Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
And now, The Low Post. Welcome to The Low Post podcast on a Friday morning where, boy, oh boy, do I get excited when I see this lady's face across from me virtually and in person. And now the world gets to see her face because they made me do YouTube podcasts. And so here we are live on YouTube, apparently, the Hall of Famer, the one and only Doris Burke. How are you?
Superb, superb. What are we 13, 14 games in for some teams? It's been a good start. As usual, Zach, there's, there's some things going on in the standings that we're all like, is this real? Is it not real? Is it going to, you know, find its own level at some point? So I'm so good.
We're 13, 14 games and by my unofficial count, 72 NBA scandals into the 2022-2023 season. We're going to talk about basketball today. And I don't know if you saw this, but one of our former colleagues, Chris Haynes, dropped a piece yesterday about some –
The notion that the Lakers, when LeBron signed his extension, which is really only a one-year extension, people acted like what a long-term commitment he made. It's one year.
um sort of implied to him we will go all in to put a championship contender around you every season and flash forward it's 11 games in there two and nine they stink russ off the bench russ in the starting lineup russ selling popcorn it doesn't matter they're just not good and um now there's this pressure building up are we just really gonna sit here and waste a year of lebron james and
We have these two first round picks we can trade. We have this disaster that's unfolding in Brooklyn, although the Nets have looked spirited and are winning games since Kyrie was suspended. Are we really just going to sit on our hands here? And DB, I think one of the reasons that that noise is not going to go away is you look at the Western Conference.
On top are the Utah Jazz. No one expected that. Portland, no one expected that. Phoenix, okay, no one's really – the big teams are not that scared of Phoenix. Phoenix is really good. We're going to talk about them. I'm beyond impressed by what they've done. The Clippers, 7-5. The Warriors, 4-7. I think those were kind of consensus 1-2 maybe in the West.
And the Nuggets, as we're going to talk about, sneakily starting to look a little scary at eight and three. But the West doesn't feel as open and shut as clear at the top as people thought. And so I think if you were the most optimistic Lakers fan in the world, you could be like, well, there's there's, you know, we got this trade, right?
We still have LeBron. We still have AD. Maybe, maybe we can make a run. None of these juggernauts are doing anything. And we're going to have that conversation. I think. Where do you want to start? Denver or the Utah, Minnesota nexus of trade, trade, different trade feelings, we'll call it. Well, first of all, let's start with Denver. But I do want your take on some because I've heard you talk about this and all of the settings we put you in.
And sort of like the sleepless nights that the Los Angeles Lakers must have as it relates to those two picks. Would you do it if you're them? Well, I mean, that's that's the thing I'm going to talk about later is I just don't know the trade. They're so bad. And I don't I mean, LeBron's hurt already.
Anthony Davis isn't. Yeah. Yeah. I think he's ruled out for tonight. Yeah. He's out for tonight. And look, maybe it's just one or two games, but it's not encouraging that we're 12 games in and he has an injury that he's had before. AD is very good, but not top 10 good. And if those guys aren't just gods, like if LeBron's not in LeBron's shooting 21% out the reason those guys aren't gods.
Everything else is just window dressing. The whole model of the team is those guys are the third best and ninth best players in the NBA or whatever you want to rank them. If they're not that and they're not really even close to that, in AD's case, I don't know what the trade is. Then you look at the teams, it's like Spurs, no.
Charlotte Charlotte's interesting and looming as a potential they've lost seven in a row lost to Miami in overtime last last night they should just dive all the way to the deep end of the Wemba Nyama pool just go all the way in but like Gordon Hayward's hurt already I don't know even though like they could trade Rozier fine like is that changing your life is the Lakers the Indiana one is the one that I've said I would lose sleep over buddy healed in Miles Turner but two and nine
Two and nine and this bad, even with the conferences jumbled, as we just said, I just am I just going to destroy my entire future? I mean, those those picks are like golden chip picks. Right. And then and then, you know, that would bring you to Brooklyn and the guy there, which I don't really want to talk about right now. So I just don't it's easy to say you got to go all in, go all in, go all in. Right.
If you go all in on a deal, that's a half measure. That's like a couple of OK players, pretty good players that you talk guys. You talk, by the way, 10 and three. We're going to talk about them in a second. Why are they trading anybody to you unless you give them everything? And it doesn't work. And you're the seventh best team in the West. And then you get to 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029. All your fans are going to be like, oh, my. Oh, my God. LeBron's 40 something and retired in A.D.,
is a shell of himself and we don't have our, we don't have our draft picks. How did this happen again? What were we agitating for in 2022? What about you? My answer is the same. I don't think I'd do it, Zach. If LeBron were healthy. And as you said, AD were dominating, it'd be a different story, but it's just, I always go back to the question. How many times do these things work out? And the answer is few and far between my answer would be, I don't,
I don't think I'd do it. I don't. Anyway, you know, you know, with that story coming out yesterday, there's pressure coming from somewhere. There's pressure coming from somewhere. And, you know, DB with LeBron's comments about Kyrie. Look, I don't know why LeBron said what he said about Kyrie yesterday about it's time to bring him back in the league. Jalen Brown, who's on the union executive committee, has said the punishment, the six steps to whatever punishment.
are, are, is too onerous. Although the union hasn't come out and said, we're going to grieve this in one way or another. I don't know why LeBron said that. Maybe he just said it because he believes it and there's nothing else to it. I can tell you around the league,
And even within the Lakers, some corners of it, those comments were read as LeBron opening the door to at least opening the door to, hey, if you guys if you all are comfortable with it and all the blowback it would be and the Nets are willing to just get out of the business now of Kyrie Irving so we can get him for much cheaper.
Not both picks, maybe one pick. I don't even know how to – I don't, Doris, I don't even know – I don't even know how to construct a Kyrie Irving trade right now for nine million different – maybe he's laying the groundwork for – maybe they waive him and he never meets those conditions and they waive him. Maybe he's – this was read around the league. Again, not by me. I don't know how to read it. It was read around the league as LeBron indicating –
If you guys want to consider it, I'm at least not going to stand in your way. But that's just like, I can't, I can't. It's Friday. I'm doing dry November. I can't even go there, Doris. I can't. I heard that on a podcast and I questioned your sanity when you were doing dry November. I found that bad. Well, can I, can I tell you, can I just tell you what happened last Friday? Yeah. So, so I don't even know what happened last week. I think Wednesday was the Nash gets fired. Udoka might get hired. Yeah.
Everything's going haywire. Thursday, Kyrie gives his second disastrous press conference and is then suspended. And the Anti-Defamation League, in the most underrated move of the year, returns his money. And on Friday, I announced to no one, my wife, because no one cares, that dry November is now turning into dry Monday to Thursday, November. And the other days are open for business. So please continue whatever you were going to say.
This is like when I try to fast and I think, oh, I don't think that's a good idea after about three hours. With you. I'm with you. Let's get to happier topics. Yes. I'm going to just make one point. LeBron says nothing without making it through for a long stretch of time. And, you know, the Kyrie situation.
To me, it was like the inappropriateness, the unseemliness of Brooklyn even thinking about hiring Ime Udoka in such a short period of time. You can't go there right now. I think there's too much. Look at what has happened in Kyrie's last two stops. He's got a kind of
unravel his situation first and get, get where he needs to be. So, so yeah, anyway, we're moving on. We're moving on to like, like Denver who, who, and I'm going to, I think we'll touch on what you said in your 10 things, because I did find that one little line you put in there about how they're playing MPJ right now with the second unit, but because of how dominant Jokic is, the thread running through everything he does is,
you know, sort of permeates the entire group. You know, would you play MPJ and Jamal together with the second unit? What I do, and one of my storylines coming in was how would Jamal look? I'm a huge Jamal Murray fan. You know, I think back to the Portland series where he got played off the floor because they were posting him up
And he, you know, because of his pride and competitive spirits, like I'm not going to get played off the floor defensively, you know. And what would he look like this year? And all of a sudden, his last five games, 19 points, shooting it better. You know, are he and Jokic as productive with their DHOs and the two-man stuff yet? No, I don't think the points per possession with them is good yet.
but you're starting to see it, right? You're starting to see it. And Jokic, of course, points, rebounds, assists, leading Michael Porter Jr. shooting the hell out of it. If you're Contavious Caldwell Pope...
You're a pig and you're a pig and just run around, just run around and the ball finds me in the corner. The ball finds me at the rim run like hell in transition and they're running this year. They've been such a plotting team with Jokic who's a plotter. I think given his hit ahead skills and the athleticism on the team, like I think it's awesome that they're trying to get out, get out on the break a little bit.
Yeah. And like, just think about how smart he is. I have the golden state game where he makes that full court pass in just two seconds. Like whose mind works that quickly in that circumstance where the game is entirely changed. It's slipping away from you and you make that pass. So, so I remember, I think it was Ryan Blackburn, the census last name that covers for the Denver steps. Right.
Like he was worried for two games because Jokic didn't take as many shots. And to me, you know, the delicate balance for Nikola because his mind and the way I think he sees the game is he wants to be a pass first. Then he crossed that Rubicon of knowing, no, I have to be a scoring threat. I have to demand the ball. I, you know, he's leading the league in post-ups this year.
I don't know. There's just something so beautiful about how his mind works with the game, how he sees the way it should be played. His ethos as a I want to make sure everybody's feeling good. But now I understand I've got to be that guy on the post as a scorer. Is he as he you touched on this? He's not taken many threes after the disaster shooting year he had last year.
No, he's not. And he's shooting in the 20s. And in that Indiana game two days ago, he took a couple late in the game because they were trying to come back and he was open and he had to take them. And by the way, that game filed that one away because...
I watched that game. I was at Barclays Center and I was watching that game during commercials and halftime and all that. They fall way behind. Jokic has four fouls in the second quarter, five fouls like a minute into the third quarter, has to sit forever. And it just felt like a game where you let go of the rope and just say, next day is another day. And their bench hung around forever.
hung around, hung around, chipped the lead down to like eight, nine by the time Jokic should come back in the game. And then they come back, look, it's at India and it's not, no great shakes, but it was a win that I just filed away. It's like, this team has a little bit of steeliness to it that I like. And you look at that bench, everyone was concerned about the bench. And I get that. Like, are they, they still, I mean, they're plus 13 with Jokic on the floor and I'm looking it up now, minus 17 per 100 possessions with Jokic.
They got to figure that out. But between Bruce Brown, Jeff Green and Bones Highland, those are three guys right off the bat that I trust off the bench. Christian Brown. I have to stop every time. Christian Brown has been OK. Devon Reed has been OK. They float in another rotation. I don't even think DeAndre Jordan has been OK.
bad for them i think they have just enough they could use one more guy everybody could use one more guy i'm just filing that win away and murray to your point he's not all the way back and you can see him when teams switch big guys onto him think to himself can i get can i get by this guy no you know what i'm just gonna dance with him and shoot a step back too and i'm good at that a couple times in that pacers game he said to himself wait a second
I'm Jamal Murray. I'm bubble Jamal Murray. I can get by that guy and roasted him for, I don't know, Jalen Smith, whoever it was, for layups. I just...
I was super high on them coming into the season. Their pieces fit. Their starting lineup is incredible. Their second starting lineup with Bruce Brown and Michael Porter Jr.'s place is incredible. But why did Brooklyn not re-sign Bruce Brown, by the way? Like, why is no one talking about that? He was exactly what they needed. And they were just like, yeah, we're cool. Take him. Oh, my gosh. I mean, think about his cutting skills.
around Nikola Jokic, you know, those playoff moments where there's an opportunistic backdoor cut to be had because you're paying attention to, you know, the dribble handoffs or whatever's happening, or you've got a shade to Michael Porter Jr. Who's lights out what there is a team number one and three point percentage, I think,
I worried and I heard your podcast with Jeff. I'm a huge Monte Morris fan. I go back to when he was, you know, at Iowa State and not turning the ball over. He's like the Trey Jones, you know, the Tyus Jones family, the guys turn over a verse. And I remember, you know, Michael Malone at the start of the season sort of saying Bones has got to get command of the second unit. But Bones is growing. Bones is shooting it well.
He's not finishing at the rim. He's six for 22 at the rim. I think he can at times get pressured. Um, so I'm, I'm curious about that, but he's playing well and I think he's growing every day. And, uh,
So I just worried that they lost Monte Morris because of how sound he was. And I know he spent most of last year as a starter. So I'm thinking second unit guy, but bones. I like that team. I like that team. What did Aaron Gordon have the other night? 17 and 16 or 18 and 17. Perfect role. Perfect role for him. Yep. Yep. So I'm with you on the Denver.
And they're just fun to watch. I liked that. I loved that. I didn't love it because I like Monte Morris and I knew what the risk was involved. I liked that trade for them. And I kind of frankly didn't get why people were so upset about it because I was high on Bones. Bones is not a pass first caretaker on offense. Bones is like.
I'm the best player on the floor. Like I said, I'm going to do so I'm going to be and that's cool. I like that. But KCP versus Barton is just such a fit 180 for Denver starting five KCP is everything they need. It's just a better a better player.
And they are after, after, like you said, kind of a rocky start, like what weird loss to the thunder. I think just a couple of losses where you're like, what's going on with this team? Michael Malone was black. Malone was pissed in preseason already. He was like pulling dudes in preseason and, and, and now they seem to be kind of gelling. And to your point about Yoko's usage, I kind of liked that. He's taken his foot off the gas a little bit this year as a score, like save it for the playoffs. Let these other guys feel the ball. Let these other guys get involved. And MPJ, uh,
You know, I heard from around the league before the season versus health, right? Everyone, that's a question anybody can ask. Looks fine to me. It's starting to look like, and he's playing hard on defense. Never going to be a good defender, but he's playing hard. He's trying. If he stops, if he stops wandering with his mind defensively and can somehow stay locked in, then he's going to be okay because athletically he can, you know, double back or whatever. He can make up for it if he doesn't,
completely lose his mind and wander. So sorry about that. And you hope in the playoffs, like when the games really matter, that would not be a problem. But, but, but the other thing you heard was, boy, I don't, this is from opposing scouts in front office people, coaches. Like, I think he wants to be like the number one guy, number two guys. He going to settle for being this kind of spot up guy off of Jokic and Murray. Like so far, the answer is he's bought all the way into that. And DB, I,
He makes these threes look so easy. These like sidestep step back threes. It's ridiculous. And it's obviously because he's 6'11 or whatever he is. He is. And if he could just stay healthy, he is an absolute ideal third wheel for their offense. And I know he probably doesn't want to be called the third wheel, but a lot of people would sign up for being the third wheel in Denver's offensive. All they had to do is like run the floor and shoot a million threes. And he's making, I think he's shooting 50% on threes. He makes it look
Like there's not even a defender there. Agreed. The ability to make contested shots, dwindling clock elevation with somebody in your grill. And you're right. This is the efficient sidesteps. Listen, I don't like, I think, and again, you've got so many good local media people who cover it. I think Brian said, Oh, he's a top 10 shooter. I'm like,
Ooh, let's get a little further into his career before I listen. I mean, is it possible? Of course it's possible, but now you've got to make these top 10. You've got to, you're a top 10 shooter. You've got to make them when they count and he will, I don't have any, he's clearly unafraid and unbowed, but I just, I get a little worried about premature proclamations. Fair.
Denver looks like right now of all the teams we thought would be the class of the West, Denver and Phoenix are the ones that are living up to expectations.
Let's talk before we hit Phoenix. And again, what Phoenix is doing without Cam Johnson, Jay Crowder, and now Chris Paul is fantastic. The last thing they did was go into Minnesota, who had everybody, and beat the living snot out of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Let's talk about the Minnesota-Utah connection because obviously they made a gigantic trade together in the offseason. The Minnesota Timberwolves are 5-7 and look awful. The Utah Jazz are 10-3.
and look incredible. And oh, by the way, everyone is rushing. Sam Amick wrote this piece interviewing executives from other teams saying, oh, Danny will sell. Danny doesn't want to be good. They want to try to get Wemba Nyama or Scoot or whoever. They'll trade Clarkson. They'll trade whatever. Maybe they will. Maybe they will. If they lose five of their next six games, I think it becomes much more likely that they will. But I can tell you this. They're loving life right now. They are okay with
For now, seeing what this team is, and I can tell you, the sample size is now big enough that this is a team that will hit a slump at some point. Reality will come at some point. Lowry Markkinen is not going to shoot 65% on twos all season. Kelly Olenek's not going to shoot 57% on threes. Opponents are going to start hitting threes, etc., etc., etc., etc.
Even so, this is a decent team. This is not a bad team. This is a 500-team-ish at worst that's now got a seven-game cushion on that. And oh, by the way, the people rushing for them to tank, you know whose pick they own unprotected this season? The Minnesota Timberwolves' unprotected 2023 first-round pick. All those Timberwolves picks, most of them are unprotected, including this year's. And the Timberwolves, and I know you're excited to talk about this, they are...
Look, I've not seen them in person, so I'm getting the vibes through the screen and from talking to people that have seen them in person. I just can't believe how awful it all looks, how awful it all sounds. And that Phoenix game coming off the blowout against the Knicks, your New York Knicks, Doris Burke. If that doesn't raise alarm bells and get these guys to get their in gear now.
I don't know what will because that Phoenix loss and that Knicks loss, I didn't see the Knicks game. I saw the Phoenix game. There were 10 possessions in that Phoenix game where my jaw was agape at how disorganized, unhappy, cranky, slow, discombobulated the Timberwolves were. Yeah.
I don't know whether I want to go to Utah first or, or them because I have Minnesota tonight at Memphis. And so I obviously I've spent a lot of time on them. First of all, to your point about Utah, the one thing you didn't touch on and where they might hit the slump is opponents are getting a lot of shots at the rim and they're not finishing those shots at the rim yet. And that will change, I think. But I, I watched Utah,
Holly Road do a little bit of a piece on Lowry Markin and Will Hardy and sort of Will watching the Finnish national team and fun. And for years, we knew what Utah was. You were getting high screen and roll with two shooters in the corner. And Rudy was going to be at the rim and Donovan was going to try to get downhill.
And it was relentless with that, that boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Here we come. You know what's coming, but this is what we're going to do to great success. Right. They, their offense was always, I don't know, top five. And now it's totally different.
Now it is run, you know, get it off the window and run, run, run, run, run. They're shooting the three. Most reasonably now they're down to now they're their fifth most reasonably, but they're they're shooting the hell out of it from three. Yeah. Lowry not only shooting the three and he was open in an article that happened earlier this year about how how things got away from him.
in the past, how, you know, you get hurt and then you press because you, you know, the shots that find you are, I've got to make this because I'm going to get X number of these. And if I don't make it, then my ass, I'm going back to the bench. And so I don't know, there's just something very likable about this team. Here's a fascinating thing to me. Jordan Clarkson was loved by Quinn Schneider because he brought a different vibe and feel, but he was a,
a player who not about himself in a bad way, Zach, just in about my job is to come in and be Vinnie Johnson. I'm supposed to come in and I'm supposed to change the tempo and I'm supposed to score it. What is Jordan Clarkson? I looked at this this morning. No, we're going to talk about him. 5.2 assists per game, a career high in minutes, career high in three point percentage,
And looking like part of a team as opposed to, I'm going to just go dominate the game with my own individual scoring. Mike Conley looks like he's having fun. Eight assists per game. Like I agree. They'll, they'll level out at some point, but we'll Hardy, what a job he's done out of the gates and they're fun. They're just fun. If you, if you ask me right now,
They are kind of in the catbird seat among the rebuilding teams, allegedly. I mean, they're 10-3. Maybe they're not rebuilding. Maybe they're just built. I don't know. Whatever. They have the best players to trade of those teams. They have the best sort of available veteran players of those teams. Maybe accepting Bogdanovich of Detroit, who's not trade eligible immediately because he just signed an extension with them. Again, we'll see if Charlotte jumps in the fray at all and if that matters. My guess right now,
Let's just say they go 500 for the next 20 games, right? So they level out, but it's not bad. They're still five, six games over 500. I think their stance is going to be, depending a little bit on how Minnesota does and how that pick looks, I think their stance is going to be, you can call us. You got to offer us something really good. We're not selling just to sell and get bad. We're cool. We're cool. And by the way, if they keep winning,
they'd have to sell fast to get back down into the three or four or five worst teams. You've got teams that are two and nine, three and nine, three and ten. There's seven games ahead of those teams already. And obviously you can manufacture a one in 20 stretch to end the season if you want to. But if you keep winning, you're going to run out of time at some point to do that. So I think right now they're content. And you mentioned Clarkson.
Joe Ingalls once told me a story about Clarkson that when Clarkson got traded to Utah, he went up to Ingalls and was like, hey, just so you know, if you have the ball, the shot clocks, there's three on the shot clock, you can pass it to me. I'm cool taking the grenade shots that no one else, I'll shoot. And they are a tribute to
The adaptability and resourcefulness of NBA players. They have taken, I joked and I was dead wrong. And I know the jazz want to hear me eat crow about it. And I've already eaten crow once. I joked that they were less a basketball team and more an airport waiting area for players who would get traded elsewhere eventually, because they just have all these shoot first guards and power forwards who can shoot and just weird skill sets. And how do they, how do they mesh? And they looked at it the total opposite way and said, what can these guys do?
And how can we maximize it and how can we use it? And they have proven that assessment dead wrong. They are a team and they're just a delight to watch. I'm going to see them Sunday in Philly. I've got Philly on a week from tomorrow or tonight. And I want to see both teams and I want to see Utah live and just get to the pregame and get a feel for it. But, you know, just a lot of fun to watch. And you read all the stories and Will Hardy just talks about
And I don't know whether this is the San Antonio, you know, just how does it feel in the organization? Like what's our...
What's the vibe here. And, you know, is that a San Antonio thing where like, everybody's got to be comfortable and happy and let's work to make everybody happy here. So it's just, I'll tell you like one thing that's noticeable to me is we can throw out these coaches ages anymore. Taylor Jenkins gets the Memphis job and at whatever age he was, I think at the time he was the youngest and,
You know, I know what happened with Emei Odoka, but, you know, he gets his first job. You know, J.B. Bickerstaff, all these guys that they've been in the league a long time, but, you know, from an age perspective, maybe young doesn't matter, Zach. They thrive in these roles. They're comfortable immediately, you know.
It's just fun to watch. It's fun to watch a new generation of coaches get opportunities early and then succeed in those opportunities and look so comfortable, wear it so well. Joe Mazzulla in Boston is wearing this position well. Will Hardy is wearing this position well. There are 30 of these jobs in the world.
And to be mid thirties and handle it the way they do is to me, just impressive. It's impressive. Kevin Durant said this the other night. He's like, you know, when he's talked about job one and the job he's done early, he's like,
They're an NBA coach. Like this is rare. It's a rare position. There's pressure here and you got to be prepared for it. I just, I'm impressed by what I see. Ditto. As you said, there are slight warning signs for Utah, the three point shooting, although they win the math game, they take a lot of threes and they don't allow a lot of threes. They don't get to the line on offense and they turn it over a lot. And they're 29th in defensive rebounding. Those are all kind of warning signs. Go back, going back to Clarkson. I looked this up just to see,
When Clarkson plays without Conley, because I thought, you know, how do they look when Conley's on the bench? He's the pure point guard. They're plus seven per hundred possessions as long as Clarkson's on the floor. If Clarkson's not on the floor, they struggle a little bit. So they got some stuff going on for them. Let's talk about the other side of that trade, Minnesota.
Five and seven, 19th in offense, 15th in defense, and first in crankiness and unhappiness and sniping in the media. And if people want to go, and I told you to watch this and you had the wrong feed so you couldn't. If you want to go and see the possession of the year for the Minnesota Timberwolves, the best Timberwolves possession, it's not when D'Lo –
chilled at the scorer's table. And for 20 seconds, they played four on five defense without seeming to realize, I don't know who actually realized that they were playing four on five. I watched that live and I didn't recognize it. And I'm not going to give the person away that I spoke to.
But this person said, I watched it live, but at times, you know, we can be so discombobulated on defense. And you could see Chris Finch on the sidelines, like pointing, pointing for people to rotate as if they had five players on the floor. You got to go there. You go, wait a second. Why is everyone rotating so long over such long distances? Oh, there's somebody at the scores table just watching. Yeah.
Hello, Russell. The last minute. Oh, my God.
I want people to watch this because I don't think he got a lot of play. 640 left in the first quarter of that disaster loss against the Suns who come in without three of their players, three of their two starters and whatever Jay Crowder is now and just destroy Minnesota. 640 in the first quarter. Anthony Edwards is bringing the ball up. Towns running hard because it's offense. A lot more fun than defense. Running hard. Running hard. Ahead of DeAndre Ayton by like seven feet. Calling for the ball.
Ant doesn't give him the ball because there's a back. Torrey Craig was on the back line, I think, in this mildly dangerous pass. But Towns wanted the ball. Hands are up.
doesn't get the ball hands down slaps him on the sides keeps running runs directly out of bounds like as passive aggressive if you want to read it generously maybe you thought maybe you could say he thought the under seven timeout was they were going to call a timeout because it was under seven minutes runs literally five feet out of bounds just keeps running on the baseline like Bo Jackson running in the tunnel
In the 80s for the Raiders. Just runs out of bounds. And once he gets out of bounds. You know what Anthony Edwards does? He passes Carl Anthony Towns the ball. Carl Towns catches it. Three feet out of bounds. Whistle blows. Turnover.
I don't know who was more passive-aggressive. Who's the passive-aggressive leader on that play? It was absolutely incredible. This team has no chemistry. D'Lo has been horrible. They have no three-point shooting right now in their starting lineup other than Towns. The Towns-Gobert pairing is not working. Where are the second-side pick and rolls that I thought we were going to see? D'Lo, Gobert on one side, Swingett, and Cat on the other side. It's just it will stabilize, I think,
I think, but my faith is beginning to waver. Like if I see another lob hit the backboard, if I see another, how is this team? I want to look it up. 27 in defensive rebounding. Torrey Craig with the Wolves making a fake comeback at the end of that game.
Tory Craig just sneaks around Carl Anthony Towns and gets an offensive rebound that ends the game. Carl Anthony Towns, he'll scream, leads the league in screaming, I got it, I got it, and then not getting it. That's like the Carl Anthony Towns on the defensive line, I got it, Rudy, and then another player comes in and gets it. I'm starting to get worried. You throw in the media comments that have been made publicly and some of the stuff you're hearing about what's going on behind the scenes, it's like,
Oh my God, maybe Utah doesn't, the luxury of owning all these picks from other teams is you've sold short on multiple other teams. Maybe we can just keep winning. What have you seen from Minnesota? I don't know where to begin. I could not get that turnover. Interestingly, I'm watching on League Pass and they push back to a Mike Inouye sort of breakdown of what happened in the November 1st Phoenix game. But there's also a clip
of Mike Inouye doing a halftime interview where he is saying, if we're X number of games in,
This is live on their broadcast. And we're talking about having to coach competitive spirit and effort this early in the season. We've got a problem. And I'm thinking my head is snapping back at the moment. I don't know where to go. The turnovers are inexplicable. You know, Carl Anthony Towns, there's been a couple of passes from the high post that he's just, it's sailing out of bounds. It's, it's, it's five feet too high or it's four feet left.
Jim Peterson, who's their local, you know, broadcaster has been at it for absolutely forever. And it's outstanding. It's like, listen, if we're going to run cat at the four, then he's got to,
Guard the four and you have a piece in your 10 things today talking about some of the mistakes he's maybe making lingering on the ball too long, et cetera, et cetera. I don't even know what's worse when he's guarding fours. He's like chasing Torrey Craig around screens and he can't do that. Then he's guarding fives with either when Rudy's out or when, when they just switched to matchups and they're going back to that high wall, come to the point of attack, borderline trap defense. And it's like,
They've never played it before. Even though they played it all of last season, they just like, how long do I have to stay up here? What are the rotations behind this? He's getting faked out of his sneakers at the point of, I don't know what's going on with them. It's bad. It doesn't help, obviously, that Cat misses some time with some sickness. Rudy, obviously, they manage him with the Eurobasket situation, so your repetitions aren't early. But for me, that's not even it. I don't care about that.
um to me it's it feels like there's a complete lack of buy-in and I don't I can't wait to ask Chris Finch that question Chris Finch is saying it's on me I've got to give these guys solutions um I feel like the decision making is poor across the board it starts at the point guard position with D'Angelo Russell who can't make a shot right now I mean there's so many things going wrong Zach Anthony Edwards is complaining about not having space um I don't know where to begin it's
The playmaking, D'Angelo Russell's a good passer. I think his passing is probably his best skill, but it hasn't sung yet. And Russell, Edwards, and McDaniels are all shooting 33% or worse from three. They're drawing dead if that's how they're going to shoot. I think Edwards for sure will be better. Russell probably will be better. But to combine, they are really counting on Russell and Edwards to be major plus playmakers when you're playing two bigs like that.
And they wagered big on Ant's going to continue to make a leap as a playmaker. And that's a big bet. He's 21 years old, and it just hasn't happened yet. I think they'll stabilize. I think he's – and this is what young players do, and this is where the danger of making that bet is. And unfortunately, it feels like everybody in the group is doing this.
It's like, how does this new situation affect me? Not is, let me throw myself into the defensive end of the floor, which usually makes things better offensively. Let me throw myself into the defensive end of the floor. Let me grasp these concepts. Let me figure out what is, how do I fit best? What can I do to make this group successful first and foremost? Everybody's thinking, oh,
What does this mean for me? Anthony's like, I don't have enough driving space. I can't get to the cup. I've only got four dunk attempts this season through these, this number of games. It's making me uncomfortable from him. I can accept it, Zach, because he is 21 years of age. But there doesn't feel like there's a great deal of maturity yet in terms of accepting what Chris Finch is trying to say. And here's, here's what this group needs and doesn't have anymore.
Who is in their face demanding accountability? A year ago, it was Patrick Beverly and he probably annoyed some people by the end of the year. There's no, there's no probably about that, but sure. Okay. But like who, who is the voice yelling at these people or at least demanding some level of accountability from
I don't know. And it can't be Gobert. It can't be Gobert because he's the new guy. And as I've talked about on this podcast, there's just like a bizarre level of not complete respect for Rudy Gobert amongst players around the league publicly kind of including Anthony Edwards. It's kind of sniped about his defense. You say it could find itself. I don't know. I don't know how because I don't see...
I don't see a leadership piece to say, listen, let's set aside our individual agendas for five minutes and let's get to what coach is saying. I mean, maybe it can because of the talent. If it finds its way, Zach, it's going to be because of the talent, um,
And that's what I'm going to ultimately bet on. Like, if you ask me right now, how many games does this team win at five and seven? Right. Like we're sitting here raising the panic button, raising the panic, but you don't raise a button. You press the panic button. And, you know, that's because the expectations are what they are. Right. We're not panicking about the Warriors because of what they did last year. I mean, there's mild panic, I guess. The Wolves won 46 games last year. They added Rudy Gobert.
If they're five and seven now, they should still win 46 games. Like the talent is the talent. So I'm still going to sort of bet on it, on it stabilizing. And just let's be a little happy for a second. Jill Noel's playing well. Torian Prince is playing well. They're getting some good minutes from people. So I'm going to bet that it stabilizes, but it's, this is as disturbing a first 12 games as there could be. And I will just raise the alarm bell on this now.
The absolute everyone when they traded the whole kit and caboodle. And I don't even know what a kit or a caboodle is for Rudy Gobert. The four picks that swaps the rookies, all the everything. Immediately, everyone said, you know, teams are getting so willy nilly about trading all their future picks. I think a lot of teams are starting to think, well, if we make this deal, we trade all our picks.
It's risky. But someone else will do the reverse with us down the line. We'll trade somebody.
big and get our picks back. The obvious somebody is Carl Anthony towns. And I will say this, the worst thing the Minnesota could do is double down on a go bear trade. That was kind of a preemptive panic move with another panic move involving towns. And I'm not saying this is happening. I'm not saying there's any talk about this. I don't think there is, but I'm saying that's just a logical sort of place. You'd look if you had to restart again and reboot again,
any towns move like that down the line a year from now, two years from now, whenever, if it ever even comes to fruition, that realigns the team more on Gobert's timeline than Edwards timeline is a catastrophe. And that's all I'm going to say. Can we talk about this? Unless you have minutes, do you have any more Minnesota thoughts? Oh, all good. Let's go to Phoenix. Cause no one gives Phoenix any love. Eight and three, eight and three. Hey, all we are is fourth in offense. Second in defense. First,
In net rating slash scoring margin first in the entire stinking NBA, after we lost to the Mavericks in game seven by 5,000 points, everybody wrote us off. Chris Paul is averaging 9.5 points a game on 37% shooting. Our starting power forward who wasn't going to be our starter anymore is gone. Cam Johnson, Torres meniscus had surgery.
Chris Paul is injured and we're getting destroyed whenever Devin Booker, who just is putting up 27, five and five. Not a lot of people talking about him because of all the 30 point scores. We're getting destroyed whenever he sits.
jock landale's involved landry shamit's involved damian lee's involved two of our eight our three losses are heartbreakers to portland including including a buzzer beater that the refs missed to travel on apparently by jeremy grant hey we're just no one's talking about us beyond impressive stuff from the suns who and so briefly what do you want to talk about with you what have you noticed how are they doing this
I want to go to Devin Booker just because, and I'll go many places, but Devin Booker, and Monty said this the other day, it's like no one in this organization takes for granted that Devin Booker has absolutely no fear. And so what does he do the other night? 10 assists, one turnover.
he was asked a question about, you know, do you have to take on more, more of a burden? Now, you know, in his head, he's thinking, hell yes, I can carry this team by myself. I'm that fricking skilled. But he also, his answer was brilliant. He's like, we got a team, man, we got a team. And he's going to try to elevate the guys around him. And I just, I love everything about Devin Booker, not only his skill, but his mindset, you know, he,
Like his thought this year is let's just improve. Let's just get better every day because we had 64 wins a season ago. It didn't matter a hill of beans at all when we lost in the playoffs. I just like his approach. I loved it in the NBA finals when he's got a busted up nose. And a lot of times, you know how that goes. You get hit constantly when you have something like that. The kid never was dramatic. He never showed anything. He just freaking played ball. He just always plays ball.
And so like, he doesn't care. Chris Paul's got a bruised heel and is, you know, not shooting it and blah, blah, blah. Let's just keep playing. Here's the things I'm curious about in the absence of Cam Johnson, they're not going to make up the threes. You're not going to do that. What was Cam making? Cam was making a career high 2.8, taking a career high 6.4 and making 43%. So that you're going to have to win a different way. But there's Mikkel Bridges, you know, I mean, the guy,
He's so brilliant defensively, but now does he take a step? Can you sustain Landry Schammett's confidence for four to six weeks while Chris is getting better? Because if he can keep that confidence high, I'm a believer that Landry Schammett can help and contribute to winning. Does campaign...
play in a starter's role the way he played a season ago as a starter, because that was, you were winning games like that. So I don't know what, what is your take on it? First of all, Devin Booker, the sons are plus 128 raw points with Devin Booker on the floor. That's number one in the NBA or minus 27 when he sits. Wow. McCale Bridges,
Mikael Bridges was a cute kind of, well, if we're talking about kind of all-star snubs at the bottom of the snub list, maybe someone should mention Mikael Bridges. This year, Mikael Bridges, if he keeps playing like this, is going to be in the all-star conversation, full stop. 16 points, five rebounds, three assists. No, it doesn't sound great. 59% shooting.
46% on threes, 63% on twos. And boy, oh boy, those little leaning, those little leaning mid Rangers are a thing of beauty. And the defense is what it is. He's the first team all defense level player that hasn't dissipated at all. And when you look at the sons, my whole thing coming into the season with them was, I just think they've maximized their, their style of play. I don't, I don't think they can,
Stay atop the West with this offense that is all mid-range jumpers. No threes, no free throws, no offensive rebounds, too many fouls on the other side of the floor. So we're spotting teams five points a game at the foul line. They have to adjust little by little. None of it is big. Here's here's some numbers. They were 29th and free throw rate last year. They're 13th this year.
And if you look at like, who's getting to the line more, it's just, everyone's just a little, little bitty bits. Devin Booker, a little bit more. McKill bridge is a little bit more. The bench unit with Tori Craig and Jock Landale is, is sort of,
lifting their rim toughness stats, offensive rebounding. They were 21st last year. They're 11th this year. And again, you look at the numbers, it's Landale, it's Torrey Craig, it's everybody else just a little bit, little bit here and there. They took the 25th most threes last year. That's up to 18th this year. It's just a couple of threes a game. It's not big. They were dead last in shots at the rim last year.
They're 27th this year. So they only moved up three spots. That doesn't sound like much. They took 25% of their shots in their restricted area. That was last by a mile last year. They're up to 31% this year. That's like six shots a game. They've redistributed from the mid range.
to the rim that has taken them i know they're only 27th but they're like a normal team now they were an abnormal team last year and again you look at the numbers who's getting to the rim more it's just bit by bit mikhail bridges a little bit more lando a little bit book a little bit more it's just everybody tory craig crashing the glass little bit little bit little bit and as you mentioned with cam johnson although it wasn't playing out in the aggregate at
I think the idea of starting him was we just got to shoot more threes. We got to get more threes up. McHale bridges. You got to get more threes up. And those numbers, they're little, they're little. And a lot of it is the bench scrappy guys lifting them up, but they're just, I'm just going to watch them because I think it reflects a little bit of self-awareness that they needed of, we just have to get a little more modern and diverse if we want to stay where we are. And they have emphatically stayed where they are to do this without, without,
Jay and now Cam and with Chris again looking like a shell of himself, although I got to tell you, DB, even when he looks like a shell of himself, Chris Paul, 94 assists and 15 turnovers for the season. It's like ridiculous. And who do you want managing the game down the stretch? You know, like give me Chris Paul every day of the week. What's your take on DeAndre Ayton? I...
That first presser where he said, you know, somebody asked him about he and Monty and he said, we haven't spoken. I that was jarring for me. You know, any concerns about that or him at all? You know, I guess my concern would just kind of be like, maybe this is just it. Like he's he's at 15. I'm looking at his at 15 and eight. His minutes are a little bit down. But so per minute, he's probably about the same. Still doesn't get to the line. OK, passer.
okay. Offensive rebounder still kind of wants to fade from contact at the rim, right? Catches in traffic and his default is spin away for a fade away. And you keep, but, but he's just good. He's good at lots of different things. And you keep hoping from the leap for the leap from good to all-star, which when they made the finals look like it was kind of in progress and he's 24 now and it, and it hasn't happened yet, but I guess I'm not worried because he's,
Again, as you said, that was sort of an alarming press conference, but he's playing well. He's doing the DeAndre Ayton stuff on both ends of the floor. And they just keep on keeping on. And to your point, we could be... If they win those two games against Portland, they are 10-1, and they are at the top of everybody's conversation through all the adversity they've hit. I think this goes a little bit to...
you know, what they've established as a baseline of acceptability and standard and accountability and all those things. And, uh,
And it feels like a complete contrast to the team we just spoke about, Minnesota, and those games that can go borderline either way. You know, they're winning those games. So it's been impressive. I don't think they're on my schedule, and that disappoints me because I like watching book in person. And, oh, by the way, they're for sale. What?
That's seven scandals ago. I forget sometimes they're for sale. That's right. That's right. They need to get Bob Iger involved. With Disney, he had the Midas touch. Doris Burke, you got to go to work in Memphis. We got Memphis, Minnesota tonight on ESPN? That's correct. What time? 8 Eastern? What do we got? 930 Eastern, I think. Or the late game. You're the late game. I think there may be college football on before
for us. I'm not 100% sure. Football. Football. Make way for football. You're working so hard in addition to everything you're doing. I feel like you're podcasting more. Are you twice a week? Twice a week. Who do you got on play-by-play tonight? Mark Kestesher. Oh, interesting. My radio partner. Now, this will be game two with him. I love Mark Kestesher. You want to talk about pros, pro, and just ego-free and loves the game. How many points a game do you think Desmond Bain is averaging, Doris?
A 24.7 on the dot and his, and his assist numbers are what's really striking to me. And down the stretch the other night in, they were playing through him and he was getting below the free throw line. Desmond Bain is tough. And I saw their end of game interview where they were throwing shade at Portland because they said we were the first ones to bomb these post-game interviews and
because Portland had a big show with Brooke, their sideline reporter. I just love this team because they're going to talk smack about post-game interviews. Give me the smoke. I hope we get Carl Towns' dad and John Morant's dad again tonight. I hope they're both in attendance. I will say this last thing on Memphis, and then I'll let you go. I was at Barclays Wednesday for the first Jacques Vaughn game. I was talking to Nick Friedel, and I have a running joke with Nick Friedel that every team he covers...
is just cursed until he leaves. He gets there, he ruins the team, and then he leaves.
And we were talking about where we're going to send him next, if and when. Let's say if. If the Nets at some point blow up and it's all over. And I just said, we have to keep you away from Memphis. We cannot send you anywhere near John Moran and Desmond Bain and Taylor Jenkins. We have to keep you away from there because it's too precious. It's too good. It's too fun. And we get to listen to you tonight. Talk about the Timberwolves and the Grizzlies. Doris Burke, you're the best. Thank you for your time.
Always good to be with you, Zach. All right. I wanted to wrap the week by elaborating for a little bit on something that Doris and I talked about, which is the pressure the Lakers may or may not feel to trade Russell Westbrook plus their 2027 draft.
And 2029 first round picks for an immediate upgrade to their two and nine would be juggernaut. And as mentioned with Doris, Chris Haynes had a piece yesterday for Bleacher Report. I think I might have misspoke and said, yeah, who I can't keep track of everyone's comings and goings. And the piece has this paragraph in it, which is pretty damn direct. James, who turns 38 next month and is in year 20 of his NBA career. Yeah.
does not want to waste a season of his high-level playing days in hopes of incoming reinforcements for the 2023-2024 campaign. Sources say other core players on the roster would likewise prefer those picks be used to elevate this year's team. Okay, so that's pretty direct. And let's just review what this year's team is before we move on. The Lakers are 2-9.
They're just not a good team. And Russ off the bench has helped. They're two and five, I believe, since Russ started coming off the bench. He's playing much better off the bench. The bottom line is,
for them to get anywhere, the Russ LeBron, a D combination has to work. And you can see them sort of flailing around for, all right, which two players do we think have enough three point shooting and defense to fit around those two Austin Reeves, Troy Brown, you try. Okay. Kendrick Nunn. Let's let's take you out of storage. Okay. You try with, with maybe a well Lonnie Walker, he's hurt, but like, he'll be one of the, he'll be one of them when he, when he's back, uh,
And they just haven't found enough size, enough defense, enough shooting. And as I mentioned with DB, part of that is the whole model is based on LeBron and AD being apex versions of themselves. And that just doesn't appear to be the case anymore. We know why, if that's the case for LeBron, who's still putting up incredible numbers. He's just ridiculous what he's doing. He's old. He's old and he's not getting to the rim as much, not getting to the line as much, shooting a lot more threes. That's life. The AD one is...
It's a little strange to me. You know, there's been a lot of talk about his body weight. Has he put on too much weight to play center? He looks slower. He's not as fluid. You know, I when he was playing power forward next to LeBron, I kind of understood it to some degree because it was easier in that alignment for defense to switch.
LeBron AD pick and roll and force AD to create one-on-one. And sometimes he can do that really well and really fluidly less, less. So now I don't really get now he's playing center. That should be a little bit less switchable.
I don't understand why he's just sort of not a little, I predicted an Anthony Davis vengeance season and to date that has not really happened. I understand there's not a lot of shooting. Actually, I shouldn't say that. There is no shooting, zero shooting, negative shooting, anti-shooting around the LeBron AD pick and roll. So maybe it's a matter of there's no space. Maybe the total disintegration of his jump shot, which I guess someone is going to have to figure out like how that happened.
is just sort of taking away his options. Guys are taking a step back from him in the post and saying, hey, go ahead and beat me off the dribble. And that's just hard for a seven-foot guy to do. But it's just, if they're not going to be completely dominant players, you know, the third best player and the ninth best player in the league, the whole thing falls away. And as I said with Doris, it's tempting to look at the West and say, well, it's a little more open than we thought. Like Clippers, Warriors, you know, they were supposed to be
and they're kind of scuffling around, and Kawhi's already heard, and do we believe in Utah? Do we believe in Portland? Maybe you should believe in Portland a little bit. Get back to that. Do you believe in Phoenix? Maybe you should believe in Phoenix. Talked about that. Denver. Denver's looking pretty dominant. You can really almost talk yourself into, well, if we just got Buddy Heald and Miles Turner, we're right there. Like, look, the Warriors are under .500. We're right there. And then you just have to remember you're 2-9, right?
There's just no evidence that you're even close to being a good team. And the players you're talking about are sub all-star good players who bring at least some mild fit questions. I'm more optimistic than most people about Miles Turner and Anthony Davis playing together. Some people don't think that's a great fit because they're both centers. I think it could work, but it's not like you're getting world beaters and it's not like your team is
Three games over 500. And remember, as open as the West looks, it's not going to look that way at the end of the season. And you don't have to win one playoff series. You got to win four. You got to be three of those teams in the West. And then you got these powerhouses in the East that are waiting for you. And you cannot make a trade involving both of those draft picks.
Unless you think you're giving yourself a real chance to win four playoff series, four. And the leap between where the Lakers are now and winning four playoff series is absolutely jike. It's the Grand Canyon. And so right now, you know, we can go through the trades and it's like, what do you want to do? Dame? All the speculation about Dame. First of all, forget the salary implications and how complicated that is.
portland's eight and three or nine and three or whatever they are why are they trading dame they're going they're fine he's out spurs spurs are rebuilding you want jacob purtle so ad is going to be a four again and josh richardson and doug mcdermott or some combination those those guys all nice players they're not making you contender charlotte that's that was the one that was
speculated about quite a bit and Charlotte who's lost seven in a row should absolutely go in the tank and try and get Wemba Nyama and Scoot Henderson and just pump the entire season I don't know if they're going to do that but they should maybe they'll just do it by kind of just natural you know evolution of their team their team's not good they're going to lose a lot of games they are losing a lot of games Gordon Hayward and Terry Rozier that was the package well I think Gordon Hayward's already hurt why do I have any faith he's going to be healthy when it matters are those two guys enough
is two picks enough for Charlotte? Probably is considering Hayward's contract is considered negative-ish value. Is that going to change your life? Two picks? You get to 2026, 2027, LeBron's gone, AD's old. They're like, we don't have any picks. This is a disaster. What did we trade those picks for? What place did we finish in 2023? Oh my God. You got to think ahead a little bit. Detroit, I've seen and heard some speculation about, well, maybe we could get Boyan Bogdanovich
New Orleans, Noel, Alec Burks for Russ and just one of the picks. Maybe we could just keep one of the picks and get those guys. Well, New Orleans, Noel is not even in the rotation. Alec Burks is recovering from a foot injury. He's a good player. I like Alec Burks. Bogdanovich is a great fit for the Lakers. I mean, he'd fit right next to LeBron and AD in those closing lineups. One pick, that sounds great. Trading one pick, I get to keep one. That's amazing.
I almost think trading one pick in a half measure kind of trade for guys who are less good than the Indiana guys is almost worse than trading both for the Indiana guys. Like the half measure of just, I get less good players, but I traded less picks. Like what, what's even the point I've tried a few more picks. What's even, what's even the point of that Utah talked about that with Doris. I still don't think they want to trade Jordan Clarkson. They love them in that organization. Um,
What's the other package? Why are they trading Markkinen right now? Olenek and who is changing your life? I mean, I don't know why they would do it. You know, certainly for just one of the picks and they're sitting there owning Minnesota's pick saying, maybe we don't have to do this. Maybe we don't want to deal with you. We couldn't find a deal with you with Bogdanovich. Maybe there's no deal here.
Bradley Beal, that's been mentioned. Okay, let's work that one out from Washington's perspective. Even if you think that contract is a disaster and I'm going nowhere as the Wizards, and they are going nowhere, Bradley Beal for Russ and two first-round picks. So Russ's deal is costing you a pick to get off of. So that's one pick. So basically I'm trading Bradley Beal, franchise icon. Yes, he's on this ginormous contract with the no-trade class. I'm trading him for one first-round pick.
I just don't see Washington, no matter how mediocre they are, no matter how bad it might get there. And they're treading water right now. Beat the Mavs at home last night on the beautiful pink court with the pink uniforms. Love every bit of that. I just don't see that being a thing.
that the wizards are going to entertain and so you end up going back to the indiana deal and if i'm the pacers everything i just said about all those deals and the problems with them i am not relenting for one second from i want two unprotected first round picks from the lakers i want to both you want buddy and miles you got to give me both and by the way i i've said before i think they would do that and i think push comes to shove they probably would but they're kind of fun right now
But he's got value, some value. Miles Turner is a free agent. And you want to say, well, they have to trade Miles Turner. They can't lose Miles Turner for nothing. They could also resign Miles Turner. It's not the worst thing in the world. It's not like any of the other centers on your team are blowing the doors off and just laying claim to the starting center spot next to Tyrese Halliburton and Benedict Mather. And oh, my God, what a backcourt that is, by the way. They're not doing that for anything less than those two unprotected first round picks.
Probably, I would guess right now, educated guess, that they would do that in the end for both picks. Is that worth it for the Lakers? But at the very least, Indiana is having a meeting to say, are these picks really going to be that good? Do we really want to do that? And then that brings you to the synergy between the disaster in Laker land and the very different kind of disaster in Brooklyn, where the Nets are 3-1 since suspending Kyrie Irving. And boy, oh boy, they're having fun.
Edmund Sumner is flying up and down the court. KD is completely engaged. Seth Curry looks like Seth Curry again. They're having fun. They're winning games. There was a scenario late in that Knicks game where they blew the crap out of the Knicks in Brooklyn where KD and I think it was Royce O'Neal executed a clean switch on defense. It was a nice piece of defense.
Fourth quarter, Nets are up 27. Game's completely over. There's seven minutes left. And KD, bam, claps his hands. He's pumped up. You could hear the clap reverberate around the Barclays Center. He's having so much fun. Ben Simmons is coming off the bench and no one's even talking about it. And it just makes you wonder, you know, Kyrie is completely radioactive around the league, has zero negative trade value. Most of the league would not even touch him.
With the Lakers? I'm not even sure the Lakers would. Honestly, I'm not even sure if you went to the Lakers and said, we'll trade them for, we don't even want to pick. We just want to wash our hands of it. I'm not even sure. I don't know what the Lakers would do. I know that they would have a long conversation about what the right thing is, what Kyrie's tweeting of the movie means, all of it.
But I can tell you this, as I told Doris, LeBron's comments about Kyrie should be allowed to play again and the punishment was too harsh was widely read around the league as LeBron saying, LeBron delivering a message. I don't know why he said it. I can't speak for LeBron. I'm just saying what people around the league said was,
That was a, they read that as a message to the Lakers front office saying, Hey, I'm not going to stand in a way. If you guys decide it's an okay thing to do, I'm not going to stand in the way of you doing it. That combined with Adam Silver, as according to the New York times reported yesterday, Adam Silver said, after meeting with Kyrie, he doesn't believe Kyrie to be antisemitic. And it seemed to, to, to indicate that in Adam Silver's viewpoint, there's an easy roadmap here for him to return to the team. And,
And you just sort of combine all that together and say, if the Nets are playing this well and they appear this happy, would they get off of him for one first round pick? Like, would the Lakers even consider that one pick for Kyrie? Wouldn't they have to consider that? I get him in the door. I get his bird rights. And then you just think, would they really do it? Would they really do it? All the baggage, all the noise, all of it. And also, shouldn't your assumption at this point be that if Kyrie Irving is on your team, the over under until he's off your team?
away from your team, suspended by your team. MIA is like 12 and a half games. Like, why am I assuming if I'm getting Kyrie Irving, I get him for 60 games in the playoffs. Great. There's nothing that suggests that you should assume that. And the Nets, as fun as this is, and it's been fun,
The schedule's been angel food cake. They beat the Knicks. They beat the Hornets. They beat the Wizards. Lost to the Mavs on the road in a close game. That's their three-in-one record without Kyrie. KD is just surrounded, surrounded by five defenders at all times. At some point, the talent is just the talent, and the Simmons thing is showing very little signs of progressing to Ben Simmons being what Ben Simmons used to be.
And at some point, as tempting as it is for the Nets to, I think, wonder, huh, is KD really going to be mad if we get out of the Kyrie business? Are they really still attached at the hip? Can we just sort of quietly move on from this and not risk alienating Kevin Durant, not risk the resurfacing of the trade requests that would effectively take us back into the tank, maybe put our jobs in jeopardy, even though we built this thing up from the deepest hole in the history of the NBA?
um to begin with are we really willing to risk that um are we really willing to risk that because at some point the talent is the talent and in how much fun and lively and joyous the nets have looked in the last five games when the competition gets better and it's about to get better it's just as likely if not more likely that kevin durant looks around and is like oh without kairi
I'm kind of drawn dead in this game. I don't have enough talent around me. I don't have a shooting around me. I'm relying on this guy and that guy who are kind of fringe players. I don't know what the right answer for anybody is, which makes me think that the right answer or the one that's going to happen is nothing and inertia. And however, this Kyrie situation unfolds, it will unfold with him as a member somehow of the Brooklyn Nets. But I don't freaking know. I just know that the Lakers are,
It's hard to find a deal that works, even if you go to the unthinkable extreme, the sort of blow-up NBA Twitter, what remains of NBA Twitter, extreme of revisiting the Kyrie stuff. Even if there was some deal that would somehow make sense for both teams, boy, it's hard to see. Lakers just might be punting the season, guys. Everyone, have a good weekend.