The Bill Simmons Podcast - OKC Ends Denver, "Whaddya Do" Second-Round Losers, and Knicks-Pacers Predictions With Ryen Russillo

Episode Date: May 19, 2025

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Ryen Russillo to react to the Thunder’s blowout Game 7 win against the Nuggets (2:21). Then, Bill and Ryen discuss trade scenarios and what they would do with the assets of the semifinal losers (33:08). Finally, they discuss the Knicks knocking the Celtics out of the playoffs, the Eastern Conference finals matchup, and more (01:30:46). Host: Bill Simmons Guest: Ryen Russillo Producers: Chia Hao Tat and Eduardo Ocampo #ULTRACourtside could get you closer to the game! michelobultra.com/courtside ENJOY RESPONSIBLY ©️ 2025 ANHEUSER-BUSCH, MICHELOB ULTRA®️ LIGHT BEER, ST. LOUIS, MO. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit⁠ www.rg-help.com⁠ to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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please visit rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and help lines available in this and then episode for additional details. Must be 21 plus and president select states, game prom call 1-800-GAMBORG, visit rg-help.com. Coming up, we had a game seven. It wasn't that good, but we still talked two hours of nba next We're also brought to you by the ringer podcast network. I have a new rewatchable is coming for you on monday night We did close encounters of the third kind as part of a big ass 70s month. This was a very very

Very fun podcast. So that is coming. You can also watch on the Ring of Movies YouTube channel. If you like movies, by the way, I went on Sean Fantasy's big picture. We did a Tom Cruise movie draft, me, Van Lathan, Chris Ryan, Sean Fantasy, and Amanda Dobbins. Spoiler, I thought I won the draft, but you guys can decide. I thought I waxed everybody. Who knows? Coming up on this podcast, OKC killed Denver in game seven and we're gonna talk about that. The ramifications.

Does this mean OKC is smooth sailing now until the finals? We are also going to talk about the four what do you do teams that lost in round two? What do you do for Cleveland? What do you do if you're Boston and talk some draft stuff or so is that the combine and, uh, some future basketball stuff as well. So this is a good one. First, our friends from Pearl Jam. We're still here. We are coming off a dramatic game seven that was dramatic for about 40 minutes.

And then it was 42 to 41 at one point. It was one of those. We ended up at 125.93 OKC blows out Denver and that was the OKC team. That was the ceiling of the team that we're always afraid of when we think about them. Big picture. But more impressive that Denver even got to a game seven or do you look down on them that they didn't show up in a game seven? I would say the more impressive for me.

Yeah. Uh, considering where they were at the end of the year, you know, you still didn't really understand what the rotation was going to be the defensive numbers that we had talked about. So to get it to a game seven with this group, because I just think, you know, even though you have the Strother game and game six, you had some good Westbrook moments sprinkled in there when it's bad, when the spacing is terrible and we'll get to some of the numbers with some of this stuff. Like you, you understand there's just incredible limitations and you know, I

think the headline of today is, is Caruso and his defense and that okay. See kind of found something cause they abandoned the Chet Yocach idea. So, uh, it's crazy that that's the second round game, but game seven went the way. I just thought the thunder, you know, despite some of the concerns, I thought they were the better basketball team. And Gordon on one leg was kind of the decider. If there was any hope of them gutting it out, you need him for 44 minutes at a hundred percent speed, but you know, put a lot of miles on dude over the

course of two weeks, they play 14 playoff games and he does a lot of stuff for them. He breaks down. I want to go big picture before we dive into the game. Cause I was thinking about, you know, this might be, I'm not saying the windows closed for Denver, but this might be, I'm not saying the windows closed for Denver, but they might be moving into a different part of the journey here with the Oak edge in the 2020s. And I was thinking about how many teams the first half of the

decade is now done, right? We're moving into this. We're now in the second part of the 2020s. And you have these teams that in the first part of the decade seem like they were going to be the defining teams of the decade, right? Tatum, Celtics, Yocages, Nuggets, Giannis and the Bucks, Luca and the Mavericks. I had one more. Oh, and just like whoever, whatever team has Curry and whatever team has Lebron.

And now it feels like all those windows are either closed or in danger of closing, which I just think is noticeable. I think this is a very strange season all of a sudden, where you have a Final Four of Indiana and the Knicks, and Minnesota and OKC. And I think all four of those teams are arrow pointing up, even not just for this year, but for next year too. And then everything else feels like

that like San Antonio Houston might be coming. And then this whole other group of teams that have either already fell apart like Phoenix or this other group that felt pretty unassailable two years ago last year, and now feels like they're on the outs. I don't really know what the reasons, it's beyond injuries. I think the apron plays a little bit of it,

but what do you think, is this just the league now where we just, every three years, we just flip who's on top basically? Well, it could be, um, you know, whatever result we get, and certainly if a Denver had won this game today and you're going, this is about as wide open a final four as I could ever remember. Um, and now it feels like there's even more pressure on OKC considering what's

on the East, um, even though there's part of me that really just doesn't want to overlook this Minnesota team, but it's it's been an easy run for them. The first couple of rounds here. So yeah, bigger picture. You know, I'd mentioned this before with the SEC and college football where, well, eventually they were going to lose a national championship. Yeah, there was going to be a stretch. Now they have a one, one and back to

back years, which seems odd, but it's like, that's, that's more normal. But is it going to be the norm moving forward? We don't know that yet. Whatever result we end up with. I think it's two things. One, I'd have to see it happen a lot to be like, okay, is it just such a different version of basketball that the regular season is completely pointless? Cause there's times where it feels like that.

But I think you can factor in the age part of Curry, LeBron, you could throw Durant in there. The Bucks, basically it would make more sense that they would be like this five years after a championship, four years after a championship. Well, plus everything they traded to make that championship happen, right? They shouldn't feel bad about where they are now because they pushed all their chips in,

they got the title out of it. And I think the Celtics are a little bit of the same way. Pushed all their chips in last year. Now they have this giant tax bill coming and the dinner bill has arrived, you know, in a lot of ways. And this may be the last version of a team that we ever see like this under the CBA with the Celtics. And this may be the last version of a team that we ever see like this under the CBA with the Celtics. Now, if they'd won it and then were able to repeat, you know, maybe new ownership comes in and is like, the last thing we can do is after winning two, screw this. We're probably just going to have to take the tax hit because we'd rather take that financial hit than the PR hit of all the new guys are here and now they're dismantling a back-to-back champ.

So I think the Celtics part of it with Tatum impacts this too. So when you go through all the different scenarios, you're like, okay, these individual things, but that second apron, I know we're going to do some of the, what are you going to do? Yeah, we're doing that. You know, the realization of what this is and that it is a hard cap with a different name and you know, you're trying to figure out trades and then it's like, oh, I have a match. And it's like, actually the team can't do this. Or if they do this,

then they're hard capped because of where they're at right now. So, you know, there might just be more parity. This may lead to more parity. And we also are coming off of like two iconic runs. You know, some people look at the heat and try to dump on them for only getting two titles in four years. I think making it to forestry and NBA finals is something that should be celebrated. And then you've got the Warriors putting together what I think is the best five we've ever seen in the history of this game. So we're coming off of like a decade of that into these last five years and then

looking forward with even more restrictions. So maybe we're just too influenced by thinking that that was normal when Miami and Golden state was, was not normal. I think it was kind of normal though. I think what shifted maybe, maybe this construction, but not the success. Cause I don't think the success is normal. Well, but we're going to talk about the Celtics later. And one of the things with them is you look at all the moves they made

individually, don't be sarcastic. You look at all the moves they made individually. Don't be sarcastic. You look at all the moves they made one by one. It's good drafting and good trades, right? That was a little sauce. But it's not like they traded five first round picks to get to where they were. Like they, but now they're screwed anyway. You know, and I think, okay, like I actually think, okay, see, and we should talk about the game, but okay, see is probably the last team that has a chance to keep it going for seven, eight

years, because they have all these picks and eventually like, they'll probably trade Dort this summer, regardless of what happens because they can replace him. Right. And you could probably send that money out, maybe bet on one of your draft picks or bet on the cheaper guy or whatever, but you can constantly be replenishing as long as you have SGA and Williams and maybe home grand, or maybe it's two of the three, but they have the best chance to do it. But you're also, they're going to be penalized too for the same thing. If they did a great job building the roster, they had a great job assembling

all those picks and they're probably going to be screwed anyway. Once, once like the MVP stuff kicks in those little kickers, like Cleveland is screwed with the Mowby thing. His salary went up eight million bucks. We're going to talk about them later too. They're $200 million for eight guys next year. They haven't made the conference finals. So I just think, it almost feels like there's this reckoning coming where the salaries are going to have to really shift. We talked about it. The moment they did that CBA and you and I were

trying to figure it out and we were like, what is this? Why does it seem like this is bad for the players? Ultimately? I think this is the summer where it's going to be bad for the players. It's going to end up being historically bad because it's, it just reminds me so many times throughout, you know, I'm not trying to go super deep here, but in life, the way we label things to lie to ourselves about what something really is. Yeah.

And after we did that pod, I ran into a couple of guys from our front office shortly after, and somebody said like, Hey, did you go through? I was like, yeah, Bill and I went through it, after and somebody said like, hey, did you go through? I was like, yeah, Bill and I went through it, but you never feel like, unless you're like a capologist or a lawyer, you're like, am I possibly screwing this up or what are the unintended consequences? And I was like, man, it feels like a hard cap.

And the guy just, I didn't even know the guy. And he just looks at me and goes, it is a hard cap. Yeah. It is a hard cap. And I was like, okay, all right. So that confirms. And now that like, okay, all right, so that confirms. And now that we've had a couple years of looking at what this is going to be, it's even more of a credit to Presti,

who I believe was in on the meetings on some of this stuff. So you're gonna like this. It reminds me of when Belichick would just always trade out of where he was in the first round, and then if you just keep doing it year after year, it's like, man, they have this many picks, or they have another couple, it felt like for years he had two firsts to maneuver around with because he just kept doubling down in the approach.

Granted it's worked a lot better for Presti than it did Belichick. But if he understood, if he understood all of this stuff and we kept wondering, which is another conversation too, had OKC somehow lost this game at home again, seven, does that mean that they're more motivated to start going off season shopping and packaging some of these assets? Or is it to the longer view of, Presti realizes all the restrictions, how hard it would be to keep together this roster and that even if they win this whole thing, he has the flexibility to tweak and make tougher decisions because he just feels like he's stockpiling and their

track record would tell you they're a better position than anybody to do so. Yeah. I mean, he has all these picks that enable him to basically, Oh, I need to get out of this $25 million guy and move him into a $12 million guy and I can reward another team with it's the, the situation that Celtics are in right now. Cause it's impossible for them not to do a trade. They're going to have to do one if they're over the second apron as badly as they are, which I think it's like 20 million.

So like for instance, everyone's like, well, they'll trade holiday or per zingas. It's like, okay, well who's, who's taking them? What are the Celtics getting back to make the math work for the trade? And then how does that help them? You know, but I don't want to step in the Celtics thing. Let's do a, let's do okay. See why they won. Um, did you feel like they went through playoff puberty in this game in some

ways? Cause they were tight in the first quarter, like legit. I felt like there was two guys that showed up for their first quarter, SGA and Caruso and everybody else. The sphincters were like this. I'm glad you said that because it's exactly what I saw. And the Jalen Williams game six performance was so disappointing because then you're thinking, okay, what, like, I don't even know what to expect from this guy, you know, somebody that was supposed to have his off playoff games, you know,

maybe we're a little unfair. It's like, okay, you're a young guy. You weren't great against Dallas. You couldn't be counted on as that second scorer to SGA. Like you need that second guy to create on the ball when everything's a mess. And if you don't have it, you're so limited as a playoff team. And, you know, I think there was something to be desired there based on, you know, you can look at the final box scores of the Dallas series and be like,

Oh, it wasn't all that bad. It's just funny. I think that stuff becomes the most misleading stuff. Like there's some efficiency stuff that I'll look at with a player in a series and go, there's no way he was this, like this is a bad reflection. These metrics are too rewarding to however he played because just in the moment you needed more from him. So he has that abominable game six at Denver. And, you know, look, I think it's fair to say even for a guy like Jaylen Williams,

like at Denver, you know, going up against the best player in the world, you get the Strother game out of nowhere. I mean, he was wide open, one, because of Jokic and two, because it felt like OKC. Like, hey, do you want to guard this guy? I was like, no, we don't want to guard him at all. So when the nuggets had four guys like that, that OKC was like, go ahead. There was a couple of five man stretches that Adelman, even he had to be looking at the score table going,

I can't believe I have to do this right now. But in that first quarter, I'm like, what's up with Hardenstein? Like after he missed those two floaters in the baseline earlier in the series, it's like, does he not want to shoot that anymore? Jaylen Williams getting a couple of open looks. And there were so many open looks

that were great looks in game six and it looked like he was going to be tight again and I'm thinking, this can't possibly, he's not going to be this bad game six and game seven, is he? I mean, he had a three, you know, Denver's playing so much zone. They're collapsing the top for SGA. So SGA is getting cut off.

It's kind of working. And there's a kick out to the right side, a little bit later in the game where Jaylen Williams just turns it down. And I'm thinking like, you don't even want to take, like you, you have to take this shot. But what I loved about game six is against that Denver zone, if you could find any way to collapse, there were all sorts of points waiting for you on guys just cutting on the baseline and in the dunker spot. You saw more of that with the Chet. They had one play worth Chet passed to Caruso and he made a layup.

Caruso beat his man and Dort was coming from the other side. Both baseline cutters are wide open. So, you know, there was a lot of stuff that I saw in six that I thought if they can just go, hey, when they zone us, cause they're going to like crazy. Well, especially Gordon Hurt, you knew the zone was going to be bigger. Right, right. So, you know, there's when they zone us, because they're going to like crazy. Well, it's not just Gordon hurt. You knew the zone was going to be bigger. Right.

Yeah. So, you know, there's a lot of stuff, but the fact that Jaylen Williams stepped up and played the way he did today. And I think there was like one driver you could tell, okay, he's now feeling it a little bit. You could see his confidence was at a completely different place. Started to attack. He was 42 41.

I'm not a lab better and I'm also gambling is not legal in California, but It felt like the perfect live bed spot because Gordon had given them a lot in the first quarter Brown had made some shots Okay, see missed everything from three. I think they were like one for ten At some point and you could just feel the game You could feel it starting a shift potentially and then they hadn't taken any free throws when it was like, right. And Denver had like 10 free throws, something like that. Um, but that Caruso Wallace combo, which I think is going to be a real problem for Minnesota too.

Like I, like even thinking not to jump ahead to the next series, but. You think like Connelly is like the one point guard, then they'll bring Edward. Edwards will have the ball sometimes. Then it'll get weird with like Alexander Walker and D'Fuenchenzo. And that's when these OKC guys feast. Like they're over the mid court line and they just come in waves where it's like it's Cruz and Wallace now Dortsen too. Oh wait, here's Jalen Williams. And they're just trying to make you uncomfortable over and over and over again.

I think it's going to be a problem for Minnesota, but it became a problem for Denver. And, uh, it was one of the worst Russ. It wasn't Russ. Wasn't just bad. He had like three or four passes where you're just going, what is that? You just, this is a game seven. How is that the pass you just threw? Uh, and then Strother and Watson, you know, it was no surprise turned into pumpkins and Murray was, uh, not really playoff

Jamal and then Porter was playing with one arm and Gordon was playing with one leg and then Caruso became the star of the game. And I guess Caruso guarding Jokic. I feel like it's a slight hit for the Jokic legacy that Caruso was able to do that. But to defend Jokic, which I have to, cause I love Yocage. Um, I really did feel like they were getting away with a lot with how they were pounding him physically, which they should have because they were

getting away with it all serious, but I'm not really sure what Denver's supposed to do when they're defending him like that. I don't know what the move is. Like if you're just, you're putting smaller guys, they're planning, they're pushing, they're pushing, they're shoving, if he's turning around and going into them, he's just going to knock them over. It's an offensive foul, right?

He's not fast enough to go by him. You don't have any spacing because nobody can shoot. So I'm not sure they finally like moved them to the top of the key, like 25 feet back to give him, try to give him more space by that time it was too late. Not really sure what the move is, but I wonder if OKC might've stumbled onto a strategy with him. Now there's that many Caruso's in the league, but like, let's say it had been alternate universe Celtics Denver finals.

Could Drew Holiday have guarded him like that? Like could other teams, do other teams have guys that could do that? Or is Caruso just that special? I don't know how it would look for seven games. Right. I guess for one game you could do that or is Caruso just that special? I don't know how I would look for seven games. Right, I guess for one game you could do it. Caruso might end up shooting like 10% from three because he's so exhausted the entire time. Look, Jokic could have been better today, certainly.

He wasn't a great Jokic. No, some of the passing or it's just like throwing it back to him and he's turning the ball over because it's getting knocked out of his hands. A couple were definitely on him. He had the one late where he tried to go right at Caruso at the top and he just got stripped. There's another one from Murray where he's throwing him a buddy pass and all Wallace has to do is just see it coming in.

So I think there was a bunch of different things, but I think overall, if you're looking at Jokic just saying that he was the problem, I mean, the number of times that you're watching defenders, and I think over the course of a series, you get more and more comfortable with it being like, all right, well, if Westbrook hits a couple of corner threes, we're okay with it, like as long as we try to stay in front of Murray at the top and then collapse on Jokic, cause I, you know, you could sit there and say, well, if Caruso- Yeah, they just left. I mean, there was at one point, you know, you could sit there and say, well, if they're in game six, same thing. Yeah, they just left.

I mean, there was at one point, I mean, the game was like basically over at this point, but I looked at it to see what Strother Watson and Westbrook were, and they were one of four, oh, a six and two, a seven. So if you're not getting anything out of any of those guys, then good luck. And then I had a Porter too, like as you're expecting, like that's case scenario, like a 15 and seven something from him, but you weren't getting that. Nothing, nothing. And you know, at least you have to defend him as if he's going to shoot, but like it was just a bunch of bricks from him. You know, maybe you say, Hey, Yokech needs to get deeper on the catch and then have crew. But then if you're doing that, there's just so much more traffic in there defensively that I think they want Jokic to have more space to get it outside of

the elbow, to be able to turn and shoot, to turn and drive. Um, but also the further he goes away, now I don't have his rebounding and I got Gordon on one leg and that, okay. So he started killing them on the boards too, which was another thing, but the turnovers and they had, I think 23 turnovers halfway through the fourth quarter, which if you have over 20 just in a normal NBA game, that's a lot. That's like, Whoa, didn't take care of the ball today. They said the ball was.

Well, you're going to lose. Yeah. Okay. So you had, at halftime they're up 14 because they have this crazy run the last three minutes. They're five for 20 from three and they're up 14 and they have eight steals. And it's like, that's it. There's no road back for Denver. last three minutes, they're five for 20 from three and they're up 14 and they've eight steals and it's like, that's it. There's no road back for Denver.

What you need like Christian Brown to have like 35 points. So you need some complete or you need Russ to flip it on. And by the way, how mad do you think the flippers were watching this series with Russ? I think Russ was like minus 86 in the series games, five, game six, game seven. He was like just universally in the series. Games five, game six, game seven, he was just universally atrocious. And you'd think he was one of the guys that swung that Quipper series and then turned into,

he's another one who turned into a pumpkin. But I saw, if I'm the Quippers, I'm still looking back at that round one being like, how, how did we not get past this team? Like how? What happened? You know, but to Denver's credit, they were able to play 14 playoff games somehow. Just to get OKC to seven, I thought, was remarkable.

Because, I don't know. I just don't think that teams were close from a talent standpoint. I don't know who can beat an entire team when every single defender is just like all they really care about is you. And Murray's elimination game track record is terrific. He's got two 40 point games.

He's got the 50 point game in there. So you wondered, you know, you're going to get another Murray moment out of this. The fact that he played as well as he did with the illness in game six. But just over the course of a series when you're going, okay, when Jokic does this, and now it's like three, four, five, in this case, seven games in a row, it's like when he does this, when he catches here, we're doing this.

And then everybody's just in tune. And when you wait around on OKC, and everybody starts flying around, and the help is so good, and they're so smart, and all this stuff starts happening, I'm with you, I can't believe that Denver played 14 playoff games. I think that's well said.

Um, the other thing with OKC is they have different looks, like almost like a football team where they can be like, Oh, we're just going to rush you conventionally. Huh? Now we're bringing in six defensive backs. Oh, now we're blitzing from this side and you just kind of never know what to expect. So I'm sure mentally just trying for Yoko and she was like a supercomputer trying to basically diagnose the problems that he can solve and just the lineups keep changing over and over again.

They were bringing, it was almost like they were like a hockey team, bringing dudes in and out the second quarter. Um, I think okay. See is going to win the title and I'd be really surprised that they didn't, but the seeds were planted for how it wouldn't happen where you need a team that would just be able to go toe to toe with them and make them nervous. Like they were at parts of game six, like they were in that first quarter today. And you leverage their youth against them, I guess would be the recipe, but I,

I just don't see anybody beating them. I think they're, I said this to you last week. I think, uh, I think what they do on defense is the best thing anyone's doing right now. And I don't, I don't, could there be, I'm trying to think of like the Knicks, like those five guys, the way they played in the second half of game four, the way they played for all the game six, five guys that have not, I don't think have gotten a ton of reps together as a five, as a healthy five song. Maybe, maybe there's a ceiling there that, um, maybe game six is a little

more representative of that. Maybe Indiana, their depth and. You know, how their style of play and just their pace and how comfortable they are all playing with each other. Maybe that could be something. And maybe Minnesota with, uh, with the ant piece and then the Randall just really punishing anybody who's smaller than him. Maybe there's some level there, but I can't see anyone touching OKC. Can you? No, you're right. When you think about football teams, you go, which is the best unit? OKC's

defensive unit and the numbers are back it up. And I think the other part of it is the thing that you loved about them all regular season is this team can go one big, they can go two bigs and both bigs actually compliment each other. And they don't seem to get each other. We found out today they don't need the big. Just Alex Caruso as a 6'4 center. There's times where, you know, against Memphis, it didn't really matter. But then I remember, I think it was even in game one, with Dagnall,

where I'm thinking, he's coaching this game like he's down 20. Like, is he experimenting in game one for the rest of this series? And then they have that small lineup today just to kind of pour on their adaptability. And so, whenever you look at the playoffs, you're like, hey, they're deep, they'll do all this stuff. It's like, yeah, you really only wanna play seven guys

and be who you are. That's completely removing the thing that I've liked the most about them all season long is on paper and based on watching them play all season long, their depth, or sometimes we can overrate the depth part of it a little bit. Like I was still surprised in the Pacers, I'm like, they're in these playoff games,

they're playing 10 guys in the first quarter. Like that's unheard of. And it's working for them. Maybe it's because of their style. And again, we'll see what happens here with the Knicks, but there's part of me, because I thought, okay, see, it was so good had they lost this game. It's like, so do I have to just completely eliminate teams that have all

this malleability with their roster because that is their greatest strength. And I think we saw that in this series. Well, it's like, we say every spring when we're doing these, how many guys do you actually have? Right. I think the Knicks in that last series, they have seven guys now, now that Robinson can give them 15 minutes a game and McBride has been, I think, a really good bench player all season.

They have seven, which I think you can win the title with seven guys. Indiana has 10. We'll see if they get into a really hard series, how many people that number actually is, but it probably is eight, you know, and then maybe maybe OB Toppin, maybe that's nine, but you could work there. Minnesota as a team, I'm really interested to see what that number ends up being. Cause you have Nas and go bear, you have Randall, you have ants. There's four. D.

Fincenzo. Conley, as the playoffs go along with his age, we'll see that's six. Maybe Alexander Walker. Yeah, age, we'll see. That's six. Maybe Alexander Walker. Yeah, well, he's definitely, I mean. So I'm at seven. And that's probably it. Okay. See, they might have nine or 10.

I mean, I think Wallace, I, you know, I've loved him all year. I always put him in my ringer 100 voting, even though I think he plays like 19 minutes a game, but, uh, I just think they're bringing dudes out. Isaiah Joe's not even playing for them. I really like Isaiah Joe Wiggins. I really like, I almost feel like Wiggins is probably like, fuck, I could probably play 30 minutes for 20 teams in the league, so I guess that's what we're going to find out with, uh, with Minnesota

because they're going to need everybody and they're going to be coming at Connelly. They're going to be, they're going to be pressuring and, um, and I, I don't think it's a great matchup for them. What do you think the line is just out of curiosity for game one? Okay. No. Okay. Say Minnesota as a series. Minus one 75.

Okay. See, I'm going to say higher. Minnesota has a series. Minus 175, okay, see? I'm going to say higher. I'm going to say minus 300. The answer is minus 375. Jesus. I think Minnesota has a better chance than that, right? Yeah, that seems pretty sensitive.

With the way Randall's playing? The first game one line is huge. I mean, I already looked at it because I was like, is there a game one scenario there where you go Minnesota, easy path so far, grind for OKC, having to play in Denver that whole time. And the fact that the Western Conference has the quicker turnaround than the Eastern Conference on this one is brutal. But they had to do that in case there was going to be a game seven.

So it's minus seven and a half for the, for game one. I mean, to me that screams Minnesota plus the seven and a half feeling like you're hoping to get OKC a little hung over from this series. I, if I'm betting against OKC, I'm just betting the money line in a game. Cause it feels like they just, they cover those bigger spreads and their defense. If they're up 10, if they're up 12, all of a sudden it's 20 before you blink. Cause it feels like they just, they cover those bigger spreads and their defense. If they're up 10, if they're up 12, all of a sudden it's 20 before you blink. But the, I'd rather just take the go right against them.

Hey, time for a special part of the show brought to you by work day. Are you a forward thinker? I feel like you're a forward thinker. Then you need an HR and finance platform that things like you do work day is the AI platform that helps propel your organization, your workforce and your entire industry and in the future workday moving business forever forward watching a okay. See today. I felt myself get relieved yet again that they didn't end up with the seventh

pick in the, uh, 2025 NBA draft. Cause that would have sucked. Cause we got really close. We had two, two teams jumping Philly there and okay. So you could have added the seventh pick to everything we're watching right now where they're already so deep. They have guys who are playing 10, 15 minutes less. Jaylen went, Jay will the other Jaylen Williams.

I don't even think he played in the first three quarters. And that guy, that guy would have played 30 minutes for the Celtics in the, in the Nick series. And the craziest thing too is you watch the series, you know, here's a guy that scores three points a game, he's a complete afterthought on offense, and yet his body and his strength was like a nice little like,

hey, go in there and hack Jokic. Like to think that the third center that they don't even need plays a significant role at times defensively in this series because it's a bit like the cat thing, at least last year, where you go, okay, at least we have a huge, big body type that's strong and can fight for position because you're just going to need some of those minutes with Jokic.

So you're just not allowing him to get deep. Because every time that Jokic got shut, his eyes lit right up and was like, okay. And you could see, Dagnall was like, I want to end up with shit. That was the one thing they didn't want. Yeah. Than the beginning of the series. How many, if you did the player by player in each team. So Yoke Edge, let's remove Yoke Edge, Gordon and Murray.

The fourth best guy in the Nuggets was Brown. And the fifth best guy was probably Porter. Is that fair for the Nuggets? Yeah, I think, I mean, even though he's disappointing, I don't, who else are you picking? So it has to be him, right? So Porter with one shoulder, does he get on the court for that OKC team?

The fifth best guy. Does he play a minute in that series for them? Well, he's not playing over Caruso. He's not playing over Caruso, Dorrit or Wallace. So cross that off. Is he playing over Wiggins? I don't think so. Five, six, seven Wiggins, Michael Porter Jr. At his peak.

I'm saying there's the guy we just watched the last two weeks, I don't think he plays for them in that series. Yeah, I don't. And nobody else does either. I don't think Wiggins was all that necessarily in this series. No, but at least he's healthy. This episode is brought to you by Mikolob Ultra.

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Visit mcglobaltra.com slash superior access slash court side for free entry, entry deadlines and official rules, message and data rates may apply. Void where prohibited. Um, all right, let's play, uh, let's play. Do you want to talk about the two series come up or do you want to do? What do you do? Uh, whatever, man, I'm ready to go.

All right. Let's do what do you do first? Cause we can talk about Denver. They have a Yoke edge, Marion Gordon at 124 million last year. Next year. They have Porter making 38.3 next year, 40.8 the year after. And we're going to find out he has like a torn labrum or some terrible injury. They have Nagy at eight, Brown at five and Sarge at 5.4 player option.

Do you want to report now on Sarge 5.4? Do you want to do a breaking? Yeah, we're gonna go ahead and confirm that. Okay, so he's picking it up, okay. I just don't know who's paying him with the limited cap space. Yeah, but they say he's picking that one up. Why that's not a one year deal,

you can ask Calvin Booth. It was no longer the GM of the Denver Nuggets. They have their own first and 26 and 28. They're 27 and 29 first, their top five protected going to OKC. They do not have a lot of flexibility to improve the roster. Uh, they were well under the second apron this year. They had like seven, I think six, seven million to play with and just didn't get whoever.

But we always talk about this every February, like, go get a buyout guy. It's like, well, who, who are the buyout guys? There weren't really any good ones this year. Um, but the team, the roster wasn't good enough. Westbrook has a player option that I think he probably opts into too, cause that's like three and a half. So they might be stuck with him again, whether, whether you consider it stuck or not, but, um, it's, can be a tough roster to improve.

And meanwhile, all these other teams in the West are getting better, which is why I led in the first segment with. You start to worry about the windows with this stuff, because if this is the nucleus and you're just bringing this back and hoping everybody's healthier, I don't think that's going to be enough in the West. As great as Yokochess. I know we're, we're probably going to fall on a lot of this of like, what do you do? Um, but if Porter Jr has like, I sometimes I see him written about like he's this awesome trade asset.

And you're like, if he was any good, they wouldn't want to get rid of him. And the numbers are massive. I mean, it's 38 next year, 40.1 in two years. And he just appears to be a guy that even at his peak, was more aware defensively, which is being nice. He rebounded a little bit more. He stretches the floor. You just wish you were more aggressive. It doesn't happen for him to the point where it ended up being a

huge issue in that Clippers series where he got benched before he was hurt. Even Jokic was like, look, it's the playoffs. If you're not into it now, that's his teammate saying that, which really doesn't happen very often. If you're moving them out, you're not moving them which really doesn't happen very often. So if you're moving them out, you're not moving them out for some other player that's this massive upgrade in solution because it's not like the rest of these executives aren't seeing these games and know that generally with his talent, his size and his shooting ability, he should be a better player. So if he's available, what are you actually getting for him? Bradley Beal? That was a joke for people not watching this. But that's, you're shopping,

you're not shopping at Whole Foods or Bristol Farms. You are shopping at a pretty grossly kept grocery store when you're shopping Michael Porter run. Like where you're picking up the ground beef going, Ooh, this might have been here for awhile. That's who you're looking at. Like say Cam Johnson was available. Like why would they?

Yeah, they're never getting, yeah. Means on a better contract too. So I don't really know what they do. And it'll be interesting because Yokeage has done a great job over the years of doing the whole, I'm just here to play basketball. I leave every summer I don't really have any opinion on anything He's never really come out and said I need help. I need more He's just not wired like that, but if he was ever gonna do it any summer. I think it would be this one

they I still feel like that Yokojimari Gordon as a three person foundation can compete for a title because we just saw it. And, uh, and the rest of the supporting cast has been bad all year and it failed them at the worst possible time. Uh, I don't really know the answer. I guess it's, it comes down to that Porter deal. Whether you feel like would you have to attach a pick for it? Um, could you find the right GM who really likes him as an asset? It gets excited about it.

I don't know. Are you looking at like you're talking to Milwaukee and hoping maybe they talked themselves into him and it's like, all right, we'll take Kuzma back and something else and get two guys, turn them into two guys and then where are you anyway? All right. The Celtics. So I haven't talked to you. We haven't talked on a pod since the Tatum injury.

Um, the numbers are grim next year and they were a lot less grim. If it was a team that made the Eastern finals or the finals and they had cashed some playoff money this year and you felt like a, you know, they were headed for something special and instead this season abruptly ends. Tatum is out probably for next season. Who knows? Their starting five next year is $188 million. Their top nine is $205 million. That's not counting our cornet who are free

agents. Total salary is going to be around 227 approximately. Second apron is 207. So they have a huge tax bill plus a repeater tax. And with Tatum's injury, I don't see any way that they don't try to get under that second apron. Do you? I don't know which owner would go into next year going, yeah, let's just run it back. Again, I still think that they were going to be pretty proactive about trying to figure out a way to save, even if they'd won the whole thing.

I mean, it just was going to be tough. And so we've already covered the PR part of it, of like the first thing you do. It starts saving money. Um, but it's a little different when you're spending 6 billion on a team as opposed to a few hundred million, like it used to be back in the day for these teams. So, uh, the Drew contract, I think all of us probably deserve a redo on not going like, Hey, he's a great guy and he's such a good leader and he's so good on

defense. You're like, Hey, he's a great guy and he's such a good leader and he's so good on defense. You're like, what are those numbers again? I mean, it's three years, 105 million for drew holiday. You can't move that. Next year, 35, 37. Player option. You want to report it now? Probably pick that one up.

KP is 30.7 next year and then it expires. But the thing is like, they won the title last year. That was the price of doing business. They had to take care of holiday before the playoff started because he didn't know if he was staying or going. They didn't want that hanging over. They had to extend Pritchard as part of the, poor Zingas as part of the deal.

And they won the title. So, you know, when you win the title, it's, it's hard to be critical. But then when you look at these numbers, it's like, holy mackerel. Um, I still feel like Drew would have real value for somebody because. There's the, it's not a good free agent market. And I think he's the type of person that you always hear younger teams. Want to get like the, you know, the veteran who's been in a lot of big spots, who's a glue guy, who doesn't care about his own stats.

We need, is he, do you wish if you're trading for him that he was making 22 instead of 32, probably, but it feels like that's one and then KP isn't expiring. I don't know. I guess we have to find out what's wrong with them and we still don't know for some reason. This is the most covered up, um, illness, whatever that I can remember. We're even like people around the team won't talk about it. I still don't know what it is.

Prezinkas has missed 65 games since he's been with Celtics. So when they made the trade and you think about the ceiling version of it, because the ceiling version of it's really good, stretches the floor, defends the rim. Um, but this past year was a disaster. I mean, they were 18.7 points better per 100 possessions with them off the floor. So even with the 30.7 million left on this deal, I don't know why anybody trades for that. I mean, again, all of these guys are tradable, so I'm not saying

they're these movable contracts, but I'm surprised that you're so bullish on the market for Drew. I would feel like with 105 million remaining for him. I wouldn't use the word bullish. I think it's doable though. Doable or you have to attach something to it. I mean, that's a ton for him. I don't know if he would have to attach, but maybe I'm being naive because I'm trying to factor it in there. So there's 30 teams in the league and 10 of them every summer are like, we're one guy away from really being interesting.

The problem is there's no, there's really no free agents this year. There's nobody to like, Oh, this guy, that guy, there's, you know, the it's like a lot of the Bruce Brown types, right? And the price for the Bruce Brown types in the free agency are always higher than you think, right? It's like, or like Caldwell Pope last year, you know, Caldwell Pope got what? 22, 22 a year. You know, the problem for them is I didn't, I didn't think Drew was not good

in the Knicks series. I mean, other than game five, I didn't think, I just didn't think he played well. He's coming off his worst year in a really long time. Yeah. I kept thinking he was going to turn it on for the playoffs and he just didn't think he played well. He's coming off his worst year in a really long time. Yeah, and I kept thinking he was gonna turn it on for the playoffs and he just didn't. So if you're taking back a worst player with a shorter contract for a ton of money,

okay, maybe, if you think you're getting an asset back that's a rotational guy for this team next year and sending out him making 37 million plus at what, 37 years old, 36 or 37, that's a huge ask. Granted, it's a player option, but again. How's there's that 10 who might be a little tradeable, but yeah, I'm with you.

I see it the same way as you, the whole, oh yeah, they'll trade guys and get under the second apron. I definitely spent a couple hours looking at all the teams and you'd be surprised how many teams are just immediate cross-offs. Either they don't have that thing to trade back or they wouldn't be interested in the first place. So. Well, you know what it gets back to, right? What? If you were, all right, you just bought the team and you hit me up, you're like, what should I do? You've already made up your mind. I would have caught you,

you would have been one of my first like 10 mind. I definitely would have hit you up. I would have caught you in one of my first 10 calls. I just would have blunted your place. I would say, and I hate that I'm. It would have gone right to voicemail. And then I would have had to call back and you would have answered. Far too often all of us just say, hit the magic reset button

as if there's all of these scenarios out there for these teams to get better and not realizing the teams are trying to compete and be a little bit better. But next year without Tatum is most likely a lost cause. And Jaylen, as expensive as he is, he's an NBA finals MVP. And he's still young enough that I would try to flip him and look at next year as like this gap year of getting in some kind of assets to then reset. Because you're going to have to reset it around Tatum anyway.

Al's going to be gone. Drew's going to be- So you're looking at the 2020 Warriors scenario of let's just take our lumps for one year and try to be ready. Yeah. And look, it doesn't guarantee anything and it'd be a lot easier to say, hey, Jaylen's a really good player and he'll be the number one option and it's going to be fine. And, you know, who knows, get into the playoffs, you see what'll happen. But I think you're just

then delaying all of these other decisions that you're going to have to make. So I would hope if I'm, if I'm, you know, again, the Celtics, a lot of these things are connected. If Houston were to miss out on Giannis, say Yanis isn't real forceful about it, Milwaukee kind of goes to the default of like, hey, run this back. But granted, I think we'll have a Yanis conversation here anyway. At some point, you may be getting in front of something you probably have to do in 2026 anyway, and then resetting this thing around Tatum. And it would be really bold. It'd be probably hard to do because it's a new ownership group that doesn't have the equity of WIC and his group or if WIC was explaining it, ownership that never

spared any expense that, you know, they could probably pull it off quicker than who's this new guy and then they just traded Jaylen Brown, but I'm serious. Like, I think I would try to figure out a way to get a few assets back and, and reset the salary deck that way. And then hope, you know, granted, you've got to be right around the things you're bringing back in around Tatum and do it that way. Cause you may be getting in front of something you have to do pretty soon. And it's probably going to be a lot less options.

What do you think? So I don't know who to blame for this second apron thing, because I think the owners are just going to try to get away. They're trying to protect themselves from themselves. They're trying not to spend too much money. And they want all of these checks and balances. And this is what's, what's been the case for all professional sports forever. They want to protect themselves from themselves, from the four or five, six, seven people in the league who are like, I don't care like bomb or Ishvia. I don't care.

I don't care what stuff costs. I'm just going to pay. Just going to throw money around and everybody has, so they put this infrastructure in, but the players union who is always run poorly and always does a bad job with this stuff. And this is the worst thing they've ever done because what they've created is a league where you can't keep Tatum and Brown together and you can't keep core people together because you can't afford to do it.

And if you try to keep the two together, you can't put anyone else around them. So this is just the way it is. And you're going to have these three, four year windows, and then you're going to have to blow it up. And this is just what we have, which is not, I don't think what professional sports is about professional sports is about. I have these guys, I followed them their whole careers.

We drafted them or they showed up or I've watched them go through their prime and then age with them. And you know, if we're just going to be this like transactional league now, I don't think that's good for anybody. So when I think of like the Brown trade, it probably is the one that makes the most sense on paper, but that means we're splitting up Tatum and Brown, which is something I never wanted them to do. And it might be the only move you might be right.

Because, you know, like looking at Houston, if Houston was going to say, we'll take Jalen and Andrew and we'll give you Van Vliet back and Jabari and Eason and we'll give you the 10th pick. And you know, you'll, you'll save like $20 million. We can make it work with our cap and that gets you under the second apron right there and get your rebuild. I think they would have to think about deals like that. Then if you're Houston and you can get Jalen and Drew in the same trade and give up assets,

but not touch Thompson and not touch Shungun and you know, keep it, keep enough going. That's the type of trade, but I just, for me, it's like J, trading Jalen is an all time last resort. There has to be a better option. What are your expectations for next year? Not good. So why play it out another year? Well, it becomes a question of, do you want the person to stay in the city for his entire

prime or in this case, the two people together? Yeah, it'd be nice, but now you don't get that option for 25, 26. You don't. I'd add something else onto the Houston thing. Cause I think the Yanis thing is going to be a big influence on like how, or does Houston do all the leg work for some sort of Yanis deal and then it's just pulled back. Then he backs out or.

Yeah, right. Well, also like if you're Yanis, like I would rather kind of stay in the East. If I felt like my team could be almost good enough. Right. The East is going to be awful next year compared to the West. Like if you're just removing Boston from the picture next year in the East and you know, God only knows what's going to happen with Cleveland because they're way over the apron. I might rather, I might rather stay in the East and go to Houston and be in this juggernaut of a conference

against all of these awesome teams. I don't know. Does that guarantee me anything? Plus, Giannis already won a title, which I think everybody forgets on there. I don't think he's decided anything, but he already won the title. I think he just wants to be in a good team.

I don't think it's about like, I need a ring. He won a title. It was the most talked about thing at the combine. Yeah, let's hear it. You were in Chicago for three days. Yeah. And I'd say like the conversations are kind of all over the place that it's definitely happening, um, that. You know, it's, or the other side of it is that he actually hasn't

initiated any of this stuff. I think that's true. I've talked to teams that spoke with his agent where it's like, if anything were to happen, we're kind of like hinting in these areas of like semantics. It's like, hey, nothing's really happened. But if anything were to happen, I think the most important thing to remember is that it's probably not a free market kind of deal where Milwaukee is going to be telling Giannis and his agent, hey, guess what we did today.

Even with control for a couple of years here, you know, the standard usually is there's somebody at this level, we're talking about one of the three best players in the world that he's going to have input on where he would be going. Now, if he's open to four or five different teams, then, you know, this is a different transaction as opposed to guys in the past where it's like, Hey, I have a year left on my deal. And if you trade me anywhere else, like I'm not going to resign. So then that destroys the trademark. And then it's like, all right, how many swaps can we throw in this thing to make it look like it was that good of a trade? And you're kind of screwed,

which I think is another conversation that you would have if you're the bucks going, okay, if you honest is fine with it. Okay. And I know I've said that in the past, like if he told me, Hey, I'm good with Milwaukee, that's all I need to hear, and you hope to win 48, 50 games, and to your point, see what's going on in the East. I mean, it's not the worst scenario, but if I'm getting the feeling

like it's gonna be way worse in 26, then I might just wanna get this thing over with now and bring back players. Maybe- Do you think he'd be like, is Kuzma gonna be on the team next year? And they're like, he is. Um, do you think he'd be like, is, is Kuzma going to be in the team next year? And they're like, yes, like, okay. I'd like to revisit my options.

You're just going to keep scrolling right on this, on this one. Uh, and the spot track thing. Yeah. Just keep going left. No, keep going. Keep going. There's one more year there. Wait, that's not an option.

Nope. Well, let me ask you this with the honest though. What if Gold, what if he says to the Milwaukee, I've decided I want to be traded. They're like, okay, but I only want to be traded Golden State. That's where I want to go. And I won you a title and I've been an awesome buck and I've been here since 2013. And I represented the community in an amazing way. And, uh, all I've done is kick ass for you guys.

And if you're going to trade me, I'd like to go to Golden State. So now what do you do for the bucks? Like, well, that's really nice. It's cool. But we like a lot of other potential pieces more than Kaminga. Yeah. That's looking like Draymond, Kaminga, and all of their picks and a million swaps, I guess.

And that's not a headliner. I would not. Maybe Pods is in there. There's no way I'm bringing Draymond in to be like, okay, we need more from you on offense because now Curry's not running around you for a decade. So how about that? What Randall did to him that ended the defensive player of the year debate.

Yeah, I thought it's strength in his case, uh, considering everything that he had to deal with in Houston, but Randall, I mean, Randall's just off the charts right now. So wait, so this leads me to Cleveland though. Just talking about Yanis quickly. Okay. Do you want to be the Milwaukee GM or the Cleveland GM? Uh, for this phone call, I'll say them.

I'll stay with Milwaukee. Okay. I'll be the Cleveland GM. I'll be Colby Altman. Hey, Colby. Hey, Mobly for Yanis straight up. What do you think we could do the deal on July 1st when Mobly's kick for Yanis straight up. What do you think? We could do the deal on July 1st.

When Mowgli's kicker comes in straight up, he's six and a half years younger. Call it in right now. Done. You're done if you're Milwaukee. Yeah. I think I'm done if I'm Cleveland too. I think I'm doing it. I think it's a great trade.

And I don't even know if you had to say one side has to throw in something else. Which team would you pick to have to throw something else in? Giannis is a better player, but mobile six and a half years younger. I mean, what else would you want from Milwaukee? There's no picks, right? Right. Some sort of, I guess, some swap in 2032, anything. I think it's a really fair trade.

You know, can you send us to AJ so we can do an AJ Sam Merrill back court? Can you sign and trade Kevin Porter Jr. and keeping him? No, I think that trade makes a lot of sense to me. And I know they love Moby there. Option. Yeah. See two years.

So Moby turns 24 in June and Yanis is 30. It turns 31 in December. Um, Cleveland is really screwed with, uh, no first round picks this year in 27, 29 and swaps with Utah. So they had no, their picks things done. I guess the question for Cleveland is do you overreact to what happened in those playoffs or do you say, eh, Garland was hurt.

Mobile we missed game two. The series got away from us. We're still really good. We won 64 games. And, and if you think that Garland wasn't super important, everything we did, then you didn't watch us this season. Cause he was, our back court was the single biggest, like basically OKC's defense was the best thing they had. Their back court was the best thing that they had and Garland

wasn't Garland in that series. So that's what you would talk yourself into and their role player sucked. Strew sucked. Jerome was super disappointing. That's where you would say, let's give this one more year. Counter would be, you could have a team that has Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland and Giannis on it in a weakened East. And I think you're immediately the favorites in the East.

Yeah. The only reason I'd be so quick on the Milwaukee side is that I'm, I'm Yeah. The only reason I'd be so quick on the Milwaukee side is that I'm, I'm emphasizing I'd rather do something now if I get the hint that it's like, okay, we're fine for now, but I'm going to have to do this all over again next year with another year of miles on Giannis. There's probably another just little nagging injury that'll happen. I mean, this guy is on an all time tear. He was great again this year. I don't have a negative thing to say about him. I mean, hell, the fact that he addressed the Halliburton's dad thing, the way

that he did, where he composed himself, thought about what he was going to say and gave you this incredibly like heartfelt answer. You know, he just, I'm such a huge fan of this guy, not only because of stuff like that, but knowing that when he takes the floor, he wants, I'm such a huge fan of this guy, not only because of stuff like that, but knowing that when he takes the floor, he wants to kill everybody out there and I want to see him get another run. So I realized like I'm losing the trade on Talon out for Talon in and wondering, okay, like even the best version of Mobley, it's likely he's not going to be finishing top

five in the MVP race, like five years in a row. Uh, and I think he honestly is going to be what, like seven years in a row, top four, something like that. So we all love them. We all think it's fantastic, but it would be okay. Comparing Mowgli to the rest of the potential, like make believe stuff that we're doing here, it's better than maybe even a men Thompson. It's better than the number two pick or the number three pick. I mean, some of the stuff that I've read in the days removed from the

combine of like Houston, if they were going to do something in San Antonio, he was going to do something and like what they wouldn't trade. It's like, look, Castle had a nice year, but you honest, like give me a fucking break, you're going to have to trade Castle. Like Houston has these pieces where it's like, dude, they're not doing it for cam Whitmore, you don't get to keep everybody. Yeah. You're going to have to like Jabari or Jalen or a shingu like one of the three has to go and then you're figuring out

The rest of the part and if it's Jalen to the three for that. Yeah, right, right It's like no, I'm in no Tari no Reed Shepherd. No shangoon. Don't give up on Jalen yet We with the Milwaukee we I just have to mention this even though we talk talk about it every time we talk about this, they don't have any of their picks. So it makes no sense for them to do a dump trade, which is why the Moby thing was so interesting to me that they could bring back somebody that would keep them competitive and somebody they could build around and then hope, oh, when Dame comes back, maybe we'll be pretty good and maybe we'll have cap space in two years. There's light at the end of the tunnel where right now they don't have any.

And I think it gets, when you don't have your own picks, it just gets so complicated with the rebuild. Cause it's not really rebuild your own of your picks. Brooklyn's in that spot too. And they made that crazy trade with Houston last year to get their picks back so they could feel better about basically tanking, which is what the league is now and the league rewards that. And the league rewards that. And this goes back to the second apron discussion.

The league rewards that over actually shrewdly building a smart team and do, and putting your roster together the right way and winning trades and drafting. Now it's like, you know, you should actually do is just throw away four seasons in a row, accumulate a lot of picks, take some of those picks and keep trading and get more picks down the road. So you have this never ending fountain of picks. And then eventually, hopefully you strike oil with a couple and you can have a contender. And then you could thwart the second apron that way, which is basically what Utah is trying to, Utah is basically emulating what OKC did, right?

Houston's emulating it to some degree, but that's, I guess what the league would rather see people do. Uh, yeah, I also think there's like a conversation in there about, you know, was there so much freedom of movement and so many players dictating things that they put enough restrictions in there. It was like, okay, you can be as mad as you want. You can want to go there, but now I legally can't even do the thing that you want to do now, granted it about, to your point,

giving yourself a credit limit on a card, even though you could afford a higher credit limit, you're like, I need to figure out a way to curtail this because it's not just, you know, sometimes we lose sight of this, it's not, oh, well, they're keeping spending down across the board. It's like, no, that comes down to the negotiated split on the basketball revenue.

So whatever the basketball revenue is and whatever the split is that's agreed upon, like that money's going to the negotiated split on the basketball revenue. So whatever the basketball revenue is and whatever the split is that's agreed upon, like that money's going to the players. So the lower, the lower, uh, apron or, you know, granted the cap's going up every time, but whatever the money is, it only hurts the players in those off seasons is going to hurt them individually. But collectively these guys are still making what's agreed to with all this stuff. So, um, Yeah. Like Mitchell was a good example last year.

We talked about that last summer that he kind of ran out of options and it actually made the most sense for him to stay with Cleveland, which I think is part of what they were designing the CBA around to kind of nudge people to staying where they are. But ironically, now you have this new issue where the Celtics, you might be right. They might have to trade Jaylen Brown just to write the ship financially for a year during this tragic tatum injury. And then, so now you have a different problem.

You still have the problem of stars not staying where their cities are, you know, which is why the SGA thing, I think the SGA thing is what people, I personally think that's what people want to root for. I think they want to root for Edward staying in Minnesota and staying there for a while and starting to win titles. They want to, they want to root for Curry at age 37, trying to win one last time in golden state. Everything Kobe did for, you know, two decades in LA. That's what people care about. That's what they respond to.

And we're unfortunately going to start moving away from it, it feels like. That's what they respond to. And we're unfortunately gonna start moving away from it, it feels like. But if it means more parity, and if we're seeing the first post season of something that becomes more of the norm, which I'm not ready to say, I mean, this could be a bullet point.

It might be. Well, it's definitely, this season's definitely something. I don't know if it's a new thing going forward, but it's definitely some sort of era ended and some sort of new era is here and I don't know how to really put my hands around it yet. Yeah. I'm not ready to make any definitive statement about what we have for playoff teams, but

if it is, if there is more parity and it's not just three guys teaming up and going somewhere, whether it's through free agency or demanding trades and the next mad guy going, I'm mad, I want out and I'm only going there and we just all accepted it. Was that better? No. The good thing is that air is over. Well, that was the longest segment we've ever done. You can learn more about Workday at Workday.com. We're going to take a break and come back because I want to talk about Golden State as well, but we're staying on YouTube. We're going to take a break and come back because I want to talk about Golden State as well, but we're staying on YouTube.

Okay. Golden State. Golden State's probably in the worst shape out of the four, the four, what did you do teams that just got eliminated because they have all their firsts. Basically Miami has their first this year, but they have 26, 28, 29 and 31. And they basically have 32. They made this weird trade with Washington where they get to pick if it's one through 20 and Washington gets it if it's 20 through 30.

So they basically have it. Uh, Draymond's got two years left. Curry and Butler have two years left. They're basically locked into that core for 140 million and Peyton and Looney are UFAs and then Kaminga is the sign and trade piece. Um, I personally think somebody's going to sign a trade for Kaminga would be my guess because I think it's limited free agents and I think there's enough there to fool you into thinking he's a 15 to $20 million guy.

Some GM will be fooled. I'm dubious of it, but what do you think? Yeah, you're right. The free agent list is so bad and that's why it's so funny. It's like, well, there's not that much cap space. It's like, okay, but is there not that much cap space and guys aren't going to get paid or a couple of guys are going to get into the Kaminga business at a huge number. Cause it's probably pretty stupid. I think the best version of Kaminga, unless, you know, everything clicks and he totally figures it out. It's probably like, all right, you run out there with a bad team and score your 20 points a game.

Like this dawned on me during some of the Jalen Green struggles and Kaminga playing really well. Or I had said in my pod, I was like, is Kaminga Jalen Green with less opportunity, which is, seems like it's, it's, is Kaminga Jalen Green with less opportunity? Which seems like it's kind of insulting to a Jalen Green. I'm not even sure that I'm certain. Two guys that should end up on Charlotte. Yeah.

Just putting up stats. The thought popped in my head, and I actually think that's unfair to Jalen Green. So I'm not, that's not my conclusion. It's just, hey, I'm sharing some thoughts every now and then. What, like the non-tax payer mid-level is 14 million. I mean, is there a non-tax team that goes, Hey, this is actually a pretty decent acquisition. Did you look at these numbers where there's three teams that have cap space?

Brooklyn is 58 million. Detroit's got 24.6. It might be able to get a little more. Memphis has 6.9, but could also potentially get a little more. And the Detroit one I think is going to be different depending on the CAID stuff too. So I think that could be. Right. If he gets on BA right I think it goes to 19 But full non-tax-pired mid-level is San Antonio Sacramento Charlotte, Washington, Utah and Atlanta a Couple those teams feel a little coming gate to me and then a

Taxpayer mid-level but not full that that list has like ten teams on it Yeah, but that's only that list has like 10 teams on it. Um, yeah, but that's only like five and a half million. The crazy thing is when you see the guy who's like seventh or eighth on a team and he immediately gets the two year tech, like two year tax mid-level, he's just like, I don't, I'm like, I'm afraid. I'm afraid to wait this thing out. So I'll just take that right now. You know what they call that?

The Austin Reeves. That one day when he's like, how much? Okay. Yeah, but they weren't, look, their agents. I mean, look, I know those guys, so I'm a little biased. They knew what was going to be out there and what wasn't going to be out there for Austin. So it's not like they jumped on something without all the information they needed.

Fair. Uh, I don't know what Golden state does does and I don't know what makes them think a year from now, a team that got slowly injured as the season went along and limp to the finish would somehow be super healthy next year, but more healed. It was more fun, right? It was, Hey, this could happen. I don't know. Right until the fourth quarter of game three against happen. I don't know. It was fun right until the fourth quarter

at game three against Minnesota. That was when the fun stopped. When it seemed like they were gonna go up to one against Minnesota and at least buy enough time for Curry to come back for game six. And then Minnesota finished him off and Randall, the Randall Renaissance. Did you keep any Randall stock?

Did you ever have Randall stock? No, I mean, I think I had it for the draft. I liked him better than Marcus Smart. Did you really? Yeah, I did. Interesting. I did. I liked his playmaking. I liked the size.

And there were times where I thought I was right. I mean, you want to talk about, this is like you and I revisiting the Pelicans Lakers, Anthony Davis trade again, which you should probably do next week. I haven't scheduled it. The number of times that you could have argued smart against Randall and then it's like,

it was this late to be able to argue like, yeah, actually, we're in one. Oh God, you're right, that argument flipped again. That would be an incredible segment, maybe not a great segment, maybe a real slow week. No, you and I would enjoy it. Yeah, we'd like it, but just trying to figure out like, what are the longest possible are you like drafting one guy or the other guy, how many times

it flipped back and forth? Yeah. Like, can you get to year 14? We were like, I'm still not sure. Sean Marion versus Andre Miller. That a couple of twists and turns. Yeah, right. I mean, then once, you know,

Dan Tony got there with Marion, you're like, all right, now he's hitting threes and everything else. I have a couple of fake Celtics trades for you. No, I want to stay on the Warriors thing though, because I think there's a little bit of a lesson in this, in that the things you're battling, and how tough the moment is

versus all the decisions later on, because I would have not wanted to get into the Jimmy Butler business. Okay. And then Dunleavy basically is like, what are we doing? We're not doing anything. We got off to this great start, we're terrible. And now it's everybody chasing Steph around and he has to take all these other shots because we don't trust, like no one cares about any of the other four guys

that are out there offensively and everything's on staff. And so if we, we're not really moving out anything of significance. Yeah. What are we actually disrupting? And then they get a tack on the extra massive year for Butler. Okay. Because like that becomes part of it. But you know, the beginning of the 25 calendar year, nobody cares about any of that stuff. And it looks like, how could you question this? Butler has his joy back and all these different things. And you know, the playoffs are disappointing. Um, Also Minnesota might be really good. That's the other piece. And they lost their best guy one game in.

But there's, you know, I know Jimmy in the game where he took nine shots after the fact, he's like, hey, he was sick. I mean, this, by the way, this playoff season is unbelievable with the health and illness updates that we get from every team as soon as they're eliminated. And we're like, our trainer had a cold, our, the pilot has eczema.

You know, it was tough, it was tough for us at the end. So you look at all of this Butler stuff and it's this huge celebration. And then it's almost like, how could you have not wanted Jimmy Butler? And he's so smart and he's doing all these different things. And you're watching like take the first quarter off of playoff games. And then Steph is out and you're like, Hey dude, just shoot. Because I mean, another Pajemski off the dribble stuff isn't working. Dreymon offensively. I mean, if you, you know, I dribble stuff isn't working. Draymond offensively.

I mean, if you, you know, I know he hit four threes in that game. Thanks. But then you're like, all right, now we're kind of stuck and we're paying those three guys 140 million and like, what's Jimmy going to be like with an expiring contract? Jimmy? Yeah. Cause I'm not, I'm not positive.

He was healthy in that Minnesota series. He looked at injury he got fucked fucked him up. And I think they could, you know, I, I think these guys get shot up with a whole bunch of stuff so they can play. Like God only knows what Aaron Gordon had put in his body today so he could limp around for two hours. But, um, I don't know if that was like a five day injury. Jimmy had, I'm not, by the way, I'm not making excuses for Jimmy's other. He looked exhausted.

He just didn't look right to me in round two. I didn't, I did not feel like that was like a vintage Jimmy performance. Well, cause it wasn't. Well, you know what I mean though. Is it ready? Is there anything for Draymond Green at 34 years old at 26 and a player option for 27 and a half? Is there anywhere? Yeah. I mean, is there anything that works there where you go, at 26 and a player option for 27 and a half. Is there anywhere, yeah. I mean, is there anything that works there where you go,

hey, it's been a great run, but we need to figure out something else. We need more offense in today's game. It's interesting because it feels like we've had this conversation now for three straight years. If it's a younger team on the rise that needs like their version of the veteran guy who's been in some wars, maybe, but I just don't know where you're getting back. It's not like you're saving money.

You're going to have to take somebody else's contract back. Right. I'm not talking about as a salary dump. I'm just wondering if there's a specific value that he brings. Well, you'd already have to have your offense pretty established because he I'm not talking about as a salary dump. I'm just wondering if there's a specific value that he brings. Well, you'd already have to have your offense pretty established because he can't go to another team and you're like, Hey, we want you to shoot more. Because the offensive stuff with him now is like a major problem for them in the playoffs.

Could it be the Lakers? Are you doing a Reeves deal? No, I was thinking like a Rui and something else, but I had said, I don't think the Warriors are trading Draymond unless it's like this unbelievable deal for them, which I don't think they're getting. Reeves is getting traded. That one I would bet on.

I wouldn't bet my life on it, but I would bet on it. I think they're going to turn him into something. It's just the logical thing because it's the same situation that Nick's run with Hartenstein last year where it's like, he's just going to be able to get more money outside the team than he will with the team. And he's not going to stay for less money again. So they have to trade him this summer. And by the way, I think it makes sense to trade them.

I don't think it makes sense to have, if you're keeping LeBron for this year, next year, and you have Luca and you have Reeves, we've already seen it. You're not going to be able to win four rounds with that as your top three. They need to turn them into a center. Yeah. But can't he just turn down the extension now and then sign for more with them if they wanted to keep them later on? There's I thought maybe I'm wrong, but I thought there was something with the,

it was a little hard for what the extension that he got. I think he can only get a certain level of raise unless they're like way under the cap So I think that's the issue But I think they're gonna trade Yeah, they can I'm pretty sure they can wait you're right because it's like the max Like the percentage off of the last year of the previous contract because it was lower I think that the extension puts him way below market again Yeah, I think if they were waiting, which he was obviously going to do, I think they could actually then sign later on. So I don't look, let me throw two at you though.

Because for Warriors? No, just in general. Yeah. Would you do Tatum for Janus? I don't think Tatum's on the, on the table. Okay. Is there, do you think if Nico hadn't traded Luca, he trades the number one pick for Janus? I don't. I think from all indications, they're like, holy shit, we got Cooper flagged. Like if we're doing trade value list,

it feels like he's already in the top like seven because of his age and the rookie contract and how impactful he's gonna be right away, right? He's 19 in December. It's like, how can you possibly possibly that the list is so short of people. I would even like entertain a phone call with him and he's going to be so good right away in all these different ways. That the Yanis I do have some fear with the honest, if I'm trading for him, I'm

not getting the honest in his mid twenties, I'm getting a guy who's 31 who has been in some long seasons, who's already had some wear and tear, and who plays a really physical style of a game. You know, I would just rather have the young guy in the rookie contract and take the ride with that. Do you disagree? No, that's the right answer, but I...

You know, there was all sorts of stuff where, I know KOC had mentioned that the Celtics talked with Cooper Flagg. And by the way, Oh, at the combine. Yeah, but they have. That's for five years from now when he turns down his rookie extension and just comes to the Celts.

I'm counting on you, Kelly Flagg. Kelly Flagg, she's got our backs. 2030 Celtics. Come on, Kelly Flagg. It sounded like a newsworthy item, and KOC mentioned it, so it wasn't as if he was reporting it as this like, oh my God, can you believe this? Once you understand how it works, if they're like, yeah, we'll do the interview with him,

we'll do the interview with the top guy. And by the way, foreign offices, there's nothing they love more than doing stuff where they think they're collecting information, even if it's incredibly unlikely all of these rookies they're gonna interview, they're never information. Even if it's incredibly unlikely, all of these rookies are gonna interview, they're never even gonna have on their team. But I thought some of the Cooper stuff

of like the hypotheticals and then realizing like, even if Niko and ownership were like, this actually makes a ton of sense, it makes a ton of sense for our window. Why would we do this? Like, why would we try to have two timelines, which seems like it never, ever works out except for maybe the spurs.

But they just obviously couldn't do something like that months after they did what they did with Luca, but the longer term part of it, which is a lot like the Laker side of it, which again, you're not going to say no to getting Luca for anybody, but it's like, even if this screws up the 25 part of it, um, which again, I don't know what Anthony Davis, how different it would have been. Um, I'm not going to guess that he's healthy with them hurt with anybody else, but Cooper gives you the post AD, like, you know what you can be and build around. So it's, it's extending, like it's not necessarily a championship window, but

it's like, Hey, if Kyrie's this or AD is this and all these things, like we now have a new thing though, that we already have in place that if he's as good as everybody thinks he can be the hardest thing to get in the league, which is again, why the Lakers that's the discussion around the Lakers in 25. It's like, all right, whatever even happens here, but you know, for the next five years or longer with Luca, like we have the first thing, which is the hardest thing to find because without it, there's no point. Isn't the bigger question, why wouldn't you trade Davis?

As weird as that would be considering he was the focal point of the Luca trade, but wouldn't it make more sense to trade Davis and try to, um, build a team that has a different timeline. Is there a Davis Lakers trade that makes sense? Not that I would have to be flipping it back. But what if Reeves turned into Reeves? Like if Reeves turned into like, I don't know, I'm trying to think, you know, it's not Paolo, but like that level or Scotty Barnes two years ago,

when it seems like his value's taken a massive hit, which I'm pushing against here. That's my position right now on this. But what if San Antonio said second pick and Vassel? Well, I don't even think they would do this by the way. I'm just using his hypothetical like range of what AD might be worth. If San Antonio is like, you know what, we feel like Wembe is ready right now. We'll do the second pick in Visell right now for AD.

No. I wonder if Dallas would even consider that. I don't think they would. I think for everything, you know, Nico Sopac committed to the AD thing working out. I don't think they're. I think for everything, you know, Nico's so pock committed to the AD thing working out, I don't think they're going to do an injured sample. If Booker was on the table. Then you have to do it. You have to do it for Dallas.

Yeah. But why would Phoenix do it? Durant, Beale and AD and it's Matt Ishbia who's already done nine things we disagreed with. I don't know. Would, so you think Dallas would have to throw in more in that? The AD plus for Booker. Yeah. Booker doesn't. Well, I shouldn't say Booker doesn't get hurt because he, he's had some, some time.

I would say Booker's value is not as high as it used to be. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that'ser doesn't get hurt because he's had some time. I would say Booker's value is not as high as it used to be. I think that's a mistake.

He's born in 1996, so that makes him 28 years old, 29 in October, so he's, I think, three years younger than Davis. What if there was a- Wait, you think Phoenix would have to, well, who do you value more right now? 80 year Booker. I'm a bad person.

Think about this. I'm a bad person to ask cause I don't, I'm not convinced AD can stay on a basketball court. I do have to think about it. I would, I was really unimpressed by Booker the last two years. I don't understand why it wasn't more of his fault that his team went to hell in a hand basket and couldn't even make the playoffs.

And he was somehow absolved from this. When we both thought he was like a really special player who should be in the short list of franchise guys. I don't understand why they were so bad. I can't believe you just said, I'm not the person to ask. This is you. This is your believe you just said, I'm not the person to ask. This is you. This is your entire life's work.

I'm not the person to ask about. I'm talking about, I'm not the person to ask with AD because I default toward not thinking he's going to be in a basketball court, but I don't know if I'm in the minority or not on that. That was one of the things I thought was so crazy with Dallas, like I just don't trust that he's going to play nine months of basketball in a season.

You know, especially they trade for him and he got hurt again. What if it was, what if it was, uh, where's the other one? What if there was something with Brooklyn where Brooklyn traded for Davis and cam Johnson, the eighth pick in the draft and more first. And it was like a re action. Maybe Nick Clarkson, like, I don't know. My point is I couldn't figure out the ad trade, even though I think it probably makes sense for them to trade ad, but maybe they can decide to do that in February.

I don't understand the team they have now. I guess they'd have to play flag at small forward, but if I'm Dallas, all I care about is flag. That's my number one, number two, and number three priorities is how can I put this guy in his position to succeed for the next five years? And I'm not positive him playing small forward is how he's succeeding, but they have these two centers and they have Davis. So then plan B, I guess, would be to trade at least one of the centers.

And maybe you could just have lively Davis and flag and those are your three guys and you split up the 96 minutes with those three guys and you feel like Davis can get hurt sometimes anyway, but they probably have to trade Gafford. That might be the move. That's probably the easiest soft. I'm sure they're going to have to trade one of the centers. Right. If I'm them, I want to keep flagging lively. Cause now short term and long term. That's where I'm in business with those guys. Yeah.

But lively is a little different player when it's not Luca. True. True. But maybe he'd have value for the right thing. Anyway, I think it'd be hard to trade AD. I have another draft trade for you. What if Philly didn't want to stay at three and what if they wanted to move back a couple spots? And what if they called New Orleans and said, we'll give you three and Uber is expiring

for seven and Herb Jones. Call it him right now. Philly moves back four spots to get Herb Jones. New Orleans moves into that top four that I think all of us really like. And I would include Ace Bailey in the top four personally. Man, I love myself some Herb Jones. I figured you would. Feels like a Darryl-y trade, right? Still loves, he ends up with like, Knipple at seven and Herb Jones. And that's what they turned the third pick into.

It's pretty interesting. Yeah, because Vassini was really good on this as he always is from the athletic on the draft stuff and he was talking about how no Philly because of Darrell you would expect, you know, big into the models. But not, I don't know that any team would go, Hey, this is what our model says. And now this is all we're doing. But that Bailey on something like stuff is not a, not a Darrow guy. I've been trying to tell people that he's edge comb.

I think is more in the Darrow vicinity. Yeah. But then you think of, Hey, they have Maxi McCain. I feel like edge comb with his, his just motor and the way he attacks the rim, there's just another level of like, hey, some guys get to the rim. I look at the NBA and go, okay, whenever we say it's really hard to stay in front of this guy.

Well, the way defenses are so sophisticated now and everybody kind of understands game in and game out, this is the plan against somebody who's really aggressive and dynamic off the ball, you can clog them up. I mean, look what Denver did with a zone against SGA, who's one of the best drivers in the entire league. All right. So having said all of that, and then there's Ant. Okay. And then there's Ant. And in college, somebody can be really good in special athletic. You're like, all right, but can this guy consistently just get to the rim? You know,

that's really hard to do when a team is ready for it. And Edgecombe felt like he consistently was just in this other gear in comparison to other guys that are playing college basketball. So does that translate over to the NBA and everything? So, you know, it'd be interesting if there's no deal there for Philly if they go, it doesn't make a lot of sense because of who we've invested in,

and nailing the McCain pick last year to throw another small player in like this. But I'm not, I'm not letting McCain change who the right player is for my third pick. I like McCain. I don't. Yeah. I really, I know. I really like them, but like, okay. So we like Indiana has multiple really good guards.

Like it's not like, oh, we have too many good guards. Like that feels like a good problem to have for me. I feel like two and three. And I know you talked to way more people than I did this week, cause that's the combine is it's the super bowl for that. I feel like two, three, and four are wide open. I don't, I'm not convinced San Antonio is taking Harper's second on that. And they think, they think outside the box more than anybody though.

Where they're just like, Hey, we like this guy. We don't care what the mock draft say. We like this guy the most. We're taking him second. I will, is Harper the most likely guy to go there? Probably. But I just think like, if anyone's just, they're like Danny, like I don't, I would never trust Danny with a mock draft versus he just likes somebody.

He's just going to take the guy. You know, they might, they might say, Whoa, Trey Johnson, this guy, we love this guy. We're just taking him here too. I don't have no idea. Yeah. I think it's a good reminder with San Antonio and the Danny things right. Cause of the Tatum year, uh, where it just was like, how could you not take faults? And I just loved that Danny was like, I don't, I don't see it, you know, and

you've got to have some stones. You have to have years of everybody just accepting you to go ahead and do some of that stuff. Because I think the mocks screwed everybody up. Durant was even bigger because he didn't even have the resume at that point to fall back on. And they would have taken Durant first. Yeah, right.

That would have been the year, well, again, that was the year they ended up winning the title. But the reason they were able to do everything they was the year they ended up winning the title, but the reason they were able to do everything they did is because they didn't win the lottery or didn't get one of the first two picks. So the funny thing is that all of that probably would have been delayed and maybe they wouldn't have done the Ray Allen deal because that was a Jeff Green pick and then maybe that likely means they're not giving... No, them falling to five led to the title. Yeah, you're right. You're right. So I would say other teams though certainly think it's Harper too.

So maybe you're right about San Antonio thinking outside of the box. I'd say consensus is Harper's too in this draft. But I like the Herb Jones thing. I know when you put these traits together and we sit here and we were like, all right, and then we just end up talking about it for five minutes. We're like, yeah, that's not gonna happen.

Or that doesn't make any sense. Philly probably doesn't wanna to wait on another guy. I mean, if somebody's special and they do all the evaluations, like, hey, this is still the best value, we'll sit there at three. But Herb Jones healthy again, gives you stuff that very few wing defenders gives you. Trey Lockerbie There's one more trade back for them. Brooklyn is at third eight with the cam Johnson pick with cam Johnson and eight. And that might be too much to flip with Philly, but if I'm Brooklyn and I can

get in the top three, I'm trying to do it, you know, and that's the other one. I just feel like Philly with the talk about windows. I don't know what their, their window with Embiid might already be shattered and there might be wooden glass everywhere, but they don't have time to wait on some 19 year old kid with Embiid. I don't think so. They're, they're basically, and George was going to be 35 years old, but thank God his podcasting again.

They need to move fast on turning this pick into people who can help them next year. If they're actually trying to get 10 plus the East, like we talked about earlier with Yana sleeping these potentially and Tatum being out, like the windows now, so, you know, they get cam Johnson and the eight for the three. I would do it unless I felt like one of those guys, like I'm kind of with, and I haven't done all my work yet your way ahead of me in the draft stuff, but I'm with you on

edge comb like that. His, the clips of him are unbelievable. It's like everything you want in the NBA now is a guy who can, is that athletic and can go to the basket like that. So I would have a hard time not taking him. And that may be what they're stuck with, but I think your approach and your strategy, if you're going back into it and be like, all right, the whole thing this off season is health, be ready to go, limit the minutes for these guys, see what you have in what feels like a more open East with the

Tatum injury, with Milwaukee likely kind of stuck a little bit. Maybe the Knicks and the Pacers are the favorites to win the East going into next year because everybody's going to be so pissed off about Cleveland. Although the odds are they're going to be the odds on favor, at least to be the one seed in the East if everything stays status quo, but we know that's not going to happen. But even if they want to do all those things, and if you start looking at going, okay, is this a veteran that actually helps us or is it just a veteran? Right. Those are like, you know, I don't know if John Collins, like, yeah, this makes sense.

Same timeline. Speaking of John Collins, we gotta take one more break for the podcast. We'll keep going on YouTube. John Collins was in one of my get the Celtics under the second apron trades. Yeah. We weren't expecting that. Were you? Poor Zingas for John Collins just saves the Celtics 4.1 million.

In Utah, I thought they were getting poor Zingas a couple of years ago, and then he had a chance to go to Boston and he did that instead. So they've always liked them. It's interesting. There's 4 million. Hauser to Detroit, just trading them them there that would save another 10. Holiday to Memphis for conch are and Pippin. They're not going to give you Pippin.

I think Pippin's good. All right. I was trying to steal them. Holiday to Memphis for conch are maybe in that, maybe it's just, maybe that's the trade. How long would you wait after they said no to Concharr Pippin before you called back and asked for just Concharr? You'd have to give it a few days. I'd call a second time for Pippin.

No, I'd keep, I keep trying for Pippin first. I love Pippin. Holiday to Detroit for Fantequio. I thought was the most interesting because that actually makes sense to me for Detroit. That's the exact type of guy they need for the team they have with Ivy coming back in that Schroeder spot with all the other stuff they're probably going to want to do in the East and the fact that they're not going to be able to sign a free agent.

And I don't know, maybe that's one too. That would say the Celtics 24 million. I feel bad trying to trade Drew Holiday because I love Drew Holiday, maybe that's one too. That would say the Celtics 24 million. I feel bad trying to trade Drew Holiday because I love Drew Holiday, but if the assignment is you have to shave 20 million, he's the most logical candidate, unfortunately. But if you're Detroit, I mean, they're gonna see the same thing

that we've been talking about here, being like, how much does it cost in the last year, three years from now, 37 million. At that point, Cade's making his massive contract, which is the highest version of it because of the escalator. You've gotta, at that point, Kade's making his massive contract, which is the highest version of it because of the escalator. You've got to at that point figure out what you're paying Ivy, Durin and Sarr. So that's, that feels like one of those deals.

And now maybe they go, Hey, but at that point Tobias is expiring, which I would imagine. Yeah. Holland, I'm assumed that they think Holland's going to grab some of those minutes. Um, the thing with Memphis is just, I think some of these smaller market teams do not lure, uh, free agents as we've seen for the last four decades. And the best way for them to add an impact veteran is to trade for one. That's under contract and that's a possibility for them. But anyway, it's a, it's a tall task. And that's a possibility for them. But anyway, it's a, it's a tall task.

Um, can I give you my list of, we should have won the title Celtic seasons, my top four. Do you think, do you think 25 is on the list? I'm just giving you a top four. You think 25 made the list? No, because you're going to put nine and 10 in there. So I don't think 25 is on the list. It's not on the list.

And I'll tell you this game four was they lost before Tatum went down. They were down nine. Or I guess Tatum went down as the steel layup. They were down three, one in the series. And let's say Tatum never gets hurt. I still don't know if they, I don't think they win three in a row without Porzingis, do you? I think they could have won three in a row without Porzingis or, or the

ghost of Porzingis or zombie Porzingis, whatever version of Porzingis that was. He was terrible. I mean, I know he's doing a lot to ask, man. I don't think they could have done it. They blew the series in those first two games is where I've kind of landed on a Sunday after the series. Game one, fine. I can't believe they did it again in game two.

And Tatum going down to say, well, that game was, we'd already seen it two other times. So sure, there's randomness of the OKC Denver stuff, where OKC looked like a terrible team in the fourth quarter a couple of times. Denver looked like a terrible team in the fourth quarter a couple of times. Denver looked like a terrible team there in the fourth quarter. When Tatum went down, if you're a Celtics fan,

you cannot use that injury as an excuse for the outcome of that game. I mean, sure, you can hit me with, you don't know what's gonna happen with three minutes left and this team. Okay, fine, it didn't feel that fucking way, man. That felt like, in that span, when they got down to them, it's like, Oh my God, they're actually going to lose this series.

And then the Tatum part is just the bad news on top of everything else. So I think we're on the same page with that one. The second half of game four for the Knicks and game six for the Knicks, um, is the best I've felt about them as a team all year. I was really impressed. And, uh, the Mitchell Robinson stuff, man. Yeah.

Just the 15 minutes, him and McBride. Um, can I have possession on Jaylen in the corner when he defended everybody? Oh God. Yeah, that was great. I got to defend the Knicks fans for a second because they took some shit for the over-celebrating getting that around too. I was fine with it. I mean, that team hasn't had anything good happen to them in 25 years, other

than Linsanity and beating like the ghost of the Celtics in 2013. Like they should have celebrated like that. It's a Friday night. It reminded me a little of that. The, uh, when the Celtics had that comeback Nets win and then nothing good had happened with the Celtics for nine years and everybody just went out in the streets and got drunk in Boston. Same thing.

It's like, they deserved it. That, that team, all those fans have been through so much shit and so many bad, stupid management things and owner things and so much bad luck and bad lottery luck, like I, I, I would have expected them to celebrate that way. And if they make it two more rounds, I don't even, I can't even imagine what that's going to be like. But I, both of us know a ton of Nick's fans. I was happy for a lot of people, even though it was at the expense of my team. Um, I thought, I thought it was a pretty cool story. Is any of this true or is this just, no, it is. I feel the Knicks, you know, there's some Red Sox parallels. I see it. I feel it.

Like with the, you know, they haven't won in 52 years. It's like you're talking entire generations of people. Talking people like Coppleman's son is like in his late mid late twenties now. He's never even seen them win a game like that. So I don't know. I was, I was feeling for them positively. I loved watching him play last year. I know I've mentioned that Philly Knicks series for an early round series last year. It was like one of my favorite series

of the last few years and the intensity of it all. And clearly like Brunson's more comfortable, which doesn't make any sense considering the Celtics team and everything that they've gone through, but he's more comfortable in those moments than anybody on the Celtics. And that was going to keep happening. And I know how I felt. I could do a much bigger, you know, one of my favorite things about the combine is just like what the dudes who do this every single day think about this sport and where it's going. And, you know, are we now away from,

like, we just accepted small balls. Like, well, it makes a lot of sense. Like, why would you want some big plotting guy out there who's not as skilled, put your five best skilled players? Like what took us so long to get to this point? And now we're seeing in a real way pretty quickly, the teams are going, you know, what I really like is controlling the glass and having a second. It also helps that some of these big guys can both stretch the floor offensively, which, you know, maybe a shot and then get it back and then take another shot.

And then that one goes in. No, but I started thinking about it. And, you know, look, I don't love doing this. Uh, the weak Tatum blows out as Achilles, but it was another thought that I had where, you know, I remember I've talked about the usage rate stuff of like, if you look at the history of like the highest usage rate seasons and how many, I haven't updated the numbers recently, but more often than not, those teams didn't do very well in the playoffs.

Now the counter to that can immediately be the reason the guy's usage is that high is because the rest of the team isn't that good. And that means that that's why those, those teams didn't do anything. I think both things can actually be true. I think if you do something in the regular season where it's always in one guy's hands over and over and over again, I think there's probably a Donovan Mitchell conversation about that, that he defaults back to the Utah Jazz version of him where it's so dynamic and when he's rolling, he looks like one of the five best options with the ball in his hands.

Yeah. Nobody else is doing anything. But then, right, then nobody else is doing anything. Guys aren't boxing out as hard because they're sitting there watching. They're not playing defense as hard because they're like, this guy's going to take 30 something shots again. And, you know, for the most part, I really liked Donovan Mitchell because when it's right, it's probably one of the most fun things to watch in the NBA. So if you allow me to take my time here and making the point, you know, I was talking with just different people just bull here and making the point. You know, I was talking with just different people, just

bullshitting about the game. And I was like, this is even about Tatum so much is. Like when you see it going bad for the Celtics and everybody knows, I mean, it's unbelievable. It's like, there's a warning sign or a greeter. Eight years of watching it. Like you kind of know the signs. It's like, you know, being in a marriage or something where you're like, Oh,

my wife seems pissed right now. Yeah. It's like a major. Well, like four minutes to go interrupts the broadcast and goes, and here's the point where they're going to hunt for switches and then settle for bad threes. And it's going to be a lot of isolation. So they're going to walk the ball up and start the offense. Eight seconds left in the shot clock.

Are we in a parallel of this small ball to now the too big? And I'm going to say it one more time, also known as center power forward, which was pretty accepted for a long time. Yeah, it was working. Have we gone so far away from the traditional point guard who may not even, he may just be extinct now. I don't even know if there, there may be a couple of zoos. That's why Mike Conley is still working. That's why Chris Paul can still get 30 minutes a game.

There's no, I kept thinking about like Gary Payton in some of these games where you can see the best player, you know, whether it's a Mitchell or whether it's a Tatum or some of these other dudes that are like MVP caliber players that are just like, hey, this is kind of what we do. Like I'm the best player. The math says that I have to have the ball. The math says I have to take the shot, but that means that it's kind of pretty predictable like what I'm going to do. So the defense is more prepped for it. They can help off a little bit more because it's just not likely that we want like any of these other three guys even shooting. I wonder if Gary Payton watches some of this stuff and goes, Hey, after three of

these in a row, let's do something different. I'm going to take the ball. I'm going to tell everybody what to do. And I'm going to get us a good look because the way I'm programmed to play this game is to figure out the best possession for us and not necessarily saying, Hey, an open three in this spot gives us this many points for a shot points per possession. So it's not even like an anti-analytic.

Steve Nash, Jason Kade, any of those old school point cards that we grew up with? I don't think a Chris Paul or any of the guys you just named would let that many possessions go as bad as we've seen with the high usage. And we're talking about some of the best players in the sport, players that have had huge accomplishments, a few of these guys that have won rings, but to see. You put Halliburton in this though? Cause I think I really liked some of the decisions he made in those first two rounds and he's a real point guard.

I think it's a great call. The way he collapses a defense because of his handle and because of his size, and you can see, and then he's keeping like, almost Jokic-ish, he keeps all of these passing lane options open. Like he's not just throwing to a corner. He's not just hitting the roll man. He's thinking like, okay, I have a few different things.

As soon as I can get into the defense and get them to collapse, I'm gonna find a couple of things. But you're just talking half court. The other thing is, he's getting fast break transition stuff too. You're right. But, but that's the bonus of that's the stuff you don't get with Tatum and the Celtics because he's not wired to be like rebound.

I'm going to try to create a, you know, even like Yoka just wired that way. But I see what you're saying though with this stuff. Yeah, we are like combo guard, the tweener thing. Like it used to be bad. Well, he's kind of a combo. He's not really a one or he's not really a two. Now it's mandatory that you're the one, but you're really all of these ones play as twos. And has the game in those huge playoff moments,

have we lost that part of the game, those guys that had that talent to go, it doesn't guarantee you anything, but hey, we just did this three times. Let's do something different. It sounds simple, but I think the game is missing that a little bit because when you look at the draft. Would you throw Luke on that too? Yeah, but.

Cause that got really stale in the Dallas Boston series specifically. You're talking about the bad part of it where it's predictably the same thing over and over again. Yeah. Just over and over again, same. I see what you're saying. I think there's one other piece. Maybe we should appreciate LeBron more. No, I think there's one other piece that you're, you're, you're not factoring in that I think is important.

Cause you're talking about how more bigs, we also have more bigs now that can play this style. And I think that took like 12 years to shift. Totally. Remember like those 2012, 13 bags, I always think we talked about Brandon Bass and the 2012 Eastern conference finals, like this type of forward that just no longer exists, or big baby Davis, or like the PJ Brown, those guys are all gone. And now it's turned into this new version of those guys

where it's like Mitchell Robinson is almost the throwback center. He totally is. He's not almost, he is. But you can. Well you know what? I would give you this though, because what this game asked bigs to do now defensively is insane. Is insane.

So maybe those. He's guarding, yeah, he's guarding Derek White, 25 feet from the basket. That wasn't happening in 2012. So it's like you, even if you're big, you're accumulating these new skills that I don't think the guys from the previous generation had. Combined with, you have like these Chet Holmgren types that are this new version of a center where it's like they're 25 feet from the basket, they're spacing. So I just think we have better talent to play,

you know, these ways to play the double big that maybe we did when it was Auntie Zizic, Zizich, what was his name? Piraantich. Piraantich, Macedonia. I just had a guy, he was driving me, um, in Chicago. He's from Macedonia. He told me the NBA was fixed. It was a long hour.

I know they could fix the ping pong balls. I think the whole discussion is Al Horford. If you just look at his basketball reference, that is, that is the roadmap. That is the IMDB of how basketball changed where he's zero free throw zero threes a game to like one to all of a sudden he's at like five. And now when you look, he's like no free throws and threes. And this was a guy who used to post up and play near the basket. Now he doesn't. But he always should have been, cause he was pretty good with the ball in his hands. I always felt, and I know I interviewed him and I asked about this,

I go, you're going to spend your entire career out of position cause you ended up having to play center and you should have been a power forward who had the ball a little bit more. And of course it's Al Horford. So he's like, yeah, you know, whatever. Not going to complain about it. Blake Griffin is another one. Blake Griffin near the end of his career was, became more of a three point shooter. But if he came into the league being a three point shooter,

combined with all the other stuff he had, it's pretty interesting. Um, so that was what you guys were, that was one of the combined discussions of is the way people are playing basketball is something broken? Is it fixable? Like, cause I just a lot of philosophical stuff that I think is really great, especially when you're talking to the guys that think about the game every single day of their lives, all they are like they're thinking, it doesn't mean everybody agrees.

It's not like I came back from the combine, like 10 teams to the exact same thing about the way they see the game, but there is I'd say there is a Sentiment from a few of the guys that I talked to that were like There's just a lot of this stuff that gets really repetitive and really predictable at the ends of these games And it feels like almost the default setting for all those teams. And like, look at OKC to bring it full circle. They had to figure out the second thing because the SGA take you from the top, high ball screen.

And then now you're chasing him and he's pulling up from every single angle, full speed to straight up in the air or he's working you for free throws. Like OKC could not go to that as consistent as they wanted to, or as they had throughout the regular season because Denver was prioritizing just clog all this stuff up at the top.

And, you know, it almost makes me think the Celtics would have just kept running that. Right. Well, cause it was, the math was on their side and then they won the title last year, which makes you think you're invincible. But they, I mean, the, the, I mean, the last minute of game one was an atrocity. The shots they got. And then the fact that they repeated it in game two, you know, is even worse.

It's interesting with Minnesota because Minnesota is a hybrid of both of these worlds, right? Where you're, what you're talking about is basically the ant issue where it's when they're at their worst, it's him trying to do the same thing over and over again, and teams like threatening to send the same thing over and over again. And teams like threatening to send a second guy, not him getting frustrated. That's usually when they unravel. But then they added this Randall piece and now they have these two different versions on offense that they can kind of attack you with.

It was notable in those Laker games. Like at some point you're realizing Randall's just not having a good game. Like he's attacking them and they can't match up with it. And I felt the same way in Golden state. We'll see with the OKC. So you, you think you have OKC in this next series. I picked him this summer. I'm picking them again.

I'm again, surprised the odds are that in their favor, but maybe it's because I thought the thunder we're going to dispose of Denver a little bit earlier. Well, I did. There was a lot of, a lot of pride, championship DNA. And that one game where Gordon hit the game winning three was a pretty lucky win. Right. Even though it was a great one for Denver, it was still pretty fluky. I guess. Then winning three was an achievement achievement. I think Clippers are probably saying the same thing. Definitely. Uh, yeah, if I was going to bet, if I was going to bet the finals, I, I, I still think okay. So he's going to win the title, but I would probably do the,

uh, I'd probably do the SGA to win the finals MVP. I think it's the best value, although it's basically the same as OKC. OKC is minus 185. The Knicks are plus 490. Minnesota is six to one and Indiana is eight to one. And this is the, I guess we can hit the finish line with this. I picked the Knicks to kill Detroit. I thought they were going to win in less than six.

It took a little longer. I thought the Celtics were going gonna kill the Knicks in round two. They didn't I Like Indiana and against the Knicks in the series. I think Indiana is gonna win the series as a bet Like the Pacers are plus 126 and the Knicks are minus 148. I think that should be a 50-50 So I think you're getting more value with the Pacers at plus 126 because I honestly I think that should be a 50-50. So I think you're getting more value with the Pacers at plus 126. Cause I honestly, I think the Pacers have a slightly better team. They're deeper. I think this is a good matchup for them.

And I continue to really believe in them. I think they're really good. Um, so for me, I would take the plus 126 if I was betting on this. That line's moved a little is plus one 40. It's dropped. What do you, what do you have? You think the next are the Pacers? This is a coin toss. I'm taking the Pacers You know, there's not really much I mean their first three games were October November and February right and the Pacers are better defensive team they were and

You know here were two teams. I thought had a lot of similarities in that man I like them and I I like the top level scoring but are they you know, here were two teams I thought had a lot of similarities in that, man, I like them and I like their top level scoring, but are they, you know, are you really weak at point guard defensively? And then you're really weak at the rim defensively. So I felt like they were kind of emulated each other, even though the Pacers have mentioned numerous times, a big reason why this has happened in this turnaround is that they're able to get stops now in ways that you just didn't expect. We always knew they were going to score. It was like, that team is not going to get a high, they they're able to get stops now in ways that you just didn't expect. We always knew they were gonna score.

It was like that team is not going to get a high, they're not gonna get multiple high level stops and they need to get them. So now when I look at these two things, I mean, I can understand the Knicks side of this in the argument. And I would throw in a little thing about the Knicks fans though, everything you said, totally fine.

And look, this is kind of what this is now. Get a bunch of dudes together, do crazy shit, film it. I mean, we've got this generation throwing stuff at strangers and Target and posting it. So like, this is not new and it isn't any different than anybody who is young at some point when it's like, would I do this by myself? Nope. Would I do it with over 50 of us? Yep. Probably would, but leave Brian Windhorst the fuck alone.

Okay. Just leave Windhorst alone and Chuck D. Again, a legend. We don't need him tweeting wind worst, which may be his worst bar of all time. Um, I mean, Chuck D is like unimpeachable for just a million reasons and how awesome he was, but maybe he was, you know, look, he's a Knicks fan. The next fans gets so upset at wind horse. And it's like, dude, I don't understand that.

It'd be tough. Just here to get, we're here to give our opinions on what we're watching. Right. The Knicks fans get so upset at Wind Horse and it's like, dude. I don't understand that. We're here to give our opinions on what we're watching. Here's the thing. Wind Horse is like of all the good guys out there. Leave Wind Horse alone. Okay. I have a vote for leaving a lot of people. That was unfortunate. I agree with you.

I'm glad you said that. I, uh, I have one thing to say cause I was too positive about the Knicks. So I'm just going to put sports hate, my sports hate. This is an actual hate. I really grew to hate Carl Anthony Towns by the end of that series. I wasn't a huge fan to begin with. I'm just talking, I'm just talking sports hate, irrational. I'm a Celtics fan.

Just you end up not liking certain people on the other team. By the end of game six, I was, I was just like, Oh my God, I can't wait for some team to expose him. He just drove me fucking crazy. Um, especially when they go up 15, 20, and then he starts like, you know, punishing Al Horford. I was like, Oh, he drives me crazy. I hated rooting against him.

Well, you get to do it again. Well, I haven't decided what I'm betting, but I'm leaning toward Pacers. But to me, this is a no-lose series because it's going to be super fun either way. Um, I really like watching Indiana. I think they've been a revelation and teams, people just continue to underrate them for some reason, which I don't really understand now the Cleveland thing. It's like, Oh, they have mobile and Garland and they, they, they, I thought they broke Cleveland by the, by game five.

I really did. I thought, thought Cleveland like melted. The fact that they got down that big on the road and you're thinking most teams go, whatever, like, all right, they're all high. They get it through. We're going home. We still have two more chances. And then they come back and then they just close it the way, the way they close that game. That is one of the most impressive things any team has done in any

game during this postseason. Yeah. And it was the whole Cavs team too. Um, I also think they have the right level of feistiness that you actually need in MSG, which I'm not positive the Celtics had at certain points in that Knicks series. Um, there was a couple of points where Jaylen Brown stood up to Josh Hart. But I think the Knicks, they're an aggro team. Yeah.

Turner mixes it up with you. Yeah. Halburn talks shit like though, Nemhart. I'm just telling Knicks fans right now, be prepared for Nemhart to drive into OG. Maybe it'll be Josh Hart, but it'll be one of the perimeter guys. It'll be Mikhail, OG or Hart where, where you're gonna think that Knicks player after that collision, who will get called for the foul, and Nemhart will get the end one.

But Nemhart, it is like a crash test dummy level of impact. Could be Oregon damage. So if a guy is out, just internal Oregon damage, game four, questionable or whatever, there's gonna be a Nemhart collision where he gets going. Well, you're, you know, again, I just think most people just kind of watch their team, the number of games where I've watched him do that, right. Like, and then he gets the call.

Um, and you know, look, there's going to be, there's going to be a really rough Brunson night in there for Pacers fans where you're going to go, this is happening all the time, like, yeah it is, it is. Well the other thing they do is the 94 feet of just putting wear and tear on him, just bringing the ball up, which I continue to think is underrated. The Pacers love doing that.

They did it to McConnell. They love it. They want to just wear you down. They want to put miles on you during the game. Dumb miles that don't matter in the big scheme of things. But that's how they're wired. They come, come, come, come. I think they're really good. And there's a moment here for either Brunson or Halliburton. Right? Brunson, if they make the finals, you're moving into this completely different territory in the city. And he might already be

there, but you bring that team to the finals with some of the late game stuff that he's did and just how like likable and fucking awesome of a guy that he is just making the finals. You could dine off that for the next 50 years, much less winning. I mean, now they have a real chance to win, but how a burden who I didn't vote for for all NBA who was in that overrated poll. Um, I think that's cause people can't stand him though. Like he's going to block. Polarizing guy. Didn't play in the dream team, all that stuff.

And I think he's been awesome in these playoffs. Uh, I've been really impressed and he has a chance, you know, to really put himself on the map here because he's the best guy in that team. So there's big stakes there. The stakes in the other, the other battle is easier because of Minnesota beats. Okay. See now we're moving toward this. Edwards might be actually ready.

Like that's I'm not ready to, we'll talk about that in a week, but like Edwards going through this gauntlet and all the fucking dudes, okay. See has that they'll be able to throw at him for seven games. If he gets through that, this is like, we might be ready to have the combo. Like, is it time? Yeah. Cause the other side of the next thing first, and you're right about everything you said is I just keep thinking of miles Turner and then the Thomas Bryant

minutes where Carlisle must just be like, ah, I can't believe it. Can't believe this is, this is what I've got to do. And it's like, Oh, I can't believe it. I can't believe this is, this is what I've got to do. And it's like, okay, if the Knicks frontline beat up on the Celtics frontline, you know, cause Przingius, whatever point I knew what Missoula it seemed like Missoula was hoping like, can this just wake up, right? Can it wake up at some point? It never happened. Um, they bet you them in that second half of that game, cause they said he couldn't breathe. But I mean, he just, he was that bad, but you still had Cornet. You still had Horford out there battling.

Maybe the Knicks, maybe this becomes more of a cat thing. But see, cat was actually like, look, he didn't hit any threes. He was really good in game six. The, on the glass stuff and the put backs and just being big and being physical and being quicker to the ball and all that kind of stuff. I don't know why that would get worse against the Pacers. If anything, it should get better. I mean, Mitchell's just going to be a cleanup guy.

It's not like they're going to give him touches and actually like run something with him there. But I mean, every year. It's going to be a real problem for them too. Because he's turned into one of the best defensive guys in the league. And I think one of the problems with the Celtics in that last series is holiday didn't do a good enough job on Brunson. Brunson was cooking him. Derek White was bad too against him.

And then that's why Jaylen ended up having to play him. And then, and Tatum was covering him too, before he got hurt. Like they were using their forwards to guard Brunson. Indiana has way more options. Brunson was looking for Horford. I thought Horford held up really well, but then when it was the Przingus stuff, it was just a disaster. But look, Neesmith, we'll see what happens here because there's part of the Jokic conversation where it does get really annoying with Jokic too, as much as we all love him. When he pins the defender's arms

into his arms and then screams with his palms up and you're like, dude, you're doing all of this right now. But then there's other place too, because he's so big, where he's just getting swiped at the entire time. It's like, okay, but they're not gonna call all these fouls. So if you have Caruso, if you have Jalen Williams, if you have the two bigs, if you have the other Jalen Williams, you're talking about like 30 fouls

you can throw at this guy. And if they get to the bonus quicker, no problem. Like we'd still rather them get to the bonus and try to just physically attack this guy the entire time. It'll be very interesting to see what the fouls are like on knee Smith in the first quarter against Brunson. Cause knee Smith should foul out of every game he's in. He's just, but you could have said that about Caruso and Dorton.

That's the thing. It feels like if you can establish it in the first quarter, then you can get away with it. But the smaller guy gets the calls more. I mean, Brunson is drawing. It's not free throws. Brunson is drawing the second most free throws of any player the last time I looked at it. And I think during the regular season, Giannis was the only player that drew more free throws, excuse me, drew more personal fouls. Because that's another thing that happens with this Brunson

debate. It's like, Oh, well look at his free throw, we know all these different things. Like dude, he's number two in the NBA. I'll look it up right now just to make sure I don't get this wrong. Cause obviously it's going to be. I thought he was top three. Is it a game? I think he was second to only Yannis. Right. Now look, somebody has to be number one, number two, number three.

Um, but I'm going to, I'm going to look it up just cause I don't, I don't want to get this wrong. And I, I'm almost positive I had it right. All right. So he's drawing seven and a half fouls per game during the playoffs. She's in the regular season. It felt higher. Some of them are overturned.

Um, yeah. So like, you know, Janice was number one at seven and a half during the regular season, Brunson was number two. That's crazy. Well, if you're the Knicks, this couldn't have broke better. You get rid of Boston. You have Mitchell Robinson healthy, which I would have, I would have put the odds at like five to one in October.

OG's at least out there. Um, and you look the best you've ever looked all season in game six. So those bridges, those bridges makes the start of the fourth quarter in game two. Um, the other game, like those non Brunson minutes to start the fourth quarter, letting bridges cook, man. It's one of my favorite things about this. Cause he has that in his game. We were calling for a half the season.

Well, the other thing is everyone on the team is the hungriest you can possibly be, which was reminiscent of the Celtics last year, right? There's a hunger level with them. Not that everybody else doesn't have it, but it's these are all of these guys that are really interesting points of their career. That have this whole city behind them in this crazy way. It's going to be a tall task for Indiana. I think Indiana is slightly better than them.

I don't think that's going to mean it's going to win that they're going to win the series, but, uh, I think Indiana is really good. We'll see those threes when you're down three, two in a series. And you, you know, they're home in Indiana and game six and they need, they need to hit some shots and you miss a couple. And it ends up being like that Denver game where you're down 15 and you start doing the math like, Oh God, we got to get going. And the sphincter start tightening flips out. It'll be the next, but anyway, good final four.

I think this is a, it's weird. It's unconventional, but the, I like both of the matchups. So we'll see what happens. Uh, I didn't finish my list for you before we go. My, my four, my four titles, my sure to win titles. Number one, 1958, Bill Russell sprained ankle. Bob Pettit, right? Number two, Bob Pettit. Number two, 2009. KG. Number three, 1982, tiny Archibald shoulder. I still think we win. When I talked to Tibbs about the 2009 team, I was in a room with him.

Yeah. And we started talking about 2009. I think it moved. Really? He was that excited. Number four, 1973, Havlicek's sp, shoulder. Separate your shoulder, next series. The three we shouldn't have won. 1969, 1976, 1981.

So we're plus one. But I wouldn't put 25. I thought this team had a chance, but you know. I'm not gonna look back 40 years from now and be like, Oh, we should have won that year. Like the team, the Porzingis thing was super weird. I don't think the Knicks fan base would have celebrated the same way if it wasn't the Boston New York thing.

And the fact that like there was all of these matchup things that I thought were going to be a problem for New York. And even if they were, because it's the times when Celtics had the lead, you're going, all right, this makes sense. This is what it was supposed to look like. And it's like, oh, okay. Brunson is so fired up in this spot and you guys are not. We're so good to see you.

Um, we'll be back next Sunday. You have your podcast Tuesday and Thursday. I look forward to talking more basketball with you. Thanks. Yeah, let's talk hoops. All right, that's it for the podcast. Thanks to Gahau and Eduardo, as always. Thanks to Rosillo.

I am gonna be back, I think on Tuesday, and probably on Thursday as well, and I'm gonna be in the rewatchables on Monday, doing close encounters of the third kind, and I will see you Monday and Tuesday. Must be 21 plus and president select states for Kansas and affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and president DC gambling problem call 100 gambler visit RG dash help.com call 1-887-897777 or visit ccpg.org

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