The Ringer NBA Show - Will the NBA Championship Be Won By the Team With the Most Continuity? | The Answer

Episode Date: February 19, 2022

Chris and Seerat begin the pod by discussing the false potential that is being set for certain NBA teams by the media after the trade deadline. The conversation then leads to an analysis of the Sixer's win over the Bucks on Thursday and the improvements Milwaukee has made this season, along with the holes James Harden will fill once he makes his debut in a Philadelphia jersey.(5:13) They continue by touching on the strengths and weaknesses of some other Eastern Conference teams, mainly the Bulls and the Heat (14:08). They wrap things up by talking about the current state of a few of the big Western Conference contenders, notably the Suns (24:22), Jazz (31:33), and Warriors.(39:01) Hosts: Chris Ryan and Seerat Sohi Production Assistant: Chris Sutton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Let's help everybody. I'm JJ John Gistramski. And I'm Jason Gough, and if you haven't heard, the ringer has gone local. I'm bringing the fire. I'm bringing the rain from the Big Apple with my show, New York, New York. And I'm reping Shottown with my new show The Full Go on All Things Chicago. We've got episodes three nights a week with all the reaction to the local teams and guests. Plus bonus episodes around all the big games and storylines.

So whether you're uptown, downtown, downtown, in the burbs, or a transplant. Make sure you follow New York, New York, and the full go on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. Hello and welcome to the Ringer NBA show. It's The Answer. I'm Chris Ryan. I'm joined as always by Siritt Sohi. Sir, what's up? How's it going, Chris? You know what?

It's great to see your face week after week because the theme of this podcast is continuity. And we're asking whether or not this is the season of continuity. I think that's probably secretly the thing we don't talk about with the era of player movement, player empowerment, whatever you want to call it, where we're constantly looking at these trade headlines and the gossip and the rumor mill and refreshing hoops. but the teams that tend to be really good are the ones that may be practiced together for more than three months. And we're certainly seeing that this season. And we wanted to talk a little bit about some of the teams coming out of the first half of the season as we enter into the all-star break that have kind of kept it together, right?

That have not tinkered too much or maybe only like messed around on the margins and what their prospects are for the second half of the season. Does that sound good to you? That sounds great, Chris. Thanks for not trading me at the deadline. I really appreciate that. We just couldn't make the money work. That's the thing. I couldn't get a third team involved, you know?

Yeah, I've got, I got like a poison pill thing on my contract. Like, it changes when I get to the States anyway. So it was just, I get it. West Brookian, yeah, right. That third year's a killer. Yeah, exactly, exactly. But hey, it's good for me. So where do you want to start here?

Because obviously, if you look at everything that's happened over the last couple of weeks and obviously what we've spent most of our time talking about, it's the Nets, it's the Sixers, it's the teams that got very creative at the trade deadline to make a push to win a championship or sometimes out of circumstances, sometimes out of desire, but whatever. But then you've got the teams that are actually cruising this season and they know who they are, right?

They know what their roster is, they know what their role players, what their roles are, they know who their stars are. And they may have made one or two additions, a Tori Craig here, a Serja Baca there, but it seems like the teams that are really good and knew they were good and stayed that way. Yeah, I almost, I want to open

up with a little bit of a rant just so we can, you know, just get it out of my system so then we can just talk about these lovely basketball teams that we're going to move on to. Yeah. Go for it. The Nets post-dedline are finally not favorites to win the NBA championship. This comes off the heels of obviously the Ben Simmons trade, but also just like, you know, losing a bunch of games and being more in playing range than they were in shape for contention. I don't know it kind of just like it kind of builds off

I guess what we talked about last week of just like the trade deadline and how these deals are kind of becoming bigger than the games I'm like I'm just kind of I've hit my breaking point I think I think I've just hit my breaking point with it I'm so sick of it

I'm so annoyed of like the potential that certain teams have versus like the reality that we see on the floor and how much we actually pay attention to one versus the other like the net's You're becoming an old man I am. Well, it was my birthday two weeks ago. So I was like, I think this is like just kind of like the next transition of my life. And I'm actually very cool with it. I'm, I'm hype to age. I like, I can't wait to hit 30. I feel like I'm just going to like give less fucks than ever. But yeah, no, I'm, I'm, I'm ready to admit it, you know? Like the nets are completely theoretical. They are completely theoretical. They remain completely theoretical. I don't know why. Even now, like, their odds are so high. The teams that we're going to talk about, we have, the sons now have the highest odds at plus 400.

The Warriors plus 425. And the net still aren't really that far behind at 475. Then you got the bucks, the Sixers, the heat. The Bulls are nowhere to be found. They're the two-seat. Caves, four-seat, grizzlies, three-seat, and then the Jazz, the four-seat, too, right? Like, nowhere to be found in this. And I'm just kind of, I'm, A, annoyed, but I'm also very excited to talk about these teams.

that actually exist, that have, the foundation is already built. Is your annoyance rooted more in the fact that for the month before, if not the three months before the trade deadline, until even through the trade deadline, because everybody basically took the week off after the trade deadline in terms of actually playing well, that we are just, we are basically like so distracted by that stuff that we're not recognizing, say, the greatness of the sons or the greatness of the warriors, the greatness of the grizzlies or the greatness of the bulls? Yeah, yeah. Or even like the bucks, the bucks are fourth in championship odds. They are the defending champions. And Janus is better than ever. The Sixers narrowly won that game. That was a really great game, by the way. Yeah, let's talk a little bit about that game because I think it's an interesting example of what we're talking about. A theoretical team versus a real team in some ways. The Sixers have been theoretical, arguably since Sam Hinky took over. But, you know, I think that the last couple of weeks especially, despite the fact that the Sixers had been on something over.

role. It was the anticipation was that either Simmons is going to get traded and there's going to be new players coming in or possibly Simmons will come back and they'll have to reintegrate him into the Sixers system. Obviously the former happened. It's sensationally so. So these last couple of games, including one that I am going to probably have to go to the Eternal Sunshine Lab to get taken out of my memory, which was this 50 point Celtics loss earlier in the week. The Sixers then played the bucks last night. It was a much closer facsimile of what they've been this season, which is at times stunning, generally pretty solid, crappy in the fourth quarter. They played a buck's team that's cruising, right? And sometimes cruising doesn't look like there's a lot of exertion

going on or there's a lot of like, you know, challenge to it. It's just like we're just rolling along. We're ticking along. We want to be healthy. So what did you see from that game? Yeah. So to that point, you know, the bucks are chilling. You know, know, they're just kind of doing what a team that just won a championship is supposed to do. You know, Yannis, if he was playing more minutes, would probably be the runaway MVP. He probably still should be anyways. He's kind of become, like, the LeBron of this era in that, like, he is incredibly athletic, so you kind of forget the fact that he incrementally improves, like, every single year.

He now, like, he's got a pull-up mid-range jumper. he's just finishing incredibly well around the paint his playmaking has improved like he's just kind of he's made the leaps that you're supposed to make as a player but is also clearly like just is you know putting some effort into working on his weaknesses and like when you when you see like that that's one thing with the bucks that to me is the biggest thing that could actually maybe even shape like the future of the NBA for the next five years or so last year yannis's jumpshot looked absolutely broken you know like I I I followed it like pretty closely and you know his elbow was poking out like the extremities

were were everywhere and like you kind of know when you when you shoot a jumper you want everything to be tucked in his release is faster this year you can tell he's just kind of taking up less space when he's shooting the elbows tucked in the the arc is higher and the shots are going in too he's like at 72% for the free throw line this year and like in that range in the game he has also made improvements and he's also you know just improved as such like just you know these post fadeaways in the game against the sixers it was pretty much like any time that it wasn't embied on him you know like he would just go to the right block and you can't really just like be horizontal on him anymore and just keep your your base strong as as a defender like as an undersized

defender on him you know you saw green tobias um mill sat probably is the best shot uh but he just kind of did whatever he wanted um and just hit shots over them and if he can do that he can do that? I don't know. It's just, to me, it kind of, it might be over. You know, it might be over for a while, given health, at least in the Eastern Conference. This team is just really good. They play really well together. And they continue to grow, too. Like, they are trying to take chances with the regular season, as opposed to just kind of like trying to win games, right? Like, Mackayas Duncan actually had a great article a couple, a couple months ago about how they were using the regular season to diversify their offense. And like, they haven't had Lopez.

and that's kind of allowed them to use a more switchy, aggressive style with Portis at the five, who is also, like, he's really stepped up this year. He's also spacing the floor, and, like, you know, you just don't really, like, I think they would probably miss Lopez in the playoffs rim protection-wise, but it's given them this new element, too, and, like, you saw it last night where, man, like, in the fourth quarter, like, when the, when the Bucks, A, like, really start, like, that was a competitive game. Um, you know, like the, the Bucks made some costly areas. Like, Middleton had that pass to the corner that just went out of bounds.

And they were pissed about it, right? Like, they, they genuinely really gave a shit about this game. When they do and they, they get those traps going, it's scary. I think both teams cared. You know, it seemed like it was an interesting example of like, the Sixers being forced to rely on guys who maybe don't bring it every night. They bring it effort-wise, but maybe don't have their, their best game every night. It was kind of cool to see Maxie explode in the second quarter.

and maybe I really enjoyed it because a lot of people made a lot of the fact that like Hardin had a by himself meeting with Maxi like a one-on-one with Maxi like aside from the coaches and then as soon as Maxi came out of that time out where he talked to Hardin he immediately like kind of rattle off 12 points in the second quarter and Hardin was like thank you thank you so coach Hardin. James Hardin, veteran leader. But they were relying on Furcan Corkma's and George Nyang to have consistently good nights and that's not just, that's just not going to happen with role players every night.

I thought it was interesting that it seemed like Doc and Bud were toying around with how would I do this for seven games ideas in that game last night? And it was funny at the end of the game, which was very close and came down to the last couple of possessions. I felt like Doc and Bud had like a warm embrace that was almost like, see you soon. You know what I mean? Like, I'm reading too much into it, but it felt like, you know, rivers, had Nying de up Janus a lot.

You know, he did not want him be taking that much physicality on both ends of the floor. Like, he wanted him beat fresh for offense. He wanted him to be able to, like, kind of patrol the rim, but not get mired in chasing Janus everywhere and banging with him all night. And I thought that that was kind of fascinating, the stuff that you pointed out also just like how the bucks are experimenting with their offense. There's something about the way that they're playing that feels like they know what they're. they're capable of so they can flip that switch, which is often like you associate that with maybe like LeBron teams where he's like, we're going to play our way into shape, we're going to

be playing our best basketball in the spring, then we go into the playoffs, like feeling like we have a chance or whatever. The Bucks feel like they, like they know what they are and they know what they're capable of and they're going to try and integrate Abaka into what they're doing now. I guess that means no Lopez, but who knows. Yeah, I thought it was a fascinating game. I imagine if you can have both of them, that's great, right? But having, yeah, I think, I think Serge was a great pick up for them because of the Lopez thing, but, you know, also just a guy that can plug and play. He can shoot threes. And he's also just very competitive in the playoffs. Like, the one thing I noticed about Surge is that he just doesn't really care that much in a regular season. Like,

these boneheaded plays that you'll, like, I think Bucks fans will, like, probably start getting used to and occasionally getting annoyed by and, like, the defensive plays that he takes off. Like, for the most part, given that his body is like going to be okay, uh, since he hasn't, you know, like the, it's been, it's been a while since he was in finals. Um, but he does level up. as well. And then like, when I was watching last day was like, where are the Hardin holes here? You know, like, where, where am I watching? What am I watching that I think Hardin will be doing?

And also, like, just kind of curious out of curiosity because Doc is just absolutely, like, married to this idea of playing five bad players at once. Like, he never, he's never let that go. He's just, like, he's just got a bad lineup that he loves playing the bad lineup. You know, and last night it was like Millsap, Nying, Quarkmon. It was like some non-M-Beed lineup that was like, and I don't think Harris was in it either, but he played it too much, and that's how the Bucks kind of like stormback. And watching him stagger, Hardin, and Embed is going to be really interesting.

And my number one thing in the whole world is just like, what does Hardin do for the Sixers in the fourth quarter? Because he's another ball handler, obviously, he's another person who can make a shot under pressure, who can take a lot of pressure. But this is just going to be the story of the Sixers until I see otherwise. is just like this team just seems to tighten up in the fourth quarters. And there's their sloppy turnovers and the shot, the rim gets smaller. And it's just like, it's just tough for them to execute and down the stretch. And that's why the Bucks basically almost took that game back.

It was really, really tight down there. But it was, I thought it was like a really illustrative game in a lot of ways. And it was illustrative because this Bucks team, despite losing at home, was just like, seemed pretty cool the entire time. They didn't get too outside of themselves. And you could tell that the Sixers team really needed that win after the Celtics lost because you don't want to go into the All-Star break, getting your ass kicked by Boston, and then losing on the road after being up against Milwaukee, and then hope everything gets

magically cured after a week off. So really fascinating. Who else you want to talk about in the East before we go to talk about like the Suns and stuff like that? Because since we're already in the Eastern Conference, you mentioned Chicago. And I was curious whether or not, you know, DeRosen is. is basically like on putting up an MVP season right now. If he wasn't playing in the era of Yoakitchen and B.

Janice, I think we'd be seriously talking about this. Did you, did you mind that they stood pat at the trade deadline? Like, what do you think? Every time we're like, well,

we'll see where Chicago is while this guy's out. They're just like, yeah, they're still at the top of the conference. Yeah, it's tough because, well, like,

Chicago wasn't necessarily a team that we're going to talk about today, but only because it is their first season together. They don't necessarily fit. into the format, but I am happy that you brought them up because they've been a team that has been impressive and also fits right into my curmudgeonly, like, you know, just annoyance with the good teams that we don't talk about. So thank you, Chris. I appreciate that. Yeah, the thing that kind of concerns me with them is kind of what you said. Like, you know, Damar is probably fourth an MVP voting, but there are three incredible historic big men ahead of

him. And I think, I think it was two weeks ago. We talked about Chicago's perimeter defense and just when they're healthy, they've kind of figured out a new way to defend. That's like one of the really exciting things about this season has been like seeing these teams just figure out just all these different sort of interesting ways to play defense. But, you know, whether it's the cabs with like the big ball or the bulls with just like being like really, really just clamping down the perimeter in a way that. It's like the market inefficiency is like, playing into the skill set of the people that you actually have on your roster rather than dreaming about what you could have. Incredible, right? Yeah, just like non-theoretical basketball today.

That's all, that's what we're about. That's what we're about. But that said, that front line, I don't know, like, it's just you got, you got Janus, you got Embed, you got Bamat and Bio in the east. It's just kind of tough. I don't know that there was a deal at the deadline that would, that would have done anything. I think this is like a kind of a matter of they didn't, I don't think they knew how good they were going to be this season, that they would actually need to be answering questions like that. They obviously heard that question because they went and got Tristan Thompson. I had to Rick Carlisle.

Like if we were doing like the Shams tweet where we thank the agent, we're thinking with Carlisle for announcing that. But, you know, when you watch the Bulls. Per Rick Carlisle. When you watch like the regular season, I guess, there's like often this idea that when you get to the playoffs, everything is going to change aesthetically or tactically or strategically on the court. like the threes are going to get harder to come by sometimes you can say like well this big man's going to get played off the court because teams are going to go small and spread the floor sometimes it's like will but are we almost saying like the inverse is the case for chicago here where

chicago is actually going to like feel the absence of like any kind of like front line muscle when they get into the playoffs and if it's just vuch and tristan thompson down there against yonis and b and bam is like are you kind of like saying that like chicago's regular season back basketball may not actually fly in the postseason? Yeah, I think maybe. It's really easy for me to picture a version of this team where they go up against a team like the Bucks. And this is not to say that anybody else wouldn't face these problems against the Bucks, but, you know, like things that D'Mar D'R Dozen is doing right now, I just think, like, like, give it four games of Drew Holiday and Chris Middleton just being on you, right? And obviously there's Zach Levine, too.

Like, the thing with DeMarr in the past and some of those playoff, like, meltdowns, that he's had with the Raptors was that, you know, Kyle Lowry at the time just hadn't really unlocked his full scoring game. He just wasn't the offensive threat that he became under Nick Nurse. So a lot of that attention was primarily on the Marr. So they will benefit from that aspect of it. He's also just completely mastered the midrange. And that's just a shot that like the bucks, for example, are like pretty much willing to give up. But, you know, like it's just easy to see a version of this that plays out. Like Janus just pummel's his way to the rim over and over again, the bulls have no answer. It's early foul trouble. The bucks are in bonus all the time.

And on the other end, it's just like, you know, the buck's defense just gets in the way of all the pretty passing and the movement. And then the isolation stuff, it's still, you know, they have good isolation defenders too. That might be more of my, I'm feeling very pro-bucks lately. Yeah, I can tell. Yeah, yeah. I just, I'm on a bit of a buck's kicker right now. I just feel like, you should just respect them a little bit more. But yeah, I do, I do feel that way about them. I also feel that way about the Nets too. Like just watching, watching the Bucks Sixers game last night, Mbid versus Janus,

in like that playoff environment where, you know, they're both, they're both really, really wanted to win that game. I don't know. I just, I look at the east and I'm like, I think you just need more, I think you just need more size. Like, you know, I just, I don't know, like small ball. Is it, like, are we sure? Is it a little bit archaic? Are the nets outdated?

Well, let me ask you this, because, like, the other team I know you wanted to talk about from the east was the heat. Do you think the heat have enough size? Yeah, BAM's interesting, right? Did you see BAMS block the other night against the Hornets? Yeah. Yeah. That was incredible.

For those who don't know, BAM, just like, it is actually, like, watching, like, a shark attack. Like, there's, like, I can't remember which Hornets player was basically going for mid-range jumper. And as the sort of play is kind of evolving, you can see BAM nominally guarding somebody down in the post, but like looking at this at this poor shooter and is just like already imagining what he's going to do and then does it. It's really like something out of a like the matrix or something. And he just covers about seven feet of ground in a split second and then elevates. It's not even jumping.

He like honestly just rises and punches a jump shot out of the sky. it's one of the best blocks I've seen this season but yeah you're right Bam is Bam's got stout stuff like I you know I'm not I don't think Bam's gonna get pushed around down low Yeah I was actually I thought you were gonna bring up the The dunk that he had where he He dunked it and then it bounced off of his own head two nights ago

Yeah So he blocked his own shot right Yeah that's how good of a defender he is He's literally like he's two places at once He's on offense and then immediately on defense after Yeah the heat are the heat are an interesting team to talk about in this context too. They probably made the biggest off-season change

out of the teams that we're talking about and bringing Kyle Lowry. He's back in the lineup, and he's also, like, he's a guy that's easier to integrate. He's really smart. And the reason I love watching them is because, I mean, it's actually, it's the same reason I like watching all of these teams

that we're going to talk about, the sons, the warriors, the bucks. We're going to talk about the jazz in kind of maybe a different context, but they all have this combination of now of continuity, but also of players that are very intelligent on both ends of the floor and who talk and who now understand each other's tendencies too. That combination has just kind of allowed these teams to be really like,

just they can morph into anything on defense. It's really like watching, like, it's like watching the Warriors on offense, but back in the day. in a way, like, or even now with, with, with, uh, with, with, uh, with, with, uh, with the lineup where you can kind of see them communicating as a five man group, like they are one person. Um, the heat are probably just my favorite example of that because, just because like I shared love of watching them. Uh, but, you know, bringing in Lowry and Tucker, just two really smart guys. Like, Tucker is a frontline defender without being a frontline defender, right?

And the way that that just makes the job of somebody like Bam out of bio so much easier where he doesn't have to be the only person on the floor that's worried about like the other nine guys behind him. And the same kind of goes for Lowry, for Butler too, where they see defense not as just like their own matchup and their own responsibilities on their side of the court. But it's yeah. Yeah, exactly. Like they're just smart enough to be able to see everything happening at once, right? See, that's funny.

I thought when you said that thing about Tucker, I thought it was almost like you were saying that he plays perimeter defense in a physical way like he's a front line like he's like a well he does do that yeah right yeah he does do that too right like i think i thought like i thought that the bucks were really going to end up missing him right but i mean i think they'll probably think they've had enough internal improvements but he's been an incredible pickup for them just because like he'll use all six fouls in the playoffs and like they'll all be useful and he's just impossible to you can get around him, but it's going to exhaust you, right? He's a big reason that I think Kevin Durant had a foot on the line in game seven.

Yeah, he's kind of like a heavy bag in boxing, where it's like he takes all of the, you know, maybe his opposing, the guy he's defending puts 30 up, but like nobody else had to guard that guy because PJ Tucker was like, did the best anyone could do on Kevin Durant in those games. And what he did was spare Middleton and Holiday. and Janice from getting too overtaxed by Duran. Like that's like a huge, that's a huge advantage in a game. It keeps guys fresh.

And so if you flip that to now with Miami, it's like, that's just a dude that Butler doesn't have to spend time guarding or Lowry doesn't have to spend time guarding. Or Bam, for that matter. Yeah, exactly. I mean, I love that it gives them the element where they have rim protection

and they have like the switchy stuff at the same time. It just allows you to do a lot more. stuff. And I think that rim protection is also just something that's become a little bit underrated in the NBA as well. And it's strange because, like, I've been saying this whole podcast, like the books won the championship last year. So, yeah, I don't know. Like, it's just kind of, like, as we kind of get into, like, April is coming up and you, and you start thinking about matchups, I really like, I like the way that the heat can just be really versatile against pretty much any team in the league right now.

Let's go over to the Western Conference and we'll start at the top. Why don't we talk about the Suns a little bit? Because I know you've been dying to. And I think it was last night, Suns beat the Rockets by three. But Chris Paul, like, jammed his hand. Sounds like he's going to be fine, got tossed for lightly bumping a ref. But they still got the W. And I feel like on every podcast I listen to and every piece I read, it's like the

Suns being the best team in the league is kind of talked about the way. it would be like seven, eight years ago when the Spurs would just be like buzz sawing through the league. And it would be like, that's cool. They're just the best team. They obviously have elite top 10 offense and defenses. But I really would rather talk about something else, which is not a straw man. Like that's what it was like.

And honestly, I participated in that because like I wasn't really trying to like spend a ton of time talking about Tony, Manu and Tim Duncan or whatever. But this kind of feels like one of those spurs teams. that are just cruising. The only thing I would say is just that, like, that Chris Paul thing was an example of how thin the margins are for the suns. I do think that Paul is essential to their success. Isn't that the case, though, for pretty much every, I guess, you know, you worry about

injuries more with him, though. Yeah, I mean, like, the Sixers and B, the Bucks, the Bucs, Yonis. Like, they're all, but, like, I think I worry a little bit more about, after watching that video of Chris Paul and JJ talking about not being able to lift his hand over his head. Yeah. Yeah, I'm like, stuff can happen at Chris Paul. You never know. I also just love Chris Paul roasting the Lakers for not playing the right defense. I actually, I love throughout that whole podcast, I just loved Chris Paul and JJ Redick

roasting other people's tactical mistakes, whether it was, they talked about the Aton Lobb and how the Clippers' backline defense was just horrible on that. And he was just like, yeah, not going to lie, they just shouldn't have guarded me for the first two games at all or like just any of my jumpers. But, you know, like the thing with the suns, though, is that like, you know, they did have they had a fair share of Chris Paul injuries throughout the playoffs and they managed to overcome them. And I think that they're even more well positioned to do that this season. There's an interesting like MVP debate with the Sons where it's like is Chris Paul the MVP?

But also like they are just such a well balanced team. And a lot of that is being credited towards him. But they also just have like they're probably my favorite team to to watch right now. And they are also probably the team that I have coming out of the West right now. just because they have been able to meld this kind of fusion of like development and, uh, and role that everyone has kind of found a way to level up. Like this year, it's kind of been like, Aiton's been hurt. And like, Michaela's like the new Aiton, right? Like, he's kind of become, like, he was starting to kind of get his mid-range game going, but he's getting like his, his isolation is just much better this, this season, um, just off the dribble stuff. Like, he can,

His floaters are just money. Like he has incredible touch. And like now it's like, it's like Cam Johnson is now the new McHale. Yeah. Where he is kind of figuring out that part of his game. But there's almost this idea that they're going along in like kind of like a collegiate program of like.

Yeah. Yeah. Was McHale's 101. Now he's in 102. You know, Cam is coming into 101 next year. You know, it's, it's,

you're right. Yeah. This idea that they almost have a finishing school at Phoenix for like for their, for their developmental projects. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Yeah, they've done a really good job of that, and they're just, they're already scary enough that, like, you know, they're the only team in the NBA right now that's top five in offensive and defensive rating. And they're the only team that's consistently stayed there, too. That's obviously, they've had, they've had injury luck this season for sure. They've been able to, other than Aiton, like, and, you know, they've had some backup issues and stuff, but for the most part, they've been able to keep their starting lineup intact. So that obviously helps them, and you don't know if that's going to stick, like, but at the same time, it's just like, that just makes them, it just makes them even more well positioned right now. Like going into April, I'm like, okay, this seems already really good. How good are they going to be, you know, in May? How good are they going to be

after the first round, right? Like, they just continually showed enough signs of progress that I'm kind of just, I'm in in terms of assuming that the problems that they face, they will be able to solve. Like, it's kind of the confidence that you used to feel about the warriors. And you still do about them to some degree. They're just in a little bit more turmoil right now than, than the suns are. But yeah, they're just really fun to watch and they have everything. Like that's the thing that really impresses me about them. Like they have they have Chris Paul to set everybody up and also be like the secondary clutch guy. They have Devin Booker who can just hit like every shot and just go off. And those guys don't have to you know be playing like really

hard defense or they will play really hard defense, but they are not going to have to bear the brunt of you know the tough matchups because McKeill Bridges can guard pretty much anybody in the west on the perimeter. Like probably one of the best deaf career defenders I've seen. and, you know, Donovan Mitchell, and then on the Aiton end, you know, the West, and it goes through also Yokic as well, who he has shown he can defend. So I just, I don't know. I'm very impressed by them. And I just, I don't see weaknesses is, I guess, what impresses me the most.

And they also, like, showed up in the off season or the trade deadline, too. So they're currently walking away with the conference a little bit? Yeah. I think the Spurs are an amazing comparison, by the way. That might mean, though, that they see the Lakers in the first round. Which would be hilarious. I mean, also, like, if the Lakers makes a playoff. Well, so Dave is out for a month.

The Lakers do not have what I would call an easy schedule coming up. So it's going to put even more pressure on LeBron now. The idea that Russ was going to come in and that they were going to, like, redistribute the sort of usage load over the course of the season is obviously, like, just not going to happen now. I'm kind of trying to figure out what these. I don't think the Lakers would ever, like, shut it down for the season. But I don't know.

I mean, on one hand, I'm like very amused by the end. idea of like a play in tournament Lakers team taking on the Sons in the first round is like an awesome first round matchup unfortunately for the suns it's like here for all your hard work over the next these last two seasons you get to play the Lakers again in the playoffs seems like it's unfair we should probably try to like make like a push for like the blade like it feels like the blazers are a more appropriate like eighth seed for them to play there's actually there's a couple of unappetizing options there because the other end of it could be and this would be much more dangerous is this sort of like will they or won't they with the clippers that's going on with

coli leonard and paul george um if they end up in that range they can it's been soon enough for them to move up in the standing some uh but also just a team that you don't want to face probably more so than the lakers yeah but then you look at that you look at the teams above them and it's like if the nuggets get back porter or murray they're probably not shedding games there the the grizz are certified at this point Like the jazz we're going to talk about next briefly, but like the Jazz and the Warriors are going anywhere. Like I don't really know where the Clippers can climb up to. I mean, they can maybe scratch back and get the Mavs or something like that. But even with Kauai.

Even the Mabs. Yeah. So talk to me a little bit about the Jazz and the Warriors before we get out of here because they both, I think, did their business kind of during the off season. The Jazz brought in, oh gosh, who did the Jazz trade for? They brought in Rudy Gay and Eric Pascal. And they got Nikiel in the trade. And it's funny, like, some of the way that we've been talking about these teams that were like, nobody's really seeming to pay attention to this team because it's just their continuity and they're just like kind of clicking along and they have ups and downs, but they're for the most part, like, winning at this high 50, 60% rate.

The jazz are a perfect example of this. In fact, like, I read something recently with Donovan Mitchell where he was kind of like, you know, Rudy and I like each other and this is probably the best we've been playing together. and like we're really good but like nobody seems to really be noticing this season. Do you think that the jazz are kind of at their ceiling or is there, you know, are they out of luck because of like the way the West is kind of shaken out? Or do you think that there's like another level for them to go to?

Yeah, the jazz are in a really interesting spot. So obviously, you know, this is kind of, they I guess are the other end sometimes of standing pat or trying to make incremental moves where, you know, Ingalls, obviously you don't see him getting hurt and being out for the season, but, and I didn't either, you know, like, I thought he'd, I assumed everybody would be, like, just a little bit better this year, but the age bug is kind of hitting them because some of their vets, and like, this applies to Mike Conley too, are just on a different timeline than,

than Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. But it's also not, like, a threat-level emergency either. Like, I wrote a feature about the Hawks earlier this season, and I think, one of the mistakes that they made and you know like they try to avoid it it's just this quote from travis shling keeps sticking out to me about how you don't make the eastern conference play finals every year like you don't assume that because you made that now the next thing is the finals that's not how it works like you build a good team you hope to get a bunch of shots and that one of them works out um and i think i think the hawks almost cratered under the expectations of becoming

better. And maybe they are actually the real dark end of continuity, right? Sure. Yeah. But the jazz are in a similar position, not for any reasons that they could really even control. You know, like they tried to plug some holes in the offseason. I think they knew that they needed, you know, just more frontline help for Gobert, better defensive rotations from that four position. They tried to make up for it. But they just, didn't have like the guy that would be Jeremy Grant essentially right like that's that's a guy they wanted like they called it kind of like the the the Aaron Gordon to the Nuggets trade in terms of like you know completing the team not they but it just was called that um but and I think

it would have been and like they didn't get him and that's unfortunate so you're probably going to kind of be a four seed this year and like that's not going to be it but if this the bigger thing to me is like the Donovan Rudy pairing and how that kind of moves forward through the moments that aren't going to be like the were the number one seed in the West moment like the the moments where the defense is struggling and Rudy is like kind of pissed about it and maybe being passive aggressive about Devin Booker and all that stuff like we talked about that before how do they kind of handle those moments because that kind of shows what like what you're able to do in the future like so far the teams that we've talked about you know

the sons are they don't have really like in the locker room at least they don't really have reasons for discontent and the worries have always been really good at handling it the heat or pros you know the Sixers ended up winning games and I think that ended up being important for them you know like there seems where it's important for them right bucks are going to be fine the jazz we don't know

and I think it's going to be an interesting test of like Donovan Mitchell's leadership basically which is something that I think we've kind of talked about like the type of guy that Donovan Mitchell is throughout his career I think like from the moment he was a rookie it was very clear that he was like you know just very intelligent special

emotionally attuned to people and you know just kind of has the qualities that you need to be able to be, you know, not only just like a, like, he's kind of like a quarterback in a sense, right? Like, yeah. And, I don't know, it's going to be an interesting test. But I think that if they kind of pull back and accept this season for what it is, then I think they might even be able to.

See, I think it's going to be the flip. I do think with the jazz, I think that this is, Angel is there. It feels like there has been a somewhat subtle changing of the guard there in terms of, like, who's running that team. I think that for first of all like the second Quinn Snyder would hit the market he would get a job like I just think Quinn Snyder would be a great Knicks coach for instance. Yeah but why would you like why does Quinn Snyder have to go? Well I mean like somebody's got to go.

But why? That's kind of my point. Right. Yeah. Like just let's just let's circumvent that part of this right now. So just keep going. Keep trying again and again. Yeah.

Right now. I mean that is a way to do it. For now at least like if this continues to not work but it's, you know, I think the problem was very clear in the playoffs. So if they lose in the second round? Then we can talk, right? But even then, even then. So, like, the way that I see it is they know what they need.

They just weren't able to get it, right? They kind of did the next best thing in getting a guy like Nikila Alexander Walker who, you know, in New Orleans, I think he just wasn't necessarily used correctly. And I don't know that New Orleans necessarily had, like, the personnel to do it. Infrastructure. But he was kind of trying to be like an actual point guard a lot of the times and like, you know, just moving off the dribble a lot. Whereas in reality, I feel like he's probably more of like a defender playmaker. He's got really great athleticism in size. And the jazz definitely need that, right? Like having somebody who can kind of run the floor with Mitchell is going to give him a new element. And the fact that he can just like kind of jump out and and contest shots and, you know, move from the interior to the perimeter and stuff. Just being a little bit fast. faster than some of the guys they have had on the perimeter, potentially. Like, you know, it's all potential right now with him, right?

This is almost, it's a very early second draft for Walker, right? But I think he still has a ton of potential. So for me, it's like, okay, they made a move that could be good for right now and could be good for the future in that, like this is a young guy who, if he does develop, could fit really well into their core and what they're trying to do. Like, you do have concerns when, you know, like when you have a guy like O'Bare on your team, you do have concerns anytime you put on a non floor spacer. But if he develops and he's not like,

it's not like it's impossible for him to shoot. It's just like it was mismatched. And, you know, but yeah, I don't know. I think you just kind of maybe like take a mulligan this season and just see what you can get next off season, see what happens with Walker.

But like you have a reasonable framework, right? So stick with it and see what happens. Because like this is kind of, this like weathering this, this storm of like whatever is happening with with Mitchell and gobert is essentially like kind of what some of these other teams weren't able to do. It's why you see so much player movement and stuff. So, you know, I don't know. Like I like I like the idea of just seeing what this team can can do. So, Sierra, after talking about all this stuff, and I guess we didn't really talk about the Warriors that

much, but I was curious, you know, we started this conversation being like, screw all this player movement stuff. It's all about continuity. So are you looking forward to a bucking forward to a son's rematch? Yeah, absolutely. So you like personal basketball continuity, like, as a fan as well, right? Yeah, like rivalries. I'm looking forward to it. Yeah.

I think that there's like a little bit of like, there's something nice about it when you get something like that because it gives you a sort of sense of what the age is that you're living in, right? Like it's like, what is the error defined by? Like, what is, what is like the, who are the major players? What teams were able to have sustained success? And then there is the like ADHD channel surfer in me that's like, Yeah, I kind of want to see Kevin Durant play against this guy.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah, it's fun. But honestly, it's, so the other side of the ADHD thing is that, like, you can kind of just, you get into these, these teams that have been together for a while and you can just really start digging in. Like, I think I just like to ruminate, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I want to, I want to think about, like, just, you know, what, like, the growth of the, the, the, the Duncan Robinson, uh, Bam Atabio like triple handoff game, you know? Like what, how different does that look every, every year, you know? Right. And you can't feel like you're really digging into it if there's just like constantly this like, like, there's just like so much erratic, you know, variance in the NBA. Before we go, do you want to talk a little bit about the team that's probably defined our professional lives, which is the, the Warriors?

Yeah, I would love to. I'd love to. I was actually going to ask you, like, where do they stand to you for you right now? They remind me of the books, which is they're like. They're obviously having a little bit, they have this huge, this wonderful starts of the season. I think that they have weathered some stuff really well. I think that Dremont's back is a concern, but like they have like every reason to just play it as conservatively as possible with that.

They gave an update saying he'd be back sometime after the All-Star game, which is really the most non-up date. I think with a back, you're just like, don't rush back. And also for the Warriors, they're probably like, you guys go ahead and have the first seed and worry about who's coming out of that play in tournament, you know? like yeah they're they're probably content to take that two seed so I have a lot of confidence in them the clay thing uh you know has been awesome to watch like on the nights when he's really clicking it was like that leakers game that he like peeled off 30 but yeah I think that they might be

one big man short for uh the playoff run but that's kind of maybe I will I really want to go back to this podcast when we get to the end of the season and find out how important these big guys were in the playoffs maybe we need to do a small ball like a state of small ball episode because that's kind of the exact sort of thing that I'm thinking about the Warriors too where I think the league has just changed and actually like adjusted to the Warriors and the space that they've created by you know packing these teams that just have a ton of perimeter length together and kind of just like I feel like you know the the bucks the suns the raptors although they aren't they aren't contenders the heat to some extent you know the Sixers to some extent

all it configured a little bit differently like if all the all the those teams just like held hands um at the top of the court like you just wouldn't really be able to do anything um and yeah it just it's just i'm curious to see because it's like they're kind of tactically the nets of the west except that i don't think you necessarily need that much front court size in the west um like yokech matters but if if the nuggets aren't going to be healthy, then you're like they'll figure out a way to beat them. But, you know, the maps just shipped KPO. The sons don't really use Aiton in that sort of like destructive offensive post guy role quite yet. It's developing. And that's kind of something I'm curious to see, like,

especially now that he's healthy, what that will look like if they kind of go in that direction. Grizzies with Jaron Jackson. Another guy was, might be a year away from like a series against Dramon. But then again, like, the way that those grisies, like, were a great example of a team that was able to meet the warrior's physicality in the, in the, in the, you know, and the, the play in. And they have that element of, you know, having a guy like Xavier Tillman and Jaron Jackson to make them a little bit more versatile too. But they do scare me in that sense. That I just don't know that they'll have that element. It's why like, you know, going into the season, you probably hope like James Wiseman would make some strides. And that's kind of the

thing with the Warriors too is like their younger guys are just a little bit younger. You know, like they're just not quite there yet. Like even Jordan Poole is like, like, even Jordan Poole is like, like as funny as he is to watch, we're a pro-journ pool podcast. Like, you know, he makes some plays where you're just like, I hope that's out of his system by June. Right. I hope that's out of the system. We can wrap it up there. We're going to come back next week and hit you as we get into the second half of the season.

Thanks so much for listening. Chris Sutton was our producer today. Sir, I'll talk to you next week. Sounds good. Thanks, Chris.