The Ringer NBA Show - Ep. 42: Contenders and Panic-Button Teams With Tim Bontemps

Episode Date: November 10, 2016

The Ringer's Chris Vernon welcomes Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post to discuss Stan Van Gundy's rant, God Shammgod's influence on Harrison Barnes (4:42), the toughest competition for the Warriors i...n the West (11:40), and five teams that need to worry (25:14). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:11 Welcome to the Ringer NBA show. I'm Chris Martin. Today joining me is Tim Bontems from the Washington Post. What's up, Timmy? What's up, Verno? How are you doing, buddy? So yesterday was an interesting day because you were around the Golden State Warriors, and Stan Van Gundy earlier in the day was very, how do I say this? He really went in. Yeah, he was really outspoken. He really went in on Trump becoming the president. What was was it like to be around an NBA team and such a celebrated NBA team? Did you, Kerr did speak on it? Did you sense that other guys were worried about talking about it, or did they talk about it freely? I think the guys that did talk about it, talked about it pretty freely. I mean,
Starting point is 00:00:59 David West kind of went pretty deep into their career. It's a bunch of young guys that are kind of afraid of. Not everybody talked about it, but I mean, I think it's in the NBA or not. It didn't seem that way for sure. And it seemed like a lot of people were supportive of what Stan Van Gundy had to say. I mean, you just don't see that all that much, right? I mean, Van Gundy went on a six-minute diatribe about the matter. You see a lot of the diversity stuff that was said during the president. All the years began in January.
Starting point is 00:02:51 It's something. Last night you were at that Warriors Mavericks game. Maverick said a bunch of guys, and so I don't know how much you can take away from last night's game. But, I mean, Clay Thompson got going a little bit for once, right? Yeah, I mean, he finally had some shots, which was good. I mean, I ended up writing about Harrison Barnes for today, given that he played the first. Harrison Barnes has gotten a lot better.
Starting point is 00:03:36 But, yeah, I mean, they sat. You know, they had Dirk Novitsky and Matthews, Andrew Bogot. I mean, when the ball was tipped, you pretty much knew that. And then when they were down 30 at halftime. It was already time to go home. Even full strength, it seems like this is going to be a long year for Dallas. I think so. I mean, I didn't think they were going to make the playoffs
Starting point is 00:04:10 and the magician, so I had that 8th seed for a while, but yeah, it's hard to and see that they're going to get into the point because they're just not. They just don't have the the other teams. They're going to be fighting for those spots, too. So you're writing about Harrison Barnes.
Starting point is 00:04:43 Do you think Barnes really has gotten a lot better? Or you think that Barnes was just, I mean, he was, you know, he's cast as a role guy on that on that Warriors team. And so he is one of those guys that when given greater opportunity, he's got the talent to be able to show out? Or do you legitimately think he's a better player than he was in Golden State?
Starting point is 00:05:04 No, I legitimately think he's gotten better, Berneau. I mean, for one thing, his handles are a lot better. Mavericks hired God, Sham God, as a... What? Like, last year, he could knock down an open shot. He could post up. But he wasn't a guy that you could kind of isolate on the wing and have him get by a guy and get the bucket.
Starting point is 00:05:38 but, you know, in these first eight games, you know, you've seen the guys get to the rim. I definitely think I'm so that I think is partly why he's been better because the Babs have kind of said pumped him up, confidence up. But I also do think that he's made some to allow him to do some more than he could before. God Sham God is a coach helping him? Yeah, he's a player development coach for the maps. I didn't know that. You know, this is... Yeah, no, it's just started this year.
Starting point is 00:06:35 This is crazy. In 1996, I went to the McDonald's All-American game. It's one of the greatest people could go look it up. The roster on it is just insane. It's like Vince Carter and Kevin Garnett and Antoine Walker and Chauncey Bill. I mean, like Paul Pierce, it goes on and on. Tons of Hall of Famers that were in this game. And my parents were cleaning out their house and I had to go like get all my old stuff like you have to do when you get older, right?
Starting point is 00:07:04 Your parents are like, are we just going to throw this stuff away? And then you just move your big box of stuff, you know, from their house to your house. Right. It just goes from their attic to your attic. Anyway, I went through it, and I found this, like, old program. And I guess I had gotten, like, guys to sign it after this McDonald's game. And the two autographs in there, one of them is Paul Pierce, the other one, Shamgod Wells. That was his name in high school.
Starting point is 00:07:31 And I was like, I may have the... That was his name. I was like, I may have the only, like, Sham God Wells autograph that's around anywhere. And, you want to, you want to list, I mean, I'll just, I can just read through the roster. I just looked up that game. Yeah. Loob. They were, like, 12 or 13 NBA guys.
Starting point is 00:08:13 Yeah, 13 NBA players met 95 All-America game. It wasn't incredible. Yeah, and Sham God Wells was that. You know what, the interesting proposition on him real quick, and I'll get back to real business. But do you, like, when he walks by, do you call him God? Like, do people just say, God? Like, I would feel very, very awkward calling a guy God. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:08:37 They call him G. Well, I mean, that's why he went by Sham God Wells because he, you know, he was like a streetball legend in New York, and he went by Sham God Wells until he got the Providence. And then they said, you have to go by your given name. And so that, yeah, I don't know. You'd have to call him G or something, right? Like, if your buddy's name was God, you would. probably.
Starting point is 00:09:11 You can't be like, hey, God. It's even weird to have in your phone, you know. I'm guessing that he has a dribble move named the sham god. I'm guessing people just call them sham god. All right. Your take on the warrior so far? They're bored. Bored.
Starting point is 00:09:34 They're going through the motions, I think, lots and lots and lots of games. But like a team that's been to the finals two years in a row, and even though they do have Kevin Durant on the team now and some new pieces that I think their core guys be up and down at some of these games until we get toward the second half of the season and they start to play. You know, their schedule is very backloaded because the new TV deals having so many national TV games. After the thing, maybe later in the year when they're good teams a lot more, you might see them pretty. And then they get, I think they got outscored by 15 points in the third quarter and kind of let Dallas back into the game. are they going to be as good as you thought they were going to be? I think their peak is going to show it all the time
Starting point is 00:11:00 because I do think they are going to have trouble getting up in the regular season but I think when they get to the playoffs that small lineup a lot of the time and we saw how good that small lineup has been if you now once they get rolling their race when we talked before the season one of the things you said was like all right so the Warriors everybody's got them at the very top who is going to be the greatest competition
Starting point is 00:11:45 And during the conversation, you said, you thought it was still going to be San Antonio and that you weren't that high on the clippers. Have you flipped on that? I mean, San Antonio was bizarrely one and three at home now. And the clippers are rolling. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of funny. Interesting. Just in general, because San Antonio's guard play, I thought, was really going to be an issue for that.
Starting point is 00:12:21 The line is he's a 30, start to go downhill. They already don't have any size to utilize. And then if they don't have the quickness and agility they did before, you know, their skills can kind of decline. River who is always kind of a jitterbug and a speed team. And I think he's lost a step in it, and it showed. You know, they still have a nice bench. I think like last night, they lost a toss-up game to the Rockets.
Starting point is 00:13:28 And, you know, I think once they get into the playoffs, that lack of athleticism on their roster really good. They had one hiccup against the thunder where they played terribly and probably the best bet to be that kind of theme. That same group together forever, D'Andre and Chris Paul. If they do manage to put it together this year, a theme that could give Golden State some trouble in the playoffs. I'll say this.
Starting point is 00:14:38 On San Antonio, the thing with Kauai, like it has not been this way. He has kind of been really awesome, but blended in. Just watching last night, he is, it's almost, it's weird to see the spurs like this because they've always been this well-oiled machine with kind of everybody doing stuff. and he is so far and away, it's better than everybody else on his team.
Starting point is 00:15:01 You know what I mean? Yeah, it's like when Tim Duncan was really good in the early 2000. Yeah, it's like they've never been a superstar, I mean, at least for the last several years, not been like this superstar team, right, where you see the one guy and then there's kind of everybody else, but that's exactly what they look like. He is the superstar, and he really looks like a superstar, and then kind of like everybody else and it's never really, I don't know, it's never looked like that. It's a bizarre watch to see the Spurs so far this year where he has elevated his game and is just otherworldly,
Starting point is 00:15:34 yet, I don't know, you're not used to seeing the Spurs like that, right, being the one guy, the team with the superstar and then the rest of the dudes. Yeah, no, it's like the early, it's like the early 2000s when Tim Duncan was kind of at his peak, right? It's like that they've kind of heard of bite beat after, the Mads game, my saying, he said something I thought was true, which is that, you know, it's amazing that Kauai just gets substantially better every single year. You know, like every year so far of his career, he did before the year to be the MVP of the league, and so he's playing like a guy. Interesting that you say you were with Tim McMahon, he's allowed to watch the Mavericks on the road? He has allowed to watch the Mavericks on their road, yes.
Starting point is 00:16:44 Such a ridiculous, such a ridiculous situation. How is that, how was that like a big story? It's so funny, right, that Tim McMahon and Mark Stein both got barred from covering Mavs games anymore. I mean, you know, it's just a key thing I've heard is that that will be resolved. You better watch what you say, Pontes. You're going to get your credential taken away. What a shame is not going to map.
Starting point is 00:17:38 Damn. The thing about, and let me go back to the Clippers and how good they look. I saw them a week ago in person. Here's the thing, Timmy. They're way deeper. They really are. Like they don't, they used to like, they would have these, you know, this great starting lineup. And then you'd get to their bench and their bench is like you could just run over it.
Starting point is 00:17:57 But I mean, they got like legitimate players, Brandon Bass, West Johnson, Mo Spates, Ray Felton. You know, I'm not real high on Austin Rivers, but like, and Crawford still comes off the bench. Like, they got like legitimate guys. Like, it felt like you just, you know, just get to the point where they put their starters down and you can, and you can rock them. whereas that's really not the case anymore it doesn't feel their bench is not nearly as bad as it's been in the past kind of the same team they've been the last couple of years
Starting point is 00:18:28 in that respect like they've had some decent guys well Felton and Spate helps no look they all help but they they are this year I mean for me it's just more of a thing where I need to see this team it's like they they need this is they have to get to the conference
Starting point is 00:18:56 finals this year it's like you know you look around the west Obviously, the Thunder took a step back in Utah and, you know, even Memphis. Like none of these teams have been a team that people have been waiting to break. Let's see this team win 60 games, get the two seed, and get to the conference final. The number two team in the West. Like, let's see this, right? And if they could do that and get to the conference final warriors, I think they could really make it interesting.
Starting point is 00:19:50 But they've got to really step up now and show me that they're not going to blow. Even eight games into the season, you can look at like the Western Conference playoff standings, and it's not that radically different than what you would have thought at the beginning of the year, right? The teams that are involved, except for the Lakers. And they're four and four through their first eight games, and they got some good wins. Is this just the beginning of the season? You know, they've taken to Luke Walton, or like, is this going to be a year where the Lakers are not bad? Luke Walden has done an incredible job
Starting point is 00:20:33 so I think the fact that you know and I'm not saying this sarcastically just look at the way he has Nick Young playing like Nick Young was a guy who you know I was in LA last week and everybody
Starting point is 00:20:48 Nick Young was probably going to get cut and play defense and you know work your tail off and you'll get a chance to play and Nick Young not exactly known as a defensive player has gone out there and played great on defense there's 13 points of the
Starting point is 00:21:16 game the other night when they lost it. But he's getting buy-in up and down the roster. And you can just see being around that team. I think some of that is just like Kobe Bryant not being around anymore and just kind of that page being turned. But a lot of it's up to Luke Walton and that team. They're fun to watch. They're also very young.
Starting point is 00:21:45 They're fun to watch. It's great. Like, they're entertaining for years. I think that they're going to struggle still. But, man, like you said, they are very young. very fun to watch. It's a very nice change of pace from what they were before. If they got to what number, it would surprise you, win-wise? I mean, I still think that their high watermark is around 30.
Starting point is 00:22:35 I think I could easily see them selling it up with 25 wins or so. I mean, they're just so young. I think you be getting the 30. I mean, they won 17 games last year, but they get to 30. That's a pretty huge job. But I think regardless of 130 or 32, I mean, I think we've already seen that this is going to be a really positive year for them in terms of developing these young guys and kind of a change in the culture. I think that's going to wind up being a way more important thing.
Starting point is 00:23:13 All right, Tim, we've got to take a quick break and tell about our sponsors today. When we come back, we are going to talk about the five teams that need to start to panic as Tim Bontep's chronicled in the Washington Post. After this, it's officially basketball season, so it's time to ask yourself a crucial question.
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Starting point is 00:25:14 All right, Tim, so you recently wrote an article about the five teams that need to start to panic. We are eight games into the season, Tim. But we are going to start with two teams, one of which you were maybe wrong about, one of which I was maybe wrong about. The first one is a Minnesota Timberwolves. I was appalled when you told me on a podcast about a month ago that the Timberwolves were going to win 50 games. I am going to possibly do my apology in a minute.
Starting point is 00:25:43 Do you want to apologize for saying that the Timberwolves are going to win 50 games? I mean, no, because it's a bold prediction. No, it's not going to look like it's going to happen. No, it doesn't want the Timberwolves for that. Here's a team player in the league in Carl Towns who still think is true. Five or ten coach now in the league at Tom Thibito, which I do think is true. Because they had Tibbs, they were going to be much better on defense all season long. Their defense has been atrocious.
Starting point is 00:26:30 I think are by a combined 18 points, and three of them are by 10. All those games, they had big leads in that they blew, but they didn't. So it's been surprising to see, you know, it is a young team, and Tiz is going to be able to kind of, is not working out so far. I think they still got a chance to be fantastic. Here's a thing, Tim, they got to figure out their pecking order, right? Because the guy that, like, acts like the alpha dog is Levine. Levine, he's the one that, like, at the end of games, he, like, wants the ball and wants the shot.
Starting point is 00:27:32 And they need that to be Wiggins, right? They need... Well, no, no, no. They need it to be Carl Towns. I think that's part of their problem is they're not getting Carl Towns the ball enough, waiting games. Yeah, well, I'm just saying, I'm centred... Towns has a harder time creating for himself, right? I'm talking about a game-on-the-line stuff, right?
Starting point is 00:27:50 You're in the last couple possessions. It feels like, all right, it should either be Wiggins or Towns, right? yet Levine is the guy that, like, he wants the ball, gets the ball, and many times takes the shot. And so they got a little... I mean, I don't fairly mind that. I mean, he's a better shooter. He can really shoot the ball. But I do think that, to your point, though, their pecking order should be Carl Town is the number one guy.
Starting point is 00:28:24 Right. And we've seen, if you go back and watch a lot of these late games, you know, he hasn't gotten the ball a lot, and the wolves have just missed a lot of shots late that they should have made, whether Wiggins missed a bunch of pre-throwers, Brooklyn the other night, and Levine and Wiggins both missed chip shots in the last couple minutes, driving to the hoop and missing layoffs. Like, they've had a lot of times that take a big leap forward, you know, making a lot of these with them being a little older.
Starting point is 00:29:11 Well, you've got to defend your whole, these are teams that need to start to panic. Are you just saying that because your prediction was so high on the wolves, or do they legitimately need to start to panic? Well, no, I mean, look, it's like, again, it's two weeks into the season, so it's not like you have to start freaking out about all these teams. But look, I mean, if you're one in five like they were before last night, the first couple weeks of the season, I mean, you said it before, Chris, right? When you laid out the Western Conference standings, it's like these already kind of make sense to me, right,
Starting point is 00:29:45 other than the Lakers. So if you get yourself five games, six games out of the play, playoffs after three weeks, it's a lot easier if you're not putting yourself in a giant hole to start the year. And all the teams that I wrote about, either... Should I apologize for saying that the Knicks are going to be pretty good and better than a lot of people expect? Or should I hold on?
Starting point is 00:30:31 Well, I mean, again, I don't think anyone should apologize. I think better than people expect. So if you want to say we're wrong, I guess you can. No, all right, so, fine. And should I forget the apology. Should I preemptively say I was wrong about that? They're three and four. Huge win against the Brooklyn nuts last night.
Starting point is 00:30:52 But I don't like the stuff I'm reading about them like already. You know, and you know what it's like. I mean, hell, you worked for the New York Post for a long time. So you were around that, you know, these New York media guys, like every day there's a new story. And so there's stories coming out about, you know, Hornacek doesn't want to run the triangle as much. Phil Jackson's making Kurt Rambus run the defense because the defense stinks so bad. And so should that all give me like real cause for pause or is that New York media coming up with a new storyline for every day? They're a train wreck.
Starting point is 00:31:28 I mean, they're the next. This is what the Knicks do year after year, right? I mean, this is what they do. I mean, you have Jeff Hornacek installing Kurt Rambis, a coach he has on his staff because Phil Jackson wanted to keep him on the staff because Bill Jackson couldn't hire him to be the head coach. You know, so because it was, you know, politically untenable. So he eventually hires Jeff Hornacek, who then he has him keep Kurt Ramas on the staff. Now Kurt Ramiz's the defensive coordinator, and you had quotes like Jeff Hornacek saying,
Starting point is 00:32:03 it really could have been anyone. You have Anthony going, quote, whether we like it or not, we have to just deal with this. You know, it's like, you know, guys. are grumbling about the triangle. Joe Kim Noah looks shot. You know, I'm not looking good. Go up and down this team, and it's hard to before they didn't start it. I mean, they just realistically look at them multiple years.
Starting point is 00:32:56 We've got those three levels of their defense. And like personnel-wise, I don't know how good you can be defensively with that team anyway when, like, the head is Derek Rose. And then your backbone is Joe Kim Noah. and it's not like we talk about Carmelo Anthony like he's Kauai Leonard
Starting point is 00:33:14 on defense or something, right? So, I mean, you've got the three levels of there's a limit to how good you can even be defensively. I don't care if Kurt Rambis is some kind of defensive wizard, which he's not.
Starting point is 00:33:25 Right, no, exactly. That's an advert, exactly is why I thought they were going to stink. I mean, it's like, you look at their starting, they're a top heavy team, right? Their bench stinks.
Starting point is 00:33:34 And you look at their starting lineup, guard anybody, still decent on defense, but he hasn't even look at a defense so far. Chris Hasporting is probably where he's going to be a tough matchup for smaller guys. As you know from his time in Memphis,
Starting point is 00:33:56 is solid. He's a solid team defender and a solid one-on-one defender, but he's not any kind of defensive stopper by any means. He's not Tony Allen. And he's their best defender by a mile.
Starting point is 00:34:09 It kind of sums up, that kind of sums up the situation that the Knicks are in in. Who's the first coach to gets fired. Man, I think Alvin Gentry is on his last leg, even though he shouldn't be. Pelicans are 0-and-8. They play tonight, Milwaukee, several games late and close,
Starting point is 00:34:53 a couple other really close games. And if they lose a couple more in a row, that's a team that, you know, let's be honest, the guy that hired Brett Brown is no longer there, Sam Hakey. And if, you know, now that Joel and Pete is there, they've got some more talent on the team, they, you know, maybe that's a lot. another team that decides to make a change at some point. Yeah, Gentry's really like the only one right now because he's had his job for a little while.
Starting point is 00:35:44 The rest of these teams that are not doing well, most of them have all switched out guys, right? So, like, you know, Scott Brooks ain't losing his job, and Kenny Ackinson ain't losing his job, and Frank Vogel's not losing his job, and Dave Yeager. And, I mean, you could go up and down the list. Earl Watson just got the job. And then Tom Timito just got the job. Like, I think Gentry's, like, really the only one. I don't know if we're going to see any other possible mid-year firings if it's not him.
Starting point is 00:36:13 Yeah, like I said, I mean, I think him and Brown are both. One of the other teams you said should start to panic was Dallas. You saw them last night. We covered it at the beginning of the podcast. You know, obviously they sat there guys, whatever, but we talked about how this could be a long season for Dallas, even if they get healthy. Let's swap out. Let's swap them out for another team that you already talked about them,
Starting point is 00:36:42 because another team I could have mentioned. I think people should be... Interesting. I have not liked anything I've seen from this Patriot team. Like the Knicks, they look exactly like I thought they were going to. They don't have anybody that can shoot. And like the Knicks, their defense has been got... You look at their starting lineup.
Starting point is 00:37:09 They're starting Jeff Teague and Monta Ellis. You aren't stopping anybody if that's your back court. You know, they... They got Sad Young. They got Al Jefferson. They went and got all these guys that were fine. None of these guys can shoot. Look at their team now.
Starting point is 00:37:38 And Miles Turner, who's a young, athletic big, but still looks like he's trying to learn, you know, positional stuff in the NBA, which always takes. The other person's average or worse on defense. And if you, I don't know if you've gotten the chances to see them yet, Vernal, but, like, they just, they don't think they shoot the ball well enough to win a lot of those track. I think a lot of people were pegging as, like, a top four or five team in the east. And I do not, I do not see that happening at this point. And there's already those quotes, right?
Starting point is 00:38:20 the disturbing quotes from Paul George about how like we don't have any chemistry. Yeah, Paul George went off the other day. Yeah. The last thing you want, especially this early in the season, is talking about how the team has no chemistry and on and on and on. It's usually a bad sign two weeks into the year, Burrough. You know what I mean? Right.
Starting point is 00:38:38 Usually not ideal. He's not real happy with what's going on. That's your best guy. Other teams you said should possibly start to panic, The Washington Wizard? They actually look pretty good last night. I was, I flipped that game on just because I saw the score coming across the bottom line. I was like, what the hell?
Starting point is 00:38:56 Because, I mean, they were beating the Celtics brain. It was like 30 to 8. And I was like, what is going on here? So I flipped it over. Yeah, 35 to 8 after one last night. Yeah, I flipped it over and they're pretty good. I actually saw the Beal injury. And I was like, oh, God.
Starting point is 00:39:09 Because he, it looked like it was a wet spot on the floor. And he, like, his leg just gave out. I thought he, like, hyper-extended his knee. and you know this that kid is like had a hard time playing 65 games if you get 65 games out of Brad Beale I think you almost feel good about it at this point but I saw that last night and then I kept on waiting for the Celtics to like make a big run and make a game of it and they really just never did Washington just stayed on top of them so you had just written that it was time for Washington to start to panic and then of course they had their probably their best performance of
Starting point is 00:39:41 the of the year last night it played well and I mean that I've you know like you know like Like you said, he never stayed healthy. It looked like that was a freak for agent. Like, can he ever stay on the court? If he can, he's got all-star level talent, I think, as a shooting guard. And he can do everything you want as a two. But he hasn't proven. He knows their deep washes others.
Starting point is 00:40:24 Their defense hasn't been great. They should be good on that end. So I think their stuff is more correctable. You know, I had them rank a little higher up the list because they were going into a stretch. And it wound up being one in eight after that stretch. and then it could be like, geez, what's going on with this team? But that was a huge win for them, like you said last night. Not only to, you know, regardless of how much they won by,
Starting point is 00:40:50 the fact that they got a win over the Celtics, that was a really nice step. You know, now if they can, you know, they're probably going to lose to Cleveland, but if they could get that Chicago game, you know, all of a sudden they're, you know, they're back to three and six. Like great, you know, for them was a huge win last night. It's another team I have seen in person, though, and they, their bench stinks, Tim.
Starting point is 00:41:15 That's going to be their issue. It really does. Well, that's the problem, Bruno, because they spent a lot of money on bench players. I mean, they were playing, like, real... Like, Marcus Thornton was playing, like, real minutes for them. And I was like, what? I mean, this ain't 2011. Yeah, I mean, they went and, you know, trade...
Starting point is 00:41:38 The biggest reason their bench isn't bad is been... Trey Burke has been terrible. I don't remember. Before that game last night, Trey Burke was a minus 69 minutes to basically, to give up, to be like a point and a half a minute minus. The other thing is that's really hard to do.
Starting point is 00:42:09 The other thing is like they got the better of the Morris Twins I think and both those, those are some sour kids man, both of them. The Morris Twins like never smiling. Like they got some kind of chip on their shoulder, the Morris Twins.
Starting point is 00:42:25 Every time I see either of them, they're always pissed off. They're pissed off all the time about something. Yes, they do. They always look grumpy. It doesn't matter where. They always look grumpy. Why are they so grumpy all the time, right?
Starting point is 00:42:39 Because they're not with each other. Maybe that's it. They've got to be with each other in order to be grumpy. All right, so earlier, we had kind of rehashed what we thought about the Western Conference and who could be Warriors competition. At least eight games into the season, it certainly looks like the Clippers would be the greatest of competition. You have already besmirched the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Starting point is 00:43:06 You have already besmirched the New York Knicks and some of these others. But if we're trying to figure out, again, we're eight games into the season, who could be Cavs competition? Is it now, are we sold on Atlanta possibly being Cavs competition because of what they were able to pull off the other night? I mean, not really. I think Atlanta swapping in Dwight Howard for Al Holbrod, Orford wasn't going to be a huge downgrade or really any down.
Starting point is 00:43:44 So far, we've seen that to be the case. You know, maybe Atlanta's got a chance to be in the East Final. Like if you want to put them in the same tier as Boston and Toronto instead of in a lower tier, Cleveland is just so much better. To watch almost that entire game live. And, you know, the end of that game, when Cleveland went small with Chaley-Pry's Center, they got literally any shot they wanted. I just did go down.
Starting point is 00:44:41 And, you know, I think most, I think Boston's been all banged up, so probably not a good representative of what they're going to be. Are you higher on Boston or Atlanta? I guess I'm higher on Boston. If they played in a playoff series, I might pick Atlanta to win because I think Atlanta is deeper. They're going to lead to them winning more regularly. When you get into the crucible, top-end talent, four in the east, I think they get to the second round,
Starting point is 00:45:56 which is I think they're playing Boston or Cleveland for sure. I mean, I think they're probably the underdog in all three of them. Then we would have the Horford versus Dwight. That would be pretty interesting. and I will say this. That would be interesting. Stop overlooking Isaiah Thomas. People have been doing that his whole life.
Starting point is 00:46:15 He didn't even mention him. Isaiah Thomas is, I don't think he's one of the 25 best players in the league. I think that Isaiah Thomas can have the ball in the stands all that go deep in the playoffs. When I think, you know, they remind me of that Denver team a couple years ago. They won 56 games, George taught the first round. Like they feel good players, page that when you get into the playoffs really. Last thing. When we last spoke, you had moved from New York out to California. What is life in California like? As a guy, you've been an East Coast guy forever, right? And now you're a West Coast guy. So what do you like?
Starting point is 00:47:51 It's very weird. It's very weird, man. It's been a lot of fun, but. You're tanning, getting your eyebrows waxed, you know, if you go on the... It's not L.A., man. It never gets above about 65 years, so there's not a lot. lot of that but um no it's it's it's it's it's been fun but it's very different uh the pace of the pace of life is very different you got to like the weather at least right weather is great weather is great um being in mid-november and having it be 65 degrees is i can definitely get used to tims you the man thanks brother anytime burno happy to come on there's another edition of the ringer nba show thanks to all of you for
Starting point is 00:48:57 Listening, go give us a rating and review on iTunes if you dig what we're doing, and we'll talk to you next week. Once again, I want to thank Sling TV. It's finally basketball season. Where are you watching the games at a crusty old sports bar or crammed onto a friend's couch? You can do better. Sling TV. You can watch NBA games on your terms and your turf. The Sling Orange Service has hoops on ESPN and TNT, plus more live TV on top networks, all for 20 bucks a month.
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