The Ringer NBA Show - New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets Check-In With Mike Scotto | Weekends With Wos

Episode Date: December 30, 2022

Wos is joined by NBA writer and HoopsHype podcaster Michael Scotto to discuss all things New York basketball and what the future has in store for both the Knicks and the Nets. Host: Wosny Lambre Guest: Michael Scotto Producer: Devon Manze Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Peace! We're out of here. Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to the latest edition of weekends. I'm your host, Big Wads, aka Wazni Lambray, and I'm joined by my brother, man, former colleague. He was my running mate over at the Athletic. He is the national NBA guy over at Hoops Hype these days. My Paisan.

Mike Scotto, what's going on, brother? It was good, my guy. Great to be on. When I got that text, this was a definite, yes, the amount of accent that's going to be flowing through this is going to be. like the wine on Christmas for the Paisons. Listen, listen, these people need to know I'm walking over here. Hey, why don't you walk to the back of the line with your feet and stand there with your shirt, all right?

They're guys. Exactly. Exactly why I wanted to have you on today, man, because I do, I did want to talk about the two New York squads because I just think they've been having an interesting last six weeks or so. and you are one of the most plugged in, both Knicks and Nets writers out there, period. You're hitting the pavements, you're talking to people. You really understand these teams quite deeply inside and out.

So I really wanted to just take a temperature check with you. And I wanted to start with the Knicks, man. You know, these guys finally sort of write the ship when eight games in a row, I believe it was. They get four and a year to hell up out of that. damn starting lineup. Finally, Summer League, by the way, legend.

Were you at Summer League last summer summer where Grimes was just completely and utterly unstoppable? You know, Mr. Untouchable, they inject him into the lineup but things just start clicking for them, right? Like they start looking like

an actual team, a team that could compete for a playoff spot, not just, you know, a run-of-the-mill show up and get bounced in one playing game. And then, of course, because it's a long season, they hit a Schneider-beater against the Bulls. Heartbreaking, just heartbreaking loss against Dallas. I don't know what the hell happened against San Antonio last night.

But I did want to get from your vantage point, how did the streak come about? And what do you think they were starting to get right? Sure, Waz. I mean, first off, you know, when you talked about that collapsee of the night in Dallas, I had Reggie Miller flashbacks, I really did. the way they choke that one away. You know, no CPR on hands for that. But I would say when you look at the Knicks, man,

this is what I tell people. When they had the winning streak, the first thing Tom Tibido did was go with his guys. All right. Now, two guys have been banished to witness protection in the witness protection program, Cam Reddish and Everfornier. It seems like after the Dallas game,

Reddish and Tibbs weren't on the state. same page. And after that, we haven't heard from him since. What Tibbs did was go with two of his guys that he values. And that's Quentin Grimes, the guy that he was high on as a rookie, which Tibbs does not like rookie. So that's all you need to know. He was also the guy that they didn't want to trade in the Donovan Mitchell talks, which I always find interesting because you always get these guys that, you know, that hold up trades. Like I remember J.J. Hickson held up Amari Stadamai, you know, one year. Timothy Maz got almost killed. the damn Carmelo Anthony trade.

It's like wild stuff. So you better be starring Quentin Grimes and he better be doing well if you didn't get Donovan Mitchell. But the other guy was is Deuce McBride. You know, Deuce is loose. He's the type of Tom Tibido point guard in a sense defensive-minded guy,

going to move the ball. And the last thing is they're playing heavy minutes. You know, the minutes police are out. They've got a warrant for Tom Tibdo because you got Julius Randall, A.J. Barrett, playing 40 minutes a night just about, damn near.

And you've seen RJ, before he got hurt, you know, evidently Luca Donchich is a Wolverine and he, you know, he clawed him in his hand. I don't know if the tendon was showing, the bone, whatever they were saying on the broadcast. Wild scene. But RJ Barrett has always been a slow starter.

His whole career. Every single season. He doesn't play a lot of summer ball. You don't see him in pickup games. That could be a reason why. But in any event, he was starting a, round into form and played better with more minutes. Julius Randall, starting to look like the guy you saw two years ago when he was an All-Star. Again, high usage, a lot of minutes. I just think

that was the biggest thing is that Tibbs went with his guys, went with Grimes, one with McBride, injected more defense into the identity of the team. And then it was RJ and Julius heavy dose on offense. And Jalen Brunson has been a guy that when they first got him, people thought, well, maybe he got overpaid a little bit, but he's been worth every penny. He's been the best point guard they've had in years. Yep. And the other thing I would say, what I find funny wise, I don't know if you see this, but once in a while I'll jump in like a Nick spaces, a net spaces, a Laker spaces.

In Nick spaces, they call Brunson, Barrett, and Randall the mid three. I thought that was hilarious. They got the, you know, you think of the big three across the league and they're the mid three. Now, if they would have got Donovan Mitchell, I thought this team could have been like a sixth seed, okay? But you're seeing the ebb and flow with his team where it's like, to your point, when you asked me, first the win streak, now they're kind of coming back to Earth. I've always felt like this Knicks team was going to hover somewhere around 500, maybe a little less, maybe a little more. They're pretty much where they should be. They didn't get Donovan Mitchell.

I would have had higher expectations if they did. And with that in mind, I think now they're going to be. they're just kind of where they're supposed to be. I know earlier in the year on Twitter and even in some media reports, you know, oh, Tom Tibido might be under the hot seat. But I've always thought this was if Leon Rose and worldwide Western management got rid of Tives, then the hot seat's going on them quicker. Yeah. Yeah.

So to me, that's always like a last resort option for them. I think they are where, again, they're supposed to be at this point overall. And time will tell. But Tibbs is doing what Tibbs does. I mean, he's always been this guy with the minutes. And the Knicks are just where they're supposed to be right now, in my opinion. Yeah, I basically agree with you. I think they have a strong enough team that they could vie for seventh or eighth seed.

Like, they're not going to be vying for home court advantage or anything like that. But I think when they compete, they can make it hard on any team in the NBA. I like what they're doing with the young guys. I really love Sims. I like his size. I like his physicality. I like his motor. Obviously, some of the success on defense coincided with Obie Topping, who going out,

who I'm another person who I like, but I'm not going to pretend that he's been some type of stalwart on defense. But, you know, you said something interesting about the mid three. That's just never going to leave my mind probably to the day that I died The mid-three It's right up there with I remember when Tony Douglas was on the team

And Nick fans on Twitter We're calling him Tony Strugglers But no, but seriously I wanted to get to Julius Randall because I feel like that relationship Between him, the coaches, the fan base

Is always in an up and down It's like a couple that's like, you know, they're breaking up one day, making up the next. What do you think about the state of Julius Randall? Because I feel like he's been invigorated. And it's felt palpable that he's playing with harder. He's playing with more, you know, more energy and more force on both sides of the ball, which isn't always the case for him. How do you feel about where Julius Randall sort of stands with the team?

Because I can say this, in the beginning of the season, I felt like having Randall on a team held them back from their true destiny, which is this young, energetic, you know, figure out what you got, squad with these young guys. And Jalen Brunson, competence. Steady as a rock, competent. But we letting the young guys rip and run and we're going to see what we got. But Randall sort of felt like we're throwing a monkey wrench in that.

What do you feel like he's doing now? I think, you know, when you talk about the relationship with Julius Randall, his teammates, coaches, and fans, it's interesting because he kind of called out the fans a little bit at one point, which I thought was interesting. I mean, he quite literally gave them the middle finger, Mike. That's the thing that happened. Yeah, usually you don't come back from that, but the guy's been putting up 2010 and 5.

With Julius, one question that people had around the league was kind of that bubble year. It's a lot easier to do what he did two years ago when the fans went there. He took a little bit of a step back last year, went into some old habits, you know, pounding the air out of the bowl. ball. But this year, I mean, I'll say this. He's very demonstrative when he wants the ball. He's clearly the go-to guy for them, which I don't think you're winning a championship, certainly, with that all due respect. You can be a playoff team with Julius for sure. And he can make an all-star team, but at least be in the conversation. But their ceiling is a little

bit capped at that point. I think overall, you touched on Obie Topper, which I thought was interesting. You saw the last few games of last year when he got a chance to really play. starter minutes. Guy was putting up numbers. But the Knicks are in this like in-between scenario where they've got a veteran guy in his prime like Julius. You've got Jalen Brunson there. RJ is ascending.

Quentin Grimes is ascending. And you're trying to mesh that together. Mitchell Robinson, ever since his rookie year to now, I would say, has mostly been like this. Maybe a little upward trajectory, but relatively you know what you're going to get. I don't know really what Julius. This is to me, this and the All-Star year two years ago, that was the ceiling you're going to get from him at best.

You've got to decide now if you can get someone that's going to be a bigger star over him in a trade. Like, you know, when they tried to get Donovan Mitchell, they've got their eyes on Zach Levine. They're monitoring him. They're looking for the next star that's going to become available, which I think is, of course, they're going to do that. But at the same time, from a negotiating standpoint, any team that's got a star that is willing to put them on the market and talk to the Knicks is going to try to squeeze them like an orange in Tropicana oranges. You're going to get it all out with no pulp.

That's what you're going to want. And the Rudy-Gober trade screwed up everything for everybody. It's rude. It's rooted from the Durant talks to these guys to Donovan Mitchell. So that's something I would keep an eye on down the line. But, wise, I think you hit it. You know, you said like I think a seven. seed or something like that.

Eight seed is in play for them. It's in the range of outcomes. My thing with Julius Randall is I wonder if the org is ready to just like completely move on, right? Like when you go on an eight game winning streak and, you know, you sort of see that level of success internally, it feels like, okay, this is more of the team that we conceive ourselves of, right? Like, this is who we think we are, the type of team that can rattle off eight

wins in a row put together a four win streak every single month, right? And moving Julius Randall would not seem to fit into that identity. So I wonder, what's your sense of where management is with this guy? Is he like, oh, he's so integral to this winning situation that we have going on? And I say winning with heavy air quotes. Or are they open to getting him out of there as soon as the right deal comes about. I think when you look at the Knicks and what they think of Julius Randall, obviously they think he can be an all-star guy for them, but he can't be the face of the franchise if they want to be a championship team. I think they know that internally. I think internally they know that whether they say that publicly or not. And so with that in mind, I would say to you that,

you know, Ian Begley had touched on recently that they had internal talks earlier in the season about Tobias Harris on the Philadelphia 76ers. Not good enough. I had heard some rumblings about that. I don't think they ever reached out to Philly, to be clear. But what I would say is that is a sense of, how can I describe it? It's like a microcosm of something bigger to me. It makes me wonder, to your point, would they have moved maybe Julius for a shorter-term contract?

And a guy like it, Tobias Harris, for example, as a hypothetical. Again, not reporting a hypothetical. I think at that point, that's kind of where they have to look at because they know they've got RJ locked up and Brunson locked up long term as kind of their back court of the future. They've got to make a decision soon on whether they're going to pay OB Topping. I don't really know if they know what his value is right now yet. You know, Quang, Manuel quickly, excuse me, as a guy that they've been open to moving. And I would say to you, that's one of the.

the reasons too by Derek Rose, I don't see him going necessarily anywhere right now. You know, teams would love to get him playoff caliber teams if they can get a second round, give up a second round pick, but that's not going to move the needle for the Knicks. They think he's a great locker room guy. And if there's an injury to Brunson, as we've seen him, you know, hurt before, Derek Rose can step in and seamlessly. I just think with Julius, he's not untouchable. I would not deem him that at all. They're very, very, very, very, few players in the league I would, to be honest. I think it comes down to what they can find on the market for a star player. They are still in the market for a true star. And I know we joked about it,

but Nick's Twitter space has kind of hit it on the head in a joking way, but true. It is the mid-three. It is not the big three. They are none of those guys are superstar guys. None of those guys, you can guarantee me you're getting a basket for you in crunch time when you need. Even though Brunson's played winning basketball and Julius has played, you know, has put up good stats. They're good secondary parts on a team that really matters. They can't be the main engine of a team that has, you know, the highest of expectations. But, you know, to me, the Knicks got to crawl before they walk. Like, win a first round series, right?

You know, like, get a six seed where you're not even in the playing game. And then let's talk about having these lofty-ass goals. where you have all of these great kind of players. Well, that was the problem was real quick, is when they did better in the bubble than people thought, I think that set a little bit of unrealistic expectations. And they went out and they spent on Evan Fournier, they spent on Kemper Walker.

Kemper Walker, you know, is in Dallas right now. And he didn't make it through, you know, every guy that comes home to the Knicks. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work out. And you got Evan Fornier, who, again, was a witness protection program for 22 games before he just got off the bench and did his thing the other night. All right.

So the last thing I want to do when I touch on the Nix is the RJ part of it. Because you mentioned Donovan Mitchell. You mentioned it looking at Zach Levine. I feel like RJ was the centerpiece of that Mitchell trade. Everybody understands that. And presumably they would make him the centerpiece of the Levine deal. Like what is the, what's your essential? of how they're feeling about RJ.

Because, look, I don't think RJ's ever going to be as good as the two guys picked directly before him. I think we all understand and know that. Like, you know, you watch Zion. He's playing an MVP caliber level, if not outright All-Star, guaranteed. Same with John Moran. We understand that. But, you know, I'm kind of a RJ.

I'm kind of in the tank for RJ. I think, you know, with his size and his skills. level and his willingness to work his ass off, his professionalism. I think he's a great young piece to have, right? And what do you do when your young guy is so clearly not projecting to be all-star level, but it's clearly a valuable NBA player. Should he be in a Levine type of deal? Should he be deemed an untouchable?

What's your sense of RJ and his standing within the franchise? Someone once explained to me within the Knicks that, whatever RJ Barrett's ceiling is going to be, he's going to hit it because he works hard to to your point. With that said, I don't think his ceiling is perennial All-Star. Does he make an all-star appearance once, twice? Maybe. Possible. I don't think it's on the horizon in the near future right now. I think, first of all, he's got to improve his shooting to be more consistent. and he almost reminds me in a way of a guy that puts his head down and gets to the rim. Like a guy, I don't know, I don't know how to say this, but it's like when you're playing in the rec league

and a guy always takes it to the rim with the head down, he's got a little bit of that in his game. Now, he obviously can finish way better, but that's kind of the vibe again. Until he can be a consistent shooter, you don't know if he's ever going to be that perennial all-star guy. I don't see it right now. So to your point, I will tell you this. When you talk about him being the centerpiece, whether it was for the Donovan Mitchell trade and the Zach Levine trade, I'll give you one caveat on that that I'll push back on.

It's the picks that the Knicks have, and it's their own picks. Let me be clear. It's their own picks that people are looking at as the needle movers in a deal. And I'll say one other thing. There's a reason R.J. Barrett didn't sign a full max extension. Got that guy. You're not that guy. Got you.

Got you, got you. Now, let's transition really quickly over to the team across the river, the ugly stepchild of the city. We got to be real here. Oh, that's a long block. We have to be honest, Mike. Come on, man. Look, I haven't been in New York, a New York City resident for five years. But if it's one thing I know is that they are the other team.

We can say that. I'm not saying it's justifiable. I'm not saying it's right. I'm not saying Knicks fans are rational for the amount of dedication and emotion they pour into that team. But when it comes to interest... It's a toxic relationship.

It's, oh my God, it's extremely toxic. When it comes to interest and what moves the needle in that town, basketball-wise, we can say the Knicks are, even if the Nets, over the course of 23 years, which coincide with when James Dolan took over the team, they've been a way more competent organization. I don't even think that that's just not even

up for debate. Anyway, they had their own Nixian situations this season of pure dysfunction and just stuff that made you want to bang your head on a table. Kyrie Irvin comes back from his suspension from the team imposed suspension. Steve Nash gets jettisoned, and I mean, I feel like rightfully so. The results bear themselves out. And they've turned this thing around. Part of it is the schedule has been a little soft,

but part of it is they kick some team's asses. They kick the buck's asses. They beat Cleveland, who I think is really good. I think Atlanta is a decent team who they've already beaten twice during the streak. Like, they've figured some things out. I think a lot of it is just guys having bodies finally come back. But I think a lot of it is, like, they're just a normal basketball team now. Guys show up, try to play hard, try to win games, try to play for each other.

And oh my God, look at the results. You can win basketball games. Is that crazy? It's funny because, you know, Wise, first of all, I would say with the whole Knicks and Nets debate, I think locally obviously like the Knicks, you know, their fan base is their fan base. But I would say national media wise, the Nets have the stars in Durant and Irving and Ben Simmons that people do care about. regarding the team, bro. First of all, when Kevin Durant,

it was reported that Kevin Durant wanted Nash out, okay? The first seven, eight games, when I tell you this man did not really like dab up Steve Nash on the sideline, it was cold. Like he would come back to the bat. Like Nash is, you know, clapping like a seal for them to, you know, even when they're struggling and stuff. And you can tell the vibe.

You know how it is, man. When the vibe just, of course. It isn't there. It's like this, I don't want to call it a cold war, but it was cold. You know what I mean? It wasn't. Guys are just showing up to work. Yes.

It's not a team. And it doesn't feel like this is a group activity they're participating in. You know, and Steve and Sean Marks knew it. You know, I think if you asked Sean, you know, to his face, he would probably tell you, you know, I might. The culture, they're playing like a bunch of scallywags out there. I don't know. This isn't what you remember the call. And so now you talk about the Nets now, bro, and the biggest thing is a couple things.

You touched on. It was like Nixian, I think you said, about when the Kyrie stuff came out with the tweet and Amazon and everything, clearly it was a spectacle in a lot of ways that all eyes were on the Nets. it was a tough situation you know they moved on from it I do remember seeing Jerry Seinfeld at a game recently you know they've moved on

so Jerry Seinfeld was at a Brooklyn Nets game yeah he was I took a picture with him I got the proof but so I mean look here's my thing and I say that in all in all jokes

but yeah like I mean when it comes to the Nets like biggest thing first of all brother is so Jack Vaughn becomes coach. It seems like finally this guy got a shot. And when you looked at Nash, even from the beginning, brother, they did something that they did years ago. They brought in a rookie coach with a title team.

And it didn't work out for them the way it did for Nick Nurse with Toronto and with Steve Kerr in Golden State. Problem was, you know, when Nash was first there, he had Mike Dan Tony and E. May Yudokam, two pretty competent coaches to his left and right. Now, with Jack being there, Jack has come in and he's changed some things. Number one, he simplified the offense a little bit.

Better communication, guys know their roles. He's always had a decent relationship with Kyrie Irving. Even when he was an assistant, he used to work out with Kyrie before the games, warm him up. I would say that he has been the best coach, maybe since Ty Lou and holding Kyrie Irving accountable. Wow.

You'll see, you'll see, before. game, excuse me, during games like early in a quarter, maybe after the first half, if a play's not run, he'll call a time out and what are we doing? We got to run this play. Like, Jock doesn't care. And I joke at him about this personally, like even his beard, man. He don't care. He's like, we'll let it all hang out.

You know, he's pulling play calls out of his beard. He's going to plucking every great. He's like, let's go. He's gotten a better communication with Kevin Durant, which matters number one, Kyrie Irving. He's put Ben Simmons in different positions to succeed. At first, it was concerned about the fit with him and Nick Claxton because they're both non-shooting bigs, but they've been able to make it work. And that's been the biggest thing. Also, you talked about having bodies back. T.J. Warren has come back to life. He's been bubble T.J. Warren in minutes off the bench.

Yuta Watanabe is a guy that's, I think, a strong candidate to be in the three-point contest. He leads the league in three point percentage. He's shooting like 70 plus percent from the corners. The guy's been automatic in a revelation. This is a guy that never had a guaranteed contract. He's still non-guaranteed, but spoiler alert, folks, that contract's

getting guaranteed for the rest of the year. He's been a revelation for them. And I think when you look at the team, the vibe is different. They're trusting each other. And they haven't, Kevin Durant talked about it. They have an identity. I still think looking ahead,

they're going to look and see if they can get a true big man with size more. They need some girth. When you go up against Joe L.M.B., Robert Williams, Clint Capella, Brooke Lopez. Nick Laxton and Duran. Janice on the Tocompo. Well, nobody's stopping him. The only guy that could stop him is the foul line. That's about it.

But I'm with you, brother. I just think they've got a better flow. And the only other thing I would say to six out, they're top ten. offense and defense now. It's coming together on both sides of the ball. You know, at first, it just seemed like they didn't care defensively. Like you said, they were going through the motions. You see Jack is active on the sidelines. You can hear him on the telecast yelling, calling out defensive schemes. And it's just a constant energy. And again, this is a guy that nearly was the coach for the New Orleans Pelicans before Willie Green. Remember that. He's been waiting for this opportunity,

patiently. Almost, you know, he was in the mix even, I think, for some college jobs previously. Like, Jack has waited for this opportunity since Orlando. He's a different person, a different coach, certainly got a better roster. You knew even when he was in the bubble and he had a shot, he did a decent job with it. I would say, I think somewhere, if you ask Jack privately, he would say he had a little bit of a chip on the shoulder and this was his opportunity to prove himself. He's in the coach of the year mix to me. I'm going to say it right now on your phone year pile. I love that.

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nationally, the nets having a preponderance of those guys, you know, first take type of guys, if you will. And I do want to talk about Kendall Jenner's X, man. I want to talk about Ben Simmons. Because I have to admit, right, I've completely written Ben Simmons off. I, for a while felt this way.

But then that Hawk series and all of the things that flowed out of that disaster, him not playing, him, you know, basically pump faking about. coming back or maybe this or maybe that. Like, all of that stuff sort of turn me off to the entire Ben Simmons thing. And I'm less like, I don't know how you're supposed to win big if this guy is a key cog in your machine, right? However, he gets to Brooklyn and it's a semi-clean slate. Like, he doesn't have a lot of the baggage that he did back in Philadelphia.

And I don't think he came out the gates like gangbusters. I don't think anybody would say that was the case. How has he sort of found his way? You know, I watched a couple of Nets games recently where Ben Simmons is taking it to the rack, trying to go up strong, not afraid to get fouled. He's looking more aggressive. He's looking more like the more idealized version of Ben Simmons. What have you seen from him? The biggest thing was, is the first, first of all, I would say the first 10 to 15 games.

When I tell you, he looked like he could barely dunk. Like, he wasn't getting off the ground. He didn't have the lift. He didn't trust his body. He trusts his body now, which I think is. is critical for him. And the biggest difference between Brooklyn and Philly is he's the

third guy here. In Philly, he was number two. Philly, they needed him to be 15, 7, and 7 a night. Brooklyn don't need that. Brooklyn needs 10 and 7 and 7. Even though I think if he was 15, 7 and 7, you're talking more of a championship contender here in Brooklyn. But

in due time, you touched on it. He's more aggressive. And I'm going to tell you right now, the start of year, Kyrie Irving was yelling him. Ben, shoot the ball. Like you saw him under the hood. You saw him with the hands and everything. It was like he had like some Italian roots come out there with the hands going up.

You know, and with KD, they all said to him, they don't care if he misses. They want him to be aggressive. They want to see the floaters in the lane. They want him driving into the lane because his penetration is going to lead to labs for Claxton, kickouts to Durant for three, Kyrie for three. Now, every time he gets him, gets the ball, this is what they envision for him. Go. You're like a gazelle. Run. Push it. He's doing that. He is locking up. Let me tell you something, bro. He is up the ass of every guy he's guarding like a

colonoscopy. This guy is locking down. That's what they've wanted for him. His job here is different than Philly. His job, and this was throughout the organization coach is asking about. Number one, lock up the top guy, one through five on the other team. Two, rebound, push the ball. Three, be aggressive when you can. Don't worry about the foul shots. They've been kind of trying to tweak a little bit with his form. You know, I know they joked about him.

They got to do that in the offseason, honestly. That feels like a whole summer project. They can't do that. People don't realize this, but NBA teams don't practice. When are these guys supposed to work on this stuff? Well, especially in the load management ever was. I mean, come on. Yeah.

This is in your past. Patrick Ewing, Michael Jordan, playing 82 games in 38, 39. With the two-hour practices in the middle of a season? Yeah, man, Patrick Ewan having ice bags around both knees. You know, it's funny, man. You know, when they wrap up the mummies and the stuff like that in the tune, Patrick Ewan, they wrapped up in ice bags, you know, when it was passion in the day. God bless.

But, yeah, I mean, that's, Ben Simmons, here's the thing, was, I'm curious if next year or down the line we see All-Stars, Ben Simmons where it's like that 15, 16, 7 and 7. I think like if his confidence comes back, we've seen more his physique come back. And even on Lobbs now, his hands are not just getting like at the room. They're above it in the box. To me, that stuck out watching him physically. You could tell when he's not aggressive, his back is bothering him.

When he's aggressive and going into the lane, he feels carefree. It was like a mental hurdle as much with that as getting over that for him as anything. And then the basketball skills are coming into play. I do think by next year, in a way you could see the return of the all-star caliber, Ben Simmons, when I think you, I and any other NBA talent evaluator the first 15 games, would have thought that was dead. Yeah, it felt that. It sure felt that way.

And I'm glad you mentioned the defense because I think, you know, And to be honest, Ben Simmons is a person who self-styleses himself as a defensive specialist. Like he said this publicly that he feels himself to be one of the best of the best on defense. And, you know, the first few games, that just wasn't the case. And, you know, to have him is that kind of weapon who can, you know, body up on the Tatum and brown types and even spend some time on the Janus's and, you know, sort of show his defensive versatility. that would be a big deal for the Nets. I think, you know, again, so long as they try to show up their big man depth

with a little bit of girth, and everybody on this team, and we know the personalities team are eccentric, if you will. If all of those guys can stay locked in, they're going to be pretty damn good, and they're going to put scares in the likes of Milwaukee and the Celtics and, of course, Philly who, whatever, I'm not even going to get into them. I like the kind of phrase your vocabulary. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, of course, man.

We got to do that. We got to do that for the people. Mike, man, I appreciate you for coming on today. Tell the people they can find all your work, bro. Like I said, you are one of the most plugged in guys in the whole city when it comes to this hoop thing. I appreciate that, bro. I just want to say one thing on the Nets lastly is that.

Yeah, get it, get it. This is what Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durand envisioned when they first came here. Like, this level of consistent play. from the two of them, leading the team. You got Kyrie is the fourth quarter leading score in the NBA, KD carrying them in the third, and then getting the clutch shots at the end of the game as the final closer. Ben Simmons, to your point, when they had Hardin,

it was all running on, and we were going to score 140 and light you up offensively. But defensively, they were towards the bottom. There's a more balance now. So we'll see if Ben can continue that, and they can be championship contenders. I think in the east, certainly you're looking at Boston, Milwaukee is the top two. Then it's somewhere in there, Cleveland, Brooklyn, and Philly as that kind of next tier very close to knocking on the door. But for where everybody can find my stuff on Twitter at Mike A. Scotto, not Mike Scotto from New York One.

Mike A. Scottel for Anthony. You can check out the Hoopside podcast with Michael Scotto. Check out our Spotify, Apple Podcast. Anywhere else you listen to a podcast. And yeah, man, I'm around, brother. Pleasure to join you, my man. We got to get more into the accents next time. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You got a little taste of the Sean Marks might, a bunch of scallywags, you know? I didn't know you had us. We got to tap into the bread. I'll say this, since we talked about Nets, I got to drop to Avery Johnson real quick. Because, like, we're seeing Brooke Lopez doing things. I never forget when the Nets were going to get,

they thought they were going to get Dwight Howard and they didn't. They introduced Brooke Lopez at a hotel in Brooklyn, and Avery Johnson was at the press conference. And Mike Mazio was working at ESPN at the time, and he asked them about what did they think about not getting Dwight Howard? It was like one of the first questions, which I thought it took a pair of Cajon's to ask at a Brooke Lopez conference. And Avery Johnson grabs the mind. Well, we got Brooke Lopez. We don't need Dwight Howard. You know, we got Darren Williams

a championship point guard. I'm going to show him how we won in San Antonio and we're going to get this thing right here in Brooklyn. And I died. I love that. I died. We got him, you know, and your

boy Ben Simmons, like Brett Brown, I remember when I would go to Philly when I was, you know, covering the nets with the athletic and NBA nationally, Brett Brown gave a quote about him that crack me up and always will stick with me. He goes, you know, Ben Simmons,

guy is built like an ox. I coached his father in Australia. He's got the genes of his father. Ben Simmons, just an ox of a human being. And so those are the winners. I got a few more we'll say for next time. Yes, yes, though. Say, save an absolute pleasure, my man.

We're going to do a New York checking, of course. The season has, only really just begun. So obviously we're going to absolutely have you back, man. You know you're one of my favorites in the whole industry. Fellow New York City guy. You're one of the best. Thank you for coming on. Happy holidays to you and your family, brother. Happy holidays, brother. wishing you and yours are happy and healthy 2023 and I look forward to seeing you again, bro. We're going to turn up. Of course, appreciate you. That was our show. Want to send a shout out to Devin for producing the show today. We're wishing Jade a speedy

recovery. She's out sick, but Devin held it down for us because she's one of the best in the biz as well. We will see you guys next week. This was weekends. Peace.