Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - NBA West Squad: Lakers' Longevity - LeBron's Last Stand in the West?

Episode Date: January 29, 2025

In this episode of the Locked On NBA Squad Show West, your Locked On hosts discuss the current state of the West as the playoff picture continues to take shape. With Nick Angstadt hosting, the panel includes Matt Moore,  Rylan Styles, Matt George, Jackson Gatlin, and Andy Kamenetzky. They debate sleeper teams, fraudulent contenders, and future prospects in the West. The hosts analyze the Oklahoma City Thunder's potential, the Houston Rockets' surprising success, and the challenges facing other teams. They explore the importance of playoff experience, shooting consistency, and coaching in determining postseason success. The show also touches on the rebuilding strategies of bottom-tier teams like the Portland Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs. Throughout the discussion, the hosts offer insights into team dynamics, player development, and the ever-changing landscape of the Western Conference. 0:00 Intro5:34 Thunder's playoff potential questioned11:06 Most fraudulent Western Conference team16:47 Thunder's strengths and progression28:23 Blazers as potential buy-low opportunity  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!PrizepicksNow’s the perfect time to join.Download the app today and use code LOCKEDONNBA to get $50 instantly when you play your first $5 lineup! That’s right—no need to win to get the bonus, it’s guaranteed. PrizePicks—Run Your Game! TALKSPACETherapy is a game-changer. To match with a licensed therapist today, go to Talkspace.com/LOCKEDONNBA and enter promo code SPACE80 to get $80 off your first month and show your support for the show.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelFrom the first whistle to the final drive, FanDuel makes the NFL Playoffs even more exciting! Right now, new customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get THREE HUNDRED BUCKS in BONUS BETS – if you win your first bet! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. Make this playoff season unforgettable with FanDuel, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's show, who's the sleeper in the Western conference? Who's the most fraudulent team in the Western playoff race right now? We'll talk about all that and more on today. It's Locked on NBA Squad Show West. You are talking ball with the NBA West Squad Show, sponsored by game time. From the Warriors to the Lakers, the Mavericks to the Nuggets, and everyone else in the West. The local experts of the Locked On podcast network bring you all the scoops, breakdowns, and the most comprehensive look at the Western Conference.

Talk and big takes included. No holding back, we're giving the green light. It's time to talk NBA West. And welcome. You are locked on to the NBA squad show West. My name is Nick Engstead, host of the Lockdown Mavericks podcast, this squad show where we take over the feed of your favorite lockdown show, and it's open invite for any host to join.

Matt George was not snubbed last week. He's in now. Riot, it's a conspiracy. They don't want Kings talk. Anything we want in the Western Conference. Today's episode sponsored by GameTime, download the Game Time app, create an account,

use that code, Lockdown NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Joining me today from Lockdown Thunder, Ryland Stiles, from Lockdown Nuggets, Matt Moore from Lockdown Kings. You heard them already, Matt George, and from Lockdown Rockets, my hair doppelganger, Jackson, Gatlin.

We may go a completely different direction. This is the squad show. We'll talk about anything in the West. Well, let's start here, gentlemen. The Sleeper in the Western Conference, so the non-Thunder team in the Western Conference, I think, is who? look it's got to be we can't just say not thunder it's got to be like a lower than four C

because the reason I want to talk about this is we've got the Mavericks and their fluke run last year we've got four and we've got the heat making their run all the way plus the Lakers made their fluke run that year you've got like all of these like really kind of not very legitimate runs somebody's going to show up its finals who doesn't belong there and so that's my question is out it can't be a top four seed currently so that rules out thunder rockets grisly's nuggets outside of that who's going to show up in the conference finals but but hang on how do you define how do you define that parameter matt because like i think there are certain teams that should like the expectation coming into the season was oh they're like you know

championship or bust conference finals are bust right the sons should be a team based on their construction based on their timeline based on everything going on in phoenix that should be a team that is right now in championship or bust mode so are they a sleeper if they make it to the west finals are there because they're not going to Yeah, are there sleepers in the list? I mean, the Mavs can't be a sleeper because it's just been injuries is the reason why they're down there. I mean, we're hanging out and hanging out ninth right now. So, and by the way, I've gone on Matt's show and we've done daggers on Matt's whole thing about the fraudulent Mavs run last year.

So for all the Mabbs fans that are, first of all, upset that I'm doing a show with Matt more at all, which which also happens. Like, how dare you show up on the same screen as him? We've already, we've already gone over that on his show. But I just don't think the Mabs can be, can be part of like a sleep. in that way because they just made the finals last year their roster is better this year it's just been so many dang injuries all the time Derek lively's out again nashy marshals had the same illness three times this season like it's i don't know what it is about this team so far it's just been get that do some antibiotics come on i guess so it's kind of a cop-out answer or more of a broadway

to look at it but i think like i think the nba needs to be or should be thrilled with how the western conference playoff picture is shaping up to be because this is going to be the first I think opening route of the playoffs outside of one versus eight where we're going into most of these series and going anything could happen. And even one versus eight. And well, yeah, but I think it's Dallas. But everybody looks at OKC and things legitimacy just because of the depth that they have

and how talented that roster is. And they're for real. They now have the experience behind them. I mean, I'm a firm believer in OKC. But I look at the rest of the rest of the Western playoff race. I don't think I could go, this guy, this team doesn't belong there or this team doesn't deserve to be there necessarily if they make a Western Conference Finals run because they're very literally playing their way to it through a gauntlet of teams that are all

kind of in the same mix with each other. So I think it shapes up to be a dramatic and fun and unpredictable playoffs. We still have not picked a team. Does anyone have a specific team they think is a sleep? I mean, would the Clippers count as a sleeper? That's a great. That's a great one, right? Like the Clippers go in and they sneak their way into the six seed, right?

and they knock out. I think Memphis has injuries, Memphis has a lot of injuries. Okay, and then they have to face the Rockets, which adorable, but like, I actually,

if it wasn't for like, if it wasn't for the seating parameter, mine would be Houston. Matt Moore, pissing off another fan base. Can you really, can you really, can you really,

if the Rockets make the conference finals? Great team. Are you going to be like, yes, this is a Western conference content. Great team. They're going to be a lot of fun with the Aaron Fox next year.

But like, but here's the thing jacks that they keep they don't they don't need deering fox if jalen green's playing like this matt stop let's open that can of work i jelan green stop it i am leaving this call they keep beating legit like i think they might be boston the night like they keep beating everyone in front of them and at some point like i need to respect them more and i respect them very much as a regular season team but the playoff thing is tough for me and so like that's that i think is like an interesting question but why defense translates to the playoffs right it's not like they're a flash in the pan offensively it's not like they're a team that's just

varying your transition offense is not going to transition transition offense doesn't translate that's where the thunder got into there you go to then memphis has to go too if it's transition off Memphis is got to get out too yeah I think that we have to be careful with preconceived notions of teams though because in the case of the Houston rockets like if the rockets are able to bring this this email you doka mentality of where you're going to bully and get under anybody's skin hell yeah they could be effective in the playoffs in that way the offense is still massive question marks. So I don't think I would choose the Rockets to come out of the West.

But if the Rockets bullied their way to a Western Conference finals run, I wouldn't be shocked. Same way I wouldn't be shocked if James Hardin and Kauai Leonard make that run. Although I wouldn't pick it because James Hardin historically flames out in the playoffs. And Kawhi Leonard, he's going to break down another 17 time. Yeah, I like how we picked James Hardin's team to be the sleeper coming out of the West, the Clippers.

It's like, we haven't seen this story before. I look at the Rockets matchups and that's the thing is I'm sitting here being like, come on, they're not really going to. But then I look at the matchups and I'm like, who am I not going to like them against? Who am I going to be like, oh, no, that team will wax them. I don't know that there's a team. The Kings will beat the crap out of them. They've done it twice this year.

Kings have been a bad matchup so far, honestly. It's, I don't know what it is about those, about the Kings team so far that's been problematic for them. That makes sense because the Rockets are good against playoff teams. and so like they struggle conversely with the Kings and that's fine. Like De Manus a bonus who Wow. Stop, careful.

Careful. Three for five so far. Matt, Matt, more pissing off a fan base. Don't worry. Y'all's jabs are coming in in a minute. He'll get there.

We haven't mentioned the Lakers at all and Andy K. Minnetsky just joined us. We're talking about a sleeper team to come out of the West. Is there a case for the Lakers? I don't know if the Lakers just because of who they are historically as a franchise and who they have on team if anyone would ever even call them a sleeper. Agree.

Like, I mean, even if you think based on performance this year, they should be regarded as a sleeper compared to some of these other teams, just you're going to get so many sideways glances if you ever try to use the words Lakers and sleepers in the same sentence. But I do think there was a question, because the question originally, Andy, was like a team outside of the top four of seating because there have been these teams that have made those runs. And I'm looking at the board and I'm like, look, let's say clippers wind up in the four or five. Are you, you're going to want the, I'm going to want the Lakers in that one. And then if Lakers, OKC, if Dallas doesn't get them.

I mean, we have not, I'll say this. We have not seen what the Lakers look like against the new iteration of the Thunder with more size with both Hartenstein and Holgram. That being said, though, last year, the Lakers were a. brutal matchup for the thunder. To the point where a lot of Lakers fans, even some Lakers media, was saying that the Lakers should have intentionally lost a couple games in order to avoid Denver to specifically get the thunder. So, I mean, to the point you were making more about matchups,

Matt, when you were talking about Houston, based, again, this is purely off last year, because we have not seen the thunder really at full strength, much less against the Lakers. but last year in a series, if you would ask me who I would have taken Thunder Lakers, I would have taken Lakers, even if you would ask me who was a better team last year

for most other matchups, I would have said the Thunder. Like against the field, I would have taken the Thunder, against the Lakers, I would have taken the Lakers, if that makes sense. Is there a case for the Timberwolves to be a sleeper

even though they were in the West finals last year? Chemistry is too broken. I don't think either. They're not a sleeper. They're just a disappointment this season based on expectation. Yeah, they are sleeping. They're sleepwalking through the season. There you go.

Matt George are Kings. Yeah, we haven't mentioned the Kings yet. I think they can, I think it's clearly, I think we can probably all safely agree. Clippers, probably like the strongest sleeper pick. And then I think the Kings have to be included in there, right? As far as if they can make a run to the Western Conference finals, especially based on kind of all the turmoil that they dealt with to start the season, the really disappointing start, firing Mike Brown,

and then really kind of hitting the ground running here with Doug Christie. in the in the coaches chair like i think that's a good sleeper pick the the sacramento kings are they have the capability to get hot and also do not expect the sacramento king's roster today to be with the roster that they bring into the playoffs they're they're going to make moves there's just there's no way they're not going to it's not going to be a massive dearon fox type trade but expect a john collins or cam johnson or something of that capacity to help bolster the rotation of the sacramento kings but regardless this is a team with a very very very clear blueprint of how they want to win and also how to defeat them if you're a team with

size if you're a team with length athleticism the kings typically fail to match up with you and the kings while they're capable of defending they are going to give up lapses so let's just put it this way as optimistic as i am about the sacrament of kings as much as i love this team a lot has to go right for them to make any sort of run to be considered sleeper worthy i suppose they have to They have to carry through on all this momentum, have Keon Ellis keep doing what he's doing. And then like if you have, if there's one,

one guy, one high usage player in the Western Conference playoff picture that I do not want on my team in a playoff environment, it's the Mona Sabonis. If there's two, it's the Marta Rosen. Like,

I'm sorry. We just have a history of these guys. Like the on off numbers for subonis, I love his game. He's so much fun to watch. Like that dude's awesome. But God, he gets killed in these environments.

like he just gets killed in him. And I don't know how you get around that. How you get around it is maybe you call them a fraudulent West playoff team. We'll talk about who we think is the most fraudulent West playoff team and more coming up. Today's episode of Lockdown NBA Squad Show West brought to you by Fanduel. Fan Duel Sportswork has all kinds of props and odds, things that you can use to get in on the action. Super Bowl 59 is here and two teams endless possibilities. They're not really.

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with Van Duel official sportsbook partner of the NFL official partner of Super Bowl 59 all right we're back here locked on NBA squad show West we've got hosts from the thunder nuggets kings lakers rockets rockets rockets here to talk about who is the most fraudulent team in the west Matt, you got a team that you think is a fraudulent West playoff team right now? They're all frauds. All of them. I'm actually not kidding here. The Celtics are too, so are the Cavs.

There's no legit NBA team happening right now. I think everybody's so beatable, man. I just think everybody's so beatable. Memphis is a really good candidate here as much as that pains me. Like everything I love about them where it's like they have all this optionality and they can build all these different lineups. Yeah, okay. But like in the playoffs, you typically need to have seven guys you can trust. and Memphis has the fastest pace in the league.

Their defensive rating being so good despite playing that fast is really impressive. But we talked about the transition stuff. Can you really do this when you're that relying on transition offense? Halfboard offense a little bit better under the hood, I think, than expected. But I just, I have a really hard time there. And so, like, looking at it, I don't think anybody considers the Rock. Like the Rockets, I think are, have to be underrated in this category with how good they are. But, God, try to find, like, the West team that's actually not like, that's not,

a team that's like, man, they could get caught. I think it's really tough. And not just because the other teams are good, because all these teams, I think, have glaring concerns. Well, the thunder, I don't think, have a ton of concerns because we haven't really seen them whole yet. I mean, every concern that you throw out there, every concern you throw out there, I mean,

we haven't seen a single second. We haven't seen a single second of Holmgren and Hartnstein healthy. And the projection is that that will happen. The projections that that will happen here soon. But, okay, the thing with that, Ryland, how do you know it's going to work? When are they going to come back? But how do you know it's going to work? We don't know it's going to work.

But if we're looking at trade deadline acquisitions and who can get better, the Thunder can get better simply by getting healthy. I mean, like that's simply all it takes. They don't have to go make some sort of drastic moves. Hardenstein's already back. Hartnstein's proven to work. Chet's proven to work. They haven't proven to work together, but they don't have to play them together.

They can finally have a backup center that they didn't have last year and blanket the game in 48 minutes worth of rim protection and quality center play, which they didn't have a year ago. And they were still the number one seed in the West. They still took the Mavericks to the wire and they still nearly made the conference. Oh, the wire. No, Matt, Matt, can I ask you why? Why wouldn't it work? Okay. Because oftentimes these things that we assume to be true just aren't the reality.

Like, we're just like, oh, this is going to be great. And then it's not as good. Now, we've got a lot of evidence of how good OKC is. but what we also have evidence of is high pressure situations, big games, them having a little bit of a problem with the various shooters that they have. Like, I want it to work. I want Lou Dord to shoot 39% in the playoffs. I want Isaiah Joe to shoot 39% in the playoffs.

But the concerns stemming from the cup game and the playoffs last year, Nick angst that. Who do you trust more in a playoff series of knockdown open threes? PJ Washington, Clay Thompson, Naji Marshall, or Isaiah Joe, Lou Dordy. Aaron Wiggins. Are the Mavericks playing the Thunder? The answer would be PJ Washington

if he's playing the Thunder. I trust Clay Thompson more than anybody else. Jackson, do you trust Dylan Brooks? No. Jalen Green and Fred Van Bleet or do you trust Lou Dort, Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins? I mean, you can't give the guys on the rockets

other than Dylan Brooks who've never been in the playoffs more of a benefit of the doubt than the guys on the Thunder just because they've had a combined total of one bad playoffs here. Like the sample size. Whoa, this is this is Fred Van Vleet erasure. I just want to point that out. You know, no, no. What?

Would you rather have Fred Van Vlitt running the show and banking on one miracle 38 point game, which is how the Rockets have only beaten the Thunder? Or bank on SGA, the MVP of this league and the Thunder putting it together in a series. Imagine being a good defensive team giving up a 38 point miracle game

to Fred Van Vleet. My goodness. What happened there? You can get apart every single team. The team can pick apart least of them all is the thunder. And if you don't think the thunder are good, that's fine. Somebody has to win the damn west. I mean, you're not just going to forfeit the conference right to the final. If Matt had it his way, nobody would win the West. Everybody would go home. Rylan, you get to what I was about to say. To me, if you're talking about who is the biggest fraud in the West, the answer is either the thunder, because they're the consensus favorite, it maybe Denver just because they're Denver and everyone gives Yokic the benefit of the doubt or nobody

because by definition nobody trusts any of these other teams so how can they be fraudulent like you you can't be fraudulent if nobody believes in you in the first place I think that's great that's great I love that answer that's phenomenal here is done gentlemen I'll see that George is the most fraudulent as a representative the most fraudulent team in the west here what is your He's going to be the West fraud. Well, I will have Rylans back and say that all arguments against the Oklahoma City Thunder are grasping at freaking straws because the way that this team is built, like the only card people have to play against the Thunder is experience because that's

all anybody plays against teams that are young and up and coming, but are very, very good and very dangerous. The Thunder can beat you in so many ways. Defensively, they're stacked. They've got length. They've got athleticism. They've got a guy that's a certified bucket who can also get to the foul line whenever he wants. And Shaggildis, Alexander.

They have the star power. They have the depth. Like, everything about the Oklahoma City Thunder suggests that they are a team that's built for the playoffs. They still got to go and do it. But at this point, like, to me, arguments again, calling the Oklahoma City Thunder fraudulent is wishful thinking more than common sense. Wait, Andy, you gave the, you gave the Yokic the people gave him the benefit of doubt just because. Is that a fraudulent case? team well again by by the standard of this west where of the top 10 teams right now there are only

i think a consensus too that anybody believes in it all the thunder and sort of denver just because they have yokech and yokic is i would argue the most matchup proof layer match up proof player in the entire league so again i'm not saying i don't believe in okay c i think the experience thing knock against them is honestly bs like i'm old enough to remember when everyone said Michael Jordan couldn't win big games. And now he's seen as the goat. What was that like, Andy? What let me tell you,

when they switch from the peach tree basket to the nylon curtains, the world was, the world was black and white back then, right? When did it turn to color when Wizard of Oz came out? All of these guys, you know, all of these guys go through this period where all these teams and players go through this period of,

you know, you can't trust in the win games until they do. But like the, it's not like the thunder. Celtics last year. But it's not like the Thunder have been choking in three or four straight playoff runs. Like it's been one time in the playoffs. I asked the question so we can get to those kind of things, right, to disprove some of these narratives that exist. But also, I'll ask this of the group. If your squad is in a first round series versus the Oklahoma City Thunder or in Jackson's case, a second round series, how many of you are scared of the Thunder?

How many of you are like, oh, God, man, we got to go. up against SGA and Jdub and Chet and Hartenstein and Isaiah Joe and Alice Caruso. If your hands aren't up, you're lying. I say every team but the Mabs and maybe the Nuggets should. It sounds like the MAPS have beaten the Nuggets like the MAPS have beaten the Thunder seven out of the last nine games they've played. The Mavericks have a legitimate case for being a very tough matchup. The Nuggets, of course, are the best player in the world.

And like overall, you're going to be right more than you're wrong if you just lean negative because ultimately the map the mat more playbook only one violent don't say that out loud man you're exposing math I'm gonna lay the book here man only one team to win the west

only one team to win the NBA championship and guess what Jason Tatum and the Celtics are a great example of a team that had to continue I still don't believe in that goes through battles and then eventually they got over the hump but you look at Denver when they won the title they were the next great NBA dynasty and now we're like oh could they even get out of the west it's like this is how the conversations go

it's so stupid at the end of the day No. Wait, hang on. It's not stupid because this is how tough it is. What happened in 2010 with the Thunder? I'm sure you were like six. Do you remember? Yeah. I mean, the young thing does not. Walk with me here, Ryland. What happened in 2010 of the Thunder? I mean, they were able to take Kobe Bryant at the very bitter end. Right. That was awesome, right? It was phenomenal. Welcome to the scene. The Thunder are here. What happened the year after? They went, they went to the 2011 and lost Dallas. Of course. It's a great show so far. I mean, Dallas is always always, uh,

In the mix. Within two seasons, they went from first round to the finals. Like, they made progression each year. You're right. No, you're right. So my point here is not that I'm not making the case of the Thunder are fraudulent, okay? My point here is there is a progression that you need to go through. There are these stepping.

And the teams that are young that, like, because I hate, look, I'll be really honest with you. I love this Thunder team. How do you not? Yeah, it's hard to tell. Most most well-built team in the league. They're so fun. They all play the same way. He's built this phalanx of clones.

It's incredible. Like I've made the case for Shea for being in the DPOY conversation. I've made that argument. Yeah. Not true, but still, I've made the argument. I love the squad. But I do think that there are these things that you have to get through. And I do think that the biggest thing is those, that shot thing is what I can't get around.

The big shots, high leverage shots are what I call them. You're wide open in the corner. You got to make this shot. And Dort and Joe and Wiggins, they missed them last year. Maybe they don't, but I'll tell you this, the Bucks had this problem for three years where they got in those situations. They had awesome teams. That 2019 and 2020 teams were awesome built around Janus, who's actually a very similar

player, Shea. Those guys are very similar, actually. You can't stop them getting downhill. But those guys miss shots. And that to me is like a, it's an ephemeral thing that's hard to figure out. Coming up, let's get into who's. Whose team's future do you like the most? Let's talk about some of the teams at the bottom of the West

now that we're kind of moving around the standing. So we'll get in all that and more coming up. Thanks for hanging out of this on Lockdown NBA Squad Show West where we take over your favorite feed. And we've got a group of Western Conference hosts here. We talked about a lot of the teams in the playoffs so far. Let's focus our attention to the very bottom, the very bottom. And maybe we'll talk about the thunder again

because it's their future. But which team towards the bottom of the West? Which future do you like the most? Is it just Spurs? Is there anybody else? I mean, the pelicans have an interesting future. They have a lot of get out of jail free cards. Like what if they, what if they traded Zion?

What would that hole look like? Would it even be a hole at all? Brandon Ingram could net them some interesting things. They do have interesting pieces like Herb Jones. They have a lot of ways to get out of this hole that they're in. One of them just getting healthy. But yeah, I think that the Spurs would have the best feature because they have the best player at the bottom. Are we sleeping on the Utah Jazz and the makeover?

over that Danny Aang is currently working on over there. Like the jazz are basically setting themselves up to be Western Conference Celtics in the next like five to six, what, five to seven years, give or take, if they get some luck in the, in the draft. I was going to say the biggest reason that I wouldn't include Utah in this is just because they're kind of like the bizarre version of the Lakers, you know, in the, in the sense that the Lakers will never take the route of rebuilding. They only want to reload so they cut off half of their options.

In the case of the jazz, half of their options are cut off because free agents never want to go there. So like they have to hit on either all their picks or like all teams swing trades or whatever. But they're never going to be free agent winners. And that means you're caught off a third to a half of your team building options. Yeah, the jazzers are at the mercy of the lottery balls, right? I mean, like unless they can net a star, like the Thunderway would have a star with the trade. Nobody's feeling good. Nobody's feeling good about the jazz.

David Locke's not here to defend them at all. Jazz fans are going to come on his feet and be like, we got snubbed. Why didn't you bring the jazz guy on? Come on. But why would you feel good if you're any of the bottom teams in the Western Conference? Because unlike five years ago, when everybody was just trying to bide time for the dynasty warriors to die off and grow old,

now it's like, okay, there's a window where if it's OKC, if it's Minnesota, I know they're trash right now. if Nicolioch doesn't get bored of playing basketball, right? Like, it's, there's, there's no window in the near future where opportunity opens up for any of these teams to seriously contend. Didn't we just say this about the Rockets, Jackson? What, about the contention window? About they were, they were trash. They were terrible for, for a while.

There was like, oh, there's no window for them to get to get better, really. And then now all of their second in the West right now. Well, yeah, I mean, look, the, the, the Rockets took the, the, the proper steps of, you know, rebuilding in the NBA landscape, right? They bottomed out for three years. They were the MBAs dumpster fire. They accrued all the top talent. And the biggest acquisition of the rebuild, though, was picking up Emeo Doka. And you count that as luck, right?

Like the whole Boston situation, IME gets canned, takes a year off. And then the Rockets luck into a top five head coach in the association. Like this rebuild, it doesn't look the way that it does if they go out and get Frank Vogel instead of Emeo doca. Or who else was available at the time. I can't even remember who some of the other names was. Budenholter was one. Probably so when the Lakers fired. I think Kenny Atkinson was a name that was being mentioned to, which, hey, with Kenny Atkinson, look, with what Kenny Atkins is doing with the calves, maybe that one would have worked.

But Dan, oh, my goodness. Look, the whole point is, right, the Rockets took that route. They bottomed out. They got all the top talent. And the biggest element of it, though, was finding a coach that could instill and establish a culture and kind of repair the damage from those bad years. And so I think that's the kind of tight rope that you have to walk. If you're one of these bad teams at the bottom of the Western conferences, yeah, you want to bottom out. You want to get top talent.

You want to get to the draft and hopefully get yourself a star player or multiple bites at the apple. But then what do you do from that point? Right? I think the Rockets deserve a ton of credit for taking the steps after the, it's easy to be bad. Anybody can tank. Anybody can say we're just going to be a horrible team for two, three, four years. It's how do you get to that next step of competitive basketball? And the Rockets did that.

They got clown for signing Fred Van Vleet and Dylan Brooks. And it worked. They played 500 basketball. They brought in a culture. And now they're the second best team in the Western Conference. The Thunder did it, by the way, rebuilt faster over the rocket. No big deal. No big deal.

I would say. The coach can hire the first time. No big deal. I would say I actually, here's like, there's something too many plot twist in the NBA. Lakers are going to age out. Okay. Wolves are going to age out. Gobert and Conley are getting up there?

Wait, are you talking about the Lakers roster? Are you talking about locked on Lakers is going to age out? Jesus. That is rude. Oh. Damn. so they're going to age out. The suns are going to implode.

We all know this. Like we know how this goes. Like we know where this is going with Phoenix. The clippers, we'll see what Balmer can do with the money. But like, we'll see if they can get somebody to come and take the clip. Kauai's knees.

The guy, well, even post Kauai, right? Memphis, injuries, all sorts of stuff could happen there. Okay? I actually think the team I'm buying low on is the Blazers, actually. Because they're going to fire Shanti.

and they're going to bring in a better coach. It's probably going to be an internal hire, but there's a lot of promise in some of the guys that they have on there. There's a lot of indication that Scoot, a lot of it might honestly be Chauncey and that he could actually take a step forward next year, like a Chauncey Billups type sucks for the first few years and gets it together.

They're going to get another really good lottery pick. They've actually got some guys. Like, they're more competitive under the hood than I think people realize. Like, they're not, they're bad. Don't get me wrong. But, like, they're not. god awful. So I actually think Portland's are really good, buy low opportunity.

They're one of those teams on the schedule. You look and you go, oh, that should be a win. But there's a chance like they shot 60% up from three against the maps a little while ago and you go, oh, they're going to get. If they decide to, if they finally get off of the pot, like they can get a lot of trade assets here in the next week. They can move guys for first round picks that they need because they've got guys that people want very badly. Anybody believe them in the Blazers? I like the angle. I like Scoot. I was a big believer of Scoot going into the draft.

And then I was very excited that the Rockets got him in Thompson and proved me wrong. So I have to eat crow on that one. I run Scoot Henderson above everything. I wanted the Rockets to trade the entire farm to trade up and get Scoot Henderson. And now I'm in Thompson looks like the truth. He's turning 21 on like Friday. Yeah. I will say to Matt's point, no team in the West should stop trying.

And this is like from the vantage point, even of Oklahoma City. but we haven't seen Chet and Hartnstein play yet together. And like we've seen two years of Chet where he's gotten hurt and suffered unlucky, but dramatic injuries. It's like I don't think you just acquiesce to the thunder, like having some massive run. They project that the talent to, but they might not. Memphis has dealt with those same injury concerns. Houston still doesn't have a top option that can go win you a playoff series.

And then you have Denver who will constantly have to, you know, change the roster every year around Yokach, but they'll always be there. they'll always be contenders. Past that, like who is unbeatable to where you shouldn't just go try to put it all together and try to go on a run. It all won't matter once Sam Presti

empties the absolute clip to trade for Yokch when he demands a trade from Denver. There you go. SGA and Yokic together in OKC and they run the West for 10 plus years. I know we kind of just like, I think we kind of assumed people are going to say Spurs as far as a team who's featured like the most,

but how close are they to contending anybody? I think they are reaching a, place where you're going to see how close the rest of the league thinks they are to contending and how much the players are if all of a sudden they become a place that free agents choose to play just because they feel like, okay, I could get a championship with Wemby. Why are you shaking your head, Matt? Because I've sat through 15 years of why do you want a trade demand? Why are you on out of here?

I just want to win, man. I just want to win. Do you want to go to San Antonio? I mean, no. Here's the difference. I want to win anywhere but San Antonio. Here's the difference to me. Here's the difference to me.

That was in a world pre-internet, pre-social media, pre-24-7 coverage where you had to be in certain markets to be seen. That's not the world we live in anymore. You can be seen anywhere. It's the dirty little secret. Nobody wants to talk about it. Why the All-Star game doesn't matter anymore. Like, it used to be competitive. because for a lot of players, this was their biggest showcase of the year to be seen.

Now you can be seen everywhere, so the All-Star game is just a pain in the ass for the elite players in the league. I'm also old enough to remember when Adam Levine had a Lamarcus Aldridge, Lakers jersey that he was showing off on Twitter, and then Lamarcus Alder decided to go to the Spurs and not the Lakers. What a time to be alive. Oh, my gosh. But I could picture players deciding that Wembe is so good. and will make my career so much better. And in the meantime, I only have to live in,

you know, if you really hate the idea of San Antonio, I'm only living in there eight months a year, half of which I'm on the road and no state taxes. You know what I mean? Like you start coming up with reasons that I think it's become a lot more palatable when you're looking at a guy that in a couple of years could be best player in the league hands down.

It could be the spurs of a bright future for sure, a bright future for a lot of these teams, a lot of fraudulent teams, a lot of sleeper teams. I feel like every team was fraudulent or sleeper at one point during this. Go check out all the great shows hosted by all of us. We have a daily show covering every single NBA team. Check the link in the description to find more. Thanks for hanging out with us on Lockdown NBA Squad Show West. We'll be back next week with more.

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