And now, the low post. Welcome to the low post podcast. It's Tuesday, it's snowing. I already laid the track for sliding in my backyard, so I've done my dadding for the day.
All-Star break is coming up, trade deadline is over, and now it's time to really sink into the basketball. We got about 30 games left, seedings and playoff match ups will come into formation soon, get a little clarity. Big questions are gonna be answered, the teams are now essentially fully foreign. It's time to focus on the hoops.
If you wanna learn about basketball, this is one of the guys to go to one half of the Tucker Spot Podcast, a regular guest on J.J.R.E.T.E.R.D. who likes old man into three. Steve, Jones, Jr., how are you, sir? I'm feeling good, I'm feeling great.
I will not disclose that it's a sunny day in Texas, but salute on the sledding. Sledding's a good time. I'm not a ski guy, I'm a sled guy. So I said, I wanna go like, let's zoom way out, trade deadlines over, the minutiae, we've dug through it already.
Now it's time to look forward to see how the new pieces fit, see what storylines develop. And I said, I want you to prepare your four or five biggest questions for the rest of the NBA season going into the playoffs. And I did mine too. I'm going to be a selfish host and start off because I wanna get your take on my number one biggest question for the rest of the season.
Are you ready? I'm ready. I think this is the biggest question in the entire NBA for the next 30 games. How good exactly are the Milwaukee Bucks?
What is this team, which is ninth in net rating? Ninth in net rating. After shellacking the Denver Nuggets at home last night, we're taping this Tuesday afternoon. They play against the night against the heat.
The Nuggets by the way, down to 10th in net rating. We'll talk a little bit about them and if you're a little worried about them at all. But the Bucks are 35 and 19, third in the East, with Joellen Beads injury and all the health issues in New York. There's a window for them to get up to two.
Cleveland's making it an uphill battle. We're gonna talk about to catch with Chris Fedor soon. I think you can agree, Steve. It's been a little raggedy for the Milwaukee Bucks in the Damian Lilliard, Gianna Sintakumbler.
We've had some cranky press conferences, a coach fired, a new coach that got off to a one and four start after being an ESPN announcer for a hot second. The Dane, Gianna's chemistry hasn't come along as quickly as we thought. The defense has been somewhere between a disaster and a tire fire depending on where you rank those two natural or whatever occurrences. But here we are.
They are 35 and 19. They are something like plus 15 per 100 possessions with their four best players on the floor. Dane, Gianna's Middleton Lopez. That's the skeleton of something.
The Middle, all the chaos and all the whatever. That stuff is over. Now it's time to coalesce into a team. Into a team that we think they go into title.
What are you watching for from the Bucks? They just acquired Pat Beverly. Where are you on this team? With me on the Bucks, I have firmly been in.
They're good. Gianna's is very good. Dane's very good. Can they start to find the little things defensively?
Can we clean up the transition defense? In the half court. Can we keep the ball in front? Can we show early help?
That's where I think the Patrick Beverly signing helps. That's where I think adding Doc Rivers helps. Because the one thing I've noticed way more decisive defensively during the stretch. Even if the results have been uneven, you've seen more of, we're going to double against Dallas.
We're going to rotate behind that. We're going to switch and we're going to show help. We're going to be able to keep things in front. Even in that Denver game, they end up winning.
Their mindset at first was we're switching into Yokich, which sounded and looked great until you realized, oh, that's Malik Beasley by himself guarding the Koli Yokich. We can't do that anymore. Let's stop doing that. And so I think having that mindset defensively ultimately will help them.
And the offense has not really been the issue. I think the big key for me has been Gianna's, has looked very locked in during this stretch. Post coaching move. I think you've seen him return to form with his weak side rotations and his health defense.
I think that's so important for Milwaukee. And being able to craft these lineups where Gianna's is actually allowed to roam a little bit more, as opposed to being in the action is key. For me, it's just does, I think Milwaukee and cleanup, do they have enough to go through the playoffs with this version of their team? Do they have enough defense to give their offense with the room?
I think that's the land spot they have to get to. You know, when they traded Dame for Drew, which despite all the things that have happened since, is still a trade I think I would make if I were them, even though you had no control over where Drew Holiday ended up and ended up going to the worst possible place for the Milwaukee Bucks. I still think the prior version of this team had run its course and needed something to bring in some oxygen on offense and some clarity on offense. And Dame has brought oxygen, not as much clarity as I had thought would happen, just in terms of like, okay, here's a ready-made best two-man game in the league.
It hasn't quite been that. You see glimpses of it, but it's 10, 11, 12 picking rolls of game, not 30, and there's a million reasons for that that we can get into if you want. But I was a little, I thought just Gianna's in brook would be enough for this team to be 12th in defense, 14th in defense. That having two guys who have been an annual first team, second team, all defense conversation kind of guys would be enough, and it hasn't been.
The perimeter defense hasn't been good enough. The transition defense has been horrible. Doc has already gotten that in order. I think you see the transition defense has gotten a lot better.
And I don't know, man, as long as they have those two dudes and as long as they have Gianna's and a good supporting cast and Chris Middleton has been ramping up, he didn't play last night against Denver. Crowder starting to look a little Crowdery. I like the pep of addition. We haven't seen a lot of him next to Lillard, if at all, maybe a couple minutes, and that's it.
So far, I'm interested to see if he can kind of butt his way into the closing lineup in some scenarios. Conneton hasn't really been great. He's just been OK. Portus has been pretty good.
AJ Green, Derry Bird, as Marcus Johnson calls him, has been giving him good minutes off the bench. The other young guys don't play. I don't know. It's just been such a strange season.
And yet, I still think this team can win the title. I'm not going to pick them, but I think they can. But I think in these next 20 games, let's say, they've got to give me three weeks where they just look consistently really good, where there isn't a horrible loss, where there isn't like we just go the rope on defense, where there isn't a cranky press conference. Just give me like three weeks of, hey, we're just a really good team trending the right way.
That's what I want to say. I see. Can I ask one question on Dame and Giannis and Pick and Roll? Absolutely.
Where are you at with that? Because are we at the, they need to run it more stage? Or the, hey, what's going on when these two are in action together, stage? Because it feels like the timing is off sometimes, where Giannis is looking to screen, Dame's looking to snake, now Giannis rolls into Dame, and those kind of things happen.
Collisions, the Pick and Roll collision? I still am on the, I think they should run it more. I think they should run the inverted version of it more, which is to say more than never. They just don't ever run it.
And I get all the reasons why they're not running it more. Number one, I don't think Giannis wants to set 30 and 35 ball screens in the game. Maybe that changes in the conference finals or the finals if they get there. And it's just like, we gotta all do whatever it takes to win.
And I have Middleton over here, and I'll set 15 for him. Because I really trust him as a Pick and Roll ball handler. We've got a ton of chemistry. He throws me lobs.
I don't come, it's great. And I think they realized right away, when we do run this two-man game, they're going to blitz name. And four dudes are going to be waiting for Giannis in the paint before he even catches the ball. And you're just going to have to kick it out a lot of the time to Brook and Crowder and Beasley and Middleton.
And those are all good options. Like I think those are mostly good shots. If I can get a contested J Crowder above the break three as a defense, that's good for me. A contested Brook Lopez above the break three.
I can live with that of all the options. The other ones are pretty dangerous shots. I just think there's, I just wonder, like those are two superstar players. Two guys who have been first, second team, all NBA level players.
They want to finish possessions and start possessions. And so I wonder if that becomes an irritant for them. Like, I mean, I gotta kick it out again. And I don't know, but I do think it needs to be run more.
What do you think, answer your own question? I think I'm at the point where I like the fact that Milwaukee has a base and they don't have to rely on that to open things up for them offensively. I think there's value in that and being able to generate quality shots for Beasley, for Brook Lopez. I think that's a plus.
I do wonder if they can now tap into it, come playoff time or in the build up to the playoffs to where now, it's not just we're good in the fourth quarters. You also have to deal with this and we can guarantee ourselves a good shot. Like is that the magic behind it? I just kind of want to see more of the chemistry come between it and honestly, I'd like more off ball screens between them.
Get back to the elbow action. Have game screen for your honest that way. Put fresh on teams that way. I just think it's such an easy way to open things up.
Honestly, they did that in the preseason a few times. And I remember highlighting it on video like, oh my god, a damn back screen for Janis at the elbow. Got an alley hoop or got a game of three because everybody went with Janis. They just haven't done that.
And it's one of those things that someone's never played or coached in the league. I'm sure there are reasons for that. It's not like the coaches are dumb and don't realize those things are good. They all know those things are good and they don't happen so there must be a reason for it.
But man, I think it's not that we've all missed the fours for the trees because the trees have been a mess and they've been falling all over the place and making loud noises and they've been worth paying attention to. I just think there is a really great team in here somewhere and it's time to see it now. Like the drama's over. The roster is what it is.
You got one semi-helpful player which is really all you could get with what you had and it's time to put some good wins together. And last night against Denver, I know KCP, Jamal Murray left after 18 minutes. They were already rolling Denver when those guys were in the game. That was a good win.
And they rolled Boston a few weeks ago by 30-something at home. You know, Missoula pulled starters after halftime. Give me some more of that because this team could get scary if it starts to click. Give me your first big question.
Who on earth wins the Western Conference? Well, that's a good timely question. Expound upon the question for me. Well, the reason why I put that down.
So I looked and as of right now, all of the top 10 in the West have either won six of their last 10 games or seven of their last 10 games. And you have this pack up front of the top four where a game and a half separates Denver from Minnesota. And then you have a game that separates New Orleans at five from eight, Dallas at eight. And my mind goes to home court advantage and how important that is.
But the all top four of the West seeds have won 75% or better of their home games. And I'm trying to balance, what do I do with a Minnesota team that has Rudy Gobert playing at this level defensively, looking better in space? Anthony Edwards developing the playmaking cat, hitting threes, cutting on the perimeter, punishing teams when they want to switch, but also being concerned about them facing switches. And then there's OKC with their style of play and their drives, their guard to guard screens and shade driving all over the place.
But is their defense and shooting going to hold up? And then there's Denver, who's Denver in the Coli Oakage and the defensive versatility that they found that I don't think it's highlighted enough. And the fact that when it's winning time, hey, Nicole Oakage, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, you guys to be on action, winning foot pressure on teams. And then the Clippers that have been incredible.
Is this just Denver's conference? Are they just lying in weight right now? So this is a very timely question because Denver has just kind of been for the last three to ever since that Boston win, which was a landmark win. And they did beat the Bucks in Denver and Doc Rivers debut.
They've been a little up and down. They're 10th in net rating in the NBA, 10th. Like that's like, ooh, that seems low. Now their starters have about the same net rating as they did last year plus 12.
Murray Oakage, same net rating as last year plus 12. Oakage is net rating is down, it's only plus nine. That's a little bench we know has been a little shaky. And also last night, one of the statement wins of the season, Minnesota, who hasn't been up and down, but it seems like every loss is kind of like, oh, got a crunch time meltdown again, like red flag kind of loss, went into LA with the number one seat in the West on the line and just romped the Clippers in the second half and romped them in a way that felt like proof of concept for this team in particular.
It felt like an exorcism of all the demons for Rudy Go Bear because the Timberwolves are gigantic and the Clippers went small, five out, no center. And we've seen the Clippers go small, five out, no center against Rudy Go Bear. And we've seen that essentially end a team in Utah and end Rudy Go Bear's reputation for a prolonged period of time. And the Wolves are like, hey, that's cool.
We're just going to be big and get every offensive rebound. And Rudy Go Bear is going to dunk in Kawhi Leonard's face in the second half of the game. And we're going to bully your asses out of the gym, one of the most impressive wins of the season for any team in the whole NBA. And the Wolves are now first, the Nuggets are fourth.
And you tiered it the right way. We got the top four. And one of my big questions is, are we at all worried about Denver slash, how important is home court advantage? Because I think this is one of the biggest storylines in the West or the rest of the way.
That number one seat was very important for the Nuggets last year. They are the best home team in the NBA. I don't think they're taking it for granted, but I also don't think they've been in fifth year for most of the season. I think they've been in like second or third year.
Then you have four teams for the last two spots in the guaranteed playoff bracket, New Orleans, which is like, good luck figuring out whatever the hell they are. Phoenix, okay, can you show us now? Sacramento, did nothing at the trade deadline. I was actually fine with that.
I'm actually relieved that Sacramento did nothing at the trade deadline. I know their fans are furious. I would love them to name me the move that they wanted to make. Dallas, who totally remade their roster and is on a five-game winning streak, those two of those teams are going to be in the play-in and two of them are likely going to be in the playoffs.
And unless the next tier of teams, the Warriors and the Lakers have found something in the last couple, particularly the Warriors of one five in a row, the Lakers are starting to play better. They're creeping, creeping up, creeping up, and then Utah and Houston below them have both fallen off. Pretty likely I think we have our top 10 in the West, but let's start at the top. And then who's going to win the West question?
And the home court advantage question. I'm going to start with the Nuggets. Are you at all worried about the Nuggets who have fallen to fourth in the standings? 10th in that rating.
And I was just having a conversation about this with an executive on another team yesterday. They said, you know, I just think they just lost too much from last year's team. They lost too much. I was like, what did they lose?
They lost Bruce Brown. I know they lost Jeff Green, but like functionally they lost Bruce Brown, who by the way, kind of hasn't done much this year away from the Yokish and Nirvana. And I never stand, like he was huge for them last year, huge. But I always just felt like Peyton Watson starting to play better and make shots.
And I have faith in Christian Brown, Reggie Jackson's been good off the bench. Like I just felt like they had enough. And yet absent a couple of big sort of statement wins like in Boston, that was a big win. I don't, are you worried at all?
I'm not worried about them in the playoffs. One, because I don't know which team that West truly has an answer for Nicole Yokish. And I think that changes the math. I think Jamal Murray being able to be so good in so many different ways also helps.
I also think when they get to the point of the playoffs, and we've seen it mix in against some of these contenders, a couple of the highlight wins you mentioned, Aaron Gordon just becomes the backup five. And now we're just mixing and matching and able to kind of hurt you that way and either keep it even or win those minutes. And now Yokish comes back. So I'm not traditionally worried.
And I honestly feel better about their defense this year than I did last year. As far as being able to mix in, hey, Nicole Yokish, you can mix in your drop. You don't have to be at the level every time. You might switch every now and then.
We'll show help, but you might switch. You guard a non-shooter and you roam. Being able to just throw in. That was the biggest thing they did in the regular season last year was somehow convince Yokish, hey, this whole like you're up at the level of the screen every single time.
I know you like it. And sometimes it works and your hands are unbelievable. And you get steals and deflections. Like we gotta do some other stuff because we can't win four straight playoffs series like this.
And they convinced them. And if you look back at that first round series against Minnesota, he dropped a lot in that series. And I like when they put him on non-sh, the diversity is like, it's been an underplayed storyline of the Nuggets because it's boring and wonky and exes and ores. It's a big big deal that they did what you explained.
And that's where I kind of think that they still have a path towards that. Someone has to beat them. You have to go beat them. So I'm not as concerned in a playoff context.
I guess for me, it's how bad do they need the one seed to make this work is more around that. Well, look, I mean, it also depends like where you end up. If you're not the one seed, are you two? Are you four?
If you're four, are you gonna have to face the fully souped up Phoenix Suns in the first round? Cause that seems crappy. Like I know it never beat them last year. But if I can just not play Durant and Booker in a playoff series, like I would love to just avoid that.
And the Suns signed that. He is showing today. I don't know if that does anything for you. You like the Royce O'Neill acquisition for the Suns?
I assume you do. I do a lot defensive versatility. They're always trying to find that fifth man. I think his ability to guard multiple positions helped him on ball off ball.
I think that's a major plus as they try and figure out, okay, who can we put alongside these three to make this work? Can we mix in some Katie at the five lineup? So I like Royce O'Neill's fit. I just think it's a really good value for them as far as like we can trust him to do things on both ends of the four.
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It's all the ESPN all in one place. Sign up for activate now. Let's just do the Suns now because that's one of my other big questions. They're sort of like, they're not at all similar in terms of their history together or their collective accomplishments together, whatever.
But they're kind of my bucks equivalent in the West where it's like, it's kind of put up or shut up time now and like how good actually are you? Like the noise is over, trade that line's over, feels healthy, you're starting to get a sample size of the whole team together. The numbers with the three best guys on the floor are dynamite, you know, nurkage has been healthy. And yet they're sitting here 31 and 22.
Good, you haven't quite got the sense that this is like a dynamite championship level team yet? Stretch is here, stretch is there. Is there that kind of team in here? Like what do you, just what's your gut on the Suns and what are they missing in terms of?
Like when you watch them, what feels short to you? I wish that they would lean into more of their movement with their best players and keep their tempo up and lean into the versatility and be able to let Bradley Beale pass and cut it, like Kevin Durant come off option screens, use Devin Booker off handoffs and lean into that. My problem with Phoenix is those games where they like shopmaking is part of the program for them. It just has to be, they're gonna take and make those kind of shots.
When they lean into too much ISO and pick and roll, I think you let the defense off the hook to a degree and their defense hasn't hit the right note for me to really believe in a playoff context. Like I would like them for them to just be a little bit better. Like I've been nicer to nurk than most people defensively. It hasn't put like it's hit on that end.
So that's why I feel like it's missing. I think nurse been good, but I was totally wrong on the eight and nurkage defacto swap. I thought it was pretty risky for the sons, even knowing all the toxicity that was in Phoenix with eight and just how everybody needed to watch their hands and the whole thing. I just didn't trust nurkage's health.
I don't like trading younger for older. If the talent is roughly equivalent, eight and can't get out of his own way. Importantly, like every time they put a microphone in front of him, he says something regrettable and nurkage has been pretty reliable. And yet I don't use this word in the way most people use it because they're not soft, like they're soft willed or weak or anything like that.
It just doesn't feel, they come off as soft to me in the sense that it just doesn't feel like opposing offenses are all that worried about, oh God, we gotta face the Phoenix Suns defense. Like this is gonna be a battle. We're gonna get some sharp elbows. They're really gonna make us feel them.
They just feel a little bit, soft isn't the right word, just a little bit small and a little bit non-threatening on defense in a way that makes me nervous. No, I'm with that, I am with that. Is the trade-off there offensively? Where it has to be able to make those three in a playoff series doesn't seem ideal?
Well, book is, you know, to your point about the motion and the hand-offs and like this is what all the Xs and Nodes want is like, can you run this and more of this and the less of that ISO stuff? You watch that Warriors game from over the weekend, that epic Warriors game. Like, and book is cooking down the stretch of that game. One-on-one shot after one-on-one shot.
You watch Durant on those possessions. Durant is doing nothing. Like he's standing in the right corner, not moving, doing nothing which is like if book is cooking like that, that's cool. But I don't know, it's just something I'm watching because I don't know that Kevin Durant wants to win and when Devin Booker's shots go in, you'll see a fist pump and all that.
But I don't know how psyched Kevin Durant is to just be chilling over there watching the Devin Booker show. But boy, to your point, like if you told me this team was in the finals, I wouldn't be surprised. I guess at this point I'd be mildly surprised if they won three playoff series in the west. I would never count anything with KD in book.
I would never count out. No, it's just when they start to dip into, we get a mismatch, you have to double and oh yeah, that's Devin Booker and Bradley be over there next to each other against a rotating defense. They have like the high notes they can hit offensively or where I can't let them go, especially in a playoff context. That's just a lot to deal with.
I mean, I thought they were gonna take Denver to the hilt last year in the playoffs. And I was surprised, I mean they folded again. That's what they've had two straight seasons of just totally embarrassing full jobs in game six of the same round. And we'll see what they do this year.
But I wouldn't, a lot of it is Beale. Like how good is Beale is Beale is, and I think Beale is pretty damn good. I like the Royce O'Neill signing. Just it's the same with the budget.
I just kind of want to see it now. Like it's time show me it for 2025 games that you could be in the conversation with these four teams above you in the standings, all of whom are good enough to make the finals. Give me another, what, you know what? Before we leave the West, you just brought up who wins the West?
Let's talk about the Lakers and the Warriors. Ah. Are you starting to believe in either or both as like legitimate threats to win one or two playoff rounds? Ooh.
If they, if they get there, I could step one for them to be clear is like get out of the nine, 10 bracket in the Western Conference play-in where they would eliminate, one would eliminate the other right now in the first play-in game. Which, by the way, it'd be very interesting if we did end up with the world's greatest play-in of Phoenix, Dallas, L.A., and Golden State, but that's where a different day, I would probably, right? Right? Think about that.
Oh my God. I wouldn't doubt them in that setting. I wouldn't doubt them in that setting. The question for me would be, is, do they have enough?
Which seems wild considering one team has LeBron and A.D., the other one has Steph Curry and is the Warriors. It's a tough series. It's a tough series. It's going six or seven.
No, I'm talking about like, could they, oh, I'm talking about it. Do you believe in them? Could they, if they get in, could they win one or two actual playoff rounds? Could we see them in the Conference semi-finals or the Conference finals?
Yes. Wow. Yep. I can see them.
Star Power, playoff game plan. An experience at the top of the West in a couple of cases. It seems wild. It's not just about the Minnesota KC, but hey, if you have a lineup where you can switch it to Minnesota, do you bog them down?
Are you able to mess around against OKC and show help off certain players and try to attain the drives? Hope you get the whistle in the playoffs. I can see them winning round. A round is fine.
When we start talking about two rounds, you got to be consistently really good against elite competition for quite a number of games, and maybe they could do it. I mean, the Lakers, I'm looking now, have won four out of five, including kind of landmark for them. Road wins at Boston, at New York, at Boston obviously, was without AD and LeBron kind of an alarming loss for the Celtics. Old news at this point, what do the Lakers have going for them?
What's changed recently? Why do they look like a more cohesive team right now? I think the pathways are easier for them lineup-wise. I think that when you look at them, they have size and length, and they're able to put their lineups together like guys play and dance or Russell is out there making plays and awesome to use feels more comfortable.
Anthony Davis has been incredible on both ends of the floor. And you have LeBron. I think you can build the boat around that a little bit easier. And I think even the moments where they played Denver and lost, they were competitive, being able to show that activity defensively, I think helps them.
So that's where I kind of buy into that a little bit for Bolton State. They've been, Draymond at the five, has been really fun to watch, as well as Clay figuring it out, which is a very odd dynamic of Clay being extremely vulnerable and also still figuring this part out to where, yeah, I've found a different role, I'll make some shots, will be fine. I just, do you believe in either one of them? Look, I don't think either one can win a championship.
I would be surprised if either one were in the conference finals. No, I would be surprised. Just because like the level of consistency you need to get there is so high and these teams have not demonstrated it yet, but I will not count them out. As for the Lakers, I have been begging all year for them to play Hachamara more and saying on this podcast over and over again, like an idiot, that their best four man combination of players is the two stars, Reeves and Hachamara.
I just like the defensive versus Tilla. I know it's not as quick on the perimeter maybe as you'd like. They are starting those four now and after a slow start to the season, there are plus four per 100 possessions with those four together on the floor. I just think they need to lean all the way into that.
By the way, kind of slid under the radar in the aftermath of the, I guess it didn't slide under the radar because Spencer didn't really like went on a whole like, I'm gonna just start attending games everywhere and hanging out with people who teams I wanna be on. Maybe I'm, you know, we all do this with like one waiver signing, post waiver signing every year, we blow it up out of proportion. I think didn't really could really help the Lakers. And like, I just think, look, the Brooklyn thing, something was going wrong in Brooklyn.
And he just wasn't engaged in the way that he needs to be engaged and they weren't engaging him in the way that maybe he wanted to be engaged, whatever, something was wrong. But you look at the numbers, like I liked that the tracking data two, three weeks ago, he's still one of the most efficient pick and roll players in the league. Like it's, I was blown away by the numbers because of how disengaged he looks. When he runs pick and roll, the results are consistently really, really good.
And they just need someone who can get north south on this team, someone who can just get into the teeth of the defense who isn't LeBron and compromise the defense and kick out or like maybe finish at the rim. Like the Angela Russell has been on a heater for a month. He does not do that. Austin Reeves kind of doesn't really do that either.
He kind of meanders and half spins and fakes and draws fouls and takes fade away 12 foot jumpers. And he's quite good at all those things. He's a very good playmaker. Just give me someone who's like, let me dispense with all this and go zoom and get to the rim and throw some lobs.
And Dinwini for all the noise, like would you be surprised if Dinwini were closing occasional games at least for the Lakers, like as part of the closing five? I would not be. I would not be surprised by that at all. I think that's part of the vision.
I think they've wanted to find ways to have guys to make more plays around LeBron and AD. So if you tell me potentially it's a three-guard lineup plus LeBron and AD, I wouldn't be surprised by that. I think it's just, it's a big bonus. His ability to self-create, his ability to score and get in the paint.
Like, give me, forget three-guard lineup. Give me Dinwini Reeves, LeBron, Hotchamara Davis. Like you side Hotchamara, you paid almost like, play the guy. He's not Michael Jordan or anything.
I just think he's pretty good. Are you completely anti-three-guard lineup for the Lakers? No, no, I just like, I don't want Rui to get shoved over to the side again. Because I think, look, his playoff shooting last year was like one in 100 years.
Like he'll never shoot like that again for a six weeks man. But every championship team has a run, like a guy who goes on a run like that and makes shots. I just think he's good. What else on the Lakers?
Do you think their defense could be better in the playoffs? Because they do have size, they do have length? I trust their defense because they're big. LeBron's old, but he's maybe the smartest player in the whole league.
He always knows where to be. And people are scared of him. People are scared to drive on him and AD's AD, and they're going to get a good whistle every game. And I trust their defense.
I think this almost sounds strange, and I might be being caught up in the moment. If you ask me which of these teams has a higher upside, like who's ceiling, maybe for not a single game, because we've seen what the Lakers can do for a single game. For a single two week period is higher. The Warriors have something going right now.
Like you mentioned starting Dremon at the five, has kind of unlocked the Kamehameha Wiggins duo, along with Dremon. Clay, we will get into soon. Wiggins has shown a pulse. Pajemski's just flat out good.
Like that guy's a good player. And Kamehameha is really good. And they, with that group, have found their identity. They look alternatively like the Warriors of peak stuff in terms of how the ball moves and how bodies move.
And boy, that shot against Phoenix over the weekend is just an all-timer. And then they have this other identity that they've been kind of flirting with. And we've all been hoping they get to, which is like, okay, all that stuff doesn't work. Can we just give the ball to like the 6-8 tank who can jump to the top of the backboard and dunk on people and Kamehameha and have that little dose of sort of side offense?
It's working, man. And Dremon, I said this on NBA today when the Nurgish thing happened. It made me sad that all we were talking about was the suspensions and the violent stuff. And from pool till now, because this dude is still one of the five or 10 best defensive players in the NBA.
Like, there's just, you can't even get to one hand worth of fingers listing the number of guys with his versatility. He's really ties them all together on defense. I don't know, man. I would be scared of this team in the first round of the playoffs if I was one of the top seeds.
They're just a little bit more comfortable. You mentioned Kamehameha. It's not just that he's been aggressive. And sometimes he overdoes it, but he's aggressive within their context with movement, the seals.
I like that. I think defense of me. Because he seals people and they fall out of bounds. Like, he's so strong.
They're dudes just like in the cameramen. Like, what happened? And he adds a dose for them in transition. I think that's a plus.
I think defensively, Wiggins, Kamehameha have felt better during this stretch. As far as we're navigating screens, Dremon's got our back. We know our job. We know our task.
And I just think everything's kind of falling back in line to where, okay, they sounded like a team for most of the year that was like, we can get to a place. Now we're kind of seeing where that might be. And now it's kind of, it feels like a race against time almost. I'll tell you, they look really good.
And Pajemski and Kamehameha are ready. Like, they're ready on what is left of Steph's timeline, whatever that is, whoever along that lasts. And this dude, he's taking 13 threes per 36 minutes. It would be the second highest number of his career in any season.
He's taking 16 in the last three games. And he has two games of 20 plus three point attempts in the last like 10 games. It's crazy how many shots he's getting up. How many threes he's getting up.
And he's still the same degree of difficulty, same highlight. He's still the best show in the NBA, is still Steph Curry on a hot streak. He had one with, I think they were in Indiana last week where he made seven threes in a row in the first quarter. And the whole Pacers crowd was just going crazy.
It was like, it sounded like a Warriors home game. You mentioned Clay. Why did you mention Clay? You said Clay figuring it out.
What did you mean by that? I think it's more just understanding when the shots are gonna come, where they're gonna come, and what this team needs from him. I think that part has been key for me. And hierarchy wise, understanding how it shifted to a degree, to where they still need him.
But he doesn't have to force it sometimes, if that makes sense. You've kind of felt that kind of shift sometimes. Like, obviously, I think he had the book four for 19 games in Atlanta, but he's had a couple nights where, okay, I don't have this going. Let me contribute that.
I think figuring out that portion helps the Warriors out overall. You know, Clay gave that very raw interview after the Nets game, where the Warriors won in Brooklyn, and he was benched in crunch time. Where he said, yes, it's hard for me to go from one of the best guys in the league to not playing, of course, it's hard. And after that, Marcus Thompson, who covers the Warriors for the Athletic, wrote what I thought was a really great piece and a really fair piece about how this is a player coming to terms with the death of the player that he used to be.
And trying to understand the good player that is still in there, that he still can be for this team. And I thought it was a really fair piece. I don't know that I wonder how it was received in Clay World, and I don't use that facetiously. I mean, like the people around Clay.
And one of the points that Marcus made in the piece was just what you just said. And I've said before, his passing to me, particularly this season, his passing, his ball movement is kind of a bellwether for how he's playing and how the Warriors are playing. And I don't mean that Clay is going to suddenly average like eight assists a game. And Marcus made this point.
I mean, quite simply, as long as Clay Thompson plays in the NBA, he is going to be treated like one of the most dangerous shooters who has ever lived. People are going to be in his jersey at all times. When he comes around a pin down screen, which the Warriors do a million times a game, two guys are going to jump out of him because he's Clay Thompson. And if he's open, you're going to be very worried about it.
And I think Marcus's point was basically like four times a game in that situation. Clay is taking leaning crazy off the dribble three pointers, trying to find the clay that used to be there, that used to be able to make those shots. It can't make those shots anymore, at least enough to justify them. If you turn those four shots into four simple bounce passes to ever just set the pin down screen for him.
And so he's rolling into open space, coming to Sarich, Looney, Jackson Davis, whoever, and keep the machine moving, that's really all it is. A clay who does that four times is still a really good player because he can guard up on defense, he can get guarded market in last night, they blew out the jazz. I think that's really all it is. And I think that guy can still be a good player.
And I think that's the transformation. And I understand why I guess I can't understand because I've never achieved anything at his level. But that must be a hard thing to kind of internalize. I used to make those crazy leaning shots.
And they used to take your soul from you if you were the other team. I would make two in a row, you'd call a timeout, the crowd would be going crazy, and I'd have you. And I can't do that anymore. No, I agree.
I think that is a tough portion of it. But I think you got to trust, I think I trust you to figure it out. I think he's headed in that direction. I think the team playing well, the team playing better, will help that.
And honestly, you add to that point where you made, hey, if it's four bounce passes, if you keep the machine moving, it might come back to you. And if it comes back to you, now you see that success. Okay, now that runs us up even more. So that's where I'm like, okay, maybe the Warriors have something there.
And they were pretty active at the trade deadline from what I heard, in terms of buying. They are operating like a team who's like, we have Steph, we're trying to win every day. Like they look hard at Olinic. I'm not quite sure what was going out in that deal.
I actually heard it wasn't Moses Moody who you think it was. I'm not sure that it was. Obviously it wasn't Kamingo or Pajemski. Kamingo was a hard no from the start.
Caruso, they would have loved to get Caruso from the Bulls. I just don't think there was any common ground there. Those are the two names that I heard a lot of. The dangerous team, it's just the consistency, right?
It's like teams that are 28 and 26, or 28 and 26 and 25 in the Warriors case, have that record because they just can't put it together. It's hard to, you've been in the league. It's hard to be great four times out of five nights, four games out of five games. It's hard to do that.
And that's the only way you advance in the playoffs. Like the teams above them have proven whatever our ceiling is, we can approach it damn near every night. And I just need to see these two teams do it, but their ceilings are scary. Give me another big question, unless you have parting thoughts on this.
I have another question for you. Go. Can the Knicks and the Sixers hold on? It's a big question.
We have seen the good from the Knicks, especially once they got OGN and OB, that defense turned to a different machine. They added more depth. I love Bogey and Alec Burks for them. I would like them more if Julius Randall and OG were also there, but I understand injuries are injuries.
Jalen Burks has been incredible. You're adding more shooting around it. You now have this scenario where teams are saying, you know what, Jalen Brunson, not you, a lot earlier than you would expect, throwing two on the ball, which should be a plus in theory, because hey, we can get a team rotation, but also now are we match up hunting if we're in New York and looking to get switches for Jalen Brunson and teams are doubling and helping? Are we doing a little bit too much of that?
So can they hold on to what they found so they get healthy again? Philadelphia, adding Buddy healed. I thought it was really good. Me too.
I think obviously what he does shooting wise, scoring wise will help once Joel LMB, or if Joel LMB is able to return. I also think it helps in the short term, because Tyree Snaxi got a little dose of coaches sitting down in a meeting and saying we're taking you away. We're going to trap you. And the playmaking growth is one thing.
It's a little different when it's too on the ball or teams are going to help or the space isn't the same. So having Buddy healed, who you can use him and Maxi together off ball in actions and let Maxi get down to that way or have Buddy healed screen for Tyree Snaxi, I think it's a plus. But now can they find enough to hold on to the status they had or are they just going to end up playing against each other in the first round? Well, it'd be interesting if you went to Philadelphia today and said, hey, we can, the basketball gods come to the Sixers and say, hey, we'll just work some magic and you can just be the 5C.
We'll just stick you in the 5C. I wonder if they would sign up for that given, I mean, like their whole team is hurt, but tombs hurt, Melton's hurt, Harris is hurt, and beads hurt, I can't get track of who's hurt. Look, both of these teams are so happy that the All-Star break is here and so happy that the All-Star break is now a week long because that's a third to a quarter of how much in it. Obis is going to miss, reportedly.
Randall, hopefully a lot of that he'll get much closer to be in back after that. But a lot of this is just like the race to get out of Boston's half of the bracket. I don't know if either team is sort of holds Boston in that regard, like we really want to get on the other side of the bracket from them. I think they just need to get healthy.
Of these teams in terms of holding on, if holding on is staying in the four or five area or staying out of play in danger, I think I have more faith in the Knicks just because they're a little deeper when they get healthy, they're a little deeper when they're injured than Philly. And they just have that TIBs like, we'll just manufacture some wins by beating the hell out of you and getting 25 offensive rebounds. Can I ask a follow up question? Have the Knicks done enough to knock on the Boston Celtics door and say you're not going to have fun?
So this is going to sound a little nuts, considering I picked Boston to win the championship. Boston is 41 and 12. Started 26 and 6, 15 and 6 since then. Not quite as dominant, just regular, very good.
And in a way, it's comforting that when you slip from dominance, you're still like one of the four to five best teams in the league, so I think they're fourth in net rating since they were in that 15 and six stretch. I think they're going through a little bit of like a, can we just get to the playoffs? Malays, can we just get the all-star? Malays, I'm still picking Boston to win the title, I'm not coming off that.
I'm sticking with it, come hell or high water. Just like I stuck with my Milwaukee Clippers finals pick last year. Did not work out for me. I do think the Knicks can scare the Celtics.
I think the Knicks can give the Celtics a real series if they get there, that's the problem, right? Like if you're, depending on who you face and what bracket you're in, you may not get the chance, but I think the Knicks, I think the Knicks could beat any team in the Eastern Conference in a seven game series. I would not give them a good chance to be Boston. Like I think that's a 75, 25 series for the Celtics, maybe even better than that.
But the others are, you know, Philly's just such a wild card. We don't know what we're going to get out of Philly and then be when it's go time. I think the Knicks could beat my walk-in and play off series. I don't know who I would pick in that series as of today.
I would probably default to just like Milwaukee's got the best guy, but I think that's a real series. We've seen them beat Cleveland. They have played Boston pretty tough. Less so this season after the season opener, which was a very close game, last year they had Boston's number.
I just think something about their style of play is very bothersome for teams. They're just physical and they pound you and they go one-on-one and they don't turn the ball over. They win the possession game every single game. Like I said, I think it's probably like 75, 25, 80, 20 Boston.
But if we woke up and like that was a playoff series in the second round, it's like, all right, let's look ahead to game seven in Boston, South X-Nix, I wouldn't be shocked, would you? Have you answered your own question? I wouldn't be shocked if the next one game won in Boston. That feels like a very tense as a game plan.
We have depth, type B. I think that Boston is very good. I have Boston going to the finals. My question is now, can we get Boston in a scenario where they get in their own way?
Can we get them in those moments where they play two slow-laden games? Can we get them in those scenarios where we're focused in on attacking a certain matchup? And we're not making you feel the weight of our entire lineup because their top five is very good. Their top six is very good.
We've seen them make teams pay with poor zingas, rolling, spacing, attacking switches. Tatum's been very good, Brown's been good, White and Holiday, tough to deal with. But will they bog down in a way that way or okay, we might be able to steal this one? And does that change the momentum?
That's pretty much my only question with Boston. Can they get out of their own way? You know, I was listening to, I didn't see the quotes, but during one of Boston's recent games, I think it might have been on ESPN. The announcements were talking about how Joe Mizoula said something to the effect of like, one of the things that concerns me is, are guys getting weighed down by the pressure and the moment and the stakes in the playoffs.
And I just kind of want us to go back to, hey, win, lose, whatever, let's enjoy the journey and just be able to say we played our way the whole time. And him verbalizing that, I didn't know whether it should make me nervous. Like, can you not just say the P word pressure? Like, I say it because I do think you're gonna face it and everyone knows how close you've gotten to the top of the mountain in what is now a very long era of top tier contention, but not gotten to the top and the pressure that that brings.
Or should I be relieved that you're facing it head on and telling your team, just play. And if we just play, we're the best team. I don't know the answer to that, but him saying it was very interesting to me. If I'm paraphrasing it correctly, as I'm going off the top of my head here, but getting in their own ways an interesting way to put it, there's been a little bit of slippage in their play in the last month, but not anything that is really alarming to me.
If anything, everyone focuses on their crunch time offense and they've earned that. Their crunch time offense has been scattershot, let's say. I think they have another gear to hit defensively when the games really matter. And that is when they get really, really tough, is when they scheme you in all sorts of funky ways and switch it up every possession and everyone is totally dialed in defensively.
I think that's their trump card. I think that's like, yeah, we might have a bad night on offense. We might get a little stagnant. We never get to the goddamn rim.
Can you please get to the rim more? But we have this impenetrable defense. We're like, G.L.N. Browns, the fifth best defensive player on the floor.
Like that's how good we can get. I don't know how we start talking about Boston. I guess the Knicks, the East is, both conferences are just kind of wild right now how every week brings like, oh, this team's back. Oh, this team's in a slump.
It's been kind of a fun season. I've always liked the Orlando, Indiana Miami win streak that pushes one of them to six. And it's like, oh, here they come. And then, oh, there they go.
Speaking of a couple of those teams, can I ask you one of my big questions? Yes, for the rest of the season, we're gonna go down the standings a little bit now, Steve, where the stakes are not quite as high. And the lens is a little longer. One of my big questions for the rest of the season now that the trade deadline is in the books is, okay.
So what's the plan with Trey Young? Like, what do we actually think of Trey Young as a player on this Hawks team? Is it time to start envisioning what Trey Young would look in different contexts? And if so, what are those contexts?
Can the Hawks put together 10 days of like, looking like they have their house in order? Now, DeAndre Hunter is back. Coppella will be back at some point. The con was playing really well.
Dejan, they didn't get traded. Everyone's here. I don't know. You've talked about it.
I listened to your podcast regularly, but like give me just like the Steve Jones Jr. Like, where are you on the Trey Young scale from? In, on one hand, NBA know it all calling him a loser. And on the other hand, in Rage Hawks fan, who's like, how dare you not make the all-star team needs the best player in the NBA?
In that continuum, where are you? For the brand, I'm in the middle. I think Trey Young is very talented. I think the issue is, what does the talent do as far as impacting winning?
And what can you do around him to build up a winner? And I think my biggest thing with Atlanta is, the defense has never moved to a point where I feel good about it. And like, I saw the vision. I was like, early, I was like, hey, DeAndre Hunter, usage is up, Jalen Johnson doing fun things.
I don't like that. There's a lot of positives. But then I'm like, I look at the other end of the floor and I'm like, okay, you guys are trying to be more active defensively, put two on the ball, didn't really work. Rotation's aren't great.
Now you're in drop. That also isn't working. Transition isn't great. So this beautiful offense that you have doesn't have the same impact or value because you give it right back immediately.
Like, I mean, you give up 136 points to a Bulls team that people, every other, like, every time, literally last night, a friend of mine, we'll just call him Tim. His name is Tim. He's a Bulls fan. I would describe him as like a casual NBA fan, but a Bulls fan.
Texts to me. Well, I'm watching games. I'm not paying a text to me. Like, when is just a classic like guy that's not in the NBA but is in your life NBA question?
Hey, when is the NBA gonna do something about the scoring problem? Like, jeez, I wonder why Tim Bulls fan has this on his mind? Oh, they're playing the Hawks. Every time this question is raised, it's because of a Hawks game.
Like, it's unbelievable. To your point about like 136 to the Bulls, Luca has 73. They should put in the Hall of Fame. They should put a running video of Atlanta's double teams of Luca Gancho in that game and say, this is the worst any team has ever looked rotating behind a double team.
This should be in the wing of like bad basketball that I think they should have in all of it. Anyway, Hawks, please go. I just, it's, if you could get somewhere defensively where I could believe there's some fight. Like, you mentioned the point about Phoenix and teams don't feel you.
I just don't feel like anyone looks at Atlanta and they're unafraid of what they can run offensively. And that's a dangerous place to be in today's NBA. Where a whole bunch of teams can make those same reads and get the ball movement. Even the ones you don't think are very good.
They can still get you rotating and scrambling. I just, I'm in a tough spot with them because there's talent and potential, but it never feels like it's maximized. And I don't even know if it's Trey's fault at this point. I don't even know if I point to him.
I'm just like, what is the overall goal of what you're accomplishing? How long can they sustain defense? Is it longer than 10 seconds? I thought you were gonna say 10 minutes and I was gonna say it's less than that.
10 seconds. If Jalen Johnson is on the floor, we can get to 10 seconds. Absent that, I'm not sure we can do it. Trey Young gets no credit anymore for the 2021 Conference Finals run.
None. People dismiss it as like, no, no, I'm saying this is wrong. I think this is unfair. People dismiss it as a fluke.
The Knicks were bad and they were in a playoffs. The Sixers were falling apart. Ben Simmons threw the pass. All the focus on the other teams.
I think it's like, you don't, you don't get to the Conference Finals completely by accident. Like, remember Portland had the runs at the Conference Finals in 2019 when they were on the right side of the bracket. They got injury luck and then they got rolled by the Warriors in the Conference Finals, even though Durant was hurt. And in two, three, four years out, you started here like, oh yeah, Dan got to the Conference Finals once, but that was a fluke.
Getting to the Conference Finals is hard. As the Clippers, as I always say about the Conference Finals, as the Clippers, who could never, ever get there until this particular season, we're talking about 2021. And I look back, you watch that Boston Atlanta series from last year was the first round series. It opens with Boston just destroying the Hawks in the first two games.
Hawks didn't even look like they belonged on the same court as Boston. Trey Young deserves some blame for that defensively. The Hawks got dangerously close to bringing that series back to game seven in Boston. And the only reason they got that close was Trey Young started going crazy and completely picking apart the Celtics defense.
One of the best defenses in the NBA. Celtics defense wasn't A plus level and that series are close. But by the end of game six, which Boston squeaked out in Atlanta, the Celtics were like, can we just be done with this dude? Cause we don't have an answer for this little dude offensively.