The Mismatch - We Are Standing Witness to Steph Curry’s Historic Greatness. Plus: The Clippers Are a Major Threat in the West and Stan Van Gundy Has Lost His Pelicans Team.

Episode Date: April 20, 2021

Verno and KOC first get into the Steph Curry run that just keeps going (0:27) and Nikola Jokic doing things that no center has done before (19:47). Then they talk about whether the Suns are a major threat to be in the NBA Finals (27:00), who could beat the Clippers and their newfound chemistry in the West (36:35), and whether the Pelicans made a mistake in hiring head coach Stan Van Gundy (46:11). Finally, some good news: LaMelo Ball is set to return to the Hornets lineup this season after what looked like a season-ending wrist injury (59:05). Reminder: Don’t ever mention Campazzo’s name to Chris! Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor  Associate Producer: Sasha Ashall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Ringer's Dave Hill takes you on a journey into the underground lives and careers of six professional gamblers. This eight-part podcast is a unique look into the gambling world that you don't want to miss. Check out gamblers on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to The Mismatch. I'm Chris Varnie. Join me as he does every Tuesday from the Ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, A.K. Kevin O'Clo, A.K. Kevin O'Climber, Kevin O'Compter. Kevin O'Clein, Kevin O'Candlein, Kevin O'Candlein. Kevin O'Chyland. Ben O'Ne. Are we going to open the show today with Steph or Vivian? Oh, Lord.

It has been a fun 12 hours for Lakers Twitter, which even had a Kevin Durant angle as he somehow got tied into the conversation about it. But there was a catfish probe that is going on on Lakers Twitter. And so anybody can go look that up if they want to figure out what that was a reference to. And you don't know what we're talking about. You do know about the first name that Kevin mentioned, which is Steph. You may have heard about what's going on with him, which is downright ludicrous. At some point, you think that this crazy run that he is on might slow down. Well, that certainly has not happened yet.

after last night with another unbelievable performance against the Philadelphia 76ers. In April, 10 games, he has averaged 40.8 points per game, 7.2, 3-pointers per game, while shooting 55% from the field, 50% from 3, 91% from the free throw line, and is on pace to join James Hardin, Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant, who did it three times, and Wilk Chamberlain, who did it 11 times,

as the only players in NBA history to average 40 players, 40 points, I'm sorry, in a month. Holy mackerel. It just keeps going, Chris. We're literally watching history. Yeah.

I mean, it just keeps on going. And we talked about this on Friday show. It just keeps on going. And he is shooting, And he is shooting more threes. I mean, you had said, what if he shot more threes? I mean, he is shooting more threes.

I saw a countdown, or a historical perspective the other day from Tommy Beer, who put this up on Twitter, that he now has, and I guess last night he made 10 threes, didn't he? Yeah. So, okay, so if he made 10 last night, I think that's four times in the week that he has done it. And you have guys, these are, this is a list of players that have ever made 10 or more threes in a game and that have done it either one time or zero times. Ray Allen, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, Kyrie Irving, Larry Byrne, Pej Ossestoyakovic, Reggie Miller. He has made more three-pointers than going into last night than any team outside of the Mavericks in the last week. Team! Team! I mean, this is just crazy. And one of the craziest numbers, in fact, it might be the absolute craziest number of all of them that I saw about what is going on with him is that if Steph Curry missed each of his next 500, three-point attempts. So he went 0 for 500 over the next two seasons and then he retired.

He'd still have a higher career three point average than Ray Allen. What? Oh, for 500. I mean, what we are watching, we are in the midst of, you know, to steal your line on LeBron James, do not take Steph Curry for granted. Thank you, Chris. What is happening right now? and you know, look, everybody watches the tapes.

Somebody on the other team is doing a scout for the next game. What's the game plan? Slow this guy down. How about we don't let this guy hit 10-3s? And so you know that for the last week, if you're scouting that game, if you're on the staff, that's theoretically what you're attempting to do when a guy's going bananas like this, and yet it continues. There's nothing you can do.

Nothing. Do you have your thoughts changed on the amount of three pointers that he should take every night? Because originally when I said like 15 plus every single night to you, you're like, it's a bit much. I just think, I'm not a bit much.

I just think he's already taking a lot. Yeah, yeah, because he was already leading the NBA in three point attempts per game. But like now that we're actually seeing him do it, granted he's not going to shoot 55% from three, you know, for the whole season. but it's not like it's that far off from his career average.

No, really. You know, so it's like he's shooting 42%, 43% in his career, 43% in his entire career for the entire month of April, his number from three point land is at 50%. So with him, it's a type of thing where he's above his career average, but even if he were to fall to his career average, he's still be putting up obscene numbers. It's just the amount of the amount of attempts is what's really changed for him.

Well, and now I know, we talked about this regarding on the team side a couple of weeks ago when I was chronicling with the Utah Jazz. And you had written that article about how one of the reasons the jazz have improved such a great deal this year was because last year their percentage was great from three. but they were in middle of the pack and attempts. And now the attempts have gotten much more in line with the top teams, right? And you would think, much like the step thing, that number would go down and possibly significantly, that if you ended up taking a lot more of them, that number went down. Well, in fact, that was not true at all. with the jazz, their attempts have gone up significantly,

and they have not seen a dip at all in their percentage from three-point range. And the same is true with Steph Curry, right? Like, do you hold the same number if you end up taking a lot more? Well, for the jazz, it's worked out team-wise. And on the Steph front, he's taking more, but he's making more. Yeah. When he's taking, you know what I mean? Like usually that's not the way this goes.

The attempts get higher, the percentage comes down. Just like when you see, you know, there'll be somebody in like a three point percentage that's very high up there. And you'll see they take like four a game. But if they took 10 a game, they wouldn't be. They take the numbers or drop. Yeah. They're wide open. Maybe in the four that they take, right?

They get a corner three. Some of these power forwards or whoever it may be. But that's not necessarily who you're, you know, making sure you have to stay connected to the entire time. They get four wide open threes a game. This guy, I mean, he gets no open wide open trees, none. He had the one last night where he had the crossover. Yeah, yeah. Draymond threw his arms up in the air before the shot even like kind of left his hands.

Hilarious. Well, like, that's the thing, though, Chris. So Steph over his last five games is averaging 16.6 three-pointers per game. what reason is there for that number to go down? That's my question now. Even if he has a stretch where he's shooting only 38% from three. Like, let's just say that happens. 16 attempts per game, 38% from three.

38% from three is bad for Stefan Curry. But it's still good in the grand scheme of the game of basketball. So what reason is there for him to start shooting only 12 per game? A guy of his caliber whose efficiency doesn't drop with more opportunities, I see no reason for him to ever shoot average less than 15 three point attempts per game. That's just my opinion. One of the things that you talked about, and I think he has been resistant to being the, you know, the James Harden where it's just one guy and then the other four guys, you know,

do whatever. You talked about how, you know, this warrior's team was kind of at a crossroads two weeks ago. And it's like, the answer is. Steph. more of this guy, more of the ball in his hands, more of him. Yeah, okay, fine. You don't want to be the James Hardin and dribble the ball into the ground while four guys, you know, spread the court,

and then you go to the free throw line. But that doesn't mean there can't be more of you, and you are not just an innocent bystander who, yes, takes the most shots, but that you're kind of off the ball and, you know, just running the offense and one of the guys. it's you and the other four dudes. That's the way it is. And even then,

it's not like some of these threes aren't coming within the flow of the offense. You know, other guys are getting touches too. I also think that they have, this is not a, this is not the nicest thing to say, and I love the kid,

but I do think they're better off without wise men. I do. I think just, you know, if you're winning that, again, they're just a win now. I'm not saying for the development of the future

and that may end up being what's best. But you don't have to serve two masters right now, right? Where it's like, okay, let a kid take his lumps, develop him over time, and the minutes on the court are going to reap their benefits greatly, hopefully sooner than later. Like, you don't have to do that anymore. And who he is replaced with with the guys that are more capable to help you win tonight, right, each and every night.

did you see the Kerr quote from last week when he said we just didn't have a sense of how raw he would be because we only had three college games of his can we get James up the speed to match the timeline for our three core guys that's a great question we don't know the answer and he said that on 957 the game in the Bay area um i thought it was very very interesting that he would admit publicly that they didn't know how raw James Wiseman was and then he was telling everybody before the season, we nailed it. This kid's going to be a star the whole time. Well, the thing is, I mean, that was the whole conversation for Warriors fans all season long.

It's why are they not running more pick and roll with Steph and James Wiseman? That's Wiseman's skill set. And I don't, I mean, no knock on Kerr here. It's just that's what made it a little bit surprising, very surprising. Why they didn't do more of that throughout the season because that was Wiseman's strengths. His weaknesses are quick decision making, are passing. And that's sort of the appeal with Golden State is like, like, he's put into a situation where he's less comfortable, maybe it leads to growth.

But what he's best at today is rim running, you know, rolling to the rim, finishing lobs, you know, finishing layups and whatnot after one or two dribbles. It just didn't get a ton of opportunities to do that. And, you know, that's no knock on him either. He can still be a successful NBA player. It's just what the game needed he wasn't able to give it. And like you said, Chris, the warriors right now are better without having to worry about how to fit him in by playing Jermong Green more often at the five or,

playing Looney and Dremont in the front court. Those guys just work better within the flow of the type of offense that they want to run. And the fact that they're running even more pick and roll with Dremond screening for Steph, the classic 5-1 picker rule we've seen for years from Golden State. It's just so freaking lethal, man. It's unreal. And you wonder because at least I do on the whole Wiseman front where they are at the what's the inside Scuttlebutt because I found it very, very strange.

yesterday that two different times, Bill Simmons on his pod with Rosillo, one time he brought up, like, if you could pair up Wiseman with like the fourth pick overall, if you got that, and get somebody that can, you know, maybe you get like a Brad Beal or you like, you know, you get one of these like high level top 10, top 20 guys in the league. You know, if you compare those things up to somebody who wants something for the future. And I was like, well, geez, Louise, like, why would you, are you getting rid of Wiseman already or and then he brought up and I'm going to caveat

this because Bill said, I'm just throwing it out there. You know, I don't want it aggregated. But he brought up James Wiseman for Jaron Jackson Jr. And he was just throwing it out there. And I was just throwing myself off of a bridge. Like what what are we

talking about here? And Jared Jackson Jr., by the way, should be back within the next game or two. but yeah like the whole like why are we talking about them moving off of wise but already and i do think that they have been i think it has been to their benefit over the course of the last couple of weeks and that is not necessarily as big of a knock on james as it is you when you spend the number two pick on a guy you're getting in minutes for better or for worse and many times it can be for

worse especially if you've got a raw prospect um because you want to get those you want to get that experience level up. But the other guys are better to help you win that game that night. And so I think they have reaped the benefits of that. Meanwhile, they've got a guy that's like downright legendary in this last week and a half, two weeks. These last 10 games, I mean, this is seriously all-time stuff. It's like, Will.

Scored 40, 50 with ease. And that's the thing, man. Steph is an all-time player. It's like I said to you, I don't know, it was Friday or what, but we look back at Steve Nash and it's like, oh, he should have shot more threes. He's a knockdown shooter. He should have just shot more, period, you know, whether it's from mid-range or three or whatever.

There's a chance, unless it's starting now. This might be the beginning is Stefan Curry should be shooting this much every single night from three-point range, every night for the rest of his career. Maybe there's some stretches where you tone it back because you don't want to increase the wear and tear on him. I get that if that's a factor. But when it's win time, you got to do this. When it's win time and now's that time, it's the playoff push for the Warriors, trying to get into the play in tournament or even push for higher. Look, dude, this is what you need.

This is what the team needs to win. It's not selfish. It's not selfish. This is what the team needs to thrive at the highest possible levels for Stefan Curry to be the all-time player that he is and to ride him. even on nights where he was shooting only 35% from three. Take it. Because that's what you need from Steph. Well, and he is now officially last night after his performance against Philadelphia,

he is leading the league in scoring. He has surpassed Brad Beale. Yeah. So he is leading the league in scoring this year. He, the push and the record is not going to be good enough. But who knows when you're talking about here, history being made over and over again. And there's still enough games left that we could look back and you could go,

this was a historic season. He's not going to win the MVP because of their record. But I'll say this, he's going to be on a lot of people's ballots by the end of all of this. How sure are you that he won't win MVP? How sure? I would say. Recency bias is a real thing.

So let's say this continues for a couple more weeks. You know what else is a real thing? Is social media sentiment? It just is. Look at Dogecoin. I mean, it's real. People latch on it. If you just keep putting it in people's faces all the time, all the time.

And I'll tell you this, your timeline, if you are an NBA fan, your timeline is filled with Steph Curry highlights every night. Yeah, that's what I mean. Every night. Yes. That's what I'm saying, yeah. No, no, there is. How sure are you that he won't? No, I mean, I think it's, now again, you're talking to me the day after I just watch Nicolioch have 47 points.

Exactly. So, unbelievable performance. That, that, too, how sure am I, he won't win it? Like, 100% sure. He won't win it. I'm saying if a week ago, he wasn't going to be on many ballots, he will be on ballots now. Sure. He will be on ballots.

Yeah, we'll see how the rest of the race goes. I mean, you would have to. If Yokic missed the last 15 games. the season. Let's save the MVP talk for a couple weeks from now. Because like right now, I just want to appreciate the greatness of the player we're watching. Personally, like right now, Golden State,

they are six and four in their last 10. They're currently the 9th seed. A game back from your Grizzlies, two games back from Dallas for the seven spot, four games back from Portland for the sixth spot and a guaranteed playoff spot. Hard to catch them. Not impossible, but hard

to do. And I think this Warriors team, all the talk rightfully about Steph. That's the only name we've uttered so far. But Draymond Grie did a heck of a job last night on defense. He had some possessions on Embed. He had possessions where his off ball helping off of Thibble or Deney Green and doubling and showing pressure towards Embed. Other guys on that Warriors team, I thought Wiggins did a really nice job on the defensive end of the floor. Feels like the Warriors are clicking a little bit, removing Wiseman from them and leaning more, Luny, leading more,

and Dream on really turning it up, Steph getting hot. Take a step back, though. I mean, there's no Ben Simmons. There's no Tobias. I know. I mean,

that's major. I mean, that's not a small thing. I know. So, I'm just saying. It's a good win, but they didn't,

that, that's not Philadelphia, as we know Philadelphia to be record wise this year. That was a, I know the context, that they played last night. But they still beat them by 11. Right.

They still had a great performance regardless. The potential MVP and Embed was still on the floor and still, you know, doing his thing. So they did a pretty nice job, I thought. Yeah. No, I mean, look, it's a good win. It's something they certainly were not supposed to win that game. I'm just saying that as the Philadelphia was constituted last night, even with MB, that team would not be, that team would not win an immense amount of games. without those two guys who have both been All-Star Calibur this year,

certainly Simmons, at least on the defense event. And Tobias Harris had a great season for them this year. But it's a good win. And certainly he has just been off the charts great. Off the charts great also has been Nicolaeokage, who I witnessed last night. I stayed up and watched the Grizzlies Nuggets game, which went to double overtime.

He had, I thought he was going to get. 50. I think they said that was his career high was 50. He was three off of it. He had 47 and there was absolutely nothing anybody could do with him. The Grizzlies were in a bad way with Jonas Valcunis was out for concussion protocol. So poor Xavier Tillman, welcome to the NBA, who was a, you know, who's a really good player, had to double double himself and has comported himself well during his rookie season. He seems like a guy that's going to have a very long career in the NBA, but

you're out of Michigan State a year ago, and it's like, hey, come now guard the MVP of the NBA. And not an easy task. And there was, that's the only other, they don't have any other big guys to throw at him. And it was just an absolute feast. So interesting, because I saw it and we'll see

the way it goes, as time goes on. You know, a lot of that two-man stuff that you kind of saw with Murray and Yokic, which of course they've had to abandon, got a lot of Barton doing that now, you know? And then kind of Porter kind of plays off of those two. But Barton was the other one. So it's kind of been, it was kind of Will Barton and Yokic, but it, you know, you watch that thing. And it's just he, I talk sometimes about how if you took somebody that's never watched basketball in their life and he sat him down and you said watch a game or be it a game, like, you wouldn't believe how much better this guy is

than everybody else. Like, it's shocking to watch it. And the jumper is just so damn wet. Like, it doesn't even, it, I don't, I can't remember the last time I saw him just clank something. Like, it's just always these tear-drop-ass jumpers that he, from every different angle, he hits them. and he was just out of control great. I'll have to, something to monitor now that they have kind of changed up their roster

because they're really light on guards, obviously, and they're really counting on Barton doing what he's doing. But I swear to you, Kevin, it was the third quarter of that game, and I did not even, I had not noticed Aaron Gordon one time in the game. It was bizarre. Like, because, I mean, we've talked about, and we talked about how good he was immediately.

But it's something worth monitoring because last night, you know, I'm figuring he's going to be a more significant player within their system without Murray. But it feels like he's become less significant without Murray. And I don't know, I don't know if that's going to hold or not. but watching Yokic do his thing was. And of course, for anybody that watched the game, there's 100 million reviews. I swear to God, Kevin, these reviews at the end of the game,

it's just every game you watch. The last two minutes, there's like these 10-minute stoppages that just kill the freaking flow of the game. It drives me crazy. How'd you like Campazzo's defense on jaw? I thought Campazo stinks. I also think, I mean, I just want to ask something else that annoys you.

Yeah. Campos, I'm sure it was annoying for you last night. Well, I mean, the job dropped 36 on his head. He played some great possessions. And the worst thing about it was, and I have not seen this. So there was, the Grizzlies are up five at the end of the game. We were talking less than two minutes ago. And they're getting Morant's running to the ball.

and Capazzo's obviously doing his flopping and flailing like he always does. And he bodies up against Morant and they call the foul, right? So Camposos is like, I didn't touch him, I didn't touch him, I didn't touch him. And so, of course, you get the replay. And it's like, all right, they didn't even touch each other, right? So Malone challenges it. They go to the challenge. I have not seen this.

This crew, they said the call against Composos, is overturned offensive foul on John Moran. They changed it to an all that. Gave the Nuggets back to ball. Nuggets came down and scored. And I'm like, what in the F is going on here? Like, I have not, like, this is madness. And because Camposso flopped around like crazy.

Just, no, he disgusts me. I can't stay at him. I really can't. I can tell. I guess they're the guy. But there, look, Yolkitch, I mean,

he's without his running buddy and Jamal Murray, but 47, he had 47, 15, and 8 in that game. Now, again, we were doing like with the Curry thing, some historical perspective. How about this?

I read this this morning. Last night, oh, I'm sorry, yeah, 47, 15, and 8, 20 of 31 field goals. The first center with a 45 or more point. So you had to have 45 or more points, 15 rebounds, and 8 assists.

That's the first time a center has done that since Hakeem Elijah won in 1996. That's wild. That's wild. That's wild. It's 25, 25 years ago. That's wild. Yeah. no one has done that as a center what he did last night

47 15 and 8 so when you ask me about the MVP like he's special man like some of the possessions he had last sent against Tillman the footwork oh like the footwork is just ridiculous on the post his ability to create space you know like he had that one play

I think from the right block where he took his pivot foot and kind of like stepped in to Tillman and just generated the space easily for his layout attempt. Like the little things he does on the floor to create space moving as slowly as he does. It's really remarkable watch. He also he also had a dagger, stepped into a dagger three last night. Guy is, he is just, he is a force of nature.

He really is. Unbelievable player. Makes me so happy to watch him. We get some, we get some great, great players to watch him. league right now. We just opened the show talking about Steph, Yokich doing what he does. Like, dramatically different styles, too. Like from Steph to Yokich,

how different could they be? And yet, they have the similar it factor. Well, and we get pretty lucky because we get to come in here on the Tuesday. For a random Monday night, holy macro was it good. Because you had that double overtime game between Grizzly's

nuggets with Yokich going crazy. You had the Steph Supernova at Philly. And you also at this game which had such a colossally disappointing ending, but Sun's Bucks, which was two teams without standing records in their respective conferences playing against each other, goes down to the very end of the game, ends on a touch foul on Drew. It was a foul. It was a, but it's a light foul.

You know what I'm saying? Like, this wasn't exactly, it needed, you needed to see the replay. play five times to make sure that he fouled him. And so for it, it's so anti-climactic. And then, of course, Booker goes to the line. It's unfortunate.

And he hits a shot to win. But, you know, Tucker got called for the file, Chris. It says it in the box go, 0.3 left. PJ Tucker's shooting file. What the hell? And then Booker made,

made the first free throw and missed the second one. We're talking. What? If you watch it, that's hysterical. Because you know where, you know where I watched it back? I watched the Sun's broadcast.

And the Sun's broadcast is where, so that is funny as hell. Their broadcast team said, I guess it's Eddie Johnson. He's like, oh, you can see it right there. Holiday slaps down at the arm. Like if you watch the,

if you watch the clips from last night, the Phoenix broadcast on that says it's holiday. And then when they're replaying it, said, you see, he slapped him on the arm right there. It's the left arm. So I thought it was Holiday. They called that on Tucker? Yeah.

Holy crap. Yeah, that did because their elbows touched. That's terrible. Terrible. That's even worse. I was buying, I wonder how the Phoenix team, how their broadcast team fixed that. I have no idea. They must have fixed because they had their whole audience convinced that Drew

Holiday found Devin Booker. And so that it was rightful. that it ended that way. That's crazy. Yeah. I mean, like, forget about the fall call for a minute. I mean, like, it happens. And it's unfortunate.

Whatever. The game itself, there's, those are a lot to watch for. And I thought DeAndrean had himself a really nice night. Until the very end of the game where Chris Paul will never throw another pass to him again. Yeah, I know. But like before that,

defensively, he had some really great moments. And I'm growing increasingly encouraged by Aten's performance the last couple of weeks, the last two months or so. He's had some nights where you can see. him activating, dominating.

And that's what he calls himself, Chris. Dominating. He does not. Yeah, it's like in his Instagram profile. Oh, no. You're going to be shocked. You think I want to come up with that pun? I'm not that good at puns.

I'm very bad at puns. But dominating. It says so in his Instagram profile. Dominating. And that's what he's doing, huh? He is dominating. It's impressive to watch, man. Like he's had some great defensive possessions against Janus.

He is playing an intense brand of basketball. I know he had that mistake down the stretch, but overall, I'm very encouraged and very encouraged by what we're seeing from DeAndre Aiton that has your confidence in them as a playoff threat increased at all with what you've seen? No, I mean, look, I'm the one that told you. I mean, we had whatever we did, maybe two months ago, there's that clip that's still out there of me saying they're going to be a bitch to deal with in the playoffs. I think nobody is beating them in less than six games.

You know what I mean? And I do think that there, you know, there's a lot of guys on that team that have never taken any lumps. And what we learn over the years is that almost always you have to lose before you win. You have to develop those playoff scars, those moments at the end of the game. Now it is a little different because they've got Paul running the show. And so, you know, a lot of times the scars come with. you know, what do you do at the end of games? You know, we were talking earlier about that, the epic Grizzlies Nuggets game last night.

Well, the Grizzlies are up by 12 with three and a half minutes left. They got outscored 14 to 2 down the stretch. It's a young. It's the youngest team in the NBA that does this regularly, right? Because I watch them all the time. It's the youngest team of the NBA that, like, you got to learn how to win games in these close games against an amazing player. Yokic knows exactly where he wants to go and exactly what he's going to do down the stretch. And so typically that happens to teams in the postseason. You saw Denver have to take

their lumps. They come back the next year and they're in the West finals. They know exactly who they are and what they want to go to the last five minutes of the game, you know, when they had Murray and Yokage. And what is that outside of Chris Paul with the sons? And it's a lot of times trial by fire, you know, you're down 100 to 99 and now you got to go make the play. Right. And it's the first time through, you know, whereas you usually playoff teams a lot of times, you know, they've been through there. They've developed those scars over the years of losing. And so I think they're very dangerous. I also, it's hard to roll with a team as a major threat.

And I'm talking like being the NBA finals. Like when they, you know, when they haven't lost any playoff games as a group, it's first time through. I mean, I'm with you completely, Chris. Totally. I mean, like, I'm in full agreement. But I will say this. I think some of their guys on their team have games built to flourish early in the playoffs, even without experience.

I mean, guys are in their roles. There's an understanding of who does what. Chris Paul, Devin Booker, they're the primary initiators of the offense. DeAndre, in as fully embracing his role as being this defensive monster, a finisher around the rim. You have Bridges and Johnson alongside the veteran and Jay Crowder, Crowder, who does have lots of experience. And those guys, Bridges and Johnson play a very specific role.

Be defensive stoppers. spot-op-threes, attack closeouts, make the right play, you know, constantly moving within the flow of that offense. They know what they do. There's like a sometimes with young teams when they first go to the playoffs, like obviously the bright lights of the postseason, especially with fans now coming back into the arena. That's going to be a very interesting variable here for those road games, but or even home games for that matter, too, having fans in the crowd can give you more pressure.

But like, Phoenix, everybody plays within their role. There's a lot of stars within their roles. Bridges, Aiton, Johnson, Jay Crowder. If there's one young team that could make a run, it wouldn't surprise me if it is Phoenix. Because of that, this team gets it. They get it. The other thing that benefits them is they play half-court basketball.

Yeah, that's true. Right? And so many of these, so many of these playoff games slow down a lot, and especially the last three minutes of the games when it's winning time, they got Chris Paul on their team. And the guy is a bona fide closer. And fuck, man. Yep.

It's like Book may never have played a postseason game, but I would not bet against Devin Booker in the last two minutes of a playoff game. Yep. Chris Paul last night passed Magic Johnson. He is now fifth all time on the all-time assists list. Unreal. Fifth, behind Mark Jackson, Steve Nash, Jason, kid, John Stockton. Wow.

That's wild. Unbelievable. So over he has 10,145 assists for his career. Does Chris Paul? And you know what? You know what's insane? Is that, you look at that and you're like, my God, what an unbelievable career he has had. And 10,000 assists and he's still going.

And then you look up at the top and John Stockton is almost 4,000 assists ahead of everybody. John Stockton had 15,806 assists. Number two is Jason. kid 12,091. What in the hell? 4,000 more assists than the next guy? That is just ludicrous, to say the least. And we're talking about do I feel any, do I feel like they are more dangerous now than maybe I would have a couple of weeks ago or maybe a month ago?

And we have been effusive in our praise in how good. have been this year. But there is a team that I think that I probably do feel differently about now than I did a few weeks or a few months ago. I am starting to believe more in the Clippers. Ah, the Clippers. I was reading this thing yesterday in the New York Post. The article was by Jonathan von Tobel. and it was from a gambling perspective and it was about futures

and about how people still have the nets and they still have the Lakers and they're holding on to those tickets. But he goes on and he talks about what's going on with the Clippers. And he says since the All-Star break, the Clippers have been the best team in basketball. They're 16 and 5 straight up and they have a plus 9.6 net rating. They have an even better offense than the Nets, averaging 117 points per 100 possessions.

They've shot 42% on, let's see, 42% on 35, I'm sorry, on 35, 3 point attempts per game, 42% from 35, 3 point attempts per game. And he said health has been a concern for them in the past, but Kauai Leonard has played 46 of 59 games. Paul George has played in 44 games and that they are just 7.000. one possessions away from matching their total of possessions last year. And then it goes on and he quotes cleaning the glass and basically how this year with the Clippers, everything has flipped for them as compared to their peers.

They were the team that just didn't have the minutes logged together as a unit. It says when Leonard and George are on the floor, they outscore opponents by 17.1. points per 100 possessions. Nasty. What the hell? They also have a defensive rating of 108.1. They played over 700 more possessions than LeBron and AD for the Lakers and nearly 1,400 more possessions than Kyrie, Durant, Ann Hardin. And so we'll kind of see if it, you know, what happens as time goes on. But I did think it was rather interesting. Of course, they've lost Surge about

with the back injury, Patrick Beverly's still out. But just this whole idea of, hey, I don't know if you've noticed, but this team has been 16 and 5 since the All-Star break. And obviously, we've got this all-MBA performances out of Paul George. It's fascinating. I am a bit persuaded by that, Kev. What about you? Yeah, I mean, they're a contender. They are a contender.

I'm not so sure that my views have changed with them too much. I think they're still in it. They've always been in any time you have Paul George and Kauai Leonard and some of the supporting cast that they have. I mean, they're an intriguing team, man. It's kind of interesting how differently some of these teams are constructed entering the postseason. With star bigs, you know, Yokic, AD, you have the clippers with star wings and kind of a rotation of different styles of bigs. You have DeMarcus cousins getting some minutes on his 10-day contract, O'Too, young big man now entering the entering the their rotation. They just have a completely different style and they can throw out different

types of lineups. You have Rondo in there now. You can throw out Terrence Mann, play some small ball. I like that the fact I bring this all up to say is that I think one of the important components of winning in the postseason today is lineup adaptability, lineup versatility with playing different styles. And the clippers have enough depth to play different styles with their adaptable superstars and Kauai Leonard and Paul George. So to me, that's a recipe for postseason success as long as you're getting this version of Paul George, not pandemic P, and as long as the chemistry stays pretty good, it seems good right now.

So if those two factors work in their favor, they have the ingredients to be the team hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy. Here's the question. The question is last year, Denver, you know, Clippers vomited all over themselves in the bubble and they end up blowing that late. They had a dominating lead three to one on the Nuggets, and then they absolutely blew it. And so our perception is always going to be.

That's the team that blew it, maybe not as worthy of believing in. That being said, outside of a healthy Lakers team, do you think anybody would beat, you think any of these other teams would beat them? There are two teams that have better records than them right now. But I certainly would,

I think I would ride with the Clippers more than I'd ride with Utah. or or a Phoenix. Yeah, I'd pick the clippers over them. So the Lakers would be the only team we think could knock them out at this moment. I mean, I say that in the sense that I think it would be one hell of a series. Like Utah and Phoenix are no joke.

Those teams are really, really good. So like that's not to diminish anything about them. I think that could be like a seven game series easily. Well, and the other thing is what? But like if you're picking it, like just to answer like finish answering,

because I think, the slight edge would go to the team with the more experience that's been through it. So in that sense, I go clippers. The other thing is you don't know you're going to react,

right? If they lose one of the first two games, they go on the road, they lose game three. Now all the, are they the team that has the medal? You know what I mean? Do they still have the problem of

in that locker room, somebody, they need somebody that's going to walk in and say, this is not happening. This is not happening. This is not. happening, right? Because they didn't have that last year, right? You got guys, you know,

putting their clothes on and walking out of the locker room and not really talking about stuff and, oh, we got to figure it out or we'll be better next game or whatever. Like, what I'm talking about when when the going gets tough, do they have somebody that's going to, right? Because that's not, we know that is not the leadership mode of operation for Kauai or George. And so will they miss that? and maybe Rondo's that guy. I think that's what they hoped. That's why they gave something up for him, right? Yeah, exactly.

Yep. No doubt about it. And I mean, ultimately, sometimes a change of voice is what's needed. And like they replace the coach, Doc Rivers to Ty Lou. They bring in Rondo to be a voice in that locker room. And, you know,

that's the conversation that Blazers fans have been having. They're frustrated with their team. They feel like the team should be better than 29th in defense. So they should be more consistent on offense. And a lot of Blazers fans have been pointing. the finger at Terry Stotz, their long time head coach. And there was a report from Jason Quick, you know, with Terry Stotz, going to be the coach to the rest of the season,

but it's unclear if he will be beyond this season. So we might see that conversation coming up in the next month or so. Will Terry Stats be the long-term head coach of the Portland Trailblazers? But, like, sometimes that's what it takes. Even if you have a good coach or you have some good players, you need the right voices in there. So, Clippers seemed to fix an issue. him. They tried to blame him before and

Damon C.J. went and said this is not his fault. Exactly. This is our fault. You know what I mean? Don't put this on him. So, I mean, man, you have your, again, you'd have to have that conversation with those guys. Terry Stott's, I believe, will keep his job until Damien Lillard says, you know. Yeah. I agree. I mean, I think Damien Lillard is a lot of pull. Yeah. If they come to him and they say, hey, we're thinking about getting rid of Terry,

we really want to do this. And he's, you know, v. Mealy mouths or even like, okay, well, you know, look, I'll support whatever you want to do or whatever, rather than the last time around, they really went to bad for him. They said, hey, we're thinking about

getting rid of Terry Stott's, and they said, the hell you are. This is, do not blame him. Do not make him fall on this sword because it's not his fault. And so, Terry Stott's a good coach. I mean, all these guys,

you can poke holes in every coat that there is. That guy's a good coach who has developed a lot of players over the years. Yeah, I mean, he's, I think Blazers fans would probably be shouting right now. Why doesn't he call timeout sooner when a team is on like a 19 to one run? Like I'm just saying, I'm being on behalf of like Blazers fans here, but there's a lot of guys.

I'm saying every coach has their problems. And the thing with the Blazers is, is I think you can look at that team and say, okay, so let's say Terry Stott's gets replaced with Greg Popovich. Problem solved? I don't think so. I don't think that solves the problems, which is why with Portland, I was so low on him, low on them before the season.

I see an undersized back court. I see a lack of defensive talent on the team. And they're 29th in defensive rating this season. I see little reason for that to be better than it has been. And I don't think Terry Stott's can fix this defense. To me, it's more of a personnel issue above anything else. And I just don't know what the solutions are there for the Blazers. It's going to be a very difficult.

next year or so, this off season with whatever changes they might make to try to maximize Damien Lillard, maximize Dame and CJ maybe. But Portland has a lot of issues that go beyond the coach. I think it's a little easy to point the finger on him when it goes beyond that. It goes beyond like voice. Because even with the clippers, it hasn't just been changing the voice. The clippers have also had personnel changes too, going from Harold to Ibaka, among other changes they made.

So it's not just a coaching move that needs a change for Portland. It's a lot more. It gets complicated. Speaking of coaching, one that I do agree with the fan base, with their problems with, is Stan Van Gundy.

Because Stan Van Gundy, we keep on waiting for this Pelicans team to maybe turn a corner. And every time you think that, hey, now Zion's killing it every game and you're starting to see those crazy numbers come across the bottom.

line. Like maybe they're going to, you know, hit a run here. Maybe they're on to something. Then the next thing you know, they're playing a game over the weekend. And Stan Van Gundy, after the game says, today with 7.8 seconds left, high school guys would have done what they're supposed to do. And he was referring to two pretty boneheaded mistakes. Bledsoe, who was supposed to foul Derek Rose, and he didn't. And then Lonzo Ball wasn't supposed to leave Reggie Bullock wide open at the three point line. And he did. But, you know, this is a massively frustrated coach who has never been scared to say anything

on a microphone. But it's a team that just hasn't responded to that coach either throughout this year. And so I just, I cannot, I can't fathom a circumstance unless there's some miracle run they get into the top dead that I really think this is going to be a one year deal. I think that there, I was telling the story to somebody yesterday about, I covered Mike Furtello years ago, who coached the Grizzlies. And Furtello was from that old age where those players, a lot of those guys, like they played and he was a great coach in terms of getting them prepared. But those guys, they just resented the hell out of him.

I mean, they just did. They just, you know, he's that old school. byway or the highway, you know, this is what we do. You are going to be an amazing physical shape. And then not really relating to the players in any other way, particularly off the court, that that can become, it can become very grating. And I do think that that kind of mode of operation, it's, I think that guy is pretty well extinct. And I know people can bring up Tibbs.

Tibbs has always been had a way with players and making players better. And they also, you know, they win so much more than they're expected to win typically when they're playing for the Tibbs team. And then when things don't go well, guess what? They all say it grates on them and they play too many minutes or whatever else. I just think if you want to act like Van Gundy or Tibbs or any of the old school guys, you got to win like hell. You really do. do you think David Griffin made a mistake hiring Stan Van Gundy? There's no question.

What? Do I think he made a mistake? They stink. They should not be that bad. It should not be. I agree they should be better. It feels like a team where Van Gandhi's voice isn't being heard, and it's hard not to hear his voice.

But I do wonder, it's probably also easy to tune it out. And I wonder if that's what's happening here with New Orleans, where the voice is just being tuned out already. the end of the season. This is why I had concerns about it immediately. People could go back and they could look at this video. There's a video that JJ Redick did.

He was on like one of those Zoom calls or whatever. And this is at the beginning of the season. And they were talking to like the preseason media session. Okay? And he's talking about how excited you to be back united with Stan or whatever. And he even like says like the F word in the thing. And he's like, oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm really excited to be back with Steyer.

so we could do all our wind sprats of all. And I'm thinking of myself as I'm watching it. I'm like, like he obviously is not very excited for this and who they hired to be their coach and whatever else. And that just plays. Like that's the veteran on the team. You know what I'm saying?

And he's like kind of rolling his eyes about it at the beginning. And I'm like, geez, man. You know what I mean? Like it's not that it's not fun playing for Stan Van Gundy. You know what I'm saying? It's hard. It's hard to play for Steve and Eddie. It's hard, right?

And I don't think that, I just don't think it plays now. So when you ask me, does it, is it a mistake? Of course, it's a mistake. Because I don't think it plays right now. And there is, it is without debate. That team does not respond to him. That's, no one can debate that. Right.

And you got, you got some real players on that team. They should be better. What did you think about the Zion comments? About New York? Yeah. I thought it was very. very bizarre to see him so insanely happy. I'm glad you asked about that, he says.

Like, what is happening here? Have you ever seen him look so giddy? Zion is usually pretty good, like, PR, like, trained. You know, he gives good answers, honest answers usually, but a lot of the time, he doesn't say a lot. He said a lot there. I mean, I get it. Players always talk about how much they love playing.

in New York. That's a thing, right? But when you team that up with, they lost a game and there's a level of misery that comes along with what's happening with their season, typically, right? Like, you don't see that happen. And yet there it was, as he's talking, and he's like, I'm so glad you asked that, you know, and he's talking about how great it was. And I don't know, man, And like I don't know. Like the, you know, I brought up the JJ thing. And I don't know how much you've kept up with the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the redic stuff after he went to Dallas. But, I mean, there were, he was very vocal about how he really feels like he got stabbed in the back and that he was lied to, betrayed, whatever else.

And that wouldn't have as much significance, except for the fact he does share an agent with Zion. Yeah. an agency like CAA. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, like if you do feel like, hey, these guys ain't loyal, these guys aren't on the up and up, these guys just screwed our guy. They can't, they're not to be trusted, blah, blah, blah.

I just, everybody always signs their rookie extension and whatever else. But except for Porzingis is really like the only kind of one that we have as an example. But I don't know, man. Like, I do think I told you this a couple of years ago. go that and it hasn't happened yet, but there's going to come a time where one of these guys they do the bolting before the eight years. And they look around.

And they say, I ain't doing this. I ain't doing this. You know what I mean? And Zion's qualifying, and like Zion's qualifying offer is about 17 million for the 20, 23, 24 season, long time away. And I saw some stuff on NBA Twitter yesterday, and I think the day before about how like it can be

annoying that this is a conversation about a player in a small market in the second year of his deal of being lured from a big market next team already like already this conversation people saying like this is what ruins you know basketball instead of just appreciating the game and I disagree with that because I think you can talk about both we all season long we've talked about Zion and the brilliance of watching him and how fun it is to watch him and but you can also talk about the business side of things in that yes there's never been a player not to take the qualifying offer, you know, like a max qualifying, max extension, sorry.

And then no player has ever taken the rookie qualifying offer instead. But with the way salaries are so large now, there will be a day it happens. And from a business standpoint, talking about the game of basketball, it is fascinating to think about what decisions players are going to make moving forward. There is immense pressure on the pelicans to build. a winning team around Zion Williams and before his restricted free agency, before he hits restricted free agency. There's immense pressure.

So we can ignore that and talk all about the good stuff, about how fun it is to watch Zion, how nice the future is for the Pelicans. But the reality is that David Griffin, Stan Van Gundy, the people who are tasked with building this team and the system around Zion are under an extreme amount of pressure to get it right. or else that conversation will be real in a couple years from now. Kevin, look, guess who nobody's talking about that with?

John Moran, nobody's talking about that. Yeah, because the team is looking good. It's nice. It's a good system. It's not even a concern. Yeah.

And he's happy. It's not a conversation, you know, with Luca because the team looks, looks good around them. You know, you can see potential moving forward. I don't think that there's got a couple of time

where guys risk the whole, like, don't do it. What I think will happen is it will just usually we've had to wait until like those second big contracts, right? It just happens early. So he'll have made it all NBA by that point. So he'll be that max, super max, whatever extension. You go ahead and you sign that. But then immediately after you do, now it's, this isn't right. I want to get out. Yeah. And that's that's the scary part. you look you you you get the bag first kev like that's the that's the wise thing to do as a no there's no financial advisor that is going to tell you to risk it like they're never

turned out 200 plus million dollars you're never you're never making that back i promise you as as as as as as as as as as misharable as uh the aaron fox may be this morning when he looks at his bank account it makes him a little less miserable because you can't turn down $180 million. Here's the thing though, Chris. Like there may come a day though where a player uses the threat of taking the qualifying

offer, like saying, if you don't if you don't trade me, I will take the qualifying offer. That's what Porzenghis did. Essentially the Porzingis game plan. You know, like that day will come with that type of player. And I don't know when it's going to happen. It may not be

Zion. It could be somebody else who's not even in the league yet. But that day will come. And that's why I think it is worthy of conversation, or at least having in the back of your mind. And I hope for Pelicans fans, like, I hope Zion is there a long term. I hope Zion wins with that team. I would love to see a small market team flourish. Like, I'm happy to see Memphis doing well for you guys right now, Chris. It's great.

But like the threat is always going to be there. And it's a real. Look, I mean, and the truth is with New Orleans, they pissed away eight years of Anthony Davis. They did. Yeah, they did. That hurts. That hurts in the... Exactly.

You know what I mean? It's like the next guy. Does the next guy want to sign up in... It just over time... In Minnesota when they, you know, they're going to end up pissing away. Seven, eight years of Carl Anthony Towns. You know? Hopefully not.

Hopefully not moving forward. I mean, they did it in Phoenix with Devin Booker until now, right? I mean, people... Draymond Green got fined for going on TNT and saying, get Devin Booker out of there. You know, me, get him out of there. Right? I mean, it's like, these, these friends... franchises if you do it, if you don't build properly when you've got great players to be able to build around, then, you know, I do think it is hard for people to have a tremendous amount of sympathy.

And that, that Pelicans, Steve, they screwed that up this year. Again, you can get it all right next year. Hell, if you got Zion Williams, then you got a chance to be awesome. And I would imagine that there'll be a playoff team, you know, for several years in a row. and then by the time, this all may look silly by the time he's in his fourth year. But they could always take a grand risk trade for Bradley Beal and Bradley Beal might be happy there and resign long term and you might be competing for championships. Like that's what it could be. That could be, you know, the coming years.

But you don't, you don't know what path it's going to go. Another young player in a small market that has flourished this year was Lamello Ball. I thought you were going to say Alexei Pokershevsky. I was not. I was not going to say, Poku. I was going to say, are his ankles okay from this weekend?

He had six blocks, Chris. Just check it on. Let's look at him. He's nine foot tall. I mean, good grief. Of course he had six blocks.

The Lamello Ball, who unbelievable news yesterday, that Lamello Ball is going to be back. So Lamello Ball, who, you know, the wrist injury sounded really bad. And now it appears as if he is all healed up.

He is cleared for basketball activity. And what I read yesterday was the end of April, which, I mean, look, it's almost the end of April. We're talking like a week away. Yeah, a week away. And I certainly did not think that there was a chance that we were going to be seeing him back in a uniform this year. but they are still totally in the playoff hunt.

I mean, there is a chance that we are going to see playoff Lamella, which, no matter. Again, and I was talking about taking your lumps. I mean, at least you get your, you know, your feet wet and you're playing in the playoffs. Now, do they have a chance of getting Hayward back, too, if they can hold the fort down? I believe there's a chance. Okay. Yeah, I mean, because if they could get Hayward back, I mean, at least it makes for, you know, fun, competitive.

and if nothing else, we get Eric Collins in the playoffs. My mind is blown. I love him. Oh, Terry! We got to get Eric Collins out here. We got to get him on the misbench. It's so good. I mean, it's once a week.

I love it, man. Yes. Anybody can go to House of Highlights their Twitter feed. They put together like Eric Collins mixtape yesterday. It's like a minute and a half. phlog and it is just euphoric. Yeah, it's euphoric. Exactly. It's pure joy. That's what it is. I love it. I love Eric Collins.

I love his voice. I love how excited he gets. It would be great, though, if we got Hayward back to and got Lamello. I don't know, you know, Charlotte has dropped down in the standings, but, you know, they make the little run here. It would be fun to see them in a, in a first round series. Nonetheless. And who knows? I mean, they got some dangerous players on their. their team. Terry may don't go on your head. Eight right now.

Now. And they're two and a half up on the Pacers for the nine way up on the polls. So they might not fall to nine. They might keep the seven, eight spot. We'll see if they can move up though. They're two behind the Knicks who are just rolling right now. But whatever would have the match up with Brooklyn. That's what I want. Yeah. That's what I want. I want to see Lamello versus Brooklyn in that first round. I mean with no expectation of them winning just for fun. That would be really a good You know what I mean? I love that.

Yeah, because that makes that first round series a lot more interesting than a typical 1-8 would be because at least you've got probably the rookie of the year. And I also think this makes it so Lamello can win rookie of the year, don't you? I agree. Now he'll be able to win that award. Now he's back in the lineup, back relevant. He can win that award. One last thing before we get out of year, they have announced, we've gotten a lot of dates for how next season's going to go.

they've announced free agency. And the NBA has said it's going to begin on August 2nd. And it is going to end or they can sign contracts starting on August 6th. And so being that that is the very first weekend of August, in the past, that has always been kind of that signing contract. That has always been the week of Summer League. And so they have not announced a date yet for Summer League, but I will say that it's always lined up with Summer League where free agents have just been signed or guys have signed extensions, whatever it may be in free agency during that time. And so maybe that gives us a hint, right? I hope we get Summer League.

How cool would it be? It's summer league. Nice big NBA event. Oh yeah. Before a short and off season again. Also Kate Cunningham and Jalen Sugs and Boblingham. All the names. Oh yeah.

So many good players would be there. It would just be kind of, it would just be such a nice NBA event. Here's the other thing, Kev. Also this year, I was just thinking about this the other day. You typically do not see

second year guys as much. You'd probably see them more. You'd see a ton of them. Yeah, I bet. Because they didn't do it last year, and they didn't really have the training camp the same way and all that. So they will inevitably send their second year players a lot more than they have in the past. So you could have basically two summer leagues in some cases, obviously the Lellows and whoever aren't going to play in it. But honestly, Zion and John, those guys didn't really play in it either, you know, maybe a game or maybe.

I think Zion played a game, right? They caused the earthquake. Yeah, right. Well, no, he ruined Kevin Knox's career. Yeah. I was there. Just ripped the ball away from him under the basket. And Kevin Knox has never been the same.

Is he still around? Kevin Knox? Yeah, he's still around. Oh, yes. He's still playing. He's not thriving yet, but he's still around. The Knicks have been so good. You know, I didn't feel that earthquake.

I was moving. I was walking outside the arena as it happened. I was like in a quick, brisk walk trying to move outside. I didn't feel the earthquake until like just the last moment. Do you know what's insane? You know who I was with? I was eating pizza with Jaron Jackson Senior. Wow.

In the aria. Yeah. And my stool at the bar started shaking like crazy. And I'm like, what is up with this stool? And he goes, that's an earthquake. And I said, what? He said, it's an earthquake. And he was like, I could see on his face.

Like, he was dead serious. And I was like, he's like, I've been in one. He's like, that's what that is. And I'm like, no. And you could see like stuff like kind of like shaking and rattling above and whatever. And I mean, I was like terrified. I didn't know what the hell was going on. I was like, does it mean this building about to collapse?

It's kind of, the only earthquake I ever really felt was when I was at my old apartment in L.A. And I heard this weird sound like in the walls. And then I looked at the wall and saw my guitar is swaying back and forth. I was like, oh my goodness. It's freaky. Yeah, and I stood up and it felt like I was like on a ride because I pulled my guitar off the wall, which I probably shouldn't have done. But they were safe, I think. But it's just a weird feeling.

The sounds you hear, the sensation you feel, it's very unusual. It's very disarming. Like, you're just, it's scary, man. It's scary. It puts into perspective, you know, just everything that can happen, you know, like with mother. other nature. So much that's out of our control. Absolutely. You know, Kevin is always a pleasure. What's the void this week? We are doing a video on RJ Barrett.

Oh, nice little RJ breakdown. I'm looking forward to it, recording that later today. He's gotten better and better and better. Yeah, it keeps going to getting better. He's improving, right? Someday, it might be better than John Morant. We may get slow down, slow down. Holar me when he has 36. on the road on the third night in four games for third game in four nights

on campazzo yeah Capazo was biting his ankles the whole night Campazzo's got some pretty good defense sometimes little idiot I can't stand to him I want you ever bring his name up to be again

all right on Friday I will thank you to producer Sasha as always and we will talk to you on Friday have a good week everybody Thank you.