Speaker 1: My man's been busy today. He was on Sports Center
Speaker 1: earlier Hoop Collective.
Speaker 2: Of course.
Speaker 1: I got Tim bontemp saw on a Thursday afternoon prior
Speaker 1: to Game one of the NBA Finals, Timmy, Happy Thursday.
Speaker 2: Man, how you doing? Sorry, I'm good. I've got to
Speaker 2: start here. I don't know, man.
Speaker 1: Six seven weeks ago I was listening to as a
Speaker 1: fan of the Hoop Collective of course, having you and
Speaker 1: mcmahonnon quite a bit, and it felt about like a
Speaker 1: month and a half ago. You said something on the
Speaker 1: pod that you felt like there's a chance that Tom
Speaker 1: Thibodeau could be in some trouble, and I just went
Speaker 1: what it didn't make sense to me, and I will
Speaker 1: admit my bias right out of the gates. Tom was
Speaker 1: Jeff's assistant back in the day, as you know, and
Speaker 1: as a fan of this team since I was a kid,
Speaker 1: enjoying them being relevant has been fun. And I feel
Speaker 1: like they were ahead of schedule this year going to
Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference finals. Yet he's out in New York.
Speaker 1: So obviously you were on a some set that most
Speaker 1: people weren't.
Speaker 2: Six seven weeks ago.
Speaker 1: You say that then, and what's your understanding of how
Speaker 1: this all went down today, I mean.
Speaker 3: I just think ultimately, this is a situation where, you know,
Speaker 3: I think the irony of it is you had all
Speaker 3: these people who were saying things about, you know, Tom's
Speaker 3: usage of players and votation stuff and all this other stuff,
Speaker 3: and I don't think any of that stuff is why
Speaker 3: the Knicks are going to be finding a new coach.
Speaker 3: I think it's you know, if you look at Tom's history,
Speaker 3: and I like you, I also personally like Tom a lot,
Speaker 3: but if you look at his history, you know, both
Speaker 3: in Chicago and Minneapolis, after a while, he you know,
Speaker 3: wore people down and they eventually decided they wanted to
Speaker 3: have a different voice leading the team. And I think
Speaker 3: that's really along and short of what happened here, and
Speaker 3: you know, it's it's certainly going to be interesting to
Speaker 3: see what the Knicks do. They obviously had a really
Speaker 3: good season. They have made it clear by letting Tom
Speaker 3: go now that the only thing that's acceptable next year
Speaker 3: is making the finals. Anything short of that will be
Speaker 3: a disappointment. And it is not clear to me that
Speaker 3: they're a going to be the favorite to make the
Speaker 3: finals next year and b that they're going to find
Speaker 3: a coach will be better over the course of the
Speaker 3: eighty two games in the playoffs, and Tom Thibodau is
Speaker 3: this year for the Knicks. But that being said, they
Speaker 3: clearly decided they wanted a different voice to be around
Speaker 3: the team and to try to get it to the
Speaker 3: next level. And there have been times in the past
Speaker 3: when this has worked, like when the Raptors went from
Speaker 3: doing case it didn't it Nurse, and when the Warriors
Speaker 3: went from Mark Jackson and Steve Kerr. And then there's
Speaker 3: been times when it really didn't work, like when Milwaukee
Speaker 3: went from Mike Budenholzer and Adrian Griffin and when the
Speaker 3: Bulls went from Tom Thibdau himself to Fredeiberg. So only
Speaker 3: time will really tell whether this is going to be,
Speaker 3: you know, one of those two paths. But you know,
Speaker 3: you have to say that for the Knicks to do
Speaker 3: this right now, it certainly puts them in a position
Speaker 3: where there's not a lot of room for them to
Speaker 3: succeed with it. And you know, there was already going
Speaker 3: to be really high expectations in New York after the
Speaker 3: way the season went, and I mean, as you know
Speaker 3: from personal experience, like how much people are desperate for
Speaker 3: this now fifty two year title drop to end, and
Speaker 3: there's only going to be more pressure and more expectations
Speaker 3: now that the Knicks have made this move and made
Speaker 3: it clear what the acceptable outcome is, and if it's
Speaker 3: not that, then there's going to be questions about what
Speaker 3: happens next.
Speaker 1: So Tim, it just reeks of the kind of emotional,
Speaker 1: knee jerk move that that kazoo blowing, fedoro wearing idiot
Speaker 1: makes all the time as the owner of the organization,
Speaker 1: And to me, it's a testament as to why they
Speaker 1: have been so irrelevant for basically twenty five years. Was
Speaker 1: this a Dolen thing? Was it a Leon thing? I've
Speaker 1: heard all the rumors that it's a cat thing, CAA whatever,
Speaker 1: But Tom's the CAA guy as well, rumors that he
Speaker 1: didn't get along with Worldwide West. My guess is Tom
Speaker 1: probably doesn't love guy that calls himself Worldwide West. I
Speaker 1: don't know how did this go down, Why was this
Speaker 1: decision made.
Speaker 3: It's probably gonna sound like a duck. I don't think
Speaker 3: it really matters, honestly, Like I think at the end
Speaker 3: of the day, like I said, I think it if
Speaker 3: you come, if it comes if you look at the
Speaker 3: way this played out. If you fire Tom, now it's
Speaker 3: not because of the results, right, So it's because of
Speaker 3: other stuff. And the first line of the release from
Speaker 3: the Knicks, because Leon Rose is not going to do
Speaker 3: media because he's done one interview in five years and
Speaker 3: it was four years ago. The first line of the
Speaker 3: release said, our goal is to bring a championship to
Speaker 3: our fans. So the Knicks have made it clear that
Speaker 3: whoever they hired to be the coach, like the expectation
Speaker 3: is they're gonna have to win a title or they're
Speaker 3: gonna have to be in the finals. And you know,
Speaker 3: I think they decided as a group that Tob wasn't
Speaker 3: the guy to get him there. And you know, I think,
Speaker 3: I mean, there's always been all sorts of different bases
Speaker 3: of power at MSG, but I don't at this point,
Speaker 3: I just don't really think the the why is all
Speaker 3: that relevant other than to me, you better get this higher, right.
Speaker 3: I thought McMahon said it well on the pod we
Speaker 3: did today, Like, if you're going to make this move
Speaker 3: and you're going to fire Tom, you can't mess it
Speaker 3: up because like whatever you want to say three you know, again,
Speaker 3: if you want to argue that it was time for
Speaker 3: a change with Tom, like, that's all well and good,
Speaker 3: But if the Knicks hire or some coach went forty
Speaker 3: five games next year, or you know, losing the first
Speaker 3: or second round of the playoffs, then there's going to
Speaker 3: be posles to do a lot more than just change
Speaker 3: the coach. And that's why this is a pretty high
Speaker 3: wire act for everybody. And you're about the long standing
Speaker 3: dysfunction of the Knicks, like, this is the first time
Speaker 3: the Knicks have won three a playoff series. Three is
Speaker 3: in a row. The nineties brought a level of ability
Speaker 3: and structure to the organization that was not there before.
Speaker 3: And you know, like, I think there's a very good
Speaker 3: chance that whoever they hire will not do as good
Speaker 3: a job as it. But I think the basic way
Speaker 3: you can look at it, I think is if you
Speaker 3: fire a guy after getting to the conference finals for
Speaker 3: the first time in twenty five years, you're not firing
Speaker 3: him because of the job he did.
Speaker 1: So this is a much more attractive job than it
Speaker 1: has been probably since Jeff was fired. And you pointed
Speaker 1: this out earlier, and to be fair, I think ninety
Speaker 1: nine percent of Dolan's tenure as his you know, being
Speaker 1: the steward of both the Knicks and the Rangers, have
Speaker 1: been pathetically embarrassing on his part, but the one percent
Speaker 1: that he has always done and will continue to do
Speaker 1: as he writes checks, he spends on front office, he
Speaker 1: spends on coaches, he spends on players, and it's a
Speaker 1: good roster.
Speaker 2: It is. This is a good job.
Speaker 3: I was.
Speaker 1: I was surprised to hear McMahon say that he does
Speaker 1: think there's a little traction of this Jason Kids stuff,
Speaker 1: Johnny Bryant who played his college ball out here and
Speaker 1: was a developmental coach with the Jazz before going to
Speaker 1: New York and then Cleveland, Jay Wright, you know the names.
Speaker 1: So who do you think gets the job?
Speaker 2: Tommy?
Speaker 3: I really don't know, And I think that's part of
Speaker 3: what makes this so interesting is that there isn't an
Speaker 3: obvious choice. It was just not and I don't That's
Speaker 3: what makes it so interesting to see ultimately what the
Speaker 3: Knicks decide to do and how it's going to go,
Speaker 3: because it's a great job. Like they have a ton
Speaker 3: of talent. The East is wide open, The thunder are
Speaker 3: not sitting there, like these players are under contract, they
Speaker 3: have runway, they're all in their prime, right, Like there's
Speaker 3: there are a lot of things about this nick job
Speaker 3: that are really attractive. It is the Knicks. You're at
Speaker 3: the garden. They're going to pay, like they're going to
Speaker 3: attract players, Like there are a ton of positives and
Speaker 3: Leon Rose has done a really good job since taken
Speaker 3: over the team five years ago. Like again, like you've
Speaker 3: got on the list. There's a whole bunch of stuff
Speaker 3: like yeah, man, like this Nick's job is as good
Speaker 3: a job as you can find, really, But at the
Speaker 3: same time, there's not a guy sitting there where you go,
Speaker 3: oh hey, like this this is the number one guy
Speaker 3: to go get this job and it's just slam Dominican
Speaker 3: and they're going to slide him right in it. It's
Speaker 3: going to be great. So that's why I say, I
Speaker 3: mean to me, I do think there's a very real
Speaker 3: chance that whoever the Knicks hire will not do as
Speaker 3: well as Tom did. But that is why it's such
Speaker 3: a fascinating decision, and it's why what they do and
Speaker 3: how it goes is going to be an awfully, awfully
Speaker 3: interesting thing to watch over the next year or so
Speaker 3: as they make this decision over the next few weeks,
Speaker 3: and then we see how the roster looks next year
Speaker 3: and how the team performs with the new coach.
Speaker 1: All Right, moving out this way, it was, it's been
Speaker 1: kind of a surprising busy news cycle here and saw
Speaker 1: like city. So the Jazz hired Austin Ange as their
Speaker 1: president of basketball ops, and during the presser, Ryan Smith
Speaker 1: had a couple of very interesting lines, namely, this is
Speaker 1: Austin's show.
Speaker 2: He will be the loudest voice in the front office.
Speaker 1: Ironically enough, Austin's dad is reporting to him, as is
Speaker 1: Justin Zanik and I continue to say a penny for
Speaker 1: jay Z's thoughts in an honest moment. But nonetheless, he's
Speaker 1: an NBA GM. He'll be part of this brain trust.
Speaker 1: This comes on the heels of Ryan and Ashley locking
Speaker 1: up Will Hardy despite winning thirty four percent of his games.
Speaker 2: So it's been interesting.
Speaker 1: It's kind of the anti James Dolan approach. So what
Speaker 1: we have out here is a front office locked in
Speaker 1: for a long time, a front office with a lot
Speaker 1: of smart basketball decision makers whose pedigrees and resumes speak
Speaker 1: for themselves. Fourteen years for Austin and Boston and then
Speaker 1: he knows Will Hardy and Will gets a contract extension,
Speaker 1: so they have everything they need outside of players that
Speaker 1: are good at playing basketball, which of course needs to
Speaker 1: be figured out. What's your reaction to the news that
Speaker 1: Austin not only has been hired but appears to have
Speaker 1: been given the keys to the kingdom.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean I was the one who broke that
Speaker 3: news on Monday, so I would say that is that
Speaker 3: is the that is the case. I mean, he is
Speaker 3: going to be the president best Operations. He is going
Speaker 3: to be the voice there. I do think he and
Speaker 3: Justin Zannak will get along really well. I know both
Speaker 3: in a long time. I think synergy wise, that'll be good.
Speaker 3: I thought getting Ryan are getting Will Hardy locked up
Speaker 3: for a long time was a very smart move. Will
Speaker 3: is a great coach. It is not his fault. The
Speaker 3: team has won thirty four percent of its games while
Speaker 3: he's been in charge, easily. You know, I think he's
Speaker 3: already proven to be one of the best coaches in
Speaker 3: the league with just the limited abilities he's had to show.
Speaker 3: You know, in the first half of the first couple
Speaker 3: of years, he was on the sideline. So, like you said,
Speaker 3: I think if you look at the Jazz holistically, there's
Speaker 3: a lot to be excited about in terms of the
Speaker 3: direction of the franchise and the people that are in
Speaker 3: place to lead it forward over the next several years.
Speaker 3: But the hardest part is getting the talent, and to
Speaker 3: do that in part, you need luck. Right obviously the
Speaker 3: Jazz to not get luck in the lottery last month,
Speaker 3: but there are a lot of ways to get players.
Speaker 3: I think, as Austin also said on Monday, if you
Speaker 3: look at the teams that are playing in the finals,
Speaker 3: there are not a lot of super high draft picks
Speaker 3: on either team. I think there's one pick in the
Speaker 3: top five on both teams total. So certainly you can
Speaker 3: get down a lot of different ways, and they've got
Speaker 3: a lot of smart people, and you taugh to do that.
Speaker 3: And I think if you're just talking about the management
Speaker 3: structure of the team, between Danny and Austin and Justin
Speaker 3: and Will, I think that's it's not as good as
Speaker 3: any team in the league. It's certainly in the conversation
Speaker 3: with any elite coach in front office group in the league.
Speaker 3: So I think from that standpoint, and if you're a
Speaker 3: fan of the team, you should feel pretty good about
Speaker 3: the brain trust Blian Smith is put together. Now they've
Speaker 3: got to go get players. And when you know, I'm
Speaker 3: in Oklahoma City, you look at this Thunder team which
Speaker 3: is set up to be arguably in my opinion, that
Speaker 3: that's dynastic force in the league. If you're measuring yourself
Speaker 3: against them. It is a long long way to go
Speaker 3: to get from where the Jazz are to be anywhere
Speaker 3: within the same realm as that Thunder team. And that
Speaker 3: work has got to start this summer in terms of
Speaker 3: starting to get some players in there to start turning
Speaker 3: things around.
Speaker 1: So one of the most interesting tidbits of Austin's presser
Speaker 1: a couple of days ago is Sean O'Connell, who does
Speaker 1: our midday show and works for our station, asked Austin
Speaker 1: his personal opinion or philosophy on tanking or manipulating minutes in. Austin,
Speaker 1: with a little bit of a mic drop moment, just said,
Speaker 1: you will not see that this year, which is all
Speaker 1: finding good tim But here's the problem. As you know,
Speaker 1: the Jazz have a draft pick next year that's top
Speaker 1: eight protected, and if they're not in the top eight,
Speaker 1: it goes to you guessed the Oklahoma City Thunder, who,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, are about to win the World Championship.
Speaker 2: So there's a way you can do this, right.
Speaker 1: But you know, you know, to me, looking at what
Speaker 1: Washington did this year, you know, watching.
Speaker 3: Washing, can I cut you? Can I cut you off?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Go ahead, this this is very simple, right. I appreciate
Speaker 3: often answering that question the way he did. I would
Speaker 3: also just say, if you look at the NBA standings, right,
Speaker 3: and you look at the rosters of teams around the league,
Speaker 3: it's pretty easy to see a world where the Jazz
Speaker 3: try to win every game and have one of the
Speaker 3: five worst records in the league. So I think that
Speaker 3: you could both say we are not going to try
Speaker 3: to win seventeen games and also wind up winning twenty
Speaker 3: seven games and keeping the pick. Anyway, So I think,
Speaker 3: you know, I will be curious to see when you
Speaker 3: see that comment, the first thing you think is, well,
Speaker 3: there's one like guy who's in the vicinity of an
Speaker 3: All Star galliber player on the team, right, Loarry Marketing.
Speaker 3: What is Larry Marketing's future in Utah? I think that's
Speaker 3: an interesting question. But if you look at the rest
Speaker 3: of the team, like I think it was a terrific coach.
Speaker 3: But if you're playing your young guys a ton of minutes,
Speaker 3: and you know they've got two more first off pics
Speaker 3: this year, hopefully Taylor Hendricks is back healthy next year,
Speaker 3: there's you know they've got Chanta George that got well,
Speaker 3: you got all these young players they can play. The
Speaker 3: Wizards are a good example. They played a bunch of
Speaker 3: young players this year. They didn't necessarily, like you know,
Speaker 3: manipulate minutes, and they won twenty games. So I would
Speaker 3: just say that you can both lose a lot of
Speaker 3: games and not be quote unquote pinking. And I would
Speaker 3: bet a lot of money that the Utah Jazz are
Speaker 3: not giving up their draft pick to Thunder next year.
Speaker 1: So and ultimately, I was gonna land the plane where
Speaker 1: you landed it in a more salient way, because when
Speaker 1: I do look at this roster, you know, let's say
Speaker 1: lowry marketing Walker Kessler, they'll they're gonna try to move
Speaker 1: off the other vets Clarkson Collins and and Colin Sexton,
Speaker 1: and they'll probably be able to do that because finally
Speaker 1: those contracts are expiring this year. But if you look,
Speaker 1: you know, if you look at this roster, and they
Speaker 1: do put their best forward to best foot forward to compete,
Speaker 1: and Marketing is playing sixty five seventy games and Walker
Speaker 1: is playing sixty five seventy games and he's not shooting
Speaker 1: seven threes a night.
Speaker 2: You know, when they after they got fined.
Speaker 1: You're you're not wrong, Tim about the scenario that could
Speaker 1: be in play. My point is, I feel like that's
Speaker 1: really close to like thirty thirty five wins, and if
Speaker 1: we're sitting here, okay, okay, But but if.
Speaker 3: We're sitting and that's and that's because of how good
Speaker 3: the West.
Speaker 2: Is, and that's that's not wrong. That's not wrong.
Speaker 1: Your point about Will though, he's maximized every group he's had,
Speaker 1: and maybe they maybe market In play seventy five games
Speaker 1: with twenty two minutes a night. My fear is we're
Speaker 1: sitting here next spring and Mark Tatum pulls up the
Speaker 1: ninth pick and says the Utah Jazz are picking ninth,
Speaker 1: and it goes to OKC, that would be a massive
Speaker 1: step in the wrong direction.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think that's going to be a problem.
Speaker 3: I really don't. And like I said, I think if
Speaker 3: you look at you know, look and like I said,
Speaker 3: I think the better I think the better question to
Speaker 3: ask us in general is what's the future allowed marketing?
Speaker 2: That's where I was going to go next. Yes, that's
Speaker 2: where I was gonna go next.
Speaker 3: I just don't if you look at where the Jazz
Speaker 3: are right, they have all these guys on rookie scale contracts,
Speaker 3: they have all these young players and need to develop. Hendricks,
Speaker 3: you know, started to show some flashes early last year,
Speaker 3: and then obviously I had the unfortunate injuries. So hopefully
Speaker 3: he comes back healthy. But if you just look at
Speaker 3: where the Jazz are at, like Ray, marketing just doesn't
Speaker 3: really fit with the timeline of the team. So, you know,
Speaker 3: I think, especially if Larry Margnon is not on the
Speaker 3: team next season, I don't think there's any chance of
Speaker 3: them finishing with the record outside the bottom eat and
Speaker 3: there or out at the bottom five. And even if
Speaker 3: he and even if he's on the team, honestly, Spence,
Speaker 3: I still think it's extremely unlikely that they are going
Speaker 3: to lose the pick because there's just the Jazz have
Speaker 3: a long way to go, and the competition is stiff,
Speaker 3: and you have a lot of teams. There are very
Speaker 3: few teams that are going to be really in the
Speaker 3: business of trying to be bad next year. So, like
Speaker 3: I said, I maybe stranger things have happened, but I
Speaker 3: would be very surprised if we're having a conversation next
Speaker 3: spring April, you know, March April May about going into
Speaker 3: the lottery with the Jazz, you know, really being in
Speaker 3: danger of losing track.
Speaker 1: So I'll double down on the narrative in the area
Speaker 1: we're in. Do you think they move off of Lowry?
Speaker 1: And if so, what sort of return would he receive?
Speaker 3: I don't know, And I don't know, and I say
Speaker 3: that because I think a lot of things are going
Speaker 3: to happen this offseason, and it's just very hard to
Speaker 3: know right now what the overall market in the league
Speaker 3: is going to look like, because you have a lot
Speaker 3: of teams that are motivated to make trades and to
Speaker 3: do stuff, and you have I think a lot of
Speaker 3: teams that are going to be actively trying to do stuff,
Speaker 3: and you have a lot of players that could actively move.
Speaker 3: And in terms of figuring out what a guy like
Speaker 3: Lowry is going to deliver in a trade, in theory,
Speaker 3: some of that comes down to, like is Kevin Durant traded.
Speaker 3: What is Kevin Durant traded for? Is the adestetic coupo traded?
Speaker 3: What is the aesthetic cupo traded for? What did the
Speaker 3: Celtics do with their team after the very unfortunate Jason
Speaker 3: Tatum injury? Like do they decide to make wholesale changes?
Speaker 3: Do they trade a bunch of guys? What are those
Speaker 3: guys get traded for?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 3: Like a lot of this stuff all has knock on effects,
Speaker 3: and you know, it's just I think, very difficult to
Speaker 3: know what these teams are going to do. Like another
Speaker 3: one like, what are the Brooklyn Nets going to do?
Speaker 3: Like are they going to be content to you know,
Speaker 3: because they have control their draft again next year? They
Speaker 3: could be content to you know, play young players next
Speaker 3: year in draft high and you know, be okay having
Speaker 3: another season whether high in the lottery or are they
Speaker 3: going to try to feed things up? Like There's just
Speaker 3: a lot of stuff like that that's very hard to
Speaker 3: predict right now. The amount of uncertainty and action that
Speaker 3: I think is going to happen around the league, and
Speaker 3: I think for the Jazz some of it's going to
Speaker 3: be a matter of seeing where all that stuff plays out.
Speaker 3: But look, if it was me and you're looking at
Speaker 3: where the Jazz are at in general. Like it's like
Speaker 3: I said before, if you just look at the roster
Speaker 3: and the timelines of where Lowry is at and where
Speaker 3: the Jazz are at, you know, it is sort of
Speaker 3: you know, it's not going to say it's the Golden
Speaker 3: Say Warriors two timeline situation, but it is two very
Speaker 3: different timelines. And you know, that makes for a very
Speaker 3: interesting offseason. And I think a very interesting question for
Speaker 3: Austin Age and Justin and Danny and everybody with the
Speaker 3: Jazz to decide, like what is the plan going forward
Speaker 3: and how do we want to handle things? And if
Speaker 3: we decide to go in that direction, you know, what
Speaker 3: is the return we're looking for? Like would would the
Speaker 3: Jazz want more draft picks in the future, Would the
Speaker 3: Jazz want bona fide young players? Would Jazz want both?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 3: You know, I think all that stuff, I think is
Speaker 3: sort of up to up to them to try to
Speaker 3: figure out what exactly the course they want a chart is.
Speaker 3: And again I think a lot of it is what
Speaker 3: are these other teams in the league going to do?
Speaker 3: And what's gonna happen with these other star players, because
Speaker 3: I do think this summer has a chance to be
Speaker 3: very active across the board because there's a lot of
Speaker 3: disappointed teams and a lot of teams looking to do stuff.
Speaker 3: But we've also seen a lot of teams already empty
Speaker 3: the clip on a lot of trades, and so that
Speaker 3: makes for kind of a weird middle ground where, yeah,
Speaker 3: there might be a lot of teams itching to do stuff,
Speaker 3: but it's unclear what they have the ability to do
Speaker 3: from an asset standpoint to make a team like Utah
Speaker 3: are these other teams looking to most our players happy? All?
Speaker 1: Right, before I set you loose, you know there's the
Speaker 1: NBA Finals that start tonight, so I will save my
Speaker 1: breakdown for I already gave it, so I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna unpack it for you. There's no reason
Speaker 1: to do that. So before I set you loose, I
Speaker 1: know your pick. I heard it this morning on Sports Center.
Speaker 1: But give it to our listeners. Who wins the NBA Finals?
Speaker 1: And why do you think that happens?
Speaker 2: Tim?
Speaker 3: I like thunder and five. I think it's more likely
Speaker 3: to be four than six, So I think six is
Speaker 3: possible better if Indiana can hit some shots in the
Speaker 3: Thunder don't both which are possible. Oklahoma City, I think
Speaker 3: it's got a chance to be an all time great
Speaker 3: team going forward. They had an all time great season
Speaker 3: this year. They have the best player in the series.
Speaker 3: They have extraordinarily they have an extraordinarily deep team. They
Speaker 3: can play virtually anyway, and Indiana has been extremely impressive
Speaker 3: in these playoffs. They are a much much better team
Speaker 3: than I gave them credit for during the year. However,
Speaker 3: the things that they do that make them extremely difficult
Speaker 3: for teams to play against, the speed at which they play,
Speaker 3: the depth that they have, the amount of shooting and
Speaker 3: spacing they can create on offense, you know, the versatility
Speaker 3: they have across the board. Oklahoma City does all of
Speaker 3: those things better, and they have the best player. So
Speaker 3: I just and the things that Oklahoma City struggles with.
Speaker 3: The two main things are they foul every trip down
Speaker 3: to court. So if a team can get to the
Speaker 3: foul line, they can get some advantage there because the
Speaker 3: Thunder don't really get to the foul line themselves, and
Speaker 3: the Thunder are not a great rebounded team, but Indiana's worse.
Speaker 3: So the two places where you can really attack them
Speaker 3: on the boards of that the line Indiana can't really
Speaker 3: take advantage of. So I think it's going to be
Speaker 3: a super fund.
Speaker 2: See.
Speaker 3: I think Indiana has the ability with the way they
Speaker 3: move the ball to potentially give the Thunder some problems
Speaker 3: offense with their offense, and the Thunder could certainly get
Speaker 3: cold from three, So I you know, I do think
Speaker 3: that they're going to be fun, competitive games. I think
Speaker 3: in a lot of ways it could be like Thunder
Speaker 3: Heat back in twenty twelve, where it's a competitive five
Speaker 3: game series and every game is pretty close, and the
Speaker 3: Heat just won four of them. But it's just very
Speaker 3: hard for me to see anybody beating this Thunder team.
Speaker 3: I've felt that way other than Boston for most of
Speaker 3: the year, and the one other team I thought could
Speaker 3: beat him was Denver. And you know the way these
Speaker 3: things go in the playoffs, like I thought that Oklahoma
Speaker 3: City won the title in Game five of the second
Speaker 3: round when lou Dirt in the fourth quarter of Game
Speaker 3: five at home, when the Thunder were down by eight
Speaker 3: going into the quarter and potentially on their way out
Speaker 3: of the playoffs. Lou Dort, who neither hit eight threes
Speaker 3: in a row or missed fifteen in a row. It's
Speaker 3: three four threes in a row. After not playing late
Speaker 3: in Game four, we got properly benched in the whole
Speaker 3: fourth quarter, and because of that, It's Thunder won that
Speaker 3: game and went on to win that series in Game
Speaker 3: seven at home, and I think won the title because
Speaker 3: of it. And it's just a reminder that for as
Speaker 3: good as a team is, to win a title, you've
Speaker 3: got to get really lucky from a health standpoint and
Speaker 3: from a on court play standpoint. And I just don't
Speaker 3: think Indiana has the horses to really take these guys down.
Speaker 3: But I do think if you're a basketball fan, you
Speaker 3: should tune in and watch because I think it's going
Speaker 3: to be super fun to watch and two really fun
Speaker 3: styles of play with a bunch of exciting young players,
Speaker 3: and I think it's going to be an entertaining series,
Speaker 3: just one that I don't think has a chance to.
Speaker 2: Go all that long.
Speaker 1: Well said Tim, Thanks so much for the time on
Speaker 1: a busy day. Enjoy the game, enjoy the series, and
Speaker 1: safe travels my friend.
Speaker 3: Okay heany tas bench. Thanks having me man.
Speaker 1: I talk to you soon, Timmy good time bond temps
Speaker 1: from ESPN Prior to ESPN, he was with the Washington
Speaker 1: Post and the New York Post.
Speaker 2: Get him on social media.
Speaker 1: Tim Bondi temps is where you find them interesting take
Speaker 1: on the Jazz current roster. I think I'm higher on
Speaker 1: Lowry and Walker and who the Jazz have if they
Speaker 1: play their better players seventy five eighty games this year,
Speaker 1: which nobody does anymore. Uh, the Tim is but some
Speaker 1: interesting perspective there. Tim stops spot today courtousy of our
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