And now the low welcome to the low post podcast on a Tuesday morning where it was a obviously a tragic night in sports And quite a an unusual night in the NBA and to help us talk about the NBA and all the stuff that happened last night And all the stuff that's gonna happen in the next two months and all the stuff that he predicts is gonna happen in the summer Some of which you'll be right about some of which you'll be wrong about it is time to say the three most important words in NBA podcasting They're the most anticipated words in NBA podcasting what up back What up Zach happy new year? I think you forgot the niche niche NBA podcasting right now. We're now we're on YouTube We're not now we're on YouTube a sudden each anymore. We're going mainstream.
We're going we're going blockbuster We're going blockbuster and it's fitting that you know What up back is an homage to Kobe Bryant who I overheard saying those words to you back in the pizza lockout of 2011 It's fitting that we open with Kobe today because the headliner from last night in the NBA was not Clay Thompson's 54 point outburst Not Zion Williamson's injury not Joellen beads 42 point 14 rebound not even out first That's just a game It's like barely even gets any notice is Donovan Mitchell Donovan freaking Mitchell without Evan Mobley without Darius Garland Not to mention Dean Wade everyone's favorite NBA accountant Ricky Rubio all the key players that have been missing the whole year Or part of the year for Cleveland Donovan Mitchell 71 points and 11 assists to combine to contribute to 99 of Cleveland's whatever amount of points They scored in an overtime victory over the Bulls the second straight heartbreaker of the Bulls who need everyone they can get Have suffered against Cleveland after in fairness two crazy clutch wins won over Atlanta when ao Dassoon who fell on top of John Collins after a buzzer And the whole team celebrated on top of poor John Collins and then against the Knicks when the Knicks missed a gazillion free throws And tomorrow's an one with the jumper Bulls. That's why you can't be under 500 against bad teams Beat the bad teams and you don't have to worry about these hard breakers Donovan Mitchell Howard back 29 points a game five assists five rebounds on 49% shooting 41% overall Three is 56% on twos the cats are plus five with Mitchell on the floor in Darius Garland on the bench That was one of the big appeals obviously appearing two guards the fit has been pretty complimentary from day one Darius Garland has clearly deferred to Donovan Mitchell to combine shooting and playmaking There's no weakness on or off the wall for either one they fit well, but we both once we saw the score went back and watched this game What a what a I mean, there's just the guy's what's anyone points? What else is there? Just get just kept on scoring like another step I just issued another step.
Oh my god And then they're gonna fall on me just kept on scoring and scoring and scoring and what struck out to me was the 11 assists I think are indicative of at no point in that game including in crunch time when he seemed to score on every trip Did I feel like well? He's monopolizing the offense in a way that is not unhealthy considering his production? But but but just sort of selfish I never thought that in fact in the last minute of regulation He had to assist to Jared Allen for big baskets that preceded the clear down of the Mitchell lane violation put back of his own free throw Which she was laying violation the bulls are gonna care and the bulls are gonna yell and scream So my number one comment to the Bulls is number one I don't hang the last two minute report in your locker room if you want you're six and eight against below 500 teams You just had two crazy crunch time wins two weeks ago that were like borderline improbable at at at you know at best and Try boxing out Donovan Mitchell. How about that Patrick Williams try boxing out Donovan Mitchell, but boy oh boy 71 points That's one of those ones you look at the box score even though you know how many points you scored before you look at the box Or you just look you're like that's a seven doesn't even make sense Doesn't even make sense This was one of those nights at the NBA where you realize later that you have made a grave error in judgment because I decided to Amble over to net spurs at Barclays last night because you know I live close this first time I've been here this year I want to go say hi to some people make the rounds and bump into some other people and was hanging up Well, it's not until I'm getting on the subway home that I'm seeing Twitter lighting up and I'm realizing Oh, I have made a grave error I should have been home on my couch watching lead pass stop being a reporter and going to things just sit on the couch That so I did I went back to at least to rewatch for a quarter over time And then that got interrupted because while I'm doing that Twitter's lighting up with the Warriors and clay I'm like wait a minute I gotta see that because that was going on live so then I had to pause the replay of Donovan Mitchell So I could watch clay at Jordan pool and all the craziness that went on in that game But I was struck by the same thing you were zack Donovan Mitchell and I do not mean this to be any kind of slider judgment toward Devon Booker I was totally favorite of Devon Booker chasing that 70 years ago I didn't bother me in the least when Devon Booker did this but I just want to make this point Donovan Mitchell's 71 last night there was nothing about it that felt like he was chasing it or forcing it you point out the assists Obviously, this is total and it's the biggestest total ever for anybody who's ever scored 70 plus so that speaks to it Not part of that's obviously the overtime, but it was most assist by a large margin in a 70 plus game It just came within the flow it nothing looked forced nothing looked like he was chasing he did it because they needed the points to win He made the right plays he was spectacular whether he's driving to the basket whether it was a step back three Couple of floaters like whatever it was It all it all seemed like the right play in the moment Um, so you know times like this I'm so thankful for basketball reference and stat heads so we can run all these fun little searches, but um You know, there's been 12 plus or 12 games of 70 plus right six of them by Wilts Chamberlain alone and one by David Robinson So these are a bunch of guys who did this much closer to the basket and when scoring happens like this now in today's NBA Guys get a record when they got the benefit of the three You know what for decades guys had the benefit of being super tall and super big and being very close to the basket often with people who could not guard them Anywhere near there.
Well, also also for decades guys had the benefit of the three and because they weren't practiced enough at the shot Or teams weren't smart enough to understand that three is 50 more points than two They didn't take advantage of it. So boo-hoo to them Yeah, if you want a great step curry on a curve for his career scoring because of all the threes How about the level of difficulty of shooting those threes versus the level of difficulty of shooting twos from inside the paint Like I'm not diminishing either one by the way. I'm just saying I don't want to hear people saying oh well The benefit of the three and then back in the past. I don't care He also had 24 throws not not for nothing, you know that that was a huge chunk of this 11 assists the most assists prior to that in a 70-point plus game was was Devin Booker previous mentioned them Booker was six David Robinson at five Kobe had two in his 81 And he did have down a Mitchell seven threes ties for the most in a 70 plus game with Kobe But I just every aspect of it was amazing Twenty two for 34 from the field that was the fourth best field goal percentage in a 70 plus game behind David Thompson wilt and wilt I just every aspect of this no matter how you break it down was just absolutely spectacular.
So Here's the East standings right now. We're taping this Tuesday morning boston 26 and 11 Brooklyn has won 12 in a row talked a lot about them the last couple weeks in every format possible just an incredible turnaround 25 and 12 The bucks 23 and 13 which means they're one game over after a 9 and 0 start offense still stinks You're still taking way too many jumpers. We'll talk about the bucks in a second calves 24 and 14 sixers quietly sneaking up now 22 and 14 It's getting very crowded one to five and my god That is a that is a fun one to five and that four five series in the east Whoever it ends up being is going to be a bloodbath and absolutely must watch and maybe cleave one's in it Maybe cleave was not in it, but obviously I love the trade for donna been mitchell the minute It happened uh, they had already made nucleus around him, which is why you can pay full freight for a guy like donna Mitchell and they did by the way they traded a guy you may be an all-star in the western conference this year in addition to all their picks And swaps and all that and donna been mitchell has more than lived up to expectations This is the best he's ever played versus staying period of a season. Obviously he's had some incredible playoff series This is why you trade for star players who are 25 26 26 I think Um because they're still on the come up Uh, this is why you pair two stars scoring guards who can both shoot and play make even though maybe they're too small Maybe they'll fit on defense is imperfect because they are explosive enough and complimentary enough to score around Some of the black spacing that's kind of baked into the evan mow blejaron allen and then you throw in a core who can't shoot and the more stevens We can't shoot they can they can manage within that while you figure out How to optimize the rest of your roster around that's what stars do they win games when two of the core four are out as was the case last night The incredible thing is not an image was averaging 29 5 and 4 and i read the shooting numbers He can't crack the top five in mvp.
It's like who am i supposed to put him over yolkich? Who's breaking the NBA tatum dorant luka and bead yannes like is not an initial like is he capping out at seventh nvp voting Like it's just ridiculous how good these individual seasons are he might have to average 71 points for the rest of the season to crack the top Five in mvp. Um, I mean, this is this is a year where we don't have to go down the whole mvp rabbit hole But this is a year. No, I'm I'm I filled up the rabbit hole.
I'm gonna dig it. I'm gonna dig it out in like February 1 I'm gonna unbury the rabbit hole the rabbit is buried. He's not gonna groundhog whenever animal pops out of a ground He's not coming out till February on the low post podcast anyway No, leave them all there the mvp this might be a record for the earliest the mvp discussion has annoyed me Because grievances were already being aired in december about outcomes that are five six months away. Just my gosh Um, no, but but you know if the calves make a big push if the calves finish close to the top of the east and out of it Mitchell's still putting up numbers like this on high efficiency like he'll be in the discussion Um, a lot of this may come down to you know How the standings pan out to the extent of the standings still matter and I believe they do Um, but the east to your point really crowded the top This is the best case scenario for a bean crowd at the top minus one outlier Which is still the Miami heat who are starting to come around and maybe they'll still get to the top I was gonna say the he had their full team essentially last night for the first time at ages They beat the clippers who of course didn't have their full team Which is just the same thing as saying they played the clippers um and I'm gonna write about this on friday, but I don't think bam out of bio and tyler hero have gotten enough credit for their seasons this year Both of them have made leaps in very important ways Not like gigantic like superstar chasm leaps But important incremental improvements in multiple skill sets and for a team that's had guys including hero for a bit early in the season Just constantly now the lineup.
They have been absolute stalwarts tyler hero has made multiple game winners But beyond that his numbers and the polish of his game has jumped off the charts bam his bam There there, you know, jimmy went to get you know went to get a little second opinion on his knee I think was reported in los angeles before they played the clippers and they played Um, he hasn't been the same he hasn't just been available He's been very good when he's played but they're they're coming around Um, but but you know they got a long way to go to catch these teams But yeah, the top five in the east is is stacked right now And you know, this is where you thought it could go But you and I think you know had kind of the same feeling about the next before the season started I'm we're gonna talk about them. I'm sure along the way here anyway, but um that you know You know highest potential upside and and highest potential volatility You didn't know which way it was gonna go in a certain point early in the season Uh before they fired national beat me well kyrie was suspended and all that other stuff It looked like it was possibly going the other way and lo and behold here. They are 12 wins in a row later Uh just crushing everybody and so they've made it that much more interesting and the Sixers had kind of a wonky start But they've come around and the calves aren't going anywhere and the heat are starting to you know seemingly catch their stride And so I don't know if it's a six team race, but uh it might be and it's at minimum it feels like a legit five team race I can't just count any of those teams. Um, it's it's amazing.
It's awesome Now as someone who picked me walking to win the title this year The last eight weeks of Milwaukee bucks basketball has been somewhat troubling to me again They're 23 and 13 after starting 9 and 0 and bill simmons My old boss current friend and colleague and all that Had a little mention on the bill simmons podcast, which is mostly about the NFL So I didn't understand a lot of what he was talking about Um about the bucks being a mess and there being some weird stories floating around about chemistry issues And that set off alarm bells in my head because bill is plugged in and bill is the first one to have the mark lassery is looking around Maybe it's selling his steak of the team Which was linked to the sun's new sun's guy and i'm not sure that story's over either by the way So I poked around a little bit when those comments came out And I guess my takeaway for now would be I don't see any blaring alarm bells in the way that bill does it were the way that bill's Words implied that he might he went he quickly switched topics and didn't elaborate on it I think it seems to be more like just mid-season frustration duldrums of Middleton's hurt drew has been sick constantly He's been like he just keeps getting non-covid illnesses and missing games And it's it's leaving jonest to sort of carry everything and then get jonest and play other night And they didn't have any of their three stars and they're losing games and they're getting frustrated and everyone nobody likes losing It seems to me like sort of injury frustration losing middleton's had a bunch of little setbacks along the way After the risk thing which was a surprise to begin with when they discovered that his wrist needed more serious surgery They thought I'm still sort of just gonna freeze it and say Whenever middleton is back whether it's two weeks three weeks one week four I don't know what the time that mess around with christmas at this point If he can just stay back and and begin essentially begin his season and we get to see them healthy and whole I think those things will just go away This seems like just sort of run of the middle mid-season losing frustration to me But if they're just like sort of continuous setbacks and the team just never is what it's supposed to be then it might get interesting But the bucks just haven't been that good. I'm just kind of like And you know, I mean wake me up when they have their full team, but the east around them is is getting kind of interesting for sure I don't want to strain this particular comparison too much But I feel about the bucks the same way I feel about the warriors These are very different cases and the warrior struggles are much more pronounced especially on the road Um, but I feel the same way when a team is one of championship very recently in the case of the warriors Just several months ago and then the box the championship before that I don't I don't react. I don't even react. I don't even react half the time.
So they've lost the rain or whatever They've lost five or whatever. I I'm not these are not things that worry me It's the same basic personnel with the bucks who won the championship Yannas is still Yannas The one thing that we always were concerned about with that team even as they were winning that championship was well How long's the window when you've got guys the age and or mileage of and or health history of roclopist christmiddles and rahala day and You know, what's the supporting cast going to stay sound and that's been an issue That has clearly been an issue and that can mess up your chemistry Just by all the comings and going and not knowing who you've gotten and having to readjust to a guy being gone and he's back Um, but there's no 23 and 13 Yannas is still playing at an VP level. I don't there's nothing about the bucks that I'm gonna be too alarmed about unless they go on like a 10 game bender Um, they'll be fine. I'm with you Let's talk about clay for a second boy rough morning for the uh, clays washed up clay I'll never be the same clay can't do this clay can't do that You know wake up check back so our friends.
Oh clay's averaging 28 game and shooting 38.5 on threes He's still a five alarm fire everywhere. He goes he still draws multiple panic defenders I'm clays open clays open running around the floor still clays onsen just like in the finals in the playoffs That's your you look at the best or afferent so I look 19 a game 38 percent shooting on threes seems pretty good And I said this on NBA today rather passionately a couple months ago like all this angst about clays not the same Clay looks a little half step slow on defense. Yeah, no He tore his ACL and he tore his Achilles like what do people think is gonna happen? It's and I keep saying this like you can focus on the fact that the second greatest shooter of all time is like A little bit worse than used to be how about you flipping around and say the second greatest shooter of all time is still an incredible shooter And a massively important contributor averaging 20 points per game on a team that just won the championship on a team That is now six and three since Steph Curry got injured is one five in a row Just scored 54 points last night after tearing his ACL in his Achilles and consecutive years and missing two full seasons of basketball like I said this even last year during the playoffs When when there was all this sort of drilling down on what clay was couldn't do as well anymore I'm like am I the insane person who's like I think it's kind of good that this guy's averaging 20 a game on 38 percent shooting from three given his injuries And now he keeps kind of settling into the season and for me the turning point was I remember being in a car back from Barclays on November 18th and watching in the car warriors nicks Um and that was after clay had had a couple bad games It might have been around the time of the barkly comments I don't remember and what stood out immediately to me watching that game and what Steve Kerr talked about afterwards and dream I'm green-talked about afterwards was he stopped forcing it He would come flying off pin downs and instead of like dribbling into fadeaway twos or popping contestants Let me just bounce it to kavon looney and keep the machine moving and what happened was when you keep that machine moving The machine often spits the ball back to clay Thompson for a better three a better shot than he would have gotten otherwise And the more he did that the more it sort of became just a self-fulfilling cycle Oh, that's gonna happen I'm gonna get back and it like then it just started clicking and in that game it clicked and since then he's been pretty much like What you could expect clay to be I'm a I'm an unabashed clay fan I think what he's done to me since these two injuries has exceeded expectations You visited with him earlier this season for a wonderful piece on SI Um, maybe you can talk a little bit about that piece and just sort of your reflections I'm watching clay put up 54 last night in An absolutely bonkers double overtime win that included de jante muri playing the part of la de diva Yes, thank you Out to tante de vincenzo playing the part of robert ori for the game tying three at the end of regulation Uh, I almost tweeted that youtube link to that play just I was gonna do I just gonna leave this here or I was gonna say here's a replay of de jante muri tapping the ball out But then post vladi and ori almost almost did it last night But I was too busy trying to catch up with that game and then donald mitchell Thank you for uh for making that reference.
So i'm not the only one who feels um really old First thing I thought of is like you just thought that rebound and you I can just imagine the horror that you feel like i've made the right Play I've tipped that it's like trying to knock down a hail marie as a defensive player like i don't throw right plays where i'm so oh no Oh no So this day vladi will tell you he made the right play And of course vladi after that that one the whole thing press conference afterward I was of course there for that game of ladi does the whole it was a look shot So look shot anybody can make that shot then robert ori came to the podium and said Uh responding to that said he needs to pick up a newspaper or something which i've always appreciated the endorsement of newspapers from robert Um Yeah, uh wild game amazing game from clay and i'm with you Uh Love watching clay love what clay is about hard not to root for somebody who is the makeup and the dedication and the passion and the pride of This guy and who has gone through what he's gone through and has built his way back and methodically come back and we remember that game last season before he came back Remember he's he's not even back a full season yet or full year yet right like it was january of last season that he returned After two and a half years off two and a half years and two of the most serious injuries you can have and we all remember that game There was a post game where he had the towel over his head because he still wasn't playing and he was just really emotional Like there's nobody who cares about this stuff more like there are other guys who care obviously a lot But you will not find anybody who cares more about the game and winning and their part in it and their part in history as clay And yeah, I visited with him a few weeks back. They were on the eastern uh eastern conference swing Um and then the back to get backings in new york which were a disaster for them But I met up with him several days before when they were in philly Just a chat about the road he's traveling and this next stage because even then he comes back last season And he had some really strong performances in the post season and in their championship run But he still wasn't all the way back and in in june when I spoke to him I had a few minutes with him between games when I was working on something bigger And I was asking about like what this pretends for the next season meaning this season and he was talking about i'm gonna be an all-star again And so I wanted to catch up with him because he's he's starting to look like himself as we catch up in december And he's on this nice stretch and he's had this amazing game I think the 10-3 point game against the rockets a couple weeks before And he started to find a stride and he had a really nice game in that that went against the seltics And I think some really nice defensive moments as well and so all of that Um and then I was told about this this thing that was hanging in his locker And it was a clip from the san francisco chronicle that showed that 26 faces of the 26 guys who have five or more championship rings In mba history and it's an incredible list and it's incredible collage and kale had seen that in october Puts it out of the chronicle and went to uh, there um, was what is uh ericow's title now vp of of something of everything that the warriors do to function He runs the team he runs the team and says please, uh, I want this in my locker So eric goes out and clips it laminates it and hangs it and clays locker and it's hanging there because clay is all about He's never been about chasing the numbers. He's never been about like i'm gonna Like i always think about what would clay have been with an entire team designed around him all already miller I don't want to go down that rabbit hole, but i thought about this at time like what what would we think of clay if he'd been just The individual guy who got all the standout stuff, but he's he's always been about like i want to be with a great team I want to be part of championships. I want to play two ways i want to be a great defender Um, and yeah, i'm gonna shoot a lot of reason i'm gonna make about a 40% clip for my career But that listen is locker is the only guys he cares about he's at this point Right, he wants to be in that five and over club and i thought that was really interesting and revealing about him and in in during in a way Um, i brought up to him when about you know, i don't remember back in june You said you're gonna make another all-star team and he kind of chuckled like it's like oh big talk Like now he's like kind of making fun of himself, but he's putting together kind of an all-star campaign right now It's not it's no longer out of the question and i think people who doubted i understood what charles barkley said and anybody else who wondered Of course you wonder those are really serious injuries and he's later in his career and he's got a lot of miles from all those finals runs Um, but he's never gonna doubt it nor should he and and here we're seeing a pretty strong outline of pre-injury Slight tonson and it's awesome to see it's really fun Wasn't it wasn't it like a like a k-pop band or something that got wiggens into the voted-in as a starter last year?
Wasn't there some sort of k-pop campaign was that conspiracy theory that actually happened like i don't think that i don't know I'm clearly i'm such an old man i don't even really know what i'm saying right now But if that can happen and why can't like clay getting into the also game is crazy Um, look i remember interviewing clay and by the way i was wrong about i was watching that nix warriors game in a car coming back from Something but i just checked the next schedule it wasn't a net scheme so i don't what's coming back from barclay So the backseat of an uber i don't know where the hell it was real-time self-fact checking i love it I because i don't know what i can't remember what the hell it is i remember being in a car late at night watching that game anyway um I interviewed clay in the finals in cleveland in 2017 Which is the first Durant finals for the Warriors when they just went 15 and 1 and destroyed the whole league of the playoffs And i asked i asked everyone just sort of like about the Durant process and Integrating this this which ended up being pretty seamless because it's Kevin Durant's easiest superstar integration you can possibly imagine And i was particularly eager to ask clay because step's gonna be step and dremon doesn't need to score any points and katie's gonna walk into 25 A game clay is the one who's like got to find his place in the ecosystem a little bit more with kevin there So i was eager to talk to him about it and i used the word sacrifice I said what what has it been like kind of sacrifice a little bit and i'll never forget he looked at me Like the question itself was ridiculous like he's like sacrifice I don't think i sacrificed at all we're gonna win the championship like i want to i'm here to win like i don't i don't look at his advice Sacrifice anything like i want to play for the steam i want to win i want to win for a long long time And it's just he very politely rejected the entire notion of the question in a way that was not Media-trained or faux humility or it was just like i mean clay doesn't have those gears in him Anyway, this is a guy who gave an honest interview about scaffolding on the new york city sidewalk for five minutes Like all the guy knows how to do is be unfiltered genuine clay tomsen And that's how he was he just thought the whole question the whole notion was preposterous that he had sacrificed anything Um, by the way, real quick just add them to that as a thought after you know This is now your hard to believe you're 26 of me covering this league and one thing that you do learn over time Is that not everybody sees this game the same way not not every one of the 450 at any given time players see the same way Not at the start see it the same way not ever motivated by the same stuff and it's fine I'm not judging anybody But there are guys who are motivated by the winning more than others and there are guys who are motivated by championships above all else More than others and who would give you a response like clay gave you where it's like Yeah, like like like it is a ridiculous question to him He does like there is no sacrifice as long as you're winning a championship and he can say it and you know based on everything else We know about clay that that is 100% sincere and there's some guys who will say that but it's not really what they're about You can look across this league all the time there are guys chasing numbers there are guys chasing paydays There are guys just just loving being in the NBA all of which is fine But my point is simply that not everyone is is actually geared the same way about their competitive Drive or about what they value most and when clay says championships above everything else You know he means it uh he's truly wired that way and it is one of the things that we all love about him Um again warriors six and three without curry when kevin pelton and i talked on the spot guys about the curry injury I think it was kevin i said we always go nuts about these injuries and oh my god He's out for 20 whenever it is we have a file for three weeks four weeks they're doomed in this And I said what usually happens is that like the team just kind of punches punches and punches and punches and punches and like hovers around 500 And I think that will probably happen with the words while they're exceeding that expectation by latin part because they are playing at home a lot And apparently they can't lose at home and they can't win on the road But you look at their team By the way shot out kabon looney who I mean a guy who couldn't stay on the court in the first half of his career Can't be removed from it now and won the game last night with one of his gazillion offensive rebounds actually two in a row Um he's playing great dot-de-de-ven cenzo who I thought would be big for them It started to find his way back into the into the fold into the flow Jordan pool's averaging 20 a game It has been pretty good although 11 of 31 last night but good since step one out dremons would good all year Kaminga has been one of the biggest stories of the last month Um in the NBA in terms of giving golden state another reliable two-way player with size He's defending every position like he'll defend people. Okay. You want to be the primary guy in john meringue? Let's see how it goes and they have been plus a lot with the kaminga dremont Four five combinations and step one out so they found something there they're playing well Um they're playing well and that's bad news for the rest of the west can we go through um some of Howard Beck's predictions for 2023 So sport the risk of everybody hating me.
Yes, si.com forced all of its writers in many sports to do their I guess they wanted the risque ones the crazier ones. They didn't ask for that I just decided to do it anyway predictions for the calendar year 2023 off to off to uh, we're three days into 2023 Um, what did you make it to midnight under yours? You by the way? I did I did I don't know why I think that's important or some point of pride like to always have made it I think I always have made it but yeah, it was a very quiet night Like we were out partying we weren't in times where wearing adult diapers while being in a pen You know penned off by the NYPD.
I would never do such such silliness But no we were home nice little family dinner out at a really good Mexican food place in park slope in our old neighborhood Hong out watch some andor catching up on andor have you watched andor? No, no We're getting most of the way through it And then flipped over to ryan c crest on the dick lark new year's rocket eve And uh watch the ball drop because we're new yorkers, but we don't we have to watch the ball drive isn't that like city law? I uh so I went to the Raptors game in toronto on the 30th new years eve eve then went out afterwards I was out to about 1245 and I knew then That that was gonna have to count is why i knew your eve because i'm not making it to midnight again the next day 11 pm Baby unapologetically good night. See in the morning.
I'm tired don't care going to bed Okay, so here's let's go rapid fire through some of your predictions prediction number one The collective bargaining agreement will be renewed without much of a fight. There will be labor peace in the nba Um the uh opt out deadline was extended at the last minute from in the middle of last month the 15th Sometime in february the two sides continue to negotiate how we're back. I'm happy to say that I agree with you I think that I don't know what the timetable will be I think there's some chance that you know they try to hammer something out before that february date they can extend it again Um, I feel I was on an island one cycle ago saying all this lockout paranoia is misplaced I'm on the no lockout island times are too good the money's too good the tv deals come and there's already like mumbling about Like adam silver is saying expansion in a way that doesn't sound like pie in the sky 30 years from now Uh, the sun's just sold for four billion dollars or if we're valued at four billion dollars. Um, I just There are issues sure the draft the age limit the luxury tax the clippers and the warriors outspending the world by a lot All that you know the uppers upper spending limit the the usl the usl's are buddy.
Mark Stein has done already I want to get the uh The proposal the request for proposals that the mba sent out to every pr and advertising firm for like, okay, so it's a hard cap We can't call it a hard cap Please give us mumbo jumbo language that is not hard cap and upper spending limit was apparently the winner Um, I would love to see the other proposals that went out because because you can call it whenever the hell you want And upper spending ceiling that i'll roof on money roof is the ceiling the roof the ceiling the roof is the ceiling You're gonna get us both in trouble because I have already gotten myself in trouble with certain folks at the league office because I mocked this In private conversations, this will be the first time I make this joke publicly apologies to the people who know who i'm apologizing to But I was I was joking like this is great The mba has discovered the pre-owned cars of cba negotiations now we've reached pre-owned cars we've reached we've reached the um Down sizing of of of nba cba minutia now we've come up with these euphemisms. Oh, it's not a hard cap it's an upper spending limit Oh, it's not a use car. It's not used it's been pre-owned somebody else owned it before it's not used it's just somebody else had it first It's it's not it's not used it's not you it sounds honestly it sounds like an s td Like you have to call like you have to call all your past sexual partners. Hey, i've got bad news I attracted a minor case of usl No, I have a usl Attracted a usl down here a shot.
This is great because your s td joke will now trump my uh pre-owned cars downsizing joke So that the ir can be just What are they gonna say what are they gonna say? Well, you're gonna have to just character Delete okay, uh, I agree with you. Um, can I give can I give you a little detail on this? Yes, I don't think this has been reported anywhere But the unofficial kickoff of union league negotiations.
This is a real thing i'm not making this up There was a mixer Between league officials and union officials that included among other things a five-on-five game Between league officials and union officials at the unions gym with like a scoreboard and referees and everything and then there were other like games I heard there was one of those ping pong ball relays where I don't know if there's like you have to have it in a spoon and do little races and stuff So this is the tenor of these now that doesn't mean there's not gonna be serious things But the kickoff of these things like october and november was like a literal mixer I don't even know who uses the word mixer anymore, but it was a mixer so I agree with you and I don't have anything else to add to you know No, it's exactly what you said times are too good and when times are this good you find a way through it Yes, there are issues there are always issues They will they will punt those issues even if they still can't figure out the age limit They'll make it they'll call it the be list all there's much of be list issues We'll get to after we solve the big stuff and then they'll don't solve the big stuff and they'll punt on the big List issues if they have to extend themselves three more times on their own deadline to do this They will there's not gonna be a lockout. I'd be I'd be shocked beyond believe Let's skip a couple of your spicier predictions and go to one that I want to talk about more the Sacramento Kings will make the playoffs Yes, now look, are you predicting top six or just that they get in somehow whether it's through the play in or top six and all inclusive? I kind of fledged this one I think when I wrote it I don't remember how I wrote it But I think I just said make the playoffs so that I didn't have to address whether they were gonna make it through the play in Because my feeling is whether they make top six or whether they have to get through through the play in one way or another they're getting there That's I think it's yeah, I don't think it should matter. So currently the Kings are sixth in the west.
I believe No fifth in the west. I'm sorry 19 and 16. They played a pretty hard schedule 18 home 17 road They are seventh in offense. So their offense is sustained pretty well 23rd in defense and that's crapped up from the almost a basement early in the season when teams were hitting everything against them And as I said when I had Matt Barnes on a couple months ago like nothing about their offense feels unsustainable to me Borrowing injury and we'll talk about that in a second.
They're often just really good. The shooters orbiting subonis and fox it works Um, they've finagled a bench around monk devion Mitchell in exactly the right doses And we're gonna do quick unsung heroes later in the spot cast a guy who would have made my list Except we're talking about the kings right now is Trey Lyles. Trey Lyles has just sort of a jack of all trades back up for You can spot you minutes at the five though the kings haven't gone that route hardly at all Only 33% from deep, but is a threat from out there can make plays can defend Just always seems to be on the mix when their backup units are playing well They're here are their next games by the way if they're gonna make your prediction come through here's their next I think nine games Utah that's tonight hawks two games against the Lakers This is not in order the Lakers games are scattered Orlando two games against Houston spurs thunder So the kings could should be like five or six or seven games over 500 in two weeks in which case they'd be in pretty strong position The only wild card is of course is the monster subonis is playing with a thumb injury and is I don't know Is he one lack away from missing time? And if he misses time they have really no good option behind him and that would make me really worried if I'm a kings fan If he misses time that there would be a vak panic trade like we gotta make the playoffs We gotta end the drought sixteen years give up everything for somebody to play center But I I was high on the kings before the season.
I thought they were a play in team I told everyone hammer the over hammer the over hammer the over now that was 33 and a half or 34 and a half I agree with you I think between what's happening in phoenix right now between you know, or the blazers are fine You know golden states good and rising like I the wolves are a mess I don't see why they couldn't get it at least in the play in and from there You got a fighting chance. I like it Howard Beck No, uh, absolutely for sure and granted here like I have a little bit of a soft spot for the kings Still fond memories of many Lakers kings battles back during my later beat days Uh with the school uc Davis just down the road from there and of course, uh, because the only way I ever root is out of self-interest I want the kings to be as relevant as possible so I can get free trips on my company's dime To uh to go right about northern california teams the warriors have come through for me very well in the last seven eight years Uh, the kings not so much so, um, we'd love to see them back in the playoffs that those crowds are amazing as people who Remember back in the early 2000s know the cowbells at arco arena and even even without cowbells That crowd was incredible and it's been it's been as everybody knows well documented a very long hard torturous road for Kings fans with the longest drought and I think the history of organized sport or something like that Um play after out so uh love the like the beam Um love love the whole thing. Uh, I'm I'm down Let's talk about some of your other predictions You took a double dump on the booklinets and their current 12 game win streak by predicting both of the following events Which are linked which are linked predictions. I would assume number one Kyrie Irving signs with the Lakers in the off season Obviously Kyrie's free agent had some issues this year that are troubling and Um his reliability has generally been up and down for a while now and then prediction number two kevin derrant Uh re-initiates his straight demand howard beck the net tip 112 games in a room The nets have been the best team in the nba full stop the best team in the nba for the last six weeks The nets is presently constructed are a championship contender I believe all of these things you I trust that Kyrie Irving won't find a way to screw this up in the next two or three months I don't know I don't know actually but that's one of those things like I couldn't possibly but this is how good they are They're a championship contender right now.
There is there could be anything in the league they can win four playoff series They're just getting healthy. Seth curry came back last night. Joe Harris came back last night. Um on and on um Defend yourself defend yourself Uh, gee thank you for this act.
Um, so let me just say one time timing is really important in life and in careers and in the nba and journalism The request from our editors about predictions for 2023 came on like december 13th. I just I didn't say I didn't say make excuses I said defend yourself I'm getting to it. You're blaming the referees. You're blaming the referee.
You're the Chicago Bulls citing the last two-minute report Uh the last two-minute report on me and these predictions is going to be uh rather damning Though that's like one like three or four games in a row at the time that I sent in my predictions for 2023 in mid-December So that's just that's context. That's an excuses context. Can I give context? I think context matters.
So there's that um Fresh at our memory in mid-December was all the crap that happened in mid-November namely about Kyrie and also that the early struggles and at the time They were starting to uh get some momentum at a time that I filed those predictions exact You know they gotten some some wins against some not so great teams There was nothing definitive yet to show like this is for real This resurgence is for real and you know a lot of wonky things have happened with them this season And you know we've seen ben simmons be a shadow of himself and then oh now he looks like the old ben simmons from philadelphia days And now oh, I'm not sure where he is um But to your point and to the the uh awful awful contrast of my prediction coming out within the last couple of days At the same time the nets are now the as you point out playing like the best team in the mba Um they have been amazing. The kairi has been fantastic. Kevin rate has been absolutely unbelievable Um and I was at the game uh last night against the spurs kairi's put back dunk that place exploded Uh absolutely just amazing moment. Um, he's been great.
Their role players have been great Uh they are You and I again we we saw them the same way before this season were they good enough on paper talented enough to win a championship? Yeah, absolutely never doubted it never said they weren't didn't think it was possible because of all the volatility Because of the the possibility slash likelihood that kairi and or kevin doran at some point were gonna miss long stretches of games that could still happen Um it tends to happen with both of them in in dorans cases because of injury in kairi's case because of injury and other various things that just kind of Happen because he's kairi and I just it's hard to trust it's hard to trust. I don't know where ventsim is truly is Anything is still as I mean he still hasn't made a free throw since i'm ever 25th crazy sad, right? Like I don't even know where that in the annals of nba history has that ever even happened before especially with the player at that level Um, so I don't I don't completely trust them.
Um, and so at the time they're making that prediction Yes, there was no instruction. I'm not gonna blame my interest for this one There was no instruction about hey, give us your spiciest predictions They just said make some predictions but making a prediction like you know, uh, the cavaliers will be in the top four in the east Is not that interesting, you know, um, LeBron James will make his eight billionth straight all nba I was going for at least pushing the envelope a little bit. It's not that I don't believe it I've never put down something that I don't believe but I believe this is a possibility Yes, if the nets fall short of a championship fall short of the finals fall short of maybe the conference finals I don't believe there's any desire by leadership in brooklyn to want to bring back kairi Irving Unless they really feel like they have to and maybe they win a championship and feel like you know what can't break up a championship team But after all that they have gone through with him the idea they would keep him seems far-fetched to say the least And then from there, it's just the next step will have kairi's not there and you can't replace him because you're way over the cap and you're over the tax and blah We know how this all works and you don't have a replacement. Well now who's katie's running mates Not I don't think it's been Simmons, you know, they've had some really nice performances from utah watanabe and royse o'neil But like there's no kairi Irving replacement if he goes why wouldn't Kevin Durant want to explore things yet again He just did this several months ago with this exact team So, you know, I don't know that anything's truly been solved other than they're playing amazing and everybody's healthy and this might continue But if it doesn't if they fall short if they crash and burn and if kairi's gone Why wouldn't the Durant trade request be back on the table?
You know again, I did this at least somewhat playfully as I'm writing these because I'm thinking like what's the most interesting possible outcome? It had to be realistic and I think it is. Do I absolutely positively believe that this is the way it's gonna go? No, I would stop short of that.
Look, I'm kind of giving you crappy because when they were in the middle of the Irving morass And Simmons was a ghost It it felt unsalvable. I used the word unsalvable. They were under 500. I looked at their upcoming schedule So it's gonna be easy.
Maybe strings to win together Um, everyone in the world was assuming the other shoe was gonna drop whether at the trade deadline or in the summer and that being Durant everyone Even people within the nets were worried to say the least that this was going off the rails some were not some were steadfast in We just need our team. We just need our team. We just need our team. We've been saying it for four years But we just need our team and to their credit those that group right now has been proven right and the unsalvable group including me has been proven Wrong.
So I'm giving you some crap. I will say this though without belaboring it too much because it's many months away A a lot of this will depend on the playoffs as happens for all high level teams because the playoffs the intensity is heightened the stakes are heightened Um outcomes feel so massively important compared to the regular season. So we don't know anything until the playoffs happen We see what happens. I do think there is a world And I'm not saying this will happen.
Okay, let me be clear. I'm not reporting this will happen. I'm not saying this will happen Nobody knows what will happen. I I do think there is a world There are scenarios where kyrie is on another team next year and Durant is happily on the Brooklyn nets I think that that double scenario is possible Um, the nets could always sign a trade kyrie for for role players who fit around Durant Simmons There are lots of ways this could go, but I don't think it's Um, it's it's 100 percent like tethered at the hip I think that that maybe that's a very minority scenario like it's that's that's not what anyone wants or divisions But I don't think that's totally out of bounds But there's so much between now and then and the playoffs will be so telling the months before the playoffs I mean the next just need to keep this together and we'll see what happens And look ultimately, this is still about can you beat the Celtics four out of seven?
Can you beat the bucks four out of seven? Can you beat the six or four out of seven? Can you beat the Cavaliers four out of seven? Like that's that's all this is all this all comes down to aside from whether or not Kevin Durant and Kyrie And get through the rest of this season playing at this level healthy no distractions Then you get to the playoffs and we see um, there's there's some really tough teams in the east as well And we haven't seen them consistently beat those teams yet since they arrived due to Things well, obviously, obviously, you know, we don't know who exactly how the seedings are gonna shake out I mean, there's a top five nays and a three-game gap between them and indiana at six But who knows one of those top five suffers an injury and all of a sudden everything's chaos If that indeed ends up being the top five We also don't know who six seven or eight are gonna be maybe one of those is a surging heat team That's made a big trade Maybe one of it is the raptors that figure things out or the hawks figure things or something But it does look right now that being first second or third would be a very nice thing to just give yourselves one round Fewer where you're in playing the fellow top five and out of that four or five series enough with your predictions I don't want to talk about the minnesota turbo's i was gonna talk about cat i don't want to anymore By the way, i'm having our stats and info group look this up.
I'm pretty sure No in-season replacement has ever won coach of the year, which makes sense Could joc van win coach of the year You should say sure you're ku-ti ku-ti ku-ti no of course he could obviously he could he's eligible I'm saying like i think you can make a pretty goddamn strong case for joc van whatever steve nash was doing was very clearly not working And they are taking off like a rocket ship and have responded to joc van his rotation choices have been on point Like it's an unconventional thing i don't think it's ever happened before Um, but i mean steve nash was let go early enough in the season where i think like he's got to be in the race No, of course he is and is always going to be a pretty crowded race. I mean you could put you know joma zula in in this discussion Um, you could put uh, you know, you know, taylor jankins annually in this discussion. Well the green is in this discussion Um, I think it's gonna be the usual credit mike browns in this discussion Um, it will be the usual crowded field but joc van is firmly firmly in that race of extent that there's a coach of the year race on january 3rd No, it just it just dawned on me today like i you start thinking about you just don't think of the in-season replacement It's just like you kind of skirt by them and like what turn around has been so stark and he's been so good like he's got to be a candidate Um even if this was the outcome and he had been there from game one of the season as the head coach You would say he was in there But the the end season replacement the reason that probably has never happened is if there's an in-season replacement usually a team is unsalvageable To use your earlier term and they're just they're just you know, you know, trying to keep their heads above water for a little while And then maybe earn the permanent job or whatever like it's not it's pretty rare to take over a really really good team That had an incredibly high upside to begin with also by the way and all the credit in the world joc van I'm not gonna diminish that for a second. I've been really impressed with what he's done.
Um, and also just the general energy around joc van You know, they're in my backyard. I go to a bunch of netscames. I pop in for a pregame coach Uh, you know discussion with the media just to see what they're talking about on a given night Jacques van just got this wonderful positive energy about him. It's infectious.
He's always smiling. He's always positive Um, he's thoughtful. I can only imagine Uh, you know, if he's making us feel that good in a pregame session as the media that he's having a really nice effect on his team to Say nothing of basketball stuff exes and o's. Um, but when they struggle really odd remember No, Joe Harris or seskari to start the season Ben Simmons is just now trying to figure out his way back after a year and a half out and he's like a shadow himself And so he needed time to come around those guys needed time to get healthy other guys in that rotation had to get healthy TJ Warren's now playing so it is also kind of a fundamentally different team right now.
Um, none of that is it's a diminished joc van's You know, acumen or the job. He's done by any stretch and as I say, I think he's firmly in the coach of the year discussion and he's done a phenomenal job Some of the early struggles were about all these other things and of course the kyrie must have to be to throw on top Um as homework, I just thought it would be fun This is I guess my version of the internet meme of let's talk about some guys And so I wanted to talk about some guys and I said pick pick five unsung heroes for the first half of the season guys You just want to say their names and be like good job guy. You're an unsung hero for the season And I gave you an example that would be one of mine. I mentioned Trey Lyell's already Um, so he's not on my list.
Let's just go rapid fire through our list Give me give me an unsung hero Howard Beck Uh, likely assignment I got for my editors for predictions for 2023. I got a little goofy. I took some liberties Uh, I'm sure you won't mind. Um, do you do you want it like a straight a very very straight one right off the bat or do you want?
I don't care. Just give me one. I don't care christian would How about that? He's pretty son is he so I guess he's unsung because there's been all this all this, you know Ainks about his playing time and his defense and all this I think he's I think unsung because of all right like He's I know like people think he's kind of problematic and he's not always attentive defensively and he has this history of putting up Stats that maybe seem empty to some folks and they don't need to winning and he's been cast aside by teams that weren't even trying to win anymore Um, and it's like there's all this stuff around him even when the mavericks acquired him and I thought you want I could see him really clicking with luca that I think it's a great pickup a position of need everything else And I was hearing on just a lot of people a lot of murmuring a lot of criticism of like, uh, this You're never gonna win with this guy last 10 games for christian would averaging almost 21 points a game Eight and a half rebounds 2.7 blocks his shooting has been phenomenal 54 from the field 39 from three um and the mavericks rating two in that span they revived themselves and uh, I think unsung I actually think unsung only because all the doubts about him and because I just don't think there's a huge focus on The mavericks or any maverick not named luca besides And had some great defensive possessions down the stretch last night against houston in a comeback win for dallas It's houston whatever but i've blocked five blocks for christian win that game.
Yeah, including like three in the last two minutes Um, look I wrote this to me so that the sort of so there's never a silver lining to someone getting injured But the silver lining the maxi cleabas injury is that dallas was finally gonna have to sink or swim With lineups where christian, what is the only big man on the floor and I just have said this from the beginning I understand the hesitancy. I understand the defensive issues There is no point in trading anything of value even a bottom 10 first round pick For christian would if you are not going to give those lineups some rope and now they've gotten some rope and lucas scoring like 50 a game with all the extra space Okay, unsung your own number two. Are you are you doing these as well? Are we all?
I'm just gonna come. I'm gonna let you go and see if we overlap. Um, we're not gonna overlap because I'm Let me give you my first two fee one because I was thinking outside the box here. Uh john rindheart Do you have any idea who john rindheart is?
Does that name anything? I do I your your your the box has been recycled and turned into something else I've gone outside the box is straight to a beam john rindheart is the president of business operations for the sacramento kings He is the guy who is credited for the beam that is now being lit Thus sparking light the beam chance a beam team nickname that I think is absolutely phenomenal The king's apparently filed for a trademark according to a story the sacramento be um You know the basketball matters the the energy around your team matters and the fans matter And again, I'll be alluded to it earlier like this is a fan base that when the kings are great They are incredible and they've been incredible even when the kings have not been great for a very long time here Um, these things don't come about organically too often and there's nothing organic about it giant lasers pointing into the sky But all this stuff around the the beam the chance the nicknames the slogans is organic and kind of fan driven and social media driven Um, and it's fun and these things just don't come along that often and it's just it's just like it's a cool thing A cool moment for this team that has gone through so much so shout out to john rindheart for his laser beams into the sky Well, he is inarguably contributed more to the sacramento kings franchise than 75 of their last 20 lottery picks And some I go to some gms potentially Um, okay, go ahead. I'm gonna let you roll. I mean we're clearly in the back zone.
So go ahead We're the back zone. I'm gonna bring back to reality for a second, but you're gonna you're gonna now say well He's not on the song. Um, I kept thinking like uh, and this is by the way This is not my guilty conscience about the net I kept thinking like you to watch an obvious is on song and i'm not I'm gonna tell you what's kind of unsung and then i was like no it It's actually a classed in and I know you have sung the clack since prasins but again praises But again, like I don't the average NBA fan does not think about the nets and going man You know what they're just not where they are without Nick clackston So I think I think the clackston is a great unsung hero. He might be if there were an all unsung hero team Center on it.
Uh, he's number one of the NBA in block rate according to basketball reference He's number two and blocks a game behind only former netz legend brook lopez. Um he's uh You know top 10 15-ish in a lot of the advanced stat defensive all in one stats that I don't understand the shots in the Forbes Exactly. Uh, he's played in all but three games. Um, the nets while being suspect defensively for quite a while and even earlier this season They're now up to I think I'm checking since last night's game But they were last I checked I think they were 10th overall defensive efficiency and sixth since the start of november Um, and he's a big reason why and you know, we're gonna we're gonna Justifiably obsess over everything that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving do and other pyrotechnics and all that but um, they're nowhere without great defense Nick clackston another one of those nice pickups or you know late round late first round guys that has developed really nicely um with the nets and uh, yeah, he's he's uh, he's on my my list of unsung heroes And they got real trade offers for him at the deadline last year including a protected first round pick I believe and turn it down.
I'll say this about clackston because I agree with you They needed his defense to be a good team His offense and his finishing is what has partly given them a chance to be a great team I think he leads the league in field goal percentage He's finishing out of the pick and roll and they double kd and kyrie and making the next pass if need be and look you can dismiss it and be like Well, of course he's shooting 70 percent. It's all dunks blah blah blah Like he wasn't doing that last year. He wasn't making these lefty bang shots and traffic and all that and if him and simmons together is gonna work As a combo He's got to be able to finish contested tough looks in the paint and he has roiso kneel was on my list Because I feel like watanabi has been sung clackston's been sung roiso kneels shooting 40 percent from three He's a starter He's taken kind of that that joe harris starting spot made it his own He's ever doing four assists a game and I went back and watched a lot of his assists last night I was like how is he ever doing four and a half assists a game? It must just all be like I randomly throw the ball to Durant and he makes a jump shot and whoop to do Some of it is that some of it like they're using him as a dribble handoff guy They're using him as a screener and pick a roller he'll roll into open space and make the next pass And he has this delightful connection with kyrie urban where they fool teams with the same thing once a game Where he'll get the ball on the wing and kyrie will come up for what looks like a dribble handoff And then cut like 10 feet in front of roiso kneel just cut to the basket and fool defenses who are thinking the handoff is coming in roiso Hit him with that with that pass for a layup.
He's a good transition pass or like he's been really really good for them Give me another one um playing off of that because the more I thought about all this it just led me here And this is another slightly strange one, but not too far outside the box. There's an actual box involved in this one uh joe sine shan marks Um, they took a lot of criticism and I think justifiable criticism rational criticism for a whole lot of stuff in the way They've handled a bunch of things kyrie stuff the trade demand All the instability of the last few years is all in that's leadership But They dug in and said we're not trading Kevin Durant unless we get the the moon and the stars and the sun and they stayed the course They made the coaching change at the right time. They didn't buckle in the off season when jorant was making noise about them or me and all that Which I never believed he actually wanted anybody fired. He was just trying to play the last card he had left Of course a trade they said no they can they stayed they stuck with everybody um and again They screwed up a lot I think frankly well and just According to all the plugged in insiders jocobon was not their first choice is head coach and there's that and that was also problematic To say the least to say the least and thank you for reminding me of that because it was initially on my list of things that I wanted to caveat about their leadership um that was not a moment of glory for them as they They uh flirted with the idea bringing me a doko just weeks after he'd been suspended for a full season by another mba franchise um under a cloud so there's and and look this could also go sideways this season as you and I have discussed but um The trade for voice o'neill was excellent the signing of utah wathanabe the signing of tj warren who's now become a really important rotation Explain great um and again the draft of and I was off by by one pick niklaxon was actually the first pick of the second round not last in the first round In 2019 niklaxon, you know, uh shan marx pick and is now developed really nicely I didn't like the james harden deal at the time in part because I didn't like them trading you know a way valued role players like jared alan and karasl verd And you know jared alan's becoming all star in cleveland and you could you know over and over again do the 2020 hindsight I think they just had they just never made the trade and they just had jared out Well klaxon is starting to make that look a little more palatable and say the least um so I just you know marx and so I have gotten a lot of again justifiable criticism for a bunch of stuff but uh On the you know broadly speaking and even on a lot of the details They've done a great job to put in that's in this position that we're now praising them for this 12 game winning streak Give me your last one.
I think that's I think we've got one more left on the backlist um Once again went off the court evan wash No, that don't make me don't make me do this Play play and god play and god play and gott play and gott play and wash in his crew They're the ones behind the play and they're the ones behind a lot of the he's the one He's the one that labron by name by not name but without his name said should be fired Yes, uh for coming up with the play and until the Lakers needed to play and to get in the playoffs Oh, so i'm not not you're not a player and criticism coming from that camp anymore They those those elements in combination I think are at least partially responsible for a lot of the competitive What do we call it competitive balance not really parity whatever it is It's we have a really competitive regular season And I think it is at least partially based on those influences his crew is also of course responsible for all the sketch Optimization that is reduced travel and wear and tear there's still too many stars resting frankly despite all the schedule optimizing I don't know if there's any more optimizing that could be done to get guys on the court more off of him Um, that's a problem. The mba is still facing it is a problem that back to our earlier discussion is being discussed within the car The framework of the cba I don't know what the solution is there. There's still too many stars missing games, but you know I want to throw up evan wash in the crew in there just because like I do think that this the way that the regular season is being Reimagined with with some of these other influences the mid-season tournament is almost certainly coming I've been skeptical of it. Um, I remain skeptical of it But you know, they're they're they're they're batting a very high rate on on these tweaks that are trying to revive or energize And it's been pretty good by the way, they got the christmas schedule They also do the schedule evan wash in this room and they got the schedule mostly running christmas too Um, we had like, you know, what five mvp candidates playing on christmas and you couldn't foresee that zion and was gonna be healthy enough for the pelicans to be there Were they came into rent was even gonna be a net for the nets to be there you couldn't foresee the step injury or booker?
I could foresee that the nicks would not be quite good enough to merit the christmas spot 17th consecutive season They're the trite lions of the mba. They're just like the lions are always on Thanksgiving right? It doesn't matter how good or bad the lions are there is that still the case they're always on well like but you could tell me like yeah Zion's health and kd's and I still just put the pelicans on get the nicks off put the pelicans on I agree Okay, some kind of weird NBA tradition now playing as a home run mid-season tournament I think I think it's gonna grow on us. I've been skeptic.
I think it's gonna grow on us lottery odds shift was correct It's all coming up roses forever and wash on son hero didn't get fired. Sorry, look I'm gonna just fly through mine. I already said Roy so Neil Also receiving votes slash apologies George meyeng And Malik Beasley I think Malik Beasley's gonna butt into the six minute year conversation Just takes a lot of threes and makes a lot of I think I looked at this right I think there are four guys in the league taking more than 11 threes per 36 minutes or 11 point something three for 36 minutes Guys who have played more than a token amount of time and it's Steph clay Damien Lillard and Malik Beasley That's about right Malik Beasley's let him fly and hitting him a lot I would like to give Tory Craig some love The sons might be in trouble by the way 20 and 18 their offense is in the toilet without Devin Booker and kam Johnson and Jake router and on and on and on For the season with Chris Paul on the floor and Devin Booker off the floor They are minus eight per 100 possessions with an offensive rating that would rank in the eighth percentile among all lineups in the NBA Not good. Not good and Chris This may be finally the year for whatever reason where Chris Paul just can't bring it every game He can bring it for parts of every game.
He can bring it sometimes for the whole game yesterday against the nicks when you look at the score Like wait, they have 30 something points and it's like almost a third quarter He couldn't bring it and they had no shot their next set of games is Cleveland Miami Cleveland Golden State Denver, Minnesota, Memphis, Brooklyn, Indiana They need to get off the really soon because this could get ugly Brian winhorse detailed their ownership situation and how it's limiting their ability to make trades Say and I must read who collected but Tory Craig is one of those guys He's got Elmer's glue in one hand some duct tape on the other in the other hand He's like, I'll cut what can I fix I'm shooting 40% for three. I'm getting a lot of offensive rebounds That's the thing we do now in Phoenix. I'm defending one to four. I'm trying my best I got all my tools.
I'm trying my best to plug all the holes. That's one Aaron Gordon Yes, maybe two sorry Gordon. Maybe two song is averaging like 18 a game I just don't I hear a lot of obviously yolkish a lot of focus on Marie and Porter and how they're coming back Bruce Brown Everything they've wanted a lot of rigmarole about the backup center position I don't hear a lot of talk about how Aaron Gordon is averaging 18 a game on like 62% shooting Drawing double teams in the post up in the post and passing out of it. They played Miami the other day He posted up Kyle Lowry.
That's like no no number one. You never post up Kyle Lowry He's a six foot fire hydrant who will steal the ball from you even if you outweigh him by 150 pounds First possession Miami sent help and he kicked it out to somebody for an open three and you can see everyone on Miami's bench and Kyle Hour being like dude nobody needs to help on Kyle Lowry You need to help me against Aaron Gordon two possessions in a row they stayed home Kyle played him one-on-one shooting foul and and one basket For Aaron Gordon against Kyle Lowry one-on-one awesome season for Aaron Gordon obviously he defends everything. Yes, Ties Jones Everyone says best backup one guard in the NBA Oh the king of the assist to turn over ratio and that's kind of where it stops Ties Jones everything ten points a game five assists shooting 40% from three and the light went off sometime in the last two years of Oh, I can be aggressive and hunt my own shot And I'm pretty good at it And I can be a little bit shoot if not shoot first like shoot neutral sometimes and put my stamp on the game as a scorer And the team's gonna need me to do that and he's done that and He's been invaluable to them. They're staying afloat with Jaa on the bench They've actually been quite bad with Morant and Ties Jones together But just he's more than this sort of like game manager backup stabilizer now.
Yeah last one and I've been living on this island It's been lonely. It's been tough times. You have a lot of islands. You have like an archipelago or something Yeah, this one is a real island though This one is like I don't really think that many people in the world have like thought about this guy for the last two years three years But he never played for the Celtics Almost never played didn't make enough shots for a guy who was supposed to be a shooter And I always every time he played I was like kind of like there's something about him I like the size the force he plays with I know he's not making shots But if you're a shooter you tend to eventually start making shots Like I kind of feel like they should invest it just give him a little bit of time to see what they got in him And I would write this and say this and then he became a throw in in the Malcolm Frogton trades And now he's the starting power forward for the Indiana Pacers Aaron Niesmith shooting 37% on threes Defending last night I'm surrounded defended friend Van Veen in the first half and Pascal see ockum in the second F and if he's coming at you at the rim Howard Beck you either get out of the way or he's going to hurt you on his way up to the rim He plays with so much force.
He's good rebounder. Just a nice little story. Those are my own son heroes Any thoughts anybody I left out anybody you go with no, I like the Niesmith one unsung is like we're now like there's not even a There's no musical sheets. There's like you're beyond the unsung It's like there's no one's even heard of the concept of music when you buy the time you're getting Aaron Niesmith that is not going to be on anybody's top 100 of anything, but you're absolutely right to point him out No, I think you hit some of the high I'd flirted with the idea of Landry Shammett speaking of the sons and guys were keeping them A float at critical times and he's had some nice moments over the last few weeks in particular Norm Powell I That's night when I'm eating it's the yeah coming on but you know listen on a team where you know any given night Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, you know might be you know wrapped in bubble wrap frozen in carbonite and you know stored in a vaults under a large mountain in Colorado with the nuclear codes.
I've gone too far He's been really he's been really important for all those reasons Zubots would be a good one for this But I feel like I just I can't talk about the Croatian guys because my my marital links are too obvious so zubots Oh, oh, so you bring up Zubots It's just it's just another source spot for Laker fans that they have to deal with of all the guys who have gotten away Urban traded away and given away. Hey, you know who has the best you know who has the best net rating on the Oklahoma City's under by far best Mike was taller. Oh They're like plus 10 per hundred possessions with Mike was gone on floor But you have deep in the well for that one day I got to help it out of my life. It's just all I got well not if you're researching deep muscales stats like that You can't have you have no room for anything left after that.
No, what are you? I'm seeing and or It's a sore worst thing. I know that I'm so I'm so far behind on star wars that there's just no hope for me I've I think I've seen the first the first three by which I mean the three that were when we were children The first new one that came out in like 1998 and I was a kid and then the revenge of the Sith that one Yeah, when he becomes Darth Vader Yeah, and that after that I've just now there are prequels and prequels to the prequels and sequels to the prequels to other sequels I just don't know where I'm lost it's gotten complicated, but it's got messy too because not all that's real good But and doors excellent. I think it was I might have a number one on any green world Chris Ryan's top 10 I think one of them had number one for the for the year for their best shows of 22 and we're finally getting around to it because My daughter finally had some time because her school is crazy And we finally had some time over the break to watch this because I that was that was my that was my thing We're getting to it right when I'm gonna watch this not a subject for this podcast, but being a teenager seems like it just sucks Like I kind of felt like it sucked at the time But now it seems to suck even worse and I don't I don't they have like a worse life than adults.
It just did a sleep I don't understand when they sleep it just seems horrible There's a lot there's a lot to that for an offline discussion someday since your daughter has a good what a good 10 12 years to go here Before she's gonna catch up to where my daughter is now. So we'll you know, I'll have things to tell you Hey, man, we got it. We got the eighth birthday coming up pretty soon. We're not definitely Wow.
Wow. Wow. Why did I think she was So like five or six Howard Beck writing for SI.com. I mentioned the clay piece wrote a big piece about LeBron about two weeks ago and the Lakers wasting One of the by the way, just we didn't talk about the Lakers.
Here are LeBron's numbers since Anthony Davis went out 35 points a game on 58% shooting seven assists seven rebounds the Lakers I think it's nine games are plus 27 with LeBron on the floor and minus 58 when the Brown is off the floor What this guy is doing is absolutely ridiculous. I have no idea what they will do at the trade deadline anymore My sense is I don't know I would I would guess it if they trade those picks it will be for a big name who is under contract for more seasons And just this one and is a quote unquote star But I don't know what is on the table really from them there so far behind the April But he has been just beyond extraordinary and that piece and everything Howard writes and and his podcast Thank you the crossover, which I may or may not be appearing on soon mayor may or may not hopefully may I got so much back on Twitter when I tweeted out the LeBron thing and said and I phrased it in there I didn't say this in the story, but phrase it as LeBron's playing an MVP level I didn't say he's actually in the MVP race. It's like playing MVP. I got so much pushback backlash mocking people throwing every advanced Stat they could find all this like forget age the dude is playing at MVP at minimum He's playing at all NBA level throwing the age factor also and it's even more impressive But like he is still an incredible force in this game and that is why I believe as I wrote the Lakers Oh it to him to basketball history to the basketball gods to everybody to do whatever they can to make this season meaningful I know you on your last part one of your recent pods pushback a little bit on the idea of going to all in on a season That may be lost anyway, I disagree.
I think make it as meaningful as possible and the guys you acquire by the way Could still be on your roster next season. Well, that's that's the key. That's the key. That's the key Yeah, all right how we're back.
We can talk more about this on the crossover podcast during how we're back It's great to see you. I'll see you soon and happy 2023. You too much