The Ringer NBA Show - The NBA Playoff Brackets Are Set | Group Chat

Episode Date: April 11, 2019

We open by briefly delving into the Kings firing Dave Joerger, and examining what the potential trickle-down effects of that might be (1:30). Then, we preview the playoffs through a series of questions (9:00): How far do teams like the Raptors and Warriors have to go to keep their stars? Who’s legit and who’s not ready? Will talent win out for the Sixers? Hosts: Justin Verrier, Chris Ryan, Paolo Uggetti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Liz Kelly, and welcome to the Ringer Podcast Network. Season 8 of Game of Thrones begins this Sunday, which means binge mode Game of Thrones makes its long-awaited return, with your resident experts Mallory Rubin and Jason Concepcion guiding you through each episode. And to get your fix every Sunday night, Chris Ryan joins Mallory and Jason on Talk the Thrones, a Twitter after show recapping each episode throughout the season. So make sure you check out the binge mode podcast on Apple or Spotify, Talk the Thrones on Twitter, and for even more Thrones coverage, you can head to the ringer.com. Basketball is very good.

The wizard's underpaid John Wall. AD should resign with the Pelicans. The Nets actually won the Celtics trade. Basketball is very good. Hello and welcome to the Ringer NBA show. This is the group chat. We made it, guys. It's the playoffs.

I'm Justin Varyer. Joining me, as always. You can feel the excitement in your voice. Definitely. I'm not excited about a lot, but I'm excited about the postseason. Filling in for Haley O'Shaughnessy. The man, the legend. Chris Ryan.

One Irishman for another. Did I sound Irish? I just mean I'm just me and Haley. Oh, yes, yes indeed. Guys, we did it. Regular season is over. Last night, we settled everything. All debts are done.

We're ready to move on to the real season. We're the strong survive. I don't know what I'm doing here. You've been reading too much Game of Thrones. Pivoting the Game of Thrones already. If you're in the office, it's just kind of like filters through you, like, osmosis. So, yeah, everything got set last night. We have our eight matchups.

Today we're going to go over the storylines that probably will define the playoffs here. But first, right off the top, news never stops. The drama in the NBA keeps on going. Sacramento Kings this morning. It was reported by Adrian Wojianowski that Vladai Divak is going to fire Dave Yeager. He hasn't as of yet. We're recording this at 10 a.m. Pacific time. Actually, Kings just

fired him. Oh, so they did it. There you go. We're at the point with these newsbreakers where we know it in advance and then we catch up to it, the actual event happening later. But Dave Yeager is out after what was a banner season for the Sacramento Kings, really turned their franchise around.

Paolo, what's your instant reaction from the news today? It's weird that gaining 13 wins over the course of one season, and this happening is not surprising. You know what I'm saying? Like, in a lot of ways, it was kind of like,

it's not a good look because Dave Yeager took a team that was, you know, struggling and revamped it, you know, made them play fast and centered around the air and Fox and got 13 wins out of it. And yet, all year long,

we kept hearing about how there was discord within the franchise between, you know, some of the front office and Dave Yeager. And so this feels weirdly expected, even if it's not good, I think. Chris, you're taking this hard. Well, no, I mean, this is my favorite episode of Veep,

is the king's power struggle. It's a little bit more complicated than just like Dave Yeager died so that the kings can live. Because Dave Yeager has some history of budding heads with his bosses, right? So especially in Memphis where he tried to orchestrate, or at least reportedly tried to orchestrate, a move to Minnesota where he would return to his home state team, I guess, with the Timberwolves. and that went poorly for him, ultimately. And he's, there wasn't much of a honeymoon in Sacramento.

And part of that is because Sacramento notoriously has this kind of nest of vipers office structure, like front office structure and culture there where there's Vlotti, there's Vivek, there's also Brandon Williams, who I think Dave was not getting along with, if I remember correctly. He's the one who he tried to make leave practice over the course of the season. and I think Yeager's just a guy who has a lot of self-confidence and probably thinks he should have

way more of a say in front-office decisions. Yeah, I think there's some McNulty in Dave Yeager. I don't know about his extracurriculars but in terms of just like he's very good at his job but tends to butt up against

the establishment a little bit and like you were saying, there's this big track record of it. I think the interesting thing is when teams have success, the people that we attribute the success to, success too doesn't necessarily jive with who like how it's getting divvied up within the franchise yeah sure

yeah sure Dave Yeager thinks that the the kings jump into ninth place this year was his result and I think we kind of yeah that's what's saying the public reception is seems to be that as well right whereas vladay probably looks at all the draft picks that he's accumulated especially Marvin bagley who kind of acquitted himself well even though he's not look at don't just seems like a significant piece for that team I wonder if he looks at the situation like actually this is my doing and I'm going to get a guy that like I like in there. And the guys that are kind of talked about now, Luke Walton's, I think was reported by Sam Amick,

seems to be among the front runners. I actually don't think that's a bad look. It's not a bad look for either party. Especially if the Kings are basically trying to put together warriors, what, like slightly east. Yeah. I guess my concern with that is that if you, I mean, obviously there are other reasons why they are firing Yager,

but if you're going to get an upgrade of some sort to take the team to a next level that it needs to go and that is into the playoffs, this doesn't read as kid to Mike Putin-hosted for me. It just feels like a horizontal thing. Yeah, exactly. What about Yeager to the Lakers?

Ooh, I like that. That's interesting. What if they just swap jobs? I just think that would be an interesting... He's pretty tactically astute, I think. I think it would be an interesting move. Dave Yeager probably for as much as, like, He appreciated what, like he appreciates his own accomplishments in Sacramento, I think

imagines himself destined for bigger things. And it'll be curious to see where he winds up. This morning we were talking about this. I was like, I don't know if this is great news for Ryan Saunders in Minnesota, who had been rumored to have kind of solidified his hold on the permanent head coaching job. But, you know, Dave Yeager is often flirted with the Timberwolves. And Timberwolves are another organization where it's kind of unclear who runs it. Yeah.

Right? So that in one hand, on one hand, that would be a possibly a place for Eager to go to have a little bit more control than he's had in the past. Another hand, it could be a place where he would have the same problems he always runs into, which is like these kinds of warring factions within a front office and an owner who's like in and out of touch with, with like how things are going there. Yeah, I think the Lakers option is particularly interesting. I think Dave is like he's a grinder. So in that sense, I wonder how he would jive well with LeBron. Depends on who's playing with LeBron next year, I guess, right? Yeah, and I think Yeager also has a relationship with Pop,

and obviously LeBron looks to Pop as like kind of the gold standard. So I wonder if Pop gives him a seal of approval, then that gives him clout with LeBron. I guess the other view on it is like you're going to bring in a guy who has butted up against, you know, front office people in the middle of a front office situation that is very unstable, shall we say? Yeah. So that's how we've talked about this a lot this season

as people have griped about their coaches, like fans at the ringer have griped about the coaches or we've read that people are unsatisfied with the coaches who are running their teams. And I do think that there's a little bit of a head coaching drought right now. I mean, obviously there's a lot of talent out there. There's probably a lot of really worthwhile assistance who deserve a shot. But just in terms of like sticker shock, sticker value, like, okay, this is the Brad Stevens coming in. This is like, or this is a Phil Jackson level, like the kind of guy puts you over the edge.

It's a little bit of a mystery as to who that person is. I mean, people have second-guessed a lot of Brett Brown's game decision-making for the Sixers. And it's kind of like, well, I don't really know who do you bring in here who's like the obvious step up from Brett Brown, right? And that's the same question that I think a lot of the teams are going to have to ask themselves, especially as these coaches that we're talking about tend to be pretty expensive. Yeah, I mean, even if it is a lateral move, even if it is a Luke Walton, I guess just if it becomes a workplace issue, this is these things happen. Yeah. No, no, definitely for sure. Lottie is the guy in charge there and he wants his guy in charge.

I think the more I think about this, I think if they make the right higher, this is all going to be fine. Yeah. Now, I don't know if that's discounting what Dave is done, but I guess we'll see. I'm still pretty high on the King's future. I mean, the blueprint is there, right? How the way they played this season is the way they should play going forward.

Right. All right, let's get into the playoffs here. We have 10 storylines that we're going to go over, the ones that we're kind of tracking throughout this entire postseason, which is going to last, what, six months? I believe is telling the things. The most interesting one was settled last night. It ends with Adam Silver breaching the wall and walking the white walkers through.

A crossover on today's episode, but that's basically our site in microcosm. So the Houston Rockets ended up falling to the foreseed, which is not good because they face a Utah jazz team in the first round that I think is going to give them trouble in ways that maybe some people don't expect. I think Houston has been on a tear here over the second half of the season and has, really kind of re-semented itself as the biggest challenger to the Warriors, if not in the NBA, then definitely in the West. But they're in a position now. If they get through the first round, then they're going to face the Warriors in the second round instead of the Western Conference finals.

Who benefits more, I guess, from that situation, the Warriors or the Rockets? So I think the obvious answer is the Rockets because it's less time for Chris Paul to get hurt. If they can take care of business against Utah, they have, if they can keep Chris Paul healthy for seven games against the Warriors, presumably it gives them a better chance at beating the Warriors in a seven game series. Whereas getting to the end of a long conference playoffs run, and then getting seven games against the Warriors would be a little bit more challenging. Yeah, it's weird how that works because, so I don't think the jazz are going to be,

and I've been a jazz doubter, if you will, a little bit for the early part of the season. Both of those teams, the Rockets of Jazz, have the best net rating since the Austin break, I think, and have the best record.

So that they're having to face each other in round one is not going to be like, I'm not penciling that and it's like a five game series for the Rockets or anything. Like that could go seven in itself and cause the same fatigue

concerns worth thinking about. But I do agree that it makes it, well, for us, it makes it more interesting to see Warriors Rockets earlier just because it's,

it'll make the second round. Yeah, this is the thing is I feel like it's just, what's nice about this year's postseason is the it's new you know we're going to have somebody coming out of that lower or that second bracket in the west you know that that that the two seven bracket uh the nuggets the thunder the blazers the spurs one of those teams are going to be in the conference finals and that's pretty cool and it's pretty it's going to be neat to see that and then on the other hand obviously we have a lebronless east so for me i mean i i think that the houston's three and one against thores this season I believe. I think that's... And through the four total games,

they've only been decided by a total of 14 points. And a couple of them have gone to overtime. So I think we're in for... It'll be really cool because you usually have to wait for the conference finals for it to feel really electric. And this is going to be like the two best teams in the NBA, with the exception of Milwaukee and Toronto. Like, I mean, this is...

This is about as good as it gets for a second round matchup. If we're doing the TV crossover thing, it does feel like how certain prestige TV did the penultimate, like, kind of... I think that's the big episode in the last one. This is the stringer episode. Yeah, exactly. I guess I'm more concerned that they face Utah in round one. Yeah.

Interesting. Just because Utah's defense, as Paul kind of alluded to, like they've been a very good team overall, but their defense particular. Do you want to tell me whether or not Rudy Gober is going to make an appearance in this postseason? That's the question. But I do think they're more versatile than they were last year. So if there is hope that he can stay on the court against a team that's going to stretch him out, I think that they're better position for that.

I think they have more hope for that. I think he has the edge on Capella specifically. So if Capella is in there, I think that it'll be interesting. Because I think I saw somewhere, I don't know who had this stat, that Capella's been a, like, his net rating or something is like a minus double-digit number when, like, when facing the Jazz season. Yeah. I mean, on the other hand, you know, if Kyle Corver is on the court, the, like, the Rockets are

going to find him and match him up against Hardin. Hardin's going to do his thing. And so maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe this is going to be shorter than I expect. but they also have more of these like wing types that they could throw at Hardin. And I just think that like they're a physical defense or a good defense.

The rockets aren't a particularly like effective transition team so I don't think they're going to hurt them that. They're going to be playing more on the half court. I just think it's like even if this goes six or seven games which is what I'm anticipating, that adds up. And so while Chris Paul may be more fresh because he's not like it doesn't take an extra round

to get to the Warriors, I think it's going to be a tough six games. Okay. Yeah. So that would be the worry there. Do I want to hold you to... So I assume you're going to say Rockets over Jazz. Yeah. Can I hold you to a Warriors Rockets prediction?

If everybody's healthy? I'm leaning Rockets. Yeah. I want to be that guy. I like it. I don't fully believe myself as I'm saying that. I want to be the guy who believes... Yeah, I mean, I think the Warriors are going to win in like six.

I think it'll go seven. I'll go Warriors and Seven. I mean, we talked about this. did a video series on the site the other day, me and Danny Chow. It's called DeThroting the Warriors. It's very good. Thank you, Chris. Thanks, Mom.

No, it comes down to, like, can you trust the Daniel Houses of the world? Can you trust Amman Shumper because they don't have Eriza in there? I don't think Eriza was as big of a deal as I think a lot of people made him out to be, especially in the off season when he fled and they basically had to fill that spot in the fly. But it's much more of a wild card. You just don't have the same level of certainty you had coming up of a 65 win season where all these guys have been playing together, most of them for a while. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know.

I do hope, though, that they do get past the jazz. Because I was looking at this last night and the Warriors could essentially get to the finals playing the clippers, the jazz, and like the Nuggets, for example. Which, not to say any of those three teams are not good or haven't had good, had good, seasons, but that's a far less tough path than if they were to get, you know, Warriors and then Thunder and the, I guess just matchups wise, right? Because the nuggets are the two seats. So, you know, that carries some weight. Well, let's talk about the nuggets real quickly.

I'm jumping around here. But did any team, like the way that the schedule broke or the playoff bracket broke, did any team do better than the nuggets? They are now the two seed. they're going up against a San Antonio team that, you know, is veteran and does all the things that the Spurs teams usually do. Me and Palo, though.

I know exactly what we're about to do. I'm so excited about this. I cannot wait to bet into the Nuggets. Really? Yeah. Is there that much pessimism? Not pessimism, it's just skepticism. It's just like if there's any team of the upper echelon of the NBA

that I want to be skeptical about or that I feel like I can be skeptical about, it's the Nuggets. Just because there are, untested this kind of situation. Yeah, it's a combination of that first-time guys, a bunch of young guys, leading the team, not just being a part of the team, but leading team, and also the chess match between Mike Malone and Greg Popovich.

I think we are collectively underestimating because they don't have, I don't know, maybe some will argue that Yokic is that superstars that they have, but I think because they don't have a bona fide top five superstar, like, say somebody like the Rockets would, Pop, I think, has an advantage in that coaching matchup, not just because he's pop, but because he can sort of arrange the game plan toward limiting whatever, you know, whatever advantages the Nuggets can bring and sort of flummox them in a way, especially with defense and just the way they play. And so I'm kind of really looking forward to that. Yeah, I mean, the Nuggets have holes, and we can all spot them.

If Yokic is the guy, I don't think he's necessarily acquitted himself. I mean, two games ago, he had two points against the Jazz and got thrown out. based on files. I'm personally just wiping the last two weeks off the books, though. Of like, however, like, when I'm looking around at numbers and I'm looking around at performances, it's like you just never know what you're going to get in the last two weeks of an NBA season.

So I totally hear you, and I don't think Yokic is a day-in-day-out guy right now, even though he, I'd say he's top-10 player, obviously, but I think it's possible that he shows up and lays an egg. But, yeah, I think actually the Nuggets have a secretly tough road here. I think they might have the easiest road of all of them. I mean, it's better than facing the words in round two if that's where you're saying.

Yeah, yeah, no. I don't disagree with all of the points you guys are making, and I am worried about the nuggets more than any other top-forged seed on either side of the conferences. But to get the spurs and then potentially a Blazers team without Nerkich or... Thunder. Or the Thunder.

That's a pretty good break. Here's what I love about this, is for the last five or six years, to hype ourselves up for, like, the season and to keep ourselves going, throughout the rest of the regular season. I feel like I've been an active part of, oh my God, shoot the Western Conference playoffs into my veins.

It's going to be a battle royal. And then you get there and you're like, oh, it's like two teams matter. This is just one where you could tell me any one of the four teams in the bottom of that bracket is going to the Western Conference finals, and I'd be like there's a path. That's, I don't think I've seen that in like seven, eight years. I don't know. Like the idea that the Thunder could backdoor a Western Conference finals.

appearance here. Yeah. It's not just, yeah, like it seems very plausible. Like, yeah, they're the more talented team

on that side of the bracket. Yeah, or you could, or Portland could. I'm like, I definitely could see Portland winning in five and just marching right there.

Like, it's, there's a lot in play here where once, once the postseason starts, like I think you throw a lot of your learnings out. Mm-hmm.

You believe in seating. You believe in regular seeding. Yeah, I mean, shock. Give a shock. It's more that I just don't want the past seven months

of my life to be in. I know. I know. I mean, that's the trade-off we make, right? It's like, do we want the regular season to teach us things and mean something and your net rating matters and everything versus I can flip a switch? There's a couple of switch-flip teams in here. There's also a couple of streaky teams in here.

And there's some really good coaches in this bottom half of the bracket. So I don't know who's going to show up. It'll be really interesting. I think a lot of it obviously depends on, to the extent to which Paul George aggravated his shoulder. Because Paul George, I think, is the best player in that side of the bracket. And if he's got one arm, then that becomes a harder conversation to have. And they've been so streaky that I don't know who they are now.

And to go back to your point about throwing away the last two weeks, they've just stumbled to the finish line. And I don't know, I'm not somebody who, like, kind of like you, I don't think that matters. I think they can be one of those things. Well, they finish seven and three. They've won their last five. Yeah.

I mean, it doesn't matter, but I'm just saying like they did correct course a little bit. Yeah. I guess with George specifically. Yes. Yeah, we don't really know what his status is. I guess the question here are some teams just better off or better suited to be playoff teams? I think the Thunder are the primary example of that. I mean, if we're just saying Best Player wins the series, Paul George is going to go in, if healthy, which is a big if, he's going to go into a lot of these series and he's probably going to have the potential to win them. I would say in that Thunder, and even in that Blazers series, I'm still skeptical. Who are they turning to if Paul isn't a hundred, We've seen that throughout the second half of the season. It's just Russell just isn't as, you know, reliable. Yeah. And their defense is just kind of up and down.

It's just almost as if if Paul isn't an MVP candidate, every single game, every single minute, I just don't know if they have the horses to really compete with a lot of these teams. Right. I think the identity class here is interesting because I think the Blazers are a team built around Dame, but that knows that they are built around Dame, whereas the Thunder really should be all centered around Paul George, but they can sort of fluctuate from that and then veer off if Russ gets like a little

I don't know, shot hungry. And I think that'll be interesting to see how that happens. Where I think the Blazers, though, I mean, I think they've gone 0 and 4 against the Thunder in the regular season. Right. They tried to avoid this matchup by playing nobody yesterday and somehow still won that. Still won the game, yeah. So it's not a good sign. I wonder like what the conversation is like with your players. So we tried to avoid this team, but we actually have to play them seven times now. We were clearly afraid of them, but I guess let's give this a go.

It's not a good sign. Let's flip to the east now, just because, well, Chris, since we have you here. Is this all I'm good for? No, we love you. Clearly, the Sixers are in a state, I don't know

if disarray is the right word, more in just some sort of fog, perhaps, because the status of Joel and Bede now is an open question. There are these vague reports that he may not be ready for the playoffs.

Well, here's what happened. They've been doing a lot of load management stuff. He's not played a ton since the All-Star Break. I think he's missed 14 of their last 24 games is the number I think I saw.

And he's got some soreness in his left knee. As with any Sixers injury, there's just like almost too much information and not enough information. So you hear a lot about like his underwater jogging that he's doing

and all the weird Doha clinics that are in play. But then you don't actually hear like, it's this muscle and he'll be back on this day. It's a lot of like, it's really interesting because we're going to get the frisson of the tendons to mold with the rings of Saturn.

And it's like, is he coming back? Like what percentage is he at? And then suddenly Twitter is filled with screenshots have the press release where it says like, oh, this is like, you know what I'm saying? And then so this is a classic six-year situation is yesterday before the last, game, Elton Brand addressed the media.

There was like a pretty honestly innocuous question about Embed. And Elton Brand was like, I'm optimistic that he will be available this weekend. And that there seems to be some concern that he'll miss game one. And this was compounded by the fact that after the game, Brett Brown addressed the media. And when people started saying, say, like, what's up with Joel and Bid missing the playoffs? missing the first game of the playoffs. He's just like, I'm not answering any more questions about Joel.

So that was, it just, which might have just been Brett Brown being like, we just won 50 games twice in a row after being the worst team in the league for most of this decade. And I'm excited and you should be excited. And we're the third seed. And you're asking me about whether this guy is going to play in the first game. I have no idea what he was exasperated about. But it was just like a classic sixer situation that sort of obscures the fact that they're starting five. Even if they're just on the floor, regardless of how healthy they are, is the top five starting five in the league in terms of what they're capable of doing.

And as to your point about like the rotation shortened, it's really about your best six or seven guys and mostly about your best five, that starting five is going to take the sixers as far as they go. So I am concerned, but I'm not alarmed. Well, how are we feeling about them before this news? Because things haven't been going as well as perhaps we would have liked at this point. I think with the sixers specifically,

I'm very much in the camp of the last two weeks, don't matter. Because they've been like actively not trying in something. games. Well, it's like they tried in the Bucks game. And the Bucks, and like, I think if you're looking at a glass half full, you can say like, you know, that Bucks game was like, that's the team you're going to get in the playoffs. That's the team you hope to see in the playoffs. That's what I personally

can't really quit them in a lot of ways. Like, when I keep thinking about the East and whatnot, I keep coming back to them as sort of who I like. Because I just, again, to Chris's point, like, their five guys are so good. And Embed is so good when he's healthy and when he's really rolling. and motivated and like, again, against a team like the Bucks, he really was, that I want to like make the call that like they're just,

because they're the most talented, they're going to be there at the end of it all. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, there are certain concerns just about the fit and how much time they've played together, the five of them, but I don't know. Well, the one thing we were saying about their starting five, even though it is among the best, is that fifth spot, it's not as settled as it perhaps should be, that JJ Redick spot, the spot where you're going to need a guy who,

who's capable of guarding some of the better ones and twos of the league and their first round matchup is against the angelel Russell. Now, I don't love the Nets and what they've been doing over the last half of the season. I think they're really, they're small, and they could shoot, and so they have this sort of

12th seed quality of the NCAA tournament. So there's always that factor at play, but it does seem like the Sixers can squash them for the most part. But the other problem is that type of, DeAngel is the type of guard. that we were worrying about for a while,

the Kyrie Irving type. Yeah. Do the Nets, like, worry you at all? No, I think it's a pretty ideal matchup for them. I'm even down to, like, the limited amount of travel to start with. You know what I mean? Going into, with all due respect to Brooklyn, not like a hornet's nest of an atmosphere.

There will probably be, like, a quarter of that place will probably be Sixers fans. And I think it's, like, everything about it from Jimmy and Jay AJ and even, you know, to some extent, Tobias having just way more experience than anybody on the Nets, I think that ultimately talent wins out in that series, and it shouldn't be that big of a deal.

I think it'll be like a five-gamer. I think Russell and Spencer Dinwiddie are going to have like a couple of 30-point games that'll get us excited about, oh, like, they're actually like, might be pushing the Sixers, and then all the games will end with like a Sixers one. I think, yeah, it'll be like five games. This is an introduction

series for the Nets. This is for the national audience. These are who these guys are. I think it's important, and we're going to get to this a little bit later, but if we're looking at the free agency games, if the Nets can prove themselves on a big stage, maybe take this to six games, I wonder which type of guys perk up. I mean, they could be playing against a guy

who could be on their team next year and Jimmy Butler. So let's talk about this. So there's a series of auditions slash pitches going on in the playoffs this season, right? This postseason. We just talked about the idea that, you know, we're not even sure are the Sixers auditioning for Butler or is Butler auditioning for the Sixers.

So are the Sixers trying to prove to Jimmy we're a title contender? Or is Jimmy trying to prove to the Sixers I'm worth a max? And there's probably a little bit of both, but there's also probably some wandering eyes on both parties. And then there's larger questions

about how far do the Raptors need to go to keep Kauai? Is that a finals or bust situation? And is there anything that can happen with the Warriors that could convince them to keep Duran? So I don't know where you guys want to start. If you want to start with Butler,

since we're talking about the Sixers, we can kind of briefly do that. But these are like the kind of fascinating secondary storylines that I think people are definitely going to be following, especially given the way the NBA has sort of become this soap opera about transactional movement. Well, let's start with Butler. I think he's an interesting case

because I think we assume that like some of these guys have already made their decisions. Kauai more likely than not is going to flee to L.A. Kyrie Irving will see. But Butler's the guy where it's 50-50, it seems like. It seems like whatever they do in the postseason, will have a huge effect on not only how he views his situation

but how the team, the Sixers, view him. Everything I think I know about Jimmy Bullitt tells me that he feels like he doesn't need to audition for anybody. And he's convinced that... I agree with you, but I do think that he is aware that there is a significant difference between him getting a max contract offer that will basically take him through the rest of his prime

and out of it versus a two-year deal or a two-year offer or something a little bit more hired gun-ish which is not what he wants. But do you think that he feels like he can get that

regardless of anything? He will get it regardless. There's a lot of money. Yeah. There's just so much money out there. I mean, we talked yesterday about the Lakers

being a serious threat and like we can get into like, you know, how good that team would be with Jimmy Butler is their number two player but I just think it's really interesting. The Sixers perspective

for me is the biggest part of it. Do they need Jimmy considering that they mortgage their future essentially to bring in him into bias and is it what's best for them? Are you stunting Ben's growth? Are you stunting Zaire Smith's growth? If he's still alive, yes.

He's great. He's great. I like him more than lockdown defender. He's better than Siakum. Just keep the peanuts away from him. I love it. Let's go. Jesus. He's the thinking man, Ciacom.

If we're saying the strength of this team is based around their top four and five, Jimmy is one of them. Do you want to be that team or do you want to be a team that's more Ben-centric, Joel-centric, and you just let him go

and you just put more Dario and Covington types. No, I think that this playoffs is going to be a fascinating referendum on it. Can Jimmy Butler be the best player on a title contending team? Does Jimmy Butler as a player mind not being the best player

but on a title contending team? There's so many different questions. about this. And also just in terms of the ecosystem of the Sixers, what does it mean, like, if Jimmy Butler is getting X amount of looks, especially if Jimmy Butler is like the closer, which is essentially the role that they've given him and that he wants, how does that trickle down and ripple effect into other players on the roster? How does it affect the Tobias, the JJs, and it's specifically bent, you know? Like, it's just a really fascinating question. There's there's a version of this team

where two of the starters in some ways shouldn't it's not that they shouldn't be on the floor but Ben can't shoot and JJ can't defend so there's an argument to be made that you shouldn't have them on closing games you know what I mean or that you're going to need to do offense defense switching and it's just a really really interesting

time for that team it's a weird team like just roster surprise it's extremely weird so talented and kind of has its own funky logic to it But, you know, in a weird way, it doesn't cost the Sixers anything to go after Jimmy, like to keep Jimmy. You know what I mean? Like, they got his bird rights for a reason. But if they think that it's addition by subtraction, we'll find out. I do think that the closer thing is very interesting because we often talk about how guys would be better off in situations where they don't have to do everything, sort of like a Damien Little has to do in Portland.

and I wonder if Jimmy sees that and if he gets the money he wants or at least a portion of the money he wants does he see that as an opportunity to win in a context where he can be that closer guy

because that's what he's that's what they're letting him be right now and I almost think that's kind of perfect and I'm very curious to see what that looks like in the playoff because when it's tied game two minutes left you're going to need him Yeah I don't want to go down too big of a six or a rabbit hole but what does that mean though for guys

like Ben and Joelle if they are never going to really be the person who gets the ball in the last two minutes. If they're not the player of consequence in the end of games. Because we're basically saying if we're mapping out the hierarchy, which like, I don't know how much that matters if everyone's getting along,

but it does seem like this is a team of egos and that's going to be there regardless. If it's Joel, Jimmy, and then Ben, that's not a good look for Ben Simmons, a guy that we all prophesies the next face of the franchise and perhaps the NBA as recently as last year.

I mean, we wrote, Kevin O'Connor wrote, going into the playoffs that if, like, how Ben Simmons shoots will define the NBA playoffs. And to a large degree, he was kind of right. So it's just a, it's a fascinating, like, mixture of personalities that I think, like, yes, we go too far sometimes talking about that stuff. But in this case, I feel like it's all warranted. Well, they're so on the surface with all of it. They don't, there's not, there's no spurs like Omerta about talking about behind the scene stuff. I mean, Jimmy Bueller yelling at Brett Brown. that stuff leaked out.

We've had open conversations and Brett Brown and talk to Zach Lowe about Ben and Joel's relationship. There is a degree to which I think it's equally important for the Sixers to keep Tobias Harris happy because in a lot of ways

his game is the skeleton key for this entire team because his ability to shoot but his ability to do so and score without the ball in his hands constantly is like a really big factor in this team going forward.

So I would prefer it if we could just move on to concern trolling the Raptors though. Is that okay? Yes, please. Thanks. Well, I mean, let's talk about that. Kauai Leonard, obviously, things have gone quite well.

He's been able to take off several games, just hanging out, essentially. They won 58 games, that's second in the east. I am very high on this Raptor's team going into the playoffs. The Justin Vary or Danny Chow office is the political information division of the Toronto Raptors right now. Danny, perhaps I'm just getting high off of his optimism just regularly. I don't know. I like how they've been playing with Marc Gasol in there. I have concerns about Gasol on defense, but even if that comes to bear, even if teams expose

him in the pick and roll, I do think they could just throw in Serge Baca and they've been much better defensively with Sertabaca. So they have this ability to mix and match. Their bench is a concern as well. But if, again, we're saying the best players often win the series, they have a few of those guys. Now, I'm a little concerned that if they don't win the finals, that they'll probably lose Kauai. Like if they don't win the entire, the Larry O'Brien trophy.

Yeah. Like I asked Danny this, who is pretty tapped into the Toronto scene, he said that if they don't go six games in the NBA finals, he expects Kauai to leave. Which is a very bleak outlook. Now, maybe that's... That's so specific. Well, let's look at it. If we're saying that the Clippers are this model franchise now, and they have all of these young guys with whom they could build something,

you could just pop Kauai in there, and then you have an instant contender, or you could flip them for an Anthony Davis type and just build the super team that the Lakers aren't. And then you look at what the Raptors have. Yes, Pascal Seacom is coming of age right before our eyes, and it's been great. And I think that's going to be a big thing to track in this postseason because he is kind of, you know...

He's the gross stock, essentially. Yeah, yeah. But Kyle Lowry on the downside of his career playing well, but he's dealt with injuries throughout the year, back, and all these other kind of scary things. And other than that, there isn't much, Marcus Saul, they really got for this year. He has a contract option for next year, but he's clearly showing age. Sergei Baca on a big contract, again, a little bit older. It's just, it's a team built for now and not for two years from now. And if I'm a free agent, if I'm Kauai, I want to go where we're incredible two years from now.

That's a good point. I also think that maybe I obviously don't know but sometimes it feels like the choice may be as simple as I just want to be in Los Angeles you know and like and if that's it and if that's it

then maybe it doesn't even matter if they win the finals you know listen it's cold as fuck in Toronto and if you're saying if that's a big deal to you yeah if you are living an hour away from the facility and you like you never see the light

like I think it's pretty interesting to imagine it needing to be a finals or bust kind of situation for Kauai, but I actually think that it's closer to what you guys just said. I think it's closer to like Kauai wakes up one day and decides on a plan for his life that doesn't include Toronto. Because I think that's what happened with San Antonio.

The reasons for leaving San Antonio are, well, like a list of like one. It's like it's not that big of a city. Otherwise you're in the perfect basketball environment. Well, the medical stuff too. Yeah, that's true. That can happen everywhere though. Yeah.

I mean, like they've been treating him, don't know of a kick gloves in Toronto, but like, it seems like he gets to take a lot of games off. Kevin Durant, another example of this, he just pretty much just wanted to play a different style of basketball. He wanted something different for his life. We often look at the situations we think which of these teams are best for, like, their skill set, but a lot of times it comes down to a personal decision. But I still think, even if we're just looking at, like, the basketball side of things, I'm very optimistic about what he could do in perhaps a Clippers environment.

Yeah, no, totally. And that's why that makes sense. right? Because it could be they could be a top four West team if they just added him and it could be something else entirely if they've like you said kind of went for a win now team

traded for Anthony Davis or something like that. So who's next on this list? The audition list. Is it Kyrie? I have Kevin Durant here as written down but I think that that is well the cool thing about this is that we're going to find out so early because they're going to play the Rockets in the second round.

Yeah. I love that. So this this, if he doesn't like being asked about this, he's going to get asked about it a lot earlier than he expected because it's going to come up in the Houston series where it's like, have you thought about if this could be your last series with Golden State? Have you thought about how this could be your last game at Oracle?

Have you thought about this? You know, and that is going to, I don't know if it's going to chip away at the chemistry of the Warriors, which is like, I think that they have moved a little bit towards their, you know, late 2010, or late first decade of the 2000s,

Celtics period where they're like our version of flipping the switch is like we go from the lights are already on to we're electrocuting the entire neighborhood. But they have definitely not played as well as they have in the past. And they definitely seem to be a little bit more out of sorts. And you get bad clay games and like moody KD games where he gets teed up constantly. And I think that there's a couple more question marks around them. The question here is like, is this a fan company and the warriors know that Kevin Durant is leaving and they're not going to bend over backwards to convince him. And also, what other things could change about the Warriors?

Because not, you know, I think it's very speculative, but there has been some conversation about Bob Myers being a candidate for the Lakers job and that they could just basically be like, here are the keys to him. And I think the Warriors would probably do with everything they could to keep Myers happy and they certainly have the money to do so and they're moving into a new arena. But really, really, really interesting moment for the Warriors. Yeah, I think it's really interesting that both the Lakers and the Knicks are on the sidelines, as they so often have been

over the past few years, as almost these chaos agents, just like the Lakers of Nix, yeah, yeah, yeah. Just able to throw lobs in whenever they want. For instance, in the last Nix game last night, where they got blown off the floor by the Pistons without Blake Griffin. They had these like signs on the seats

where it's like, welcome to a new era. So they very much think that things are going to be sunshiny, like, in the very near future. Well, everybody seems to think that. Like, it's almost being talked about as, oh, this is happening already. And maybe from the Warriors perspective, the self

the self-awareness to acknowledge that and to sort of just be like, all right, like let's just win now. You know what I'm saying? Like, maybe their best move. And maybe they've gotten good at compartmentalizing that stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's interesting because even though the, like, the Warriors and some of these playoff teams are in playoff mode, they're very much

want to block out all the noise. They want to walk in with their headphones on and just like... Zero Dark 23 time. Right, exactly. Oh, we're not going to get that this year. I know. It's a bummer. Why don't you do Zero Dark 23rd? Zero Dark Barrier. Just no tweets from me. Shut down your notoriously chatty Twitter account.

And my Instagram presence, like two photos I've posted in the past three years. I mean, the rest of the world goes on and I wonder if like there are certain like media types

sharpening their knives or just like working on stories that they're going to hit right in the middle of a Warriors Rocket Series. I don't know anything. I'm just speculating. But these are the type of things

that come up around. Now, here's a conspiracy theory. Would it help if Steph got hurt again? Wow, okay. That's not a conspiracy theory. No, but you're trying to say, is there a scenario? So basically we want to answer the central question here is like, what's the scenario in which the Warriors keep Duran?

Right. I think. And you think Duran Hero Ball is it. Yeah. I think the scenario where the Warriors keep Duran is Duran changes his mind, as he sometimes is known to do it. And just like, it's like, all right, I think I'm going to stay here for another year. Like, I literally think it's as simple as, like, him.

Maybe, maybe that depends on losing in the finals, for example, or losing to the Rockets. And then he's like, all right, I think I'm, I want to stay here. Do you think if you're the Warriors, you are like, you can stay here for four years or you can go? Like, it's either. Would you do, would you do another one in one with Durant? I would just, yeah, I would do whatever he wants.

I mean, I think that taking Kevin Durant, Steph Curry and Clay Thompson and Draymond Green into the new stadium would be great for them. Yeah. But I do wonder whether or not they would like to get back to a slightly more like harmonious situation for that team. No, I get it. They probably want some stability in going forward and how to figure things out. It's probably as much about Draymond or whatever than it is about Kevin Durant. But I just, you know, I was just curious because like the LeBron four-year deal, he's always been such a trendsetter.

And I was, you know, he did some one-on-ones and one-on-ones. And then he finally was like, I'm here for four years. Do whatever you're going to do. Yeah. I'm sure it's frustrating. I, on the other hand, would be like Kevin Durant, what do you want? Do you want us to send Draymond Green to China? Yeah.

We will do that for you. I'm sure Bob Myers is going to say the same thing. Yeah, I mean, we had something on the site today. Jonathan Charks just talking about how good Kevin Durant is. And now Charks, being from Texas is very pro-D-Rank. Can we talk about how much, you almost think that, like, Texas was like, the bill is secretly from Texas. There's so much Texas content from Charks these days.

I know. Just like rep. Lubbock. Yeah, Robert Durant. Yeah, he had a big thing the other day on Dirk and saying farewell to his favorite son. Or is it father?

I don't know. What the... Yeah, that's the good question. Yeah. What do we do? So, I don't know. I also think it's interesting that if they're going to face the thunder,

the Warriors are, it would come in the Western Conference finals. I want that so bad. I think this breaks well for the Bob Myers and the Warriors in terms of trying to keep Durant. Because let's say they get through the rockets. then all of a sudden... They smoke whoever they get in the conference finals.

Well, it's that, but it's also the emotional stakes there of facing a Thunder team that you left like, what, four years ago now? And that's what led you to go to the words? I wonder if it's like a remembering the good old times sort of thing. This is really deep psychological analysis, but I think it could bode well for them, is what I'm saying. Or maybe it's just the reverse where just, just like, like that series eventually led him to the Warriors,

that series could eventually lead him. Back to the Thunder? Sure. Conspiracy there. We've gone through these auditions where there's a lot of ambiguity about what does the player want, what was the team want. If there's a place where I think there's been zero ambiguity about how, well, there's been some ambiguity, but less ambiguity about how a player feels about where he is in his

career, where he's playing, how he feels about the game of basketball. It's Kyrie Irving and the Boston Celtics. who've probably been, and it really pains me to say it, the underachieving team of the year. Yeah, you seem upset. You said that with a smile. Perfect.

You hate to see it. At Bill's Instagram? No. Oh, yeah. You might want to check that out. What did you say? There happens to be a photo of you and him. In a certain lot cafeteria.

Oh, and him giving me the middle finger? It might be. He should worry about Miles Turner. Before he worries about me. So, yeah, so they're in the 4-5 series. They're playing the Pacers. They have home court advantage. Mark is smart.

It doesn't look like he's going to be around for a little while. I think it's a torn-off week. Not great for a team that relied on him. Having said that, I don't feel worried about the Pacers at all. I think there's a possibility that goes six games, maybe longer than it should. But I'm looking at this Pacer's roster. I'm like, who is hurting them? If this is just like a duel between Boyang and Bythanovich and Kyrie Irving,

I'm going to take Kyrie Irving like 10 times out of 10, even if he's like spending like the halftime breaks and meditation mode doing whatever he does. I don't know. I just I just think this is much more clear clip than I think we're giving any credit. Or it could be more complicated than we're thinking. Oh, turn the tables on me.

I like it. I think that, I mean, maybe I'm just trying to will this into existence, but I think there could be some, the smart thing makes it so that players on this team are going to feel like there's an extra burden to fill that void. Specifically, maybe like a Jalen Brown or Jason Tatum.

Yeah. And that could in turn affect how they perform and how Kyrie maybe gets frustrated by the way, you know, the players around him are trying to compensate for that. Like, I think there's a little room for chaos here. Yeah, there's a lot of room for chaos.

Yeah, well, true. For the Celtics. It's very reminiscent of last year's first round where, you know, LeBron was LeBron, but everything around him was in flux. He pretty much had to win that series by himself. and Kyrie is not only leaning into LeBron

as just like a leader in air quotes or just a personality type but also And also as an ideal for a paradigm for management Like a personality management About how you like keep people on their toes and stuff Yeah but he is this also this force on offense You can will a team to victory And I think it's the same thing

And if anything like the Pacers are worse than that Because they don't have Victor Olipa It's great that Boyan Bogdanovish showed up last year It's a hot kick is to pick Indiana here. I do think Boston will win this series, but I also think that it's going to take, you're talking about what it takes for Kauai to stay?

I think that, I think Kyrie's gone. I just don't think he can, they can pot. I don't think the Celtics want him back in terms of the Celtics fans, and I don't think he wants to come back. I guess the question, oh, the fans. So it'll be very curious to see, I'll be very curious to see, if you don't want him and he doesn't want to be there, how good can you

be in that situation? Right. I mean, I just go back to the Anthony Davis situation. I mean, I think we'll say that they didn't ever get a chance to play together, but I wonder if the Celtics, in the meantime, can essentially lock up an Anthony Davis trade and go to Kyrie and be like, just stay for one more year,

you guys could have this year together. So you think that Boston, with their measured, we're going to keep all our powder dry thing, would go and say, we're trading the farm for Anthony Davis, and we're putting the franchise in the hands of two guys who have seemed less than committed to playing

for the teams that they were on this season. One can't even dress himself. And one can't even dress himself. And whoever does dress him is like, LOL, let's put a Looney T-shirt on this adult. Yeah. Yeah, what an end to Anthony Davis. So I'm just saying,

like, do you think that that's Danny Angel's vision for the future? Is Anthony Davis? I mean, I guess, I think that at the end of the day, most of these guys are like, if there's a way in which you get Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving, you just worry about everything tomorrow? Yeah, I mean, what's the other side of things? It's a team based around Jason Tatum.

Like, I'm at the point where if the Pelicans think that Jason Tatum can be the guy in a package, like, as their front line, we want this one person. Right. Just go for it. Yeah. I think Kyrie and Anthony Davis can be incredible together. I think they have a strong enough relationship that I wonder if that comes into play with Kyrie choosing between Durant or Davis.

And I think if it's just like the two of them, Marcus Smart and like a couple other guys, I think they're probably going to win these next year. Interesting. But do you think that for that to happen they need to get there a certain level in the playoffs? Like I wonder if they somehow lose the second round. But not really, right? Because that, whatever

this team is that gets to this certain level in the playoffs isn't going to be there next year when they bring Anthony Davison because they're going to have to trade Tatum and whoever else to get them. Yeah, I think for them, I think this is all going to come down to what they're doing in the background with New Orleans. And now New Orleans still has to figure out their front office

situation. Yeah, that's the thing. They're still selling on. and the Lakers and to some extent the Timberwolves and all these teams have these basically mysterious front offices. There's a lot of coaching volatility. All this is happening in the background of a postseason where, depending on where, the reason why we wanted to do this storyline is because depending on where three or four of these guys get in the playoffs, you could see the league change for the next two or three years because of it. So it's such a crucial, crucial postseason, both it'll be crucial because we want to see some good basketball. after two or three weeks of just absolute shit. But we also want to see like, okay, so how happy do these guys look?

And where would they rather be playing? And we've seen this happen already. So it's not like we're putting too much stock into games because we've seen what happened with Kevin Durant, you know, left the thunder. So that's just going to be fascinating, I think, from that standpoint. I think it also broke well for the Celtics just in terms of draft picks. I mean, literally this could come down to the lottery, where if the Knicks get one, are they willing to trade Zion?

If they get two, does that actually work better for them? because then they don't have the Zion decision, they could just trade that willingly, and then you're looking at Kyrie KD-A-D. At the same time, the Celtics most likely will get the Grizzlies pick and the King's pick. So they have two lottery picks in their coffers. Late lottery, but yes.

Late lottery is in a top-heavy draft. Yeah. I mean, it's just saying, yeah. I mean, like... Yeah, no, I 100% agree with that. We say this every year where it's like, there are two players in this draft, and then Donovan Mitchell is like...

Yeah, I know. Right. Yeah. So, we'll see. I don't know when I became such a Celtics apology. I know. You're just like the Celtics should draft Kyle Guy and go forward.

He's surrounded them with shooters. I watched that game. He seems like a nice guy. Yeah. All right. Let's wrap it up. Let's talk about briefly, though, our most anticipated matchups.

Can I go first? Yeah. Because I cannot wait for Portland, Oklahoma. Okay. So sick. It's just like those games this year, I watched, Fentissy and I were watching the last one,

or I think it was one of the last ones of the season in Texas together. We were just like, this is ridiculous how fun this game is. The two fan bases are, it's the closest thing we'll have to college basketball. It'll be like basically like an ACC game. And I think that like it's so much to prove on both sides for Stats, for Donovan, for Westbrook, for George, for Dame. Is Portland going to be able to keep this core together? Is that enough for this fan base? also like what happens next year

because they don't have a really clear ownership situation and Olshay is another guy who's been in the mix for, names been thrown out there for the Lakers so we could see a totally different Blazers team next year. This Thunder team, which is weirdly like constructed to win right now and has been so banged up

this year, but at times can look not quite unbeatable but really formidable. I just can't wait for the Thunder Blazers. The first round series is usually aren't this electric. Right. I think it's stylistic matchup there is interesting too because you have one team whose identity if you will is sort of defense and the other team who just has to rely on so much offense with their guards. So is that

your one you're looking for? Yeah, I guess if I would have... I wish Nirk was playing because Nirk and Adams would also just be such a great matchup. I guess you cantering Adams now, which yikes. Oh yeah, a little retribution. Yeah, there you go. I'm weirdly interested in Celtics pacers. I know it's not going to be like East Coast bias from most. Yeah, that's me. The most aesthetically appealing, but I do I do just want to see how the Celtics counter any kind of pressure from, because I think

the Pacers will be sound and they will be good and they will not let up. And I think that will put a lot of pressure on the Celtics to not just win, but to dominate in a way that they should, given the talent they have. Yeah, I'm going to go with Houston, Utah. Yeah. I'm interested in the

Warriors and the Clippers just because I think watching the young Clippers team has been fun and as I said I'm really high in their future and I do wonder how they go up against some of those guys. They're kind of like almost assembling a mini warrior's little situation where you have a Shay and a Shaman and the

shaman's small but like reminds me of Clay in the way that he can come off the screen. He's the only rookie other than Staff was that more than I think 4003s? He's also got a similar like disposition to Clay in terms of like doesn't seem rattled by any moment.

It got traded midseason just kind of like kept playing Turns out when Jerry West wants your player, you shouldn't give him away. Do you wish he was still in the six years? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. But I do think the Houston, Utah series is going to be interesting clash of styles. Like I said, I think the Rockets are probably the biggest adversary on the board for Golden State.

And so what happens there, I think is going to have a trickle-down effect that might dictate the playoffs, the entire playoffs. I also think it's the type of thing where we might see two wins from Houston at home, then all of a sudden, you know, someone figures something out. and then the next game is different. It's very much like Boston last year. Right. And those series are always the most fun to me, especially considering that the ease is pretty much in the watch.

Yeah, the adjustment series. Yeah, the adjustment series are always the most fun to be. I'm also excited to watch the Spurs. Nuggets. Boy, you really are in for boring basketball. No, no, no. For a particular reason of watching the Spurs win that series. There we go.

Funch the nice claim. All right, so let's put everybody on the record here. Yeah. Golden State again? To finals? Yeah, let's do our finals matchups. I'm not going to get complicated. It's Buck's Golden State.

Golden State Sixers. Wow. I'm going to go with Bucks and Warriors. And I think the Bucks are going to win. Nice. Let's end it there. All right, for Chris, for Paulo, Justin. I probably just got banned from Ricky Sanchez.

We'll be back. I believe we're recording Wednesday nights now, so we'll have that up for you. Yeah, all ringer NBA shows during the week. We'll be there for you on the East Coast in the morning when you get up. So whatever time at night they go up, you'll probably build it here in the morning. Let's do it. So until then, enjoy the playoffs. Basketball is very good.

Basketball is very good.