The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd’s Instant Reaction -  Nuggets Sweep Lakers, Heat/Celtics

Episode Date: May 23, 2023

Colin and Hoops Tonight host Jason Timpf give their instant reaction to the Lakers taking Game 4 in L.A. to sweep the Lakers and punch their ticket to the NBA Finals, how they overwhelmed the Lakers, Nikola Jokic’s domination of Anthony Davis, and if trading AD is the answer for L.A. They also look ahead to Heat/Celtics Game 4, what’s gone wrong for the Celtics as they stare down a sweep, and preview a likely Nuggets/Heat Finals.  Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates! #Herd #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

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Hoops tonight. We're going to give you a 40-minute rundown of the Lakers Nuggets and also some thoughts on Joe Mazula, head coach to the Celtics, who's probably, presumably out of work here pretty quick after they get vanquished, probably a sweep by the Miami Heat. You know, my take is, I thought the MVP. vote became about 30% about Embed and 70% about anti-Yokic. If you watch Yokic in this series, he rendered Anthony Davis invisible at times. Yokic is so engaged offensively, rebounding, taking the ball up the floor, screen setting,

passing. And unlike Mb, he's not plotting when he gets the ball. He makes quick decisions to attack. constantly waving at his players. He makes sure the pacing of that offense, everybody's involved, and he's such a deft passer that he forces you to be alert. You look at the scoring for the nuggets in this game. I mean, it's KCP's involved.

Gordon, Porter, Murray, and then, of course, Yokic, a facilitator, a score, an offensive and defensive rebounder, a catalyst, a screen setter. He's not a great defensive player. and Denver's not a great defensive team. But, you know, I felt bad for Yokic because there was this sense is you can't give him a third straight MVP because we didn't do that for some notable stars. Can we be honest? Yokh right now, today is the best player in the league.

M. Bid is not as consistent and doesn't do as many things well offensively. And he gets hurt a lot. Yonis is terrified to go to the free throw line late. Anthony Davis disappears offensively every other game. This is the best player in the National Basketball Association, Yokic, and he should have won a third straight MVP.

But, you know, years ago, if you go to the previous five MVP, it's not the last five. The last five include, you know, Yokic a couple of times, you know, Westbrook, Hardin, these are stat guys. They're not most valuable players

on their own teams. I mean, Chris Paul. was more valuable on that Rockets team than Hardin. Hardin was just more dynamic offensively. But the leadership, the defense, the guidance, kind of the stewardship was Chris Paul on that Rockets team. That's why they led in the series. Chris Paul got hurt and they lost. Remember, they had a 3-1 lead? Chris Paul got hurt and they lost. Hardin didn't get hurt. Chris Paul did. So we turn the MVP into stats and flash and flamboyance. Yolkich is just, he is a basketball clinic.

I mean, he is, there is nothing offensively he can't do. I trust him taking a three, mid-range, driving, ball in the floor, rebound, take it up the tile, screen setter. He's just a remarkable basketball player. And right now, because he's so willing to go to the free throw line late, I think he's the best basketball player in the world. Hoops tonight, podcaster Jason Timpf, let's talk. How great have the NBA playoffs been so far? If you live in one of those cities and want to go to the games,

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The fastest-growing sports app in the United States. Use the code, Colin. C-O-L-I-N-R-E. O-L-I-N. Colin, the Denver Nuggets, I believe, are going to win in the NBA finals, even if the Celtics miraculously come back. I think they're better by a significant margin than both teams coming out of the east. And they catch some pretty specific markers that we don't typically see in NBA champions.

They are a middle-of-the-pack defense. And more importantly, they are a team that lacks rim protection. And as you go back throughout NBA history, almost every single team. that has won an NBA championship has not just good rim protection, but great rim protections. So what do you think is the key to this Nuggets team to kick the trend and make it to the finals this year? All right. So let's look at a team in the east that's struggling Boston. Jason Tatum, their top player, does not have a field goal in the fourth quarter of the series. Let's look at another team that just got swept the Lakers, AD, mostly invisible offensively tonight.

what is Denver Yokic 30 Murray 25 Porter 15 Gordon 22 KCP 13 they got shot makers even guys

that only like Brown hit a couple of key baskets tonight Boston can't count on their number one score the Lakers offensively can't count on

their best player in his prime what Miami and Denver are doing is they've just got shot makers and, you know, role players are stepping up. Listen, the games never had more players that can hit a jumper. I mean, we romanticize Nick teams that had no pure shooters that would have three guys on the floor that you wouldn't even allow to shoot an 18 footer.

Everybody for Denver. I mean, Gordon, to me, it hit two, three pointers, I think. Gordon, to me, is just a long athlete, feels more around the bucket, mid-range. You can put him on LeBron, just a classic long vertical athlete. He's cranking up threes. So Denver's just got more guys that can hit shots. Now, those are real players. I mean, Michael Porter was the Gatorade player of the year in Washington State, goes to Missouri.

He's now finally post-injuries. He grew up. He's now coming into his own. He's their fourth offensive option on many nights. I mean, he's an elite long athlete who can hit jumpers. You can put him on anybody. He can do a little rim protection against a forward. I just think if you look at all of Denver's players, Gordon, Murray, Yokic, and Porter,

they're all in their physical prime. All of them. The Lakers' most dependable player in this series, still in his prime is Austin Reeves. I think AD tends to be an old 30, a lot of bigs, M.B., they get old fast. So I don't think it's excuses. The better team with more shot makers and more of their elite players in their prime swept and aging. I mean, LeBron was so tired in the second half.

I mean, he gave us the greatest old man half in league history. and he just ran out of gas. He was exhausted in the end. Yeah, it was driving me crazy listening to Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy, like backseat drive his entire second half in every decision he's making as he's got 49 and 9 and one turnover. And he's the only Laker that actually gives a shit about winning that game. Like it was driving me crazy.

But I mean, here's the thing. If you're not going to be an elite defense, if you're not going to have elite rim protection, you have to be truly unguarable. And what makes Denver's starting lineup so interesting to me is if you remove any one of the pieces, I think they suddenly fall below the level of offense you would need in order to win a championship. It's not just Yokic. It's the perfectly complimentary star in Jamal Murray that in the actions that you run with him makes the action unguarded.

But at the same time, he's great at the one thing Yokic is only good at, which is that tough off the dribble shot making, right? And so they're perfectly complimentary. Add any third defender to the mix. It's not just good shooters on the weak side. It is dead eye, cannot leave them open shooters on the weak side. And then Aaron Gordon, if you just swap him with Jared Vanderbilt, it all falls apart. It's him being that perfect guy that gets every offensive rebound, every interior seal. He's like a legit lob threat. Jared Vanderbilt has no vertical pop. Aaron Gordon, it's just throw, there was a play in the second half where Yokic, or first. half where Yokic's like airballed a jumper short and Gordon just went up and just grabbed it. Don't did with two hands. Like he's just a, the whole thing functions because every single one of those five guys is so perfectly complimentary. And they are so truly unguardable that they only have to be okay on the defensive end of the floor. And so yeah, the Lakers didn't really seem to have much trouble driving closeouts and finishing at the rim, you know, past Aaron Gordon

throughout the series. But one of the things that I thought Denver did a really nice job of in this series is making sure the ball ended up in the hands of the wrong guy for the Lakers a lot. Just with the way their team was set up. And there was a really interesting adjustment that Mike Malone made in game two where he moved KCP onto Austin Reeves instead of Jamal Murray on Austin Reeves. And that's their best perimeter defender. He kind of started to make things tougher on Austin Reeves.

And suddenly the ball just kept ending up in Dennis's hands with four seconds on the shot clock or in Ruy's hands with four seconds on the shot clock and those possessions just typically aren't going to end super well. I thought it was a brilliant game plan from Denver. Yeah, there's something you mentioned at the end and I almost tweeted it tonight. In the second half, in the first half, LeBron basically took over the key possessions. But in the second half, I could count, I bet you if you went back, the Lakers had a dozen useless possessions. And when you have limited shot makers in 80s invisible, those are bad.

possessions. Denver is good enough where if they get late in a shot clock, they had a couple of those. Murray had one at the end of the game where they just got trapped. LeBron came out and guarded Murray and he got trapped. I think the shot clock went off. They maybe have two bad possessions a half for a game. You know, and that stuff adds up. You know, we had talked about this, that the Lakers were a pretty low ceiling offense. Well, think about tonight. DeLo, one shot. AD, mostly invisible. LeBron in the second half gassed. The fact that it was that close is staggering.

This is a really good Denver team. I mean, Dilo gave you nothing. AD in the first half gave you absolutely nothing. LeBron in the second half, he was tired. How is it that close? So, you know, I look at the Lakers and I think I wouldn't run this back. You can't make LeBron younger. Austin Reeves, as good as he is, should be a four starter on a championship team, right?

Not a one, two, or a three. He should be a four. He's kind of consistently capable of hitting threes and creating contact, so I like him. He reminds me they're totally different players, but like KCP, he's not afraid to take a big shot, likes contact. You know, even if it's a bad matchup, he'll play it with pride. Like, I like both guys the way they play. They're just like they're talented, scrappy guys. unafraid to take a big shot. I mean, Jason Tatum is brilliant and looks reluctant.

Austin Reeves and KCP are never reluctant players. Like, it's my kind of guy, right? And those should be your fours or your fives. But I look at this Laker team and their issues are not really correctable with time. Like Denver, for instance, with a championship should be a more confident version of Denver. Golden State will reboot something. You figure the Clippers eventually maybe they're a year away. Try to find a true point guard so they can get into their offense quicker. OKC is just getting better. Memphis will have their Bigs back.

Like the West was wonky. Phoenix should add a piece on the bench or two. They'll move Aiton and bring in more help. So you're like, the West won't be as weird as it was. And many of the other team's issues bench for Biggs returning for Memphis, some maturity. Dylan Brooks gone. Bench for Phoenix. Size for the Warriors.

They're correctable. What Laker issue is correctable? AD's inconsistency. Austin Reeve's ceiling. D-Law's gone. Flakiness. LeBron's age. So to me, you got to take a swing on this.

These are not one-year correctable. You've got to go find some personnel. You keep Rui. But I mean, let's be honest. Vanderbilt, Beasley, DeLo, these are not trustable players in a big spot. They desperately need over-the-top shot making. It's one of the things in basketball that sometimes when it's your main thing, that's a bad idea.

Like that's kind of what I didn't like about the Phoenix Suns this year. It's like their main thing was we have to make shots over the top of the defense. But making shots over the top of the defense, especially in late clock situations, is a great way to kind of boost your offensive numbers. and it can be the difference in games. Let's think about game one of this series. The Lakers had a LeBron James 3 at the end of the game that could have tied it. Do you remember a Nicola Yokic heave at the third quarter buzzer that went in?

There was a Jamal Murray heave on the first possession of the fourth quarter that went in. Like shot making over the top from Denver stole game one when the Lakers were in position to be able to get it. Look at game two. It's an 11 point Laker lead in the second half. There were a half dozen possessions in that four. quarter where it got to a late clock situation and Jamal Murray just stuck a tough stepback jumper in someone's face. Look at, look at tonight. How many possessions did the Lakers play fantastic defense, but Yokic just made something out of nothing at the end? And that's the hard part is like you look at

that for the Lakers this summer. Everything else, I think they check pretty well. I think they're an outstanding defensive team. I think that they've got a lot of downhill rim pressure. They've got some really smart playmakers on the team. LeBron James and Austin Reeves, two really high IQ guys. They just don't have that reliable over the top shooting. And so when you look at the off season, it's like, okay, let's go get Kyrie. Okay, great. But because of the new rules, like you're going to have to let go of at least one of Austin Reeves and Ruhrachamura. You're going to severely handicap your ability to make moves on the margins. Not to mention, I'm not even sure logistically how you pull that off because you got to get both sides on board

in a sign and trade. So that doesn't really seem realistic. So, and if you go, like, Colin, we're going to talk about Boston here in a little bit and talk a little bit about their issues with finding that alpha dog offensive player. If you go around the league, there's not really a great option. And so the best chance that the Lakers have, kind of like for Boston, their best chance, in my opinion, is just Tatum getting better. They need Anthony Davis to get in the damn gym this summer and figure out how to make some of those shots that he couldn't make all season long.

LeBron James, I think, is going to be fine. He is, like, he shot 37% on six attempts per game from three in his previous five post- season runs. The dude is one of the more reliable jump shooters in the postseason that you'll see from a star. He's just having a slump off season, just like he did in 2015, or postseason, I should say. I think he'll bounce back. But really, the only answer to the Lakers' problems is Anthony Davis gets better. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes,

for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'll say it.

Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger. than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show.

This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast.

It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Colin, I said before the series, the only chance for the Lakers to win was Anthony Davis and LeBron James had to play like superstars and they had to kind of like compete with what Yokic was doing.

I thought there was a gigantic chasm between the level of play of Yokic and Anthony Davis. And I thought that really was the difference of the series. Listen, it's, first of all, even when he's not scoring, Yokic is so engaged. You know, like multiple times. Grab the rebound. I'm just going to take the ball up the floor and lead the break. Ad is not going to do that. He's a brilliant passer.

80's not. Really active hands. when AD disappears offensively and he's not scoring, he's not helping anybody, you know, Yokic, when he gets gassed and he does, he just becomes a facilitator. You're looking at the world's best big man. He is, I mean, Janus is terrified late in games to get to the free throw line. We're talking about the greatest big in the game right now. And it's Yokic.

There's no question. He, you know, Embedd can be plotting as a player, right? First of all, he's not available, but we talked about this. Sometimes you're like, dude, I'm going to give you the ball. Turn shoot. Between him and harden it, it's like, guys, you just kill the movement. This is painful to watch. I'm not a basketball expert, but everybody just stops.

Yokic, Yokic makes decisions very quickly. He gets the ball off very quickly. He's moving. He's screening. In fact, sometimes he gets impatient. Murray, come off the screen. Let's go. You can see, he is facilitating everything.

He's pressing. You know, a lot of bigs don't do that. They kind of feel like it's a rest time. Like tonight, AD sometimes. It felt like he was resting on offense. AD mailed it in tonight, Colin. I thought that was an embarrassing performance from him. I thought watching LeBron James leave it all out on the floor

while AD just kind of floated through the game was kind of embarrassing, to be honest. You know, I suggest this all the time. AD's got a year left and then I think a player option. Isn't it something like that? Mm-hmm. This is the longest. stretch of not being hurt. I think you have to at least take phone calls.

I always say this in the NFL. There's only five quarterbacks I would not take a phone call on. You know, Mahomes, Josh Allen, Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, Herbert. I'm taking, I mean, probably Jalen Hertz now. I'm taking a phone call on everybody else. I'm not saying I trade them, but I'm taking the call. I think you got to take a call on AD. You got to listen to people.

And I've said this before. With LeBron, his greatness is in halves and spurs. And you're going to get about 58 games. That's fine. But then the one or the two, you got to give me 70 games. You got to give me Tatum. You got to give me Jalen Brown. At this point, if you're going to keep LeBron and they will, you got to give me a 70 game guy.

It can't be another guy who plays 58 or another guy, as you just pointed out, who disappears. I'll take flaws, but you've got to give me 70 games and energy. You got to give me a two-way player. And I think you have to take a call on AD. And I think this is the stretch. He has tremendous value. You know, I look at a team like the New York Knicks, and they don't have much to give,

but could you get a RJ Barrett, Julius Randall, AD? Now, that sounds horrible. But RJ is going to give me a lot of games. Randall's going to give me a lot of games. between the two I'm going to get fairly consistent points. Now, again, on the surface, it sounds like an absolutely horrible move. And I'm just throwing it out there. But he would serve with Brunson giving you 70 games, 65 games.

He would serve AD would be a great player in a New York. And I think maybe you have to go get in a couple of guys. A couple of guys to give you real consistent solid B plus play. I don't know. Maybe this, you know, again, this is just Voss. vomiting here. But when LeBron is giving you great halves or moments or one great game on a road trip, a four game roadie or maybe, you know, a great game and a half on a four game roadie, you got to give me a more consistent guy, even if I give me a couple of B plus guys.

But the AD LeBron thing, I think we feel because they get along and one's a rim protector and one can drive and score. I think we feel like, you know, gosh, they really. work together well. I think their personalities do, but their minutes don't. Their energy doesn't. AD feels old and he's 30. It's tough because the prospect of trading Anthony Davis gets really scary when you accept the reality that you're probably not going to get nearly as much back as you think. And then two, I legitimately think this roster is pretty close to a championship level roster. I mean, they were one of the final four teams standing after starting two and ten. That's not nothing. You know what I mean? And I know that you can explain away everything that happens over the

course of a playoff run. Every team has certain circumstances going on. I mean, even Denver didn't play well over the last half, like last third of the season. So had they lost a series somewhere along the way, people could have been like, oh, Denver mailed it in down the stretch. You know what I mean? it's like you can explain things away. They were one of the final four teams standing. But everything you're hinting at at, the problem is absolutely true. With LeBron James at this phase in their career, they need a superstar that is dependable both in availability and in his competitiveness and his motor.

Because LeBron James is going to ebb and flow in those areas as a guy who's been in the league over 20 years. And so again, and everything for me comes back to this. Anthony Davis just simply has to get better. And he's got to take better care of his body. And he just has to be available and more impactful. That solves so many problems. And again, this is such an interesting example of the difference between defensive impact and

offensive impact. I've been preaching about how amazing Anthony Davis is defensively. I think he's the best offender in the world. Over the course of the Golden State series, they found a way to pull him away from the rim and they figured some stuff out. Denver basically neutralized Anthony Davis defensively. They were giving up 121 points per 100 possessions in the first three games. That's the best, what I think was the best defense in the 16 team field.

Denver was lighting them on fire. And so it goes to the larger kind of basketball philosophy, which is that defensive players can be schemed around. You can find a way to attack a weaker defender. You can find a way to get him out of the action. but on the other end of the floor, if you've got a truly unguardable offensive player, there's nothing you can do about it.

It's kind of like in that warrior series. You're at the mercy of Steph making and missing shots. And so at the end of the day, like Anthony Davis absolutely has to improve. It's the only way that makes this work. I think any other trade is going to drop them below a championship ceiling. AD has to get better. That to me is the end of the story.

Like everything lies in him and his competitive. Like, dude, Nicola Yokic hit a bunch of shots in your face while he swept you on your home floor. Take that personally. Go in the gym. You know, you were a liability on offense. I tweeted out these numbers. But Colin, when you threw the ball to Anthony Davis in the post or in an isolation situation in the bubble, it was good for 1.1 points per possession, which is outstanding for a stagnant offensive situation. This year is good for about two-thirds of a point. He's not even in the same stratosphere as an offensive player as he used to be. And I see Laker fans going like, why aren't they throwing the ball to AD more? Why aren't they? Because he can't

score anymore. He's not the same guy. He's just not. Yeah. And so at a certain point, he's the one light at the end of the tunnel is Anthony Davis has to get better with his offensive polish. It's the only thing that'll save this team. I don't think I would take a run on Kyrie Irving, but Dallas would that Dallas would love AD. He solves all their issues. He gives them a second score. He's not at all ball dependent. Luca gives you the 70 games and the consistent energy.

Anthony scores 23 without really setting up plays for him. He gives them a rim protector. I heard at the trading deadline, Dallas has their eye on Anthony Davis. And they think the Lakers, they think LeBron still has a soft spot for Kyrie Irving. By the way, that would be a shot maker. And, you know, again, you can roll your eyes at that. You'd have to give me more than Kyrie Irving. And I don't think Dallas has it.

Maybe, I don't know, maybe you go Luca A.D. And you go Tim Hardaway. Is it Tim Hardaway, Kyrie Irving? I don't know if the salaries match. You know, a couple of guys that can hit shots for the Lakers with LeBron. Austin Reeves and LeBron running the offense and guys that can score on the outside. Again, just vomiting. I'm throwing it out.

out there, but I know Dallas will absolutely call on AD. He solves the Luca issue. By the way, also, unlike a Porzingis or a Kyrie, a very chill, doesn't want the attention, low, really a low profile star with Luke. So it's like, I'm just going to go back to this. Dallas is calling on AD. I think the Lakers and the Mavericks, you will hear in the next month something. I really believe that.

And I think you have to take the phone call and listen. Again, you take the phone call no matter what to see to see what kind of things are being offered. The problem is going back to our conversation in the first topic, which is you lose Anthony Davis, you lose your rent protection, you lose your elite defense, which then automatically end of discussion. You can't win a championship unless you're just otherworldly good offensively, which LeBron and Kyrie, even with Kyrie and LeBron at this phase in his career, you're not there. That said, Kyrie is actually perfect. And Lakers fans, when we discuss this, they are way too dismissive of Kyrie's talent. And the fact that playing in Los Angeles with a real chance to win a championship, with LeBron James as someone that can kind of manage his,

some of the personality dynamics at play, I actually think it's not. To put it clearly, if I thought you could get Kyrie by only losing Rui and still fielding a roster of six to seven legit rotation players, with a couple guys who can work on the periphery. If I could roll out Kyrie Irving with Austin Reeves with Jared Vanderbilt with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, I think that solves all their problems. And overnight, they become a much better team.

The problem is, is it's just such a long shot for so many of those things to break right. And again, like you just start to look around the league. It's like, like I was listening to you this morning when you were talking with Jason McIntyre about different things that could fix the Celtics. And one of our guys here at the volume, Mr. Rory, a big Celtics fan, text me last night.

He's like, dude, who can we trade Jalen for? Like, what are we getting back? And you start to look around and it's like, well, KD was that guy, but he's not available anymore. None of these other guys are really moving the needle. You know, it's funny, you look at the, it's like, oh, Jimmy Butler's killing us. How do we get a guy who can go to toe to toe to with Jimmy Butler? Oh, Nicola Yokic is killing us.

How do we get a guy that can go toe to toe to toe to toe with Nicola Yokic? There's like eight of those dudes in the entire league. and nobody wants to give them up. So it's like at a certain point, like sometimes you have a ceiling. It's kind of like the Embeddied Harden pairing. There's a ceiling to that. There just is. They're not going to go to.

Those are the, those guys crumbled under Tatum, the same guy who's currently crumbling under Jimmy Butler. Like there's levels to this. And those top guys, they're impossible to replace. You cannot go toe to toe with them unless you've got another guy at their level. LeBron is rapidly declining. I don't know what the answer is. Again, I keep coming back

to AD just has to get better. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having a trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, tomorrow night, Miami, with a huge coaching edge, probably finishes off Boston. You know, Brad Stevens highly wanted, recommended Joe Mazzula for the job.

So that's a much more difficult firing than most. He was Brad sort of his mentor. So that's going to be an awkward situation. But I will tell you that it happens a lot more than we think. And it happens all the time in college sports where a really good coach leaves or is forced to leave or takes a better job. And you give it to the coordinator. He's just not ready. I mean, it happens six times a year in college football.

And in fact, when I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, All four schools did it. So Washington in the 70s was a dominant college football program, 70s and 80s. Legend leaves. They give it to the defensive coordinator Jim Lambright fails. Ralph Miller, Oregon State at one point in the 70s, had a top 10 basketball program. Left, they give it to his assistant Jimmy Anderson. They never recovered.

Oregon, Chip Kelly, Mark Helfich, didn't work. Mike Price, and I think it was Bill Doba at Washington State football, didn't work. So you see this all the time. Joe Mozilla is just not ready. He could be ready in four years, but it's like it's the Celtics. It's not like he got a bad team and he could play invisible midweek games. It's like, oh, no, it's Eric Spolstra, the world's best coach. And they'll play again on national TV.

And Boston's such an outrageously outspoken in-your-face media market. And I'm watching it and I'm like, oh, this poor guy. I mean, again, if you're a college coach that's over their skis, you play on Raycon TV in the South, nobody sees it. There's seven games on Saturday in your region. Joe Missoula, just, you can't hide in Boston. It's just, it's too intense a market. You just can't hide. So I think they're going to, I don't think they have to make wholesale changes.

I do wish they had somebody that was a little more aggressive offensive, because I think they have really good defensive players. I think they could find a point guard that's not gifted off defensively, but somebody who gets you into the offense. They remind me of a more talented version of the Clippers, Jason, when Paul George and Kauai are kind of running it and you're like, okay, this is odd. This is not there. This is not what it's like the wildcat offense in football when you hiked it to a running back.

You were getting yards, but you're like, this doesn't look right. This is not right. I've watched the Clippers for three years and I'm like, could we get a point guard? I mean, that's why Westbrook kind of worked for them. Like, he got them into their offense. I feel like Boston a lot of times, Tatum looks at Brown. Brown looks at smart.

Smart's more of a defensive player. I think if Boston needs anything, your opinion I'm interested in, somebody to get him into their offense quicker. So it's interesting, Colin, because we were having a similar conversation after the Warriors series last year. And, you know, it's funny, every time, I've been watching basketball forever, not as long as you have, but for a long time.

And every season when it finishes, I always like have like a couple of things that I learn. I actually do a little video at the end of each season, like of what I learned about the NBA this year. And last year it was like, oh, you know, the Celtics needed ball handling. They needed ball handling. But one of the things that I think this season has taught me is like there's a difference between aggregate ball handling and top end ball handling. and we thought that the Celtics could fix their issues by bringing in another ball handler, right, in the form of Malcolm Brogden. But then you find yourself at the end of the game and it's like, what are we going to do run our clutch offense through Malcolm Brogden when Jason Tatum's on the floor? And it's like, oh, actually the real problem here is Tatum's not as good as Jimmy.

That's the real problem here. And he doesn't have someone that can help kind of navigate those alpha dog scenarios. And that's where I think the Missoula thing becomes a problem. I think that the answer to the Celtics this year and moving forward is, yes, Jalen Brown's going to be way too expensive. Maxim. I'm sorry, he's too good to let go. You're not going to get anything worth as nearly as good as him in return. I think you've got to run it back, basically, with an alpha dog coach. I think we underestimated Ima Yudoka's impact last year in the way he helped Tatum and Brown navigate those scenarios. Because you can say one, you, yes, Boston last year had a lot of the same. similar tendencies when it came to sloppiness and decision making. But those dudes fought every minute when they were out there. Yes. They were one of the most impressive defenses I had ever seen. Their defensive identity is gone. They're giving up like 10 additional points per 100 possessions in the half court compared to last year defensively. They are not the same type of

psychological entity that they were last year. And so again, kind of like we were talking about with Anthony Davis, I was looking down the list and I'm like, man, and we don't know the deals. Maybe Brooklyn was like, we don't want Jalen Brown. But if Kevin Durant was available like last summer, that was the move because then you're bringing in an alpha dog that can be in a series with Jimmy Butler and not be scared and command the offense down the stretch, slot Jason Tatum into a supporting role the way that he's supposed to. But go down the list of guys this summer. Like, is Bradley Beale going to solve their problems? I don't think so. So the reality is, is their best bet is Jason Tatum developing as a ball handler.

And I think that can be accelerated by the right coach. And it needs to be like a real alpha dog personality. And this is why I keep coming back to Nick Nurse. And I know he's a finalist for the Buck's job. And so hopefully Boston becomes aware of that and jumps in a little sooner. I'm not the biggest Nick Nurse fan because sometimes I think he can be a little overaggressive with his scheming. And he's a big gimmicky overhelp defense guy, which sometimes can hurt you in certain

situations. But, you know, he's the guy that wrote a book right after he won a championship and in the book was like criticizing his own players. And he like, he actually is a presence in the room that will get buy in. Like, Missoula straight up admitted in the postgame presser that he lost the locker room. He said it. Yeah, I, I've lost a connection with these guys. Like, it's just not there. You need somebody that can drive that alpha dog mentality the same way that IMA Udoca did. I think, I think the move is a coach. And again, just like you field calls. Someone calls and says, hey, we'll give you so and so and so for Jaylen Brown.

You field the call. And if the right ball handler is there, yeah, I like the move. But I just don't know who that is. And so in that scenario, you have to go with the most talented roster and basketball and hope a better coach fixes the problem. Yeah. I mean, it's also been in the, I use this example on TV, is that when Nick Saban first got the SEC job. The SEC had some really tomato can coaches. Now, Lane Kiffin, Kirby Smart, there's like real guys

there. This was a year in which the coaching in the East was weak. So Tibbs is a culture guy, energy guy, limitations offensively. Missoula is a kid. Doc Rivers is a culture guy, not really an adapter, a scheme guy. Boondholzer, the team got old. And I, you know, he got kind of unveiled in some coaching situation, a late game stuff. Quinn Snyder, great, but got the job in late February. It was a, it was kind of a bad Eastern conference year for coaching.

And here's Spolstra. And I think he just took the hatchet out to these guys. He got a defensive coach. He got a couple culture coaches. you know, he, the matchups worked out well. And I think, I think what happened is Milwaukee got really old, really fast. You saw at the end of the year, I thought they, I thought like an old team like Jay Crowder, Joe Ingalls, like, oh, wow, they can't play. Fast.

Chris Middleton. Oh, he's like the fourth best player and a good team. Like, it happened like in 30 games. You're like, oh, these guys aren't getting better. Ingalls had surgery. You know, like, he's seven a game. He can't play. And so I do think I think Miami's, I don't think they're going to return next year.

I think they're going to go after like Damien Lillard. I think they're very attractive now because some of their young guys, they're undrafted guys. They're not. You can't resign these guys. They're playing completely over their skis. So I think they'll go out and get a dame. But I think there are sometimes circumstances. Like I don't think Denver's a circumstantial team.

They're just really good. I think there's some circumstances that have really worked. I mean, Adduca's back with Boston. This is a very even series. I mean, it's so I think, like Sabin early in the SEC, I think, I think Spolstra, you know, kind of knows. It's like I got I got culture coach, 61 year old coach, rookie coach, and it all, and LeBron's over in the West, that it all sort of worked out. Well, you and I've been on this, the entire tail end of the season, like Spolstra is the best coach in the NBA. He is the best

at protecting his players from their own weaknesses. Schematically, he's always several levels above his opponent in these series. You know, ironically, like, he's, he's pulling rabbits out of hats here, man. Like he's, he's making something out of nothing. And again, our guy, Draymond's like,

hey, don't call them undrafted. Their pros just like everyone else. I agree. And I agree. I appreciate the sentiment of what he's saying. But I'm sorry, but if Caleb Martin outplayed Jalen Brown in this series,

there's not a single, there's not a single general manager in the entire NBA that would take Caleb Martin over Jalen Brown. And that's the, that's the exciting part from. Miami fans is like they're going to have more talented rosters in the next 10 years. Spolster is going to be coaching those teams. The heater is just going to be around. They're just going to be in these fights nonstop. But there's no doubt that that that coaching

element plays a huge role, especially when you get deeper into the postseason. I mean, Mike Boodenholzer was unwilling to adjust, completely unwilling to adjust as Jimmy Butler was smoking them. Joe Missoula was way too late to make any sort of aggressive adjustment in this particular series. It's given them an advantage. You know, it's funny with the NBA, to me, it's so many times it's about a war of attrition and like who's kind of left standing at the end of the day. Jimmy Butler, after losing in the Eastern Conference finals last year was being interviewed and he goes, yeah, we had enough this year. We'll have enough next year, except for next year, we're going to get it done. And at the time, he sounded crazy. And here they are with less talent than last year.

And they're going to go to the NBA finals. They're going to be Boston tomorrow because Boston's going to quit. And it's like, like, that's, they just happen to stick around while everything else crumbled around them. And now they, now they're four wins away from an NBA championship. It's their, Miami, Miami is one of those teams that we can never rule out in any situation. I don't care if they're in the back end of the playing tournament that they were, they were losing in the final three minutes against Chicago in the second playing game. They were under 500 over the last 25 games of the season. There's no scenario where we can write Miami off moving forward. Yeah. And I think, you know, going into the series, I thought Boston would win. But I said,

I think Spolster was going to win two games. And I also said, if I have a better coach and the best player, and then BAMs got to be a top three or four player, they're going to be, I thought the games would be competitive. I didn't know Spoh would win all four games. You know, I'll tell you this, Bams really served himself well. He's been, he is so. active. Jesus, he is, he's on the floor. He's, you know, he's a little bit like Loak Yokic. He's just around the ball.

He's batting it around. He's volleyball on it around. So they get Tyler Hero back next year. I think, I think they're, they need one more, you know, it sounds crazy at Jordan Pool thing. Like they need another, you know, Damien's better, but, you know, Damien's small. Damien is going to give you about 65 games. You know, Damien's played high school, college, and pro all out west.

It'll be a little different. I feel like Boston could be a championship team. You bring Tyler Hero back. Bam, Jimmy Butler. You'll probably keep one of the younger guys. They just need one more, one more lethal shooter. And I know people just keep. rolling their eyes at Jordan Poole.

I heard, it was on the ringer, I heard a clip from Doc Rivers, son, Austin Rivers. And he was saying, you know, I know how you guys, he was talking about Austin Reeves. He goes, I like him. He does a lot well. He said, but skill set, he's like Jordan Poole's like crazy, like crazy talented. And the last couple games of that series against the Lakers, he played way more under control. he took a mid-range. They're going to take calls on him.

I am so interested to see where he goes. Because I really do look at Miami and I think to myself, I've got a star, I've got length, hero coming back. Give me a really good two. I mean, wouldn't you want to play on that team? I mean, one of the great things is you can get your points and your looks on the regular season. Balder's got no interest giving you 36 points in the regular season. right? Like Jimmy is going to compete, but in the regular season, you're going to get some looks.

Miami's going to be really interesting next year. Yeah, they absolutely need to get him a dependable number two at some point. Because here's the thing. I think Denver is going to win in the finals for two reasons. Denver's better. And two, I'm sorry, but as much as I appreciate and respect Jimmy Butler, he can't alpha dog Nicolaeokic. That's just not going to happen. I mean, heck, he might not even be able to do that to Jamal Murray,

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