The Ringer NBA Show - The Race for the Playoffs and the Race for the Lottery | The Mismatch

Episode Date: March 12, 2019

Altercations mar an otherwise entertaining night in the NBA (0:53), playoff-bound teams jockey for matchup advantages (20:21), and draft season approaches as the NCAA action accelerates (42:37). Hosts: Chris Vernon, Kevin O’Connor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Use the promo code Yahoo 25 when you make your first deposit for $25 in free play. Welcome to The Ringer NBA show. I'm Chris Varnan. Joining me as he does every Tuesday from the Ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, aka Kevin O'Bomber, aka Kevin O'Climber, aka Kevin O'Colnyk, Kahnay, Kevin O'Chyr aka Kevin O'Crisis. Kevin O'clock! How are you doing this morning, Chris?

I'm doing great considering, as we record this on a Tuesday, last night, Monday night, got extremely wild with lost tempers. The first happened earlier in the evening with Sergei Baca flying off the handle at Marquis Chris and Kevin, for those that pine for the old days, they watched the 30 for 30s with the Knicks and the Pacer. and they say, God, I miss that. Well, I suppose Mr. Abaka gave him a flashback last night. I mean, real punch is thrown, which is an extreme rarity in the NBA. And I'm sure the NBA is going to hammer surge after he went after Marquis Chris last night. Real punches thrown, but none landed. I know.

None landed. I mean, Ibaka looked like he was throwing a knockout punch there. Has he ever landed a punch in all his scuffles? I don't think so. I don't know. He throws them. I mean, he had the Matt Barnes one a couple years ago. Yeah.

John Wall one. I think boogie. I don't think any of his punches ever landed. He flies off the handle. And then, yeah, we've got to, you would think, suppose in the summers, I know he has dedicated himself to the craft of cooking. Oh, his show is great. with his cooking show,

but maybe he could just take a little time out and work on punch accuracy. Is this a Cheryl Pining? That is exactly what I'm proposing, yes. Right. If you're going to get in the business of punching people, you would like to make contact, right, as to make it worth the money.

Yes, yes. Yes. Boy, did he fly off the handle. I mean, the choke and then the throwing of the punches. And what it did was it took away from the fact that that is one of easily the most bizarre scores of the season. Oh, no kidding. Right? Everybody's just going to talk about, like, the story of that game ends up being this Ibaka,

Marquise-Christ, Chris, fight. And I would say the awareness of that taking place because of social media now is immense. You know, your average NBA fan knows that that took place. I would also tell you that the average NBA fan has no idea that that, the Cavaliers won that game by 25 points last night, which is, I mean, what? What is that? The calves are 17 and 50, and the Raptors clearly jockeying for playoff position in the Eastern Conference, and one of the four teams that most people believe could be a NBA finals representative, or at the very least, an Eastern Conference finals representative. I, obviously the fight's bizarre, but that score is crazy. Well, and I think Colin Sexton, with the 28 points that he had last night,

scored in a variety of different ways, facilitated well in the half court. He looks like many young players towards the end of the season. He looks way better now at playing with the physicality of the NBA compared to college, playing at the speed of the game. Colin Sexton has made positive advances over the course of the season that all the busts whispers early in the year when he was struggling are quickly going away. Colin Sexton looked pretty good last night. You know, I loved Colin Sexton

of last year. You did. And then obviously, in the draft, I went through this season. It was deja vu, honestly. And you know who I went through it with the year before? Which people were like, oh yeah, remember when you loved him during the draft? You know who I went through?

Who are you impersonating? Those that jump on me. Hey, it's Deeran Fox. I went through it last year. Because Fox did not look for some part of the season the part of where he was drafted. You know, Lonzo had caught a little fire there for a little while. And I was a huge Deerrin Fox guy.

And then you see in this second year he has taken this massive leap forward. And I foresee the same to be true of Colin Sexton. The other thing with Colin Sexton is the return of Kevin Love. I have not gone and done a deep dive on this, but how about this? How about having another awesome player on your team? Things change a little bit. Look at what he's been playing with the entire year, as if it's not hard enough to come into the NBA and be able to learn the point guard position at first.

You have him playing with the dregs. And now since Love has been back, I think you get a different guy. No doubt. With Kevin Love, there's no denying. Granted in today's league, maybe he doesn't have the same value he did in his prime with Minnesota, but he's still a good player. He still rebounds the hell out of the basketball. He's still a great facilitator for his size.

And granted, last night he was only four for 11 from the field for 16 points. He's still a good player. And for Colin Sexton, I think having a big man who can pick and pop or short roll just space the floor from three and alleviate pressure facilitating for him, naturally that helps. Yeah, to your point. Kevin Love gives you the opportunity to have the best player in the game that night. And they had very little opportunity of that when he's not playing. It's possible he's the best guy on the court for a given game.

And that just wasn't true. Sure. Yeah. I mean, obviously not last night going against Kauai Leonard. No, no, no. I'm talking about the performance in that specific game. He has the upside to be the best player on the court. Yeah.

In that game. Just in that particular. In the 48 minutes that's played that night, does he have the best game of everybody? and that's pretty hard to come by when you have the roster they've had for the majority of the season. Do you, like with last science game, granted, it's just a blip.

You know, it's just one loss against the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Raptors. But do you have any concern at all with this Raptors team moving forward? I mean, like, the East is strong up top. Boston's been better.

Milwaukee has been outstanding all season long. Philadelphia obviously has loads of town and the Indiana just plays their ass off. But like this isn't like the first loss like this that Toronto has had, and they've also had some tough losses against actually like good teams, like their recent loss against the Bucks, the one against the Rockets. Has your confidence waned with them at all, Chris?

It hasn't been, and this is why, typically with teams like this, especially when you're headed down the home stretch of the season, sometimes this will happen because if you are loaded with veteran players, then at that point, they start to look forward to the playoffs. They just want to get to the playoffs. and it's untrue of young teams or teams that are fighting for a position. But if you have been very good this season and you're already towards 50 wins, this type of stuff can happen to veteran teams. And you have guys, Kauai Leonard and Mark Nassau and Kyle Lowry and Danny Green.

I mean, these are the guys that are starting for you last night. And they have loads of playoff games underneath their belt in their career. And so I just think, I think it's true of vet teams. I do. So no. It's fair. I think that's fair. They just want to get to the playoffs.

A lot of these guys, you know, the last 20 games of the season, and you don't want your team coasting to get into the playoffs. You'd like them to be playing their best. But it is what happens. 82 games is long. And especially when these guys expect to be playing a lot of playoff games. Also, I mean, like for them, they have an opportunity over the final couple weeks to get themselves, I don't want to say back on track. It's not like they've been horrible or anything like

that, but to develop a strong rhythm, they have a pretty easy schedule. The second easiest schedule in the league, the rest of the season. Their only tough games are really two against the Oklahoma City Thunder, then the nets and the pistons. Other than that, it's a pretty light schedule for them the rest of the way to get in a roll heading into the postseason. The only thing that concerns me with them is hopefully what you will find is that, Van Vlead is healthy when it comes playoff time. That's what you hope. That he's good, able to go.

He's doing everything that you do because he's obviously had some injury issues. Didn't play in that game last night. I know they acquired Jeremy Lynn and he's been pretty good. But Van Vleet has just been so important to win, you know, there were many games where they closed out games with him and closed out games with their bench unit. And I do think he is, he's the thing that makes that bench unit go and where they can really be devastating. So a healthy Van Vleet at his best matters more than whatever, an off night losing to a team they probably shouldn't be losing to. For sure.

Yep. Yep. The big story of last evening is the Russell Westbrook interaction with the fan. Again, you know, sometimes result gets lost. The result was, that was a very good win. for Oklahoma City last night on the road against Utah. And Utah has started to slip here over the course of the last week and is putting themselves into a very difficult position standings-wise

as there is very little separation between any of these teams. I mean, they wake up this morning and they're sitting in the eight-seat. Clearly, you don't want to be playing Golden State on the road in the first series. Now, they are only a game behind the Clippers who are in, sixth, but I think we all know the difference between six and seven and eight is immense this particular year. But anyway, you have this interaction that goes on last night between Russell Westbrook and a fan. And the Westbrook reaction is caught on camera as he is screaming at the fans and saying regrettable things. And then that is dispersed all over social media. And then it's one

of those, there's the quick reaction. And I decided last night, while I am ingesting this on social media, I'm like, you know what, I'm sitting this one out until I find out everything that took place with this. But I will tell you, Kevin, that my immediate reaction when I saw the video was, oh, geez, he'll regret that. Because of course, he snaps. The second thing was, for the last, you know, 17 years, I have been right, I mean, anybody that watches the games that are taking place in Memphis, I mean, I'm right there behind the bench usually. And I used to be on the other side by the visitor's bench. And I've sat there for home games for, with a better part of over a decade,

I have seen, I mean, tens of thousands of player and fan interactions. I've heard fans say things that you absolutely should not say. I've seen fans get kicked out. I've seen fans talk to by ushers. Likewise, I have seen players yell back at fans. I've seen coaches yell back at fans. I mean, I've just seen thousands of these interactions over the years. When I saw that video last night, my immediate reaction was, I really need to know what that guy said.

Because I do not want to sound like a complete Russell Westbrook apologist on this because he was wrong with what he did. though I am empathetic, you know, in some ways. And I'll explain that in a moment. Russell Westbrook gets it more than anyone. Of anybody that comes into opposing arenas, and I've seen Russell Westbrook in regular season games, I have seen him in playoff games, and he is the subject of the greatest of fan ire.

And he gets screamed at every arena across the NBA and does not react that way. And so when I saw it, I'm like, my God, he snapped. Like, that was a guy who snapped and was furious. And so my immediate reaction, what on earth did somebody say? Because I will tell you, there is a track record here. And it's every night. It's 82 games.

Well, 41, right? When he's on the road, plus the playoffs, fans are on top of Westbrook and guys like Westbrook more than any. trying to get under his skin, screaming at him. I have seen thousands of interactions with Westbrook and fans. I've never seen anything like that, not even close to anything like that. And so my first reaction was, what in the hell happened? So let's start there as we unpack this. What was your first reaction when you saw the video come across Twitter or wherever you saw it?

I didn't see it live. I caught up at the end because I was at Clippers Celtics last night. So I had not seen it for like until everything had been out there. Oh, wow. Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, if the guy said what they allegedly said, why not, you don't have to say that. Just stick to calling him Westbrook. That's totally unnecessary if that's what was said last night.

It's unfortunate that's what happened. Yeah. Okay. So they go in the interview the fan. And the second I watched the interview with that fan, I said, this guy is lying. A hundred percent. Like, I saw it, and I'm like, this lion sack. Because, you know, at the end, he's like, I brought Jennifer and Jennifer sitting next

me. She's five foot tall. And it's the first time she's ever been to an NBA game. Welcome to the victim. Yeah, welcome. Welcome to the NBA, Jen. And I'm like, you sack a crap. I'm like, you have got to be kidding me.

Now, so I will tell you that when I saw him, I'm like, all right, this guy, he's lying his ass off. Like, this is not some innocent thing that took place because I know this. While I know people might not like Westbrook, he does not snap like that. He just doesn't. And I'm telling you, I've heard people say all manner of things to him. And he snapped. And so when I saw that guy and it was just like, oh, innocent me and welcome to the NBA, Jennifer. I was like, give me a break. All right. And so I knew he was lying. And of course, the internet always has. receipts and people went and found his accounts and it is just racial epithet after racial epithet and I mean he is exactly the type of guy that could set somebody off and I don't know

what all was said and I will also say this I am not telling you that it is okay what Russell Westbrook did I am one that is generally an extremely like happy go lucky I'm generally happy like the majority of my life, right? Very, very difficult to make angry, but I have snapped. And when I snap, I snap. And I've done things that I regret. And much like I think there will come a time where Russell Westbrook wishes, I know he's playing the hardcore role last night and saying, you know, I'd do it exactly the same way and I'd say all the same things. He'll grow older and change that opinion on that, as have I, as the years have gone on. But I'm empathetic to the guy that snaps and has a temper that when he gets pushed to a limit, he does things he

wish he wouldn't have later down the road, whether it say something or act a certain way towards somebody. I've been that guy, and so I know what it's like to snap. And I'm empathetic towards that. That does not make it right what he did last night. There's different degrees of snapping. It's all he went into the crowd and started another malice in the past. No, no, no, no, no, no.

But he shouldn't be saying, I'll F you up. your wife up. He shouldn't, you know what I'm saying? Like, listen, when people get angry and people snap, people say things that they wish they hadn't said later down the road. And I don't think that that's a great reflection of him, probably. And I think he'll later down the road probably regret it, you know? I mean, I think a couple days from now, like, you know, Westbrook probably gets fine. They investigate the fan. They probably ban them for the arena or something like that and we forget about it by next week. The other thing is I'll say this because all of these guys get player conduct cards.

Anybody that's very close to the floor, there's player conduct cards in their seats. Yeah, yeah, there's those and I know like it. I saw a photo of something like you get a, there's like warnings that fans got. I'm not sure this is just a Utah thing or league wide. Yeah, no, no, that's league. Yeah, the warning card, right? Yeah, that's league wide. And I would tell you that that's the usher's job.

And the usher should have quelled that. And you can tell Westbrook screaming at the usher. Yeah, he was. At that point, yes. He is screaming at the Usher. Like, when it gets to that point and it's boiling like that, that is the Usher's job. And that's the people's job in that arena to quell that. End of story.

Fans should not be able to say just any kind of thing. But especially most of the time, there's not some kind of terrible interaction. And most of these guys played off. There's the famous Jiff of Westbrook. There's the guy in Philadelphia is giving him double birds and yelling F.U. In his face. and that famous Jiff of Westbrook like pointing to him, you know, almost like Johnny Carson or something.

Yeah, yeah. On the sidelines. I mean... The confused, pointing sideways look, yeah. Yes. Great GIF. And that guy is giving him the double bird and yelling F you. And don't you dare try to correct GIF and Jif?

I'm not... Don't you? You're too slick. What are you talking about? I said, oh, you did that on purpose. I just said, I just said it the way I said. Yes, you did. You're the one who brought it up?

Yes, you did. I'm not going to argue about that. It's just not worth it. I was just saying it my way. You can say it your way. This is truly the mismatch. And people are going to fall down these lines. Here's what I tell you, it's a regrettable situation last night.

Westbrook is wrong. The fan is wrong and the usher. And that arena is wrong. I think everybody's wrong. And it's a regrettable situation for the NBA. Yeah. For sure. It's not the first time that people have said there's been racially tinged comments.

at jazz games. That's unfortunate because it's not representative of the entire fan base or all the people of Utah. And it is certainly not far-fetched considering people dug up that guy's Twitter feed and it's just abhorrent. Absolutely abhorrent. Yeah, that hurts. That hurts his argument that it was just innocent. You're right. Because he claimed that he said, ice your news. Oh, good grief. Listen, here's what I would tell you. That guy has said all manner of things that are beyond ridiculous from what he has made public, as you can see through his profile. And the internet is undefeated when it comes to this kind of stuff. Again, I wish it wouldn't have happened.

That's for certain. But Oklahoma City downed Utah last night. He hit the huge shot that pretty well buried them. And now, as we mentioned, Utah looking at that eight seed, which is a bit troublesome, right? for sure. I mean, I think with last science game, Chris, and this was the case last week on Friday's corner three, even though Oklahoma City won, I'm still looking at Paul George's shooting numbers and like, whew, geez. Yeah. I mean, since he returned last Tuesday, six of 17 at the rim, eight of 20 for midrange, eight of 35 from three. He is not shooting the ball well at all, and that could just be small sample and like everything's going to be fine, the final stretch of the regular season into the playoffs. But following the shoulder, you, a rotator cuff injury. I don't know. I'm a little bit concerned.

That sample is growing and he's not shooting the ball any better than he did early last week when he initially returned. You're either going to have to have one of two things. Him improve greatly or Russell Westbrook starts shooting as if he has not been this entire season because he has clearly not been shooting the ball well this year. Though he has stuffed stat sheets, his percentages have not been very good and you are going to be counting on somebody. When it matters most, come playoff time, George has been MVP level, and it feels like he surged, and he was right there where he was getting in that conversation with Hardin and Janice.

And now he's just not. He's just not. I think he's fallen back out of it, and this is a two-man race. Do you agree? Yeah, definitely. Hardin and Janus. Yeah. All right.

Standings Watch after last night. I think it's fair to say it's very, very difficult to foresee a circumstance where Sacramento gets there now. They needed this last 10 games, and obviously it hurt them to lose Marvin Bagley when they did because they were really rocking there for a minute, but 3 and 7 in their last 10 games, and that's when they need to be 7 and 3. But they weren't, and so now they're four games out from Utah, who has a rather easy schedule down the stretch. You have the spurs who have won five in a row, the Clippers who have won five in a row. And so it appears as if for the first time we have real clarity on who the eight teams are going to be in the Western Conference, it's simply a matter of what positions are going to be in, right? Yeah, definitely.

Especially in the Western Conference, Sacramento has been a wonderful story all season, but four back when Utah has the easy schedule that they have, going to be tough for them to get in there. It's tough. and you have the Rockets who have won nine in a row, and now they're two games back from Denver. I suppose, you know, Denver, who has been one or two virtually the entire season,

you know, we could look up at the end of this, and they could end up with the three seed because Houston does not appear to be slowing down anytime soon. They've been unreal, dude. I mean, obviously earlier in the season, when Hardin first started that ridiculous run, the question was how sustainable it would be, and now that Chris Paul was getting himself back healthy,

and Clint Capella has returned, man, I mean, this team is, they're getting hot at the right time, they're also getting healthy at the right time. And when you think about how great this team was last season when those three were all healthy, I mean, what we're seeing as of late, obviously you wouldn't favor them in a series against Golden State,

but I still think they would have a real shot at sending a series a six or seven, and if they have a hot shooting game, maybe winning a series in the postseason because the way they're playing right now, it's really, really impressive. All right, Kevin, we'll get right back to it. First, I want to tell everybody about the NBA watch of the night,

the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Denver Nuggets. It's on TNT at 1030 Eastern. Tonight, we have been talking about the Nuggets, and I guess they still have a chance at the one seed, Kev. They also have a chance of falling back as everything is tenuous within this standings race. Minnesota's not been very good down the stretch, though they have won two games in a row. They've been dismal away from home.

What a difference. They are 23 and 10 at home 9 and 25 on the road, whereas the Nuggets have only lost six games at home all season and trying to bounce back after their recent loss. And they've got to try to hold off Houston, who will not slow down. Nuggets T-Wools, what do you think? I'm looking forward to seeing,

how Denver's rotation develops over this final stretch. Because right now, they're at a point where earlier in the season, it was like they were not healthy and they were winning despite that. But now everybody's healthy besides Michael Porter and they have too many guys. Isaiah Thomas since returning has, it's unfortunate he's just not been good. And I think that has not ruined the bench chemistry, but it has hampered it. I wonder at what point did they go back to just playing Morris and Beasley off the bench and and Thomas would have to take just a deep bench reserve role.

Because right now they're playing too many guys because they have to play too many guys. But it's worth investing that time now to try to get IT back to 75% of what he was his final season in Boston that year where he plays fifth in MVP voting. But I do wonder at what point is Malone, pull the plug on that and just get back to the primary rotation that he wants to be using in the playoffs to develop rotations and all that. the postseason. Well, and the other thing is the whole Gary Harris deal. Since he has come back, I believe he's only had two double-digit games, one of which was that blowout of the Lakers, and he was installed in the starting lineup, and that had been Beasley, and they had looked really good,

and you know I was effusive in my praise with Beasley, but it feels like it's been a little bit of a tough go for Gary Harris. He missed those games, and then he came back for a bit, and then he missed a bunch more games. And trying to get him back in that starting lineup is not necessarily helped because it felt like they were really cracking, even without Harris.

And now you've got to implement him back into the mix, right? And he wasn't very good against the Warriors the other night. I mean, they're going to get it back to what they were because this is a team that had upside to go all the way to the Western Conference finals. And right now they're in a spot where they could slip to the three seed and they could be prone to a first round upset that if they're not able to get themselves back to what they were at the beginning of the season

and deep into the midseason. All right, as they are trying to hold off the Houston Rockets, they need to win tonight against a Minnesota Timberwolves Nuggets versus T-Wills tonight, TNT, at 1030 Eastern. And remember, if you want to watch every NBA game, subscribe to NBA League Pass on NBA.com or your preferred video provider. I want to remind everybody, today's show is brought to you by Hotel Tonight. This winter is a great time to check out Hotel Tonight, and whether you want to

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things by ear or use Hotel Tonight to book in advance. And when you join Hotel Tonight's H.T. Perks program, the more you book, the better deals you get. To score amazing deals and incredible hotels, go to Hotel Tonight.com or download the app now. We have talked about how the warriors are more susceptible than they have been in the last four or five years. They clearly have not been playing good basketball as of late. The chemistry is not there. Yeah, it feels off. And you obviously have the Kerr lip reading thing the other night where he said, you know, I'm so effing tired of Draymond, blah, blah, blah.

And he clarified that and saying he's talking about Draymond with the refs and that it was lip reading gone wrong, whatever. Here's what we know. We watch that team play, and they don't look nearly as devastating as they have recently. Now, maybe they're just coasting until it comes playoff time, and then they're going to flip that switch and just murder people. But when we say that there's all of these different teams that are jockeying for position, Utah, who was highly ranked and had a chance at home court advantage, very recently, is now sitting at the eight seed.

Of all of those teams, who do you think would give them the hardest of the first round series? and I'll let you pick between, we'll put the Blazers and we'll act like the Blazers are going to be a little bit higher. So then you would have those three that are at 6, 7 and 8, which are all within a game of each other, Clippers, spurs, jazz. If you are the Warriors, who do you want to face the least?

Maybe it's because I just saw them last night with the Clippers, just because of how hard that team plays and the chemistry they have on both ends of the court and the consistent effort that they play. I think I'd say the Clippers. You know, talking to you guys this morning, it feels like that game last night in your mind's eye was more about the clippers than it was about the Celtics. Because typically any time the Celtics loses like, oh, what's wrong with the Celtics? Or Celtics are going to get it together?

You know, yet, yet you guys were abusive in your praise about the clippers and they're eight and two over the course of their last 10 games and another really impressive win last night. Yeah, man. This team, this team, it's like your ancient philosophy. be, Chris, just don't play bad players, just play good players. That's all they do, right? Up and down their roster, they have a bunch of good players. And last night, Montreys Harrell, we've talked about him before on this podcast. The development he has made this season, scoring, passing out of the short role. The intensity he's played with has been consistent since college, but he has really channeled that and improved his discipline and fundamentals over the years to just become a really,

really good two-way big man. And Lou Williams last night, he's still taking. He's still ticking, dude, 34 points on 20 shots. He was maybe the best line of night, I think. The will is great. Especially considering Kevin, he had 34 points last night. He played 23 minutes. I mean, that's outrageous. He took 20 shots and had 34 points in 23 minutes last night in that game.

The other one is Gallinari. He looked like the best player on the floor in the first half. In a game against Boston, I suppose Kyrie was obviously good too, but you look up and down your line to your point. What'd they send? They send seven into double digits last night, seven guys. They got a good team, man. It's a good squad.

Doc Rivers is probably not going to win coach the year, but the year he's had with the roster he's had with playing the amount of young players is abnormal for Doc Rivers with Zubots, Shammett, Gilgis Alexander, just those three alone starting. Someone mentioned this to me last night. I forget who it was, but it's like LeBron's comments about like, it's hard to win with young guys. It's like, look at the clippers.

Look at the clippers. They're winning with a lot of young guys and no superstar player, except for de Vello Gallinari. That Zubach trade is ridiculous. Why did the Lakers do that? It makes no sense to me. Like, I still try to figure out, like, what was the point of that? Why?

Got to have Mike Muscala, Chris. Gotta have him. I mean, that's just a terrible, terrible trade. That kid is good. You know, when he was on that, uh, He was the one after Yokic. There's a couple of them that didn't pan out. Timothy Cabarral, the Walu, hasn't necessarily, but they were all on that small team.

Was it Megalex? Yeah, Megalax. The one that Yokic came from. And boy, did they find some really good young talent in that system. But that Zubach kid is, I think he's really good. And I just, I can't believe that they gave him up for what they did. That's just bananas. And the other thing is winning with a back court, and I know that Shamit started last night,

but Beverly and Gilders Alexander, I mean, this is not exactly offensively potent. How the hell are you scoring 140 points, and that's your back court? You would think you'd have trouble scoring, wouldn't you? Well, I mean, yeah, with this team, like we just said, though, they have a lot of good players who are playing unselfish basketball. It's not like there's one primary source of offense. It can be a different guy each night. Like one night it might be Landry Shamit, who has an.

advantage on the offensive end of the floor using him off screens and handoffs. It might be him one night. The next night it might be Gallinari, and Lou Will is always going to be providing points off the bench. They just have a lot of options, and they use them well within their kind of equal-ish opportunity system. Doc's done a hell of a job this year, man. That is for certain.

Hey, Isaac, as he's saying Golden State that you wouldn't want to play against them, I know the last time that they played Golden State, they got mad. I've got it up here. And now they have not played them, in fairness, since the Harris deal. Right? So Harris are still in the lineup. Yeah, it's a different roster now. They lost, let's see, by two in another one.

Two of these games have gone to overtime. So so far I've got them one and two. Do they play again before? They do, second to last game of the season. So they're one and two against them so far. Do you agree with him in terms of Clipper Opportunity against the Warriors? you think your squad could give them a run? Absolutely not.

No way. No way. There's no way. In the playoffs, it's a different story. Also, you can talk to any Clippers fan. There's no optimism in the Clippers fan base ever. Like, even this season where it was filled with a lot of hope and the young guys developing, there's no way they're going to give the Golden State Warriors a run for their money anytime soon.

Yeah, there's no way. It's a sweet. It's sweet. All right. Sweet. Okay. Well, then I say Utah. He has convinced me. I'd say Utah is the one they don't want to play.

Just because they're big. That's what I would say, Kev. If you're the Warriors, I'd rather not play them. Home court advantage obviously can be real. Lord knows you've got to deal with those fans. But in addition to that, the altitude thing. And they're big. And so you could end up seeing one of those games where they just outrebound them by a million.

And so they're given so many more. opportunities and cracks at it. So I guess I'd say them, but that's interesting that you, I feel bad for Clippers. I wish they. Shouldn't feel bad. They get two max slots this summer and a bunch of nice and players. That's not what I'm talking about. I feel bad for the Clippers within the context of that city.

I will tell you, maybe I would have supposed things have not changed. But even during like when they had the Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, like that whole team, whatever, I was wearing like a grizzlies jacket, like just like around town when I was there for the week and they were going to be playing against the clippers. I'm not kidding you. Everywhere I go, everywhere I went in Los Angeles, people were like, yeah, make sure you beat the clippers tonight. It was bizarre. I guess there's like a lot of people in L.A. that are just such big Laker fans that they really root against the clippers. I mean, I'm not kidding. Everywhere I went, people were telling me, like, they were like, yeah, going to be rooting for you guys tonight. And I'm like,

this is just weird. Is that true? Is that true? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. It's just weird. I mean, people, it's kind of a joke, right? The Lakers have won 17 championships if you count the Minneapolis ones. And even if you don't, it's still 11 championships in Los Angeles alone. How many? To zero for the Clippers, not even a Western Conference final's birth for the Clippers. So the rivalry is kind of a joke, and I treated it as a joke definitely.

But there were Lakers fans during the Lop City years that actively rooted against the Clipper success, just as the Clippers fans actively rooted against the Lakers success. so it's a given take. I'm not mad at it. It's actually, it's probably kind of fun. All right, fair enough. All right, let me get to the Easter conference real quick because we do need to take a look at them.

Milwaukee is still in first place. They have the best record in the NBA and they're two and a half games up on Toronto. Both of those teams have already punched their tickets to the playoffs. But Milwaukee is still sporting a plus nine differential, which is just immense. I mean, you're talking about, about when you get into double digits,

you're talking about the greatest seasons ever for individual teams, having a double-digit point differential. You now have Philadelphia, who is in third as of right now. I got that win, and Embed was unbelievable. When he came back, the Pacers losing a couple, Boston, obviously losing last night. And then you get to Brooklyn, who of the 6, 7, and 8, as it stands right now,

Brooklyn, the Pistons, and Miami, I did not foresee a circumstance where the Pistons or Miami are really putting the fear of God into somebody that is highly seated. I do think Brooklyn could. What about you? Why do you? I'm curious why. What separates Brooklyn? Much like you were talking about with the Clippers. You watch that team, and that is a team that has this incredible chemistry. I mean, you see them. They always look like they're having so much fun together. Dinwiddie has been fantastic over the course of the last week now that they've gotten him back into the fold. They've got energy guys that can do stuff with Eddie Davis,

who they bring off the bench. Obviously, they've got Jared Allen, the fro in that starting lineup. And Russell has taken a huge leap this year. I just think that there are these nights where, like obviously they killed the Pistons last night in that game. And Blake Griffin, couldn't hit a shot to save his life. But I like the way they are set up. You've got Russell who's really running everything. They got a couple guys that can shoot on the outside, not the least of which is Joe Harris.

And then they've got guys they bring off their bench that can be productive. And I like benches like this where you can flip the game and there's so much energy. And when they bring off Dinwiddie and they bring off Carol and they bring off Ed Davis. And obviously Levert coming back into form and he's coming off the bench for them. I like the depth, and I just watch that team, and they seem like they are always just having so much fun, and they've got such great chemistry. Yeah, I mean, Detroit's been really good lately, too, though. I mean, last night's game, they were obviously awful.

No, I know. I know. I know back to back. But Detroit's played great. I mean, Blake Griffin, I'm worried about most improved players of the year. Blake Griffin wouldn't necessarily be in that conversation compared to some of the other guys, like Russell, as you mentioned, Pascal Seaccombe, Dearn Fox. But Blake Griffin's been really good this season for Detroit, and Andre,

Drummond has been on a tier just the last two months or so. And I think with that trade, like we talked about on Friday's show, the additions that they made with Wayne Ellington, some of the young guys playing well, Luke Kinnard stepping up since the Reggie Bullock trade. They've just had a lot of good production up and down their roster in addition to some star power up top with Blake Irfan. So I think in that sense, Detroit, I might give them a slight edge in the playoffs, but it also depends on the series. Like, we don't know how these matchups are going to shake out. But to your point about Brooklyn and last night's game, yeah, there's just another one of those teams with a lot of talents and also a lot of chemistry.

And I think with DeAngelo Russell's progress this season, it gives them a player who at least has the potential to be a star in an individual game. I think for him it will be a really good experience in the postseason to adapt against the physicality, the game planning, and everything that happens. Because as good as he's been this season, there's still a lot of room for improvement

with getting to the line, getting to the basket, and also playing more consistent defense. but the rest of the management's have been so impressive. Yeah, I just don't trust the Detroit team. I know they're 11 and 3 over the course of their last 14 games, but they take an advantage of a schedule that got lighter. I'm not going to say they didn't have good wins because clearly the one against Toronto and overtime was good.

But, I mean, it's Minnesota, Chicago, Chicago, and then you go backwards, Cleveland, Miami, Atlanta. I mean, they lost the game at San Antonio. They lost the game at Boston. They beat the Wizards. They beat the Knicks. twice. You know, they've got some good wins in there, though. Obviously, the Denver win was very good, though Toronto wins very good. So I don't want to act like all of their, all of their

wins, but their schedule did lighten up a lot. Sure. But they took care of business. And conversely, the rest of the season, Brooklyn's going to have a steep challenge on their hands. They only have two easy-ish games, and that's against the Lakers and the heat who are like on the fringes of being competitive. Other than that, like they have a real, real tough stretch of games, including a long road trip, I think, for about two weeks, really. So I think for Brooklyn, there's going to be some challenges down the stretch. Okay, I really like that Brooklyn team, but I will ask you, if there is somebody, we have decided, and I think it will be so in the end, that from the very beginning

of the season, we said there's four. Milwaukee, Toronto, the Sixers, and the Celtics, in some order will be the representatives in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Now, the Pacers have still played fantastic basketball, despite losing. their best player earlier in the year. That being said, if we are trying to find somebody that we think could break that up, and I would give you Indiana, Brooklyn, the Pistons, and the heat, and as I said, you know that Indiana's been by far the best,

but are they the one that you could see crashing a party if it's not the four that we have just always assumed it's going to be? Yeah, I think it would be Indiana of those bottom four teams. Okay. Let me ask you about the teams at the bottom because now the lottery odds are changing with every single night. And you have a lot of these teams that are losing incessantly. The Dallas Mavericks are losing every night. Obviously, if the Lakers losing five in a row, the Pelicans started losing, they've lost three in a row. And so everybody is jockeying for these positions while the Grizzlies are attempting to win on a nightly basis so that they can convey their round pick, which they do if they're not in one of the bottom eight spots, they can convey that pick to the Boston Celtics. What do you think when you are watching these standings from the bottom up? It's the most exciting race in history, Chris. It's been a joy to watch these teams fight for Zion Williamson. It's been heroic, really. Dallas has really made a strong, strong

run at the six best lottery odds. And Memphis is doing what they need to do, Chris. They're winning games because they want to convey their pick. And right now they are up by a half game over the Wizards, a game and a half up over the Pelicans. And they're coming hard for the eighth best odds because that's where they want to be. Well, and clearly the Lakers are losing every night. So even if you just win some of the games, it appears the Lakers are going to be losing a ton down the stretch.

As they should. But Dallas ultimately is getting what they want moving up to the sixth spot. and Memphis, if they do continue playing well, they'll be in a spot where they'll have like a 20% or 25%-ish odds at getting a top four pick, which would be great for them. But the preference does seem to be just to give up that pick to Boston this year, who it's a top bait protected pick, and then have a clean slate moving forward. I think it would really help their rebuild.

But obviously, if you're Memphis, it'd be okay to win a top pick. But unless it's Zion, I'm not sure the appeals there as much. Okay. Well, I'm actually going to get to that now because with all these commerce tournaments going on in college basketball, people are going out of their way to watch college basketball, as am I, especially highlighting the prospects. I will tell you, Kevin, that I know that you are a monstrous draft guy who is doing preparation on a regular basis. When you are looking at the mocks and you are thinking about this upcoming draft, every talent evaluator, because I'll try to grab scouts from other teams, I've called around to college people. I've talked to some personnel guys around the league.

And what I have found is nobody feels confident about four. I have not found one person that says this is who's going for or this is who should go for. And yet everybody, for the most part, has the same three guys at the top, which are Zion Williamson, John Morant at Murray State, and R.J. Barrett at Duke. And I found some people that like Cam Reddish. I found some people that like Hachimora from Gonzaga. I've found some people that like D'Andre Hunter from Virginia or Garland from Vandy. But it feels like, I don't know, and maybe you are getting different intel.

But from what I've gathered, that there is a real drop past three and that most teams have the top three the same. Yeah. The people I've talked to is similar. I think there's real disagreement between Morant versus Barrett for that second spot. And there's still a handful of people that, you know, aren't convinced about RJ, even in the third spot for that matter. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah.

I mean, criticisms of RJ Barrett are legitimate. You know, can he be efficient score? How will his defense be at the next level when he's been very laxidical on that end this year at Duke? Even though he has the body to defend, the mindset has not been there for him. him. How will his shot be? These are real questions about him. With Cam Reddish, to me right now at this stage, and there's

a long way to go, not just in the college season, but the whole pre-draft process with how these guys develop training for the drafts. With Cam Redish, I still have a hard time looking at him and thinking, like, this guy should not be the fourth pick in this year's draft class with his youth, with his length,

with his ability to make just pro-level moves as a ball handler from the perimeter. It's just hard not to project him being a guy who's going to be a good two-way player in the league for a long time. He might not be the star that people were expecting. He might not be the Paul George that people wanted, but there's still a lane for him to be a really good two-way player. So for me right now, I'd have him in that four spot, but there's still time for that to change

for sure. And NBA people aren't in all in agreement. There are people who wouldn't draft Redish in the top six, seven or eight. That's interesting. There's a lot of variance. Put it this way. That's the bottom line. There's a lot of variance this year starting at.

Three, really, three, but especially at four this year. Like you said, Garland's another guy, Chris, Darius Garland, who got hurt earlier this season for Vanderbilt. There are some people who like Garland over John Morant. Just because Jaws played doesn't make him necessarily better. We've just seen him more recently. But there are people who prefer Garland. There's a lot of variance in this draft, which is going to make it wild on draft night. Yeah, and inevitably, there will be somebody that takes hold of these conference tournaments

and then the NCAA tournament that there's some. stock goes crazy. We saw this last year. I remember it vividly with Gilgis Alexander. He just went up a notch. And next thing you knew, people were talking about him as a possible lottery pick where he had not been high on those lists prior to. And so this is the moment where everybody starts watching. The games get super competitive and matter most. And this feels like a year even more so than others where you could greatly improve your draft stock. And that if I print it off today, who most people have in the lottery, I could foresee it changing significantly within the next three weeks.

Yeah. Don't you feel that way? Absolutely. I mean, that's the one thing about this year's class. Like one team we didn't mention when we were talking about the Eastern Conference. We didn't mention the Orlando Magic that right now they're a game back from the heat for that eight spot. So right now they have the 12th best odds, but that can end up being 15. But for them, it's like, sure, you would love to have the number one or number two.

pick, but there's not a significant difference in talent from seven and 15. You know what I mean? Like this year, it really flattens out. So obviously, you don't have the amount of choices, but the talent level is not drastically different at that area of the draft. Well, they just have to figure out a way to get into the vicinity where they can take bowl bowl, because you know that the magic are just going to take whoever is seven foot with a 700 foot wingspan. So they could have bowl, bowl and Mo Bamba and Jonathan Isaac and everybody else. They're just going to, I think this is John Gabriel's, right?

This is his dream is to just find the guys that are the tallest, longest, possible human beings. It would be hysterical if they took Bull Bull. Be wild, man. I've been putting that off that line up. Hey, if they went, if they went, bowl, Isaac, and Mo Bamba, let that be. three, four, and five on your roster? Yeah, I'm ready for it right now.

Let's go. What the hell? Why not? I mean, I'd rather them not be paired with whoever they got now. DJ Augustine. Like, so we didn't. They got Markle Fultz, right? I was going to say they got Markell Fultz, Chris.

Come on. It's the start of the show. They got Markle Fultz. I guess they could end up with him. Is there somebody that you have found yourself really falling in love with over the course of the past couple of weeks? The draft guys, as you have started to dive into this more. that as you've watched more of them or talk to more people about them,

that you are higher on than if I would have talked to you two or three weeks ago? I'm not sure about two or three weeks ago, but generally this season, I think Jackson Hayes, the center from Texas, has been really impressive. Turns 19, a couple weeks before the draft,

or about a month before the draft. A bouncy, athletic, rim running center, plays hard on defense, shot blocker. It's easy to see a lane for him to be a Capella-esque center. and he's not quite as athletic as Capella,

but he's a really, really good two-way center. I think he could be somebody that rises quickly up the draft boards. There we go. All right. So I will certainly keep an eye on him. He may just get one crack at it right in the Big 12 tournament because his team has been a colossal disappointment this year, that Texas team where I thought Shaka Smart was going to win big time there, by the way.

And they lost the little guard, Curwin Roach, this year. I may have to catch him fast in the Big 12 tournament. Run out of time. They're a 500 team. Knowing the stupid NCAA tournament, they'll probably put them in the tournament at 16 and 16 from the Big 12, right? They face Kansas on Thursday night. It's a national TV game.

Perfect, right? Catch him, yeah. No, that would be perfect. And that kid, what is, Jackson Hayes, I'm looking them up right now, 10.5 rebounds a game so far this year. Good Lord. Talk about the taking efficient shots, right? 73% from the field.

I guess this guy doesn't take Jackson A's doesn't take shots he can't make. That is for certain. And actually, good free throw line numbers. He shot 75%, which is good for a center from the free throw line, especially if you're talking about rim running a lot. I'm very excited for all of these conference tournaments coming up.

And we do have the home stretch of the NBA season with most of these teams having about 15 games left. And then we get the playoffs. Listen, we're ready for the playoffs just like all these players are, Kev. I'm ready for it, man. Let's go. I am too. I'm ready.

It's going to do it for today's show. Thanks to everybody for listening. Head over to iTunes. If you dig what you're hearing and go give us a rating and a review, five stars, five stars really helps. And we will talk to you next week.