was making when I when we were talking about
Speaker 1: this and constructing this question with regards to Doc Rivers.
Speaker 2: You mentioned it.
Speaker 1: It's some of the weirdness that comes out of Doc
Speaker 1: rivers mouth when he's at the podium, and hard for
Speaker 1: it for me to say. It's not that I don't
Speaker 1: love Doc Rivers in his you know, back in the
Speaker 1: day Doc Rivers when he was Orlando Magic and he
Speaker 1: was part of the Boston Celtics. I don't know what's
Speaker 1: happened ever since he transitioned to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Speaker 1: I don't I don't know if Sterling, you know, snatched
Speaker 1: his soul or something.
Speaker 2: I don't know what happened.
Speaker 1: I just see different versions of Doc Rivers now since
Speaker 1: his tenure with the Los Angeles Clippers. And I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna say it's good, bad, and different. I'm just saying
Speaker 1: it's it's just never coming out looking good at the
Speaker 1: end of it with him. And I don't know if
Speaker 1: he really understands and recognizes that. Right so, somewhere along
Speaker 1: the line, Shaw, if he continues to kind of like
Speaker 1: say things that makes it seem like there's no level
Speaker 1: of accountability for anything disappointing that is happening with the
Speaker 1: Milwaukee Bucks.
Speaker 2: I think if you're the Milwaukee Bucks.
Speaker 1: You have to really think about this, like, can you
Speaker 1: ill afford to have Giannis and Lillard be like disenamored
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like does not want to
Speaker 1: deal with all of this type of stuff because of him?
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: The Griffin thing was completely Again, we knew what that
Speaker 1: was coming of that. I don't think they were on
Speaker 1: board with that whatsoever, right, But with Doc Rivers, I
Speaker 1: still don't know if whether or not Janni's wanted that
Speaker 1: to be the case. I think that's just the shiny
Speaker 1: object in the room, and they went for that as
Speaker 1: they're desperate play, recognizing you know, something had to change,
Speaker 1: but they didn't want to compromise, you know, the team's success,
Speaker 1: even though internally there was so much going on. I'm
Speaker 1: just saying that I feel like Doc has been riding
Speaker 1: that for a little bit too long now. And anything
Speaker 1: other than this Milwaukee Bucks team not being in the
Speaker 1: conversation of one of the top teams in the East,
Speaker 1: I think makes you start wondering this is obviously bit
Speaker 1: more about the players than it really is about the coaching.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the only thing there with with Milwaukee is that
Speaker 3: they're still paying Adrian Griffin, like let them go.
Speaker 4: They still got to pay.
Speaker 1: Right, And I think that would be their roadblock that
Speaker 1: they wouldn't be able to They wouldn't be able to
Speaker 1: do anything financially, or they can ill afford to do
Speaker 1: something again financially. It would still be just like a
Speaker 1: bad look. It would be on a problem on top
Speaker 1: of a problem. But it doesn't help, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean.
Speaker 2: Yeah, sure it doesn't.
Speaker 4: Help last one.
Speaker 3: I mean, and I mean super quick, keep an eye
Speaker 3: on Atlanta and Quinn Snyder. You know, if I don't
Speaker 3: know what the Hawk's actual expectations are, right, but I mean,
Speaker 3: you know, a couple of years into this situation. Now,
Speaker 3: yes he came back, you know, came from Utah and
Speaker 3: whatever the case may be. But if you know, they
Speaker 3: get off the rough, start the tree, young rumors are
Speaker 3: gonna start to fly. And then maybe before the young rumors,
Speaker 3: maybe Snyder's job you know, gets threatened or you know, dismissed.
Speaker 1: I genuine only, I genuinely think Snyder wanted Murray, and
Speaker 1: he wanted wanted Young and and and it'll be interesting.
Speaker 1: It'll be interesting to see if whether or not the
Speaker 1: outcome Shaw would be Snyder walking away from this job
Speaker 1: rather than dealing with with what's going on with in Atlanta. Clearly,
Speaker 1: I think this is about Atlanta wanting to keep young
Speaker 1: and I don't know if Snyder is on board with that.
Speaker 2: So we'll see what he does with him.
Speaker 1: Yep, your tune to the late, your tune to the base,
Speaker 1: like Cali warrants, you're so abrupt with that one. That's
Speaker 1: probably how Snyder has his conversations with the opposites. Your
Speaker 1: tune to the base, like Cali Warren shall discussing the
Speaker 1: hot button topics of the n B A hot button,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. Burning questions for this upcoming
Speaker 1: NBA season coming up will be talking about a little
Speaker 1: hoops redemption and part of our Burning Questions conversation, we
Speaker 1: also got some some some interesting perspectives here about you know,
Speaker 1: possible babyfaces in the Rookie of the Year run the Claw.
Speaker 1: Who can't have a burning question about the Claw in
Speaker 1: any conversation when it comes to talking basketball. So we
Speaker 1: got a lot of stuff to get into. Don't go anywhere,
Speaker 1: We're back, Cali Warnshaw, based on NBA podcasts, are burning
Speaker 1: questions for the upcoming NBA season.
Speaker 2: Shaw, time for us to talk a little hoops redemption?
Speaker 1: Man, Which players need this season to be their hoops redemption?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so you came up with a great list, and
Speaker 3: even you know, kind of off where we're like, Man,
Speaker 3: there's a lot of players who either have felt disrespected,
Speaker 3: fell off one or or the other, or just again,
Speaker 3: they're just in the need for some semblance of Hey,
Speaker 3: it's about time that you actually do something.
Speaker 4: So Klay Thompson is somebody for me in Dallas.
Speaker 3: You know, storied Hall of Fame type dude who left
Speaker 3: the Golden State Warriors now probably took less money in
Speaker 3: essense to kind of go there out of some sumblans
Speaker 3: of spite. But does he put the Dallas Mavericks over
Speaker 3: the hump? And in what role is he willing to
Speaker 3: play in this? I think redemption for him is going
Speaker 3: to look very different than maybe some others may may
Speaker 3: want it.
Speaker 4: To look like.
Speaker 3: But he just needs to be consistent, needs to be
Speaker 3: a guy who doesn't have like consistent zero first from.
Speaker 4: Three or from the field goals.
Speaker 3: There's already been some consuntination around him during the preseason,
Speaker 3: but I think Dallas is happy for right now he
Speaker 3: just got to be a guy who can be ready
Speaker 3: and available in the corners and on the wings from
Speaker 3: Kyrie and Luca kickouts and then get to some someone's
Speaker 3: where he's not being being a out of door defensively.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Listen, Klay Thompson's is like the constantly like he
Speaker 1: the hoops redemption. But to me, I think people are
Speaker 1: missing out on where the shops redemption really needs to
Speaker 1: be for Klay Thompson. This is more about what he
Speaker 1: can do defensively on the basketball court. This is about
Speaker 1: his ability for him to stay in front of guys
Speaker 1: who are now your prototype wing wing, you know, shooting
Speaker 1: guard type players that it's not that there are two
Speaker 1: way players as much as they are. Their athleticism has
Speaker 1: really significantly increased in that role of that position over
Speaker 1: the last couple of years, which I think is marginalized
Speaker 1: his ability to be on the court and to be
Speaker 1: able to keep up with some guys. I've said for
Speaker 1: the longest time shot that at some point Klay Thompson
Speaker 1: needed to transition to be more of a small forward
Speaker 1: rather than being the shooting guard, because then I think
Speaker 1: that would have opened things up for the Golden State Warriors.
Speaker 1: Now you are definitely seeing where to me, Klay Thompson
Speaker 1: can basically shoot the ball better than what you were
Speaker 1: getting out of Tim Hardaway Junior. But Tim Hardaway Junior,
Speaker 1: at least for his part, was able to keep up
Speaker 1: with other guys playing you know, that hybrid role, that
Speaker 1: hybrid position of what Clay used to do. And I
Speaker 1: think that is going to be so important for the
Speaker 1: Dallas Mavericks. It's not so much the fun because this
Speaker 1: this is going to be a roller coaster for Klay
Speaker 1: Thompson as far as his ability to shoot the basketball.
Speaker 1: He's not going to do what he was doing, you know,
Speaker 1: on a night in, night out basis back in Golden State.
Speaker 1: And let's also keep in mind as well too, he
Speaker 1: is not going to be fed the ball the same
Speaker 1: way like the ball was being fed to him through
Speaker 1: Draymond Green and through Steph Curry. So a lot of
Speaker 1: this is going to really come down to Klay Thompson
Speaker 1: and his experience, his guile, his savvy on his ability
Speaker 1: to be relevant on that court for the Dallas Mavericks.
Speaker 1: And I think people in Dallas should be very liary.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that Clay will not be productive for them.
Speaker 1: What I'm saying is in the areas that I think
Speaker 1: the Dallas Mavericks are going to need him. If you're
Speaker 1: going to have him on that basketball court, he has
Speaker 1: got to be better at doing that. He didn't show
Speaker 1: us coming from that injury last year. Now maybe now
Speaker 1: a full season into this, we'll probably see him get
Speaker 1: a little bit more pepping his step. But I think
Speaker 1: ultimately whatever is driving him to be that version of
Speaker 1: him cannot be misled in what's necessary for the Dallas
Speaker 1: Mavericks to repeat as to what they gave us last season.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, Clay, I mean I think it's the
Speaker 3: shot diet. How many shots per game does he get.
Speaker 3: He's a guy who's usually in the seventeenth to eighteen
Speaker 3: per game. You know, he was down to fifteen last year.
Speaker 2: And it could be even less. It could it could
Speaker 2: really be.
Speaker 1: Less, because I think the onus is gonna come down
Speaker 1: to Luka Donkic and what aggression Luka Donkich gives you.
Speaker 1: Obviously health being a factor as well too, but the
Speaker 1: moment that Luka Donkic is not on that basketball court,
Speaker 1: then gets who operates in that space from a guard perspective,
Speaker 1: right Like, I know that they'll have Green and they'll
Speaker 1: have you know, a hardy and those guys, but it's
Speaker 1: still gonna be Kyrie Irving. And so Kyrie Irving's a
Speaker 1: way and his ability of how he goes to the
Speaker 1: bucket and how he you know, opens up the floor
Speaker 1: and things that nature will not be the same way
Speaker 1: that Luca does that, which is more deliberate, more paced.
Speaker 1: It's it's gonna be very different for a guy like
Speaker 1: Clay Shaw. I was interested in saying that in what
Speaker 1: we're thinking about with guys like Jah Moran and guys
Speaker 1: like Trey Young, right like, this ultimately has a feel
Speaker 1: for you know, guards need to step up and be better.
Speaker 2: Jamal Murray, Damian Lillard.
Speaker 1: This is a guard driven hoops redemption, which is kind
Speaker 1: of hard to believe because it's been guards who have
Speaker 1: been out balling out when it comes to you know,
Speaker 1: playoff time and things of that nature.
Speaker 2: We've seen some of the.
Speaker 1: Greatest performances by guards, but I feel like a couple
Speaker 1: of them that haven't been mentioned, and you can see
Speaker 1: it in a way that teams have finished in disappointing fashion.
Speaker 1: A lot of it has been driven on the absence
Speaker 1: of a guard or the lack of play thereof by
Speaker 1: the guards.
Speaker 3: Well, for me, Joe Moran is the poster word for this,
Speaker 3: for all the reasons off the court and even the injuries.
Speaker 3: So there's nobody I think with more to proof here
Speaker 3: in terms of hoop presumption than John Morant. For me,
Speaker 3: Tree Young is he is exactly who he's been for
Speaker 3: the majority part of his career, So I don't know
Speaker 3: if there's another level for him to redeem. I think
Speaker 3: at this stage, I think I'm past the fact that
Speaker 3: he's this star of a Eastern Conference title type team,
Speaker 3: if you will, like getting to the Eastern Conference championship.
Speaker 3: I don't think that's I don't think that's who he is.
Speaker 3: I think it was a magical run. I think we're
Speaker 3: kind of off of that right now. So, yes, he's
Speaker 3: a guy who's gonna get you twenty five to twenty
Speaker 3: points per game, going to average ten to eleven assist
Speaker 3: The numbers.
Speaker 4: Are going to look great, but I don't just don't
Speaker 4: know that it's going to lead to winning.
Speaker 3: So I don't know what redemption looks like for Tree
Speaker 3: Young for me, but for in this conversation, Jah even Dame.
Speaker 3: You know, he has Zion and his Zion played the
Speaker 3: most amount of games he's ever played in his career
Speaker 3: last year, but also wasn't able to stay healthy within
Speaker 3: the playoffs.
Speaker 4: So redemption for Zion is get into the playoffs and
Speaker 4: at least finishing the playoffs healthy. That would be a
Speaker 4: big first step. But I think John Moran to me
Speaker 4: is there's no bigger person on this list than him.
Speaker 1: Zion Williamson, to me, I think has a very very
Speaker 1: large weight on his shoulders when I think of hoops
Speaker 1: redemption and look, I'm the one who put Zion Williamson
Speaker 1: on here. I think most people are just relieved that
Speaker 1: you actually, to your point, Shaw, he played the most
Speaker 1: games in the regular season but wasn't available in the playoffs.
Speaker 2: This to me has nothing to do with his play.
Speaker 1: And availability, because I'm beyond what my expectations are of
Speaker 1: him when he's on the court. I think when he's
Speaker 1: on the court, he could be one of the most
Speaker 1: dominant forces. You know, in the conversations that we talk
Speaker 1: about with the likes of Joel embiid Gianni Satze Zakoumpo.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, Like he could actually take
Speaker 1: over games like that. It's the desire and the willingness
Speaker 1: to do that when it matters the most that I
Speaker 1: think that really still concerns me. And I can't believe
Speaker 1: that we're still having this conversation because everyone still keeps
Speaker 1: propping up how he's that kind of guy that can
Speaker 1: give you twenty seven, eight and eight, like you know,
Speaker 1: or twenty seven and you know, eight rebounds and you know,
Speaker 1: just be a physical force in nature down there.
Speaker 2: D da da da da.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, yeah, but I see it once every
Speaker 1: three games. So like even his availability, him being on
Speaker 1: the court, but not giving that to you on all
Speaker 1: three games still is a problem, right, Like you know,
Speaker 1: if Joel Embiid is going to give that to you,
Speaker 1: he just needs to stay healthy. But even when healthy's
Speaker 1: Ion Williamson does not give that to you on a
Speaker 1: consistent basis. And that's a maturation thing. That's not so
Speaker 1: much a thing thing about whether or not he physically
Speaker 1: can go out there and do that. I just think
Speaker 1: that and I've said this before Shaw, because remember we've
Speaker 1: had these conversations in the past. Even our boy Nunzio,
Speaker 1: who's been a staunch Zion Whims and I'm calling him
Speaker 1: out on this because there are a lot of people
Speaker 1: who still feel this way about Zion Williamson. I say,
Speaker 1: Zion Williamson is a great one B player, great two
Speaker 1: A player. To ask him to shoulder a franchise, to
Speaker 1: go out there and just do those kind of things,
Speaker 1: I think takes another level that I don't think we'll
Speaker 1: ever see from that. I think he's gonna give you
Speaker 1: great numbers. But if you want the Pelicans to be
Speaker 1: taken seriously, somebody else has to go out there.
Speaker 2: And I thought that was the reason why they got
Speaker 2: to c. J. McCullum.
Speaker 1: But somebody else has got to go out there and
Speaker 1: take that burden off of his shoulders, because I still
Speaker 1: don't think he still knows how to do that. So
Speaker 1: if we're talking about hoops redemption, if he's been saying
Speaker 1: that he believes he's that guy and wants to be
Speaker 1: that guy, then this needs to be.
Speaker 2: The season that he proves that.
Speaker 1: Because the Pelicans are always in this conversation where they
Speaker 1: look good at certain parts in the regular season and
Speaker 1: then they fade away and then no one can take
Speaker 1: them seriously. Even if they're either a playoff, a play
Speaker 1: in team or a playoff team.
Speaker 3: Sure, and I will design for me. All those points
Speaker 3: make sense, especially going back to last year. He played
Speaker 3: the most amount of games as I alluded to, but
Speaker 3: he didn't look good for the first i'd say thirty games,
Speaker 3: like he actually played himself into shape. So I understand
Speaker 3: that that level of consistency can you do it for
Speaker 3: the full whatever. I won't say eighty two for him,
Speaker 3: called it seventy two, you know, for him, whatever games
Speaker 3: that he's he's going to play, but being consistent throughout
Speaker 3: is going to be the key for a redemption. Not
Speaker 3: necessarily from a redemption standpoint, but just hey, great to
Speaker 3: see him back. Shout out to Lonzo Ball and the
Speaker 3: Chicago Bulls. So whatever he's able to do on the court,
Speaker 3: I think it's going to be a redeeming story. Just
Speaker 3: for him to be able to be healthy and finish
Speaker 3: this season. Great to see him back so.
Speaker 4: Far in preseason.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, you are tuned to the baseline Cali warren Shaw
Speaker 1: discussing the hot button topics of the NBA. Coming up,
Speaker 1: we got some more burning questions Kawhi Leonard. Is it
Speaker 1: time for him to wrap it up? Is it time
Speaker 1: for him to put the clause in the back in
Speaker 1: the shed. Victor Wimbanyama, of course, how can you have
Speaker 1: a burning not have a burning question about the phenom
Speaker 1: that is the the you know, Victor woman Yama and
Speaker 1: and other great stuff. And probably a great burning question
Speaker 1: would be like who do you think is gonna win
Speaker 1: the MVP?
Speaker 2: It's up for grabs.
Speaker 1: So we got all of that and so much more,
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Speaker 1: talking burning questions. NBA season is right there, Shaw, So
Speaker 1: what what are the burning questions could you and I
Speaker 1: possibly have to come up with that we would be
Speaker 1: looking forward to or hoping we'll be answered at some
Speaker 1: point during the season or by seasons. And how about
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard right like he is the gift that keeps
Speaker 1: on giving.
Speaker 2: Honestly for us? No, no, totally not.
Speaker 1: If people are now aware, you know, Kawhi Leonard is
Speaker 1: is out indefinitely. I'm sure Clippers fans are just like,
Speaker 1: oh okay, it's just like, should Kawhi Leonard retract.
Speaker 2: His claws and retire? Show? I liked that was very
Speaker 2: clever because clearly they're not maned. Uh, they're not amantium right,
Speaker 2: Oh no, they're not. There's no over there, Yeah exactly right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, it's it's a it's an interesting conversation,
Speaker 3: and I mean, I think while it's a little tongue
Speaker 3: in cheek, and I know Kendrick Perkins went viral, you know,
Speaker 3: for for going on ESPN and saying that Kawhi should retire.
Speaker 3: You know, I heard soft Tier six MMBA Radio was
Speaker 3: just like listen, his body just continues to portray him.
Speaker 3: You know, he's really got to figure out what, if anything,
Speaker 3: is next when it comes to his basketball career. Let's see,
Speaker 3: he just signed an extension, so I don't even think
Speaker 3: it's realistic that he's even going to actually do this.
Speaker 3: And you know, if it means he plays twenty five games,
Speaker 3: thirty games a year, I think he's going to ride
Speaker 3: it out and collect the check. He never struck me
Speaker 3: as somebody who's greedy per se, and I don't think
Speaker 3: this is what this is about. But I mean, if
Speaker 3: he has to retire and leave money on the table,
Speaker 3: I don't know why he would do that just from
Speaker 3: a business standpoint.
Speaker 4: So for me, I should he retire.
Speaker 3: I think he's at least he needs to try to
Speaker 3: come back from whatever this latest injury is and then
Speaker 3: see where things are at from there. But to go
Speaker 3: into the season and be like, you know what, that's it,
Speaker 3: I'm going to call her her career right now.
Speaker 4: I think I don't know. I would at least give
Speaker 4: it one more try.
Speaker 3: But his ability to continue to rehab, that's one thing
Speaker 3: athletes consistently talk about, especially those who have been hurt
Speaker 3: a lot like he has, Like the mental toll on
Speaker 3: somebody does really really weigh And I don't.
Speaker 4: Know where Kui is that in terms of that process.
Speaker 2: Should he retire, No, but I would.
Speaker 1: It does make me think about all those times when
Speaker 1: the San Antonio Spurs did the things that they did
Speaker 1: as if they didn't know that there was something obviously
Speaker 1: wrong with with with Kawhi Leonard. And the way that
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard in his camp handled you know, what was
Speaker 1: going on and what was taking place almost made me
Speaker 1: feel like, so you were doing this to scapegoat the
Speaker 1: San Antonio Spurs so that people did not realize that
Speaker 1: you have this ongoing, lingering issue with your ability to
Speaker 1: stay healthy and keep your eye. That looks revisionist history.
Speaker 1: But what I'm saying is is that if Kawhi Leonard
Speaker 1: expects people to respect his you know what he commands,
Speaker 1: you know, from a media standpoint about his ongoing conditions
Speaker 1: and circumstances, I think that he needs to get out
Speaker 1: in front of it. I think that he can no
Speaker 1: longer continue to do what he was doing in his
Speaker 1: early part of his career, when he had had the
Speaker 1: ability from a from a physical standpoint, that he can
Speaker 1: go out and prove to people, Hey, you know this
Speaker 1: is a one off thing. When I'm right, I go
Speaker 1: and win championships. When I'm right, I'm a dynasty killer.
Speaker 1: This is no longer the case. We're far removed from
Speaker 1: that timeframe. Even when as far as to say, hey,
Speaker 1: I don't do anything unless you get me Paul George.
Speaker 1: Obviously that didn't work. Okay, two injury ridden players on
Speaker 1: the same team, and we were all hoping that if
Speaker 1: they were on the floor healthy, they could arguably be
Speaker 1: the best defensive tandem that the NBA has ever seen
Speaker 1: in league history.
Speaker 2: Never happened. Okay, So clearly his GM hat take that
Speaker 2: off of him. Now.
Speaker 1: I just think as a player, he needs to worry
Speaker 1: and focus more about being about as good a version
Speaker 1: that the Clippers can ask of him to be, given
Speaker 1: what's going on with the Clippers.
Speaker 2: You know how certain.
Speaker 1: Players are more like they are the ambassador for the
Speaker 1: team or the organization as the organization goes through his transitions.
Speaker 2: That's what I'm thinking, But that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying, though, Like, if you're gonna be
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard and you're not planning to retire, right, You're
Speaker 1: gonna have to transition to that.
Speaker 2: I'm saying Shaw is this is not gonna This is
Speaker 2: non negotiable.
Speaker 1: Man. Like, what I'm saying is is that he's gonna
Speaker 1: continue to hurt his brand if he continues to keep
Speaker 1: playing this off on this idea that all people will
Speaker 1: will be forgiving or will be understanding knowing that I'm
Speaker 1: continuously not available when it matters. You get what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying for him, if the intent is should
Speaker 1: he retire? I don't think he should retire, but he's
Speaker 1: gonna have to change his world view about how he
Speaker 1: is and who he is as a player to people
Speaker 1: because of the constant un of you know, his ability
Speaker 1: of not being available for an organization that basically did
Speaker 1: all of this because of him, Right like they did
Speaker 1: this this, this this isn't this is this thing with
Speaker 1: the Clippers didn't just suddenly come out of nowhere. This
Speaker 1: They thought this was their time to get away from
Speaker 1: Big Brother Lakers, Right, this was their time, and they're
Speaker 1: doing it on a guy who can't even like he
Speaker 1: literally can't even be there for opening night at the
Speaker 1: new seat at the new arena.
Speaker 3: Tough, right, because you know you're opening a new arena
Speaker 3: into a dome and all of those things. Like bomber
Speaker 3: Is is taking a lot on this, and I mean
Speaker 3: he's got money to spare, like he don't need to cry,
Speaker 3: cry him a river or anything like that. But at
Speaker 3: the end of the day, right, as an organization, I
Speaker 3: think I love that point that jamaking is. Can he
Speaker 3: transition to be more of an organizational figurehead? He hasn't
Speaker 3: shown to have any interest in any.
Speaker 2: Of those Listen, andre iguidology, we're not.
Speaker 4: With him where we don't know, Like everyone's going to say,
Speaker 4: kwui is his heart? We don't know?
Speaker 3: And some people say, well, it's not our business. But
Speaker 3: these questions are going to continue to come about for
Speaker 3: all the injuries and his inavailability as you alluding to,
Speaker 3: if that continues to be his his cadence and his life,
Speaker 3: then yeah, this these are the conversations that are going
Speaker 3: to come up.
Speaker 4: As fair as I'm.
Speaker 3: Sure he's probably sitting at home like, how dare they
Speaker 3: think I should retire? Like don't they know what I'm
Speaker 3: going through? It's in some ways he's kind of made
Speaker 3: the bed to a certain degree, and you know, he
Speaker 3: kind of always wanted to be a guy who kind
Speaker 3: of eats his cake and eat it, has his cake
Speaker 3: and eat it too. And that's where I think the
Speaker 3: media and some others are a little bit frustrated. I
Speaker 3: think PG got frustrated with some of the treatment there
Speaker 3: as well. And last thing, I'll say this, you know,
Speaker 3: because obviously we have a lot I want to get
Speaker 3: to Tyleru having to deal with this on a regular basis, right, And.
Speaker 4: So he doesn't.
Speaker 3: Nobody wants Kawhi to be hurt, but Lou now also
Speaker 3: is forced into an impossible situation of never knowing who's
Speaker 3: actually going to be available to play.
Speaker 1: Shaw is so much bigger than just again him being
Speaker 1: out on that basketball court, right, He's taken on something
Speaker 1: that is far greater than just the idea of him
Speaker 1: getting this contract from Steve Balmer. And I think that's
Speaker 1: when I'm speaking to I was gonna say Shaw Andrea
Speaker 1: Goodalas made that sacrifice. Grant Hill's made that sacrifice. Sean
Speaker 1: Livington has made that sacrifice, Rudy Gay has made that sacrifice.
Speaker 1: There have been numerous players, right that have made that
Speaker 1: kind of sacrifice, but have not made nearly as the
Speaker 1: kind of money that Kawhi Leonard has made off of
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Clippers, And given the circumstances of where
Speaker 1: the organizations were far far far outweigh that and I
Speaker 1: think that's something that has to be taken into consideration
Speaker 1: when we're talking about this aspect of whether or not
Speaker 1: he should or shouldn't retire and stuff like that. I'm
Speaker 1: talking about the lasting effect of what may happen to
Speaker 1: his legacy and what will happen to the Clippers organization.
Speaker 1: And remember, he's tied to that, this new iteration of
Speaker 1: the Clippers, he is tied to that.
Speaker 2: He is the spawn of that.
Speaker 1: Basically, right, we're not gonna be talking about the Clippers,
Speaker 1: you know, back when it was lib City and all
Speaker 1: the other kind of stuff. We're gonna be talking about
Speaker 1: this iteration of the Clippers. And if you were talking
Speaker 1: about that Lob City version of the Clippers, it's because
Speaker 1: of the disappointment that this version of the Clippers have
Speaker 1: not gotten to because of what they did to put
Speaker 1: themselves in this position. Because people people can make the
Speaker 1: argument that they should have made this move a lot
Speaker 1: sooner back when they had Doc Rivers, Chris Paul DeAndre
Speaker 1: Jordan and and and Blake Griffin.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: At the peak of their powers, they were the apples
Speaker 1: eye in the NBA. Like everybody wanted to see the Clippers,
Speaker 1: probably more so than wanting to see the Los Angeles
Speaker 1: Lakers play, And they never made that move to transition,
Speaker 1: to get a new arena and stuff like that, And
Speaker 1: that wasn't until Bomber came into the picture.
Speaker 2: Right, So again, it's so much for it's so much
Speaker 2: more than that. But I digress Shaw.
Speaker 1: The next burning question Victor women, Yanna women and Yanna aside,
Speaker 1: who's ready to take that next leap this season? See,
Speaker 1: everybody thought we were saying, what burning question can we
Speaker 1: have about Victory?
Speaker 2: He's going to dominate the NBA.
Speaker 1: We already know that keep, But who's ready to take
Speaker 1: that next leap next to him?
Speaker 2: Who's who's ready to elevate?
Speaker 3: Yeah? So I think the the GM survey came out with,
Speaker 3: you know, who's going to be the most improved. I
Speaker 3: don't know if that means they're going to take the
Speaker 3: leap in term of stardom, if you.
Speaker 4: Will, I like Paula Ben Carol in Orlando. Even.
Speaker 3: I was watching a preseason game a couple of weeks
Speaker 3: ago or this week rather, and he made a move
Speaker 3: off the bounce. You know, it was just you know,
Speaker 3: setting setting up right hand dribble, you kind of like pause, hesitated,
Speaker 3: went behind his back, dropped the defender, you know, went
Speaker 3: dribble left, you know, all the way to the basket.
Speaker 3: I was like, if this is really who he is
Speaker 3: off the bounce and then continuing to expand on his
Speaker 3: ability to shoot the three ball, like this is this
Speaker 3: is definitely a star in the making. So I got
Speaker 3: Paula as a guy who is going to be kind
Speaker 3: of more of a household name into this conversation. This year,
Speaker 3: you know, challenging for all Stars, and I won't go
Speaker 3: so far as to say it's challenging for all NBA.
Speaker 3: I don't think he's quite that far along just yet,
Speaker 3: but I think this is a year he's going to
Speaker 3: become more of a household name.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I completely agree with you. I was going to say,
Speaker 1: bon Cara, so I appreciate you. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: robbing me and my glory. Yeah, there's this I don't
Speaker 1: know what it is, man, But I've watched a few
Speaker 1: games last season. I watched what he was doing in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. He just needs he needs just more that
Speaker 1: that that that pit bull in him. I'm not even
Speaker 1: say dogging him. He needs that pit bull in him more.
Speaker 2: But he can.
Speaker 1: He's showing me that he can, he can be that
Speaker 1: he can he can get to that level, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. And I think if that's the case. Listen,
Speaker 1: there's no question from natural ability when Minyama is going
Speaker 1: to take the NBA by storm. But as far as
Speaker 1: persons that you want to cheer for, next to the
Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards of the world in the Eastern Conference, you
Speaker 1: could easily make the case that Paolo Bonkarol could be
Speaker 1: that kid.
Speaker 2: Absolutely well.
Speaker 3: Well, if there's anybody else, I mean, if you're watching
Speaker 3: us on YouTube, we have Kate Kate Cunningham listen here
Speaker 3: as somebody as well, I say, live in the South
Speaker 3: Florida area. I'm hearing a lot about Bam taking another
Speaker 3: step forward because of the three point shooting in his
Speaker 3: time with USA Basketball. So I don't know if he
Speaker 3: comes into like superstardom, I think that's probably too far.
Speaker 3: But I think Ben may have one of his better seasons,
Speaker 3: but I just don't know that he's going to become
Speaker 3: a household name in the way that I think Carol Cam.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, no, no, no, totally absolutely. Hey, man, watch
Speaker 1: out for Grady Dick. Hey, he put on thirteen pounds
Speaker 1: of the off season. Man, you know these kids, man,
Speaker 1: they put on they put on weight all they lose
Speaker 1: it in like two weeks. But he put on waight
Speaker 1: they make you know, you.
Speaker 2: Know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Remember Remember remember the shot those memes Alice Caruso when
Speaker 1: he was hitting the gym next to Lebron.
Speaker 2: Yeah, man, a what a watch Watch out for that?
Speaker 1: All right? Hey, Raptors fans, you know, all right, who
Speaker 1: will be the baby face of the Rookie of the
Speaker 1: Year race.
Speaker 4: I think this is exactly he's race to lose in
Speaker 4: a lot of ways.
Speaker 3: He's going to have the most amount of time to
Speaker 3: to to to play on a regular basis, at least
Speaker 3: again barring injury. Uh. The chemistry that he's sorder formed
Speaker 3: with John Moran, I think has been really great that
Speaker 3: we've seen so far in preseason and all reports. So
Speaker 3: he has the inside track. I think he's a betting favorite.
Speaker 3: A guy like Reed Shepherd is also going to get
Speaker 3: some time in Houston, but you know, not in the
Speaker 3: starter's role that I think Edie is going to be in.
Speaker 3: So I like zach Edy to be the rookie of
Speaker 3: the year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think Zachie's gonna be a Rookie of the Year.
Speaker 1: But I'm curious about Dalton Connect.
Speaker 2: I really am.
Speaker 4: I feel like here he is fantasy. Our friends can't talent.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, be so happy right like so, And it's
Speaker 1: not like we're having consultations. He's like converting me or
Speaker 1: nothing like that. But I will say this, there's an
Speaker 1: opportunity there right right, Like he could easily be like
Speaker 1: six guys come off the bench and be an instant
Speaker 1: spark plug. Look, the Lakers have figured out a way,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, to get you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, get the Austin Reeves and Dalton Connects of
Speaker 1: the world. You know what I'm saying, Lighten up the
Speaker 1: scoreboard and listen. You have a coach like JJ Reddick.
Speaker 1: I think he'll have an influence, you know, on on
Speaker 1: these guys improving.
Speaker 4: Well, this this one center is going into a coach
Speaker 4: we don't know what kind of coach.
Speaker 1: No no, no, no, no no no, you're missing my ear.
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about him strategizing, no no, no, no
Speaker 1: no no. I'm just saying, learning how to shoot to
Speaker 1: be a professional NBA shooter, I think can help a
Speaker 1: guy like Dalton Connect, whether or not he's gonna be
Speaker 1: able to you know, to to I'm just saying that
Speaker 1: there's opportunities there, whether or not you know, JJ utilizes
Speaker 1: him in that sense. I'm just trying to find because remember, Sean,
Speaker 1: this was not the quote unquote class of the classes
Speaker 1: in draft. Okay, you know a lot of these guys
Speaker 1: are flying on the radar, but they're going to be
Speaker 1: opportunities to be had, especially if, say the Lakers are
Speaker 1: struggling and you know them. That's how Austin Reeves got
Speaker 1: his his claim the fame. Why would we think any
Speaker 1: differently for Dalton Connect. See now, now you're gonna have
Speaker 1: Jabbari coming at my coming at my chest hares about this.
Speaker 1: But I'm just saying that there's an opportunity there and.
Speaker 3: We're going to create a segment now for the for
Speaker 3: the season. It's going to be the Laker cal the
Speaker 3: Laker anytime your Laker fandom comes in. Because I have
Speaker 3: to RIBI on this as a Celtics, I just don't
Speaker 3: understand all this Lakers love here on the baseline.
Speaker 2: But you misconstrue love with just logic. It's just logic.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's just logic, Laker cass, Okay, I get you
Speaker 4: some prople and goals under.
Speaker 2: Your way that will burn that stuff.
Speaker 1: Man, all right, Shaw, which player if trade can have
Speaker 1: an impact on the title race?
Speaker 3: I think the way I'm going to go on this
Speaker 3: is the guys who are obviously going to potentially be
Speaker 3: on the on the block. Right, So Valanching is, I think,
Speaker 3: is a trade candidate just waiting to happen, just waiting
Speaker 3: for the date to happen.
Speaker 4: It's Secember fifteenth or January fifteenth.
Speaker 1: He say he's got his bags already, you know, at
Speaker 1: whatever condominium that he's currently renting short term, right, he's
Speaker 1: leasing very very short term here.
Speaker 4: Okay, extremely short term.
Speaker 3: So his teammate Kyle Kuzma could also be on the
Speaker 3: way somewhere as well. But I think in terms of impact,
Speaker 3: if Levine is back to the guy who can give
Speaker 3: you twenty a game and you shoot thirty five to
Speaker 3: thirty eight percent from the three point line. I think
Speaker 3: that's that's more than impactful. And you know, if he
Speaker 3: were to be traded, you would assume it would be
Speaker 3: to the situation where he's going to end up being
Speaker 3: the second or even third guy, you know, wherever that
Speaker 3: wherever that is. And I think the talent level there
Speaker 3: for that, even some secondary play creation he has kind
Speaker 3: of within his within.
Speaker 4: His his talent talent scope.
Speaker 3: I think he could change, you know, some teams trajectory dramatically,
Speaker 3: obviously depending on the team that that it is. And
Speaker 3: we've had Golden State interested, We've had the Lakers interested,
Speaker 3: you know, kind of the familiar familiar teams Miami even
Speaker 3: maybe to a lesser degree. I think he'd be significant
Speaker 3: upgrade for all of those teams in some capacity, obviously
Speaker 3: depending on what they had to give up in return.
Speaker 3: But the going price on on Zach Lyvien right now
Speaker 3: isn't really that much, So I think any one of
Speaker 3: those teams, if they really wanted to, could get him.
Speaker 4: And I'd say watch the Tree Young situation in Atlanta.
Speaker 4: We keep talking about the Hawks here.
Speaker 3: I think obviously what he does offensively could be really
Speaker 3: transformative to a different, different organizational structure that had, you know,
Speaker 3: more of a winning mindset.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so Trey Young, Zach Levine, I'm taking a different
Speaker 1: take on Zach Lavine Shaw Like, whereas whatever happens with
Speaker 1: Zack Lavine, I think will will bring a trickle down
Speaker 1: effect to the rest of the other players that might
Speaker 1: be in play. As far as being moved for the
Speaker 1: trade deadline, with the exception of Jonas Valanciunis, I think
Speaker 1: that's a standalone and I think that's gonna come down
Speaker 1: to teams that's really needing a legitimate big or filling
Speaker 1: roster spots for a legitimate big, you know, to add
Speaker 1: depth to to to their teams, you know. So that
Speaker 1: to me would be the more interesting thing that comes
Speaker 1: out of that. I posted brandon Ingram And the reason
Speaker 1: why I posted brandon Ingram is because if brandon Ingram
Speaker 1: is going to be in conversations about being moved, it
Speaker 1: clearly tells you what has happened to this Pelican season,
Speaker 1: and it's clearly a sign of what is going to
Speaker 1: now going to be to come that the party is
Speaker 1: going to be broken up between McCollum, him and and
Speaker 1: and Williamson, and so you know, I would be interested
Speaker 1: to see what version of brandon Ingram is going to
Speaker 1: be out there for people to look at, and what
Speaker 1: expectations the Pelicans may have on they're what they think
Speaker 1: they're going to get back if they were to move
Speaker 1: a guy like brandon Ingram. Well, I think it's a
Speaker 1: solid player, and I think I think he's better suited
Speaker 1: playing elsewhere. But it's a question of whether or not
Speaker 1: the Pelicans will recognize that and move him at the
Speaker 1: right time to get back whatever pieces they think that
Speaker 1: they're going to be able to get back for him.
Speaker 3: At this moment, Well, Bi is not without talent, and
Speaker 3: he's being a good soldier in terms of saying, hey,
Speaker 3: whatever my contract situation deside, I'll be here.
Speaker 4: But I think that's the caveat to this.
Speaker 3: Trading for him, knowing that you need to give him
Speaker 3: a contract on top of it is where I think
Speaker 3: some teams are a little bit shy right now. Where
Speaker 3: Lavigne's money is kind of tied up, it might be
Speaker 3: more than some teams want to pay.
Speaker 4: So there's there's that to be show.
Speaker 2: Watch Milwaukee, Watch Milwaukee.
Speaker 3: They can't, they can't Milwaukee is you know, second Apron.
Speaker 3: So they they don't really have a mechanism to do
Speaker 3: any one of these big trades right now. I know
Speaker 3: Ekaman said that on our last show, but that's I
Speaker 3: was intrigued and I was like, oh, but then I looked.
Speaker 3: I was like, there's just they have no real path
Speaker 3: to making it happen, although I'm sure they you know,
Speaker 3: would love to so. But either way, these are guys
Speaker 3: that I think again, I think all very good picks
Speaker 3: in terms of could shift the landscape of how the
Speaker 3: playoffs and stuff like where to go if they were
Speaker 3: moved to the right team.
Speaker 2: All right, So final burning question live, save the Best
Speaker 2: for last? Right? Who will win the MVP?
Speaker 3: So flat out, I know Luca is the odds on favorite,
Speaker 3: you know, the betting favorite, the joker. I think you
Speaker 3: just you lose a narrative despite how great he is
Speaker 3: and the numbers he can it consistently puts up. So
Speaker 3: I think Luca is just always he always ends up
Speaker 3: being a little bit short, and you know, I don't
Speaker 3: know if he'll even play the amount of games and
Speaker 3: that saying that he's injury prone, but he does need
Speaker 3: to take time off throughout the course of the season.
Speaker 3: So I think SGA and I think Brunson have real
Speaker 3: shots here.
Speaker 4: And I'm going to go out on a limb.
Speaker 3: If you will, and I'd say I'm going to give
Speaker 3: the nod to Brunton. From my side, I just think
Speaker 3: the Knicks are going to just play so hard for
Speaker 3: that number one season in the Eastern Conference, and Brunson
Speaker 3: is going to be the catalyst for everything that they do.
Speaker 3: Is going to play a crap ton of minutes, put
Speaker 3: up a crop ton of points, and I think that's
Speaker 3: going to lead him, especially with the narrative of the
Speaker 3: Knicks being this good again. There's a lot of great
Speaker 3: story to that and media loves that. So I think,
Speaker 3: you know, coming off of he's not the guy and
Speaker 3: whatever was said about him last year, to the playoff
Speaker 3: front that he had, I think this could be a
Speaker 3: nice redemption for him in some ways and validation and
Speaker 3: say redemption of validation for him as a.
Speaker 4: Number one guy if he were able to truly being
Speaker 4: to this MPP.
Speaker 1: Comp next leap frogged the Celtics in the in the conference,
Speaker 1: in the division in the conference. Definitely. I think if
Speaker 1: you are the Oklahoma City Thunder to your point. If
Speaker 1: it's SGA that we're talking about, they have to get
Speaker 1: to fifty eight fifty nine wins if we're gonna consider SGA.
Speaker 1: I kind of like Anthony Edwards man as the dark horse. Listen,
Speaker 1: Cat's gone, and while you know he has some comparable pieces.
Speaker 2: He's shown us. Man, he wants to be that dude.
Speaker 1: And you know, while he loves his boy called Anthony Towns,
Speaker 1: he'd like, hey, deuces, baby, you know what I'm saying
Speaker 1: Like this, he took over that franchise. This is but
Speaker 1: nothing but the next step, the next you know, play
Speaker 1: to your point, the natural way to go would be
Speaker 1: Luka Donkic because we've been saying this for the longest time. Man,
Speaker 1: he is and MVP waiting to happen, and it's just
Speaker 1: he either has slow starts or you know, then he
Speaker 1: finds his groove and he just can't sustain. It reminds
Speaker 1: me a lot like what happened with Joel EMBII, right.
Speaker 1: My concern is that Luka donkas is still, you know,
Speaker 1: trying to recover from all of the variety of injury
Speaker 1: injuries that he dragged through the rest of that, you know,
Speaker 1: to drag through last season with and even going into
Speaker 1: the offseason, so we don't know what version of Lukadankis
Speaker 1: is going to be to start the season.
Speaker 2: Ain't nobody wondering about Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 1: I think if he gets off to a hot streak,
Speaker 1: hot start, he gets the Timberwolves in that early conversation
Speaker 1: to be one of the top two teams in the
Speaker 1: Western Conference. And they're hanging around and they're you know,
Speaker 1: hanging around at fifty eight to fifty nine win window
Speaker 1: next to you know, OKAC, which is kind of hard
Speaker 1: pressed because they're both in the same division. It's hard
Speaker 1: pressed when we not think that this could be Anthony Edwards,
Speaker 1: you know, time to kind of sneak in there and
Speaker 1: really shake up the Apple card.
Speaker 3: I'd love to see it if Minnesota is this team
Speaker 3: that everyone feels like they're going to be this lesser
Speaker 3: version of themselves.
Speaker 4: To me, Randall and de Vincenzo I might have heard
Speaker 4: this on another show.
Speaker 3: To the combination, like you have some of the shooting
Speaker 3: that Cat left, and then you get kind of the
Speaker 3: rebounding and some of the other stuff, and even the
Speaker 3: playmaking you know with Randall that Cat didn't.
Speaker 4: Have, So you know, they've kind of molded those two guys.
Speaker 3: Uh, And I think de Vincenzo and nas Reed are
Speaker 3: gonna both be six Men of the Year candidates, you know,
Speaker 3: on the same team.
Speaker 4: They're probably pulled away from each other in terms of votes.
Speaker 3: But that what does that lead for Anthony Edwards to
Speaker 3: be and that that could be an MVP if the
Speaker 3: Trumbles end up being I'd say probably, I can't send
Speaker 3: them being higher than a three seed even after all
Speaker 3: is said and done.
Speaker 4: But if they're if they.
Speaker 3: Are even that or more than like you're potentially predicting,
Speaker 3: then this is Yeah, this could definitely be a season
Speaker 3: for MVP.
Speaker 4: Man, But great conversation in general. Can't wait to see
Speaker 4: how it shakes out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, man, totally. And so where are you all?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 1: Who do you think MVP? Who do you think can
Speaker 1: impact the the the you know, the trade deadline? Who
Speaker 1: else can possibly sneak in and be considered as a
Speaker 1: roy favorite? Right?
Speaker 2: Which which you know, coach do you think may be
Speaker 2: on the hot seat?
Speaker 1: Right? So many burning questions and this has just been
Speaker 1: a great way for us to kind of segue ourselves
Speaker 1: into what's.
Speaker 2: Expected to be an exciting NBA season. My brother.
Speaker 4: You know what it is.
Speaker 3: So as we continue to ride through the NBA ethos,
Speaker 3: we're happy to be here with you all as our
Speaker 3: fans and listeners. We are fans and listeners and consumers
Speaker 3: of NBA content on a regular basis, So tapping with
Speaker 3: the baseline as always, n BE Underscore basedline and the
Speaker 3: baseline on Twitter. Sorry X, and you know what it
Speaker 3: is man, We're out here, so catch us here for
Speaker 3: twenty fourteenty five season.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely for the baseline, Cali warren Shaw. We appreciate you guys.
Speaker 1: Thanks popping on board with us this week.
Speaker 2: We'll catch up with you next time.