(upbeat music)
- Hello, welcome to The Who Collected Podcast.
We talk about the NBA, which we're doing on Tuesday afternoon, joining us from Exfinity Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where the 76ers are playing the San Antonio spurs on Tuesday night.
Game hasn't happened yet. You guys are all smarter than us. Watching listening is Tim Bottoms. Oh, everybody. The end of the rodeo road trip for the spurs.
“I think the last time they played in San Antonio,”
he was on February 7th. And then they have a back-to-back. - They had two games in Austin in the middle to break things up a little bit more than what it used to be, but it's still been a very long time
to have been in San Antonio, probably. - Yeah, it's technically a home games in Austin, but they're not home games. Anyway, joining us from Down the Hall here in Los Angeles, see, he's in my suite.
This is usually the suite I'm in.
I came in to do the podcast on Temps and my room had been taken over by fans of McMahon. - Howdy, partners. Sorry, couldn't quite pull rank on me. They're early bird gets the worm.
And so here I am, it's a comfortable seat, too. - Our old pal Raffa's got you looking great in the shot there McMahon. - Yeah, I know. - He's a spirit and I do.
He's also, he's got makeup. He's got studio makeup on. I've got no makeup on.
“So just, you've got to grab a microphone.”
You just don't have the hat. - That's right, I know. So anyway, right as I got here, Bon Temps, let me tell you what went down. So I walked in and the NBA today was going on.
And so I was looking for one of the producers to help me with something. And I walked into the studio and Malica is doing this interview with this high school senior who is committing, making his commitment known.
And McMahon, right as I walk in, he's breaks down in tears. - I didn't break down in tears to be clear the kid did. - Didn't sound like you meant the fan broke down in tears. - Well, McMahon might have been in tears.
I wasn't looking at him. The young man broke down in tears. - Bruce Branson III, who will be playing for me, why are you? He's going to cast those Ryan Smith checks.
A motion, obviously, a huge day for the kid. And he started kind of tearing up, talking about his little brother. And then he started talking about his mama and that, you know, the tears started flowing in Malica. I had an open moment.
Oh, the little saw. Malica, she did. She stood up and came over. I was like, I walked in, like, trying to sneak in, you know, frankly, I thought it was on TV.
I thought maybe it was on tape. I didn't know it was actually live live. That was quite a moment for Malica. Wait a while, I see her later on. - Listen, I told Malica, phenomenal job.
She does have a lot of experience consulting a crying man because Matt 10 cries every time. She reviews loses and that is all the time. (laughing) - Oh boy.
- He has no more tears. He has no more tears. All right, so we had a significant event in the last couple of days here. Yana Satin and Kumpo returned for the Milwaukee Books on Monday.
They lost, they've now lost three games in a row. And Yana's is on a minute restriction naturally because they're keeping an eye on that calf. I think unless you were a bucks fan, it was easy to lose track of the bucks a little bit
over the last 15 games that Yana's was out, especially after Yana's wasn't traded. But when it ended up happening with them, was he missed 15 games and they went 87 in those games. They were in 11th place in the East
when he went out with that calf in Gereon. When he came back, they were in 11th place. They pass the bulls and were passed by the horn. - The bulls passed, they have to be clear, but that's true.
- That's true. - So they have made the decision in a sea of tankers. They have made the decision not to tank. And they had 1/8 out of 10 games, and then they lost the last three to the nicks bulls
and Celtics.
“In fact, the bulls, I think had lost 11 in a row”
and beat them to break their losing streak, beat them by 25 points.
But they lost Yana's first game back.
They only scored 81 points in that game, which was one of the lowest scoring games in the NBA all season. Bon times, can you get a look here at what the bucks have on their plate?
- Could you please explain the draft pick situation that includes the Atlanta Hawks who are playing the bucks on ESPN on Wednesday night? - Yeah, so to go back to last June and the now, depending on your perspective,
the infamous Pelicans Hawks draft night trade that led to the Pelicans getting Gereon Queen with the 13th pick in the draft. The trade was Pelicans gave up the 23rd pick in the draft, which they had gotten from the Indiana Pacers
a couple weeks prior before Tyre's Albert and heard his Achilles. And they also gave up the better of New Orleans' pick in Milwaukee's pick in this year's draft, the 2026 draft, an exchange for the 13th pick last year
Which became dare-quite.
So Atlanta came out of that with the 23rd pick, which they took case in New Orleans forward out of Georgia, and then they were gonna end up with the better of the New Orleans in Milwaukee pick. So as of right now, the Pelicans
“are, I believe, in sixth in the lottery standings,”
after a very important for the jazz back-to-back pair of losses to the Pelicans the other day, moving Utah into the top five and making it very unlikely they'll be giving up their pick
to the Oklahoma City Thunder, which is top eight protected, as we know. So they have the sixth lottery odds, and right now, Milwaukee is in tenth in the lottery odds, which by the way, Atlanta went from 10th to 1st
a couple of years ago to get Zachary Oricia Shies. So as we've seen with the New lottery odds, you can move up. So when we get to lottery night, let's say the Pelicans have the 3rd pick
and the box have the 4th pick. Atlanta will pick 3rd, and Milwaukee gets the lesser of those picks. So the Milwaukee would then pick 4th, and then New Orleans obviously won't have anything.
So if one of those two teams jumps up, Atlanta benefits, and then the lesser pick goes to the box. That is the roundabout way of explaining all. Right, so the thing about it is that the box in theory could get as high as, the box aren't focused on this.
The box can get as high as two. They can't get one because the best picks automatically go right. But if both teams go up to one and two,
the box could pick as high as second.
Right, but I want to talk about the strategy that the box have decided to employ here, okay? So understand that they don't get their pick unless it falls behind the Pelicans pick. I wouldn't even back up from there.
If you're the box, and you were sitting there when Yana Scott heard, they had somewhere around 17 or 18 wins. And they had sort of two paths in front of them. They had 18 wins. So if they had done with the Chicago Bulls have recently
done in Los Tenden Arro, or really leaned into losing, like we've seen Memphis and Dallas and some of these other teams do, they would have had a chance to be somewhere in the 6 to 8 or 9 range in the lottery, which would have pretty significantly increased their chances of having a pick somewhere from 6 to 8
in the lottery and a load of draft. In a loaded draft, like every look, if they end up at 10, it's going to be fine, like they'll end up with a very good player. It's a deep draft, but the higher up you go, the better chance you have of getting an impact player.
It also increases the chances of both picks jumping up into the top four. What's then, they could end up with Camp Booser, or Caleb Wilson, or GDP answered, like one of these real huge prospects at the top of the draft.
And like I just said, it's not impossible.
“Like I think it's most likely that the box”
are going to pick 10th. Like the way the sanding sit right now, they're probably not making the play in with the way Charlottes played. Atlanta's got a lot of-- Well, let me go over all this.
Let's just slow down a second.
Let me go over all this. Slow down. So they had 18 wins when Yannis got her. They went eight and seven with him out, which was very good. Man surprising.
They were way below 500 without him. The schedule played a role, which I'm going to go over in a second. But they had 18 wins. If they had one four games instead of eight, OK? They would be in position to have the seventh pick.
But because they won eight games-- and this is what we're talking about-- it's very tightly packed between six and 10. Because they won eight games, they're now sitting at the 10th pick.
And Yannis is back. Now, they've been a much better team with Yannis this year than without. So I assume, I thought you're since they're trying to win, that they will not lose more games.
But the thing about it is, is that if they get lucky in the lottery, I say lucky in quotes. So right now, they have a 14% chance of moving. If the lottery was today, and again, they don't care about this, because they're trying to make the playoffs just to be clear.
But I'm talking about it from a strategic standpoint.
“And if you're a buck stinger, why are you talking about the strategy?”
Why aren't you talking about us making the playoffs
upsetting the Celtics and the first round?
Yannis, making you run into the conference finals? That's what the team has focused on. Why aren't you focused on that? And I would say, if they get into the play in, which they're not in yet, will evaluate how they're playing.
But I want to talk about the strategies that they employed. So the thing is, had they been six or seventh in the lottery? They would have had a real chance to get-- had their pick in the six or seven range. Now, their pick is 14% chance to move up.
And the all likelihood is, if they hit that 14% chance, like, man, what was Dallas's percentage? I think it was 1.8%-- 1.8% was the Mazazzi at that number one pick. And I think it was roughly about eight or nine percent
to go into the top four. Let's say, Milwaukee gets lucky. Let's say that they're rewarded with karma for not tanking, and they hop up with all likelihood they're not going to be able to get that pick.
Because it'll go higher than the pelicans. Maybe they'd both get lucky.
They would still benefit though, because they'd get
the pelicans pick, who should be a better, you know,
the pelicans have-- True, better odds. But they're a chance, like the bond-times was saying, to give themselves a almost a guarantee to pick six, seven, eightish. They essentially controlled their draft pick this year.
They didn't exactly, but because New Orleans was off to such an awful start, they could guarantee themselves a pretty decent floor for where their pick would lay. And in this draft, am I wrong in saying there's a pretty
“significant difference between pick, seven, and pick, ten?”
Like, that's sort of where it goes, right? I've been told two to three franchise players. And then, like, if you get to, like, through eight, there's, like, it's considered a pretty loaded draft through, like, eight or so, just, you know, again, I'm not a college scout,
but talking to GMs and scouts around the league. That's what I'm told. I would just say, in general, every pick higher you pick the better. So, OK.
All right. So, now let's take a look at where they are in the standings. All of the teams below them in the standings are tanking. Bulls, wizards, net spacers. Right.
Except the pelicans, they just stink. I'm talking about in the east. OK.
“Like, man, and I are going to see the pelicans tonight.”
That's true. Wait, but pelicans, it legors. OK, all the teams below them are tanking. So, I'm just going to assume, even though the bulls just beat them, beat the bucks other day, that those teams are not going to catch the bull.
When you look at teams under 500, I look at the wind column. Some people look at the lost column. I look at the wind column because that's the thing that's less likely. If you're under 500, they have 26 wins as we do this. So, Hornets, who are red hot, have 30 wins.
So, they're four wins in the Hornets. And no, if they catch somebody, it's the hocks. It ain't going to be the ones. And they have a game against the hocks on Wednesday night. The hocks are 500.
They have one four straight games in a row. They're 31 and 31. So, the bucks need to chase down the Hornets or the hocks, one or the other, to get into a position where they would have to win two play in games to get into the playoff.
So, if they overcome being four games and five games behind one of these teams in the wind column with what 20ish 21 games left. See, they've played, they've played 60 games. They have 22 games left. If they're able to make up four or five games on those two teams in front of them,
then they can crawl into the back of the play in. All right. And by the way, it was an inauspicious start to this push on Monday night when they played the Celtics who were sitting, Jalen Brown, Ann Payton, Richard, Ann, Nemes, Cata, and had essentially Derek White at a bunch of very young
and experienced players playing and obliterated Milwaukee while playing on the second night of a back-to-back on the road. I will tell you what Bobby Portis said. So, they won eight out of 10 and then they've lost three in a row by a total of 79 points. And Eric named from the athletic quoted Bobby Portis saying the following,
when he was asked, as we're looking at what's going to happen with Milwaukee here, what's going to happen with Yannis, which is really what this is code for. We're spending all this time talking about this because we want to know where Yannis's head is going to be at the end of the season and we want to know whether the bucks can actually improve their lot with their draft pick or with what's more likely a high draft pick
that changes their situation or a playoff run that changes their situation. One is possible. We're kind of making the argument that it's not looking like either.
That's where we're getting that. All right. So, here's what Bobby Portis said to explain
how the bucks win eight out of 10 and then get blown out three straight games. We're just playing better teams. It's kind of fools go gold. Rolling eight out of 10, playing against bottom teams that they're trying to lose for real right, playing against teams that are jacking for position. We used to be in that position to jacking for position. So, basically, Bobby Portis is saying is that eight out of 10 wins straight.
This is a player on the team saying that that's full school. I will tell you the teams that they beat at the eight out of 10. They beat the bulls, which they didn't do the last time they played them. They beat the pelicans. They beat the pazers. They split two games with the magic. Now, this was a good one. They won in Oklahoma City. There was injuries, but they went in there and they won. Excellent win. They beat New Orleans again. Lost to the raptors. Beat the heat.
Beat the calves. The calves were sitting there top three players in that game, but still, they beat them.
“So, that's what the what they ate out of 10 was. And so, they have the Hawks coming up on Wednesday.”
That's a chance to beat a team directly in front of them. It's like a, you know, it's a double way. I mean, then they play the jazz who are full on tanking. So, they could win the next two games. And, you know, I've closed that gap a little bit, but I'm just, I'm just want to lay out the situation with the bucks you're in, because, you know, the honest thing is still out there. They're like a thunder storm on their eyes. And I know it's been out there for months and it's tires.
Well, for years, for years. Yeah. And look, it is, it is completely hypocritical to be critical of
The bucks for going all in on a plan.
the tanking epidemic is the biggest issue in the NBA right now. This is a team that could have
“gone the tank route. And it's gone the complete opposite. They're trying as hard as possible to”
cling to that number 10 seed and probably get bounced in a plan. But they're, they're in this
never, never pretend land where if they can just get the plan, they can win a couple games. And then
they can beat a number one seed and match everything's coming together. The reason there's a tanking epidemic is because it is smart strategy for teams that aren't any good. The bucks aren't any good. And whether they're moving forward with the honest or not, they don't have control of their picks moving forward. This is like there, much like the Maddox. This is their one swing at a lottery pick for a little while. And it would be their best asset to try to somehow quick rebuild and give
you honest a chance to continue. Or the best asset, if you're on this, if they're doing a trading
“honest boom, you've got a foundation piece moving forward. It sucks that you're sitting here saying,”
why are they bringing you honest back? But the reality of the situation is this is not in the bucks best long-term interest to just try as hard as they may just squeeze into the freaking plan. Well, but there's several people who's it's in their short-term interest. Yeah. Well, that is that's true. And this is also a reminder of plan I wrote about a couple of weeks ago to address the tanking issue. And if you had wins count at this time of the year towards lottery positioning,
this wouldn't be a discussion. Instead, everybody could just be excited that Janice's healthy and play. And I will again contend that whatever the NBA tries to do to address this issue, which I grieving man is a huge problem. In fact, that most of the games final couple much of the year stink and are not interesting. They have to address the fact that it is in the best interest of all of these teams to lose right now. And for all the complaining people want to do about all these
various teams, they're all doing the thing that's in their best interest. So that is what has to change for any of this stuff to really change. And again, if you had a system where wins count for the final third of the season towards your lottery positioning, having Janice come back would be great. The box winning these games would be great. You wouldn't have teams trying to lose. It wouldn't be celebrating the bulls losing 10 games at a row or, you know,
all this other stuff that's going on. Instead, we'd be talking about Jared Jackson Jr. playing and Larry Marketed playing. And Janice said a couple of playing and, you know, these young guys in Washington playing, which are a young, like all these things would be exciting instead of, well, are these teams going to lose more? If it's a zoo bot's playing in Indiana, that would be fun,
you know, that'd be great to see too. So yes, it's 100%. It sounds at the critical to say,
that bad people say to me, how can you criticize these teams that are trying to win when you say the tanking is bad? Well, because they're not like you said it laid out perfectly. They're not
“doing the thing that's in their best interest. And that's the problem. And that's what needs to”
change if the NBA's got to really fix anything. And then forget about the tanking issue for the bucks, big picture planning and strategy. What is the most important question that their leadership answers? What is Janice want? Janice wants to play? Janice is going to play. And for years now, what does Janice want has been kind of the guiding light for the bucks long-term planning? Yeah, I mean, Janice wants to win tonight, but what will Janice want when we get to April
May, you know, and we'll actually say it out loud. Maybe he won't. Maybe he won't. And maybe they do get into the plane. And maybe they do something in a series and it changes it. And that's what they're playing for. And if they do, then they will get to say, see, that's, I mean, one of my big
beliefs you guys know is there's always time. So I have to stick to that. I develop that for
a reason. So I have to acknowledge that there is time for the bucks. But they are, they put themselves in a very narrow pathway to pulling this out. But they may do it. They may get lucky in the lottery relative to them in the pelicans. It may all work out. But they put themselves in a position where their pathways are narrow. But we'll watch and continue to see how that plays out. [MUSIC]
>> Okay.
night. They'd won six out of eight games. They subsequently have blown two games. They do play Tuesday night against the wizards. They're a tanker. I have no idea what will happen. Hopefully for Orlando's sake, they take care of business in that game. But they're last two games against Houston and Detroit, which are two good teams. >> Very good teams. >> But on their home court,
they blew second half leads in both games. The Houston one was particularly painful in the fourth
quarter. As Houston's fourth quarter offense is not good. Durant, you know, had a good game. And after the game, Paolo Bancaro came into the post camp press conference and he was asked, you know, hey, why is the opponent kind of handling you guys in the second half? And he said, quote, just being more organized, being able to communicate with each other. What we're trying to do,
“teams, a lot of times adjusted half time. And I think that's why we struggled a lot in the second”
half, because we don't really adjust to their adjustments. >> Oopsie, you guys remember when we discussed the magic recently, and I said that there's a lot of discussion around the league about Paolo not being on the same page, which I'm all mostly. And then Paolo was asked about that by the local media. And he, where's that coming from? Where's that? Well, this is not exactly going to quiet the noise about about that whole situation. I can assure you that. So Jamal Mosley was asked
about Paolo's comments. And Jamal Mosley said, quote, yeah, I think the one adjustment that Detroit made last night, they just played a little harder. They get into the ball. They grabbed that a little bit more. They clogged the pain a little bit more. And our decisions became slower, because there was a lot of, there were not a lot of gaps. There was no schematic adjustment that
“they made. It was more or less along the lines. Did they turn up their defensive heat a lot more?”
He keeps going on. But basically, he said, they played harder than us. So basically, let's translate
that. >> That's actually not really what he said. What he really said was, they played harder and my star player held the ball longer. That's really what he said. >> And this was on a night that Paolo had nine turnovers. >> One guy said, we did not adjust. One guy said coach. And the other guy said, well, they just played harder. And we clogged it up. The coach said player. That's essentially what it was. And it happens to be the star player and the coach. And it's a team that's underachieving.
Although they had been playing better, it's a team that is heavily invested in this season and is underachieving. Granted, they have had injury problems. But a lot of teams have had injury problems. They've had this unfortunate thing with Franz Wagner who just can't get over this ankle issue. He's been three different times. Been down with it. But all that said, we have a
guy on a 200 million dollar contract and the head coach at open odds with each other. It's not
in this shadows anymore. I'm a McMahon. It's now wide out into the open. >> Well, and look, the magic didn't give up all those picks and make an expensive trade in terms of what they gave up and take it on the salary of Desmond Baying to be the seven seed in the Eastern Conference. And, you know, Palabin caros talent is not in question. I mean, he just had one of phenomenal game in LA when we had 36 points and was efficient and you'll fill out the box score. But you know,
and he's still a young player. And, you know, you got to be careful like reaching grand conclusions on young guys, think of mellow balls, teaching us a little bit of that lesson. But Palo is just not proven that he can be a driver of really meaningful winning yet at this point in his career. And, you know, you can blame the coach. That's, and any time it's going to be the max max salary face of the franchise versus the coach. I think we know who is going to win that battle in the
“long run if that's what it comes down to. But it's Palabin caros franchise. And he's not yet proven”
that, you know, he can get the magic to a point of being anything but a pretty good team that's not a real threat. Look, as of right now, the magic could tie it from 19th in offensive rating, be their highest offensive rating since 2011 or 12. I don't remember which year, but it was a year when Dwight Howard was there because I haven't been inside the top 20 since then, which is a pretty wild stat. However, they're also tied for 19th, right? Like, after trading for Desmond Bane with Palabin
caros with Franz Wagner with all these other guys. So, like, that's the problem. Like, and yes, they've had injuries. Palabin out, Franz has been out. Yes, that's fair. Well, maybe they'll put up one 40 on the wizard's tonight. I'll move up like 17th. They probably will move up with the wizard playing the wizard's, but I mean, at the end of the day, this, like you said, Brian, they didn't trade for first round kicks for Desmond Bane to be in
the plan. And they're right now in the plan, and it's been a very disappointing season.
They didn't give Palabin a max contract would have been super max to have an ...
field goal percentage of 48.9% and that, in order to turn the ball over as much as he does, and to be an inefficient offensive player. Palabin was, uh, I don't think it was, like, in just unjust, uh, unjust, but, you know, he didn't make the all strike. He made the, he was
rookie the year as rookie year, obviously, and then he made the all 13th second year. Last year
“he was hurt this year. He didn't make the all start team. And so he, uh, believe spoke, I think Mark”
Spears told the story here. I don't know if he wrote the story or told the story, but he, like, really focused in during the all star break on, like, buckling down because he didn't, you know, he didn't like the idea that he wasn't at the all star game. And so, uh, he has come out after the all star break and had a string of good games. His scoring is way up in those games. I don't know what he do to what he'll do and gets the wizards tonight. He shot the ball, a little bit better.
It's still not great, but he shot the ball, a little bit better. He's, his rebounds are up as a sister up, like he's definitely trying to tighten down and like trying to pick this team up. In fact, you know, one of the stats that has trailed him throughout his career is that he's, the magic have been out. He's had a negative plus minus his whole career that despite all of the, of the
stats and the honors and the money that he's never, the magic have never been a winning team when
he's been, you know, they've never won on the scoreboard when he's been out there. It's only been six games. And again, I don't know what will happen tonight. He's had a positive plus minus in these last six games, like he's, he's, I think what's, what's interesting about this is that he is actually trying to like be the player that people want him to be. And yet we still have this situation
“happen. And so, and here's the thing, Jamal's comments came the next day, you know, the first”
coach talked, then the players talked. So, Palo's comments came after Mosley and the Mosley had an overnight to think about it and what he was going to say. And he kind of, you know, wasn't like a broad side, but he kind of jabbed Palo back. By the way, he, it positive plus minus the, the plus 32 coming out of the break against the Sacramento Kings helped. The mod is 25 against the distance got a pretty, pretty close, pretty, pretty close to normal. Fair point, it's way too
small of a sample size, but he has been, they put it up better numbers. Okay, I will say, so this game with wizards game will be the last wizards game that we've seen until we see a tray young who
it has been announced, well, they cause debut for the wizards on Thursday. He has finally recovered
from that injury, following the trades several months ago. He says with a straight face. Well, I can only tell you what the team reports, but I don't even know who they play, who they play. Jazz is a green jazz. It's a really tough time for a young to come back. That's a must-lose game. So he, he, he, very, very strategically picked the jazz. It's the second night of a back-to-back for the jazz, too, I think. No, it's strategically, you'd bring it back against a good team.
You don't, like, they can't beat the jazz. That's very problematic, they do. By the way, there's two jazz wizards games this month. I don't know how many people tune in on league pass, but I gotta get just wedges of folks from the NBA office will. That's true. So tray young will debut as a wizard. He has not played since December 27th. Hey, and you know the jazz are tankin' if they don't bring tray young into the action on every single possession when the wizards
are on the defensive end of the floor. Yeah, if they don't involve him in picking roles, you know that there is maybe some strategy going on. More whoop collective podcast after this. Speaking of teams that are sort of stuck in the bit of the middle, as we talked about with the bucks, the warriors are in an interesting position, stuck in the middle, and they've made, I think an interesting strategy decision, bond terms. So they announced on Sunday or Monday,
I hear remember what that Steph Curry was going to be out another 10 days, which is five more games. And that, you know, he's dealing with a knee injury that's a repetitive use injury. And, you know, instantly there were people who were wondering, like, are they considering shutting
“him down for the season? I don't think that's what they're doing. I think they're evaluating”
where they are in the standings and evaluating where Steph is and trying to do their own strategy play here. But that is obviously a significant development that Steph is going to be out a few more weeks. Yeah, I mean, as somebody who ran across countries, Steph has runners D, which is basically
An overuse, old-name injury, which is someone who has helped 41 in tries to run.
think he also stuck great. I can't imagine trying to play the way Steph does with that. And like you said,
it's the warrior to go back to the beginning of the pod. If the warriors wanted to quote a quote tank, now they can't. Like, there's no real way for them to do that. So there's really no downside to giving Steph as much time off as they can, trying to get that knee to a good place. And then having be ready to try to win a game or two in the play end, depending on where they land, because I think they want to say there are one or two losses ahead of the, uh, the clippers right now.
So as we record this before Tuesday's game, they are, um, one game, they're in eighth by one game, but the key is where they are in the play and there's six games behind the lakers in sixth and six games ahead of the Grizzlies, um, in, uh, in 11th in the Grizzlies. And the Grizzlies in above 11th. So
all the teams below the line are tanking. Except the pelicans. Except the pelicans. That's right. But they
are 13 teams behind the Warriors. Does that's a very declared they're going to try to make a
“run for the play end, but I think it's safe to say they're. They are 10 games out of the plan.”
I hope they don't. They're not making the play any. I'm not sure. They're, they're, they're knees, either of their knees are going to be a good enough for that run. I would agree. I would agree. So there's really no reason not to give Steph the time he needs to try to get him back. I mean, obviously, we've seen sort of the same thing happen across that spring. It's that happened in Atlanta. And it's, it's a situation. It's a little uncertain, but again, if they can just get him back
on the court at all, between now and the playoffs, like playing. But right before the, before the middle of it, right, they can give themselves a chance to have his good at team is they're going to have to try to win a game or two and try to get Steph back in the playoffs. And if they don't, they end up in the back half of the lottery and they can hope to get lucky. But I, there's no path to them trying to get, you know, down to somewhere where they have a legitimate chance to jump off
“outside of getting extraordinarily lucky. Well, and, and I think we've got to kind of brace ourselves.”
And more so our bosses have to brace themselves. For a plow, so don't include the Golden State Warriors. They'll be a plan team, whether they're eight or nine, you know, we'll see, but I do, assume Devon Bookers back, Dylan Brooks will be back. Do you pick even with Steph? Do you pick the
Warriors to beat the sons? Do you pick them to assume they see the clippers if it's the second game?
You're obviously trying to avoid having to play two games. You, you know, you'd love to be in the, in the situation where you can win the seven eight. So you try to get in the seven eight and you try to win that game. Well, to your point, Big Band, they're not one of the eight best teams in the West, not without Jimmy Butler. Now, Chris, that's where things are health uncertain and not with Steph Curry's status uncertain because even if Steph comes back, it's unlikely this is just kind of magically
go away. So, you know, I mean, they might, it doesn't mean they can't win a game or two in the plane and get in, but with the way the clippers are played, if quite Leonard is healthy, I would say they're better even after the trades. And the sons deserve to be out of it, with the way they've played this year, assuming Dylan Brooks is back by then. Yeah, the sons are kind of, you know, with all their injuries, they're kind of just trying to tread water.
And I think it's good news for them that Steph is going to be out because I think again, going into tonight, I think the warriors are eight and 13 when Steph doesn't play this year. And that's a little deceiving because a lot of those eight were with Jimmy on the floor. True. That's true. So, I mean, let's be honest, there are no Jimmy no stuff like you take two max players away from most teams. It's going to be a struggle. And it's a struggle.
Well, and let's be honest, it's a bit of a break for the Lakers, too, because the Lakers are, they've gotten a couple of the wins in a row. They should take care of businesses against the Pelicans tonight. We'll see whether that happens. But the Lakers have lost ground here and have fallen back to six, at least as we're recording this. And the two teams behind them, which could threaten to knock them into the plane, are, you know, Phoenix who's missing three
heat players and the warriors who are clearly just trying to keep their head above water. They're been a losing team without Steph. So that's the thing that the West degrades very quickly. Yes, it does. That's one thing that we didn't expect this season is how the West is degraded from the midpoint down. And frankly, I think the warriors see that and are making a strategy decision
“to give Steph time. But I think the key is, I don't think they're intending to shut them down.”
I think they recognize their situation and are trying to place. I'm sure Steph wants to play, but he's also, I mean, this is also just a reminder that he's an old player who's played a ton of games and put a ton of miles on his body. And like, this is the reality of life in the NBA. It's the same reality that, you know, as we went through this giant and a commingus
Auger for the past couple of years, the idea that the warriors were like guar...
be guaranteed and ability to try to win another one with Steph at the end. Like, I would love
to see them have a chance to do that. But that's not necessarily how this stuff always works.
Like, things end. And this is an aging team that is dealing with injuries that an aging team would
“have. And, you know, Steph having to deal with this is part of that. But yeah, like, look, if I think”
we've all known Steph a long time, Steph, I'm sure wants to try to get this team into the club, so be part of it again. He knows he doesn't have that many chances left. So there's no reason not to give him every chance to try to do that. And by the way, he mentioned the Lakers, the Lakers are tied in a lost column with Denver. So, you know, Denver, they got a lot of wins with that Nicola Yoke, I didn't think they were going to get. And I think everybody didn't think they
were going to get. And that could end up being a massive difference baker for them, because even even with those wins, they're tied in the lost column with the Lakers. They've now followed behind Minnesota after that loss the other day. Like, that three to six race in the West is really compacted. And I think our BPI has them all within a gamer to at the end of the season. So, you know, if the fact of Denver went, I don't think they were eight and seven when Yoke
it was out or eight and eight, something like that. I think it was 10 and six, actually.
“Might, might even better, right? So, like, those those wins might not be the difference between”
being six or seven, but it might be the difference between being six and four in a couple of weeks. And it's crazy, because they kept stacking wins without Joker. And like, who? Not only did they survive that, they, you know, really kind of thrived during that stretch. They get him back. And this has been the biggest struggle point of their season. I mean, they lost a 1.8 out of 12 games. They had to sweat down to the final seconds to beat the tanking new Utah Jazz. Like, the
the nuggets are really, really scuffling right now. And they're hoping to get Gordon back very soon, same with Peyton Watson, but man, this is not what you were expecting to see from the Denver nuggets at this point with Joker back in the lineup. As we sit here and do this podcast, the Thunder are two games ahead of the sparrows in the lost column. And the Thunder made an interesting decision. So, they have a back to back. They have the bulls on Tuesday night, bulls of 1 in their
last 11. And then Wednesday, they play the second night of the back to back. It's a national television
game on ESPN. We invite you to watch in Madison Square Guard. Okay. Now, with the injuries that they've had it, it would not be surprising that they would sit guys, not in the back to back. They're holding Shakeel to Seluxander and Isaiah Hartinstein out against the bulls and having them against the next. Now, the correct decision. That's the correct decision, especially if you really want to, you know, we've seen the past where in this situation, they would have maybe sat the guys.
Now, this is what the NBA wants them to do. The NBA wants them to play the stars in the in the bigger game. But they would be within their rights with with with SGA coming off this, you know, abdominal injury, they could sit them out second night of the back to back. But this is an action's overwards thing of the thunder. Now, I'm not saying Mark Dagonal, they're saying pressy would admit this. But I'm saying actions overwards. They strategize here. They're trying to win
both games. Yeah. I mean, the bulls want to lose at Thunder won a win. So, they're still decent
“chance they can get that one. And then you need to be full strength against a good team and look,”
three games in four nights, shake him and back off the ab strain. Obviously, that makes sense. And then you're heart and Stein has strained that calf or souliest technically. He strained it twice. So, continuing to exercise, cost when him absolutely makes sense. You know, but they're sure how to say and pick in the thick and then the next game to be full is full power as they can be. Well, I think it's, I mean, it's a no brainer decision like pick bandset. Like you're trying to win
both games and the bulls are not trying to win. I think it's indication that they really want that number one seat. I think it's an indication that they expect to beat the bulls without shame, like which they should. But they could have, they could have sat the guys a second night. I'm just saying, I think it's, I like it. I like it from the Thunder. I like that they're trying to go for this. But if you're trying to maximize, if you're trying to maximize the wins, that's
absolutely what you do. Like sure, there's a world where they could, we don't always see teams at the
top. Sometimes we see teams punt. They're not punting. Well, right. But yeah, I mean, there's no reason for them to punt. Like if you're going to, like last week, they were in the same situation until we see good teams punt all the time. Well, last week they were in the same situation. They played Toronto on Tuesday and Detroit on Wednesday. And they punted the Detroit game and went to win the Toronto game. And in that scenario, they went for the more winnable of the two games. And essentially
said, if we're going to lose one of them, like, let's make sure we get our give ourselves the best chance to get the one that's more winnable of the two, even though shade didn't play in either game. In this scenario, like, they ought to beat Chicago no matter what. So if they get Chicago with those two guys out, then they have them healthy for the game where, like, they're going on the road
At the garden against the next.
to win that game. And it only makes sense to do it this way. Yeah. And by the way, the official
“reevaluation on Jade dub, Jane Williams is like Thursday, I believe. I don't have, I like I had a”
pretty good feel that shade would be coming back last week. I don't have a same level of confidence in Jade dub. I'm not saying he's certainly not. I just know they're really, really going to be careful here, because obviously bringing him back before the break, back fire on them when he was only able to play, you know, one and a half games before stringing that hamstring again. So way that AJ Mitchell too, right, Sam? It's really the ankle now. And I think he's, he's on the
verge. You know, I don't know, I can't guarantee he plays this week, but I'd be a little surprised
if he doesn't play by the end of the week, but we'll see. I just met coming back soon, but that's good. Like it obviously could use him getting back to. He's an awfully good player. By the way, Jeremy Kane has paid immediate dividends for them. They're more said he sold high, but Sam Presty was glad that he did. He just be careful doing business with the thunder. I mean, especially his stuff like that. Hey, did you guys see Doug Christie with the
smelling salts, the coach of the Kings with the smelling salts? No, I did that. I did not see Doug Christie with the smelling salts, but tell me the story. I'd rather take sleep and pills if I was
“the Kings Coach Hill on. So, you know, he broke open the, you know, I think they banned this in”
the NFL and then they allowed it back, like the idea of smelling salts. Teams aren't allowed to pass them out. I believe in the NFL as the one. You can bring your own. Yeah, but B-Y-O-S-S. He opened the smelvings. It's like a pack that you crack and he smelled it and he like, whoa, and then he smelled it again. And he was like, it made such an impression on him that he just flung it out on the court. I mean, I will say this. I have seen teams not recently, but I have seen
teams that this happens before the game. I don't, again, this was years ago, but where there would be like a paste. The trainer would put on a glove and he would put a thing of paste along his
finger and then he'd have the players smell his finger. I have never seen this deal. He'll smell
my finger trick, huh? It's right. Everybody would smell his finger and they would all flip their heads back and then the trainer would like take off the glove and put it in medical waste. I've seen it. I've seen it done. I've never seen a coach do it though. So maybe before, maybe Jackson should ship us some of these before the pod. Like, Hasmic Band said the Kings and their fans should just be trying to go to sleep until
May 10th and see where they land. Some of the liners help the police put out there. I wonder
“how alert. Of course, I think their strategy is by putting the liners out there. I mean, at this”
point, they're leaning fully into it as they should to try to maximize their their chances. Yeah, they were accidentally awful. Now they've really committed to it. I have committed to being awful and it's working. Yeah. For a while, though, they were announcing a surgery every other day was a little bit. I was going to say the most valuable player for the Kings is the team doctor, the surgeon. Yeah. Well, they're, you know, the Jazz are leading the league and MRIs.
All right. Thank you so much to our producers, Mark Devon and Jackson, a special shout out to the technical department here in L.A. Rafa, a helping McMahon get going. The IT department heads is a West Coast space. Thank you to the fan of myself. I think the department's a hell of a lot better looking than Rafa anyways. I would have to agree with you on that. Thank you, McMahon, a bottom. Thank you for listening and watching who collected.
We'll talk to you later this week. How do you supposed to be going?
