The Zach Lowe Show - Player Combos to Watch Down the Stretch, Playoff Races, and Awards Talk!

Episode Date: March 31, 2026

Zach is joined by Wosny Lambre to reveal his most interesting player combos and lineups to watch at the end of the season. Then, Zach shares his Random Thoughts on the NBA! Finally, Zach and Wos discuss which playoff races are the most exciting to watch and debate which awards are already locked up. (0:00) Welcome to The Zach Lowe Show! (2:45) Wosny Lambre joins the show! (4:04) Lineups and player combos we most want to see (15:38) Tatum and Brown continue to jell (20:20) The Nuggets' defense is terrible (37:00) Zach’s Random Thoughts on the NBA! (52:44) Which playoff race are you most excited about? (1:00:22) Does SGA have MVP locked up? (1:06:58) How close are Kon Knueppel and Cooper Flagg for ROY? (1:21:02) Let's run through All-NBA teams Host: Zach Lowe Guest: Wosny Lambre Producers: Mike Wargon, Jonathan Frias, and Billy Gil Social: Keith Fujimoto Thousands of cars and the largest online selection of vehicle parts. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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See official rules at michelope ultra.com slash courtside for free entry, entry deadlines, prizes, and details. On the Zach Lowe show, the NBA regular season is coming to an end. And Big Was, our old friend Let's Go Mets is here to help us run through the late season storylines. We have a little fun draft, the draft of lineups and player conversations. We are most interested to see we're watching most keenly toward the end of the season. We're looking at good teams, teams that haven't had these lineups available to them for a lot of the season or these combinations available to them.

Teams who are struggling at one thing and maybe this lineup could help them get better at it. We've got Denver stuff, Philadelphia stuff, Boston stuff, New York stuff, clipper stuff. And we lead off with the calves. Both of us had the calves. We didn't cooperate on this as number one on our most interesting lineups, combinations draft. centered around Jared Allen, centered around he's back now. He didn't play last night, but he's back now. And the big four of Mitchell, Hardin, Mowbly, Allen, what does that look like?

Who's the fifth guy? It's finals or bust for the Cavs. They're out of the spotlight right now for whatever reason, but it's finals or bust for the cats. Then we pick our favorite of the remaining playoff races. Is it number one seed in the West? Is it East 5 to 10, which is a complete mess? Is it just the East playin?

Is it the middle of the West? We do that. and then what awards are locked up and what's still open. Waz and I go through our ballots, both the ones that are set almost in stone, the ones that are not. All NBA, it's getting toward go time.

We get into that. And just a reminder, people, anyone who lives in or around Denver or wants to come to Denver, the Zach Lowe show is coming to Denver live on April 13th at the Fillmore Auditorium. All tickets are still on sale.

We're opening up a new block of tickets. And just go to the ringer.com slash events for all the details on that. We'll have some fun. We'll talk nuggets. We'll have some good guests. It's Denver, Zach Lowe Show live, April 13th, Philmore Auditorium. And with that, let's bring in Big Wads.

The Zach Lowe show is brought to you by Fandul. Things are really heating up on the court. And Fandle is the best place to bet on all the epic matchups during the NBA season. Build a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout or try live betting and jump into the action after tip off. And don't forget, with Fandul, you get paid instantly when you win. Download the Fandul's Sportsbook app now and play your game. 21 and president's select states 18 or over in D.C., Kentucky, Wyoming. Gambling problem.

Call 1-800-Gampbellor. Call 1-88-7-7-7-7-7 and visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. Welcome to the Zach Lowe's show. Look who it is. Big Was with the Mets hat on. We're three and one. The sun is out. Everything's going well.

How you doing, buddy? I'm good, man. And I'm completely certain that things are going to stay this way. We're going to win 75% of our games and it's going to be a magical season, Zach Lowe. 158 games left to go. Kodai Senga's annual meltdown has not occurred yet. So all things are good. We got about, you know, 10, 10, 12 days left in the NBA regular season, 6 to 8 to 9 games for every team. We're coming to the stretch one. We're going to say goodbye to a lot of the tankers

pretty soon. Farewell. Have a nice offseason. season. And so we're going to do a few things today. But it's always hard like these last games, you're focused on the big head to head matchups that are going to decide tiebreakers. We saw a thrilling Philly Miami game last night where Tyler Hero went bananas in Miami got that tiebreaker to kind of stay alive in, you know, with the 7, 8, 9, 10 race for the, for the better spots there. But I like to like, what, what am I actually zeroing in on? I want to see like as teams gear up for the playoffs. There are lineups I want to see combinations. I want to see stuff that we haven't seen a lot of,

but I think it's going to be important if these teams are actually going to become who we think they are. So this is what we're going to do. We're going to draft like lineups or player combinations that we're just interested in seeing last two weeks of the season, good entertainment and value. It could be a whole five-man lineup. I said it could be two, three players, whatever you want. So I'm going to give you first pick in the exciting lineups draft was. I just want to give just a precursor.

All of my picks are injury-based because to be honest at this point in the season. watched so many, especially of the playoff teams, I've watched so many of these games. It's hard for me to be like, oh, I wonder what I'm going to discover, you know, from Murray and Yolkich. You know what I mean? Like,

that stuff is so well-trodden. And so all of my picks are definitely based on guys coming back from injury. And that's why my first pick is Jared Allen and James Harden. And it's because in February, when Hardin first gets to the team,

Jared Allen has the best month of his entire career ever. And I don't think that's coincidental. You know what I mean? I don't think people are saying like, oh, just because it happened at the same time, doesn't mean Hardin caused it. I was like, no, there's some causation here. If you watch the actual cabs play, Hardin is just on another level of pick and roll passer and creator than Donovan Mitchell is, or of course, or even what Darius Garland was.

who Garland, I think, is a, you know, he's a capable pick and roll operator, but he's not on James Hardin's level in terms of dissecting defenses and making the play quickly. Hardin is such a quick processor. And I think he was very instrumental in Jared Allen having that incredible February where he's averaging like 21, 22 points or something crazy like that. And so as Jared Allen comes back and we're getting closer and closer to the playoffs, I'm definitely going to be paying attention to what those two guys are doing on the court together to see if they could bring back a lot of that magic that we saw back in the month of February.

My first pick was Cleveland's big four of Mitchell Hardin, Mobley Allen, specifically that four-man combo. So we had the same basic pick. I'm so excited. They've only played. Those four have played 48 minutes together in four games. They're plus 39 the Cavs are in those 48 minutes. I'm so interested in this four-man combination that I almost and intended to watch the Utah Jazz play another basketball game last night because they were playing Cleveland. And then I saw that Allen was out because there's a very exciting Cleveland Lakers game tonight, Tuesday night that I assume they're saving him for.

So I ditched that game and then watched another game because I've seen enough of the jazz lately to go the other way. But yeah, it's like, and now Hardin and Mobley are kind of, have kind of gotten in a good pick and roll rhythm with Alan out. But like, look, the other thing is I do feel like Cleveland's getting a little lost in the shuffle in the east because Detroit fans are just adamant. Like, what about us? Wire to wire number one team and they've got this Cade injury. Boston has been the story of the last, really of the whole season almost, but specifically the last month with Tatum coming back. The Knicks are the Knicks. It's just always loud around the Knicks. The Cavs, like, they need to get back in the spotlight. We need to put them back in the spotlight because when you trade up 10 years in age from going.

Arland to Hardin, you trade up for a guy who has a checkered track record in the playoffs for durability purposes. You are sending a signal like, this is an urgent season. We need to make this work right now. And just to me, their highest ceiling is still with the two big guys on the floor for at least a huge portion of every game. It could be somewhat matchup dependent. And that's why Allen coming back is important because there may be matchups where

Kenny Atkinson says this is more of a small stagger the bigs. kind of matchup or one where we need them both. You know, they had a game against the Knicks. And it's also wise like, who's the fifth guy with those four guys? Struces, Struce is back. Meryl's played that role a lot. They get a lot smaller. They have Keon Ellis, Dennis Schrooter.

The coaches and the front office love Dean Wade in that spot. I just feel like he's always got some liner injury that takes him out of the lineup. And I've seen him get played out of playoff series. But there was one, the game where it finally felt like the, Cavs got a feel for the Knicks. They started Wade and they put him on Brunson. And then they started the two bigs and they put one of them on Josh Hart, Jared Allen on Josh Hart and Mowbly on Cat.

And they could switch to Brunson cat pick and roll because Wade's big enough to guard cat and Mowgli's mobile enough to guard Brunson. And it was the first time the Knicks were like, well, this is a lot of, it's a lot of size and speed and we're not sure quite how to attack this. And the Thunder did the same thing to the Knicks with the combination of J. dub on Kat, Hartnstein, and Holmgren. It's just something I'm looking for. So we had the same, we had the same first pick.

This is like, everyone says finals are bust for the Knicks. James Dolan basically said finals are bust for the Knicks. The Pistons are the number one seed. I think it's like minimum conference finals are busts for the Cavs. And maybe finals are bust. That would seem to be the case, especially when, you know, Garland as injured as he was, he was once considered like a future pillar, cornerstone of the franchise.

So to move on from him, like, you don't make that decision lightly, right? Especially when you're moving on, like you said for a guy like James Harden. It's like, oh, we're chasing postseason success. And this guy has one of the most checkered postseason histories of any superstar, of any era that I can remember, probably any sport, honestly, save for Aaron Judge. Oh, I like that. Stephen A was done with Aaron Judge after opening. day. He was like opening day. All eyes are on Netflix. He stunk again.

Just kidding. I kid the Yankee fans. To be honest with the Knicks, I'm a lot less worried about the Knicks than other people are. I think they're just a playoff-driven team. And I like their talent for the playoffs. I like the combinations that they can play in. Like they can, they're multiple in the looks that they could give teams. And I think that's going to serve them in the playoffs, honestly. They got a closer. You know, they have the multiple wing defenders. Like, they have all the things you want.

They're going to be able to rebound. They're going to be able to play big or play small. Like, I'm not as worried about the Knicks as I am of, say, Detroit, to be honest with you. And so I get the Knicks skepticism. There's points in the regular season where they play defense that isn't worthy of a CYO league. But I think when the chips are down and like they understand what the task is at hand, I think the defense is going to mostly show up. I generally agree with you.

I talked about so a couple honorable mentions on my lineup draft are worth mentioning here. Number one, the Nick, the Knicks starting five is in my lineup draft because they've been just kind of, like they're plus two per hundred possessions, plus 16 total points for the entire season in almost 500 minutes. That's not good enough. And that lineup, you know, it's been like sometimes it soars and sometimes it's a little clunky. And you have this agitation from some fans who are like, should do start for Josh Hart to get all shooters out there? Oh, yeah. Should Shamit start for Josh Hart to get all shooters out there? Oh, wait a second. Wait a second. We're all mad about the McHale Bridges trade all the

time because he just went through a stretch where he basically didn't crack double figures for a bunch of games. Should they start those guys over McHale Bridges? And there's all this lineup turmoil. They're not going to change the lineup. They shouldn't change the lineup. I do just wish we could go a week without some bridges-related panic and media like Josh Hart versus Stephen A. Smith about McHale Bridges or just like even what was it Oklahoma City, the game where Kat had like three field goal attempts in the first 28 minutes of the game and everyone was like, where's Kat? It just feels like we can't go a week without some mini-nick's existential crisis about the makeup of the team.

But look, they're like third in offense and sixth in defense. So and the other honorable mention, just they're too far down the standings. Clippers new starting five of Garland, Kawhi, Derek Jones, Jr., John Collins, Brooke Lopez, plus 26 already in 77 minutes. Garland 21 and 7 on 50% shooting, 50% on threes for the Clippers. Just, you know, cats have to be looking over there like, oh, hey. we like that guy we like that guy when he played

yeah that that's the classic you know people break up and then one of the people in the relationship goes on a strict diet and starts posting stuff from the gym on Instagram and that's that's that classic

right there for Garland and I think that's the other part of the Hardin deal because let's be real Garland did not show that form at all this season no not at any point of his season with the Cavs, did he show some of the form that he's shown with the Clippers

looking closer to the guy that could have challenged Jaylen Brunson as All-Star starter just last year. Like, this was just a year ago. This guy was incredible for the Cavs. And so, you know, I understand that risk. I think the Clippers, I just love

what Garland and Math are doing. Kauai is consistent in like, it's kind of just rock-solid. and I don't know why. It feels like he's become even more confident in his jump shooting somehow. We're like back in the days, it felt like he was reticent to take threes,

especially like pull-up threes or, you know, that classic on the break, like just pull up from three on a fast break kind of thing. It feels like now he's just in effort mode and is willing to shoot it anytime anywhere. Whereas, like, when he first got to the clippers, he was just like, no, I'm going to work my mid-range because I'm basically automatic from there.

When the three's there, I'll take it, and I'm really good at it. But really what I want to do is work my mid-range, whereas now it just seems like he's just fearless from three as well, which is just an interesting wrinkle in the, you know, the sort of journey of Kauai's career. But yeah, I watch the Clippers every night that they play now. They're definitely appointment viewing for me,

especially I've been a Mathurin kind of truther since his rookie year. and, you know, it felt like nobody could stop him from getting downhill. And he was kind of generating free throws at a crazy rate when he first started. That's kind of calmed down. I think that's kind of what, like, stunted his growth in Indiana. He didn't become that hyper-efficient score. But I don't know, he seems to be juvenated in L.A. Yeah.

And he's playing great. He's probably not going to play enough games to, I mean, He's going to, you don't need to play 65 to win six man of the year. But I don't think he's played enough to like get on the in the top three for six men of the year. But like the Clippers version, if that were the full season, he would, he would be like the favorite for six men of the year. Okay. Done with the Cavs. We both had the same first pick.

So do you can make the second pick in the lineup combinations draft? Again, I hate to be basic, but it's Tatum and Brown. Okay. I didn't have them. So I like, well, I kind of had them, but go. And again, Tatum is coming back from injury. and, you know, on our show, when it was first introduced that Tatum would definitely be coming back this year, Paul Pierce said, look, he needs like 20 to 25 games to ramp up for the playoffs. Because everybody kind of understands playoff intensity is way different than regular season and for his body, not just his body, but just where he slots in to what's been so obviously successful for Boston this season is going to take time to develop.

and lobehold, he comes back with like 22 games or whatever it is to go in the season. And we're seeing it inch up slowly but surely where it's like he comes back. And everybody's like, whoa, I didn't expect him to look this good, this early. Then he has a little low. It's like, ah, he kind of doesn't look the same. Then the other night he, you know, he kind of exposed for 32 points in a game that Jalen Brown is not playing. Right. And so.

And Derek White, too. And Derek White, exactly. And so to me it's just Tatum, not. I'm confident he's going to be a huge contributor to the success that Boston ultimately ends up having this season. To me, it's just how does he figure out when and where to pick his spots and what to deploy? You know, when is he using his size to dictate how he attacks a given matchup,

which is something I always want to see Tatum do just because he's so big and so strong. I feel like it's just one of the most underutilized parts of his game. I get it's not as pretty as the stepbacks and some of the, you know, some of the other stuff. But to me, it's how he uses what he has, not whether or not he's going to contribute. And that's what I'll be looking for. And again, you know, the stepback's going to be there. The long twos are going to be there in the mid-raise.

Like, we know that. For me, I'm just like, all right, when is Tate? I'm going to be like, all right, this is my moment to be head down, get to the basket, not let us fall into the trap that we did against the Nix and falling in love with the form. of our pretty jump shots. And he's already flashing, like, incredible playmaking, again, which I think has always been another one of the most underappreciated parts of Tatum. I thought against Dallas in the finals,

that was his best trait, besides the defense and the rebounding, was like when Dallas committed extra defenders, he got off the ball quickly, and that thing was spraying around. And so to me, it's more so than Brown, because I think Brown's kind of just gone out and showing people like, I am a $300 million player. I'm one of the best guys in the league. I should be in the MVP conversation.

I'm a bona fide superstar. I'm even better than I was when I won the finals MVP. I think Brown is kind of, it's done. But Tatum is just about how and why is he going to help the Celtics, you know, move forward for the rest of the year? I think it's been an A plus plus return so far in pretty much every sense. minimal, your turn, my turn, stagnancy. There's always going to be some of that, but it's, when it's happened, it's always been aimed at the right matchups, at the right places. And with

the intent of, I'm not just having tunnel vision to be a score, like I'm aware of everything going else, going on elsewhere on the floor. The Celtics were in my honorable mention, specifically their, their best lineup, and they sometimes get to it a lot and sometimes a little, which is Pritchard White, Brown Tatum, Kada. Kada has a thumb sprain right now, by the way. only 32 minutes so far, obviously limited, you know, guys have been in out of the lineup, Tatum just came back, plus 39 in 32 minutes. And like what White and particularly Pritchard just leveling up as a one-on-one score, what they've done without Tatum, I think that's a pretty scary for some of two-way players. Honestly, like all four of those guys are plus defensive players and they can score in all kinds of different ways. They can all shoot threes.

It's a really scary four-man foundation. and Missoula obviously staggers the minutes, keeps two of them on the floor all the time. When they put all four on the floor or at least three of them, they're just really, really hard to deal with. And right now, 75 games in, I think the Celtics highest level has been the highest of all the teams in the east. And we mentioned Cleveland, you know, just going back to that,

the offense has been unbelievable with Hardin and Mitchell on the floor. They split up like half court is kind of like Hardin's domain. everything else is kind of Mitchell's domain. The defense has been shaky. The Celtics, I think, have flashed the highest two-way ceiling of these four teams at the top of the east. All right, I'm going to do my second pick now. I have the nuggets and specifically the four-man, well, you could do it either way. I have their starting five, which has been rock solid the entire year, plus 10 for under possessions.

But defensively, the nuggets are bottom eight right now in the league and just loafed. they've gone through a really tough part of their schedule, just a bunch of three and fours, a bunch of bad travel things where they lose an hour and then they go to altitude, et cetera, et cetera. I mean, they play at altitude, so whatever. But their defense is just like, I was aghast at how bad they were at Utah the other day.

I think Utah had 84 points in the paint, like at some point in the fourth quarter. Like, is that a typo? That's a real stat. Just miscommunications everywhere. Guys shrugging their shoulders like, wait, I thought you were going to do that. I thought that was the plan.

their zone has not worked all season. It's 1.2 points per possessions allowed. That has not been the failsafe. I thought it could be for them and that David Adelman hoped it could be. But here's the combination I want to zero in on. Now that Gordon is back, the starting five is rock solid with Gordon and Brown. I'm interested in how much do we see Murray and Yokic,

we know they're going to be on the floor at all big moments, with Watson and Gordon. Those two guys with their size and the different ways they deploy their size, defensively, Gordon is just a cinder block. You can't move him. Watson is more length and quickness. They can guard different kinds of players. Brown's

defense, Christian Brown's defense has just been okay this year. I think he's been a little bit overmatched in some of the matchups they have to give to him. Those four have only played 60 minutes together in six games. The nuggets are plus 45 in those 60 minutes. And you wonder, like,

I do think we're going to see a little bit more of the Watson Gordon combo. And then you, who's the fifth guy? Is it Christian Brown? They have not wanted to play Brown, Gordon, and Watson together because I just think- They lack of shooting. You lack of shooting. Is it Tim Hardaway Jr.? Is it Bruce Brown? Is it Cam Johnson? You put like three kind of tweener forwards out all at once? I think there's still some levers to pull for the nuggets that I don't know where you are on them, no matter how much they suck defensively right now.

And I do think they're in a little bit of like tough schedule, guys coming back from tough like games compressed part of their schedule. Guys coming back from injury, wake us up in the playoffs. We can't get the one or two seed. We're probably locked into the four or five bracket almost. No matter how much their defense sucks and how awesome the thunder and the spurs are,

I will never write the Nuggets off as a threat to win the West. I'm kind of, man. I'm one of the biggest Nuggets homers. I know. That's why I'm curious to hear what you're going to say. But the defense since Yokic has come back, specifically, it's beyond concerning, man. Like, every team in the NBA can expect to put up 125 points on the nuggets.

It's kind of insane. And when you watch it, it is Yolkich. It's just straight up it is. Like, teams are targeting him because before the injury, I want people to understand this because this is going to come up in my awards locks as well. before the injury, Nicola Yokic was the MVP of the NBA.

He was having the greatest offensive season in the history of the NBA. Remember the Christmas game where he had like 50 and 12? I don't even remember what it was. That was the game where I sat up from the game.

He is now past Shea is he is now the MVP of the league at the Christmas point. Dude, he was the MVP before his leg got crashed into. And since he's come back, watching him on defense, honestly, Zach, I don't know if you see that meme

of the security guard at the baseball game where he's just basically barely waving the wand on the guy. Like he's not performing his security test. That's what Yolkins is doing on defense right now. He's just straight up not trying. And pre-injury, you know, I remember the Nuggets started to see. I think it was like the first 10 games of the season.

They looked great on both into the floor. They were like top three in defensive efficiency. I was like, look. It's not going to be this. They're having a lot of shooting luck in terms of opponent three point percentage. But what I'm seeing is the best defense of the Yokic and Murray era. And that should be scary for teams in the NBA. If they end up at like 12, 11, that's crazy considering what we know they're going to do on offense.

But since the injury, it's just been horrific. And maybe we could say he's saving himself. And I think he could probably get a level to in between what they were pre-injury and this nadir that they've been in an extended period. Zach, pre-post-injury. They're probably in the bottom three in the NBA and defense. That is unacceptable. So after a bunch of their recent games, I've just texted or called coaches in front of those people on the teams that face them. And I was like, what's the vibe?

Like, what did you hear from your buddies on the Nuggett staff? Like what's what what did you see when you watch the game? And they're all like alarmed. Like this is I like like like they're alarmed at the team's collective play and they're alarmed specifically at Yokic like like I've gotten many texts that are basically if I had to summarize them like I hope he's not trying because if he's trying they are dead on arrival against the thunder and the spurs. Yeah, certainly like before the season I had the thunder is clearly the biggest.

The nuggets is clearly the biggest threat to the thunder. Yeah. And that's not the case anymore because if the defense is just irreparable, they're not going to beat those two teams in a playoff series. I just can't write them off based on maybe they're saving themselves. Plus, now they've got a couple of their best defensive players back from injury. Let's see how they reintegrate it. Because look, as bad as the defense have been in these games, and they have, they've played a lot of bad teams too. But the offense is like fish in a barrel right now.

I mean, it's just so easy for them to score that it's kind of crazy, particularly when they face a bad team. I mean, they're just sleep walking through these offensive possessions. It's just ping-bomb, boom, dunk, really. But here's another thing, though, that I think is related. I'm pretty sure it was that Utah game, and I text our boy, Adamades. And I'm like, no tanker, no tanking team should be turning Yokic over into double digits. Well, that's the- That's insane. The other, I'm glad you brought that up because he came back from injury in his turnover spike.

And they were like crazy uncharacteristic turnovers. Like turnovers where this is a guy who has made a career out of being three steps ahead of the defense. And all of a sudden he's like he's making bad reads or the defense is a step ahead of him. They had one recent game where he was bringing the ball up. I can't remember who was against. And he got to like mid court, almost mid court. And he jumped in the air. And you think, okay, well, there's probably somebody open under the basket.

And he just didn't have a plan. and he threw it backwards, like towards the Nugget defensive basket. And nobody was there. And I can't remember if it went out of bounds or somebody still. I was like, what, what just happened? And if you look at their numbers, if there's a team in the league who is not built to defend live ball turnovers, it's the Nuggets with Yolk at Center. And I looked it up the other day off of steals.

They're like 29th or 30th in points allowed. Like they just can't, they could not afford when you get to really nut crunching time against the Nug against the spur. and the Thunder, they cannot afford like four extra live ball turnovers a game because that's going to be 10 points for the other team. Yeah. So we'll see. Give me your third pick.

My third page, I think. Even though this isn't injury, but it counts. Is this Philadelphia 76ers? Yes. We have the same third pick too. What do you got? I mean, again, is Paul George related? Just seeing how he's come back and the answers, he's come back phenomenally.

He looks incredible. in terms of like the shot looks great. He's moving incredibly well. And I think that's important on the defense event specifically. I don't think Paul George has kind of been a bad driver for like four years, three, four years now where like he gets downhill and just throws stuff up. That's just not going to be part of his game. Get into the free throw line is not going to be part of his game.

That's just going to have to be a maxian and a bead job in terms of propping up the Sixers offense for efficiency. But him just being the ultimate glue guy, like playing the Iguodala role from Golden State on this team, he's obviously way overqualified and extremely overpaid to be doing that role, but he's incredible at it, right? And so just watching what Paul George can add in the margins for the Sixers, because it's not going to be on ball dominance.

Like he'll be able to manage some pick and roll possessions and be like a great point guard, quite frankly, when he's called upon to do that, to be the guy that sets people up, make sure everybody's in the right spot, make the right defensive reads and all of that. Like, he's going to do that at a great clip. And his shooting is just going to be an incredibly additive thing to what Maxie and B are doing in pick and roll. And yeah, then the other part of it is Joelle. and specifically Joel on defense. I think offensively, the guy he walks out of bed,

crawls out of bed, yons into 25 points. Like it's just, there's just nothing teams can do. Most matchups can do against Joel, but defensively is what I got my eye on because he's still moving weirdly. In that Charlotte game this past weekend,

which was an incredible game, of course, he had a huge block on the baseline. I think Brandon Miller were shooting to either tie the game or go up by one. A corner three. Joelle Embed does an incredible close-out, blocks it. But if you go back and watch how he lands, he is so careful about his left leg.

He makes it incredible play, but I'm like, damn, like, how long can this actually lasts and how much can he actually expend himself on that end? Because, obviously, your center, that's to be a key part of it. anybody's defense. And I think about the potential first round matchup against, say, the Celtics,

who was just going to five out this freaking dude to death. You know, you wonder what he can do against certain matchups. So the Sixers, I'm just watching Joel on defense. And Paul, like, where he chooses to insert himself in Philly's offense. If the Sixers had won that game in Miami last night, and it looked like they were on their way to rallying

and winning it before they kind of like go, they're like, he just went crazy. in the last two minutes of the game, Hero specifically. There with the talking point around the NBA today would be, uh-oh, is this the scariest team to play in the first round? Because Maxi's back, Embed played a pretty good game last night. I think he was seven of 20, so not great from the floor, but he had a couple. What I look for for him is not only the mobility on defense, which you know it's going to come

and go, right? That's just that like, but when he exerts his power on offense, that's one of his tells to me that he's actually feeling pretty good. I'm not just going to shoot 20 foot jumpers, even though I could score 40 just shooting. And he had a couple last night where he, Bam must have pissed him off or something because he was just like, how about I just put your ass in the basket and lay the ball in?

I don't dunk anymore, but I'm going to lay the ball in. And he did. So my Philly thing, but they lost the game. And so we'll see where they fall. We're going to talk about playoff races later. I do wonder if they're almost,

like I think you and I are in agreement. Like, I don't have any faith that this team can stay healthy. and then if he can stay healthy specifically for like multiple playoff rounds. I do wonder if they're at their peak scariest in the first round, just because the first round has so many two days off between games before you get into every other game and every other game playing 30 the 40 minutes. I just don't have any faith that Joel is going to be able to stand up to that load.

For me, the Sixers, I had specifically the lineup of Maxi, Edgecombe, Ubre, George, Embed, or slot Grimes into the Ubrey spot. if you want to go a little smaller. I'm a Grimes guy. He's had a great year. They don't, I mean, they don't go to those lineups that often because they're pretty small and they throw Barlow out there for a lot of time. And they've had Watford and Walker play the four and other guys like that.

But I just, I'm keeping my eye on those lineups. We didn't have this on the rundown, Zach, but I'm fascinated by the Grimes situation. Because to me it relates to comminga, Ivy, you know, know, Grimes, whatever, these young guys who coming off in a new NBA, coming off for their rookie deals, haven't proven themselves to be all-stars, but have proven themselves to be kind of capable. You know, Camden Thomas, another one of these guys. Kaminga ends up not betting on himself, which I think was a mistake, but maybe it wasn't. We'll see. Grimes said Effing. Cam Thomas said effort. I'm going to bet on myself. I think Grimes was asking for

something like 30 mil per and the Sixers were offering probably like 15, 16. I don't think he's earned 30 mil per this year, but he's got to have upped what the offer was from the Sixers last summer.

What do you think about that? Well, the mid-level is going to be what, like 13, 14 at this point and like depending on how many teams have cap room and how they spend it, that would figure to be his floor because he's had a really nice year. Oh, yeah, that's definitely the floor. Yeah. He's had a really nice year for them.

I think he's in the back end of the sixth man of the year conversation, maybe the front end for some people. Yeah, I think it's a good point. It is a fascinating situation that they kind of punted on long term control of him for various reasons. And then trade to Jared McCain. I'm just going to run through a couple honorable mentions. Then we'll take a break. Other honorable mention lineup combinations.

Houston's new starting five, which is actually a slight minus so far with Reed Shepard, finally in the starting five for Tar Heason. Phoenix, just who do they start with Dylan Brooks coming back this week? You know, you figure Booker, Brooks, and Igadaro slash Mark Williams are made manned starters. Then you have Jalen Green, Colin Gillespie, Royce O'Neill, do you go small and put Green and Gillespie? They both kind of, I mean, Jail and Green, you've invested a lot in Gillespie's an awesome. That's one.

Thunder lineup, they just have so many options that I didn't know where to go. But one that I just, I'm struck. by this one, and I'm just going to throw it out into the world. SGA, Caruso, Mitchell, J. Dub, Holmgren. I feel like, who knows how often we're going to see that? Because that's no Dort, no Wallace, no Hartstein, etc. But I feel like that's a pretty dangerous one. And then Minnesota, I just, I always been so unbelievable for them injecting, like,

it's just a hit in the tur. It's like smashing the turbo button every second that he's on the floor. Great pick up. I've always been interested in. they don't they're not built to do this because they have three heavy minute rotation big men and now jada macdaniels this this uh what did they said he's week to week with a knee thing i mean that is a massive x factor in the playoffs for the first round but if he ever got healthy again this season and they're hoping you will i like the idea of io and dvincenzo mcdaniels go

bear like put macdainals at the four try that out just just just try it out but get well jana McDaniels because they've been my stealth contender all year. And without him, there's just a big, there's just a big hole in the lineup. They either play giant lineups or lineups that are probably too small or they have to play and 48 minutes. All right, let's take a quick break and then we'll switch gears. This episode is brought to by eBay. On eBay behind every car in part is a story waiting to be shared.

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All right, it's time for a little interlude. Zach's random thoughts about the NBA. I watch a lot of games. I talk to a lot of people. I have a lot of meetings. I have a lot of thoughts, random observations that don't necessarily fit into the bulk of the podcast. We're going to dump a few here for a few minutes and have some fun.

Tom Dundon is taking over the Blazers. The ownership transition was approved yesterday, according to various reports and an NBA press release. He's now in control of the Blazers, which has everyone around the league wondering, what's you going to do with the Blazers? Tiago Splitter, the front office, what's going to happen? What's the plan? Anytime there's ownership change, there's stress. And I do think, apropos of that and some other stuff around the league, I think we're going to enter a pretty frothy cycle of coaching changes in the next couple of months.

would not shock me if we see one Taylor Jenkins slash Michael Malone style at the end of the season here in the last couple of weeks from a team that decides, you know what, we know what we're going to do. We know we want to make a change. Let's do it now. Let's try to get ahead of the game for some of the hottest candidates that are available. And that's Taylor Jenkins, who I think would have his pick of several jobs worthy to open. And maybe a team acts fast to try to get in the front of the Taylor Jenkins line. There's a lot of buzz about that. So let's just, go through. Like there are 10, there are 10 jobs. These are in no order at all that I could see opening in the next month, two weeks, three weeks, two months, whatever. Portland, new ownership. I think Splitter's done, Tiago Splitters done a nice job. I don't know what is going to happen there. My educated guess would be they open it up and say, hey, he can be a candidate for the permanent job, but we're opening it up. We'll see. Maybe they go the other way and say, you know what, you've done such a nice job. We're 500, a little over 500, or whatever we are,

despite injuries. We'll keep you. New Orleans, obviously James Barago has been the interim there since Willie Green got fired. I think he's done a really good job. They've been competitive. There are 25 wins. It did not look like they were going to sniff that earlier in the season. He's made a strong case to keep the job permanently for a roster that's probably going to be in flux in the next offseason or two, a roster that's a little strangely constructed with Zion and Queen and that being not an awesome fit,

the two of them together on either end of the floor, really. We'll see what they do with that, but I think Barago's stake to claim to, if not the job, then being the favorite to get it if they open it up. Philadelphia, what happens if this season ends in disaster for them? They're in the play-in right now. What happens if they don't make it to six? What happens if they don't make it to six and they don't make it out of the play-in? What happens if they lose in the first round, whether it's in the three-six matchup or a two-seven or one-eight,

and it's not close? I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. It feels like this season, this season, if you had told everyone before the season, Embed would play whatever he's played half the season, Paul Georgia gets suspended for 25 games. Kelly Ubrae'd be out for a while, et cetera.

To be where they are, seven, eight games over 500, like objectively a success. If I'm Nick Nurse, if I'm Daryl-Mory, I'm going to ownership and being like, that's a pretty good season. Does ownership see it that way? Does ownership see the Paul George? deal as an abysmal failure, despite the fact that he's now finally back and playing well.

I don't know. We'll see. Orlando. Woof. 31-0 run against them in Toronto. I didn't even know that was possible. It was ugly. It was as ugly as you would think.

Now, on the one hand, they are at a severe talent shortage right now. Anthony Black's been out for a while. Suggs is always in and out of the lineup. Franz Wagner's been out for a while. When one of Bain or Bain or Bancero is off the floor and they stagger them because they need one of them to run a functional offense at all times, you look around at some of the names, you're like, man, this is not, this is like kind of not a viable NBA 5 at at least at a high level right now. So you want to be forgiving in that sense. And what would all the problems that we see particularly offensively with their middle of the pack, which for Orlando is great in the last 10, 15 years? how much would those be ameliorated if they were actually healthy?

The other tell, though, is defensively they've just fallen off a cliff. They're down to 16th in defense. This should not be the 16th best defense. Their DNA is not to be the 16th best defense, and despite injuries, despite all that. Transition defense is abysmal. They're stuck in mud. They're not communicating. They're making very simple mistakes.

That's kind of the tell. It's still time to save their season. And I think best case saving their season, if Franz can't come back, or if Franz is back and just not Franz, is we sneak into the top six and we lose in the first round. I think that's best case. I don't know that that changes the long-term outlook there.

That's one to monitor. Sacramento, yeah, I'd look at that one. Milwaukee. Doc Rivers has money coming to him. I don't think he's walking away from the money. So, you know, the bucks obviously have another large issue to resolve that may be linked to the coaching issue. But like if Yonis gets traded,

what happens with Doc? That's one to watch. Chicago. I think Billy Donovan's a really good coach. I think the Bulls are a complete mess. I don't think they have any coherent direction right now. They've extended him a couple of times over the years. I think he's a really good coach. To me, this would be like, does he just sit beside enough is enough?

I want to go take a college job or something like that and walk out of it. I don't know, but something to monitor. The Wizards, you know, I think Brian Keefe probably deserves to be in the camp of like, you kind of owe it to him to give him a shot with a real team. And like they have Anthony Davis and Troy Young. This could be a pretty quick turnaround to a decent team next year. I don't love the way they've played this year. I don't love the sort of, I mentioned this with Bill last week.

I think they've kind of, it's been a look at their tanking. We know they're tanking. Like they can't even play Alex Sar. Alexar is too good to play down the stretch of the season. But Al Kulibali's got to sit out one every three games because he's too good. I just, they, they have, they, watching them and then watching the jazz, The Jazz are playing more real basketball than the Wizards. And I'm a little bit worried that the Wizards are developing some bad habits.

They're young guys. But you got to give the guy like Brian Keefe a chance to see a real team. And other tank teams would fall into that category like Jordy Fernandez. Good coach. Let him see this through. Golden State. Until Steve Kerr signs an extension or a new contract, his contracts up this year. I'm just looking at it.

Miserable year for the Warriors. miserable, just so, eh. And right as they appeared ready to sort of turn the corner, December, January, their schedule at the beginning of the season was horrific, just the number of the volume of games, the travel, they were gearing up for a second half run. Jimmy Butler gets hurt. Steph's hurt.

It's like, do we even bring them back for the play in? What's the point of this? Steve's been there a long time. Long time, he's seen a lot, done a lot, negotiated a lot of contributions. tracks with Joe Lacob. You know, obviously the writing's on the wall. The post-Stef here is coming sooner rather than later. They do have the trade assets to try to salvage the end of the step here.

And I expect them to be incredibly aggressive in the off-season to do that. I think, you know, I don't even know what I would bet on this one. Steve Kerr and Steph Curry are tied at the hip. They've both talked about that. You know, I don't. So does that mean Steve Kerr is there permanently as long as Steph is there? I mean, that's what it would mean on the surface. Those things are never as absolute as they seem.

Wouldn't shock me if there's a new coach there. And just like Dallas, is it just, do they want a fresh start across the board? And would that extend beyond the front office into Jason Kidd? What does Jason Kidd want? Does he want a front office role eventually? Is that there for him in Dallas at some point? Does he want to go to a new place to get it?

I would just not take my eye off of Dallas completely. And then there's always like surprise team X. after the playoffs, disappointment. Oh my God, they fired that guy. That's incredible. So that's 10 plus surprise Team X, 11 to monitor.

Some other random observations. I've watched a lot of the jazz lately. I know. It's a problem. It's unhealthy. But they've been playing a lot of teams that a lot of good teams and teams that I've been interested

in digging deeper into. And so the jazz have just been a big part of my life for the last three weeks, bigger than any reasonable person should have them outside the state of Utah. And just color me is very excited for the jazz next season. When Keante George is back, Markin is back, Jaron Jackson Jr.'s back, Walker Kessler's back. Because I like a lot of what I'm seeing from some of their young guys. I think Cody Williams, who looked like just an epic bust of a top 10 pick, he's,

now he's getting to shoot as much as he wants on offense and I'm not sure exactly what he's going to be offensively. but he has shown enough in the last couple of months that he can, I think there's a world in which he's like a functional eighth to tenth guy on a good Utah Jazz team. His defense is really improved. He's a solid defender. Like he knows how to close out on guys short.

He knows how to run guys off the arc. He's extremely well-balanced. He can sprint out and come to a stop and keep drivers in front of him. He's big. He's long. He's rangy. Offensively, it's a little hit or miss. Ace Bailey, I might actually crack.

and move Ace Bailey to first team all rookie alongside the big four all rookie guys. I had Rayneau tentatively in that fifth spot. I just, I've loved Ace Bailey's rookie season. It was, it's the complete opposite of what I expected it to be. I thought he would come in based on all the intel.

Did he even want to be in Utah? Was it Washington or bust? He's going to report all this. I thought he was going to come in and be like, oh, I'm just going to shoot a bunch of horrible shots. Watch me, I want to score. All I want to do is score. And, and he has played the exact opposite way. He cuts hard. He defends hard.

Like, watch his chase down blocks. He's engaged in the game as a screener. He'll screen, roll and make a pass out of the short roll. And lately, as the Jazz have gone in full tank mode, they've let him spread his wings offensively. And it has not come at the expense to a large degree anyway of his efficiency. He's shooting threes pretty well. And he's got glimpses of, oh, I got a smaller guy switched on to me.

Let me take you down to the block. and I'm not overpowering, not overpowering, but I'm big. I'm much bigger than you. Let me shoot this little 15-foot turnaround over you, and it looks nice. It looks nice. A-plus Ace Bailey rookie season. Kyle Filipowski, defensively, he's going to be challenged at the four or the five. That's fine.

He's a starting center right now. He's not going to be a starting center when the games matter. He's a legit, good backup big man in the NBA, very skilled offensively. The three comes and goes, but he's got a little bit more. more of like a face-up bully, spin, shoulder block, lay-up, hook kind of game to him. He's a very good passer.

He's a rotation big man for next year's that jazz team. Bryce Sensibaw, one of my white whales of the NBA, just a guy that I'm endlessly fascinated about. Wait, he had 35 tonight? What happened? When Bryce Sensibal looks good, like you,

if you were a space alien and he watched a good Bryce Sensible game, you'd be like, well, that guy's a top 10 player in the NBA. He looks so smooth. He's making fadeaways and making turnarounds. spin move, all that. And then it's like, do the coaches hate him? He didn't play for two straight weeks. We know defensively it's a little bit of a struggle.

Offensively, he's been a little over dribbly, a little tunnel vision. Last couple months, he's more decisive offensively. There's a lot less dancing. There's a lot less like messing around, prelude, all that stuff. Just catch one dribble, cross up, go drive, keep the machine moving. That price sensible, he can be a rotation player on a good team. not a starter, I don't think, but a rotation player on a good team. And oh, by the way, they have a 99.6 percent, I'm sorry, 99.4% chance of keeping their

first round pick, which they owe to Oklahoma City if it falls after eighth. If they stay in the fifth spot of the lottery, they're going to get another 99.4% chance. They're going to get another interesting building block. I think the Jasker win 50 games next year. Random other thoughts. Jacobi Walter is having a nice couple of weeks. Great sign for the Toronto Raptors. Keep an eye on him.

Josh Giddy, not exactly finishing this season the way you'd want if you were the Bulls and you're like, this is kind of the only other than Matas, good thing we've had going for us. And he's just kind of like turning it over a lot, not scoring as much to shots, shot efficiencies a little bit down. Okay. You know who can't miss a shot right now, Gary Payton the second.

Hats off to the mitt. You can't miss a shot. plus off the bench for the Warriors every game. Maxine Renaud, can you dunk, please? Just try it. When you get close to the rim, just try the thing where you jump and you put the ball into the basket

and you grab the rim and you scream. Just try it, man. Like, it works. Boston, I'm endlessly, I've mentioned with, I was that Missoula is my coach of year. He's been my coached here for a while now. I've mentioned before the way that they game end of quarter

possessions in different. ways, fouling guys on purpose, rushing teams to shoot early. I've watched a couple of their recent games. The two for one is old hat. We all know the two for one. Every commentator is like, oh, it's two for one. I'm pretty sure the Celtics are like doing three for two and maybe even four for three because they'll get the ball with like a minute and 10 seconds left in a quarter.

And someone will just dribble it for 18 seconds and nothing will be going on. And everything, the coaches will just be like watching what's happening. I think they're killing time. I think they've figured out some three for two or four for three kind of math that they're on. And the last thing on my random observations, every fourth game, I'll watch and a team will have it, we'll make a challenge. They'll win the challenge. And the commentators will be like, I don't understand. Why can't we just have infinite challenges?

We lose. We win our second challenge and we don't have any more challenges. That's not fair. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. horrible take, two challenges is enough. Extend that logic as far as you want it to go. If you don't lose your second, if you have infinite challenges,

then you have infinite challenges. When does the challenge end? If you keep your challenge because your second one is successful, you get a third one. Do you get a fourth one? Do you get a fifth one? Like where does this end? The games are too long.

Two challenges is enough. No extra challenges. Stop saying there should be extra challenges. You should lose your challenge. If the challenge and basketball took as long as these new, baseball challenges, which are absolutely glorious. A dude just taps his head, and there's a challenge. And 10 seconds later, we know if you won or your loss.

Sure, give me four challenges. The way they are now, two challenges is enough. All right, that's it. For Zach's random thoughts, let's get back to Big Wad. This episode is brought to you by Service Now. Look, I have my dream job. I get to watch basketball, think about basketball, talk about basketball, but even dream jobs have the stuff

that nobody dreamed about, the busy work that gets in the way of the actual work. Service Now's AI specialists tackle that work. request handled, cases closed, the whole thing done. So you have more time for the work you actually want to do. For me, that's breaking down SGA film whenever I want, and then talking about it into a microphone. To learn how to put AI to work for people, visit servicenow.com. This episode is brought to you by Panda Express.

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On eBay, you can always find whatever your thing is. from her collectibles and vintage cars to design or fashion. It's all there. Millions of fines each with a story. eBay, things people love. I forgot two other honorable mention lineup combinations. Just monitoring Kaminga and Jalen Johnson together. Does that work?

Is it workable? How's it work? Atlanta just keeps winning. And the heat, you know, like, Hero Powell, are we going to do this or not? Like, we can do it or not? And injuries have sort of allowed them to get off the hook. and making a permanent decision on that.

Defensively, that's tough. Okay, topic two, assignment two for Waz, the playoff race as we get down to the end of the season that you are most excited or curious about. And there's a few different races that you could look at. What did you go with is your most exciting playoff race? So to me, this is not quite a race. It's kind of just the luck of the draw,

and it's who draws the Houston Rockets, because to me, they are the obvious lemon in that three to six range. And whoever draws Houston should be high-fiving, clapping it up, extremely happy, because Houston ain't it, Zach. I'm sorry. The one caveat is if McDaniels can't go in the first round, I think that's such a significant blow to Minnesota. But yes, you're dead on.

about your Houston pessimism, they have earned it, so continue it. It's, look, and I'm going to just say this right now. I haven't talked to anybody in Houston, haven't reached out to any of my guys over there, people on the ground, people around a team, like with players and stuff. I haven't talked to anybody about this. This is just, this is just why I's doing guesswork from tea leaves, whether that be press conference answers from the coach. and certain players just watching this team,

the lack of cohesion, the lack of, like, does it feel like this isn't just five guys out there, just kind of rolling the balls out there? It just feels like the coach doesn't like the players, and the players don't like him back. And that does not feel like a winning combination. And, you know, again, it's specifically the offense for me, And I know everybody's talked about it like they're down the stretch offense,

which has been obviously bad. Their clutch offense is bad. Whatever, cool. Put that to the side. We were talking, I was talking to Modak Hill, our guy. And he was like, man, the thing that is the most frustrating about Houston is they will run a great play three times in a row. Get three straight buckets. The fourth bucket, KD, gets an open look.

The fourth time they run a Katie gets an open look, misses it, but a great look, great process. Didn't get the results you wanted, but did great process. And then we'll just straight up not run that play the rest of the game. And it's just like, what is going on with this team? So that's the race that I'm watching. Who gets to play Houston in the first round? So there were four, there's four candidates to me for this race of the most exciting race award.

The race for the West number one seed between the, the spurs and the thunder, which could impact the MVP race, maybe depending on your taste. The east from five to ten, I mean, just forget it. It could go in a million different directions. You know, Philly had a big loss last night. Miami had a big win. Orlando is trending down. Charlotte has been trending up, but there are the tiebreaker disadvantage in a lot of these ones.

And so, and they have a very tough schedule. They may be stuck in the 9-10 bracket. Maybe not. They're only a game behind Orlando. and then five, six, seven between Toronto, Atlanta, Philly. I mean, just who the hell knows? And then East, two, three, four, same thing, New York, Boston, New York, Cleveland. But this is the one, four to six in the West.

Lakers are very likely going to be three. The nuggets, despite an absolutely brutal schedule, are like if you look at the projection systems, like 80 to 85% in the four-five bracket, could go to fourth, could be fourth, could be fifth. And the reason is they have tiebreakers over both Minnesota and Houston. And their last two games, which are brutal are Thunder Spurs, which like some chance those one or both. It's going to be locked up. Yeah.

So they're scheduled. So if Denver's in the four or five, then who is fifth and six becomes critical to them, to the Lakers, to the second round teams, because surely the Lakers would prefer it to be Houston. Surely Denver is like, man, we got to play the Minnesota Timberwolves again in the playoffs. like this isn't any fun. And so, and by the way, the Rockets and the Wolves, they only play three times this year. It's one one.

Maybe the biggest game left in the season is April 10th in Houston, the third game of that three game series between those two teams will decide to tie break. But yeah, that's a very important pivot point for like every team in the Western conference in terms of like how the playoff journey is going to work. And maybe Houston figures some stuff about it itself out. maybe the starting five clicks into place, you know they're going to be a great defensive team

or at least a competitive defensive team. Offensively, they've just been a bottom 10 offense for three months now. And disorganized, slow. We run one thing and that we don't seem to have anything else sort of in the can in case that thing doesn't work. Okay, Alpi, just dribble from 20 feet out and create a hook shot or KD, do your thing.

It's just they have the tools, particularly with Shepard Duran. and Shengun all on the floor to be a much more dynamic offense, a much faster offense, an offense that can go from one pick and roll combination, swing it and go into another one. Use Shepard as a screener instead of a ball hand. And they do a little bit of that,

and then it just sinks into this funk. So we agree on the playoff race, I think. All right, last topic. I said Bill and I were going to do this Sunday. One more thing on the playoff race in the east. I think hopefully hopefully Detroit draws either Charlotte or Philly

and that's going to be a whale of a series. I really believe that. I don't think Detroit's just going to blow either one of those teams who I hope comes out of the playing situation. I think Charlotte's going to ultimately end up being that eighth seed

and I think they're going to give Detroit some problems. So that's what I would say. Yeah, if you're ranking entertainment value of the four play-in teams, it's definitely Philadelphia and Charlotte over Orlando and Miami. The question is, you know, Toronto and Atlanta are like one losing streak away from being in the play-in. I don't, I mean, I don't find the Raptors particularly enthralling to watch. But they've been qualitatively better than all these things. Charlotte, Charlotte's a real, like, Philly, full strength and Charlotte, I don't think it's just

a, I don't think it's, I don't think it's just Detroit. I think particularly Charlotte, the track record said, like, they're giving all of these teams a playoff series. Like, none of those four teams walks in is like, I'm just penning in. No, Cleveland in five, New York and five, Boston and five. Like, those are going to be, that's a brutal, would not surprise me, would not surprise me if Charlotte actually won any of those playoff series. I'm not sure I'm going to, I'm picking all. shock in the first round for the East. Same. That's just like if you can't, if you four teams who have so much equity stakes

into this year or have accomplished so much in this year, can't win in the first round, and forget it. Yeah, exactly. I was going to do this with Bill on Sunday. It was his idea to credit him, but we didn't get time for it. Awards that you think are locked up right now for the most part or totally. So let's just go down the list. MVP, is it locked up for you?

It's locked. It's Shay Gilder's Alexander. I understand that a lot of money has come into the betting markets behind this Wemby push to, you know, this campaign that he's on. You know, he's in Iowa eating corn dogs and all of that for his MVP. Shake in hands. Give some babies.

But like, you are not the MVP of this NBA season, sir. It's Shakegilded as Alexander. And I would argue he's kind of not even numbered. two because of how dominant Yokic was pre-injury. I think the breadth of Yokic's season is still better, in my opinion. I understand the Wembe arguments in terms of his defensive impact is so high. Like it's beyond what a, you know, a Matumbo was doing or even a Ben Wallace or something like that or Ron Artec, like these last, these previous defensive player he is like his, it's kind of

outsized and I was looking up some of the kind of all in one defensive stats. I think his all in one defensive stats are messed up by the fact that his backup is an amazing defensive center. And so it's kind of discounting Wemby's defensive impact in the stats or whatever.

And I understand that. I take all of that into account. Shea on offense is just on another planet from Weminghamma. They're not comparable in terms of their offensive impact. Well, the same is true on defense, though, right? Just to play devil's advocate.

Yeah, but we know defense isn't as important as offense. Is Wembe not the exception to that rule as sort of like the one superstar maybe ever who actually is impacting every single moment of every single defensive possession? Like he's not like Kauai back in the day, you would see teams treat him like Rivas Island. Like we're just we're just not, we're not letting you impact the game other than we're just not going to where you are. Wemby, you can't, you can't do that with. It doesn't matter what play you run or where you run it on the floor. He's in your head. For sure.

I understand that argument, but I also think, like, the guy is playing with defensively talented. That's your assmates as well. Like, he's not playing with a bunch of bums on defense. These guys are working in concert with one another. I think, like, the Spurs' wings on defense can be aggressive in a way that they probably wouldn't because Wembe. He's back there. Right?

And like, I think they're working in concert. And I think Wembe is like, his defense is a cut above everybody else. And I think he deserves considerate. Like, I think he's in the MVP hunt. I agree with all of that. It's just to me, like, Shay what he's doing on a team that's had guys

and important guys in and out of the lineup all year long. And it's just been shade. like this guy like at the end of games this dude is so insanely deadly lethal completely unstoppable where it's like if he gets a shot off that's it your your defense is cooked you have to pray that this man doesn't shoot the ball at all like i'm sorry man and shay is not a lemon on defense either it's not like no he's a very he's a very good defensive player a yoke is obviously his defensive impact can't be compared to wemby we know that. And I agree

that Wemby's offense is way more closer to the level in terms of impact to Shea than Shea's defenses to him. I just think offense is way more important. And I think like who gets paid, who ends up winning,

you know, like the sort of interchangeability of certain defensive kind of players and like, oh, he's a great player and like how easy it is to come in and replace their defensive production. I don't think anybody would argue that offenses isn't

just clearly, definitely more important. And She's just been a beast on that end to me. Look, the stands of all four of these guys will not want to hear this, you can make a reasonable argument for all four of the leading candidates.

Like, that's just, that's not a hot take. That's a cold take. That's a boring take. You can make reasonable arguments for all four of them. I think Shea is the MVP. I really don't even care if the Spurs pass the thunder. I think overweighing that is sort of similar to firing your coach because, you know, you, you, you finished ninth instead of eighth by one game. Like, okay, so if you finish eighth, he was a great coach. And if you finish nine, he's a fucking bum. I think Shay,

first of all, again, boring. He's played 400 more minutes than Wenbenyama almost. Like, that's a lot of minutes. And he's doing that without playing fourth quarters in like 20 games, because they're ahead by so many now. They both have, they both elevate their teams to, like, Wembe's on office from neutral to incredible. Shea's on office from pretty good to incredible. And the incredible part matters to me more than where the off court number is. It's like, are you elevating your team to like, holy shit, this is a machine.

That's Shea. Clutch numbers are outrageous. And this is Jordan, but modern era. I mean, that's how good he is offensive. And I just think you put all that together. He's the MVP for me. I would have Wemby's second, Yokic, third, Luca, fourth.

The Lucasans are going to go crazy. I get it. You can make a reasonable argument for him. He's fourth. He's fourth. He's fourth. But again, it's the breadth of this six weeks. Outrageous.

Is what I'll say to the Lucas stand, Zach? Three and a half weeks of great basketball does not an MVP case make. Well, he is averaging 30. He's averaging 33 points a game. Yeah. No, I get that. I get that. But like, it's been a difference in kind

in terms of what he's been doing recently. And defensively, defensively, too. Exactly. Do it for the whole season, gang. Okay, defensive player of the year, I assume we think it's decided. Lock, lock, that's a lock. I think if I had a ballot,

you got to go three deep on the ballot. I think right now my ballot would be Wembenyama, Holmgren, and an obi. maybe a Sarr Thompson third, maybe Derek White third, but I feel good about my ballot. Rookie of the year, lock or not lock?

I'm locked in on Khan Knieppel. Me too. I'm super. I've been convinced. I like it. You know what? My daughter would, that's a joke I would make to my daughter

and she would just, she just says, no, dad. No. Cringe. Cringe. Reach the cringe point in our relationship where, I'm cringy.

That's fine. It comes for us all, Zach. But I told her, it's only going to get worse. And if you think you, if you think you calling me cringe is going to make me dial it back. It's going to have the, you know what it's like? It's like the agents calling me to lobby for their players for various awards.

First of all, I don't have a ballot. Second of all, this annoying call is going to make me less likely to kick. You're annoying me. Like, I know the numbers. You don't do it. If you sort basketball reference, I got it. Like, I got it. Anyway, what the hell were we talking?

That's crazy that they would call you instead of sending you a gift basket. That's why I don't want a gift basket either. I'm not going to name the team. I'm not going to name the team. I got a big package yesterday. I'm not a voter. Can you just look up who the voters are? I got a big package yesterday.

A box as big as my 36-inch computer monitor or whatever, however many inches this is over here. I like it. And in the box, in the box. was an item the size of a deck of cards. Why is the box so fucking big? Now I got to add it to my recycling pile. I'm not going to name the team, but you're not helping.

Guys, good gifts and small packages for Zachalo, all right? And he'll do state-sponsored radio for you guys. You know, the Wizards a couple years ago sent a nice-looking cheeseboard. Okay, I'll keep the cheeseboard. They do you, it's an actual useful item. God only knows what actual, what candidate they had for anything.

What was the, what was the occasion for a Wizards thing? I don't know. I bet it was Alex Sar. I bet you. Anyway, con, I'm with you. And I just think the shooting efficiency is crazy outweighs everything else and a slight minute's advantage. And just like, yeah, like he's played 10 more games on a team that the games actually

matter. I think Flag, would you agree with this? Flagg will be a better NBA player? Yes. Yes. Yeah. It will be. But for me, it's another thing, you know, I have some homies in Charlotte and

what they're explaining. It's not just that this guy is, you know, incredible player team first guy. They're like, yo, his intensity has permeated the team. He's a freaking rookie, Zach. The word killer is used frequently by Charlotte people

to describe how serious he is and how that seriousness, as you said, permeates the entire approach. Yeah. Like, man, I can't say enough. I love him and his game. And, you know, it's not just

that he's a great spot up shooter. The diversity of ways that he finds to get his three-point shots off is incredible. Again, this is his first year. He's only going to get better at this shit. And so, yeah, he's my rookie of the end. He's doing it on a team that matters. He's not doing it on a tanker.

I would have con flag, BJ as the order. Harper, I think per minute, maybe has been better than BJ, but it's a thousand minutes difference. And so I just can't, I can't get there for him. They're all first team. All rookie. Yeah, the Hornets, they are just really hard to guard.

Like, they play so fast, both in transition and the way they run their, stuff in the half court. It's all full speed. It's unpredictable. They mix up how they screen, how they cut, how they screen and flare out. Like, if you're not dialed in, they're going to put up 125 against you. That Knicks game was a prime example of that, Zach. Yeah. Like the Knicks have a tendency to be like, okay, today we're going to be intense on defense. We see that against the O KCs. And like, when they play some big teams, they'll ratchet up their intensity level. I think they went into Charlotte thinking like, you know, this is always a de facto home game. There's such a huge New York

city expat community in the Charlotte area. This would be fine. It was not fine. They got their asses ran off the court by the Charlotte Hornets because the hornets were just beating them to the punch every single possession. And so, yeah, I echo your sentiments on that, bro. Coach of the year for me is locked up. Is it locked up for you?

Oh, yeah. It's been locked up for a minute for me, honestly. And it's Joe Missoula. and I don't care that he gave his little speech where, oh, they should ban the award. They should. It's all about the players and the staff, the staff who you manage and hire and whatever,

is an extension of you, whatever. I don't care what Joe Missoula has to say. He's the coach of the year. Just look at the dudes that they are trotting out there on a night-to-night basis. I promise you, half these guys y'all never heard of before this season. Okay? And they are poised to be the number two seed in the east.

They're looking like the favorites. And it's because the Celtics operate within a structure and a system that is so, they're so disciplined in, on both ends of the floor. Like their offense is disciplined. Their defense, their rotations, they're basically matchup dependent coverages. and what do I mean by that? It's like, all right, when Brunson and Kat run a pick and roll,

we guard it like this. When Brunson and OG run a pick and roll, we guard it like this. When OG and Kat do something, they are so locked in. And like, to me, you can't take that away from Joe Madden. And another thing I'll say, Brad Stevens don't get enough credit.

He's the executive of the year, okay? To be fining these scrap heap guys. And people say, well, they got Tatum and Brown. Well, they ain't have Tate for three quarters of the season, okay? And to be finding these dudes, getting rid of legit, like, bro, Luke Cornett is a good-ass player. Al Orford might be finished. That's cool.

But Drew Holiday was extremely important for these guys. Like, they're getting rid of really good NBA players, and there's still the favorites to come out of the East. For whatever reason, Brad Stevens doesn't do. what these other GMs do and have people in our profession calling him a genius and kissing his ass all day, every day off. If I never hear about how great of a negotiator Danny Angels ever again, my Lord, will I be happy? Okay.

Brad Stevens don't got these people in the media doing this shit for him, but he's one of the best executives in the NBA. Year in a year out, he proves this shit. He's incredible. And so GM of the year, coach of the year. The Celtics brass, bro. It's really incredible that he's done such a good job as GM. And it's not, it's been a minute now.

It's not like he just got to do. It's been three, four, five years, whatever it's been. And yet still, like, this is now his career. He's the president of basketball operations of an NBA team. This is his job. This is what he does. He scouts. He makes big decisions.

He knows the cap or he gets to be like all that. And yet still when North Carolina opens up, you hear the buzz like his Brad Stevens is going to go to North Carolina. And he has to actually come out or the media of the Celtics come out. And there's sources say he's not interested. Like he's still that revered as a college coach that like one of the most prestigious jobs opens up and he's mentioned for it. Yeah, I have Joe Missoula coach of the year. The Celtics are a reflection of him.

They, they are strategically on point in every way. As you mentioned, all of that is intentional. Like you're not exaggerating when you say different plans for different pick and roll combinations, different situations. And if you mess it up, you come out of the game. And it doesn't matter if you're Brown or Tatum. Like the standard is the standard. He's he's he's he's game the possession math for them. They play an extremely low turnover.

High ISO, high midrange, high three, got a game that fits their style. They're just a machine of good decisions that are really well calculated and stem from the coaching staff in a lot of cases. I would probably go Missoula, Bicker staff, Ott, but Redick has a case now. Ms. Johnson has a case now. You know.

Johnson has a big case for sure. Darko Ryakovich has done a nice job. Charles Lee. All those guys have done incredible jobs. I would say Mitch Johnson with the spurs, what I love about them is to have a team who pretty much every single player you can still smell a simulac on their breath that plays the way that they do on offense. Like one convincing you.

young guys to, you know, sell out on defense is a big deal. But offensively, you got a bunch of guys that haven't gotten paid yet, for real, you know, aside from Fox. And these guys play so unselfishly. They don't really care who gets off on a given night. And of course, we know that puts a defense in a bond. You can't be sure exactly how they're trying to attack you because everybody's a threat to try to score and to give it up and make the right play.

So getting young guys, man, to understand the virtues of selfless, offensive basketball, to me is insanely grand feat. And so I tip my captain Mitch Johnson, man. The Spurs, how they stumble from for 50 years of Popovich to this Mitch Johnson guy, not to mention Robinson, Duncan, Kauai. It's just ridiculous. It's insanity, honestly. And Castle?

And Castle. Who's another killer? If I were, if they were allowed to, if I were the GM of the Spurs and it were legal, I would just max out Castle now. I would actually break the rules and be like, we're offering him the max now. Whatever it is here,

whatever the percentage of the cap is, this is what we can offer him. So you know, you know, I work with Danny Green, and it was like a week into the season. Obviously, he's super connected to the Spurs, still, like, plugged in with them, And he's like, he's a max player.

I'm like, bro, come on, man. I get it. He's had a nice, like, three games in a row. He's obviously improved upon it. He's like, bro, I'm telling you, he's a max player, bro. He's this bona fide star. And that's just borne out this entire season. And if you remember the way people used to talk about a men Thompson,

that's how they're talking about Castle now. Yeah. And by the way, I put like, I don't understand. So are you in like Bill and Goldsbury had this conversation about how Alman Thompson. Were you on that pod too about Almond Thompson being a disappointment this year? Hard disagree from me. I don't know if the expectations for him just got too high. He's pretty on track for what I want him to be.

He's averaging 18 a game, five assists, I'm like that. All those numbers are up. Shooting efficiency a little down. I understand the point guard thing like, pseudo didn't work. I don't think he was ever going to be like a quality NBA like number one ball handling point guard

at this stage of his career. For what he is, he's fine with Ammet Tops. I'm not disappointed. I think there were moments last year when you watched him that you could dream that he would one day become a possessions eater. He's 23. You know, so do you still think that's in his future? I think he's 23. He's averaging 18 points

a game on a team that has no offensive structure. I don't think he's had a bad, season. I don't think he's been like disappointing. I just think the ceiling for him has lowered for me. Not that he's not going to be an incredible player going forward, but I don't see him as, you know, give this guy a ball in the clutch, run possession, epic possession through him or with him involved and amazing things are going to happen. I guess I don't ever, I don't think, I never thought he was going to be that kind of

player like a Luca or a Shea or with like that sort of usage. But I think he can become an all NBA player his way being that way sometimes when the matchups are right or whatever. And like in two years, it's like 23, eight and eight or 23, eight and six and like all defense and like that's an all NBA player. That's all. Speaking of all NBA, six man of the year and most improved, we can skip. We can skip those.

Most improved. I still got research to do. Six men in the year. I don't even know who the, like, most improved is something that I just will never, like, actually understand what the award is trying to do. But, yeah, I'll be happy to skip that. And six, man, I'd probably lean Keldon Johnson,

but Jaime Hockets Jr., Nas Reid, I assume new Tim Hardaway Jr. He made great story for him to be bouncing back because, boy, was that year too brutal. And he has completely put that in the past. he's been he's just a relentless engine of pace and just gets where he wants to go

spins shoulder bumps and all of a sudden he's making a foot hook on your face either any of those guys I still haven't said it I just want to do all NBA quickly because Kate is still out aunt is back if he plays every game he's going to get to 66 games

Kauai remains healthy if he plays every game he's going to get to 66 games Maxi is back he's going to surpass 66 games so we're getting some certain on like who's going to be eligible. Let's leave Kate out of it because it doesn't seem like he's going to come back in time to get to 65 at this point. Like he's at 61 right now and there's no murmuring like he's going to be back in a week.

But who knows? I'm getting close. So there are 15 spots. I'm not going to do the teams right now because I think that's still in flux. There are 15 spots. I'm getting pretty close to having 14 of the 15 in Penn. And I'm going to, can I name them? Yeah, yeah, go ahead.

Obviously, the four guys who are locks for first team are Luca, Wembe, Yoke, SGA. So that's four guys. Here are the next 11 who one of them would get a first team spot. Again, if Kade's not eligible. And then five second team and then, you know, whatever the leftovers are for 13th. Jalen Brown is a lock. Yeah. He'd probably get my last spot, honestly.

He might be the favorite right now. For first team, yeah. Yeah. Anthony Edwards is a lock. That's six. Donovan Mitchell is a lock That's seven You agree so far Kauai I think is a lock

Oh big lock That's eight I think Maxie has to be on an all NBA team Yeah Given them that's nine I think Jalen Duren Has ascended into lock status for me Into Penn status for me

So that's I'm not going in any order I just with what he's done without Cade Like he's putting up 25, 30 Whatever on there I think Jamal Murray has ascended into All-N-B-A lock territory. Super lock. 11.

Jalen Brunson kind of never left. Maybe not like in the first, like, top two of the second team conversation. But he's in there. He's in there. That's 12. I think Jalen Johnson is now is pretty close to a lock for me,

given the Hawks surge to end the season. Agreed, disagree? Not quite there. Not quite there. No, I'm there. And then the 14th would be Durant, I think is despite all the Houston angst. He's in Penn for me.

Yes. So that's like 14 in Penn. And you don't seem to eject really. You were like a little shakier on Duren and Jalen Johnson. Yeah. Just a little, a little bit. But especially the out east, like, are you really going to tell me Mowgli has been way better than Jalen Duren?

No, yeah. I mean, there's no statistical case for that. He hasn't been. In the past he's been, and you would think that he still has the ability to access how good he's been in the past, but I think you'd be crazy to say that. I think what people,

where people are going to complain with you, Zach, is somebody from Toronto is deserving of an all-M-B-A. I still have a spot left. I still have one spot. I think that's what people are going to be clamor for. Well, look, first of all, the Toronto fans are always complaining about something. The American media ignores us, blah, blah, blah.

Can I just say this? I'm on the Zach Lowe show, one of the biggest shows in sports media. All of you Raptors fans that yelled at me two or three years ago when I was like, Scotty Barnes is not the next Kauai Leonard. Can y'all at least admit that we were all right to say that he wasn't? Oh, but he's got better rookie stats than Kauai. I'm like, guys. Sorry.

Sorry about that one was. Sorry. sorry boot it but I do have one spot left and Scotty Barnes is on my list for that spot I don't think I would give it to him the names are Devin Booker Chet Holmgren

Denny Obdea is going to get to 66 games not a great finishing kick for him Shengoon, Cat Bill would throw Castle in there I probably I think that's a little premature Mowgli I think Kniepple and La Mello ball.

You'd have to at least look at Bam. Entertainment. Yeah, bam. I think I would probably lean to Booker for the last spot. But and maybe something will change with my 14 guys in Penn. And obviously I would have to pick who's second team, who's third team. But though that's, that's where I am currently. Yeah, I'd probably be Booker or Chet, to be honest.

And I think, I don't know, it feels like people are kind of down on Chet because he hasn't turned into anybody's idea of an offensive engine kind of player. And that's, if you were dreaming of the best, most ideal scenario for Chet, he'd just be more dangerous with the ball in his hands. And that just kind of hasn't borne itself out. But I think his defensive impact is just understated. Like, people don't realize how incredible this guy is on defense. And again, there's some nights where you watch Chet still get pushed around a little bit on defense

because he's still like trying to find his grown man strength. But on a night to night basis, this guy is a menace on defense. And I think offensively, he's been good even though he's overqualified in terms of his stature on the team as a pressure release valve. For a thunder office that could sometimes feel like this is kind of crue. creaky when Lou Dord and Caruso and those guys aren't making their wide open threes. And I think Chet has gotten way better at destroying smaller matchups, which is always going to kind of be the make or break indicator for bigs. If teams can just switch a wing or, God forbid, a damn point guard onto you,

and you can't punish them with free throw attempts or just shooting efficient shots directly over those guys, you're not going to reach your full potential as an offensive player. And I think he's made so many strides in that regard in terms of being able to beat up smaller switches. You know, I think in the past we've seen this with guys like Porzingis, where in Dallas, like, you could put Pat Beverly on this freaking guy. That's unpleasant. And nobody cared. And, you know, by the time he got the Boston, he had so vastly improved his ability.

And a lot of it wasn't, you know, posting guys up and putting them under, burying them underneath the basket. It was like, no, dude, I can get to a 10 foot or 11 footer where I'm automatic and you can't contest it. And I think Chet has gotten closer to being good at that stuff, you know. And so to me, I probably, if it's not booker for me, it's Chet. I, like, yeah, you look at Chet's numbers. 16 and a half a game is a rookie. 15 last year, 17 this year. Like, oh, okay.

minutes are the same. He's capped out at 29 minutes. They don't seem to want to play more than that. And total playoffs, fine. Like defensively, unimpeachable, incredible. And like Wembenyama, beyond a rim protector, the arms are everywhere. He's everywhere. He guards all sides, sorts of different players.

I do, the one thing, I think, to your point, that the number is miss a little bit, what he is shooting 64% on twos, which is a career high, is the one shot that I feel super confident in him now, and particularly when he has a smaller guy on him, is yeah, he's not going to back him down and power through and put the guy in the basket stanchion. But face up from like 20 feet out, hard dribble, a couple hard dribbles, spin move, rise up for a 12 foot jumper,

13 foot jumper. Like that feels borderline automatic to me now. And like I'm fine if year three, that's where we are, where the defense is where it is, where he only played 32 games last year, missed his entire rookie season due to injury. Like I'm fine with where Chet is offensively.

Like maybe there's more there. I do think there is more there. It's also hard. Like, it's hard to find the more when the MVP of the league is on your team. And like, AJ Mitchell's like, wait a second, I can average 15 a game. I'm in the six man in the year conversation too. All right, Bigwas, no fouls given. Yes, sir.

Andy Green. Paul Pierce. Farness on YouTube, wherever you get your podcast. You know, this player-driven stuff, these guys always kind of like surprise me with, like, just the way that they view the league. as opposed to you or Isaac, like, it's just way different. And, yeah, man, I have a great time with those dudes. So, yeah, check us out on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast.

And let's go, Matt's Big Waz. It's great to see you. I'll see you probably in the playoffs somewhere. I assume. We'll see. We'll see wherever life takes us. Thanks for your time, bud. Later, bro.

All right. That's it for the Zach Lowe show. Today we'll be back on Thursday. As usual, thanks to the incomparable Big Waz, no fouls given. Go Mets. Thanks to Mike, Billy and Jonathan on production. And thanks to all of you for listening to and or watching the Zach Lowe Show. We'll see you Thursday.

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