May 20, 2023 • 42 mins
Tim O'Keefe goes over the 76ers collapse and what next steps they are forced to take, Phillies lack of production, and NBA Conference Finals series.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
For national winners. From a localperspective, you're in the right place.
It's balls, bats and bets withTim o'keee right here on the Gambler.
Welcome into balls, bats and betshere on this Friday, May nineteenth.
And uh, we're gonna have somesome start off with some lows on this
call, and now we're gonna bringit right back up to the highs.
(00:21):
But I I did want to startoff diving right in to what happened last
Sunday with the Sixers and just allthe torment that happened, and we're gonna
I'm gonna take that deep breath together, take that deep breath. We're going
(00:41):
to vent it out in this firstfirst segment, you know, fifteen to
twenty minutes and just straight up getthat venom out of our system so we
can move forward. Obviously, whathappened last weekend, and this is none
of this is breaking news. Obviously, what happened last weekend was a complete
Nutter disgrace, just to complete disasterfor this organization, for the players,
(01:06):
the coaches, the fans is absolutelyterrible. The way that that team came
out in the third quarter. Thefirst half, they played fine, you
know, down three and a halftime, fine, you let them go
on like a twenty five to threerun in the third quarter. You have
two x MVPs, you have otherplayers that are All Star caliber. Someone
(01:29):
needs to wake up and just stopthe bleeding. There's no way you can
allow that to happen in a Gameseven of an NBA Clough Game, when
it's tied for the most important gamein franchise history for the franchise in the
last twenty years with the other tworound two game sevens. The way that
that just unfolded just an absolute disgrace. There's no other word. It's just
(01:56):
pure anguish and anger at a teamthat you know, they build you up
and you believe in them. Theyget up three to two in this series
and you're finally talking like, youknow what, we have a real shot
here, and then they go backto their losing ways that they've been now
for coming up on two decades.It's an absolute shame you have, Like
I metually, you have four playerson this team that are All Star caliber
(02:19):
or at least having their careers,and none of them can get to twenty
points zero, the closest being TobiasHarris, who's your fourth score on the
team. He got to nineteen.Joel embiid your MVP, and I love
him, but you've got to ripit like that was an embarrassing performance.
He's getting shut down by Al Horferand Robert Williams, players that are maybe
(02:43):
like a tenth of his caliber atthis point, or at least they should
be based on everything we've seen inthe regular season, and look at all
the stats. MVP Al Horfor's thirtyeight years old, and yet he found
a way to shut down our MVPand help him to fifteen points and beat
average thirty three, thirty four somewherelike that for the regular season or scoring
chat, and they hold him tofifteen points. I get it. He
(03:07):
wasn't one hundred percent. Then Ican't care about that anymore. I just
can't. Like I'm done making excuses, I really am, and I don't
to him beats credit. I think. I don't think he's making excuses for
it either. I think he knowshe has to play better. Grant,
I don't love his comments after thegame. I don't, but I think
Joel I I do think Joel knowshe has to play better. I don't
(03:28):
think that's a secret. I thinkeverybody knows that, including him. Maxie.
Fine, you know he put upI think as seventeen ish and that's
okay. I mean, that's notterrible for him, like the A averages
low twenties or high teens, lowtwenties, not terrible. But you know,
when he needs someone to step himin the game seven, he certainly
didn't go above and beyond. ThenThat'll leads me to James Harden. Couldn't
(03:50):
make it into double digits. Ninepoints for a guy who, in my
lifetime is and I get it,he's older now, I get it,
But in my lifetime, he's oneof the best scores I've ever seen.
Not with the sixers, but heHarden is one of the best scores of
this generation. There's no question aboutthat. He's a Hall of Famer first
(04:11):
ballot, and he puts up ninein a game seven. Seriously, you
can't give me any more than that. Obviously, the bench didn't step up
either, the bench you're in yearout. It just seems like even though
the bench was better air quotes thisyear, it still wasn't good enough.
I mean, look at the depthon Boston. They're just built top to
(04:34):
bottom so much better. And Ihate saying that, but it's look look
at other teams around the league too, and it's you realize the flaw with
the Sixers set up where they're builtaround the big man and they have some
decent starters around him on paper,but they just can't build it up enough
where they can actually build up thatmomentum in the playoffs, and they keep
getting really close, at least Ishouldn't say really close to the championship.
(04:57):
They keep being really close to gettingover that hurdle that they haven't gotten over
in two decades, which is gettingout of the second round, just absolutely
and then the worst, well notthe worst, but another awful part of
all this is the guy on theother side, their star, Jason Tatum,
who had been really having a downseries overall. I think we all
recognize that he was not the elite, you know, MVP caliber player that
(05:21):
they've been claiming of him Boston.For the first six games of that series.
He had some games are better.I think Game three was very solid,
or wait, no, Game threemight have been really bad. I
forget. He's had some ups anddowns about the series, but overall,
not a great series. And thenGame seven, what does he do?
He steps up like a star shouldhe drops fifty? Drops fifty in a
(05:43):
game seven where his team put upone hundred and twelve and he drops fifty
of them. It's just frustrating.His hell, I don't know, there's
no other word for it. It'sinexcusable, it's it's I already used disgraceful.
If you're a fan of the teamand you're not angry, then I
hate to break to You're not reallya fan, right Like it's like you're
(06:04):
maybe you're like a casual fan.I don't want to say you're not really
a fan, let me back offthat, but you're you're a casual fan,
like if you're really in living anddining with this team and you're finding
somebody to tell yourself, well,they came close again, and look,
I'm actually gonna play that Devil's advocatecoming up in a second, which sucks,
but um it, it should haveripped it. Sunday should have ripped
(06:26):
out a pit in your stomach.It should have been a gut punch as
it was to all of us,and it's absolutely disaster. I guess now
the question is where do you goright. We all know this season ended
horribly, absolutely horribly and I disaster. But right now, what that's what
(06:48):
we do. We move on.We have to try to find some semblance
of a plan. Right everyone wantsto. We all play GM, we
all play like, Hey, Iwas the leader of the team, this
is what I would do. Iwould make this trade X y Z and
that's what That's what we're gonna do. So we'll start. We're gonna go
through our big four. Must say, I had hard enough first on my
list. I must save him forlast. Let's start with him, Bead
(07:10):
Embiad again, I think you shouldkeep him. Of course, he's the
MVP. I'm not I know,I just ripped into him and rightfully,
so you have to keep him,Bead. He's unicorn talent, whatever you
want to call it. He isabsolutely incredible and there's You're not going to
get better by not having Joel Embiidon your team. You're just not.
(07:31):
Now, I did hear some peoplesaying and writing on Twitter, and look,
I hope this isn't true, butI'll admit it. Panning out that
it might be that Embiad is thebest robin in the NBA and maybe the
best thing he's ever seen. Buthe's not the guy to be able to
take you over the top. Heneeds someone else on his team, you
know, like a guy like inSouth Beach, like Jimmy Butler and Jimmy
(07:54):
Butler and be Batman and hib tob Robbin. I really hope that's not
the case, and I don't thinkI don't him and no, no,
it might be, but I can'tthink that way if I'm the Sixers,
because that's not an option for us. You need him be to be Batman.
You need him be to be theguy that's going to get this team
over the hump in the near future, because obviously is windows closing. But
I've heard people saying get rid ofem, getting rid of MBI makes zero
(08:16):
sense. I mean I don't look. Of course, if anyone, if
you give me some ridiculously incredible offer, fine, but that's not going to
happen. We've seen these trades playout in the NBA for decades now.
At this point, the team givingup the premier talent loses nine out of
ten times. The elite talent isto aim be. There's not really many
people more talents than the NBA thanhim straight up. If I'm doing trade
(08:37):
straight up in the NBA, there'sprobably less than five players I would trade
and beat straight up for there areIt's I know what we all just saw.
I still think that's it, andyou're not going to get one of
those five back. What you're gonnaget is a bunch of complimentary pieces and
draft picks, and you're restarting.The problem is we don't have a lot
of our own assets to restart.We traded a lot of our picks,
(08:58):
so it's like if you try torestart now, it's you're a leg down
on the restart, which is justeven more of a disaster. So you
have to keep him being Matt.Let's go to Maxie. Max has everyone
in Greece there's he's staying. There'sno reason to move on from Tyrese.
Maxie great young player, still growingas all the seems to have the right
(09:20):
attitude. I'm all in, Maxieshould stay. Tobias Harris, Tobias has
gotten a bad rap in this town, and part of me gets it,
like he's a max contracts player andthe largest contract at the time when he's
signed in the largest contract in theEnfranchise history. And he's he's fine.
He's a I mean great role player. I guess it might be the way
(09:45):
I say it. He's the fourthoption on this team scoring wise, that's
not really his fault. We gotI mean, on paper, we have
three great options. You got twoformer MV two, one the current MVP,
another former MVP, and another growingstar in Maxie Tobias. It's just
kind of out there on the side. And he's had a great attitude in
Philly. I think Debias Harris isthe guy that does get under appreciated.
(10:07):
That being said, we have totry some different things. His country is
on the last year of his deal, of the expiring contract that does give
some value to him and trades aroundthe leg so you might be able to
move him for a couple other piecesthat you know can help out. I
don't think I'm looking for a onefor one. I've heard people saying Gordon
Hayward and from Charlotte and straight upone for one. I think I'll put
(10:28):
you in the exact same spot.Hayward might be slightly better than three point
shooter. I think he's worse ondefense. I don't love it. What
I need is I need some athleticwings. So even if it's two guys,
two or three guys and it's likesome role pieces that aren't going to
be guys that can score twenty pointsa game very often, that's okay.
I need three in D guys,any guys that when they're open on the
(10:50):
wing, they'll hit that three.They might not be able to create their
own shot as much, that's okay, but I need them to be when
they're wide open. And you knowwhen Beads getting double team, they're hardens
getting double teams. As he's donto drive, then they can kick it
out to them. And that's whatI think I would try to do it
Tobias Harris's contract. I would tryto move it for a couple three D
guys and maybe if you can getit. I don't. I don't think
you're gonna draft pick back, butif you can, great, But a
(11:13):
couple three D guys who are probablyon longer contracts, and it's gonna be
from a team that's trying to justdrop a lot of salary next year,
not this year obviously, because theywould acquire to Buias. That's that's the
move I would make. That leadsme now going into James Harden's It's an
extremely frustrating situation where we're at because, yeah, I understand the people that
(11:37):
are saying let them walk. Ido. I fully get the anger.
Like I said, if you don'thave an anger in your stomach right now,
then I don't know what you're doingis like what you're doing. That
being said, we do have totake a step back and try to think
logically about it. Does getting ridof him really make us better? No,
it doesn't, because the problem is, even if I let him go
(11:58):
that cap, we're already over thecap. The way the NBA cap is
set up. It sound like ifI let go Hard and I can go
sign on a free age of thatmoney. No, it's we're already over
the soft cap where you'd be ableto do that. So if you let
Harden go, it's just you're lettingHarden go and that's it. And that's
a bit of a problem. You'restuck because, yeah, he might still
(12:20):
go to Houston, even if wedo all for him the world that's possible,
he might still go to Houston.But I think you have to try
to keep him. It hurts,and I get I hate the idea of
time my contract to an aging ortying my team to a contract with an
aging James Harden. I get it, trust me, I get it.
But once my alternative, you runit back next year without him? Is
(12:46):
that better? No? I don'tthink it's better. I mean with the
guy he did dry he had twoforty point games. He did there's something
there left. Maybe that there's somethingthere left. And by letting him go
for nothing, where are we?Well? Now I just got I have
If MB's my batman, now Ihave zero. I have no robin for
(13:09):
him right Harden's right now then therobin role, and I have no Robin.
I mean Maxie can step up,but that's still the team's worse because
then who fills in on that Maxirole. It just keeps dialing up,
like we're not going to find thisdiamond in the rough that just ap peers
out of nowhere. I mean,maybe more he can do something with that.
We'll find out. He hasn't donegreat in the draft the last several
years, even going back to histime in Houston, he hasn't been great.
(13:31):
But maybe they find something. Butthat's not what I'm banking on.
I am stuck pretty much giving JamesHarden to Max. It's awful to say,
and I hate it. And peopleout there listening right now are probably
saying this, Tim o'keef, guy'san idiot. I don't always talking about
I get it. I get yourfrustration there in Angerman. I need you
(13:52):
to tell me what's the alternative.What's the alternative? You just let him
go and we get nothing back,and now it's we run it back and
it's just without James Harden. Maybeyou do feel that's better. I don't.
Again, if we were talking,Hey, he was on a minimum
contract, we'd be better with him. Right. It sucks. But the
way the CAP works, that's wherewe're handcuffed. The Sixers cap is the
(14:13):
exact opposite of the other Frances inthe town. One of the other Frances
in the town the Eagles. TheEagles are cap masters. The Sixers are
in cap hell. And the waythe NBA salary works, where you get
the bird rights, where you canretain players and all that good stuff,
that we're trapped. We're trapped withJames Harden, and I think we got
to resign him. It's it's theit's just the situation that we're at obviously
(14:37):
moving on to the rest of theorganization. Dock's already going. We will
dive into some coaching candidates in asecond that I kind of list out the
guys that I like. Daryl Moreyand a lot of people have been calling
for his head, his job.I'm not there yet. I guess,
like I think I'd give him aC so far for what he's done in
(14:58):
Philly. He came into a situationthat was rough, like the Ben Simmons
stuff was a mess. The team, Yeah, it wasn't great around him,
Um it was. It was,or I should say it was a
similar setup. And he banked onhard and and we knew he was going
to bank on hard and if hehad the opportunity, that's what you knew
(15:18):
when you brought Darren more in.And it hasn't worked out. But look,
he got fed the Simmons sandwich,which was a mess. I will
say, if the rumors were truely, you could have gotten Haliburton and Buddy
Healed for Simmons. Obviously that's nowlooking like that would have been a way
better trade option. Um, andthat's a miss on Morey's part. Everything
that I've heard seems to say thatwas absolutely on the table. So yeah,
(15:39):
that's a miss. That's an absolutemiss. I like, if you
want to fire more, fine,but then you gotta tell me, like,
what's what's anybody else gonna do thatcomes in here? Right? I
think it's I think the next stepsare sadly, sadly obvious and that anyone
who bring it's gonna be able todo it, so you might as well
(16:02):
ride with more. He does haveexperiences in NBA GM. I'm not saying
it's good. He's never made itto an NBA finals, but it's experience.
You try to keep some semblance ofconfidence going in the right direction.
We'll see. It's a mess.It is an absolute mess. In terms
of coaches, my favorite guys,Nick Nurse recently followed fired by the Toronto
(16:26):
Raptors. We saw what Nick Nursedid the last time he had a true
star on his team and Kawhi LeonardRaptors won the title. He's a I
do think he's a top candidate.I think I know he's been on the
list of the shortlist of sixers namesto interview and talk to. Nick Nurse
my top guy. I like MontyWilliams down in Phoenix. I think he's
(16:47):
a good locker room guy, andhonestly, we really need a good locker
room guy now because this place itcould turn quick. I know he might
not be the best XS and thosewise, but we'll see. I do
Ike Coach of the Year. Ithink it was two years ago. I
would take a shot on him.I'm fine with him. Other folks that
have been brought up, Mike D'Antoni. I don't want to touch Mike D'Antoni.
(17:08):
I really don't. I think that'sa bad call. That's just literally
recreating the rockets with the rockets wererunning gun and we're built around the center.
That doesn't work. Do not doMike D'Antoni. That's that's why I
ask if if Morey does that now, all of a sudden, I'm getting
ready to fire him. But again, Josh Harris doesn't seem to be here.
He's more concerned with the Washington Commander'ssale at this point. So Morey's
(17:32):
essentially the owner of the Sixers.It might as well be at this point.
Other other names out there, SamCassell all four, if you want
to give him a shot. Iassistant on the team. It's not too
much of a change, which Idon't know if that's a good or a
bad thing really at this point,but I have heard he's getting a lot
of prominent nit talks for being ahead coach somewhere. So if you can
buy in that he's the guy,I'm all right with it. I'm fine
(17:53):
taking that stab on. The lastname I'll bring up is Mike Bootenholzer.
Bootenholzer, all right. I knowa lot of people didn't like him,
but he did get a lot outof the honest he won a title,
and you honest loved him. Ithink he's a good X as a nose
guy. I think I can bein with Mike Budenholzer. I know a
lot of people do not like thatname as much. I'm fine giving him
(18:14):
a shot with it. I dothink I think all the names that we
just said, sadly would be betterthan Doc at this point. Well,
it is a little it's a littlesick where the most I liked Doc was
right like towards like this playoff run. Really it was like I was like,
oh, you know, I'm finallybuying him in with Doc, and
it took three years and now he'sgone. I think it's like, it's
all right. I think it hadto happen, but it was just funny
(18:36):
the way that felt. I feltlike I was much more angry with Doc
after the first two playoff exits comparedto this one. But hey, that's
a nature of the world. Hehad three seasons he couldn't get out of
the second round. Next get nextman up. That's just what it is,
all right. You know what,I think we got all the venom
out of our systems. Hopefully youdid out there. I know I did
that help. We're gonna take abreak, come back. We're talking some
baseball. We're gonna talk the restof the NBA playoffs with the teams that
(19:00):
are still in and what's going onthose series. And also that wild NHL
game last night, going four overtimesease Conference finals. We'll bring that up
as well, and how good playoffhockey can be. We'll be right back
on Fox Sports the Gamble with Balls, Bats and Bets right after this.
You can wager on it. We'retalking about it. It's the Gambler and
welcome back to Balls, Bats andBets. A few things I want to
(19:22):
get into in the second segment.The first one I know we got all
our vitriol out about the sixers andthe last ones, so we're done with
that. No more, no moresixers for the rest of the night.
I promise didn't want to dive intoanother team in Philadelphia that's sadly underperforming a
little bit. Not nearly as muchof a panic as the other team which
now shall not be mentioned in thissegment from here going forward, But our
(19:45):
Phillies are middling. That the wordlike they get a streak, he's really
in a word, they you know, they lose six and a row,
they win six and a row.Now they're back on a losing streak and
swept out in San Francisco, andthey haven't been overly impressive, that's to
say the least right right now,sitting fourth in the NL East, which
we all know they're better than that. On paper, this team is a
(20:07):
top five lineup in the league andas a very solid rotation when everyone's healthy,
and right now, that offense istowards the bottom of the league in
ops and the rotation's been just acomplete mess outside of guys Wheeler Nola,
and even there, they've been upand down a little bit. But they're
still solid and match strong has beengood. But outside of that, we've
(20:30):
had some serious messes with this teamso far. One of those guys catching
a lot of heat is the bigfree agent signing of the offseason, mister
Trey Turner. And I get it, you got three hundred million dollars.
People are going to start looking atyou to you know, instantly produce and
you know, turn this team around. And the team didn't need to be
turned around all that much obviously afterlast year making the World Series run,
(20:52):
which was absolutely incredible. So Turneris almost more viewed when he comes in
here as being the piece to justget you over that final hump, even
though this team last season, reallythey jumped right, We made a substantial
job, we barely made the playoffs, and all of a sudden you had
that great postseason. But hey,expectations get set and they are set.
So a lot of eyes on tradeTurner, and I fully get why.
(21:15):
But I think it's important we realizethat his underperformance in the first year of
a big contract isn't shocking. Thisis actually a big trend throughout baseball and
even into other sports, but especiallybaseball. When you get a guy to
take a big contract and go toa new city. Primarily, it's actually
(21:36):
more just Tay go into a newteam, new role. Unless of guys
like extra Hungry, you know,just barely making the team, that might
be a different story. But peopleget settled in, right. I mean,
seriously, think about you in yourhome life. If most of us,
most of people listening, probably fromaround the Philadelphia area, if I
told you, hey, you're reallythe exact same job, and everything about
what you do is going to betrying to be the same, and I
(21:56):
wanted your same performance and everything.But I'm gonna route you and move you
to Let's go Seattle. Let's picka random city very far away. You're
going to Seattle. Now it takesa little bit of time to get used
to, right. And guess what, for you our jobs, there's not
as many eyes on us as thereis own trade turner. So I do
think that that does have And inbaseball, this is a this is a
(22:18):
thing. Look at Paul Goldschmidt,MVP last season for the Saint Louis Cardinals.
The first year after he signed thatbig concert with the Cardin's people were
kind of going, uph this isn'tthe guy we signed up to get from
Arizona, who had been not anMVP before, but one of the best
hitters in the league for almost,you know, half a decade at that
point. No, he wasn't thatgreat in his first season. Now he's
(22:38):
been fantastic and he's one of thefront runners for the MVP again. He's
been amazing. A little closer tohome, Bryce Harper. Bryce Harper in
his first year, good, youknow, thirty five home runs, but
he only had two sixty eight pmOh excuse me, ops in the mid
eight hundreds. That's a fine season. It's not bad. It's not like
Turner. It's not as bad aswhat Turner's showing here. I get that,
(22:59):
But it's not the MVP Brice thatwe've come to know and love.
Right, he's gotten better, youget That's what happens. This guy's get
into that more routine, they canget settled in. It's easier for them
to you know, get back tobeing the player that we signed up for.
It's just a frustrating fact of themanner that this happens a lot across
all the baseball Look at it.Anytime there's a big signing. Look back
(23:19):
over the past couple of years.A lot of the time the guy doesn't
perform well in the first season afterit and then picks it up. It's
look at Jose Barrios his first fullseason in Toronto last year after getting traded
from Minnesota. He was terrible disaster. Now he seems to have righted the
ship again. There's just examples allover the place of this, and it's
frustrating, but it's obviously it's Ithink it seems to be happening with Trey
(23:42):
Turner and hopefully finds a way toturn around many for the second half.
I think he's gonna get better.I guess what I'm trying to say is,
don't overpanic. You're justifiably mad he'sunderperforming right now, I get it,
but don't panic. I'm not worriedthat we blew a three hundred million
dollar contract, not even by along shot. And honestly, I wouldn't
(24:02):
be worried about it until after theend of next season. And I fully
get why people will be frustrated withthat, but I do think you need
kind of two, maybe even threeyears to fully get that. Read then,
now the guy's adjusted into his newhome. I mean the biggest example.
Look, we're seeing it right herewith Nick Castianos. Nick Castianos,
last season was bad. Maybe bad'sa little straight No, I know,
I take it back, he's bad. He was bad last season. He
(24:23):
was not we signed up for,and he was He did what he could,
but hey, it didn't get fullycomfortable with it yet. That's just
the fact. Now he had afull offseason here, he prepped with all
this, he has gotten a littlemore comfortable with the city and where he
is, and now he's the guythat we've signed up for. I'm not
saying it's a one size fits allof Kyle Schreber. We also signed last
(24:45):
year in Schobert was great last season, leadling in home runs. So it's
not this this has to happen toeverybody, but it's a way more common
occurrence than what people are making itout to be. And ripping into Trey
Turner about it. I think theguy's gonna be a okay, he's gonna
figure it out. He's been oneof the best hitters in the league for
you know, coming up on overhalf a decade at this point, he's
(25:06):
been fantastic. He's got he's stillgot the tools we see the speed,
the powers there it is. Wesaw him the World Baseball Classic. I
haven't seen it for the Phillies asmuch yet, but he still clearly has
it, and I fully buy inthat he's gonna be all right. This
overall team lineup with an oldps inthe bottom five, that's got a change
(25:26):
that absolutely has to change. Ithas Turner a part of that, of
course, but overall, I lookKyle Schwarber. This year it's been terrible.
I know we're getting into Schwarber.What is it June? I just
renamed June to Scharber. I forgetwhat the play on it was last year.
We know June to Schwarmer's month.We'll see hopefully picks it back up
and finds that heater again and startshitting some dingers. I believe he's gonna
(25:48):
be all right. I think thetime is going to turn around. But
it is very frustrating just waiting herewhile the Braves continue to just seem to
run away with the division and there. The Braves are a damn good ball
club. They are a damn goodball club, and it's gonna require a
lot for us to catch up.I fully get that the Bear concerned.
For me, it's the pitching,all right, Zach Wheeler and Aaron Nola
(26:11):
like, fine, I fully getthere. They're they're doing what they can.
Not saying they've been great, butI buy in that they're going to
be I'm not sounding the red flagyet. What I am concerned about is
the rest of it now. RangerSuarez just came back, so I'm happy
about that. But Bailey Falter clearlyshould struggling, got sent down to triple
A. Taiwan Walker looking terrible.I want to give him a little grace
(26:36):
similar the way I'm giving Turner,But I mean Turner's been bad. Walker's
been a double A pitcher like Walkerhas been a nightmare out there. Every
time you're throwing them out there,you're just thinking, all right, well,
and said I wouldn't do any moresixers. But in rememberance of Doc
Rivers, it feels like it's ascheduled loss when we're throwing a timeline Walker
out there right now, and thatis extremely frustrating this team. This team
(26:57):
is too good to have any guygo out there and haven't feel like a
scheduled loss. They just are.Now you have the Cubs coming into town.
This weekend. They're nineteen to twentyfour. You should you should beat
the Cubs. You should. They'rethey're a worst team, and I get
record wise they've seen pretty close becausethey are, but on paper they're a
worst team. And the Phillies havebeen capitalizing a little bit more at home
(27:18):
this year eleven and seven compared toon the road, where nine and sixteen
they've been a disaster. These gamesare in Philly. I expect us to
have a pretty solid weekend going intoit, but we'll find out. But
again, I do want to doubleback. The pitching is where I have
concerned. So let's pull up somestats. Give me one second here pulling
up the latest from the roster,and it has been bad. Let's see
(27:41):
this is most read through some we'stread through some ras and some fips and
tell me who we're happy with.Zach Wheeler four h six that's not good.
I mean, he's had a coupleof blow up starts and it's early,
Like I generally still feel good withhim out there, but it's not
good. Aaron Nola four or fivethree also definitely not good. Time Old
Walker six five three, Bailey Falterfive one three it's pretty weak out here.
(28:07):
And the other thing that's a littleeven just concerning. In the back
of my mind, I haven't heardsquat about Andrew Painter, the guy who
was the most dominant pitcher in theminers last year and was apparently going to
be in the rotation this year,or at least had a shot out of
spring training before this injury. Stillhaven't heard much about him going on.
(28:27):
Obviously, they're going to be cautious. I get it, you've got to
be cautious with the young arms,as you should be. But I'm a
little bit thrown back by the factthat nothing's coming out and that I don't
know this team is. It needspitching. It clearly needs pitching. The
bullpen has been bad, but Ithink it's been mainly a couple of bad
(28:48):
outings by individual guys, and Itrust them to turn around. I'm not
as concerned about the bullpen, butI do need guys that can help get
us into the sixth seventh inning,so that way the bullpen's not getting desecrated
on a knightly basis. We'll findout, but that's the bigger concern here.
I get the lineup is way underperforming, and they should be called out.
That's not what to be worried about. Want to be worried about is
(29:11):
the pitching wheel are in Nola.I think we'll figure it out. Everyone
else. I am nervous. I'dbe lying to you if I wasn't.
It's a little scary. We'll see. Hopefully you get it back on track.
And we need to get back ontrack asap for this team too.
If we want to compete for thedivision playoffs, we have time. We
want to compete for the division.We got to turn this around in the
(29:33):
next month because if the Braves areup by ten games at the All Star
break, we're not getting the Braves. That's just not happening. And right
now, let's see, let's doa double check. How many are we
back behind Atlanta? I think myguts, it was like seven or eight
if I remember correctly, But let'sget the live look, and yeah,
seven games, seven games behind theBraves right now. And it's always seemed
(29:55):
to be growing faster right because we'reinconsistent. Atlanta has been very sistant.
They're getting very quality they they're gettingvery quality outings and performances at a lot
of young guys and They've done agreat job building that ball club, so
we've got to be careful there.We'll see need to take two or three
from the clubs this week. Ineed to turn this around. I trust
Rob Thompson to do so. Buthey, you know, that's why they
(30:18):
played the games. We gotta figurethat one out. I'm gonna take a
quick break, and the last segmentwill go through some of my thoughts on
the other NBA series that are stillongoing, as well as it is calling
out how good playoff hockey can be. Because if you caught some of that
game last night between the Panthers andthe Hurricanes, even if you don't care
about it, you're entertained by it. So I will talk about that in
(30:41):
the last segment. We'll be backon Fox Sports Gambler with Balls, Bats
and Bats right after this Gambler PhilliesHome for all things sports gambling. Another
weekend in May, another weekend ofplayoff basketball. And it's been interesting the
first series so far. So obviouslythe big updates we're gonna start out West
(31:03):
Yoki and the Nuggets just taking careof business so far against the Lakers and
lebron last night's game very very goodback and forth, back and forth.
If you're on the spread, ifyou got a five and a half,
if you got in La who escapingby the what is it the skin of
your teeth, whatever it is,Yeah, barely. Nuggets win it by
(31:25):
five, defend home court. AndI do have to say, like,
and I'm not turning this into anembiad versus discussion that's been done at nauseum.
What I'm gonna say is the Nuggetsaretist built as a team absolutely fantastically
and you can see it coming tofruition in this series as well as the
past series, in this postseason andthe regular season. But I mean,
(31:47):
they have the big man in thecenter, one of the best bigs in
the leg, and he's the bestbig facilitator in the leg. That's that's
not really a question. He's thebest passing center in the leg. And
they run their offense, their halfcourt through him, and they pair him
up with an elite score in JamalMurray. It does get lost how damn
good Jamal Murray is because they haveYoki. But Jamal Murray is an absolutely
(32:13):
elite player, like no doubt aboutit, just incredible, incredible talent.
Jamal Murray. I don't even knowhow else to describe it. He has
been fantastic this postseason and before hegot he was out last season with an
injury. Before that, he wasan elite score. He was a great
score in the bubble. I rememberhim going off like he is a top
(32:35):
tier player in this league and he'sgetting undershadowed by Jokis a little bit.
Well, we talked about Batman andRobin a little bit earlier. He's obviously
the Robin, but he's a damngood Robin, and that's a perfect combination.
And they play well together, right, It's a good flow, they
have good balance, and then theyhave fantastic role players around them. Guys
like Aaron Gordon's the perfect example.It's developed a good shot and he's just
(32:59):
incredible athletic, and that's what youneed in this game. You need athletic
wings that can shoot. It doesn'thave to be your main players, and
the Nuggets are showing that your mainplayer can be the big guy in the
middle and then announced like a guardoutside score. But you need high wing
talent in this league, and AaronGordon is absolutely that. We know he's
incredibly athletic. I mean, thedunk contests for years, he was awesome
in those. But the man getsdeveloped a shot, play solid defense,
(33:23):
and is just so athletic that youcan put them on pretty much anybody on
the court and he'll be able tohandle himself at least a little bit.
It's a huge strength. They've beenfantastically set up. Right now, you're
making me call it. I thinkthe Nuggets are the ones holding the holding
up the trophy at the end.I know it might seem easy to say
that up too. Oh, Iget it. That's fine, you can
call me out on that, butI will say also, guess what,
(33:45):
a series doesn't really begin until someoneloses at home rights. That's the general
rule of thumb. So we'll see. They have to take care of business
in LA. I believe Game threeis tomorrow, that would make sense.
I guess it could be Sunday,but when sense that it's tomorrow, so
that with the NBA can continue tocapitalize on their weekend prime slots. Yeah,
(34:06):
and we will find out. Ithink that my gut right now is
Nuggets gentlemen sweep the Lakers, meaningthat you know that would take four out
of five. They'll win it infive. LA, I think wins one
of the two games at home.Whether it's Game three or four, I
don't know, but I struggle tosee that the Nuggets are gonna go back
home even I think they're taking atleast one in LA. And then it's
(34:29):
tough for me to see the Lakerswinning on the road in Denver when Denver
has been such a good home teamall year long, all year long,
and they have continue to be thatin the postseason. It's tough. I
think they had their shot kind oflast night. I know they also closed
it towards pretty yet pretty tight inGame one, but I don't know if
Denver's Denver's seemed really tough to me. I think Denver's gonna be a really
(34:50):
tough out in this if they're toget them out and have them not holding
up the trophy in the end.Jumping over to the East, the Heat
pulled off a huge upsetting Game one. I think there were like eight point
Dogs beat Boston in the garden.I mean, obviously it's not our sixers,
but it had to feel good tosee someone beat Boston well. I
mean, we beat him a coupleof times. We're not going down that
road stop it, Stop it.The Heat, big win, playoff Jimmy
(35:15):
is phenomenal. I don't know ifthere's any other word to describe it.
That man is a hell of aplayer and he leads that team. And
it's even when he's not dropping hugenumbers. He's just a leader out there
and he gets the most out ofhis guys. He really does the Heats
take care of business, really dominatingthat game overall. I also had a
(35:39):
crack up. It's so funny.How so I must have spoiled Boston fans
are Jason Tatum drops fifteen game seven, like we mentioned earlier against the Sixers,
and then he does have a badgame one, Yeah he did,
and he's getting ripped, completely rippedin the media up there, and I'm
like, I get it. Hehad a bad game. The man does
(36:00):
drop fifty in a postseason game.Does that not give him one game of
grace? Period? Dear lord.I mean, look, Philly sports,
we can get into it. Wecan get angry, and that's rightfully so
that's why it's a fantastic sports town. But we get smart angry. Boston's
getting dumb angry, like you're gettingangry just to be angry, calm,
do you know what down? Imean? Jeez, the man just dropped
(36:23):
fifty and they're ripping in him.You know what I'm jumping off. It's
getting me angry, and I obviouslyhope the Celtics lose. So no,
go Heat, go Miami. Ido have I do have a Heat ticket
opened up, opened it up rightbefore the playoffs started, so I got
a pretty good number on that,so we'll see there. And I also
recently opened up a Nuggets ticket that'sa separate one. But those are two
(36:44):
teams I'll be pulling for him theseseries. But the Heat are nine point
dogs heading into tonight. Up theup in the garden. That spread tells
me Boston. You're trying to tellme, Hey, Tim, can you
do a little spread reading for me? The spread reads Boston. It's tough
to say it doesn't read Boston becauseit's such a big spread even though they
just lost. And look, it'sa little bit of a do or die
(37:07):
game for them, right you can'tgo down to Miami down two, oh,
so it is a little bit door die. What I'll say is
I think Boston wins the game.Nine is too many. Nine is just
way too many for against this Heatteam. So I'm gonna put a little
bit on the Heat of Dogs again. Spread Read and the spread Read in
my gut are going against each other. So I'm not done the I love
(37:27):
this game, but I do haveto go with I have to go with
the Heat. Is the nine pointDogs separately over under two sixteen down to
two fifteen. Actually now the lastI saw it under, I think this
one's going under. There is adefensive matchup, a little bit of a
not Game seven but later game vibe, just because Boston cannot afford to go
down two out in their own building, right they can. That's a that's
(37:52):
a death, that's a nail inthe coffin. So they're absolutely gonna be
fighting that. I think they're gonnaplay a little bit tighter, just a
little bit. I'll dive in that. And one thing in this series I
think's going overlooked. There's a littlebit is the coaching advantage that Miami has
Eric Spoelstra, and I have togive him so much credit because he when
(38:12):
he first took that job, Ithought it was a joke or not joke,
but I didn't. That's not fair. I never thought it was a
joke, but I never gave himthe credit because you know, he had
Lebron, Dwayne Wade, Bosh.I'm like, I could have probably coached
that team to fifty wins pretty muchand won a title. I feel pretty
good about that. That guy hasreinvented himself with that roster so many times
now over the last decade, andhe's been great. The Heat are always
(38:37):
a team that's getting respect, isalways in and they've built a fantastic culture
down there. I know they selfpat Riley up up in the rafters watching
him from down there, but Imean, Eric Spoelstra is an elite coach.
Honestly, in my opinion, Ithink he might be the best coach
in the league. I know GregPopevic is still out there, but the
Spurs haven't been relevant now in halfa decade since Tim Duncan left. I
(39:01):
really believe that Eric Spoilster is thebest coach in the league. And Joe
Massoula he's done. Hey, he'sdone as good as he can do after
this point, right, He's stillalive in his first full season as a
head coach, but before this year, he hadn't coached above D three as
a head coach, and that's andit's gonna ar it's ugly head At some
point, I think Spolstress Spolstre's coachingedge is so large here that it's tough
(39:27):
for me to wrap my head aroundJoe Massoula not making some I don't even
know if it's making errors, butit's just not getting coached around in circles
and having Spolstre exploit something that Massouladoesn't know how to react to. We'll
see. I'm not saying that it'sa lock that Spoilster is going to have
some moves and just dominate this series, but do not undrest me that.
I know everyone wants to look atthe players, and usually that's why I
(39:49):
go to Usually I think coaching isa little bit overrated. In this case,
it's such an edge. In mymind, I think Miami is poised
to win this series. I dobelieve that, especially already up Game one.
Say right now, I think Miami'sgetting out of this series, even
though Boston is the heavy favorite stillto come out of the series. And
when the East, I that's thatcoaching edge and this culture in Miami and
(40:12):
Boston's got a good culture too.I'm not sure to repent of that.
But Miami I think gets it done. I really do. I buy in
that Miami's gonna get there. Speakingof Miami, there was another team down
there in Broward County that won abig game last night. The Florida Panthers
Carolina Hurricanes quadruple. You know youheard me right, quadruple overtime win three
(40:36):
two over Panthers win over the Hurricanes. I I'm not gonna do a dive
in deep dive into it again,you guys, You guys listen long enough.
You know I'm not like a hockeyexpert. I'm not gonna try to
clean to me. What I'm hereto tell you is when play When If
you give time to playoff hockey,it's absolutely phenomenal. Playoff hockey is a
(40:58):
great thing to watch for sports.That's the density and the way the players
play go back and forth. Itis elite sports television. The main problem
hockey has is no one gives adamn about the regular season overall. I
know that's not fair, not allfranchising again, and some people are mad
at me right now, but overall, most people don't care about the regular
season, right it's just a fact. And I know in Philadelphia right here,
the Flyers have not been bad fora stretch, and that's that makes
(41:21):
it even worse because you don't havethat home team that's like pulling you into
it. But that's been hockey's problemfor a long time. But the playoffs
again, I know I'm talking uphockey and talking them down the same sentences
here, But the playoff hockey,Give it the time, give it the
time of day, because you're goingto be rewarded with some damn good sports
entertainment. Not a game. Lastnight. I caught some of it and
(41:42):
middlely I fell asleep by the endof it because I went to bed I
had to get up early. Andit shouldn't say fell asleep. I went
to bed. I did not fallasleep on the game. I went to
bed after second doublet But it wasan absolutely phenomenal, phenomenal game. And
then they had Dallas in Vegas outwest. That game kick off tonight and
it's gonna think it's only another fantasticone. It's a big series is all
(42:05):
around. It's gonna be entertaining.So give hockey that time today if you
want to get entertainment. Don't forgetabout the NHL. That's all I'm saying.
That's all I'm saying. All Right, that's gonna wrap us up here
on balls, bets and bets forto night on Fox Sports The Gambler.
As always, I'm your host,Tim o'keeef. You can follow me at
t KO Underscore Picks if you likemy stuff, and if you don't like
me, my name is Bob something, you'll follow me elsewhere. But we'll
(42:29):
catch up with you guys next week. Hopefully our pills turn it around.
See you soon,
For national winners. From a localperspective, you're in the right place.
It's balls, bats and bets withTim o'keee right here on the Gambler.
Welcome into balls, bats and betshere on this Friday, May nineteenth.
And uh, we're gonna have somesome start off with some lows on this
call, and now we're gonna bringit right back up to the highs.
(00:21):
But I I did want to startoff diving right in to what happened last
Sunday with the Sixers and just allthe torment that happened, and we're gonna
I'm gonna take that deep breath together, take that deep breath. We're going
(00:41):
to vent it out in this firstfirst segment, you know, fifteen to
twenty minutes and just straight up getthat venom out of our system so we
can move forward. Obviously, whathappened last weekend, and this is none
of this is breaking news. Obviously, what happened last weekend was a complete
Nutter disgrace, just to complete disasterfor this organization, for the players,
(01:06):
the coaches, the fans is absolutelyterrible. The way that that team came
out in the third quarter. Thefirst half, they played fine, you
know, down three and a halftime, fine, you let them go
on like a twenty five to threerun in the third quarter. You have
two x MVPs, you have otherplayers that are All Star caliber. Someone
(01:29):
needs to wake up and just stopthe bleeding. There's no way you can
allow that to happen in a Gameseven of an NBA Clough Game, when
it's tied for the most important gamein franchise history for the franchise in the
last twenty years with the other tworound two game sevens. The way that
that just unfolded just an absolute disgrace. There's no other word. It's just
(01:56):
pure anguish and anger at a teamthat you know, they build you up
and you believe in them. Theyget up three to two in this series
and you're finally talking like, youknow what, we have a real shot
here, and then they go backto their losing ways that they've been now
for coming up on two decades.It's an absolute shame you have, Like
I metually, you have four playerson this team that are All Star caliber
(02:19):
or at least having their careers,and none of them can get to twenty
points zero, the closest being TobiasHarris, who's your fourth score on the
team. He got to nineteen.Joel embiid your MVP, and I love
him, but you've got to ripit like that was an embarrassing performance.
He's getting shut down by Al Horferand Robert Williams, players that are maybe
(02:43):
like a tenth of his caliber atthis point, or at least they should
be based on everything we've seen inthe regular season, and look at all
the stats. MVP Al Horfor's thirtyeight years old, and yet he found
a way to shut down our MVPand help him to fifteen points and beat
average thirty three, thirty four somewherelike that for the regular season or scoring
chat, and they hold him tofifteen points. I get it. He
(03:07):
wasn't one hundred percent. Then Ican't care about that anymore. I just
can't. Like I'm done making excuses, I really am, and I don't
to him beats credit. I think. I don't think he's making excuses for
it either. I think he knowshe has to play better. Grant,
I don't love his comments after thegame. I don't, but I think
Joel I I do think Joel knowshe has to play better. I don't
(03:28):
think that's a secret. I thinkeverybody knows that, including him. Maxie.
Fine, you know he put upI think as seventeen ish and that's
okay. I mean, that's notterrible for him, like the A averages
low twenties or high teens, lowtwenties, not terrible. But you know,
when he needs someone to step himin the game seven, he certainly
didn't go above and beyond. ThenThat'll leads me to James Harden. Couldn't
(03:50):
make it into double digits. Ninepoints for a guy who, in my
lifetime is and I get it,he's older now, I get it,
But in my lifetime, he's oneof the best scores I've ever seen.
Not with the sixers, but heHarden is one of the best scores of
this generation. There's no question aboutthat. He's a Hall of Famer first
(04:11):
ballot, and he puts up ninein a game seven. Seriously, you
can't give me any more than that. Obviously, the bench didn't step up
either, the bench you're in yearout. It just seems like even though
the bench was better air quotes thisyear, it still wasn't good enough.
I mean, look at the depthon Boston. They're just built top to
(04:34):
bottom so much better. And Ihate saying that, but it's look look
at other teams around the league too, and it's you realize the flaw with
the Sixers set up where they're builtaround the big man and they have some
decent starters around him on paper,but they just can't build it up enough
where they can actually build up thatmomentum in the playoffs, and they keep
getting really close, at least Ishouldn't say really close to the championship.
(04:57):
They keep being really close to gettingover that hurdle that they haven't gotten over
in two decades, which is gettingout of the second round, just absolutely
and then the worst, well notthe worst, but another awful part of
all this is the guy on theother side, their star, Jason Tatum,
who had been really having a downseries overall. I think we all
recognize that he was not the elite, you know, MVP caliber player that
(05:21):
they've been claiming of him Boston.For the first six games of that series.
He had some games are better.I think Game three was very solid,
or wait, no, Game threemight have been really bad. I
forget. He's had some ups anddowns about the series, but overall,
not a great series. And thenGame seven, what does he do?
He steps up like a star shouldhe drops fifty? Drops fifty in a
(05:43):
game seven where his team put upone hundred and twelve and he drops fifty
of them. It's just frustrating.His hell, I don't know, there's
no other word for it. It'sinexcusable, it's it's I already used disgraceful.
If you're a fan of the teamand you're not angry, then I
hate to break to You're not reallya fan, right Like it's like you're
(06:04):
maybe you're like a casual fan.I don't want to say you're not really
a fan, let me back offthat, but you're you're a casual fan,
like if you're really in living anddining with this team and you're finding
somebody to tell yourself, well,they came close again, and look,
I'm actually gonna play that Devil's advocatecoming up in a second, which sucks,
but um it, it should haveripped it. Sunday should have ripped
(06:26):
out a pit in your stomach.It should have been a gut punch as
it was to all of us,and it's absolutely disaster. I guess now
the question is where do you goright. We all know this season ended
horribly, absolutely horribly and I disaster. But right now, what that's what
(06:48):
we do. We move on.We have to try to find some semblance
of a plan. Right everyone wantsto. We all play GM, we
all play like, Hey, Iwas the leader of the team, this
is what I would do. Iwould make this trade X y Z and
that's what That's what we're gonna do. So we'll start. We're gonna go
through our big four. Must say, I had hard enough first on my
list. I must save him forlast. Let's start with him, Bead
(07:10):
Embiad again, I think you shouldkeep him. Of course, he's the
MVP. I'm not I know,I just ripped into him and rightfully,
so you have to keep him,Bead. He's unicorn talent, whatever you
want to call it. He isabsolutely incredible and there's You're not going to
get better by not having Joel Embiidon your team. You're just not.
(07:31):
Now, I did hear some peoplesaying and writing on Twitter, and look,
I hope this isn't true, butI'll admit it. Panning out that
it might be that Embiad is thebest robin in the NBA and maybe the
best thing he's ever seen. Buthe's not the guy to be able to
take you over the top. Heneeds someone else on his team, you
know, like a guy like inSouth Beach, like Jimmy Butler and Jimmy
(07:54):
Butler and be Batman and hib tob Robbin. I really hope that's not
the case, and I don't thinkI don't him and no, no,
it might be, but I can'tthink that way if I'm the Sixers,
because that's not an option for us. You need him be to be Batman.
You need him be to be theguy that's going to get this team
over the hump in the near future, because obviously is windows closing. But
I've heard people saying get rid ofem, getting rid of MBI makes zero
(08:16):
sense. I mean I don't look. Of course, if anyone, if
you give me some ridiculously incredible offer, fine, but that's not going to
happen. We've seen these trades playout in the NBA for decades now.
At this point, the team givingup the premier talent loses nine out of
ten times. The elite talent isto aim be. There's not really many
people more talents than the NBA thanhim straight up. If I'm doing trade
(08:37):
straight up in the NBA, there'sprobably less than five players I would trade
and beat straight up for there areIt's I know what we all just saw.
I still think that's it, andyou're not going to get one of
those five back. What you're gonnaget is a bunch of complimentary pieces and
draft picks, and you're restarting.The problem is we don't have a lot
of our own assets to restart.We traded a lot of our picks,
(08:58):
so it's like if you try torestart now, it's you're a leg down
on the restart, which is justeven more of a disaster. So you
have to keep him being Matt.Let's go to Maxie. Max has everyone
in Greece there's he's staying. There'sno reason to move on from Tyrese.
Maxie great young player, still growingas all the seems to have the right
(09:20):
attitude. I'm all in, Maxieshould stay. Tobias Harris, Tobias has
gotten a bad rap in this town, and part of me gets it,
like he's a max contracts player andthe largest contract at the time when he's
signed in the largest contract in theEnfranchise history. And he's he's fine.
He's a I mean great role player. I guess it might be the way
(09:45):
I say it. He's the fourthoption on this team scoring wise, that's
not really his fault. We gotI mean, on paper, we have
three great options. You got twoformer MV two, one the current MVP,
another former MVP, and another growingstar in Maxie Tobias. It's just
kind of out there on the side. And he's had a great attitude in
Philly. I think Debias Harris isthe guy that does get under appreciated.
(10:07):
That being said, we have totry some different things. His country is
on the last year of his deal, of the expiring contract that does give
some value to him and trades aroundthe leg so you might be able to
move him for a couple other piecesthat you know can help out. I
don't think I'm looking for a onefor one. I've heard people saying Gordon
Hayward and from Charlotte and straight upone for one. I think I'll put
(10:28):
you in the exact same spot.Hayward might be slightly better than three point
shooter. I think he's worse ondefense. I don't love it. What
I need is I need some athleticwings. So even if it's two guys,
two or three guys and it's likesome role pieces that aren't going to
be guys that can score twenty pointsa game very often, that's okay.
I need three in D guys,any guys that when they're open on the
(10:50):
wing, they'll hit that three.They might not be able to create their
own shot as much, that's okay, but I need them to be when
they're wide open. And you knowwhen Beads getting double team, they're hardens
getting double teams. As he's donto drive, then they can kick it
out to them. And that's whatI think I would try to do it
Tobias Harris's contract. I would tryto move it for a couple three D
guys and maybe if you can getit. I don't. I don't think
you're gonna draft pick back, butif you can, great, But a
(11:13):
couple three D guys who are probablyon longer contracts, and it's gonna be
from a team that's trying to justdrop a lot of salary next year,
not this year obviously, because theywould acquire to Buias. That's that's the
move I would make. That leadsme now going into James Harden's It's an
extremely frustrating situation where we're at because, yeah, I understand the people that
(11:37):
are saying let them walk. Ido. I fully get the anger.
Like I said, if you don'thave an anger in your stomach right now,
then I don't know what you're doingis like what you're doing. That
being said, we do have totake a step back and try to think
logically about it. Does getting ridof him really make us better? No,
it doesn't, because the problem is, even if I let him go
(11:58):
that cap, we're already over thecap. The way the NBA cap is
set up. It sound like ifI let go Hard and I can go
sign on a free age of thatmoney. No, it's we're already over
the soft cap where you'd be ableto do that. So if you let
Harden go, it's just you're lettingHarden go and that's it. And that's
a bit of a problem. You'restuck because, yeah, he might still
(12:20):
go to Houston, even if wedo all for him the world that's possible,
he might still go to Houston.But I think you have to try
to keep him. It hurts,and I get I hate the idea of
time my contract to an aging ortying my team to a contract with an
aging James Harden. I get it, trust me, I get it.
But once my alternative, you runit back next year without him? Is
(12:46):
that better? No? I don'tthink it's better. I mean with the
guy he did dry he had twoforty point games. He did there's something
there left. Maybe that there's somethingthere left. And by letting him go
for nothing, where are we?Well? Now I just got I have
If MB's my batman, now Ihave zero. I have no robin for
(13:09):
him right Harden's right now then therobin role, and I have no Robin.
I mean Maxie can step up,but that's still the team's worse because
then who fills in on that Maxirole. It just keeps dialing up,
like we're not going to find thisdiamond in the rough that just ap peers
out of nowhere. I mean,maybe more he can do something with that.
We'll find out. He hasn't donegreat in the draft the last several
years, even going back to histime in Houston, he hasn't been great.
(13:31):
But maybe they find something. Butthat's not what I'm banking on.
I am stuck pretty much giving JamesHarden to Max. It's awful to say,
and I hate it. And peopleout there listening right now are probably
saying this, Tim o'keef, guy'san idiot. I don't always talking about
I get it. I get yourfrustration there in Angerman. I need you
(13:52):
to tell me what's the alternative.What's the alternative? You just let him
go and we get nothing back,and now it's we run it back and
it's just without James Harden. Maybeyou do feel that's better. I don't.
Again, if we were talking,Hey, he was on a minimum
contract, we'd be better with him. Right. It sucks. But the
way the CAP works, that's wherewe're handcuffed. The Sixers cap is the
(14:13):
exact opposite of the other Frances inthe town. One of the other Frances
in the town the Eagles. TheEagles are cap masters. The Sixers are
in cap hell. And the waythe NBA salary works, where you get
the bird rights, where you canretain players and all that good stuff,
that we're trapped. We're trapped withJames Harden, and I think we got
to resign him. It's it's theit's just the situation that we're at obviously
(14:37):
moving on to the rest of theorganization. Dock's already going. We will
dive into some coaching candidates in asecond that I kind of list out the
guys that I like. Daryl Moreyand a lot of people have been calling
for his head, his job.I'm not there yet. I guess,
like I think I'd give him aC so far for what he's done in
(14:58):
Philly. He came into a situationthat was rough, like the Ben Simmons
stuff was a mess. The team, Yeah, it wasn't great around him,
Um it was. It was,or I should say it was a
similar setup. And he banked onhard and and we knew he was going
to bank on hard and if hehad the opportunity, that's what you knew
(15:18):
when you brought Darren more in.And it hasn't worked out. But look,
he got fed the Simmons sandwich,which was a mess. I will
say, if the rumors were truely, you could have gotten Haliburton and Buddy
Healed for Simmons. Obviously that's nowlooking like that would have been a way
better trade option. Um, andthat's a miss on Morey's part. Everything
that I've heard seems to say thatwas absolutely on the table. So yeah,
(15:39):
that's a miss. That's an absolutemiss. I like, if you
want to fire more, fine,but then you gotta tell me, like,
what's what's anybody else gonna do thatcomes in here? Right? I
think it's I think the next stepsare sadly, sadly obvious and that anyone
who bring it's gonna be able todo it, so you might as well
(16:02):
ride with more. He does haveexperiences in NBA GM. I'm not saying
it's good. He's never made itto an NBA finals, but it's experience.
You try to keep some semblance ofconfidence going in the right direction.
We'll see. It's a mess.It is an absolute mess. In terms
of coaches, my favorite guys,Nick Nurse recently followed fired by the Toronto
(16:26):
Raptors. We saw what Nick Nursedid the last time he had a true
star on his team and Kawhi LeonardRaptors won the title. He's a I
do think he's a top candidate.I think I know he's been on the
list of the shortlist of sixers namesto interview and talk to. Nick Nurse
my top guy. I like MontyWilliams down in Phoenix. I think he's
(16:47):
a good locker room guy, andhonestly, we really need a good locker
room guy now because this place itcould turn quick. I know he might
not be the best XS and thosewise, but we'll see. I do
Ike Coach of the Year. Ithink it was two years ago. I
would take a shot on him.I'm fine with him. Other folks that
have been brought up, Mike D'Antoni. I don't want to touch Mike D'Antoni.
(17:08):
I really don't. I think that'sa bad call. That's just literally
recreating the rockets with the rockets wererunning gun and we're built around the center.
That doesn't work. Do not doMike D'Antoni. That's that's why I
ask if if Morey does that now, all of a sudden, I'm getting
ready to fire him. But again, Josh Harris doesn't seem to be here.
He's more concerned with the Washington Commander'ssale at this point. So Morey's
(17:32):
essentially the owner of the Sixers.It might as well be at this point.
Other other names out there, SamCassell all four, if you want
to give him a shot. Iassistant on the team. It's not too
much of a change, which Idon't know if that's a good or a
bad thing really at this point,but I have heard he's getting a lot
of prominent nit talks for being ahead coach somewhere. So if you can
buy in that he's the guy,I'm all right with it. I'm fine
(17:53):
taking that stab on. The lastname I'll bring up is Mike Bootenholzer.
Bootenholzer, all right. I knowa lot of people didn't like him,
but he did get a lot outof the honest he won a title,
and you honest loved him. Ithink he's a good X as a nose
guy. I think I can bein with Mike Budenholzer. I know a
lot of people do not like thatname as much. I'm fine giving him
(18:14):
a shot with it. I dothink I think all the names that we
just said, sadly would be betterthan Doc at this point. Well,
it is a little it's a littlesick where the most I liked Doc was
right like towards like this playoff run. Really it was like I was like,
oh, you know, I'm finallybuying him in with Doc, and
it took three years and now he'sgone. I think it's like, it's
all right. I think it hadto happen, but it was just funny
(18:36):
the way that felt. I feltlike I was much more angry with Doc
after the first two playoff exits comparedto this one. But hey, that's
a nature of the world. Hehad three seasons he couldn't get out of
the second round. Next get nextman up. That's just what it is,
all right. You know what,I think we got all the venom
out of our systems. Hopefully youdid out there. I know I did
that help. We're gonna take abreak, come back. We're talking some
baseball. We're gonna talk the restof the NBA playoffs with the teams that
(19:00):
are still in and what's going onthose series. And also that wild NHL
game last night, going four overtimesease Conference finals. We'll bring that up
as well, and how good playoffhockey can be. We'll be right back
on Fox Sports the Gamble with Balls, Bats and Bets right after this.
You can wager on it. We'retalking about it. It's the Gambler and
welcome back to Balls, Bats andBets. A few things I want to
(19:22):
get into in the second segment.The first one I know we got all
our vitriol out about the sixers andthe last ones, so we're done with
that. No more, no moresixers for the rest of the night.
I promise didn't want to dive intoanother team in Philadelphia that's sadly underperforming a
little bit. Not nearly as muchof a panic as the other team which
now shall not be mentioned in thissegment from here going forward, But our
(19:45):
Phillies are middling. That the wordlike they get a streak, he's really
in a word, they you know, they lose six and a row,
they win six and a row.Now they're back on a losing streak and
swept out in San Francisco, andthey haven't been overly impressive, that's to
say the least right right now,sitting fourth in the NL East, which
we all know they're better than that. On paper, this team is a
(20:07):
top five lineup in the league andas a very solid rotation when everyone's healthy,
and right now, that offense istowards the bottom of the league in
ops and the rotation's been just acomplete mess outside of guys Wheeler Nola,
and even there, they've been upand down a little bit. But they're
still solid and match strong has beengood. But outside of that, we've
(20:30):
had some serious messes with this teamso far. One of those guys catching
a lot of heat is the bigfree agent signing of the offseason, mister
Trey Turner. And I get it, you got three hundred million dollars.
People are going to start looking atyou to you know, instantly produce and
you know, turn this team around. And the team didn't need to be
turned around all that much obviously afterlast year making the World Series run,
(20:52):
which was absolutely incredible. So Turneris almost more viewed when he comes in
here as being the piece to justget you over that final hump, even
though this team last season, reallythey jumped right, We made a substantial
job, we barely made the playoffs, and all of a sudden you had
that great postseason. But hey,expectations get set and they are set.
So a lot of eyes on tradeTurner, and I fully get why.
(21:15):
But I think it's important we realizethat his underperformance in the first year of
a big contract isn't shocking. Thisis actually a big trend throughout baseball and
even into other sports, but especiallybaseball. When you get a guy to
take a big contract and go toa new city. Primarily, it's actually
(21:36):
more just Tay go into a newteam, new role. Unless of guys
like extra Hungry, you know,just barely making the team, that might
be a different story. But peopleget settled in, right. I mean,
seriously, think about you in yourhome life. If most of us,
most of people listening, probably fromaround the Philadelphia area, if I
told you, hey, you're reallythe exact same job, and everything about
what you do is going to betrying to be the same, and I
(21:56):
wanted your same performance and everything.But I'm gonna route you and move you
to Let's go Seattle. Let's picka random city very far away. You're
going to Seattle. Now it takesa little bit of time to get used
to, right. And guess what, for you our jobs, there's not
as many eyes on us as thereis own trade turner. So I do
think that that does have And inbaseball, this is a this is a
(22:18):
thing. Look at Paul Goldschmidt,MVP last season for the Saint Louis Cardinals.
The first year after he signed thatbig concert with the Cardin's people were
kind of going, uph this isn'tthe guy we signed up to get from
Arizona, who had been not anMVP before, but one of the best
hitters in the league for almost,you know, half a decade at that
point. No, he wasn't thatgreat in his first season. Now he's
(22:38):
been fantastic and he's one of thefront runners for the MVP again. He's
been amazing. A little closer tohome, Bryce Harper. Bryce Harper in
his first year, good, youknow, thirty five home runs, but
he only had two sixty eight pmOh excuse me, ops in the mid
eight hundreds. That's a fine season. It's not bad. It's not like
Turner. It's not as bad aswhat Turner's showing here. I get that,
(22:59):
But it's not the MVP Brice thatwe've come to know and love.
Right, he's gotten better, youget That's what happens. This guy's get
into that more routine, they canget settled in. It's easier for them
to you know, get back tobeing the player that we signed up for.
It's just a frustrating fact of themanner that this happens a lot across
all the baseball Look at it.Anytime there's a big signing. Look back
(23:19):
over the past couple of years.A lot of the time the guy doesn't
perform well in the first season afterit and then picks it up. It's
look at Jose Barrios his first fullseason in Toronto last year after getting traded
from Minnesota. He was terrible disaster. Now he seems to have righted the
ship again. There's just examples allover the place of this, and it's
frustrating, but it's obviously it's Ithink it seems to be happening with Trey
(23:42):
Turner and hopefully finds a way toturn around many for the second half.
I think he's gonna get better.I guess what I'm trying to say is,
don't overpanic. You're justifiably mad he'sunderperforming right now, I get it,
but don't panic. I'm not worriedthat we blew a three hundred million
dollar contract, not even by along shot. And honestly, I wouldn't
(24:02):
be worried about it until after theend of next season. And I fully
get why people will be frustrated withthat, but I do think you need
kind of two, maybe even threeyears to fully get that. Read then,
now the guy's adjusted into his newhome. I mean the biggest example.
Look, we're seeing it right herewith Nick Castianos. Nick Castianos,
last season was bad. Maybe bad'sa little straight No, I know,
I take it back, he's bad. He was bad last season. He
(24:23):
was not we signed up for,and he was He did what he could,
but hey, it didn't get fullycomfortable with it yet. That's just
the fact. Now he had afull offseason here, he prepped with all
this, he has gotten a littlemore comfortable with the city and where he
is, and now he's the guythat we've signed up for. I'm not
saying it's a one size fits allof Kyle Schreber. We also signed last
(24:45):
year in Schobert was great last season, leadling in home runs. So it's
not this this has to happen toeverybody, but it's a way more common
occurrence than what people are making itout to be. And ripping into Trey
Turner about it. I think theguy's gonna be a okay, he's gonna
figure it out. He's been oneof the best hitters in the league for
you know, coming up on overhalf a decade at this point, he's
(25:06):
been fantastic. He's got he's stillgot the tools we see the speed,
the powers there it is. Wesaw him the World Baseball Classic. I
haven't seen it for the Phillies asmuch yet, but he still clearly has
it, and I fully buy inthat he's gonna be all right. This
overall team lineup with an oldps inthe bottom five, that's got a change
(25:26):
that absolutely has to change. Ithas Turner a part of that, of
course, but overall, I lookKyle Schwarber. This year it's been terrible.
I know we're getting into Schwarber.What is it June? I just
renamed June to Scharber. I forgetwhat the play on it was last year.
We know June to Schwarmer's month.We'll see hopefully picks it back up
and finds that heater again and startshitting some dingers. I believe he's gonna
(25:48):
be all right. I think thetime is going to turn around. But
it is very frustrating just waiting herewhile the Braves continue to just seem to
run away with the division and there. The Braves are a damn good ball
club. They are a damn goodball club, and it's gonna require a
lot for us to catch up.I fully get that the Bear concerned.
For me, it's the pitching,all right, Zach Wheeler and Aaron Nola
(26:11):
like, fine, I fully getthere. They're they're doing what they can.
Not saying they've been great, butI buy in that they're going to
be I'm not sounding the red flagyet. What I am concerned about is
the rest of it now. RangerSuarez just came back, so I'm happy
about that. But Bailey Falter clearlyshould struggling, got sent down to triple
A. Taiwan Walker looking terrible.I want to give him a little grace
(26:36):
similar the way I'm giving Turner,But I mean Turner's been bad. Walker's
been a double A pitcher like Walkerhas been a nightmare out there. Every
time you're throwing them out there,you're just thinking, all right, well,
and said I wouldn't do any moresixers. But in rememberance of Doc
Rivers, it feels like it's ascheduled loss when we're throwing a timeline Walker
out there right now, and thatis extremely frustrating this team. This team
(26:57):
is too good to have any guygo out there and haven't feel like a
scheduled loss. They just are.Now you have the Cubs coming into town.
This weekend. They're nineteen to twentyfour. You should you should beat
the Cubs. You should. They'rethey're a worst team, and I get
record wise they've seen pretty close becausethey are, but on paper they're a
worst team. And the Phillies havebeen capitalizing a little bit more at home
(27:18):
this year eleven and seven compared toon the road, where nine and sixteen
they've been a disaster. These gamesare in Philly. I expect us to
have a pretty solid weekend going intoit, but we'll find out. But
again, I do want to doubleback. The pitching is where I have
concerned. So let's pull up somestats. Give me one second here pulling
up the latest from the roster,and it has been bad. Let's see
(27:41):
this is most read through some we'stread through some ras and some fips and
tell me who we're happy with.Zach Wheeler four h six that's not good.
I mean, he's had a coupleof blow up starts and it's early,
Like I generally still feel good withhim out there, but it's not
good. Aaron Nola four or fivethree also definitely not good. Time Old
Walker six five three, Bailey Falterfive one three it's pretty weak out here.
(28:07):
And the other thing that's a littleeven just concerning. In the back
of my mind, I haven't heardsquat about Andrew Painter, the guy who
was the most dominant pitcher in theminers last year and was apparently going to
be in the rotation this year,or at least had a shot out of
spring training before this injury. Stillhaven't heard much about him going on.
(28:27):
Obviously, they're going to be cautious. I get it, you've got to
be cautious with the young arms,as you should be. But I'm a
little bit thrown back by the factthat nothing's coming out and that I don't
know this team is. It needspitching. It clearly needs pitching. The
bullpen has been bad, but Ithink it's been mainly a couple of bad
(28:48):
outings by individual guys, and Itrust them to turn around. I'm not
as concerned about the bullpen, butI do need guys that can help get
us into the sixth seventh inning,so that way the bullpen's not getting desecrated
on a knightly basis. We'll findout, but that's the bigger concern here.
I get the lineup is way underperforming, and they should be called out.
That's not what to be worried about. Want to be worried about is
(29:11):
the pitching wheel are in Nola.I think we'll figure it out. Everyone
else. I am nervous. I'dbe lying to you if I wasn't.
It's a little scary. We'll see. Hopefully you get it back on track.
And we need to get back ontrack asap for this team too.
If we want to compete for thedivision playoffs, we have time. We
want to compete for the division.We got to turn this around in the
(29:33):
next month because if the Braves areup by ten games at the All Star
break, we're not getting the Braves. That's just not happening. And right
now, let's see, let's doa double check. How many are we
back behind Atlanta? I think myguts, it was like seven or eight
if I remember correctly, But let'sget the live look, and yeah,
seven games, seven games behind theBraves right now. And it's always seemed
(29:55):
to be growing faster right because we'reinconsistent. Atlanta has been very sistant.
They're getting very quality they they're gettingvery quality outings and performances at a lot
of young guys and They've done agreat job building that ball club, so
we've got to be careful there.We'll see need to take two or three
from the clubs this week. Ineed to turn this around. I trust
Rob Thompson to do so. Buthey, you know, that's why they
(30:18):
played the games. We gotta figurethat one out. I'm gonna take a
quick break, and the last segmentwill go through some of my thoughts on
the other NBA series that are stillongoing, as well as it is calling
out how good playoff hockey can be. Because if you caught some of that
game last night between the Panthers andthe Hurricanes, even if you don't care
about it, you're entertained by it. So I will talk about that in
(30:41):
the last segment. We'll be backon Fox Sports Gambler with Balls, Bats
and Bats right after this Gambler PhilliesHome for all things sports gambling. Another
weekend in May, another weekend ofplayoff basketball. And it's been interesting the
first series so far. So obviouslythe big updates we're gonna start out West
(31:03):
Yoki and the Nuggets just taking careof business so far against the Lakers and
lebron last night's game very very goodback and forth, back and forth.
If you're on the spread, ifyou got a five and a half,
if you got in La who escapingby the what is it the skin of
your teeth, whatever it is,Yeah, barely. Nuggets win it by
(31:25):
five, defend home court. AndI do have to say, like,
and I'm not turning this into anembiad versus discussion that's been done at nauseum.
What I'm gonna say is the Nuggetsaretist built as a team absolutely fantastically
and you can see it coming tofruition in this series as well as the
past series, in this postseason andthe regular season. But I mean,
(31:47):
they have the big man in thecenter, one of the best bigs in
the leg, and he's the bestbig facilitator in the leg. That's that's
not really a question. He's thebest passing center in the leg. And
they run their offense, their halfcourt through him, and they pair him
up with an elite score in JamalMurray. It does get lost how damn
good Jamal Murray is because they haveYoki. But Jamal Murray is an absolutely
(32:13):
elite player, like no doubt aboutit, just incredible, incredible talent.
Jamal Murray. I don't even knowhow else to describe it. He has
been fantastic this postseason and before hegot he was out last season with an
injury. Before that, he wasan elite score. He was a great
score in the bubble. I rememberhim going off like he is a top
(32:35):
tier player in this league and he'sgetting undershadowed by Jokis a little bit.
Well, we talked about Batman andRobin a little bit earlier. He's obviously
the Robin, but he's a damngood Robin, and that's a perfect combination.
And they play well together, right, It's a good flow, they
have good balance, and then theyhave fantastic role players around them. Guys
like Aaron Gordon's the perfect example.It's developed a good shot and he's just
(32:59):
incredible athletic, and that's what youneed in this game. You need athletic
wings that can shoot. It doesn'thave to be your main players, and
the Nuggets are showing that your mainplayer can be the big guy in the
middle and then announced like a guardoutside score. But you need high wing
talent in this league, and AaronGordon is absolutely that. We know he's
incredibly athletic. I mean, thedunk contests for years, he was awesome
in those. But the man getsdeveloped a shot, play solid defense,
(33:23):
and is just so athletic that youcan put them on pretty much anybody on
the court and he'll be able tohandle himself at least a little bit.
It's a huge strength. They've beenfantastically set up. Right now, you're
making me call it. I thinkthe Nuggets are the ones holding the holding
up the trophy at the end.I know it might seem easy to say
that up too. Oh, Iget it. That's fine, you can
call me out on that, butI will say also, guess what,
(33:45):
a series doesn't really begin until someoneloses at home rights. That's the general
rule of thumb. So we'll see. They have to take care of business
in LA. I believe Game threeis tomorrow, that would make sense.
I guess it could be Sunday,but when sense that it's tomorrow, so
that with the NBA can continue tocapitalize on their weekend prime slots. Yeah,
(34:06):
and we will find out. Ithink that my gut right now is
Nuggets gentlemen sweep the Lakers, meaningthat you know that would take four out
of five. They'll win it infive. LA, I think wins one
of the two games at home.Whether it's Game three or four, I
don't know, but I struggle tosee that the Nuggets are gonna go back
home even I think they're taking atleast one in LA. And then it's
(34:29):
tough for me to see the Lakerswinning on the road in Denver when Denver
has been such a good home teamall year long, all year long,
and they have continue to be thatin the postseason. It's tough. I
think they had their shot kind oflast night. I know they also closed
it towards pretty yet pretty tight inGame one, but I don't know if
Denver's Denver's seemed really tough to me. I think Denver's gonna be a really
(34:50):
tough out in this if they're toget them out and have them not holding
up the trophy in the end.Jumping over to the East, the Heat
pulled off a huge upsetting Game one. I think there were like eight point
Dogs beat Boston in the garden.I mean, obviously it's not our sixers,
but it had to feel good tosee someone beat Boston well. I
mean, we beat him a coupleof times. We're not going down that
road stop it, Stop it.The Heat, big win, playoff Jimmy
(35:15):
is phenomenal. I don't know ifthere's any other word to describe it.
That man is a hell of aplayer and he leads that team. And
it's even when he's not dropping hugenumbers. He's just a leader out there
and he gets the most out ofhis guys. He really does the Heats
take care of business, really dominatingthat game overall. I also had a
(35:39):
crack up. It's so funny.How so I must have spoiled Boston fans
are Jason Tatum drops fifteen game seven, like we mentioned earlier against the Sixers,
and then he does have a badgame one, Yeah he did,
and he's getting ripped, completely rippedin the media up there, and I'm
like, I get it. Hehad a bad game. The man does
(36:00):
drop fifty in a postseason game.Does that not give him one game of
grace? Period? Dear lord.I mean, look, Philly sports,
we can get into it. Wecan get angry, and that's rightfully so
that's why it's a fantastic sports town. But we get smart angry. Boston's
getting dumb angry, like you're gettingangry just to be angry, calm,
do you know what down? Imean? Jeez, the man just dropped
(36:23):
fifty and they're ripping in him.You know what I'm jumping off. It's
getting me angry, and I obviouslyhope the Celtics lose. So no,
go Heat, go Miami. Ido have I do have a Heat ticket
opened up, opened it up rightbefore the playoffs started, so I got
a pretty good number on that,so we'll see there. And I also
recently opened up a Nuggets ticket that'sa separate one. But those are two
(36:44):
teams I'll be pulling for him theseseries. But the Heat are nine point
dogs heading into tonight. Up theup in the garden. That spread tells
me Boston. You're trying to tellme, Hey, Tim, can you
do a little spread reading for me? The spread reads Boston. It's tough
to say it doesn't read Boston becauseit's such a big spread even though they
just lost. And look, it'sa little bit of a do or die
(37:07):
game for them, right you can'tgo down to Miami down two, oh,
so it is a little bit door die. What I'll say is
I think Boston wins the game.Nine is too many. Nine is just
way too many for against this Heatteam. So I'm gonna put a little
bit on the Heat of Dogs again. Spread Read and the spread Read in
my gut are going against each other. So I'm not done the I love
(37:27):
this game, but I do haveto go with I have to go with
the Heat. Is the nine pointDogs separately over under two sixteen down to
two fifteen. Actually now the lastI saw it under, I think this
one's going under. There is adefensive matchup, a little bit of a
not Game seven but later game vibe, just because Boston cannot afford to go
down two out in their own building, right they can. That's a that's
(37:52):
a death, that's a nail inthe coffin. So they're absolutely gonna be
fighting that. I think they're gonnaplay a little bit tighter, just a
little bit. I'll dive in that. And one thing in this series I
think's going overlooked. There's a littlebit is the coaching advantage that Miami has
Eric Spoelstra, and I have togive him so much credit because he when
(38:12):
he first took that job, Ithought it was a joke or not joke,
but I didn't. That's not fair. I never thought it was a
joke, but I never gave himthe credit because you know, he had
Lebron, Dwayne Wade, Bosh.I'm like, I could have probably coached
that team to fifty wins pretty muchand won a title. I feel pretty
good about that. That guy hasreinvented himself with that roster so many times
now over the last decade, andhe's been great. The Heat are always
(38:37):
a team that's getting respect, isalways in and they've built a fantastic culture
down there. I know they selfpat Riley up up in the rafters watching
him from down there, but Imean, Eric Spoelstra is an elite coach.
Honestly, in my opinion, Ithink he might be the best coach
in the league. I know GregPopevic is still out there, but the
Spurs haven't been relevant now in halfa decade since Tim Duncan left. I
(39:01):
really believe that Eric Spoilster is thebest coach in the league. And Joe
Massoula he's done. Hey, he'sdone as good as he can do after
this point, right, He's stillalive in his first full season as a
head coach, but before this year, he hadn't coached above D three as
a head coach, and that's andit's gonna ar it's ugly head At some
point, I think Spolstress Spolstre's coachingedge is so large here that it's tough
(39:27):
for me to wrap my head aroundJoe Massoula not making some I don't even
know if it's making errors, butit's just not getting coached around in circles
and having Spolstre exploit something that Massouladoesn't know how to react to. We'll
see. I'm not saying that it'sa lock that Spoilster is going to have
some moves and just dominate this series, but do not undrest me that.
I know everyone wants to look atthe players, and usually that's why I
(39:49):
go to Usually I think coaching isa little bit overrated. In this case,
it's such an edge. In mymind, I think Miami is poised
to win this series. I dobelieve that, especially already up Game one.
Say right now, I think Miami'sgetting out of this series, even
though Boston is the heavy favorite stillto come out of the series. And
when the East, I that's thatcoaching edge and this culture in Miami and
(40:12):
Boston's got a good culture too.I'm not sure to repent of that.
But Miami I think gets it done. I really do. I buy in
that Miami's gonna get there. Speakingof Miami, there was another team down
there in Broward County that won abig game last night. The Florida Panthers
Carolina Hurricanes quadruple. You know youheard me right, quadruple overtime win three
(40:36):
two over Panthers win over the Hurricanes. I I'm not gonna do a dive
in deep dive into it again,you guys, You guys listen long enough.
You know I'm not like a hockeyexpert. I'm not gonna try to
clean to me. What I'm hereto tell you is when play When If
you give time to playoff hockey,it's absolutely phenomenal. Playoff hockey is a
(40:58):
great thing to watch for sports.That's the density and the way the players
play go back and forth. Itis elite sports television. The main problem
hockey has is no one gives adamn about the regular season overall. I
know that's not fair, not allfranchising again, and some people are mad
at me right now, but overall, most people don't care about the regular
season, right it's just a fact. And I know in Philadelphia right here,
the Flyers have not been bad fora stretch, and that's that makes
(41:21):
it even worse because you don't havethat home team that's like pulling you into
it. But that's been hockey's problemfor a long time. But the playoffs
again, I know I'm talking uphockey and talking them down the same sentences
here, But the playoff hockey,Give it the time, give it the
time of day, because you're goingto be rewarded with some damn good sports
entertainment. Not a game. Lastnight. I caught some of it and
(41:42):
middlely I fell asleep by the endof it because I went to bed I
had to get up early. Andit shouldn't say fell asleep. I went
to bed. I did not fallasleep on the game. I went to
bed after second doublet But it wasan absolutely phenomenal, phenomenal game. And
then they had Dallas in Vegas outwest. That game kick off tonight and
it's gonna think it's only another fantasticone. It's a big series is all
(42:05):
around. It's gonna be entertaining.So give hockey that time today if you
want to get entertainment. Don't forgetabout the NHL. That's all I'm saying.
That's all I'm saying. All Right, that's gonna wrap us up here
on balls, bets and bets forto night on Fox Sports The Gambler.
As always, I'm your host,Tim o'keeef. You can follow me at
t KO Underscore Picks if you likemy stuff, and if you don't like
me, my name is Bob something, you'll follow me elsewhere. But we'll
(42:29):
catch up with you guys next week. Hopefully our pills turn it around.
See you soon,
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.