0:01

Welcome back to another episode

0:04

of Open Floor. I'm Rohan not

0:06

Gurney, joined today by

0:09

my good friend, Sports Illustrated

0:11

senior writer New York

0:13

Times best selling author. This

0:16

is a super fan, Chris

0:19

Herrings. Back

0:21

on the show. Chris,

0:23

it's been a little while since we've spoken, my man.

0:25

How are you so sorry?

0:28

Man? I'm mostly mad at how I gave

0:30

you information thirteen seconds

0:32

ago about something related to this and

0:35

now I'm as is a super fan and

0:38

I wasn't even the one that went to the concert, my girl,

0:41

and the podcast

0:43

game is a dirty one. I've

0:46

been watching. I've been watching

0:48

Succession finally, so I'm all about making

0:50

power plays. I'm all about making

0:52

power plays. Well now that like

0:55

people from sports and pop culture

0:57

websites aren't tweeting about it every day, I find

0:59

it. I find it

1:01

easier to watch without all the discourse. It's

1:04

funny you say that, because I think I

1:06

just saw a tweet that said that this next season

1:08

might be the last one, which, if

1:11

we're keeping it a buck, it probably needs to

1:13

be. I love the show, but it probably

1:15

still needs to be the last season. Like so,

1:18

I'm back from vacation.

1:20

Thank you to the patience of all of

1:23

our listeners. I know we've been on a weird

1:25

schedule here for the last couple weeks, and I'm

1:27

sure you guys have seen maybe some of the news going on.

1:29

SI. It's we're all just we're

1:31

all day to day right now. I

1:34

was on vacation, I had two

1:37

very long flights, and I knocked out a

1:39

ton of Succession episodes. I'm

1:41

in the middle of the season three and I just want, you know, my dad

1:44

agrees. I told my dad I'm finally

1:46

watching, and he's like, they're dragging it out.

1:48

So yes, a

1:50

lot of my shows that I really really like

1:54

Billions started to feel that way after they got rid

1:56

of a key character, Like a lot of these shows

1:58

just need to be over. And even if I liked them,

2:01

I can say that it makes me feel better about

2:03

the fact that even good things should come to

2:05

an end. And you can feel when something

2:07

stalling and it's like this is stalling a little

2:10

bit. Yea. So,

2:12

speaking of good things that need to come to an

2:14

end, Chris, do we want to briefly touch on

2:16

the NBA All Star Game or no,

2:19

No, dudes have come to a complete end. I mean,

2:21

I you know what like it's rare I do this.

2:25

You're on our podcast. I don't need to send you somewhere

2:27

else to listen to other stuff. But aminel

2:29

Hassan had a great take

2:31

on Lebotard the other

2:34

day, it might have been yesterday where

2:36

he just was like, Yo, we're talking

2:38

about who was it? Was it Shay Gil

2:40

just Axanda is like, Yo, money

2:43

talks, you know, like if you pay more, the

2:45

players more, and you know, yeah, I know we're

2:47

incentivizing through charities. The

2:50

players don't get a cut of that, which sounds so selfish

2:52

by the way, like I'm all four charities,

2:54

but like the players shouldn't need pay

2:57

as motivation, and Amine brought up a very

2:59

good point from that standpoint where he said,

3:02

when these guys are out there playing really hard

3:04

in games

3:06

at the Drew and getting

3:08

hurt in some cases hurt,

3:11

Yeah, they're not being paid to do that. They picked

3:13

teams right before they roll the ball out.

3:16

Those are unannounced beforehand, like

3:18

in some cases those aren't, you know, so like

3:20

what why do we need to pay people? Like why

3:23

does it need to be? Why are

3:25

people so cool about this when they work their

3:27

asses off when they're playing and games

3:29

at the drew for instance, like games that arch street

3:31

games. I think he's right, and

3:34

I just don't know what more you can really

3:36

do to incentivize it. Like, if you're going

3:38

to play it the way they just played it, you might as well be playing

3:40

flag football, which is what the NFL has done.

3:42

And it seems to be adding a new kind of

3:44

interest in it because they're kind

3:46

of waiving the white flag of like this is not

3:49

hardcore super competitive. If that's not what

3:51

it is, then say that. And you

3:53

know, but this was layup lines left and right,

3:55

and you know, I know that

3:57

you always are happy to have an Antiposta

4:00

agenda. It's not that for me.

4:02

But it kind of felt so lame

4:04

that Tatum breaks the record for All

4:07

Stars scoring and it's like, I

4:09

mean, he was on fire from three, so credit

4:11

where it's due, but like there's

4:13

so many uncontested leaves like Pascal Siakam.

4:16

If you watched the first half of that game, Pascal Siakam

4:18

had like eighteen points just on like layups

4:20

where no one was there. People would

4:22

move out of his way to let him have a layup, and it's just like

4:24

this is lame. So and then also

4:27

it was like with the elim ending, I feel like this

4:29

is the first year we've seen the elimending not work really,

4:31

where the one team was so far

4:34

ahead that by the

4:36

time the team that was behind got three or four

4:38

stops in a row, it could have made a game of it. It

4:40

was too late because the other team only

4:42

needed one basket. Yeah, and

4:44

you know all they had to really stop doing with shooting half

4:46

court shots to get the one basket. So it

4:49

just felt lame. And you know,

4:52

if you have to ask the question whether someone saved

4:54

a dunk contest, it's

4:56

ultimately still probably not that good.

4:58

And you know, listen,

5:02

it's the All Star weekend and you have a guy

5:05

who's played zero minutes winning the dunk contest

5:07

this year, the snow shape of mcmclong.

5:09

Good for him, But either

5:11

make the dunk contest we found the five best

5:13

dunkers from all over the world on YouTube,

5:16

Instagram, whatever, or get stars

5:18

in it or canceled it. The actual game

5:21

was terrible. It was one of the worst I've ever

5:23

seen, And like,

5:26

someone in the league has got to take charge, and I

5:28

mean that amongst the players, because I feel

5:30

like one player tried it

5:32

opens the door for the next guy to try. But everyone's

5:34

trying to play it too cool. Everyone's trying to

5:37

you know, nobody wants to be the guy who's playing too hard.

5:40

And people keep coming up with fixes when

5:43

this never This wasn't a problem fifteen years

5:45

ago, This wasn't a problem twenty years ago, because the players

5:48

play. And that's a

5:50

great point that I mean has about you know, I bet

5:52

Lebron's I'm not even joking. I bet Lebron

5:54

James's Space Jim pickup

5:56

games. We're more competitive than this,

5:59

perhaps, and they just it's just it's

6:01

just no one they think people. It's

6:03

like people like it's not

6:06

cool to try during the All Star Game. I don't get

6:08

it. And another thing

6:10

people say is this is for the kids.

6:12

This is not for us. When

6:15

I was a kid, I loved the All Star

6:17

Game because the game mattered a little

6:19

bit. The players tried. Um,

6:23

you know, twenty years ago, I remember Michael Jordan's

6:25

last game that

6:27

was beautiful. Yeah. Uh,

6:30

the two thousand and seven I remember about this. The skills

6:32

competition field in two thousand and seven

6:35

was Lebron James, Dwyane

6:37

Wade, Kobe Bryant, and Chris Paul.

6:40

That was what I got to see as a kid, Not like

6:43

I didn't know that five of them did the

6:45

Skills Challenged combined in their career,

6:47

let alone right here. Instead, instead,

6:50

it's like a Tenta kompo nepotism.

6:55

Yeah yeah, I mean but between

6:57

that and I think Amen pointed that out. What

7:00

he said is that you have guys

7:02

that are fringed or like related to

7:04

somebody in that competition year

7:07

after year after year, and

7:09

so they have a team on to Cumbo

7:11

for that, you know, because

7:13

of that. And then you have Mac McClung. It's like you

7:15

have people that basically aren't really truly

7:18

part of the league, certainly not in an All Star context,

7:21

but they're like really really

7:24

heavily involved in these challenges or these

7:26

you know events, um and

7:29

frankly, they make it more enjoyable to watch

7:31

because they're either good at what they do or they're trying

7:34

really hard. The Skills Challenge sometimes

7:36

looks like it is very much like, oh, I'm kind of

7:38

too cool to be here. Nobody dribbles

7:40

as fast as they can. It's

7:42

it's it's a little bit disappointing and

7:46

on the same wavelength,

7:49

like I respected that Jannis Um. You

7:53

know that he showed up for the

7:55

sake do you remember. I don't know if you saw this part

7:58

right before it started and as they were drafting, I

8:00

think Ernie Johnson asked him like, yeah, honestly,

8:02

you got an injury very own and like are you gonna play? And

8:04

he's like, you know, like whatever I can do, I'm gonna do.

8:06

People pay money for this. So he suited

8:09

up for like the first play and

8:11

then sat the bench the rest of the game. And it's

8:13

like, couldn't you have sat out for

8:15

good and just let somebody else be in an All Star at

8:17

that point? We have these ridiculous

8:19

crunches every year where there's

8:22

always a couple of more guys that deserve it. I

8:25

didn't quite understand that. I don't know, like

8:28

I said, we shouldn't even talk about the All Star Game,

8:30

but it was it was not good this year. It was

8:32

very evident that it wasn't good this year. And

8:35

it is a problem that you have to work this hard

8:37

to get people to care about something that you

8:41

know used to be like that. I hate

8:43

being this guy. Someone posted

8:45

the Twitter clip of Kobe and Stefan

8:47

Marbury went back and forth going

8:50

at it, you know several years ago

8:52

where Kobe's hitting tough jumper after tough

8:54

jumper and Steph is coming down and taking

8:56

three after three. But they're well contested

8:59

for the most part. In the final score of that game,

9:02

and going in the last minute, that game was something like one

9:04

oh nine to one oh eight or one oh seven.

9:06

It's like it was within the realm

9:08

of scores you could actually see in a real NBA game.

9:11

These games always in one hundred and eighty five, two

9:13

hundred and seventy six, and it's just like that's

9:17

with them bricking shot after shot shot

9:19

for portions of the game. Is they're trying to shoot

9:21

half court threes to end the game with Dame and everybody

9:23

else. So it frustrating.

9:25

Isn't even really the word, Like can

9:28

you imagine paying money for like you and

9:30

I can get go to those games as a reporter,

9:33

can you imagine paying money for a ticket to go

9:35

watch them play and not try like at

9:37

that level? Or I think thousands of thousands of dollars

9:39

for ticket could be me terrible, terrible

9:42

people, Like it's for kids. I'm sure kids loved

9:44

the forty two minute

9:47

halftime show like

9:50

that half time show was fired though that was the only

9:52

good thing about the list. I would I would

9:54

have watched Thames for forty two minutes.

9:57

They could have gotten all

10:00

all the way off. Another

10:02

just a miserable

10:04

decision by the NBA to to keep them involved.

10:08

God the draft took toong. We just

10:12

listen, We're gonna get into our second half preview

10:14

here. We got a rambling episode, Swenson.

10:16

I can just feel them typing already

10:19

at least you're talking about basketball.

10:21

But go watch Bowmonti Jones on Karl Malone

10:24

on Twitter. Um,

10:27

that's all you need to know. We'll

10:29

leave it at that for right now. But Chris,

10:33

let's get into our makeshift. It's

10:36

not even the second half preview, you know,

10:38

it's the more of the final quarter

10:40

of the season. Here. We're deep into this

10:42

season. You

10:45

I thought you astutely wrote

10:47

in The Playmaker this week that most of the big questions

10:49

in the league happened to be out

10:51

West. So we're gonna

10:54

We're gonna run through some second half questions

10:56

here. I'm gonna make, you know, sprinkle

10:59

some of my own sala on your

11:01

questions and and uh

11:05

yeah, and um,

11:09

well we'll look at the league that way. We'll

11:12

touch on the East just a tiny

11:14

bit as well. Let

11:16

me actually start with the Golden State Warriors.

11:19

You wrote you know about which star

11:21

do you think will come back first? We have some big

11:23

stars missing. It was funny reading

11:25

through your newsletter this Chris Week leading

11:28

through your new sort of this week Chris rather

11:31

how many teams are waiting

11:34

for Carl Towns, Like, remember

11:36

Carl Anthony Towns gone.

11:38

He's been gone for

11:40

forty games? Is it h thirty games?

11:43

He's been gone for a huge chunk

11:45

of the season. You

11:47

mentioned Maxie Cleverer and Dallas. That's a

11:49

big one. We got a lot of big names listening.

11:51

But I want to start with the Golden State Warriors because

11:54

you wrote about how they're waiting

11:56

for Steph to return. I think

11:59

it's going to be next eight to ten days or

12:01

so. But have

12:04

we given the Warriors front office

12:07

a past this season? Because I

12:10

feel like early in the year we

12:13

hammered the Lakers front office even

12:15

at the trade deadline. I was like, yeah,

12:17

whatever, and

12:20

they're cutting off a title. Now.

12:22

Granted, Steph once again

12:25

injuries has been a little in an that lineup, but

12:28

he started the year, putting up numbers

12:30

close to his MVP season. How

12:36

is this team hovering around five

12:38

hundred? Like, shouldn't this be more of an embarrassment?

12:42

Um, Yeah,

12:45

it's interesting to think about. I

12:47

remember having a pretty long argument

12:49

with my best friend, whom

12:51

I don't think I've said this on this spot before, but like,

12:55

n I'm not your best friend.

12:57

You are not my best friend. Unfortunately, I

13:00

rock with you. You're talking about sprinkling

13:02

the missala. I appreciate

13:04

it. I hope that we develop

13:07

into much much better friends. But I've known Marcus

13:09

is like my day one. Basically, I've known since I was

13:11

five. He just turned thirty. Actually today's

13:13

his birthday. Shout out to Marcus. That's why I'm here in Chicago

13:16

for a few days. So that's my boy.

13:19

But he is very

13:21

very what's the word. He's very stubborn from a

13:23

basketball standpoint. He's not as

13:25

analytically inclined as I am.

13:27

Certainly, so we'll disagree a lot of times.

13:29

I'm kind of like, I test versus you know what the

13:32

numbers say, and he

13:34

was like, I think Somebody on Bleach Report

13:36

blogged about the fact that an ESPN

13:39

model had the Warriors

13:41

at basically forty one and forty one or

13:43

like the eighth seed. I think I don't even know what the record

13:46

was, but they had him in the eight seed. And Marcus is

13:48

like, this is ridiculous. This is why the numbers

13:50

are overrated, and like they can't tell

13:52

you as much as you actually need to know. They just I

13:55

was like, well, Marcus, that's actually like wide numbers

13:57

are there is because there's stuff that we assume

14:00

based on what we see that like, you

14:03

know, we saw the way the Warriors just won

14:05

this title, so we think that they're like infallible now.

14:07

And I said, like, you

14:10

know, did you read the blog, Like what did

14:12

it say, like what was it leaning on? Whose

14:16

model was it using? And he's like, oh,

14:18

it's like someone named Kevin Pelton. I'm like, Kevin's really

14:20

smart. Doesn't mean his models

14:22

infallible. And Kevin didn't even agree

14:25

with what his model spit out. He's like, I'm sure

14:27

the Warriors will be better than that. But I said,

14:29

you know, I just like, look,

14:31

I agree with you that I don't think the Warriors

14:33

are gonna struggle to make the playoffs, but

14:35

I would also say Kevin's smart and if something

14:38

is that off with the way we view it versus

14:40

what the model says, there's

14:42

probably some validity to it, and it would be interesting.

14:44

Like I imagine some of it will have to do with injuries,

14:46

which lo and behold, Steff has missed a lot of time,

14:50

But I told him, like, there might be out something else that were

14:52

missing. And that's the whole point of models, is that they kind of point

14:54

out things that we don't see with our own eyes.

14:57

So lo and behold now the thing that a lot of

14:59

us miss because we probably

15:01

are willing to give Bob Meyers

15:03

to benefit the doubt their ownership, a little bit of benefit

15:06

of the doubt. Their bench wasn't

15:08

ready to play. They've talked for years about

15:10

this whole two tracks, this two tiered system.

15:12

You have your vets who you know you

15:14

want to ride onto more championships, and

15:17

then you've got like the younger generation that

15:19

is supposed to lead you after that. They really wanted

15:21

to be the Spurs all of a sudden, and

15:24

it's like, well, yeah, but the Spurs had guys

15:26

that had enough talent and enough skill

15:28

because they were sprinkled into the lineup to do that.

15:31

And the truth was that statistically, you

15:34

know, I think the model that Pelton had basically

15:37

showed that, like there's no bench experience here.

15:40

Experience normally matters a lot to winning a championship,

15:42

particularly off your bench. They have none. They

15:44

have almost none to speak of, and make

15:46

matters worse like a lot of their youngest

15:48

talent regrets. To start the season, they

15:50

were horrible, certainly

15:53

Wiseman getting back into the lineup, but

15:56

also Kamingo was rough to start

15:58

the year. So those were

16:01

gonna be two of the guys who really leaned on They weren't particularly

16:03

good, and so should

16:06

they be better? Like should we be getting on them more?

16:09

If Step missed time, you could have told me anything

16:11

about this team and I would have believed you. I

16:13

think that's the key. And quite

16:15

frankly, they performed better with Step missed

16:18

this last stretch of time that I ever

16:20

thought they would. They could be in a worse spot than

16:22

what they are, to be honest with you, but their bench guys started

16:24

to put it together a little bit more. They finally just

16:26

removed Wiseman from the lineup instead of letting

16:29

him continue to hurt the lineups with net raining. So

16:32

they should be fortunate to be where they are given

16:34

how much time Steph has missed. Given that Clay

16:36

was rough to start the year, we all had a lot of questions about

16:39

him. Charles Barkley is talking about him

16:41

to where he responds, you

16:43

know, they're fortunate to be in the spot there

16:45

in and that's saying something. Yeah, their

16:48

ninth right behind New Orleans

16:50

in Minnesota, who

16:52

both have injury consumes of their own. I just mentioned

16:55

carl Towns. You mentioned Zion

16:57

in your newsletter. He's who

17:00

knows when he's gonna be back. My brother texted

17:04

me a few months ago and he

17:06

was like, we aren't we talking about job

17:08

over Zion Moore is kind of like a

17:10

oh no, you know, big regret,

17:14

And I was like, I was like, let's let the season play

17:16

out. Zion's been incredible when he plays. Yeah,

17:19

And my brother just texts me after like

17:21

every Zion injury update and he's like, I'm telling

17:23

you, man, Ron,

17:26

maybe you and I could be best friends because me

17:29

and you have the same view on that.

17:31

And my best friend Marcus, he's gonna love

17:33

being shouted out this much. She's gonna love it, especially on his

17:35

birthday. He

17:38

he me him and one of our other very

17:40

close friends named Nick have had this

17:42

group text where every

17:44

time jaw Like had a big game

17:47

and Zion was sitting out, he'd be like, Yo, I'm

17:49

telling you, I would rather have Jow to

17:51

build a team around. I'm telling you. And he's

17:53

been beating that drum since. I

17:55

would say, like the middle of the rookie year for

17:58

the two of them, and continue

18:00

to look better and better because Zion hasn't able to stay

18:02

healthy. When he has, he's been a superstar, but

18:04

yeah, it's never been long lasting. So

18:07

this is a good year for that agenda and Marcus. Marcus

18:10

would take the place of the person you're talking about,

18:12

and you you it sounds like you and me are on the same page

18:14

with that, But it's getting harder to deny that

18:16

with every additional Zion injury. For

18:19

sure, man and you mentioned

18:21

it, but they looked so good

18:24

even when Ingram was out and Zion was healthy.

18:27

Then they lost both of them and they had this massive

18:30

slide. But I think they'll stabilize

18:32

a bit with at least Ingram back in the lineup. Which

18:34

is all to say, there's no guarantee

18:37

Golden State gets out of the plan, which is

18:39

just crazy to think about. They

18:43

traded Wiseman for Gary Peyton. We

18:45

don't know when GP two is going to come back. He had this

18:47

whole saga with the physical, his core injury.

18:50

They're still lingering pain. He

18:52

may be out until closer to the playoffs.

18:55

Clay has been fantastic, Like he's been

18:58

looking like Clay for the last few

19:00

weeks, I think over the last month. Even

19:02

so, that's been a positive development, at least on

19:04

the offensive end, plays putting up

19:07

really good numbers. I

19:10

just think it's it's

19:13

shocking that a team

19:15

built around Steph Curry didn't

19:17

seem to take this season more seriously

19:20

and it means a massive, massive

19:23

disappointment that they're not a

19:25

title contender. And maybe

19:27

you still feel that way. I think, I

19:30

to be honest, if they got the

19:32

Nuggets in the first round, I'd

19:34

still be really nervous if I were

19:37

Denver because of what stuff.

19:39

Due to their defense, there's no question, there's

19:41

no question. I mean, I'm

19:44

curious to see how some of the decisions

19:46

they made. I thought that Reggie Jackson picked I

19:48

didn't get to it in my newsletter. The Reggie

19:50

Jackson picked up for Denver, I think is huge. I

19:53

liked it a lot. Yeah, I really liked

19:55

it. I thought it was one of the least talked about good

19:58

moves for any team during the deadline because

20:02

that had been a position that frankly hurt

20:04

them. They gave up Monty Morris to

20:06

get Contavious called up Pope, and

20:09

you know, called up Pope fills a real role for them. He's

20:11

been fantastic. It's not to say he hasn't, but

20:13

backup point guard is

20:16

a big role for this team and kind

20:19

of speaks to whether or not you could have a good bench lineup

20:21

or not unless you're

20:23

playing Jamal Murray with them. So I like

20:25

that move for them a lot. But still would

20:28

I be surprised if Golden

20:30

State took out Denver. Now, you

20:32

know, if they're both playing at full strength, if

20:35

Steph is back, if the

20:37

shots are going down for Golden State from three,

20:40

and it extends Denver's defense further,

20:43

it's still a really difficult series. Now, it would be difficult

20:45

for, you

20:48

know, on some level, for Golden

20:51

State to consaane

20:53

Joker. Draymond talked about

20:55

how much of an MVP Yokis

20:57

was last year, and I love that, by the way,

21:00

elite guys being able to give each other credit. Um,

21:02

and you know, I think Draymond is one of the more

21:05

respected guys in the league, despite how

21:07

despised he It's kind of about a lot of fans, uh,

21:09

you know, people realize that he's extremely skilled,

21:11

he's extremely smart. I love

21:13

that he could kind of give Yoki his props when

21:16

it seems like a lot of other guys seem to

21:18

kind of question it or call it out, by the way

21:20

as we talk about the All Star Game, or kind of piot away from

21:22

that conversation, the fact that a Joker

21:26

pretty much begged Lebron to take him

21:28

so that he wouldn't be Did you see

21:30

Joker said after after that he

21:32

didn't realize Lowry was still on stage. Oh,

21:36

I didn't see it. I believe him

21:39

when he says that it was like I thought I

21:41

was the last pick already. I didn't see Lowry

21:43

the Oh well, I mean he's the last pick. You don't

21:45

have to beg nobody at that point because there's no other choice.

21:47

But it, I mean, it was kind of funny

21:49

because I you know, without that context, uh,

21:53

it still tells you a little bit about how

21:55

I don't know, maybe not. Maybe

21:58

you just look at the All Struck game as being guard waging

22:00

dominated. But you know, there's a weird there's

22:02

a weird Joker sentiment among some players,

22:05

and I think some players have a ton of respect for him.

22:07

I think the players who actually have to guard him,

22:10

like Keaton, I think eight. I

22:12

think even in BEAD, I think Draymond,

22:14

they all give him props in

22:16

a way that I think some guys just don't really realize.

22:19

Yeah, which so it was I say

22:22

all that to say Golden State would have their hands full

22:24

too. I mean that was they had their hands full with just

22:26

Joker last year. Now you're adding

22:28

Murray Porter into that conversation, a

22:31

better rotation of guys. With KCP,

22:33

we were just talking about Reggie

22:36

Jackson. It's it's a different team.

22:39

I like the decision to move on

22:41

from Bones Highland. I

22:43

just didn't really see

22:45

enough defense there, and it's like the guy, at some point,

22:47

we'll have to earn more money and

22:50

I don't see. I think they need someone that

22:52

is a little bit more experienced than him, that isn't

22:55

looking for his shot quite as much as Bones as So,

22:58

you know it would be an interesting I kind of hope that matchup

23:01

happens at some point. I also think if the

23:03

Nuggets play them tighter, has the

23:05

ability to you know, maybe people

23:07

have wondered, like, man, how could yok should be the MVP twice?

23:09

NERO? If he this this and this with this

23:12

playoff result, that would be a pretty

23:14

even handed series. I feel like, particularly

23:16

if the Warriors come in as an eight or nine

23:19

or ten or whatever they would be. There's two ways

23:21

we can go with this. Do you want to talk about the Nuggets

23:23

or Clippers? Next? Clippers?

23:25

Clippers? Clippers? Let's okay, because they played

23:28

a little bit of the Nuggets and Clippers

23:30

lay a little point guard swap

23:32

here. He

23:37

believe we had a show called wife Swap.

23:39

I'm sorry, man, oh

23:44

man, good lord. Um.

23:48

Anyway, let's

23:51

let's talk about the Clippers because

23:53

they get Bones

23:56

Highland from the Nuggets because they're

23:58

desperate four point guard. And just in case

24:00

you thought they weren't that desperate for a point guard,

24:03

they then go and sign Russell

24:05

Westbrook. Yeah,

24:08

you mentioned, I didn't. I did not. I

24:11

did not realize it was so stark. I

24:14

knew the Clippers. I

24:16

had not had a great record against good teams,

24:18

and part of that, you know, if you go through him, sure you can

24:21

look through every game, was Kawhi playing, etc. But

24:25

they've not been very good against top competition.

24:29

They signed Westbrook, and not only do they

24:31

sign Westbrook, they're like, we want Russ

24:33

to bee Russ. We're gonna put the ball

24:35

in his hands. Westbrook is

24:38

like, I feel wanted. What

24:41

did you make of all that? Um

24:46

My first thought was, damn, this

24:48

dude is moving from one locker room to

24:50

the other, and

24:53

how can you see how

24:56

can you not see that just across

24:58

town, not across that same marina, just

25:01

different locker room, that he took a title

25:03

contender. And granted it wasn't just him,

25:05

but I think more than anything, it was him, salary

25:09

wise, replacing the guys that they needed to really

25:12

round out the rust of that team to make them title contenders,

25:14

and that seemingly kind of single handedly

25:17

his roster spot, his salary

25:19

number kind of just took that and tore it down.

25:21

That was the first thing I thought. My

25:24

second thought though, is this, and

25:26

like shout out to nikais Duncan and other people that

25:29

have kind of voices, because I think it's the right approach

25:32

for all the feelings that Russ has had the last

25:34

few years. There's

25:36

at least a chance this can work. I do I

25:38

think it will. No,

25:40

No, do I think it will. Know and I think

25:43

you could probably tell by the tone of what I wrote in

25:45

the newsletter that I don't think it will. I

25:47

do think there's something to be said for the fact that, like

25:50

the problem with Russ with the Lakers is exactly

25:52

what I just said. Russ's number

25:54

was necessary at the time because Russ

25:58

was, you know, at one point when he said that contract

26:00

was still kind of in demand, not even kind

26:02

of in demand, was still in demand that

26:06

you know, So his salary isn't a problem for

26:08

the Clippers. Now you

26:10

can argue about giving him a certain level of a

26:13

role, but it's not a

26:15

salary question anymore, which

26:17

really made it inconvenient and like untenable

26:19

for the Lakers at the time, where

26:23

you know, there are reason they were talking about waiving

26:25

him, trading him whatever. But

26:28

with the Clippers, like they do need a

26:30

point guard, I don't think the type of point guard I would

26:33

go out and look for as Russ. I'll be honest with you, a

26:35

big part of me looks at it and says, like, man, Reggie

26:37

Jackson would have been just fine. Um, you

26:39

know, he has a strange

26:42

the way he fell out of the rotation there. I mean, he was

26:44

so good for them in the playoffs right

26:47

in the last couple of years. It just

26:49

playing there, he like he literally

26:52

kind of thanks them for reviving his career.

26:54

He had the corrective I think lay

26:56

six surgery or whatever it was. He

26:59

was a dead eye sho at one point. Yeah.

27:01

Um, you know I understand John while not

27:03

working out. I think it was always a little bit of a long

27:05

shot, just because his injury history is efficiency

27:08

and stuff like that. Um, but

27:11

I just don't russ

27:13

if you can get him to play a certain way shore. But how

27:15

long have we been saying that for. I also

27:18

think that for a team like to me

27:21

and this is this will be one of those like mind blowing

27:23

experiences if he

27:25

was truly on the block, I

27:29

think the Clippers could have done really well with having Chris

27:31

Paul And that sounds

27:33

wild. He's

27:36

wait, we saw how much

27:38

better he was. Our fans upset with him

27:41

for leaving the Clippers when he did. I don't know

27:43

how like what the relationship is like there, I

27:46

think the I think it was fine with the fans.

27:48

I think organizationally, there

27:50

was some kind of weird I

27:54

don't know if friction is even the right

27:56

word, but there it felt like there was a lingering

27:59

thing between him, Doc and Blake,

28:01

and you know you saw Blake go after Doc recently.

28:05

So I don't know if that it would extend up to the front

28:07

office, which has had some new faces come in since

28:10

he's left. But

28:13

I mean, I think Chrispaul would be really good on a lot

28:15

of teams. I just they

28:17

just the Clippers. I think

28:19

when you've got I think part of the issue

28:21

the Clippers have had for the last couple of years it's like Kawahi

28:24

and Paul George both handled the ball a lot. They're

28:27

both capable passers. You know, they've had high

28:29

assess totals at times, but the

28:31

ball can stagnate a lot too, because

28:33

like they're looking for their own shots of Layton

28:35

games. They played the Bucks about

28:38

a week before and they blew that fourth quarter

28:40

lead, and watching them try to get shots

28:42

in the half court down the stretch, it

28:45

doesn't it doesn't make sense when

28:48

you have Kawhi Leonard and it feels like you can't

28:50

get a good half court shot off. And

28:52

and that's what happened when they were in the series with Denver

28:55

where they you know, it just went down the tubes

28:57

on them and they lost because they had a three

28:59

one series that lead, right or whatever it was. Yeah, um,

29:02

they just You've got two guys that are

29:04

good ball handlers, but not every play

29:07

ball handlers, and also like guys

29:09

that are more prone, certainly Kauhai to

29:11

look for his own shot. And as a result

29:13

of it, you had those two shoot oh for nine

29:15

or whatever it was in the fourth quarter at that last

29:17

game. Get somebody that is

29:19

going to be committed to moving the ball, and then that guide

29:22

to me isn't necessarily Russ. Russ is gonna

29:24

look for his own shot plenty. He's not

29:26

particularly accurate from certain spots,

29:28

certainly not from three. So

29:32

to me, like getting a point guard, I

29:34

also thought, you know, he's

29:36

on a table setting point guard like

29:38

Chris falls soon needs the ball in his hands, would he'll pass

29:41

right. Mike Conley is another guy that was kind

29:43

of on the trade market that that kind of strikes me the same

29:46

way of like, uh, you know, I

29:48

thought that would have been good for the Lakers as well.

29:50

I think the Lakers, by the way, we'll get to them. But like

29:52

I thought, the Lakers had a really nice deadline.

29:55

I just wish that they would have pulled the trigger a lot sooner

29:57

in terms of getting some

30:00

but getting guys that too

30:03

little to see. I think they're still capable.

30:05

Like if you look at the standings, everybody's bunched

30:07

up within two or three years, I don't think it.

30:10

Again, I don't think it's likely, but

30:12

you know, I would have loved have seen the Clippers gotten

30:14

someone that was a little bit less kneeding

30:17

of the ball, you know, as far as shooting

30:19

it. And for the Lakers, I

30:21

tend to think it's a little bit late, but we've

30:23

seen crazier things happen. If if they're healthy,

30:26

if Lebron and eighty are healthy, I think now you've

30:28

got the anchor, and

30:30

by anchor, I mean just something that weighs stuff down

30:33

off the roster and russ way

30:35

stuff down from a spacing standpoint. You

30:37

know, the questions and the constant questions about

30:39

fit have to take a toll

30:42

at some point. So

30:44

now that they've just got a roster that seems to

30:46

kind of make sense. Some guys that can shoot.

30:48

Bamba, there, you got Beasley.

30:52

It's just a team that makes a little bit more sense. I'm

30:54

curious to see what happens. I

30:58

just can't believe they signed, right. I

31:02

can't believe it. And I brought

31:04

it up in the context of them playing good teams.

31:08

Their playoff opponents would love if they put

31:10

Westbrook on the floor. Love

31:12

if they put Westbrook on the floor, because now you're bringing

31:14

doubles at Kawhi, now you're bringing doubles

31:16

at Paul George. I'm

31:19

gonna look because he even shot like I think

31:22

he shot forty from the field,

31:24

and the playoffs the last I don't even know

31:26

if he has though it's like probably close.

31:28

He struggled so badly in

31:31

playoff series, just because it's so clear

31:33

you're gonna leave him open. I can remember

31:35

back to a couple of years agoing in his cancer just

31:38

ignored him and uh and Russ

31:40

was like, Okay, I'm gonna shoot it, and it just

31:42

was not close. And I say this

31:44

as someone who genuinely I didn't

31:48

mind Russ winning winning MVP. Frankly,

31:50

I wanted him to win MVP. It was fun.

31:52

I know that some people think it's basically

31:54

ruined the awards since Um,

31:59

it's just I

32:01

don't see how he works anymore.

32:04

Shelby waiting out is

32:08

then Ennis cantor currently Ennis

32:11

Freedom. As

32:15

a side note, I'm looking at Russ's number so

32:18

UM playoffs in twenty twenty

32:20

one. He shot thirty three percent.

32:24

You know, Western Conference semis with Houston

32:27

forty two percent, forty one percent

32:31

the series before that, but thirty six

32:33

percent in the first round

32:35

Oklahoma City lost to Portland where Dame

32:37

hit that crazy shot over Paul George.

32:41

Looks like thirty nine point eight percent the

32:44

year before that, thirty

32:47

eight point eight percent the year before that, Western

32:50

Conference Finals, thirty nine point five, thirty

32:53

seven point six. Like do you see

32:55

where I'm going with this? Like, I just don't even if

32:57

he works for you now, which

32:59

would be why wonderful if he does via the Clippers.

33:01

He's just not a good enough jump shooter. And if

33:04

you're shooting those percentages, you couldn't be

33:06

a good enough finisher at the basket either to

33:08

be shooting sub forties. Most of these

33:11

this is like the last five six years, it's it's not

33:13

a pattern anymore. It's just like

33:16

it's the way it is. And you

33:18

know, I wrote a piece shortly

33:20

after I got to Sports Illustrated about the way these players

33:22

age and how much faster they're aging. I used

33:24

Blake Griffin is the cover of it,

33:27

but Russell Westbrook was mentioned in the story just

33:29

about like you can look at how often these

33:31

guys are dunking traditionally

33:34

until their dunk percentage when it falls

33:36

off, that their athleticism is really starting

33:38

to wane. And you know, combine

33:41

that with the way they finished at the basket, you

33:43

can tell which guys are just losing their legs. And

33:45

Blake obviously was one of them. Russ

33:48

was the other one where it's just becoming abundantly clear

33:50

that it was happening, and you

33:52

know, it's it's not lost on anybody. So I

33:55

as much as we talk about him, I hope

33:57

that one

33:59

this is not his last year. But if it's,

34:01

you know, I don't think it will be. But I

34:03

hope that he has a graceful like

34:06

send off, that it's not this conversation

34:08

every time. And I feel like by playing with contenders

34:11

and playing for the money that he's playing for that's

34:13

generally what it turns into. So I

34:15

do think that just that part of it, maybe

34:17

having so that pressure removed by

34:20

being a guy that is just you know, he was a

34:22

buyout guy and because of

34:24

that, maybe this isn't as much pressure on him.

34:26

But it does feel like a little bit because that

34:29

a lot of people pick the Clippers is the finals

34:31

favorites. So we'll see.

34:33

We'll just have to see. But I'm not feeling great

34:35

about it. Is your kids, your

34:37

MVP today. I

34:39

think he has to be man like I. You know,

34:41

I was in the gym when you see

34:43

the Bucks record. I

34:47

think I'm coming around to MVP. But

34:49

go ahead, Okay, I

34:51

understand that thinking. I

34:53

do struggle a little bit with it. And I've

34:56

always said this, if I have a buyers my

34:59

BUYO is that certainly for most

35:01

improved, but I think even for MVP,

35:04

it's kind of like my question is like, what

35:06

are you doing at a completely different level than

35:08

you did last year? And Yannis

35:11

his efficiency numbers have kind of tumbles. He's

35:14

pretty much as bad as he's ever been from

35:17

three. I think that's also true of from the line,

35:21

so he I mean, he's been incredible from

35:24

two, which is what he always is.

35:26

He's been incredible on defense. Still, he's

35:28

one of the best room protectors in the league. He

35:30

obviously is not just a room protector. He's

35:33

averaging more points than he's ever averaged before,

35:36

and he's done it without having the guy that

35:38

most people consider to be like the most traditional

35:43

wing scorer they have in

35:45

Middleton. Middleton either hasn't played or

35:47

when he's played up until lately, was not good.

35:50

So that takes a lot out of Yannis to have to

35:52

do all that. You know,

35:54

the guys had weeks where he's averaging forty

35:57

forty five points a game. He's been incredible.

36:00

It is I just kind of to your point, we're shooting

36:02

percentage in five years and most

36:04

turnovers of his career. It's hard for

36:06

me to call that an MVP like norm.

36:08

I'm used to seeing these guys play their best

36:10

and be deserving of MVP, and I think Yokich

36:14

is the only guy you can kind of say that for now.

36:16

I think, as always with Yannie,

36:19

if he's losing an MVP to Yoki,

36:21

Yokis has to be pulling his own weight defensively.

36:24

He hasn't looked great all the time. Denver

36:26

has not looked great all the time. We've

36:28

questioned sometimes how much of that is scheme. There

36:31

have been times where, you know, Yokich has been kind of dominated

36:33

by some of the other guys in this race, and Bed

36:35

had a forty seven and eighteen game on him. So, you

36:38

know, I struggle with it

36:40

a little bit from that standpoint, just like how it looks

36:43

Yannis has been really dominant this year, and

36:45

bead has been dominant, and Bebe was leading the league in scoring

36:47

until very recently. Yannis is not far off that either.

36:51

My thing, though, is that Yokis has just been

36:53

so efficient, Like I

36:55

think I saw. It's not he's

36:58

he's shooting. There's this guy

37:00

shooting for here sixty

37:01

three. He's

37:04

efficient from everywhere. I

37:06

mean, it's like basically anywhere the guy

37:08

shoots from the corners, the wing,

37:11

inside the arc, outside the arc, at

37:13

the basket, he's just you know, you

37:15

look at a shot, start shots, art is just green everywhere.

37:18

Um, he's assisting, like

37:20

the Nuggets are shooting like sixty some percent

37:22

off his passes this year, Like

37:25

he's not possessing the ball that

37:27

much. I think he's probably barely

37:30

in the top thirty or top forty and possession

37:32

for time time of possession per game. But

37:35

he's assisting ten guys ten

37:37

assists the game. Um, I

37:40

he's averaging a triple double. And the

37:42

difference between he and Westbrook is I

37:44

don't get the impression stat padding. I don't know how

37:47

he would. He doesn't have the ball in his hands more

37:49

than anybody else. H Murray

37:51

has the ball more than he does, so it's like

37:53

he's not even possessing the ball the whole time.

37:55

He's also not playing these entire games

37:58

because he oftentimes you know they're winning

38:00

by so much, he's got a triple double already,

38:02

they pull him early. He's

38:04

been the best version of himself,

38:07

and I kind of feel like that's generally what I trend toward.

38:09

As far as who does this award

38:12

belong to. I can't really consider

38:14

Embed for how much more I

38:16

can consider him, but I can't really say he

38:18

deserves it when Yokich is responsible

38:20

for so many more points over the course

38:23

of the game, and Embed for how good he's been

38:25

defensively, he's not been great, which I

38:27

kind of feel like is normally his opportunity to overtake

38:30

Yokich. I don't think he's been great

38:32

defensively. I think he's been better

38:34

lately. He was slow to start the year. I'm

38:37

still open minded about it, but I you know,

38:40

my thought is that if Yoki stays healthy, that

38:43

this is probably his award. Again, not to mention

38:45

that Denver is in first place. And then the reason

38:47

that Yokich has been more efficient is the

38:50

you know, the fact that he's got two other guys to kind

38:52

of carry some of the load for him scoring ones. They've

38:55

got a nice little cushion in the West now too.

38:58

After yeah, five game, exactly

39:00

right, they're on top of it. Stay Harry.

39:06

It was the way Boston started

39:09

the year. It looked like they were gonna be record wise,

39:12

far and away of some other teams. And you

39:14

know, there's some metrics about Boston that you'd

39:17

still think they're maybe the best team in the league.

39:19

But Nuggets are right there one game behind

39:21

them. The Bucks,

39:24

though, are a half game actually ahead of the Nuggets,

39:26

which is another reason why I throw the honest in that conversation.

39:29

They won twelve in a row in large

39:31

part because they're finally getting healthy. I mean, Chris Middleton

39:34

only finally starting to get to his normal

39:36

minutes load in recent games. Although we'll

39:38

see what happens with this, honest wrist injury.

39:40

Oh yeah, that sounds so like

39:43

they haven't really said anything. They said they'll get back

39:45

to playing once he's like feeling better. I'm

39:47

like, yeah,

39:47

that's but

39:50

how do you you ask me the question? Let me flip

39:52

it around on you, like where do you feel like the races

39:54

and do you feel like there's anybody that's You mentioned

39:56

Janice and he I did that

39:59

straw pole with Brontemps, be

40:01

honest, was number two on my ballot for that.

40:03

I had yokih one. Do you feel like

40:05

it's still a competitive race or do you kind of feel

40:07

like yokich is gonna eventually run away with this. I

40:10

think it'll be a competitive race, And the problem

40:12

is when you talk about it, you have to. Now

40:15

it's like, do you factor in how you think

40:17

people will vote because

40:20

it's in order for you. I don't think there's

40:22

a scenarian Yokitch runs away

40:24

with it, even though you know, again he was leading that straw

40:26

pull. I think it's going to be

40:29

he's gonna have to The nuggets

40:31

are gonna have to really pull away in the West,

40:34

and again they've started to do so, but I

40:36

think they're also going to pull ahead of Boston in Milwaukee

40:40

to a more significant degree for him to run

40:42

away with it. I think that there is it's

40:47

I think I'd pick Yokitch, but

40:50

like there's some weird part of me

40:52

that feels like I can't say

40:54

that because of how toxic the discourse

40:57

has gotten, and I don't

40:59

want to be seen as like a Yokich advanced

41:01

stats nerd, even though it's our whole advanced

41:04

stat I know it's weird about it, though. Like

41:06

I've always made a point

41:08

to follow a lot of fans from different fan bases,

41:11

you know, just to kind of hear what

41:13

the dialogue is or what people are talking about. I've

41:16

seen a lot of people that I

41:19

don't know if there's Sixers fans, but like I've seen a lot

41:21

of people that certainly think

41:25

that Yokich is maybe a little overhyped,

41:27

but they've been like, Okay, yeah, now he

41:30

deserves it. The last two years, people

41:32

were tripping like he was not that much better than everybody else

41:34

to where he deserved two in a row. You

41:36

know, this is the first year in which he's deserved it, which

41:38

I've seen some people say that, and it's like he

41:42

was still there was still a gap there efficiency

41:44

wise between him and everybody else. He

41:47

was scoring more the last couple of years

41:49

because he had to. This is

41:51

him really picking his spots and

41:53

just as efficient as you could really possibly be. The

41:56

assist stuff is just off the charts. I'll

42:01

be the first one to say that, like him playing

42:04

in as many games as he plays in

42:06

helps his case. Everybody else

42:08

gets hurt. Step is out Ebid

42:11

has been a lot healthier lately like

42:13

the last couple of years, but he still misses time

42:15

and has missed time this year I think more than

42:18

Yoki has. Yannis is about to miss

42:20

time unfortunately. Kevin Durant is

42:22

a guy that would have been in the conversation. He's missed time,

42:24

Lebron, we're talking about a d having an MVP level

42:27

season. He missed time. So it's

42:29

like at a certain point, when you're that consistently

42:31

in the lineup and you're that dominant,

42:34

you have a chance to just collect and pile up

42:36

stats in a way that nobody else does to

42:38

that extent. So we'll see. I

42:41

don't buy the idea that he didn't

42:44

deserve it either. The other two years, you could argue that

42:46

someone else maybe deserved a little bit more. But

42:49

like, if anything, this year is showing you why

42:52

he was at the top of so many people's ballots before.

42:54

He's doing a lot of the same stuff, but

42:56

even more efficiently than he did it before,

42:59

and piling up the number is even great more crazy

43:01

than he was before. But I don't

43:03

know. At this point, I think it's him, Luca.

43:06

I think it becomes a more difficult argument for him too,

43:09

now that he's got Kyrie, where

43:11

he's just not going to be able to run away with stuff statistically

43:13

anymore. It

43:16

will be interesting to see how it shakes out.

43:20

He has been fantastic. People

43:22

know I'm a big Joker fan, and it's

43:24

sad to me that

43:27

the discourse got so poisoned

43:29

and people got so

43:31

kind of annoyed by I

43:34

think there's something we said about the cases

43:36

being made for Yokicha times felt a

43:38

little patronizing,

43:41

a little condescending. That's

43:43

something some people can have to own,

43:46

perhaps myself included to some

43:48

extent. But he has

43:50

been really good, and one thing I'll push back

43:52

on is people say, historically, what

43:54

does it mean to win three MVPs in a row?

43:57

How can we give it to someone?

44:00

We just have so much more information available

44:02

as to us now than we did twenty years

44:05

ago. I've said this before, but just

44:07

the fact that so many more people have

44:10

league pass MVB

44:13

cases just are a lot different now.

44:16

The way we cover the league is a lot different now. I

44:18

think there are a lot of factors that go into something like this.

44:21

Let's zoom to just the East

44:23

for a second. We talked about Milwaukee,

44:26

I mentioned Boston. I

44:28

think it's fair to say those

44:31

are the clear cut two best

44:33

teams in the East. Boston's

44:37

offense is, even though it's dipped

44:39

slightly since the start of the season, has still just been

44:41

such a juggernaut the whole year. They're so tough

44:44

to stop. Milwaukee's

44:47

coming along now. I think the rotations

44:49

really starting to take shape with Milton there. I

44:51

like how Ingles has looked. I think

44:53

Ingles has looked and played well for them. I

44:56

like when he has the ball in his hands and kind of there's some of

44:58

those second units they're getting.

45:00

Jay Crowder, do

45:03

you think you know Phillies in third

45:05

place? The Cavs actually have

45:07

the same number of wins of them. Tell

45:09

me how this happens. The

45:11

Cavaliers have played four more games

45:13

than the Sixers four, they

45:16

have the same number of wins. Cleveland has four

45:18

more losses. That does not make

45:20

a lot of sense to me. Yeah.

45:22

I know that the Heat signed Kevin Love and

45:25

shot up to number one in all the sports books

45:27

for title odds after that buyout

45:29

signing. But

45:33

for a minute, I was like waiting, always

45:36

making the joke. Okay, got you do

45:41

you think there's a team outside of Boston and Milwaukee

45:43

that you think

45:46

could beat them? Do you do you think is there a third

45:48

contender in this conference? Or do Boston and Milwaukee

45:50

have it? Let me throw this team out

45:52

and just kind of see hot Lands. Um, Cleveland's

45:56

gonna be really interesting in this conversation, I

45:58

think, do I think that they'll in the conference?

46:00

No, it's you know, and I'm

46:02

working on a story about the Kings right now

46:05

about I mean, they're they're kind of the

46:07

equivalent in someways. Cleveland I think is

46:09

in Cleveland's and fourth by two

46:11

games, two games behind Philly,

46:14

and Sacramento is in third by three

46:16

games behind. Memphis, and

46:19

they're only one game ahead of the Clippers for fourth.

46:24

Cleveland has what

46:26

might be what the easiest schedule left

46:29

in the not

46:31

the easy schedule. They've got the second easy schedule

46:33

left in the East. Detroit is the only team that has an easier

46:35

schedule left. They're, you know, the fourth

46:37

easy schedule in the whole league. Philly has the toughest

46:40

schedule left in the league. So

46:43

from that standpoint, it's feasible to think

46:45

between that between the idea that like Philly is

46:48

more injury prone with

46:51

embed with hardened MAXI

46:53

missed a lot of time this year. Maybe

46:55

they got the injury buck out of their system already

46:57

because of that. But it's it's very

47:00

feasible that Cleveland could finish on par if

47:02

not ahead a Philly. If

47:04

that's the case, and

47:07

who's to say that, Like, we don't know how much

47:09

time Yannest will miss. Cleveland

47:12

could finish second or third. It's

47:14

a little early, but if that's the

47:16

case, Like, and I think this is what makes

47:18

Sacramento Essentially, I'm not used to looking

47:21

at a team three quarters of the way through the season

47:23

in third place and not considering them

47:25

to be a contender, but

47:27

no one's going to consider. Second, I wrote

47:30

this in the newsletter. The difference between the

47:32

Clippers and Sacramento

47:34

is that Sacramento had no expectations

47:37

going into this season, really, and

47:41

the Clippers did, and so you

47:43

know, even hell.

47:45

I talked to Monny McNair from the

47:47

Kings when I was out there to work on story, and I

47:49

asked them, like, is it kind of strange to, like,

47:52

one, make it so plain that your real

47:55

goal, your sole goal here this year is to make

47:57

the playoffs. Is it gonna be a weird

48:00

hivot to have to jump from saying that out

48:02

loud to then being like, as soon as you get there,

48:04

now you have to you want to win, Like it's

48:06

not just about making the playoffs once you make it there.

48:08

And he was like, yeah, you know, I understand. You mean, like you always

48:11

get a little bit greedy once you get a little taste

48:13

of it. Cleveland has not

48:15

made the playoffs without Lebron since the nineties.

48:18

They were very close last year, or

48:20

they did not quite get there. It seems like they're going to get

48:22

there this year. They should and I think it actually

48:25

is maybe not likely, but it's pretty

48:27

close to likely. That they'll maybe even finish in one of

48:29

the top three spots. So I think they're a

48:31

team that when you look at them, they've had the best net

48:33

rating outside of

48:35

Boston for the year. They've had the best

48:38

defense for a couple months now,

48:40

despite having Donovan Mitchell and Darius

48:42

Garland in their backcourt. You have to take

48:44

a team like that seriously, Like they've got as

48:46

much scoring threat from the backcourt as anybody.

48:49

They've got the best defense in the league

48:51

statistically, and they've got the easiest schedule

48:54

coming up basically of anybody that's going to make the playoffs

48:56

in the East? Does that make them

48:58

a great team? That's the fact that they can

49:00

load up on wins against some of these bad teams.

49:03

I don't know, like they don't have any playoff

49:05

experience of their own, but Donovan

49:07

Mitchell obviously brings a lot of that himself. I'm

49:11

just curious. I do think you have to include

49:13

them in that conversation. I think it'll be shortsighted, not too

49:16

Yeah, I mean, second best net rating in the NBA

49:18

is very compelling. He brought that up. If

49:23

Danny Green has anything left,

49:26

man that is h you

49:30

hate to hit your wagon to a buyout guy.

49:33

But oh, Danny Green

49:35

of five years ago be the exact player

49:38

that they need. Oh, that would be perfect

49:40

for them. I would love that. I hope

49:42

he's got something left because

49:44

he like, not just as a vet, but just

49:46

like a guy that doesn't

49:48

need shots. It's gonna work hard. You

49:51

know, we all know how great

49:53

a transition defender he is. He's will you do

49:55

the dirty work? You put him in the corner, you

49:57

have him do that annoying Danny Green baseline,

50:00

you know, corner to corner cut. Yeah.

50:02

The thing is you don't need him to start, You

50:05

don't need him to play thirty minutes a game. But

50:07

if you could get twenty two

50:10

minutes from Danny Green in the playoffs and he can

50:12

close games for you, I don't

50:14

even know if you need twenty two from him, like

50:16

fifteen twenty, I think he'd be said, you

50:18

know, like, if you could get that, that's a big thing

50:20

for that team that has kind of cycled

50:23

through that position all year, right, okoro

50:26

uh lavert? They had Why

50:29

am I blanking on his name? Dean

50:32

Wade? Yeah, the guy played some three and four for them,

50:35

h you know, so it's a it's a

50:37

team that's has Lamar. They've

50:39

they've got a lot of guys that h them,

50:42

They've got Chetty, They've they got a lot

50:44

of guys. But he

50:47

he there's potential there. Like we haven't

50:49

seen it from him enough this season. Uh,

50:51

he's coming back off a major injury. But

50:53

if he can give them anything like they're they've

50:56

got enough pieces and they've got a good enough defense

50:59

to where that's a team it could surprise

51:01

people even though they haven't made the playoffs with this iteration

51:03

of the team. Yeah, yeah,

51:06

Acors looked mildly friskier recently,

51:09

but I think teams are going

51:11

to go Andre Robertson mode on him

51:13

in the playoffs. Absolutely, make improve

51:16

it. You shot twenty six percent through

51:19

the beginning of the year, and granted

51:21

he's been like I think closer to forty

51:23

two, forty three whatever it is since then,

51:27

but it's still on a shot and a half a game

51:29

or whatever. You know, it's like, you're

51:31

gonna make improve it. And that's

51:33

what we're talking about. We talk about the Calfs. How big a threat

51:35

are they in the playoffs? How many

51:37

of your guys have been through this kind of fire before

51:40

and the fact that a lot of them have

51:42

not been will be interesting, so it'll be worth

51:44

watching for sure. There

51:47

are a bunch of teams we didn't get to today that

51:49

we will talk about, you know, the coming

51:51

weeks. The Grizzlies we haven't talked about much,

51:55

although we talked about We talked about the Grizzlies

51:57

a lot, the Suns a lot on our

51:59

trade deadline megapodcast from a couple

52:01

of weeks ago. If you guys are looking

52:03

for some stuff, but I want to end with this

52:06

question today, Harry, and I'm gonna put you on the spot

52:09

a little bit here. Tell

52:11

me right now,

52:14

I don't need a pick. I just need a what

52:17

do you think? And where's your head at? A friendly

52:19

check in? Only the two

52:21

teams right now

52:24

that you feel like I'm making the NBA Finals, m

52:31

you know, for the sake of this was my

52:33

pick before the season. I'll stick with it. And also they're

52:35

on a twelve game winning streak. I'll be it now

52:37

without Yiannis Milwaukee, I'll keep them out

52:40

of the West. My pick before the season was the Clippers.

52:43

I just told you, I don't really see that possible.

52:46

I don't see it I had taken the Grizzlies

52:48

at a different point in this season. They're not looking great

52:50

either, and they haven't been good enough on the road to justify

52:53

that. So I'll say Phoenix now,

52:55

I look, my only

52:57

real criticism of them, not this

53:00

isn't. My only worry about them for right

53:02

now is the health, um, which

53:04

I think was a very fair thing to be concerned about, giving

53:06

that Chris Paul, Devin

53:08

Booker, and obviously Kevin Durant still or

53:11

we're out, are out, have been out. It's

53:14

it's it's a curiosity that I'm gonna have until

53:16

they make it through the season healthy. Um.

53:19

Even if they make it through this season healthy, it's a curiosity

53:21

I'm gonna have next season is Chris Paul gets

53:23

older and Kevin Durant has annual perennial injuries.

53:26

Uh, it's just gonna be a question. It

53:28

just is. Uh. I think it's been

53:30

overblown a little bit for people to say that

53:32

they don't know that Phoenix has the depth.

53:34

They've got a lot of guys on this team that don't

53:37

even have to play anymore. Like Okogee

53:40

Okogi has been a good player for them. I know that he

53:42

has locally. They've really liked him to

53:45

the energy he brings, the offensive rebounding.

53:48

I liked the Terrence Ross pick up for them.

53:51

Yea someone who can bomb away some threes

53:53

if he can hold up defensively in the playoffs at

53:55

least in the first round or two. LEAs

53:57

had a nice season story

54:00

for them. Yeah. Yeah, I mean it's You've

54:02

got a lot of Landry shamm It is on

54:04

this Like you've got guys that you don't even really have

54:06

to use a got TJ. Warren in that trade too

54:08

for for Durant, Like, they've got

54:11

a lot of dudes on this team that

54:13

can help in some way, shape or form it. You

54:16

know, it doesn't have to be every night. Uh. They've

54:18

got a lot of shooters, which that's

54:20

what you want around Durant, and a bunch of guys that

54:23

can and will operate from the mid range

54:25

as much as they do. Uh. And Eton

54:27

is not a bad guy to be able to throw into the post.

54:30

Like it's a it's a pretty loaded team.

54:32

It's again, it's just a health question for me. And

54:35

given that that's the only question that I can't

54:37

really pick apart several weaknesses after that, Uh,

54:41

like you know, I'm I'll go with

54:43

them as the favorite. I don't think they're

54:45

I'm a vast favorite because of the health questions,

54:48

but um, you know, I like

54:50

their versatility a little bit more than Denvers at

54:52

this point, and their two way ability more than

54:54

Denvers at this point when you consider

54:57

that the Nets when eighteen and two, when

55:00

Durant was healthy, they had that stretch.

55:03

I like the Sun's team more than the Nets

55:05

team. Yeah that that Durrant

55:07

was So if he can get healthy, they

55:09

could go on a nice little run

55:11

here to finish the regular season.

55:14

Especially with the book. He's been at

55:16

an incredible level this year CB

55:18

three. He's looked so much better recently. I

55:21

think I'm going to join you. I'm gonna go with the rematch. It's

55:24

hard to trust him after last

55:26

year, can you but if but if they

55:28

I mean, but if Rant

55:30

to that equation and he's healthy

55:32

again, That's the only real question I've got.

55:35

I do think it becomes interesting if Chris

55:37

Paul is just not playing well, but

55:40

he's also more likely to play well with that collection

55:42

of talent than than last year. So well,

55:44

well, we'll get a chance to see, and I cannot

55:47

wait I cannot wait. I would

55:49

have liked Reggie Jackson there too, by the way, that would

55:51

have been a fun one. But like you said, Damian Lee,

55:53

they've had good they're missing Campaign.

55:56

I saw Campaign in December and I

55:58

was like, yeah, well soon man. He's like it's kind and still

56:00

been a couple months, so um

56:05

yeah, man there. I

56:07

know people are still scarred from what they saw in

56:09

that Game seven, but I'm with you and

56:11

I think that would be a fun of very

56:14

fun NBA Finals. But Chris,

56:16

that will do it? Or

56:19

today's episode of Open Floor.

56:21

Everyone makes sure you were subscribed to the Playmaker.

56:24

If you somehow haven't bought Chris's

56:26

book yet, I'm sure there's some holiday. Maybe

56:29

you forgot a Valentine's Day present? Um,

56:32

get it for the next man in

56:34

your life. Uh, Chris,

56:36

have you seen the new ant Man movie? By the way, I'm

56:39

not how is it? Yeah, don't man, that

56:41

was a mistake. That

56:45

note. Everyone

56:48

enjoy the last twenty

56:50

games of the NBA season. Woll

57:02

what what what what