October 21, 2024 • 38 mins
Are the Denver Nuggets on the brink of a new NBA dynasty, or will the Boston Celtics steal their thunder? Tune in to our season two kickoff of "Fandom From Afar" and get a courtside seat to our spirited analysis of the upcoming NBA season. We promise to unveil intriguing connections between the Nuggets and teams like the Wizards, Trailblazers, and Nets, all through playful trade wishes and bold predictions. The spotlight is firmly on the Nuggets, as we ponder their potential to dominate the league and examine their heated rivalry with the Kings, alongside entertaining takes on their recent battles with the Lakers.
Coach Michael Malone's quest for victory over his former team, the Kings, sets the stage for a deep dive into potential future rivalries. We reflect on Jamal Murray's sensational 50-point performance against the Cavs, Donovan Mitchell's surprising stint in Cleveland, and Joel Embiid's newfound focus on team achievements. Our admiration extends to the Orlando Magic's burgeoning squad, with insightful comparisons to the Nuggets' past strategies, emphasizing the impact of seasoned players like Paul Millsap and KCP in nurturing young talents. The episode is peppered with laughter and genuine fandom, offering listeners a fresh perspective on the league's evolving dynamics.
From power rankings to finals predictions, we rank the Memphis Grizzlies through to the Boston Celtics, with a special nod to the Nuggets at number three. We envision a potential Knicks vs. Nuggets showdown, with a hint of nostalgia and hope that this season will be one to remember. Inspired by a late friend's passion for the Knicks, our heartfelt anticipation crescendos in a bold prediction of the Nuggets clinching the championship in six games. Join us as we share our basketball musings and encourage you to spread the joy of the game with fellow fans.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
All right, everyone, welcome back to Fandom From Afar
.
We are back for season two.
The NBA is back in less than aweek.
It's going to be a great season.
I'm excited there's so manystorylines and interesting
angles.
I think for really all theteams, we obviously will focus
(00:24):
on the Nuggets.
I think for really all theteams, we obviously will focus
on the Nuggets.
But, yeah, it should be a funseason.
And before we get started, I dowant to thank my buddy, matt.
You may have noticed the newintro song for season two.
Matt is a great musician and Iasked him to throw together
something for the podcast justbecause I was kind of tired of
the generic song that we used inseason one and I think he
(00:48):
killed it.
I love the new song.
So thank you, matt.
So today we are going to do aNBA season preview.
The season is coming up rathersoon and I just kind of wanted
to touch a little bit on eachteam and of course, this is
fandom from afar.
So I am going to spin it alittle bit and see how each team
(01:13):
has a Nuggets related topic.
And you may be listening andsaying how can you relate every
team to the Nuggets?
And to that I say you must benew here.
That's what I do.
All right, let's get startedwith the preview.
I'm going to go in reverseorder, starting with some of the
teams that may not be so goodat basketball, and then we'll
(01:37):
work our way up towards theteams that are championship
contenders, and I'll finish itoff with a prediction for who I
think is going to win the finals, and we'll have some fun along
the way.
All right, let's start at thevery bottom the Washington
Wizards.
So the Wizards a couple yearsago Nuggets did a trade and
(02:03):
sorry, you will hear me say wejust like in season one.
I'm a large part of the team.
We say we, the Wizards.
They traded us KCP and he waskind of the missing piece to our
championship run.
So I'm saying how can theWizards help us this year?
And Washington, I would loveCorey Kispert.
(02:25):
So if you would be interestedin some of our bench guys that
maybe aren't so good, maybe wecan work out a trade again.
So we would love one, coreyKispert, please.
At number 29, the Trailblazers.
So the Trailblazers are notgoing to be good.
They have a bunch ofinteresting young guys, but I
(02:48):
wanted to focus on their coach,chauncey Billups, just got
inducted into the Hall of Fame.
He was a great Nuggetsobviously grew up in Denver and
I just wanted to shout outChauncey, who I loved watching
when I was growing up, andhopefully this young team can
kind of develop underneath himand he can become a good coach,
but at the very least he isdefinitely worthy of his Hall of
(03:11):
Fame induction.
That just happened.
The Brooklyn Nets Now I didn'thave to try too hard with some
of these teams, but the Nets arejust not interesting to me.
There's really I don't know.
They're going to have a roughyear.
I think they're trying to lose,like you can tell by some of
(03:33):
the moves they made, and so myway I related them to the
Nuggets is the Nuggets havebasketball Nets in ball arena
Moving on the Charlotte Hornets.
They have an interesting guard,vasa Micic.
He played with Jokic on theSerbian team in the Olympics
this past summer and they justhave good chemistry.
(03:56):
I think he'd be a great kind ofthird point guard, just as
insurance off the bench.
So, vasa Micic, if you want tobe a Denver Nugget, let's make
that happen.
Detroit Pistons are up next.
I put them down for the JeremyGrant curse, so a few years ago
Jeremy Grant had one great yearwith the Nuggets and he kind of
(04:18):
surprised the Nuggets by leavingand going to the Pistons.
He cited that he wanted abigger role, and that's totally
understandable.
They offered a ton of money andever since then both the
Pistons and Jeremy himself havenot had much success.
And it worked out quite wellfor the Nuggets.
(04:39):
We ended up getting AaronGordon to replace Jeremy and
obviously won a championship.
So it worked out well on theNuggets side Unfortunately, not
so much for the Pistons Ended upgetting Aaron Gordon to replace
Jeremy and obviously won achampionship.
It worked out well on theNuggets side.
Unfortunately, not so much forthe Pistons.
Again, they have a bunch ofyoung guys that can develop into
something in the future, butI'm not expecting much from them
this year.
(04:59):
Next is the Utah Jazz.
Now, the Jazz actually havesome talent, but it just seems
like their plan is to wait onemore year before they start
really trying to um to win games, and so really the way they're
they're tying into the nuggetsis both the jazz and the nuggets
have the biggest home courtadvantage because of the
(05:20):
altitude.
Uh, the jazz always have areally good home record, because
teams flying in there have havea little bit of trouble with
the altitude, just like inDenver, and, uh, I think the
jazz are about a year away Now.
Up next I have the Raptors.
Uh, massage Ujiri.
It was our general manager, um,way back when, and he's
(05:42):
obviously gone on to help theRaptors win the championship and
Nuggets have one championship,so I just put it's tied one to
one.
Who's going to come out on topwith that?
We have Jokic, so I like ourchances.
Up next I have the Atlanta Hawks.
Atlanta Hawks always seem likethey should be so much better
than they actually are and Ithink they're going to go.
(06:05):
They're going to have to choosethis year.
Are they going to stick withkind of the guys that they've
had for a few years now, or arethey going to blow it up and
maybe try and get a high draftpick?
So that has nothing to do withthe Nuggets, but they're always
an interesting team and you knowme, I love trades, and so the
Hawks have a lot of interestingguys.
(06:27):
We would love to get Bogdanovicfrom the Serbian team again to
pair up with Jokic.
He loves his fellow Serbiansand that would just be so fun if
we could somehow get him buthe's a good player We'd have to
give up something of value.
I do not think they'd beinterested in Zeke Nagy or Jalen
Pickett or anybody.
I do not think they'd beinterested in Zeke Najee or
(06:47):
Jalen Pickett or anybody.
But one thing I did want tomention that does relate to the
Nuggets is Dikembe.
Mutombo passed away.
He has his number retired byboth the Nuggets and the Hawks.
He had great success winning abunch of defensive player of the
years with the Hawks and justwanted to shout out Mutombo.
He was one of my first favoriteplayers.
Really one of my first memoriesthat I can think of from when I
(07:10):
was younger was when he andLafonso Ellis and Brian Stith
and everybody they upset theSonics for the first ever eight
seed, beating a one seed, andthen that image of him on the
ground just hugging thebasketball with just pure joy.
That was really special, and soMutombo sounds like he was a
(07:30):
great man off the court as well.
But he recently passed away.
So shout out to Mount Mutombo,and then I have the Bulls.
Arturnus Kornisovas, I believe,is how you say it.
He was a member of our frontoffice and took the GM job with
the Bulls.
They have had tough injury,luck, but also just making some
(07:52):
questionable moves.
I know the Magic.
They got a great deal out ofthe Bulls to get Wendell Carter
and Franz Wagner.
I don't know.
The Bulls have been struggling,but Karnasovas still has his
job and maybe he wants to throwthe Nuggets a bone before he
gets fired, because the Bullshave a lot of interesting guards
(08:15):
that we would love to have onthe Nuggets.
So, whether it's Lonzo Ball,kobe White, I don't think we can
afford Zach Levine, io DeSumo.
They just have a bunch of guysthat maybe we can take off their
hands.
So you can tell.
I am forever optimistic ofhoping some team will just take
(08:38):
our junk to give us a goodplayer.
But the Wizards did it in KCP,so I have to have hope.
Now.
The Bulls are the last team inthe category that I kind of put,
the Cooper Flag category.
Cooper Flag is a freshman atDuke this year.
He's projected to be the numberone pick and from all accounts
he seems to be pretty amazing.
So from everyone I've mentionedso far, I think if one little
(09:01):
thing goes wrong, then that teamis fully focusing on losing
games and trying to get thenumber one pick so they can get
Cooper Flagg.
There's some other great guys.
I think Rutgers has a coupleguys that should be top five
picks.
There's a good draft this yearbut I think everyone I've
mentioned so far I do not thinkthey would mind losing as many
games as possible and gettingone of those top prospects would
(09:25):
mind losing as many games aspossible and getting one of
those top prospects.
Next up is the Clippers.
I probably should have had themlower, but they do have talent.
It's just that I don't thinktheir talent really fits
together.
And Kawhi Leonard just doesn'tplay.
He is amazing when he does, buthe's already come out and
announced that he won't beavailable for opening night and
(09:45):
he's kind of out indefinitely,so who knows when he will play?
Um, they're opening up a newstadium, which should be really
cool, but for them I put they'resuffering from the Paul Millsop
curse.
You may remember, in the bubblethe nuggets came back uh, back
from down 3-1 against theClippers and what started the
(10:11):
turnaround is one of the Morrisbrothers tried to get into Paul
Millsap's face and kind of bullyhim a little bit and Paul
pushed back and the Nuggets cameback and won that game and won
the series, and really, fromthat point on the Nuggets have
been trending upwards and theClippers have done nothing.
And so I I say the clippers aresuffering from the paul milsap
curse.
(10:32):
Next up is the san antonio spurs.
The spurs are tough.
They could go either way, justbecause when benyama is that
good, he could lead them to alot of wins.
But they also have so manyyoung guys.
You could see them being atalented team that just happens
to lose a lot of games.
So I kind of put the Spurs inthis spot and I put for this one
(10:57):
.
I just put that the best big manbaton has not been passed yet.
Everybody wants Wembyn Yama tobe the next great big man, but I
think Jokic is going to holdthat title for a few more years.
It'll be interesting to seetheir battles this year and for
maybe the next couple of years,because Jokic, with these young
guys, sometimes he tries toteach them a lesson.
(11:17):
I remember when DeAndre Aytoncame into the league, jokic had
a perfect triple-double againsthim and just kind of showed him
like hey, you're talented, butthis is a whole other level, and
so I feel like he'll do thesame with Wembyn Yama this year.
I had a chance to fly out toDenver to see Wembyn Yama play
the Nuggets last year and thatwas just so fun.
(11:38):
Both big guys had a great game.
But, yeah, I just don't thinkthe baton has passed yet.
Yokich, yokich is the main.
The rockets are up next.
The rockets are loaded withyoung, talented guys.
Like they're almost like afantasy team of uh draft picks
(11:58):
from last couple years, andsometimes that's good, sometimes
they're.
Sometimes you can have too manyguys.
All these young guys want toprove themselves and show that
they belong in the NBA or thatthey can be a top guy on a team,
and so, while the Rockets havea ton of talent, it'll be
interesting to see how it meshes, or if they have to maybe
(12:20):
consolidate a couple of thoseyoung guys and trade for one
superstar or something like that.
But, like, the Rockets arereally, really interesting.
I love a couple of their guys.
One of their rookies this yearis Reed Shepard, who should be
so fun to watch.
But, um, they, they have, theyhave, they have a really a
couple of great guys.
(12:40):
As far as Jalen Green Sangoon.
Um, cam Whitmore is really fun.
So I'm excited to watch them.
I don't know how many gamesthey're going to win and the way
they're related nuggets is theystill have Uncle Jeff on the
team, jeff Green teaching thoseyoung guys how to play.
He was obviously a big part ofour championship team and we
will always love Uncle Jeff.
(13:03):
Next up is the Pelicans.
From all reports, zion's inshape.
Stop me if you've heard thatone before, but we'll see if he
can stay healthy.
They have a lot of guys thatshould be good.
They have one missing piece,though.
They don't have a center.
So that's the way they relateto the Nuggets is.
(13:24):
They may beat a lot of teamsthis year on pure talent alone,
but when you are playing either6'6 Zion or 6'7 Herb Jones as
your center and he's trying toguard Jokic, I don't think
that's going to turn out wellfor you.
So good luck, pelicans.
Up next, warriors.
The Warriors had such a goodrun.
(13:47):
I think it's not controversialat all to say that we've been in
kind of the Warriors era forthe last what?
10 years, 12 years, and so myquestion for these guys is not
really to do with them, but canthe Nuggets or the Celtics make
this run their era, so can theybe the next warriors.
(14:07):
Um, I think the nuggets and theceltics have been the best
teams the last couple years.
They've each won a championship.
So which which team can kind ofstep up and make it to where,
10 years from now, someone willlook back and be like, oh yeah,
that that was the the nuggetsera or that was the celtics era.
So it'll be interesting to seeif they can have prolonged
(14:27):
success like the Warriors did.
Up next is the Kings.
The Kings was an easy one.
Michael Malone was fired by theKings when he was a young coach
.
He still hates the Kings.
From what I hear, he doesn'twear purple because of the Kings
, so he wants to win everysingle game badly against the
(14:51):
Kings.
Unfortunately, the team I thinkalmost like as an inside joke
doesn't play very well ordoesn't try very hard against
the Kings and I think that makesMalone furious, which they
probably think is hilarious.
So hopefully we can do a littlebit better against the Kings
this year.
Hopefully we can do a littlebit better against the Kings
this year.
15, right in the middle is theLakers the Lakers.
(15:14):
We had a beautiful streak ofbeating the Lakers.
I think it was 13 games in arow before they won one in the
playoffs and the Lakers arehilarious.
We swept them in the playoffstwo years ago and they called it
the closest sweep in NBAhistory, and then we beat them
in five this past year and theLakers say that it was the most
(15:37):
dominant five-game loss in NBAhistory.
They always spin it to show howgood they were, even though
they got whooped, and I think itwas just a showcase of the
Nuggets played absolutelyterrible, yet still beat them.
Jamal Murray hit a couple shotsthat won the game, but every
(15:59):
single game they came back.
The Nuggets came back from abig deficit just because they
knew they could.
They knew they were better, andI do not see anything that is
going to change this year.
So, lakers, good luck.
The heater up next.
Uh, I put on here that theheater famous for heat culture,
(16:21):
but could the heat culture everturn russell westbrook into a
champion?
Because the nuggets are aboutto.
Let's see.
Pacers are up next.
So Pacers are the other NBAteam besides the Jazz that my
friends down here in Florida whoaren't really big basketball
(16:43):
fans.
They confuse the Pacers, theJazz and the Nuggets all the
time, so if I try and talkbasketball with them, they may
get those teams confused, butthat's okay, they're trying the
Cavs.
So, just like the Brooklyn Nets,it was hard to find the
relation between the Nuggets andthe Cavs, so it's a bit of a
(17:05):
stretch.
But here we go.
A couple years ago Jamal Murrayhad a 50-point game against the
Cavs where he didn't shoot asingle free throw.
It was historic.
It was awesome.
Jamal Murray also had some50-point battles with Donovan
Mitchell when he was with theJazz, and Donovan Mitchell is
now on the Cavs.
And I just think the DonovanMitchell storyline is kind of
(17:27):
interesting, because it wasobvious that Donovan Mitchell
wanted to go to either New Yorkor Brooklyn and get a big
contract.
But both those situationschanged dramatically, either
because the Nets decided thatthey wanted to lose games, or
the Knicks decided that if youdidn't go to Villanova you
weren't allowed on the team.
And so Mitchell is now oh, I'vewanted to be with the Cavs all
(17:49):
along and says he's super happythere.
So we'll see how long thatlasts.
I have the 76ers up next, justoutside the top 10.
And if you've ever listened toan episode of this show, you
know I will talk about therelationship between Joel Embiid
and Jokic, about therelationship between Joel Embiid
(18:16):
and Jokic Embiid man, he triesso hard to be the guy and now
he's coming out and saying thathe's never going to play in
back-to-backs again, that heonly cares about team
accomplishments and he's just sofocused on the playoffs this
year.
But he's kind of thrown himselfunder the bus, kind of
admitting that he was all abouthimself and individual
accomplishments last couple ofyears, which everybody could see
(18:38):
and to the detriment of his ownteam.
He was getting hurt and injuredby playing every single game in
the regular season.
So he could put up big statsagainst the bad teams to try and
win MVP and he did get one,undeservedly, but he got one and
so it'll be interesting to seehow his year goes.
I think people are kind ofturning on him a little bit and
(19:00):
Paul George already has aninjury.
I love Tyrese Maxey, butEmbiid's running out of time and
he's trying to say the rightthings but in classic Embiid
fashion I don't think it'sworking quite well.
All right, we're in the top 10now.
The Orlando Magic number 10.
I love the Magic team, justlike the Rockets.
(19:24):
They have a lot of great youngguys.
Like the Rockets, they have alot of great young guys.
I talked last year about howthe Magic are kind of.
They remind me of the Nuggetsfrom a few years ago and in
another similarity, when theNuggets were able to sign Paul
Millsap, he was like the perfectveteran to come onto the team
(19:47):
and really help the young guystake the next step and just not
only learn how to playprofessional basketball but
provide the defense and theintangibles.
I really think he helped outJokic Murray MPJ.
I think Paul Millsap was theperfect free agent for the
Nuggets at the time that theysigned him, and I view the Magic
(20:10):
signing KCP in the same way.
Obviously, I hate to lose KCPfrom the Nuggets, but I think
he's a perfect fit for the Magic.
I think he's going to.
His stats will never be huge,but I think his fit is going to
be enormous and so Icongratulate all my magic fans
down here.
I think they're going to lovehim.
(20:30):
It's kind of funny.
The uh national media acts asif the nuggets losing KCP was
the same as if we lost JamalMurray or Jokic uh, because they
are no longer considering thenuggets a real basketball team.
Um, I think we'll talk aboutthat more later, but I do think
adding KCP is a fantasticaddition to the magic and I
(20:53):
really think they're going to beone of the top teams in the
East this year.
Paolo and Franz greatcombination.
I think KCP is going to provideeverything they need.
So I've entered a new tier herein my list, and I think the rest
of the teams that I mentioned.
They're expecting to win thechampionship or at least be
(21:15):
right in contention, and if theydon't, I think the season will
be somewhat of a disappointment.
So to start that tier, I'mgoing to start with the
Milwaukee Bucks Now Milwaukee, Ihave them right on the edge of
this tier just because Giannisis so amazing.
I think their team is so oldthat I think they're walking a
(21:38):
very thin line between being agreat team and being a team that
has a ton of injuries and theyoung guys are having to play
and it ends up being a roughyear.
But I yannis is that good thathe could carry a team throughout
the season that has thoseissues.
Um, yannis and yokich hasalways been an argument for who
(21:59):
can be the best player in theleague, and it's.
It's going to be fun, like Ithink.
If everything goes right, thebucks could be great.
If, if not, then maybe yannisis uh to get upset and maybe
start looking around elsewhere.
But I think it's going to be afun year for the Bucs.
Number eight.
I have the Grizzlies.
So the Grizzlies two years agothey were such a fun young team
(22:24):
and they've obviously had someinjuries and some off-the-court
issues.
But I like their team.
They seem to all fit togetherwell.
They enjoy playing with eachother.
The addition of Zach Eadie, Ithink, is going to be really
interesting.
Anyone who's watched MarchMadness for the last couple of
years sees how dominant Eadiecan be but also how he can be
(22:46):
kind of taken out of the game.
He's massive so he haslimitations, but it's going to
be interesting to see how theyuse him and how effective he can
be.
So the way I tied them into theNuggets is my prediction is when
the Grizzlies come to town, jaMorant will not go to Shotgun
Willies this year T-Wolves areup next.
(23:10):
Obviously, t-wolves beat us ingame seven.
We collapsed.
We had a 20 point lead.
It was terrible.
But the T-wolves also tradedaway Carl Anthony towns which
they were built to beat thenuggets.
Their, their little uh Nuggets,their little triplet of centers
(23:35):
with Gobert Cat and Nas Reedwas really effective against
Jokic.
I will say that I think Jokicwas worn down by that point.
I think a healthy, fresh Jokiccould handle those three guys.
But they traded away Cat to getJulius Randle, but they also
got dante di vincenzo.
So it'll be interesting to seehow that trade works out.
I absolutely hope that it's arevenge year for the nuggets and
(23:58):
hopefully, uh, if we do runthem in the playoffs again, we
will beat them up.
Next is the suns at number six.
So the suns, I think, are goingto be really good.
I hate to say it, but I thinkthey're going to be really good.
They were able to get some kindof veteran minimum signings.
It just made me laugh that halfof their roster is former
(24:22):
Nuggets.
They're kind of just taking allour leftovers.
But I think they're taking theright guys and I think those
guys will fit.
But it's just funny to thinkabout.
They have Monte Morris, masonPlumlee, yusuf Nurkic, bull Bull
and Colin Gillespie all ontheir team as former Nuggets,
and so it'd be funny and sad ifall those former Nuggets came
back to haunt us in the playoffs.
(24:45):
Top five now Dallas Mavericks.
Uh, top five now dallasmavericks.
They went to the finals lastyear.
Luca is amazing.
They made some changes.
They added clay thompson.
Um, they got a good year out ofkyrie irvin last year.
Which can he put two yearstogether where he doesn't make
the team implode?
(25:06):
That'll be interesting.
Doesn't make the team implode?
That'll be interesting.
Clay, is he gonna show thewarriors that they made a
mistake and that he's still claythompson and can wreak havoc
from three-point line?
Or is he old?
And luca the way I related itto the nuggets is yokich and
luca are like a big brother,little brother, best friend, bff
(25:30):
relationship.
It would be so fun not anytimesoon, probably, but at some
point in their career if theycould play together.
I think that would just be pureentertainment and I hope it
happens in Denver, if not soonthen in the future.
Now the New York Knicks numberfour.
(25:51):
I just love what they're doing.
They've turned their teamaround from something a couple
years ago that was notinteresting and had no chance of
winning a championship to Ithink they are a legit contender
now.
I think the cat trade is goingto be interesting, but I think
it's going to work for them justbecause of who they have around
(26:14):
him and I think he fitsperfectly.
It's going to be interesting tosee if he can handle the New
York media.
I've heard a lot of people saythat they're concerned about
that just because he tries sohard to be someone that he's not
, or tries to be the cool guy,and if he says something wrong
with all the New York media,they might really take it and
(26:34):
run.
So, basketball-wise, I'mexcited about this team.
Jalen Brunson is so fun towatch.
I don't really have a Nuggetstie to this one.
I just wanted to acknowledge mybuddy, colin, was a huge Knicks
fan and unfortunately he passedaway a few weeks ago.
Colin was a great friend, agreat boss.
(26:57):
He encouraged me really withevery step of life and even so
he won my Yokemas giveaway lastyear for the podcast.
So he was a huge Knicks fan andhe will definitely be missed.
Number three I do have theNuggets, I know.
(27:18):
See, aren't you proud of me?
I didn't have them at numberone this year, but we'll talk
about them more.
I'll do a little Nuggetspreview after we go over the
final two teams.
But Nuggets at number three.
I have the Thunder at number two.
They are everyone's off-seasondarling and I don't blame people
.
The Thunder are just absolutelyloaded.
(27:38):
I love almost all their playersand they are everyone's pick to
have the most wins this year,just because they're so deep,
they're so talented and, yeah, Idon't have a bad thing to say
about them except for the factthat they are somewhat young and
so they may be a great regularseason team, but I think there's
(28:03):
something to be said forplayoff experience and they
still may be too small, evenwith with Hartenstein, to take
on Jokic.
And then, finally, I do have thedefending champs, boston
Celtics.
Their team is just loaded.
I know Porzingis is hurt, butI'm not really worried about
them.
(28:23):
Whatever they do in the regularseason, as long as Porzingis
and their, their starters arehealthy for the playoffs,
they're going to be extremelydangerous.
I guess my only question forthem is kind of what the Nuggets
went through last year is is isthe grind of that extended
season going all the way throughthe finals going to be?
Is it going to catch up to them, like, are they going to be
(28:46):
worn out for the following year,or are they going to the?
It's called the disease of more, where some of the guys that
were happy to take on a certainrole last year to win the
championship?
Do they want more this year?
And it kind of messes with thechemistry a little bit.
So those are all what ifs.
I think on paper the Celticslook amazing again and I expect
(29:10):
them to be absolutely amazingcome playoff time as well.
So that's my rankings.
I loved taking on the challengeof spinning it in a Nuggets
universe for every single teamand it's going to be such a fun
season and it's going to be sucha fun season.
I did do an off-season kind ofpreview episode about the
(29:32):
Nuggets, so I won't go into toomuch detail here, but I just
want to give some final thoughtsas we head into this season
opener here against the Thunder.
So as the off-season began,coach Malone and Calvin Booth
were saying all the right things.
I think they both acknowledgedthat there was a little bit of a
disconnect between them lastyear, whereas Booth really
(29:56):
wanted to develop some of theseyoung guys to provide depth for
the future, where Malone wantedto win games now and these young
guys were not ready.
And so they're saying all theright things now and I think
even Calvin Booth mayberecognizes that some of the
young guys, like Jalen Pickettand maybe even Hunter Tyson, are
(30:16):
not ready to give qualityminutes and so he's not going to
push so hard to have them playover veterans.
It's going to be interesting tosee how they actually do when
it comes time to play the games.
Coach Malone loves playing asveterans and he's a super
competitive guy that when itcomes down to it he will leave
(30:39):
who he thinks can give him thebest chance of winning in the
game.
And so he may say he's going toplay some of the young guys now
.
But we'll have to see whathappens when the Nuggets either
start losing a couple of gamesin a row or even just in the
middle of an intense game.
And for Booth he may have toforce Malone's hand by trading
(30:59):
certain guys, or he may admitthat he was wrong and trade some
of the young guys for moreveterans.
So it'll be interesting to seehow that dynamic kind of plays
out once the season starts Forthe Nuggets bench.
It's going to be completelydifferent than last year, and I
think in a good way.
It's going to be completelydifferent than last year and I
(31:21):
think in a good way.
I talked a lot about Westbrookand what he can add to the team,
and I think he's kind of proventhat over training camp and the
preseason.
He's pure energy, sometimeschaotic, but it seems like he
really has just lifted everyone,not only with spirits and
energy but also challenging them.
And I think he even admittedthat he is there to push Jamal
(31:43):
Murray and to make Jamal better,and I love that he's publicly
saying that and that whateverybody thought he was brought
into is the case, and I can'twait to see it happen.
Dario Saric I think he's goingto be just a solid addition.
We've never, not never for thepast couple years we have not
had a good backup big man, and Ithink he's going to be such an
(32:05):
upgrade over what we've had.
I love the way he plays.
He has high IQ, he can shoot alittle bit, he can pass.
I really like that.
Flack goes back from injury.
Same thing Zeke Najee has evenkind of shown a little bit in
the preseason.
So I think everyone knows myfeelings on Zeke.
I my dream would be that if heplays well at the beginning of
the season, we can trade himbefore he goes back to being the
(32:27):
old Zeke.
And then the highlight of thepreseason so far is it looks
like Julian Strother has taken aleap.
He has looked fantastic, likescoring, just getting to the
line.
He's big enough where he canplay a little bit of defense and
I just love how he's looked sofar.
And while Christian Brown hasnot looked good, I think what
(32:50):
Strother does for the bench ismuch more important than if he
was with the starters.
The starters have plenty ofscoring and all that stuff, so
to give the bench someone likehim that can just shoot it from
anywhere, can drive like it.
We have not had that in yearseither.
Our bench was so bad last yearthat straw their Westbrook
(33:12):
charge.
Hopefully Peyton Watson cantake a leap as well.
Like I really think if ourbench can just not be terrible,
it will be such a huge advantagefor us.
So I'm excited.
I do think there'll be anin-season trade coming.
It just seems like the Nuggetshave too many guys on their team
that are not going to help uswin a championship either this
(33:36):
year or down the line, and so Ithink they'll open up a roster
spot by either cutting JalenPickett or trading him or doing
something and adding anotherveteran along the way For the
starters.
Really, I just put how quicklypeople forget.
I know we lost KCP, kcp.
(34:05):
But we have Jokic Murray, aaronGordon, mpj, and now Christian
Brand can do a lot of thingssimilar to KCP.
The shooting is a big drop-off.
But those other four guys arespecial.
They have chemistry, they havetalent and then Jokic just makes
everyone better.
So I don't know.
It almost seems doom and gloomfor a lot of the national media
(34:26):
now that we lost KCP and in theOrlando Magic section I talked
about how important KCP can be.
But they're talking about usbeing the sixth or the seventh
seed now and it's like howquickly people forget For the
starters.
There's so much riding on JamalMurray.
It's got to be a ton ofpressure on him.
(34:48):
Jamal doesn't even pretend thathe doesn't see everything
that's written in the media ortalked about in media.
He knows exactly what's beingsaid about him and it seems like
sometimes he takes it and usesit as motivation.
But sometimes he takes it andputs the weight of the world on
his back and he just looks down.
(35:09):
So it's going to be such aninteresting year for Jamal
Murray and see what he can dowith that pressure.
Like I said, I hope Westbrookkind of pushes him to another
level, can do with that pressure.
Like I said, I hope Westbrookkind of pushes him to another
level.
You know he has chemistry withJokic.
If he can just stay healthy Ithink he's going to have a great
year.
(35:29):
But man, it's crazy how so muchrides on Jamal Murray and
whether he can stay healthy forthis team.
And then of course, there's thebig guy, three out of the past
four years winning the mvp,winning our hearts good old
nicole yokich.
So I kind of went into lastyear thinking there's no way
(35:50):
they're going to give himanother mvp.
And now that they did give himhis third mvp, I'm even more on
that train of saying there's noway the NBA would give him
another MVP.
But he's just so good, andespecially now with the low
expectations, if he leads themto a great record, if he just
(36:11):
puts up his normal Jokic stats,I could see him at least being
in the conversation Now.
Whether people want to give itto him or not, I don't know, but
I'm never going to say never.
I think Jokic is going to haveone of his best years.
He seems more serious this year.
I think he kind of knows whathis role is and what he needs to
(36:35):
do, and I think his awesomebeard kind of signifies that,
which I love.
So I think it's going to be agreat Jokic year, and if he
happens to win a fourth MVP,that's great too.
So let's get some predictionsout of the way real quick, let's
just.
Let's just go with theconference finals.
I'm going to say Denver Nuggetsover the Phoenix Suns.
(36:59):
Like I said, I think the Sunsare good.
I don't think they're going tobe able to play any defense at
all, but I think they're just sooffensively talented that
they're going to make it to theWestern Conference Finals but
not be able to handle Jokic, andthe Nuggets will beat them in
five Over in the East.
(37:20):
I do think the New York Knicksare going to beat the Celtics.
This is a pure guess.
I think the Knicks are justgoing to have one of those
magical years where they kind ofchannel the magic of Jeremy Lin
and Spike Lee and New York justgoes crazy for eight months and
(37:47):
they just have one of thosestorybook years where everything
kind of comes together.
The Celtics they're the mosttalented team in the league.
I'm just after seeing whathappened to the Nuggets last
year, I'm thinking that they'regoing to eventually wear down.
I would not be surprised if theCeltics are in the finals.
I've even said that I kind ofhope that they are, because the
fact that the Nuggets and theCeltics have been the best teams
(38:08):
over the last couple of yearsbut haven't had a chance to meet
in the finals, it would just bea great story for the NBA, I
think, if they could finallymeet.
That'd be fun.
But my prediction is Knicksover Celtics and we'll say that
one is going to be seven games,so Knicks and Nuggets in the
finals, and you know I'm goingto take the Nuggets.
I would say it would be abattle.
(38:29):
I would say Nuggets in six andeverything will be right again
with the world, with the Nuggetsas the NBA champions.
I'm excited for this season.
Everyone, I appreciate youlistening.
If you can tell a friend, ifyou know someone that likes
basketball and just wants tolisten to my silly ramblings, I
would appreciate it.
Thanks everyone.
All right, everyone, welcome back to Fandom From Afar
.
We are back for season two.
The NBA is back in less than aweek.
It's going to be a great season.
I'm excited there's so manystorylines and interesting
angles.
I think for really all theteams, we obviously will focus
(00:24):
on the Nuggets.
I think for really all theteams, we obviously will focus
on the Nuggets.
But, yeah, it should be a funseason.
And before we get started, I dowant to thank my buddy, matt.
You may have noticed the newintro song for season two.
Matt is a great musician and Iasked him to throw together
something for the podcast justbecause I was kind of tired of
the generic song that we used inseason one and I think he
(00:48):
killed it.
I love the new song.
So thank you, matt.
So today we are going to do aNBA season preview.
The season is coming up rathersoon and I just kind of wanted
to touch a little bit on eachteam and of course, this is
fandom from afar.
So I am going to spin it alittle bit and see how each team
(01:13):
has a Nuggets related topic.
And you may be listening andsaying how can you relate every
team to the Nuggets?
And to that I say you must benew here.
That's what I do.
All right, let's get startedwith the preview.
I'm going to go in reverseorder, starting with some of the
teams that may not be so goodat basketball, and then we'll
(01:37):
work our way up towards theteams that are championship
contenders, and I'll finish itoff with a prediction for who I
think is going to win the finals, and we'll have some fun along
the way.
All right, let's start at thevery bottom the Washington
Wizards.
So the Wizards a couple yearsago Nuggets did a trade and
(02:03):
sorry, you will hear me say wejust like in season one.
I'm a large part of the team.
We say we, the Wizards.
They traded us KCP and he waskind of the missing piece to our
championship run.
So I'm saying how can theWizards help us this year?
And Washington, I would loveCorey Kispert.
(02:25):
So if you would be interestedin some of our bench guys that
maybe aren't so good, maybe wecan work out a trade again.
So we would love one, coreyKispert, please.
At number 29, the Trailblazers.
So the Trailblazers are notgoing to be good.
They have a bunch ofinteresting young guys, but I
(02:48):
wanted to focus on their coach,chauncey Billups, just got
inducted into the Hall of Fame.
He was a great Nuggetsobviously grew up in Denver and
I just wanted to shout outChauncey, who I loved watching
when I was growing up, andhopefully this young team can
kind of develop underneath himand he can become a good coach,
but at the very least he isdefinitely worthy of his Hall of
(03:11):
Fame induction.
That just happened.
The Brooklyn Nets Now I didn'thave to try too hard with some
of these teams, but the Nets arejust not interesting to me.
There's really I don't know.
They're going to have a roughyear.
I think they're trying to lose,like you can tell by some of
(03:33):
the moves they made, and so myway I related them to the
Nuggets is the Nuggets havebasketball Nets in ball arena
Moving on the Charlotte Hornets.
They have an interesting guard,vasa Micic.
He played with Jokic on theSerbian team in the Olympics
this past summer and they justhave good chemistry.
(03:56):
I think he'd be a great kind ofthird point guard, just as
insurance off the bench.
So, vasa Micic, if you want tobe a Denver Nugget, let's make
that happen.
Detroit Pistons are up next.
I put them down for the JeremyGrant curse, so a few years ago
Jeremy Grant had one great yearwith the Nuggets and he kind of
(04:18):
surprised the Nuggets by leavingand going to the Pistons.
He cited that he wanted abigger role, and that's totally
understandable.
They offered a ton of money andever since then both the
Pistons and Jeremy himself havenot had much success.
And it worked out quite wellfor the Nuggets.
(04:39):
We ended up getting AaronGordon to replace Jeremy and
obviously won a championship.
So it worked out well on theNuggets side Unfortunately, not
so much for the Pistons Ended upgetting Aaron Gordon to replace
Jeremy and obviously won achampionship.
It worked out well on theNuggets side.
Unfortunately, not so much forthe Pistons.
Again, they have a bunch ofyoung guys that can develop into
something in the future, butI'm not expecting much from them
this year.
(04:59):
Next is the Utah Jazz.
Now, the Jazz actually havesome talent, but it just seems
like their plan is to wait onemore year before they start
really trying to um to win games, and so really the way they're
they're tying into the nuggetsis both the jazz and the nuggets
have the biggest home courtadvantage because of the
(05:20):
altitude.
Uh, the jazz always have areally good home record, because
teams flying in there have havea little bit of trouble with
the altitude, just like inDenver, and, uh, I think the
jazz are about a year away Now.
Up next I have the Raptors.
Uh, massage Ujiri.
It was our general manager, um,way back when, and he's
(05:42):
obviously gone on to help theRaptors win the championship and
Nuggets have one championship,so I just put it's tied one to
one.
Who's going to come out on topwith that?
We have Jokic, so I like ourchances.
Up next I have the Atlanta Hawks.
Atlanta Hawks always seem likethey should be so much better
than they actually are and Ithink they're going to go.
(06:05):
They're going to have to choosethis year.
Are they going to stick withkind of the guys that they've
had for a few years now, or arethey going to blow it up and
maybe try and get a high draftpick?
So that has nothing to do withthe Nuggets, but they're always
an interesting team and you knowme, I love trades, and so the
Hawks have a lot of interestingguys.
(06:27):
We would love to get Bogdanovicfrom the Serbian team again to
pair up with Jokic.
He loves his fellow Serbiansand that would just be so fun if
we could somehow get him buthe's a good player We'd have to
give up something of value.
I do not think they'd beinterested in Zeke Nagy or Jalen
Pickett or anybody.
I do not think they'd beinterested in Zeke Najee or
(06:47):
Jalen Pickett or anybody.
But one thing I did want tomention that does relate to the
Nuggets is Dikembe.
Mutombo passed away.
He has his number retired byboth the Nuggets and the Hawks.
He had great success winning abunch of defensive player of the
years with the Hawks and justwanted to shout out Mutombo.
He was one of my first favoriteplayers.
Really one of my first memoriesthat I can think of from when I
(07:10):
was younger was when he andLafonso Ellis and Brian Stith
and everybody they upset theSonics for the first ever eight
seed, beating a one seed, andthen that image of him on the
ground just hugging thebasketball with just pure joy.
That was really special, and soMutombo sounds like he was a
(07:30):
great man off the court as well.
But he recently passed away.
So shout out to Mount Mutombo,and then I have the Bulls.
Arturnus Kornisovas, I believe,is how you say it.
He was a member of our frontoffice and took the GM job with
the Bulls.
They have had tough injury,luck, but also just making some
(07:52):
questionable moves.
I know the Magic.
They got a great deal out ofthe Bulls to get Wendell Carter
and Franz Wagner.
I don't know.
The Bulls have been struggling,but Karnasovas still has his
job and maybe he wants to throwthe Nuggets a bone before he
gets fired, because the Bullshave a lot of interesting guards
(08:15):
that we would love to have onthe Nuggets.
So, whether it's Lonzo Ball,kobe White, I don't think we can
afford Zach Levine, io DeSumo.
They just have a bunch of guysthat maybe we can take off their
hands.
So you can tell.
I am forever optimistic ofhoping some team will just take
(08:38):
our junk to give us a goodplayer.
But the Wizards did it in KCP,so I have to have hope.
Now.
The Bulls are the last team inthe category that I kind of put,
the Cooper Flag category.
Cooper Flag is a freshman atDuke this year.
He's projected to be the numberone pick and from all accounts
he seems to be pretty amazing.
So from everyone I've mentionedso far, I think if one little
(09:01):
thing goes wrong, then that teamis fully focusing on losing
games and trying to get thenumber one pick so they can get
Cooper Flagg.
There's some other great guys.
I think Rutgers has a coupleguys that should be top five
picks.
There's a good draft this yearbut I think everyone I've
mentioned so far I do not thinkthey would mind losing as many
games as possible and gettingone of those top prospects would
(09:25):
mind losing as many games aspossible and getting one of
those top prospects.
Next up is the Clippers.
I probably should have had themlower, but they do have talent.
It's just that I don't thinktheir talent really fits
together.
And Kawhi Leonard just doesn'tplay.
He is amazing when he does, buthe's already come out and
announced that he won't beavailable for opening night and
(09:45):
he's kind of out indefinitely,so who knows when he will play?
Um, they're opening up a newstadium, which should be really
cool, but for them I put they'resuffering from the Paul Millsop
curse.
You may remember, in the bubblethe nuggets came back uh, back
from down 3-1 against theClippers and what started the
(10:11):
turnaround is one of the Morrisbrothers tried to get into Paul
Millsap's face and kind of bullyhim a little bit and Paul
pushed back and the Nuggets cameback and won that game and won
the series, and really, fromthat point on the Nuggets have
been trending upwards and theClippers have done nothing.
And so I I say the clippers aresuffering from the paul milsap
curse.
(10:32):
Next up is the san antonio spurs.
The spurs are tough.
They could go either way, justbecause when benyama is that
good, he could lead them to alot of wins.
But they also have so manyyoung guys.
You could see them being atalented team that just happens
to lose a lot of games.
So I kind of put the Spurs inthis spot and I put for this one
(10:57):
.
I just put that the best big manbaton has not been passed yet.
Everybody wants Wembyn Yama tobe the next great big man, but I
think Jokic is going to holdthat title for a few more years.
It'll be interesting to seetheir battles this year and for
maybe the next couple of years,because Jokic, with these young
guys, sometimes he tries toteach them a lesson.
(11:17):
I remember when DeAndre Aytoncame into the league, jokic had
a perfect triple-double againsthim and just kind of showed him
like hey, you're talented, butthis is a whole other level, and
so I feel like he'll do thesame with Wembyn Yama this year.
I had a chance to fly out toDenver to see Wembyn Yama play
the Nuggets last year and thatwas just so fun.
(11:38):
Both big guys had a great game.
But, yeah, I just don't thinkthe baton has passed yet.
Yokich, yokich is the main.
The rockets are up next.
The rockets are loaded withyoung, talented guys.
Like they're almost like afantasy team of uh draft picks
(11:58):
from last couple years, andsometimes that's good, sometimes
they're.
Sometimes you can have too manyguys.
All these young guys want toprove themselves and show that
they belong in the NBA or thatthey can be a top guy on a team,
and so, while the Rockets havea ton of talent, it'll be
interesting to see how it meshes, or if they have to maybe
(12:20):
consolidate a couple of thoseyoung guys and trade for one
superstar or something like that.
But, like, the Rockets arereally, really interesting.
I love a couple of their guys.
One of their rookies this yearis Reed Shepard, who should be
so fun to watch.
But, um, they, they have, theyhave, they have a really a
couple of great guys.
(12:40):
As far as Jalen Green Sangoon.
Um, cam Whitmore is really fun.
So I'm excited to watch them.
I don't know how many gamesthey're going to win and the way
they're related nuggets is theystill have Uncle Jeff on the
team, jeff Green teaching thoseyoung guys how to play.
He was obviously a big part ofour championship team and we
will always love Uncle Jeff.
(13:03):
Next up is the Pelicans.
From all reports, zion's inshape.
Stop me if you've heard thatone before, but we'll see if he
can stay healthy.
They have a lot of guys thatshould be good.
They have one missing piece,though.
They don't have a center.
So that's the way they relateto the Nuggets is.
(13:24):
They may beat a lot of teamsthis year on pure talent alone,
but when you are playing either6'6 Zion or 6'7 Herb Jones as
your center and he's trying toguard Jokic, I don't think
that's going to turn out wellfor you.
So good luck, pelicans.
Up next, warriors.
The Warriors had such a goodrun.
(13:47):
I think it's not controversialat all to say that we've been in
kind of the Warriors era forthe last what?
10 years, 12 years, and so myquestion for these guys is not
really to do with them, but canthe Nuggets or the Celtics make
this run their era, so can theybe the next warriors.
(14:07):
Um, I think the nuggets and theceltics have been the best
teams the last couple years.
They've each won a championship.
So which which team can kind ofstep up and make it to where,
10 years from now, someone willlook back and be like, oh yeah,
that that was the the nuggetsera or that was the celtics era.
So it'll be interesting to seeif they can have prolonged
(14:27):
success like the Warriors did.
Up next is the Kings.
The Kings was an easy one.
Michael Malone was fired by theKings when he was a young coach
.
He still hates the Kings.
From what I hear, he doesn'twear purple because of the Kings
, so he wants to win everysingle game badly against the
(14:51):
Kings.
Unfortunately, the team I thinkalmost like as an inside joke
doesn't play very well ordoesn't try very hard against
the Kings and I think that makesMalone furious, which they
probably think is hilarious.
So hopefully we can do a littlebit better against the Kings
this year.
Hopefully we can do a littlebit better against the Kings
this year.
15, right in the middle is theLakers the Lakers.
(15:14):
We had a beautiful streak ofbeating the Lakers.
I think it was 13 games in arow before they won one in the
playoffs and the Lakers arehilarious.
We swept them in the playoffstwo years ago and they called it
the closest sweep in NBAhistory, and then we beat them
in five this past year and theLakers say that it was the most
(15:37):
dominant five-game loss in NBAhistory.
They always spin it to show howgood they were, even though
they got whooped, and I think itwas just a showcase of the
Nuggets played absolutelyterrible, yet still beat them.
Jamal Murray hit a couple shotsthat won the game, but every
(15:59):
single game they came back.
The Nuggets came back from abig deficit just because they
knew they could.
They knew they were better, andI do not see anything that is
going to change this year.
So, lakers, good luck.
The heater up next.
Uh, I put on here that theheater famous for heat culture,
(16:21):
but could the heat culture everturn russell westbrook into a
champion?
Because the nuggets are aboutto.
Let's see.
Pacers are up next.
So Pacers are the other NBAteam besides the Jazz that my
friends down here in Florida whoaren't really big basketball
(16:43):
fans.
They confuse the Pacers, theJazz and the Nuggets all the
time, so if I try and talkbasketball with them, they may
get those teams confused, butthat's okay, they're trying the
Cavs.
So, just like the Brooklyn Nets,it was hard to find the
relation between the Nuggets andthe Cavs, so it's a bit of a
(17:05):
stretch.
But here we go.
A couple years ago Jamal Murrayhad a 50-point game against the
Cavs where he didn't shoot asingle free throw.
It was historic.
It was awesome.
Jamal Murray also had some50-point battles with Donovan
Mitchell when he was with theJazz, and Donovan Mitchell is
now on the Cavs.
And I just think the DonovanMitchell storyline is kind of
(17:27):
interesting, because it wasobvious that Donovan Mitchell
wanted to go to either New Yorkor Brooklyn and get a big
contract.
But both those situationschanged dramatically, either
because the Nets decided thatthey wanted to lose games, or
the Knicks decided that if youdidn't go to Villanova you
weren't allowed on the team.
And so Mitchell is now oh, I'vewanted to be with the Cavs all
(17:49):
along and says he's super happythere.
So we'll see how long thatlasts.
I have the 76ers up next, justoutside the top 10.
And if you've ever listened toan episode of this show, you
know I will talk about therelationship between Joel Embiid
and Jokic, about therelationship between Joel Embiid
(18:16):
and Jokic Embiid man, he triesso hard to be the guy and now
he's coming out and saying thathe's never going to play in
back-to-backs again, that heonly cares about team
accomplishments and he's just sofocused on the playoffs this
year.
But he's kind of thrown himselfunder the bus, kind of
admitting that he was all abouthimself and individual
accomplishments last couple ofyears, which everybody could see
(18:38):
and to the detriment of his ownteam.
He was getting hurt and injuredby playing every single game in
the regular season.
So he could put up big statsagainst the bad teams to try and
win MVP and he did get one,undeservedly, but he got one and
so it'll be interesting to seehow his year goes.
I think people are kind ofturning on him a little bit and
(19:00):
Paul George already has aninjury.
I love Tyrese Maxey, butEmbiid's running out of time and
he's trying to say the rightthings but in classic Embiid
fashion I don't think it'sworking quite well.
All right, we're in the top 10now.
The Orlando Magic number 10.
I love the Magic team, justlike the Rockets.
(19:24):
They have a lot of great youngguys.
Like the Rockets, they have alot of great young guys.
I talked last year about howthe Magic are kind of.
They remind me of the Nuggetsfrom a few years ago and in
another similarity, when theNuggets were able to sign Paul
Millsap, he was like the perfectveteran to come onto the team
(19:47):
and really help the young guystake the next step and just not
only learn how to playprofessional basketball but
provide the defense and theintangibles.
I really think he helped outJokic Murray MPJ.
I think Paul Millsap was theperfect free agent for the
Nuggets at the time that theysigned him, and I view the Magic
(20:10):
signing KCP in the same way.
Obviously, I hate to lose KCPfrom the Nuggets, but I think
he's a perfect fit for the Magic.
I think he's going to.
His stats will never be huge,but I think his fit is going to
be enormous and so Icongratulate all my magic fans
down here.
I think they're going to lovehim.
(20:30):
It's kind of funny.
The uh national media acts asif the nuggets losing KCP was
the same as if we lost JamalMurray or Jokic uh, because they
are no longer considering thenuggets a real basketball team.
Um, I think we'll talk aboutthat more later, but I do think
adding KCP is a fantasticaddition to the magic and I
(20:53):
really think they're going to beone of the top teams in the
East this year.
Paolo and Franz greatcombination.
I think KCP is going to provideeverything they need.
So I've entered a new tier herein my list, and I think the rest
of the teams that I mentioned.
They're expecting to win thechampionship or at least be
(21:15):
right in contention, and if theydon't, I think the season will
be somewhat of a disappointment.
So to start that tier, I'mgoing to start with the
Milwaukee Bucks Now Milwaukee, Ihave them right on the edge of
this tier just because Giannisis so amazing.
I think their team is so oldthat I think they're walking a
(21:38):
very thin line between being agreat team and being a team that
has a ton of injuries and theyoung guys are having to play
and it ends up being a roughyear.
But I yannis is that good thathe could carry a team throughout
the season that has thoseissues.
Um, yannis and yokich hasalways been an argument for who
(21:59):
can be the best player in theleague, and it's.
It's going to be fun, like Ithink.
If everything goes right, thebucks could be great.
If, if not, then maybe yannisis uh to get upset and maybe
start looking around elsewhere.
But I think it's going to be afun year for the Bucs.
Number eight.
I have the Grizzlies.
So the Grizzlies two years agothey were such a fun young team
(22:24):
and they've obviously had someinjuries and some off-the-court
issues.
But I like their team.
They seem to all fit togetherwell.
They enjoy playing with eachother.
The addition of Zach Eadie, Ithink, is going to be really
interesting.
Anyone who's watched MarchMadness for the last couple of
years sees how dominant Eadiecan be but also how he can be
(22:46):
kind of taken out of the game.
He's massive so he haslimitations, but it's going to
be interesting to see how theyuse him and how effective he can
be.
So the way I tied them into theNuggets is my prediction is when
the Grizzlies come to town, jaMorant will not go to Shotgun
Willies this year T-Wolves areup next.
(23:10):
Obviously, t-wolves beat us ingame seven.
We collapsed.
We had a 20 point lead.
It was terrible.
But the T-wolves also tradedaway Carl Anthony towns which
they were built to beat thenuggets.
Their, their little uh Nuggets,their little triplet of centers
(23:35):
with Gobert Cat and Nas Reedwas really effective against
Jokic.
I will say that I think Jokicwas worn down by that point.
I think a healthy, fresh Jokiccould handle those three guys.
But they traded away Cat to getJulius Randle, but they also
got dante di vincenzo.
So it'll be interesting to seehow that trade works out.
I absolutely hope that it's arevenge year for the nuggets and
(23:58):
hopefully, uh, if we do runthem in the playoffs again, we
will beat them up.
Next is the suns at number six.
So the suns, I think, are goingto be really good.
I hate to say it, but I thinkthey're going to be really good.
They were able to get some kindof veteran minimum signings.
It just made me laugh that halfof their roster is former
(24:22):
Nuggets.
They're kind of just taking allour leftovers.
But I think they're taking theright guys and I think those
guys will fit.
But it's just funny to thinkabout.
They have Monte Morris, masonPlumlee, yusuf Nurkic, bull Bull
and Colin Gillespie all ontheir team as former Nuggets,
and so it'd be funny and sad ifall those former Nuggets came
back to haunt us in the playoffs.
(24:45):
Top five now Dallas Mavericks.
Uh, top five now dallasmavericks.
They went to the finals lastyear.
Luca is amazing.
They made some changes.
They added clay thompson.
Um, they got a good year out ofkyrie irvin last year.
Which can he put two yearstogether where he doesn't make
the team implode?
(25:06):
That'll be interesting.
Doesn't make the team implode?
That'll be interesting.
Clay, is he gonna show thewarriors that they made a
mistake and that he's still claythompson and can wreak havoc
from three-point line?
Or is he old?
And luca the way I related itto the nuggets is yokich and
luca are like a big brother,little brother, best friend, bff
(25:30):
relationship.
It would be so fun not anytimesoon, probably, but at some
point in their career if theycould play together.
I think that would just be pureentertainment and I hope it
happens in Denver, if not soonthen in the future.
Now the New York Knicks numberfour.
(25:51):
I just love what they're doing.
They've turned their teamaround from something a couple
years ago that was notinteresting and had no chance of
winning a championship to Ithink they are a legit contender
now.
I think the cat trade is goingto be interesting, but I think
it's going to work for them justbecause of who they have around
(26:14):
him and I think he fitsperfectly.
It's going to be interesting tosee if he can handle the New
York media.
I've heard a lot of people saythat they're concerned about
that just because he tries sohard to be someone that he's not
, or tries to be the cool guy,and if he says something wrong
with all the New York media,they might really take it and
(26:34):
run.
So, basketball-wise, I'mexcited about this team.
Jalen Brunson is so fun towatch.
I don't really have a Nuggetstie to this one.
I just wanted to acknowledge mybuddy, colin, was a huge Knicks
fan and unfortunately he passedaway a few weeks ago.
Colin was a great friend, agreat boss.
(26:57):
He encouraged me really withevery step of life and even so
he won my Yokemas giveaway lastyear for the podcast.
So he was a huge Knicks fan andhe will definitely be missed.
Number three I do have theNuggets, I know.
(27:18):
See, aren't you proud of me?
I didn't have them at numberone this year, but we'll talk
about them more.
I'll do a little Nuggetspreview after we go over the
final two teams.
But Nuggets at number three.
I have the Thunder at number two.
They are everyone's off-seasondarling and I don't blame people
.
The Thunder are just absolutelyloaded.
(27:38):
I love almost all their playersand they are everyone's pick to
have the most wins this year,just because they're so deep,
they're so talented and, yeah, Idon't have a bad thing to say
about them except for the factthat they are somewhat young and
so they may be a great regularseason team, but I think there's
(28:03):
something to be said forplayoff experience and they
still may be too small, evenwith with Hartenstein, to take
on Jokic.
And then, finally, I do have thedefending champs, boston
Celtics.
Their team is just loaded.
I know Porzingis is hurt, butI'm not really worried about
them.
(28:23):
Whatever they do in the regularseason, as long as Porzingis
and their, their starters arehealthy for the playoffs,
they're going to be extremelydangerous.
I guess my only question forthem is kind of what the Nuggets
went through last year is is isthe grind of that extended
season going all the way throughthe finals going to be?
Is it going to catch up to them, like, are they going to be
(28:46):
worn out for the following year,or are they going to the?
It's called the disease of more, where some of the guys that
were happy to take on a certainrole last year to win the
championship?
Do they want more this year?
And it kind of messes with thechemistry a little bit.
So those are all what ifs.
I think on paper the Celticslook amazing again and I expect
(29:10):
them to be absolutely amazingcome playoff time as well.
So that's my rankings.
I loved taking on the challengeof spinning it in a Nuggets
universe for every single teamand it's going to be such a fun
season and it's going to be sucha fun season.
I did do an off-season kind ofpreview episode about the
(29:32):
Nuggets, so I won't go into toomuch detail here, but I just
want to give some final thoughtsas we head into this season
opener here against the Thunder.
So as the off-season began,coach Malone and Calvin Booth
were saying all the right things.
I think they both acknowledgedthat there was a little bit of a
disconnect between them lastyear, whereas Booth really
(29:56):
wanted to develop some of theseyoung guys to provide depth for
the future, where Malone wantedto win games now and these young
guys were not ready.
And so they're saying all theright things now and I think
even Calvin Booth mayberecognizes that some of the
young guys, like Jalen Pickettand maybe even Hunter Tyson, are
(30:16):
not ready to give qualityminutes and so he's not going to
push so hard to have them playover veterans.
It's going to be interesting tosee how they actually do when
it comes time to play the games.
Coach Malone loves playing asveterans and he's a super
competitive guy that when itcomes down to it he will leave
(30:39):
who he thinks can give him thebest chance of winning in the
game.
And so he may say he's going toplay some of the young guys now
.
But we'll have to see whathappens when the Nuggets either
start losing a couple of gamesin a row or even just in the
middle of an intense game.
And for Booth he may have toforce Malone's hand by trading
(30:59):
certain guys, or he may admitthat he was wrong and trade some
of the young guys for moreveterans.
So it'll be interesting to seehow that dynamic kind of plays
out once the season starts Forthe Nuggets bench.
It's going to be completelydifferent than last year, and I
think in a good way.
It's going to be completelydifferent than last year and I
(31:21):
think in a good way.
I talked a lot about Westbrookand what he can add to the team,
and I think he's kind of proventhat over training camp and the
preseason.
He's pure energy, sometimeschaotic, but it seems like he
really has just lifted everyone,not only with spirits and
energy but also challenging them.
And I think he even admittedthat he is there to push Jamal
(31:43):
Murray and to make Jamal better,and I love that he's publicly
saying that and that whateverybody thought he was brought
into is the case, and I can'twait to see it happen.
Dario Saric I think he's goingto be just a solid addition.
We've never, not never for thepast couple years we have not
had a good backup big man, and Ithink he's going to be such an
(32:05):
upgrade over what we've had.
I love the way he plays.
He has high IQ, he can shoot alittle bit, he can pass.
I really like that.
Flack goes back from injury.
Same thing Zeke Najee has evenkind of shown a little bit in
the preseason.
So I think everyone knows myfeelings on Zeke.
I my dream would be that if heplays well at the beginning of
the season, we can trade himbefore he goes back to being the
(32:27):
old Zeke.
And then the highlight of thepreseason so far is it looks
like Julian Strother has taken aleap.
He has looked fantastic, likescoring, just getting to the
line.
He's big enough where he canplay a little bit of defense and
I just love how he's looked sofar.
And while Christian Brown hasnot looked good, I think what
(32:50):
Strother does for the bench ismuch more important than if he
was with the starters.
The starters have plenty ofscoring and all that stuff, so
to give the bench someone likehim that can just shoot it from
anywhere, can drive like it.
We have not had that in yearseither.
Our bench was so bad last yearthat straw their Westbrook
(33:12):
charge.
Hopefully Peyton Watson cantake a leap as well.
Like I really think if ourbench can just not be terrible,
it will be such a huge advantagefor us.
So I'm excited.
I do think there'll be anin-season trade coming.
It just seems like the Nuggetshave too many guys on their team
that are not going to help uswin a championship either this
(33:36):
year or down the line, and so Ithink they'll open up a roster
spot by either cutting JalenPickett or trading him or doing
something and adding anotherveteran along the way For the
starters.
Really, I just put how quicklypeople forget.
I know we lost KCP, kcp.
(34:05):
But we have Jokic Murray, aaronGordon, mpj, and now Christian
Brand can do a lot of thingssimilar to KCP.
The shooting is a big drop-off.
But those other four guys arespecial.
They have chemistry, they havetalent and then Jokic just makes
everyone better.
So I don't know.
It almost seems doom and gloomfor a lot of the national media
(34:26):
now that we lost KCP and in theOrlando Magic section I talked
about how important KCP can be.
But they're talking about usbeing the sixth or the seventh
seed now and it's like howquickly people forget For the
starters.
There's so much riding on JamalMurray.
It's got to be a ton ofpressure on him.
(34:48):
Jamal doesn't even pretend thathe doesn't see everything
that's written in the media ortalked about in media.
He knows exactly what's beingsaid about him and it seems like
sometimes he takes it and usesit as motivation.
But sometimes he takes it andputs the weight of the world on
his back and he just looks down.
(35:09):
So it's going to be such aninteresting year for Jamal
Murray and see what he can dowith that pressure.
Like I said, I hope Westbrookkind of pushes him to another
level, can do with that pressure.
Like I said, I hope Westbrookkind of pushes him to another
level.
You know he has chemistry withJokic.
If he can just stay healthy Ithink he's going to have a great
year.
(35:29):
But man, it's crazy how so muchrides on Jamal Murray and
whether he can stay healthy forthis team.
And then of course, there's thebig guy, three out of the past
four years winning the mvp,winning our hearts good old
nicole yokich.
So I kind of went into lastyear thinking there's no way
(35:50):
they're going to give himanother mvp.
And now that they did give himhis third mvp, I'm even more on
that train of saying there's noway the NBA would give him
another MVP.
But he's just so good, andespecially now with the low
expectations, if he leads themto a great record, if he just
(36:11):
puts up his normal Jokic stats,I could see him at least being
in the conversation Now.
Whether people want to give itto him or not, I don't know, but
I'm never going to say never.
I think Jokic is going to haveone of his best years.
He seems more serious this year.
I think he kind of knows whathis role is and what he needs to
(36:35):
do, and I think his awesomebeard kind of signifies that,
which I love.
So I think it's going to be agreat Jokic year, and if he
happens to win a fourth MVP,that's great too.
So let's get some predictionsout of the way real quick, let's
just.
Let's just go with theconference finals.
I'm going to say Denver Nuggetsover the Phoenix Suns.
(36:59):
Like I said, I think the Sunsare good.
I don't think they're going tobe able to play any defense at
all, but I think they're just sooffensively talented that
they're going to make it to theWestern Conference Finals but
not be able to handle Jokic, andthe Nuggets will beat them in
five Over in the East.
(37:20):
I do think the New York Knicksare going to beat the Celtics.
This is a pure guess.
I think the Knicks are justgoing to have one of those
magical years where they kind ofchannel the magic of Jeremy Lin
and Spike Lee and New York justgoes crazy for eight months and
(37:47):
they just have one of thosestorybook years where everything
kind of comes together.
The Celtics they're the mosttalented team in the league.
I'm just after seeing whathappened to the Nuggets last
year, I'm thinking that they'regoing to eventually wear down.
I would not be surprised if theCeltics are in the finals.
I've even said that I kind ofhope that they are, because the
fact that the Nuggets and theCeltics have been the best teams
(38:08):
over the last couple of yearsbut haven't had a chance to meet
in the finals, it would just bea great story for the NBA, I
think, if they could finallymeet.
That'd be fun.
But my prediction is Knicksover Celtics and we'll say that
one is going to be seven games,so Knicks and Nuggets in the
finals, and you know I'm goingto take the Nuggets.
I would say it would be abattle.
(38:29):
I would say Nuggets in six andeverything will be right again
with the world, with the Nuggetsas the NBA champions.
I'm excited for this season.
Everyone, I appreciate youlistening.
If you can tell a friend, ifyou know someone that likes
basketball and just wants tolisten to my silly ramblings, I
would appreciate it.
Thanks everyone.
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