November 7, 2023 • 39 mins
Essentially two weeks into the new NBA season, Chris Haynes and Marc Stein react in real time to an 11-game Monday night that featured James Harden's debut with LA Clippers and Minnesota bumping Boston from the ranks of the unbeaten. Haynes and Stein also dish on the Bucks and Mavericks as part of their tour around the league that covered numerous teams.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
James Harden makes his debut as an LA Clipper to
less than rave reviews. The Boston Celtics knocked from the
ranks of the unbeaten with a loss, an overtime loss
to the Minnesota Timberwolves. And we're basically two weeks into
the NBA season, so we're gonna discuss a slew of
(00:20):
teams here on the latest edition of this League Uncut.
Welcome to this.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
League Uncut in the world of twenty four hour NBA news,
Mister Blue, Chris Haynes, it's time, Markstein, It's so time.
This League Uncut is underway and on fire. This should
(00:46):
be a good one.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Welcome in everyone to the latest edition of this League Uncut.
Mark Stein and Chris Haynes were recording on Monday night,
a pretty wild Monday night in the NBA. No games
Tuesday because of elections, so there was a lot on
the schedule tonight, a lot of craziness on the schedule.
(01:10):
The Indiana Pacers, fresh off giving up a buck fifty
five to the Boston Celtics, turn around and ring up
one hundred and fifty two points of their own to
route Victor Wembin Yama and the Spurs Joe l Embiid
forty eight points, almost almost the second fifty point outing
(01:35):
of the season. Philly rings up one hundred and forty
six on Washington, with both Embiid and Maxi looking fantastic.
The Lakers in Miami take a one point loss. Anthony
Davis comes away injured. Another narrow victory from Miami. The
(01:56):
Heat off to a sub five hundred start in the
wake of a trip to the finals. But when Miami
does win, it's been a close one every time. Sacramento
Kings no dearon Fox, and you can definitely tell two
losses back to back losses for the Kings in Houston,
(02:16):
the Boston Celtics arriving in Minneapolis at five and zero
but losing in overtime. Anthony Edwards takeover in ot. Minnesota
has now beaten both Boston and Denver at home, the
(02:36):
only loss for those two teams. But even after saying
all that, let's face it, the focus on this Monday
night was it Madison Square Garden. The debut of James
Harden with his new team, the LA Clippers did not
go smoothly. The Knicks off to their own sub five
(02:57):
hundred start, pull away in the fourth quarter, and worse yet,
for the Clippers, a small team that's really relying on
Zubach and Mason Plumley to provide their size and their rebounding,
and Mason Plumley comes away with an injury. So rough
(03:20):
debut for James Harden and the Clippers. And I think
we look, you don't want to jump to conclusions either
way after just one game. Even if the Clippers had
looked sensational, it would be dangerous and foolish to overreact
to that. So we shouldn't overreact to a loss for
(03:44):
these guys on the road when they're just coming together.
But I think we did see very clearly there is
a lot of work to do here. These are all
guys who need the ball. And even if things go well,
even if Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Russell Westbrook and the
newcomer James Harden, even if the four of them find
(04:06):
a smooth harmony quickly, this is going to be a
small team that's trying to do it with a lot
of offense. And all those guys, I mean, Russell Westbrook
has never had trouble rebounding, and Kawhi Leonard when he's
in the mood, can be a force on the boards,
but they're all going to have to hit the boards
because this is a small team and far from a
(04:32):
traditional construction. Chris Haynes.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Yeah, they were out rebounded by the Knicks forty eight
to thirty one. And to your point about you know,
Paul George is a good rebounder for his position, Russell
Westbrook's exceptional rebounder for his position. James Harten's always been
a guy who gets high rebound numbers. So on paper,
(04:58):
it looks okay. But when you start talking about the
size of other teams, especially when they have traditional players
at the power forward and center spot, especially like the
Knicks Mitchell Robinson and Julius Randall, and you got long
guys like Barrett at the end, you know, don't Josh
hart who's one of the best rebounds for his position
(05:20):
in the league. They're going to have problems when they
face traditional teams with size. So that's going to be
the only issue. But as far as James Harden's debut,
pretty good. You could tell he was trying to blend in.
You could tell he's trying to defer. He was very
efficient from the field on the offensive end six to
(05:41):
nine from the field two or four from three. So,
you know, I think there's a lot of positives that
the Clippers can take, but definitely on a defensive end
that's going to be a concern, and particularly on the glass.
So you know, this is you know, a plubly situation.
That's that's tough. We'll have to see what comes in that.
(06:03):
But yeah, they really have no size, you know, in
that reserve unit spot.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Yeah, and when they made the trade, I mean, I
you know, I was more for it than against it.
The price was obviously very high. Cynics are going to
look at this trade and ask themselves, why are the
Clippers giving up so much when there are no other
bidders for James Harden? Do the Clippers? Did the Clippers
(06:30):
really need to trade away at unprotected first and to
pick swaps to bring in James Harden at this point?
But I guess on one hand, I talked myself into
it from the perspective of they've committed already so many
trade assets to put the team together that they have,
(06:52):
that they're already all in. Had they held those picks
back and not done this trade, is what they would
have kept, would that have been enough to theoretically protect
them from the ultimate demise of this group. And let's
face it, it, I you know, I think they're gonna have
to stick with this team and stick with at least
(07:15):
three of these stars going forward because they're going into
this new arena and we know Steve Balmer's not gonna
want to rebuild. So it actually has given leverage back
to Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, who possess player options
for next season, and James Harden, who's going to be
a full on free agent in the summer. James Harden
(07:36):
is not eligible to do a contract extension with his
new team right now. But I you know, I think
the Clippers are going to have to resign these guys.
I mean, they're not gonna want to go into a
new new building starting over. But again, the West, you know,
and again I also they kept Terrence Man, they kept
Norman Powell, So I mean, they they achieved a lot
(07:59):
of their goals this trade. But man, you look at
the West and the Denver Nuggets, they just ooze continuity
and the Golden State Warriors the same. And they've added
Chris Paul who has really lifted their bench unit. The
Warriors are also very small, very very small, but they
(08:25):
have so much continuity and that's what the Clippers now
have to catch up to. And you know, just comparing
them to Denver, can they get there? How fast can
they get there? I mean they did get hardened very early.
It basically okay, he wasn't there for training camp, but
(08:47):
they're basically getting hardened at the start of the season.
But do they have enough time to really put a
team together? And I say that as a Tyloo fan,
I mean, I don't think there's a better coach you
could put in charge of this particular situation. But again,
you know, I think we saw enough tonight to say
(09:09):
there are a lot of questions to be answered and
Tyler has a lot of work to do.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Yeah, for sure, we knew that from the get go.
You know, for the Clippers felt all off season that
they needed a point guard. Even though they resigned Russell Westbrook.
They tried everything that they could to get a starting
caliber point guard. So walk with me a little bit.
(09:35):
So if that's the case, right, and you're talking about
players that are probably going to be mainstays for the
Clippers because they got that new Arena coming in that's
gonna be that's going to open next season. And James
Harden Paul George have leverage, possibly a resigning of James
(09:59):
Harden possibly, But where does that leave Russell Westbrook? And
I'm not even talking about next season? What is that
leaving for this season? If they were so adamant about
trying to upgrade the point guard spot, they wanted Drew Holliday,
(10:20):
they tried to get Malcolm Braden, who else it was
some Damian Lillard. They tried to see if they get
in on that. It just feels like if somebody is
going to end up leaving this season, seems like it's
going to be Russ, Like he would be made It
seemed like he would be made available at some point.
I don't have any concrete aggregators, hear me. I don't
(10:43):
have anything concrete on it. I don't know. But it's
just the way that the Clippers have been going about
their pursuit of a point guard, considering it that they
considering they just resign Russell Westbrook this summer, that like
if I'm if I'm Russ, like I don't, I don't
know if I feel too comfortable with that even though
(11:05):
I know James Harden is a really good friend of his.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
So and look, you know what the Clippers are going
to say. The Clippers are going to say that when
Russell Westbrook was resigned, he was briefed on management plans.
He was told that, hey, you might be resigning here
and we might pull off a trade for James Harden
in the future and bring James Harden back. Are you
(11:29):
okay with that? And they, you know, they say that
that Russ knew that was a possibility and blessed it.
And like I said, I don't want I do not
want to jump to too many conclusions because I feel
like we're you know, I've been complaining about this for years.
I know, I said it on a recent pod with you.
And I just feel like, because we are watching these
(11:51):
games so closely, there's a lot of excitement at the
beginning of the season. Everybody has been waiting months to
see their team, Like we just we want to draw
conclusions night to night, and you just cannot do that
in the NBA in early November. You shouldn't do it.
I know. I'm people are just gonna say Stein, you're
you're a traditionalist, You're an old head. You're stubborn, You're
(12:15):
never gonna change. But there's a reason why.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
All that is true. That is true, but it is true.
I agree with your point.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
But it's an eighty two game season, and there is
a value in waiting twenty games to really make evaluations.
I mean it, you cannot make you cannot make declarations
after game five, six, and seven. It's just too soon.
And I do not want to do that with the Clippers.
And I'm going to see the Clippers with my own
(12:43):
eyes this week. They're in Dallas on Friday night, when
it's going to be the second night of your beloved
in season tournament, and all these crazy garish courts will
be trotted back out because again no NBA games on
the Agile Tuesday. The next in season tournament night is Friday.
(13:05):
I will be there at the AAC when the Clippers
are in town. I can't wait to see it for myself.
I'll have more, you know, I can't. I can't wait
to visit with ty Lou and all the principles and
kind of take their temperature myself. But based on initial evidence,
you know, I think it's fair to say that much
(13:28):
much must be figured out and uh ty Lou is
not going to have not gonna have much time off
in coming weeks. There's he's got a lot to dig into.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Yeah, And one thing I want to say I wanted
about the Clippers in their situation and their lack of
size depended on the severity of Plumbley's injury. It is
very important even for the Warriors to think down the
road because Joker is a problem. You need you need
(14:07):
to have insurance just in case you have to go
through him in the playoffs, and you need to have
a traditional big you know, just like when Shaq was dominating.
All these big men were dominating and you knew that
they were going to be there at the end. Teams
had two bigs, sometimes even had three bigs on the run.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
The Lakers, you know, the Lakers have been at their
best in these this early part of the season. And
they've certainly had their struggles again, losing both in Orlando
and Miami. But the Lakers have been at their best
so far the season when you've had Anthony Davis and
Christian Wood next to Lebron James. So that's a pretty big,
big allignance.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Yeah, no, for sure, and the Warriors for whatever reason,
they chose to go in a different direction right now,
So you know it's still early, but you're definitely teams
that are that are in contention. They definitely have to
go into the playoffs with the mindset of how are
they going to handle Joker And if you don't have
(15:11):
a couple of quality bigs with with six thousand six
files a piece, you probably won't have a shot.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
I am a system, so says James Harden. It's the
kind of thing that I would have expected Chris Haynes
to say at a podcast, meaning I am I am
the system.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Nah, I can't get away with that. I definitely can't
get away with that. I wasn't surprised he said that though, Well.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Like I said, I can't. I can't wait to see
these guys for myself, and they will be in my
city soon. Let's shift to another game that was pretty
fascinating tonight. I was I was really psyched for this one,
and this will be this will be I I kind
of have a feeling this will be one of those
things that that draws looks of disdain and confusion from
my podcast partner. But do you are you aware of
(16:02):
the game Stratamatic.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
I've heard of it, but I'm not familiar with it.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
So Stratamatic is basically a board game, a dice rolling game.
It's a managerial game. So you can you will have
no trouble imagining little Mark Stein, age nine ten and
on for the rest of his life just sitting in
(16:29):
his room by himself on the floor playing Major League
Baseball games, NBA games and h recreating NHL games with
player cards and dice rolling, and it's just managerial sports.
Nerd hur nervana.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Yeah, I'm looking at the images right now. Yes, this
is this is definitely even before my time.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
But go ahead and right you're and you're not surprised
that I love this, right, I mean, this is just classic.
This is well in twenty twenty three. Of course, it's
all computerized. Now you can still play the game old
school with dice and cards, but you can all it's
also computerized. So as a season preview, I reached out
(17:14):
to my friends at Stratamatic and I said, will you
guys simulate the season, just simulate the whole season for
me to let me know what happens, And crazily enough,
to the absolute delight of our friend Scott Shapiro at
iHeart what happened. The stratamatic computer said that the NBA
Finals would be the Boston Celtics sweeping Scott Shapiro's Minnesota Timberwolves.
(17:41):
But now he didn't like the sweet part. But the
Minnesota Timberwolves have only won two playoff series in franchise history.
So a trip to the NBA Finals, I think most
Wolves fans would take that. And so if you if
you read my stratamatic simulation season preview, then you would
know that tonight was low key in NBA Finals preview,
(18:06):
Celtics at Wolves, and of course there were zero people
on Earth besides me and maybe Scott who looked at
it that way. But still a damn good game. Aunt Edwards,
ridiculous in overtime, and the Wolves who awoke today on
this Monday as we record with the number one rank
(18:28):
defense in the league. If you want to go real,
super small sample sample sized theater. And now the Wolves
have knocked off Boston, knocked the Celtics from the ranks
of the unbeaten after doing it to Denver, what are
your throw out? All my throat put aside, all my
(18:48):
uh all my nonsense, And you tell what are your
early impressions of the Wolves? And I mean this is
you know Aunt Edwards tonight, This this is the guy
I think a lot of people were waiting for after
what we what we saw during the summer with Team USA.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Before I address that, I'm just I don't know if
you're helping Stratumatic out with publicity or if you're hurting
them by revealing who they had representing the Western Conference
in the NBA Finals. I don't I don't know if
if that's hurting their credibility right there, I don't.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Know their credibility. Their their credibility is untouchable. It's one
computer simulation. It is the greatest American managed sports managerial
sports simulation game there is. I have literally been playing
it since the seventies, man and it's still here. So
their credibility cannot be besmirched.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
So with that being said, the Minnesota Timberwolves, we've been
looking for the last few years for them to take
that next step. They got into the playoffs. Remember the
road they they had getting through the excuse me what
the play in the play in game? Getting there? And
Anthony Edwards this is his team now he kind of
(20:05):
he kind of took over last year. This is his
team and coming off of a you know, having a
successful stint with Team USA over this past summer. You know,
I think Anthony Edwards not just basketball wise, like personality wise,
like he's a star. He has all the attributes needed
(20:25):
to be a star.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Do you think Cat and Gobert are good with it
that it's his team? Now?
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Well? I don't. Does it doesn't matter it Stein because
it's his team? I think I think, Look, I can't say, well, Rudy, Rudy,
I don't Why would Rudy have a problem with it?
You know, he he got traded over there. He's not
(20:52):
He's not a franchise guy anymore. So Kat is probably
the only one. But I don't. I don't think Kat
is think in that way because just going by interviews,
and again, people stop believing everything you hear in these
interviews because they don't always say what they really want
to say or how they really feel. But Kat has
(21:16):
going out of his way to kind of uplift Anthony
Edwards and kind of he says things that kind of
insinuate that ant is the guy. So you know, it
is what it is at this point. That's why I said, like,
(21:36):
it really doesn't matter. You know, they have an obligation
to play to their fullest capabilities on both ends of
the floor, and the stars are going to show out regardless.
And Anthony Edwards is that guy, so you know, and
they're only going to get as far as ant because
you know he's their playmaker. Is this real? Is this really?
(22:01):
Is this really a situation where the Minnesota Templewolves have
really taken the next step and realistically can be there
representing the Western Conference finals? I mean representing the Western
Conference in the finals. I don't know that yet. I
don't you know, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
If I'm joking aside, I'm not saying that either.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Of course you're not. No, of course you're not. No,
of course you're not. But but it's just, you know,
I look at that team and I'm like, hmm, the
size wise, they they do have re member. I will
tell you about what it's going to take to take
down the joker if he's there and if he's healthy.
You know, Minnesota has the size. That's what Tim Conley
(22:44):
over their head of the basketball operations over there, That's
what he hadn't had in mind, and so Tim's been
thinking that way for a few years already. So maybe
the Minnesota Templeleves can be on course to get to
that path, but you know, I need to see a
little bit more for sure.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yeah, Look, I think I think what we can say
about the Wolves at this early juncture. You know, when
they first got go Bear, I thought that they would
at least be a great regular season team because Rudy
until last season was a walking top five defense all
by himself. And the way this season has started, you know,
they're on that course that should set them up to
(23:26):
be a top five defensive team during the regular season
at the very least, and then we'll have to see
where they are six seven months from now. But you know,
I know, I know they're not getting carried away either.
Even before this win over Boston, I spoke recently to
their coach, Chris Finch. I had him on my weekend
radio show in Dallas when Minnesota was opening the season
(23:48):
in Abu Dhabi with two exhibition games against the Mavericks,
and Finch gave me some interesting stuff. I've kind of
I ran this quote today because I'm kind of filing
it away. I think there's I think he's onto something here.
This is Chris Finch just looking at the West in general,
at what an absolutely stacked conference the West is. Here's
(24:10):
the Chris Finch view quote. I would point to the
parody that we've seen across the league in the last
five years. Five years, five different champions, Finch said, I'm
not putting us right there with the title contenders right
off the bat. And we're also not in the business
of predicting anything, but we feel like we have the
potential to be a really good team. Now in the West,
(24:32):
it's going to be so tough, A really good team
might be I don't know, hovering around five hundred for
a lot of the season, if everybody's going for it
and everybody is at some point going to take a
piece out of everybody else. I don't think we're going
to see many sixty game winners out there this year.
How close can you get to fifty? That's going to
(24:54):
be like everyone's kind of standard and he and that
quote hits on one of my nerdy curiosities. I love
every year to keep track of how many fifty win
teams did we see? How many sixty win teams did
we see? Last season in the West, there were only
two fifty win teams. It was an abnormal year. It
(25:15):
was the mildest West in the modern era. And you know,
you had Denver and you had Memphis squeaking into fifty
win territory. And it's definitely something to watch this season
how many teams in the West can get into the
fifties when the conference is just so stacked. Again, Sacramento
(25:36):
just went to Houston. Even without the Aaron Fox, the
Kings would not have would not have expected going to
Houston and losing two games to the Rockets. But without
the Aeron Fox, they just did. Teams like Houston. Portland
has been you know, pretty, they've they've They've won a
few games, and I'm not sure people were expecting. San
(25:57):
Antonio obviously has been much more us with wem Minyama
than anyone was expecting. The Spurs going to Phoenix and
sweeping a baseball series.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
Did you expect Memphis to beat this bad to start
the season?
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Not this bad?
Speaker 3 (26:14):
No.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
I thought they were going to struggle, and I knew
the Steven Adams injury was was a huge blow for them,
But I mean many they were on the verge of
o and seven. They pulled that out. They turned that
Portland game around amazingly. I think the Blazers missed their
last fourteen shots. I mean they were on the brink
of oh and seven and yeah. In this West, you
(26:35):
have to ask the question, how how you know how
big of a hole will they be in by the
time John Morant can actually come back. I mean, there
are you know, we could take this thing in so
many different directions from here. There's some major injuries to
talk about. With the news that Robert Williams in Portland
(26:56):
needs surgery, you know, the Blazers, there was obviously a
lot of belief around the league that when the Blazers
acquired him in the Dame Lillard multi team blockbuster, that
the idea was that they could put the time lord
on the trade market and move him. We'll have to
see what surgery he's going to opt for and whether
(27:18):
or return this season is possible. New Orleans has dealt
with a slew of injuries already. Brandon Ingram has had
to miss some times. Ion Williamson missed a game, and
now comes the news that for the second time in
his career, CJ McCollum dealing with is it a partially
collapse long I'm not even exactly sure how to term it,
(27:39):
except knowing that it's obviously a no joke injury. So
we're obviously going to have to monitor those situations as well.
But let's I mean, we could talk about ten different
teams if if we really wanted to go all over
the map, but let's just try to keep this somewhat streamline.
(27:59):
Why don't you give us an update on the Milwaukee
Bucks and then I will close with some notes about
the very surprising six and one Dallas Mavericks.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Well, the Bucks, they're still trying to figure it out.
You know, their game. They've won, they won back to
back thus far, but it hasn't been pretty. It hasn't
been pretty at all. And you can still see that
players are timid and they're trying to figure it out
on the fly. They beat they beat the Brooklyn Nets.
(28:32):
It was tough. Cam Thomas went off for I believe
forty five points. McHale Bridges had a great game as well,
so they just changed their defense up a little bit.
Last couple of games where coach Adrian Griffin let it
be known that a few players went up to him
before the game against the New York Knicks last Friday
(28:55):
and told him that, you know, they want to see
a change on the defensive end, and primarily Lopez. They
wanted him back in drop coverage. That's what they're all
also familiar with under coach Blutenholzer, which had them among
the top defensive efficiency teams in the league over the
last few years. And under Griffin, he had everybody being aggressive.
(29:18):
He had everybody being up, you know, up on everything,
up on pick and rolls. Just it's an ultra ultra
aggressive defense. But it leaves you exposed, It leaves it
puts guys into in areas of why they're not that
comfortable that you saw Brook Lopez, I believe he had.
(29:40):
He had a ton of blocks in that next game,
you know, in the in this first game, back and
drop coverage. So the Bucks are trying to get better,
They're doing everything on the fly. Adrian Griffin listening to
his players, so you know, you could tell and see
that it's a collaborative effort, but still trying to figure
things out. What I can say, man, Damian Lillard Giannis
that partner ship, that lethal combination that we're that we
(30:03):
thought we're going to see probably early. We thought we
were going to see early. It still hasn't came together
on a consistent level, but those two are working behind
the scenes trying to get things together. I know Dame
was at Giannis's house over the weekend working out at
his house. They were watching film. Those two are committed
(30:26):
to trying to enhance each other collectively, and then in turn,
that's going to enhance the team's play. So they're doing
everything they can behind the scenes to try to make
this situation be a successful situation. But it's gonna be
a work in progress. You can see it. You can
even see it in their wins. They're not winning of
the magnitude of like the Celtics have started off winning,
(30:49):
So it's gonna take time. But nobody in that organization,
from players to coaches, nobody's worried. But yeah, it's gonna
take some time.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
I think that's what's wrapped up the pressure because Boston
has looked so good out of the gate. Chris Middleton
still playing, you know, tonight he played twenty one minutes
in a narrow win over Brooklyn, so he's still not
close to playing, you know, the kind of you know,
not close to taking on the kind of minute load
you would expect. And I mean it's been amazing. You know,
(31:21):
I didn't think they would struggle this badly on defense,
but to this point, I mean the loss, you know,
figuring out how to replace or you know, replicate what
Drew Holliday gave them defensively to come anywhere close to
that has been a major struggle. And the reason I
didn't expect it to be this bad, even this early,
(31:44):
is because you know, Jannie and Brook Lopez are such
They're so accomplished as individual defenders in their own right,
but obviously they're back line defenders and not playing on
the perimeter like Drew Holliday is. So it's early, and
no one has patience. And I guess where I Live
(32:06):
is one of the few teams that can be pleased
with where it is right now because a six and
one start for the Dallas Mavericks. I mean, you know,
you've heard me talk about it that they went on
basically the longest trip in preseason history, and when they
came back from that trip, both Luka Doncic and Kyrie
(32:27):
Irving came home with injuries. They were feeling tired before
they even got started. But I have to say they
have regrouped from that amazingly. Well, maybe as a reward
for how grueling and long the preseason trip was. They've
been presented with a favorable early schedule, but that doesn't
(32:47):
guarantee that you take advantage. The Mavericks have taken advantage.
The first three games of the season, Luka Doncic was
playing other worldly basketball. But since then, the last two
you know, Kyrie Irving had to miss a couple games,
but he has come back from a left foot issue.
Kyrie Irving with double digit assists the last two games.
(33:09):
He and Luka Doncic have functioned in crunch time better,
far better than at any point compared to how they
looked last season after the mid season trade. But beyond
the two stars in Dallas, beyond taking advantage of a
mostly favorable schedule, I mean, Grant Williams has been huge
(33:33):
as a new Maverick. I mean just making three after
three after three, as well as anchoring the defense. Tim
Hardaway Junior, who it's no secret he's been available in
trades four months. Tim Hardaway Junior himself said when the
season started he wasn't sure that he was still going
to be in Dallas. He has been fantastic off the bench,
(33:53):
and Derek Lively the second The Mavericks had high hopes
when they drafted him, but they're getting more from him
as nineteen year old center than they ever expected. The
Mavericks were not sure that their nineteen year old rookie,
like Victor Wemenyama and San Antonio, they were not sure
that Lively was ready to deliver from the jump like
(34:14):
he has. And even though Lively started the whole preseason,
Jason Kidd didn't start him opening night in San Antonio
against wemen Yama. He was trying to ease the pressure
on Lively, and by halftime of Game one, Lively showed
the Mavericks no, I'm ready for this, and he has
been outstanding. And six and one for Dallas. And you
(34:36):
know what, nobody can talk tonight about easy schedules, because
they went into Orlando, third game in four night in
four nights, second night of a back to back, and
they were down double digits for the second night in
a row and came back and won against a frisky
Orlando team that was off to a good start. So
(35:00):
the Dallas Mavericks at six and one for sure one
of the surprises of the season. And now Dallas comes home.
They've got Toronto coming in Wednesday. Really, I'm really eager
to see the new look Raptors with Scottie Barnes as
their clearcut focal point. And like I said Friday night,
I got the Clippers in here, so gonna be a busy,
(35:20):
busy week in Dallas.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
How was Jason Kidd.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Jason Kidd is I mean he was ill for the
game in Denver, the only game they lost. So Jason
Kidd is six and oh he's riding high, even though,
of course, the way NBA bookkeeping is done, the loss
goes on his record. But yeah, I even with you know,
(35:46):
even if you look at it and want to sit
here and say it was a favorable schedule, I don't
think anybody had Dallas starting six. And oh all right,
I think we covered quite a bit of ground. I
think we hit on man, we hit on a lot
of teams tonight. And we really haven't even talked about
how you somehow convinced the NBA to put the twenty
twenty five All Star Game on your coast San Francisco.
(36:09):
Twenty twenty five, an easy drive for you after this,
after this February in Indianapolis.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
Well, listen, we've All Star weekend has suffered long enough.
We've suffered long enough, this this cold winter All Star
tour that the NBA chose to put every put everybody
through and was forced us to endure Chicago cold winter,
(36:37):
Cleveland cold winter, Salk late what was okay? Still cold?
Still not the best? You know, New York and Toronto
was in of Toronto Toronto?
Speaker 1 (36:49):
Yeah, those actually, but you're right those both New York
was I remember the wins were just gusting something crazy.
Don't remember what year it was, twenty.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
Fifteen maybe, yeah, about fifteen.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
Toronto, know, Toronto was the coldest All Star game I've
ever been to. But I love Toronto so much that
I didn't care. I didn't care how cold it was.
I had. I had a blast at that.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
I didn't go outside, not one time in Toronto. It
was that cold now it we me Mark Spears. After
the after the games and the events, we would just
hang out in the hotel lobby, like twenty of us.
That's what we did each and every night, and just
eight and talk. That was it. No, Toronto does not Sorry,
(37:35):
I'm sorry, Toronto.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
I love that All Star Game, don't Tonto, And I
hope it and I hope it's snowy. I hope it
is snowy and cold in Indianapolis in February.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
Oh, we gotta do better. But yes, thankfully A's coming
back to a warm weather city, San Francisco. Now, hopefully
San Francisco can clean up his act before next year's
All Star Game. Because San Francisco is not the San
Francisco that you grow up visiting. It is not. A
lot has changed and I don't have to get into it.
(38:08):
Get into it all. Those who have been there recently
understand what I'm saying, but they have a lot of
cleaning up to do. And I'm talking about literally figuratively
cleaning up that city.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
So says Chris Haynes, I haven't been there in ages.
I'll take your word for it. I think that is
going to do it for this edition of This League Uncut.
Please remember to rate, review and subscribe to the pod
if you haven't already. Chris and I will be back
at weeks and most likely going to record. I would
(38:42):
imagine Thursday night before Friday, so probably before I get
a chance to see the La Clippers with my own eyes.
But we'll figure out the exact schedule for the second
pod as the week unfills everyone. Thanks for listening. We'll
be back with you very soon.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
And that'll do it for us. See you next time.
This League uncutage an iHeartRadio production
Speaker 1 (39:15):
Chris Haynes and Mark Stein.
James Harden makes his debut as an LA Clipper to
less than rave reviews. The Boston Celtics knocked from the
ranks of the unbeaten with a loss, an overtime loss
to the Minnesota Timberwolves. And we're basically two weeks into
the NBA season, so we're gonna discuss a slew of
(00:20):
teams here on the latest edition of this League Uncut.
Welcome to this.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
League Uncut in the world of twenty four hour NBA news,
Mister Blue, Chris Haynes, it's time, Markstein, It's so time.
This League Uncut is underway and on fire. This should
(00:46):
be a good one.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Welcome in everyone to the latest edition of this League Uncut.
Mark Stein and Chris Haynes were recording on Monday night,
a pretty wild Monday night in the NBA. No games
Tuesday because of elections, so there was a lot on
the schedule tonight, a lot of craziness on the schedule.
(01:10):
The Indiana Pacers, fresh off giving up a buck fifty
five to the Boston Celtics, turn around and ring up
one hundred and fifty two points of their own to
route Victor Wembin Yama and the Spurs Joe l Embiid
forty eight points, almost almost the second fifty point outing
(01:35):
of the season. Philly rings up one hundred and forty
six on Washington, with both Embiid and Maxi looking fantastic.
The Lakers in Miami take a one point loss. Anthony
Davis comes away injured. Another narrow victory from Miami. The
(01:56):
Heat off to a sub five hundred start in the
wake of a trip to the finals. But when Miami
does win, it's been a close one every time. Sacramento
Kings no dearon Fox, and you can definitely tell two
losses back to back losses for the Kings in Houston,
(02:16):
the Boston Celtics arriving in Minneapolis at five and zero
but losing in overtime. Anthony Edwards takeover in ot. Minnesota
has now beaten both Boston and Denver at home, the
(02:36):
only loss for those two teams. But even after saying
all that, let's face it, the focus on this Monday
night was it Madison Square Garden. The debut of James
Harden with his new team, the LA Clippers did not
go smoothly. The Knicks off to their own sub five
(02:57):
hundred start, pull away in the fourth quarter, and worse yet,
for the Clippers, a small team that's really relying on
Zubach and Mason Plumley to provide their size and their rebounding,
and Mason Plumley comes away with an injury. So rough
(03:20):
debut for James Harden and the Clippers. And I think
we look, you don't want to jump to conclusions either
way after just one game. Even if the Clippers had
looked sensational, it would be dangerous and foolish to overreact
to that. So we shouldn't overreact to a loss for
(03:44):
these guys on the road when they're just coming together.
But I think we did see very clearly there is
a lot of work to do here. These are all
guys who need the ball. And even if things go well,
even if Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Russell Westbrook and the
newcomer James Harden, even if the four of them find
(04:06):
a smooth harmony quickly, this is going to be a
small team that's trying to do it with a lot
of offense. And all those guys, I mean, Russell Westbrook
has never had trouble rebounding, and Kawhi Leonard when he's
in the mood, can be a force on the boards,
but they're all going to have to hit the boards
because this is a small team and far from a
(04:32):
traditional construction. Chris Haynes.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Yeah, they were out rebounded by the Knicks forty eight
to thirty one. And to your point about you know,
Paul George is a good rebounder for his position, Russell
Westbrook's exceptional rebounder for his position. James Harten's always been
a guy who gets high rebound numbers. So on paper,
(04:58):
it looks okay. But when you start talking about the
size of other teams, especially when they have traditional players
at the power forward and center spot, especially like the
Knicks Mitchell Robinson and Julius Randall, and you got long
guys like Barrett at the end, you know, don't Josh
hart who's one of the best rebounds for his position
(05:20):
in the league. They're going to have problems when they
face traditional teams with size. So that's going to be
the only issue. But as far as James Harden's debut,
pretty good. You could tell he was trying to blend in.
You could tell he's trying to defer. He was very
efficient from the field on the offensive end six to
(05:41):
nine from the field two or four from three. So,
you know, I think there's a lot of positives that
the Clippers can take, but definitely on a defensive end
that's going to be a concern, and particularly on the glass.
So you know, this is you know, a plubly situation.
That's that's tough. We'll have to see what comes in that.
(06:03):
But yeah, they really have no size, you know, in
that reserve unit spot.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Yeah, and when they made the trade, I mean, I
you know, I was more for it than against it.
The price was obviously very high. Cynics are going to
look at this trade and ask themselves, why are the
Clippers giving up so much when there are no other
bidders for James Harden? Do the Clippers? Did the Clippers
(06:30):
really need to trade away at unprotected first and to
pick swaps to bring in James Harden at this point?
But I guess on one hand, I talked myself into
it from the perspective of they've committed already so many
trade assets to put the team together that they have,
(06:52):
that they're already all in. Had they held those picks
back and not done this trade, is what they would
have kept, would that have been enough to theoretically protect
them from the ultimate demise of this group. And let's
face it, it, I you know, I think they're gonna have
to stick with this team and stick with at least
(07:15):
three of these stars going forward because they're going into
this new arena and we know Steve Balmer's not gonna
want to rebuild. So it actually has given leverage back
to Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, who possess player options
for next season, and James Harden, who's going to be
a full on free agent in the summer. James Harden
(07:36):
is not eligible to do a contract extension with his
new team right now. But I you know, I think
the Clippers are going to have to resign these guys.
I mean, they're not gonna want to go into a
new new building starting over. But again, the West, you know,
and again I also they kept Terrence Man, they kept
Norman Powell, So I mean, they they achieved a lot
(07:59):
of their goals this trade. But man, you look at
the West and the Denver Nuggets, they just ooze continuity
and the Golden State Warriors the same. And they've added
Chris Paul who has really lifted their bench unit. The
Warriors are also very small, very very small, but they
(08:25):
have so much continuity and that's what the Clippers now
have to catch up to. And you know, just comparing
them to Denver, can they get there? How fast can
they get there? I mean they did get hardened very early.
It basically okay, he wasn't there for training camp, but
(08:47):
they're basically getting hardened at the start of the season.
But do they have enough time to really put a
team together? And I say that as a Tyloo fan,
I mean, I don't think there's a better coach you
could put in charge of this particular situation. But again,
you know, I think we saw enough tonight to say
(09:09):
there are a lot of questions to be answered and
Tyler has a lot of work to do.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Yeah, for sure, we knew that from the get go.
You know, for the Clippers felt all off season that
they needed a point guard. Even though they resigned Russell Westbrook.
They tried everything that they could to get a starting
caliber point guard. So walk with me a little bit.
(09:35):
So if that's the case, right, and you're talking about
players that are probably going to be mainstays for the
Clippers because they got that new Arena coming in that's
gonna be that's going to open next season. And James
Harden Paul George have leverage, possibly a resigning of James
(09:59):
Harden possibly, But where does that leave Russell Westbrook? And
I'm not even talking about next season? What is that
leaving for this season? If they were so adamant about
trying to upgrade the point guard spot, they wanted Drew Holliday,
(10:20):
they tried to get Malcolm Braden, who else it was
some Damian Lillard. They tried to see if they get
in on that. It just feels like if somebody is
going to end up leaving this season, seems like it's
going to be Russ, Like he would be made It
seemed like he would be made available at some point.
I don't have any concrete aggregators, hear me. I don't
(10:43):
have anything concrete on it. I don't know. But it's
just the way that the Clippers have been going about
their pursuit of a point guard, considering it that they
considering they just resign Russell Westbrook this summer, that like
if I'm if I'm Russ, like I don't, I don't
know if I feel too comfortable with that even though
(11:05):
I know James Harden is a really good friend of his.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
So and look, you know what the Clippers are going
to say. The Clippers are going to say that when
Russell Westbrook was resigned, he was briefed on management plans.
He was told that, hey, you might be resigning here
and we might pull off a trade for James Harden
in the future and bring James Harden back. Are you
(11:29):
okay with that? And they, you know, they say that
that Russ knew that was a possibility and blessed it.
And like I said, I don't want I do not
want to jump to too many conclusions because I feel
like we're you know, I've been complaining about this for years.
I know, I said it on a recent pod with you.
And I just feel like, because we are watching these
(11:51):
games so closely, there's a lot of excitement at the
beginning of the season. Everybody has been waiting months to
see their team, Like we just we want to draw
conclusions night to night, and you just cannot do that
in the NBA in early November. You shouldn't do it.
I know. I'm people are just gonna say Stein, you're
you're a traditionalist, You're an old head. You're stubborn, You're
(12:15):
never gonna change. But there's a reason why.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
All that is true. That is true, but it is true.
I agree with your point.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
But it's an eighty two game season, and there is
a value in waiting twenty games to really make evaluations.
I mean it, you cannot make you cannot make declarations
after game five, six, and seven. It's just too soon.
And I do not want to do that with the Clippers.
And I'm going to see the Clippers with my own
(12:43):
eyes this week. They're in Dallas on Friday night, when
it's going to be the second night of your beloved
in season tournament, and all these crazy garish courts will
be trotted back out because again no NBA games on
the Agile Tuesday. The next in season tournament night is Friday.
(13:05):
I will be there at the AAC when the Clippers
are in town. I can't wait to see it for myself.
I'll have more, you know, I can't. I can't wait
to visit with ty Lou and all the principles and
kind of take their temperature myself. But based on initial evidence,
you know, I think it's fair to say that much
(13:28):
much must be figured out and uh ty Lou is
not going to have not gonna have much time off
in coming weeks. There's he's got a lot to dig into.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Yeah, And one thing I want to say I wanted
about the Clippers in their situation and their lack of
size depended on the severity of Plumbley's injury. It is
very important even for the Warriors to think down the
road because Joker is a problem. You need you need
(14:07):
to have insurance just in case you have to go
through him in the playoffs, and you need to have
a traditional big you know, just like when Shaq was dominating.
All these big men were dominating and you knew that
they were going to be there at the end. Teams
had two bigs, sometimes even had three bigs on the run.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
The Lakers, you know, the Lakers have been at their
best in these this early part of the season. And
they've certainly had their struggles again, losing both in Orlando
and Miami. But the Lakers have been at their best
so far the season when you've had Anthony Davis and
Christian Wood next to Lebron James. So that's a pretty big,
big allignance.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Yeah, no, for sure, and the Warriors for whatever reason,
they chose to go in a different direction right now,
So you know it's still early, but you're definitely teams
that are that are in contention. They definitely have to
go into the playoffs with the mindset of how are
they going to handle Joker And if you don't have
(15:11):
a couple of quality bigs with with six thousand six
files a piece, you probably won't have a shot.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
I am a system, so says James Harden. It's the
kind of thing that I would have expected Chris Haynes
to say at a podcast, meaning I am I am
the system.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Nah, I can't get away with that. I definitely can't
get away with that. I wasn't surprised he said that though, Well.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Like I said, I can't. I can't wait to see
these guys for myself, and they will be in my
city soon. Let's shift to another game that was pretty
fascinating tonight. I was I was really psyched for this one,
and this will be this will be I I kind
of have a feeling this will be one of those
things that that draws looks of disdain and confusion from
my podcast partner. But do you are you aware of
(16:02):
the game Stratamatic.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
I've heard of it, but I'm not familiar with it.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
So Stratamatic is basically a board game, a dice rolling game.
It's a managerial game. So you can you will have
no trouble imagining little Mark Stein, age nine ten and
on for the rest of his life just sitting in
(16:29):
his room by himself on the floor playing Major League
Baseball games, NBA games and h recreating NHL games with
player cards and dice rolling, and it's just managerial sports.
Nerd hur nervana.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Yeah, I'm looking at the images right now. Yes, this
is this is definitely even before my time.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
But go ahead and right you're and you're not surprised
that I love this, right, I mean, this is just classic.
This is well in twenty twenty three. Of course, it's
all computerized. Now you can still play the game old
school with dice and cards, but you can all it's
also computerized. So as a season preview, I reached out
(17:14):
to my friends at Stratamatic and I said, will you
guys simulate the season, just simulate the whole season for
me to let me know what happens, And crazily enough,
to the absolute delight of our friend Scott Shapiro at
iHeart what happened. The stratamatic computer said that the NBA
Finals would be the Boston Celtics sweeping Scott Shapiro's Minnesota Timberwolves.
(17:41):
But now he didn't like the sweet part. But the
Minnesota Timberwolves have only won two playoff series in franchise history.
So a trip to the NBA Finals, I think most
Wolves fans would take that. And so if you if
you read my stratamatic simulation season preview, then you would
know that tonight was low key in NBA Finals preview,
(18:06):
Celtics at Wolves, and of course there were zero people
on Earth besides me and maybe Scott who looked at
it that way. But still a damn good game. Aunt Edwards,
ridiculous in overtime, and the Wolves who awoke today on
this Monday as we record with the number one rank
(18:28):
defense in the league. If you want to go real,
super small sample sample sized theater. And now the Wolves
have knocked off Boston, knocked the Celtics from the ranks
of the unbeaten after doing it to Denver, what are
your throw out? All my throat put aside, all my
(18:48):
uh all my nonsense, And you tell what are your
early impressions of the Wolves? And I mean this is
you know Aunt Edwards tonight, This this is the guy
I think a lot of people were waiting for after
what we what we saw during the summer with Team USA.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Before I address that, I'm just I don't know if
you're helping Stratumatic out with publicity or if you're hurting
them by revealing who they had representing the Western Conference
in the NBA Finals. I don't I don't know if
if that's hurting their credibility right there, I don't.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Know their credibility. Their their credibility is untouchable. It's one
computer simulation. It is the greatest American managed sports managerial
sports simulation game there is. I have literally been playing
it since the seventies, man and it's still here. So
their credibility cannot be besmirched.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
So with that being said, the Minnesota Timberwolves, we've been
looking for the last few years for them to take
that next step. They got into the playoffs. Remember the
road they they had getting through the excuse me what
the play in the play in game? Getting there? And
Anthony Edwards this is his team now he kind of
(20:05):
he kind of took over last year. This is his
team and coming off of a you know, having a
successful stint with Team USA over this past summer. You know,
I think Anthony Edwards not just basketball wise, like personality wise,
like he's a star. He has all the attributes needed
(20:25):
to be a star.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Do you think Cat and Gobert are good with it
that it's his team? Now?
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Well? I don't. Does it doesn't matter it Stein because
it's his team? I think I think, Look, I can't say, well, Rudy, Rudy,
I don't Why would Rudy have a problem with it?
You know, he he got traded over there. He's not
(20:52):
He's not a franchise guy anymore. So Kat is probably
the only one. But I don't. I don't think Kat
is think in that way because just going by interviews,
and again, people stop believing everything you hear in these
interviews because they don't always say what they really want
to say or how they really feel. But Kat has
(21:16):
going out of his way to kind of uplift Anthony
Edwards and kind of he says things that kind of
insinuate that ant is the guy. So you know, it
is what it is at this point. That's why I said, like,
(21:36):
it really doesn't matter. You know, they have an obligation
to play to their fullest capabilities on both ends of
the floor, and the stars are going to show out regardless.
And Anthony Edwards is that guy, so you know, and
they're only going to get as far as ant because
you know he's their playmaker. Is this real? Is this really?
(22:01):
Is this really a situation where the Minnesota Templewolves have
really taken the next step and realistically can be there
representing the Western Conference finals? I mean representing the Western
Conference in the finals. I don't know that yet. I
don't you know, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
If I'm joking aside, I'm not saying that either.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Of course you're not. No, of course you're not. No,
of course you're not. But but it's just, you know,
I look at that team and I'm like, hmm, the
size wise, they they do have re member. I will
tell you about what it's going to take to take
down the joker if he's there and if he's healthy.
You know, Minnesota has the size. That's what Tim Conley
(22:44):
over their head of the basketball operations over there, That's
what he hadn't had in mind, and so Tim's been
thinking that way for a few years already. So maybe
the Minnesota Templeleves can be on course to get to
that path, but you know, I need to see a
little bit more for sure.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yeah, Look, I think I think what we can say
about the Wolves at this early juncture. You know, when
they first got go Bear, I thought that they would
at least be a great regular season team because Rudy
until last season was a walking top five defense all
by himself. And the way this season has started, you know,
they're on that course that should set them up to
(23:26):
be a top five defensive team during the regular season
at the very least, and then we'll have to see
where they are six seven months from now. But you know,
I know, I know they're not getting carried away either.
Even before this win over Boston, I spoke recently to
their coach, Chris Finch. I had him on my weekend
radio show in Dallas when Minnesota was opening the season
(23:48):
in Abu Dhabi with two exhibition games against the Mavericks,
and Finch gave me some interesting stuff. I've kind of
I ran this quote today because I'm kind of filing
it away. I think there's I think he's onto something here.
This is Chris Finch just looking at the West in general,
at what an absolutely stacked conference the West is. Here's
(24:10):
the Chris Finch view quote. I would point to the
parody that we've seen across the league in the last
five years. Five years, five different champions, Finch said, I'm
not putting us right there with the title contenders right
off the bat. And we're also not in the business
of predicting anything, but we feel like we have the
potential to be a really good team. Now in the West,
(24:32):
it's going to be so tough, A really good team
might be I don't know, hovering around five hundred for
a lot of the season, if everybody's going for it
and everybody is at some point going to take a
piece out of everybody else. I don't think we're going
to see many sixty game winners out there this year.
How close can you get to fifty? That's going to
(24:54):
be like everyone's kind of standard and he and that
quote hits on one of my nerdy curiosities. I love
every year to keep track of how many fifty win
teams did we see? How many sixty win teams did
we see? Last season in the West, there were only
two fifty win teams. It was an abnormal year. It
(25:15):
was the mildest West in the modern era. And you know,
you had Denver and you had Memphis squeaking into fifty
win territory. And it's definitely something to watch this season
how many teams in the West can get into the
fifties when the conference is just so stacked. Again, Sacramento
(25:36):
just went to Houston. Even without the Aaron Fox, the
Kings would not have would not have expected going to
Houston and losing two games to the Rockets. But without
the Aeron Fox, they just did. Teams like Houston. Portland
has been you know, pretty, they've they've They've won a
few games, and I'm not sure people were expecting. San
(25:57):
Antonio obviously has been much more us with wem Minyama
than anyone was expecting. The Spurs going to Phoenix and
sweeping a baseball series.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
Did you expect Memphis to beat this bad to start
the season?
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Not this bad?
Speaker 3 (26:14):
No.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
I thought they were going to struggle, and I knew
the Steven Adams injury was was a huge blow for them,
But I mean many they were on the verge of
o and seven. They pulled that out. They turned that
Portland game around amazingly. I think the Blazers missed their
last fourteen shots. I mean they were on the brink
of oh and seven and yeah. In this West, you
(26:35):
have to ask the question, how how you know how
big of a hole will they be in by the
time John Morant can actually come back. I mean, there
are you know, we could take this thing in so
many different directions from here. There's some major injuries to
talk about. With the news that Robert Williams in Portland
(26:56):
needs surgery, you know, the Blazers, there was obviously a
lot of belief around the league that when the Blazers
acquired him in the Dame Lillard multi team blockbuster, that
the idea was that they could put the time lord
on the trade market and move him. We'll have to
see what surgery he's going to opt for and whether
(27:18):
or return this season is possible. New Orleans has dealt
with a slew of injuries already. Brandon Ingram has had
to miss some times. Ion Williamson missed a game, and
now comes the news that for the second time in
his career, CJ McCollum dealing with is it a partially
collapse long I'm not even exactly sure how to term it,
(27:39):
except knowing that it's obviously a no joke injury. So
we're obviously going to have to monitor those situations as well.
But let's I mean, we could talk about ten different
teams if if we really wanted to go all over
the map, but let's just try to keep this somewhat streamline.
(27:59):
Why don't you give us an update on the Milwaukee
Bucks and then I will close with some notes about
the very surprising six and one Dallas Mavericks.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Well, the Bucks, they're still trying to figure it out.
You know, their game. They've won, they won back to
back thus far, but it hasn't been pretty. It hasn't
been pretty at all. And you can still see that
players are timid and they're trying to figure it out
on the fly. They beat they beat the Brooklyn Nets.
(28:32):
It was tough. Cam Thomas went off for I believe
forty five points. McHale Bridges had a great game as well,
so they just changed their defense up a little bit.
Last couple of games where coach Adrian Griffin let it
be known that a few players went up to him
before the game against the New York Knicks last Friday
(28:55):
and told him that, you know, they want to see
a change on the defensive end, and primarily Lopez. They
wanted him back in drop coverage. That's what they're all
also familiar with under coach Blutenholzer, which had them among
the top defensive efficiency teams in the league over the
last few years. And under Griffin, he had everybody being aggressive.
(29:18):
He had everybody being up, you know, up on everything,
up on pick and rolls. Just it's an ultra ultra
aggressive defense. But it leaves you exposed, It leaves it
puts guys into in areas of why they're not that
comfortable that you saw Brook Lopez, I believe he had.
(29:40):
He had a ton of blocks in that next game,
you know, in the in this first game, back and
drop coverage. So the Bucks are trying to get better,
They're doing everything on the fly. Adrian Griffin listening to
his players, so you know, you could tell and see
that it's a collaborative effort, but still trying to figure
things out. What I can say, man, Damian Lillard Giannis
that partner ship, that lethal combination that we're that we
(30:03):
thought we're going to see probably early. We thought we
were going to see early. It still hasn't came together
on a consistent level, but those two are working behind
the scenes trying to get things together. I know Dame
was at Giannis's house over the weekend working out at
his house. They were watching film. Those two are committed
(30:26):
to trying to enhance each other collectively, and then in turn,
that's going to enhance the team's play. So they're doing
everything they can behind the scenes to try to make
this situation be a successful situation. But it's gonna be
a work in progress. You can see it. You can
even see it in their wins. They're not winning of
the magnitude of like the Celtics have started off winning,
(30:49):
So it's gonna take time. But nobody in that organization,
from players to coaches, nobody's worried. But yeah, it's gonna
take some time.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
I think that's what's wrapped up the pressure because Boston
has looked so good out of the gate. Chris Middleton
still playing, you know, tonight he played twenty one minutes
in a narrow win over Brooklyn, so he's still not
close to playing, you know, the kind of you know,
not close to taking on the kind of minute load
you would expect. And I mean it's been amazing. You know,
(31:21):
I didn't think they would struggle this badly on defense,
but to this point, I mean the loss, you know,
figuring out how to replace or you know, replicate what
Drew Holliday gave them defensively to come anywhere close to
that has been a major struggle. And the reason I
didn't expect it to be this bad, even this early,
(31:44):
is because you know, Jannie and Brook Lopez are such
They're so accomplished as individual defenders in their own right,
but obviously they're back line defenders and not playing on
the perimeter like Drew Holliday is. So it's early, and
no one has patience. And I guess where I Live
(32:06):
is one of the few teams that can be pleased
with where it is right now because a six and
one start for the Dallas Mavericks. I mean, you know,
you've heard me talk about it that they went on
basically the longest trip in preseason history, and when they
came back from that trip, both Luka Doncic and Kyrie
(32:27):
Irving came home with injuries. They were feeling tired before
they even got started. But I have to say they
have regrouped from that amazingly. Well, maybe as a reward
for how grueling and long the preseason trip was. They've
been presented with a favorable early schedule, but that doesn't
(32:47):
guarantee that you take advantage. The Mavericks have taken advantage.
The first three games of the season, Luka Doncic was
playing other worldly basketball. But since then, the last two
you know, Kyrie Irving had to miss a couple games,
but he has come back from a left foot issue.
Kyrie Irving with double digit assists the last two games.
(33:09):
He and Luka Doncic have functioned in crunch time better,
far better than at any point compared to how they
looked last season after the mid season trade. But beyond
the two stars in Dallas, beyond taking advantage of a
mostly favorable schedule, I mean, Grant Williams has been huge
(33:33):
as a new Maverick. I mean just making three after
three after three, as well as anchoring the defense. Tim
Hardaway Junior, who it's no secret he's been available in
trades four months. Tim Hardaway Junior himself said when the
season started he wasn't sure that he was still going
to be in Dallas. He has been fantastic off the bench,
(33:53):
and Derek Lively the second The Mavericks had high hopes
when they drafted him, but they're getting more from him
as nineteen year old center than they ever expected. The
Mavericks were not sure that their nineteen year old rookie,
like Victor Wemenyama and San Antonio, they were not sure
that Lively was ready to deliver from the jump like
(34:14):
he has. And even though Lively started the whole preseason,
Jason Kidd didn't start him opening night in San Antonio
against wemen Yama. He was trying to ease the pressure
on Lively, and by halftime of Game one, Lively showed
the Mavericks no, I'm ready for this, and he has
been outstanding. And six and one for Dallas. And you
(34:36):
know what, nobody can talk tonight about easy schedules, because
they went into Orlando, third game in four night in
four nights, second night of a back to back, and
they were down double digits for the second night in
a row and came back and won against a frisky
Orlando team that was off to a good start. So
(35:00):
the Dallas Mavericks at six and one for sure one
of the surprises of the season. And now Dallas comes home.
They've got Toronto coming in Wednesday. Really, I'm really eager
to see the new look Raptors with Scottie Barnes as
their clearcut focal point. And like I said Friday night,
I got the Clippers in here, so gonna be a busy,
(35:20):
busy week in Dallas.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
How was Jason Kidd.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Jason Kidd is I mean he was ill for the
game in Denver, the only game they lost. So Jason
Kidd is six and oh he's riding high, even though,
of course, the way NBA bookkeeping is done, the loss
goes on his record. But yeah, I even with you know,
(35:46):
even if you look at it and want to sit
here and say it was a favorable schedule, I don't
think anybody had Dallas starting six. And oh all right,
I think we covered quite a bit of ground. I
think we hit on man, we hit on a lot
of teams tonight. And we really haven't even talked about
how you somehow convinced the NBA to put the twenty
twenty five All Star Game on your coast San Francisco.
(36:09):
Twenty twenty five, an easy drive for you after this,
after this February in Indianapolis.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
Well, listen, we've All Star weekend has suffered long enough.
We've suffered long enough, this this cold winter All Star
tour that the NBA chose to put every put everybody
through and was forced us to endure Chicago cold winter,
(36:37):
Cleveland cold winter, Salk late what was okay? Still cold?
Still not the best? You know, New York and Toronto
was in of Toronto Toronto?
Speaker 1 (36:49):
Yeah, those actually, but you're right those both New York
was I remember the wins were just gusting something crazy.
Don't remember what year it was, twenty.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
Fifteen maybe, yeah, about fifteen.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
Toronto, know, Toronto was the coldest All Star game I've
ever been to. But I love Toronto so much that
I didn't care. I didn't care how cold it was.
I had. I had a blast at that.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
I didn't go outside, not one time in Toronto. It
was that cold now it we me Mark Spears. After
the after the games and the events, we would just
hang out in the hotel lobby, like twenty of us.
That's what we did each and every night, and just
eight and talk. That was it. No, Toronto does not Sorry,
(37:35):
I'm sorry, Toronto.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
I love that All Star Game, don't Tonto, And I
hope it and I hope it's snowy. I hope it
is snowy and cold in Indianapolis in February.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
Oh, we gotta do better. But yes, thankfully A's coming
back to a warm weather city, San Francisco. Now, hopefully
San Francisco can clean up his act before next year's
All Star Game. Because San Francisco is not the San
Francisco that you grow up visiting. It is not. A
lot has changed and I don't have to get into it.
(38:08):
Get into it all. Those who have been there recently
understand what I'm saying, but they have a lot of
cleaning up to do. And I'm talking about literally figuratively
cleaning up that city.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
So says Chris Haynes, I haven't been there in ages.
I'll take your word for it. I think that is
going to do it for this edition of This League Uncut.
Please remember to rate, review and subscribe to the pod
if you haven't already. Chris and I will be back
at weeks and most likely going to record. I would
(38:42):
imagine Thursday night before Friday, so probably before I get
a chance to see the La Clippers with my own eyes.
But we'll figure out the exact schedule for the second
pod as the week unfills everyone. Thanks for listening. We'll
be back with you very soon.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
And that'll do it for us. See you next time.
This League uncutage an iHeartRadio production
Speaker 1 (39:15):
Chris Haynes and Mark Stein.
Fox Sports Radio News
Host
Jonas Knox
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