May 17, 2025 • 41 mins
Jason reacts live to the New York Knicks beating the Boston Celtics in Game 6 to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers. Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, and Karl-Anthony Towns were all excellent and Jaylen Brown / Derrick White simply did not have enough after Jayson Tatum's injury.
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All right, well, code hoops tonight, you're at the volume
heavy Friday, Every buddy, oh ball. If you guys are
having a great start to your weekend, well, we got
a little bit of a dud tonight. As a tale
of two very different New York Knicks, teams and a
tale of two very different Boston Celtics teams from Game
five to Game six, and the Knicks are gonna blow
them out. We're actually starting a little bit early here.
There's still four minutes left over there at MSG. But
(02:19):
tonight we're gonna break down very briefly the dynamic that
took place in this game, but I want to focus
a little bit looking forward towards the Pacers matchup for
the Knicks. We won't have our series preview until probably
Sunday morning. I'm gonna be working on that tomorrow, but
we'll talk a little bit about my initial impressions going
into that series. Then after that, we'll talk about the
Celtics and what they're looking at heading into this offseason. Jackson,
(02:39):
who produces this show, is a Celtics fan, and he
has put some thought into some specific targets for the
Celtics this summer, and I have not seen the list yet,
so we're gonna work through that together and just kind
of have some fun, just kind of game planning a
potential Celtics offseason. Then at the tail end of the show,
we'll take five ten minutes of mailbag questions from the
chat so make sure you guys get your questions into
(03:01):
the chat. When we finish here on YouTube, we're gonna
migrate over to playback again. That's playback dot tv slash
Hoops Tonight. We take callers there every night. It is
so much fun. We've been really enjoying building out that
part of the show because it's just informal and we
talk shit, we have fun, we watch film. It's just
a bunch of basketball fans hanging out and having a
good time. So meet us over at playback dot tv
(03:23):
slash Hoops Tonight. When we finish up here on YouTube,
you guys are the jop before we get started. Subscribe
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of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore JCNLTS
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So also super helpful if we leave a rating in
a review on that front. Jackson's doing great work on
our social media feeds Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Make sure you
guys follow us there, and then, like I mentioned earlier,
(03:44):
keep dropping mail back questions into the chat so that
we can get to them at the tail end of
the show and then again when we finish here playback
dot TV slash Oops tonight. All right, let's talk some basketball.
So I thought the abundantly clear thing that happened right
out the gates in this game just a level of
defensive intensity from the Knicks. We have another gentleman named
(04:05):
Shane who's been working with us on the show over
the course of this offseason, big Knicks fan, and he
was talking before we got on the stream about how
it's just you'd never know what you're gonna get with
the Knicks. And it's funny because another former person who's
worked on this show, Josh Rodriguez, a big Knicks fan himself.
He messaged me we were talking about it on Twitter
actually after the after they got rid of the Pistons,
(04:26):
and he was just talking about how Knicks fans have
just been like kind of sick of this team for
that type of inconsistent personality that they have, and it's
just very simple like watching Game five and there's very
little in the way of intense physical pressure on the perimeter.
There's a whole lot of just like not paying attention
or communicating in transition as they repeatedly left Derek White
(04:47):
wide open over and over and over again. And Josh
Hart is talking in the postgame presser about like this
kind of multiple personality type of issue that the Knicks have,
and he's just like, I don't know what causes it,
but it's just kind of who they are at this point.
And that is something that will have to keep an
eye on when it comes to the Pacers series, because
the Pacers are certainly a team that does not have
(05:08):
multiple personalities. They play the same way all the damn time,
and the second you let go of the rope, they
can take control of the situation, and that's going to
be a theme as we head into that series. But tonight,
I thought the Knicks brought the necessary energy on the
defensive end of the floor. Oh Jannonobey, I thought set
the tone right from the start with his ball pressure
and physicality on Jalen Brown. Jalen Man had a very
(05:29):
rough game relative to what he looked like in Game five.
He just we talked about how he didn't settle for
a single pull up jump shot in Game five until
halfway through the second quarter. He was taking some really tough,
contested ones early and often in this game, there was
a way less of an intentional effort to attack Jalen Brunson,
although there to Jalen Brunson's credit, they started to go
(05:50):
at him a lot in the early third quarter stretch
and he just did a great job. He just held
his ground and battled. And as we zoom out from
the series, I thought Brunson in particular was pretty great
defensively outside of Game five, and there were a lot
of opportunities for Boston to try to attack Brunson, especially
in Game one in Game two, and he just held
up really well. But Og got right up in Jalen
(06:10):
Brown's grill right away and made him uncomfortable. The Celtics
did get some easy ones in the first half that
didn't go in, and if the few easy ones you
get don't go in, and there's a lot of pressure
and good defense on these other possessions, it's just really
difficult to counter that. And then the Knicks were playing
with a type of desperation. You tell the Knicks new
(06:32):
They're like, we have to go back to the TD garden.
This could get ugly for us, and so the Knicks
kind of treated it like a must win, and they
brought the necessary energy and they threw a hell of
a punch and the Celtics just didn't really have much
of a chance, not with the way that they were
shooting the ball tonight. Did not score over twenty points
in any quarter until the fourth quarter tonight. So impressive
(06:55):
win for the Knicks. Now let's split this up here.
We're going to talk about looking forward to the Pacer
matchup first, and then we'll talk about the Celtics moving
forward with their future, so specifically with the Pacers matchup.
I'm gonna say this the same way that I've been
saying it with some other series around when we've discussed
the reality of going matchup to matchup, as we've now
(07:15):
seen two of the three sixty win teams in the
NBA this year lose, and as Oklahoma City is at
risk of potentially losing on Sunday. Although we did get
a report today that Aaron Gordon there was that weird
play where Jadubb dove into his legs and I thought
he was just kind of playing up the injury to
try to get a flagrant foul or something like that
(07:35):
or a review. But looks like Aaron Gordon might have
some sort of hamstring issue, which is very scary for
a Nuggets team that I would argue Aaron Gordon's been
their second best player in this postseason run, and so
that obviously is a devastating loss there. But there's a
chance that we could end up losing all sixty win
teams before we even get out of the second round.
And part of the reason for that is because more
(07:59):
and more, as the game has changed, there are just
so many different ways to play, and so many different
types of teams and so many different types of stars.
Even if you just look at the remaining four stars
that will be leading these groups, Let's say if Jokic
advances or Shay advances, right, I've got Tyrese Haliburton, who's
(08:19):
like some weird like Steve Nash mixed with a better
athlete type of hybrid modern spread pick and roll, like
keep the ball moving type of ball handler. Then I've
got Jalen Brunson, who's like this small, shifty, like incredibly
gifted half court surgical scorer slash shot maker. Then I
(08:40):
go out to the West and it's like I get
Anthony Edwards, who's like the modern version of Michael Jordan,
just this huge apex athlete two guard that can shoot
the shit out of the basketball and then out of
the other series. We're either going to get like the
modern day James Harden, this high volume score that is
incredibly gifted at getting to the foul line, but has
(09:00):
another layer of versatility in terms of his mid range
shot making that even James Harden didn't have. Or the
best player in the world, Nikola Jokic, who's like this
big Doe center who inverts yours facing and makes just
about every damn shot he takes and is probably the
best passer in the game. And as you kind of
zoom out look at that, that's just these four or
five remaining teams. If I went down the list for
(09:22):
all sixteen teams, or all twenty if you included the
playing teams, there's just so many different kinds of stars
and so many different kinds of role players and schemes
on defense and on offense. We've seen more zone, I
feel like in this postseason than in any postseason that
I can remember, as so many teams have been working
on mixing up coverages and different kinds of zone and
entire halves where a team will Run twenty twenty five
(09:42):
Possessions of zone like this is a modern MBA where
every series is different, and arguably within the game, within
the actual series themselves, every game is different, and so
it is no longer about which team won more games
or who had the best net rating, strictly about what
do you have in your toolbox to manage the shifting
(10:05):
flow of each series. So, for instance, the Celtics, they
moved the ball, especially when they get into their matchup attacking,
and you either leave an opening in your coverage or
if you, like in Game five, just concede a lot
of like size mismatches that they can bully right to
the front of the rim, but they don't come close
(10:27):
to the pace and ball in player movement that Indiana
brings to the table, So similarly to what we saw
with Minnesota, where that like legitimately took them a lot
longer than you would have expected to put away a
Golden State Warriors team without Steph. And I mean, obviously
they won the series in five games, but within those games,
it's like they lose game one, Game two they blow
them out, but game three they're like trailing in the
(10:47):
fourth quarter. Game four, it's the Warriors that think kind
of lead in the mid third quarter like it took
that they didn't dominate that team despite the massive talent
advantage because of the fact that there was some reality
to the way that Golden State just played a very
different kind of basketball than the Lakers did and it
just took them a while to adjust to it. And
so with the Pacers, there are these obvious differences switching
(11:11):
like you did against Boston. That's stagnated Boston, especially in
Game four and especially down the stretch of Game one
in Game two. No matter what you do to Indiana,
they are not going to stagnate. They are going to
attack with ball and player movement, and if you do
everything right, then yeah, they'll go hunting a mismatch. But one,
(11:31):
they're going to try to get something easy by getting
you to make a mistake botching a switch or leaving
it opening otherwise not there. And two, unlike Boston, Boston
will hunt mismatches, but they can get away from it.
That's been the story with Boston for years, even going
back to before they won the title. They have had
a tendency to have extended stretches where they play a
(11:53):
certain way and have a great deal of success, and
then they go brain dead for like twelve minutes of
real time where they just take a bunch of bad
shots and fail to go back to the thing that worked.
Indiana's pretty relentless about hunting those mismatches. If you switch
appropriately and avoid the openings that naturally occur in their offense,
they will throw it to Siakam or Miles Turner against
(12:16):
the size mismatch over and over and over again. If
you end up switching, if you end up containing the ball.
They have a process offensively that is relentless from the start.
They pick you up full court, they try to rush
you into a poor offense. They push in transition like crazy.
Tyrese is one of the best kick ahead passers in
the NBA. Right now, They're going to get you in
(12:37):
the blender, and if you survive the blender, they're going
to hunt a mismatch. It's just a very very different
type of series than what this Celtics series is, and
it's a much better version of Tyrese Haliburt. Tyres Haliburton
is playing at a substantially higher level than he was
playing for the Knick series last year. Is his matchup
specifically with Karl Anthony Towns in space. Whether it be
(12:59):
in pick and roll coverages like a high drop or
a hedge, or it be in a switch, that's gonna
be a key factor in this series. Tyrese Haliburton attacking
Karl Anthony Towns in space. It's going to be a challenge.
I expect to see a lot of Pascal Siakam and
Miles Turner in post up mismatches against Jalen Brunson as
they work through you know, maybe a Nemhard a ball
(13:23):
screen with Nemhard or Nie Smith and they get a
switch and they're just gonna throw it down there. There's
a great deal of like trusting of simple closeout reads
like the Celtics when they have Tatum dancing at the
top of the key and two guys are digging down
into the driving lanes. The Celtics are less willing to
just take that like simple swing pass. The Pacers make
that shit relentlessly. They make it like every time you
(13:47):
sink off of a man for whatever reason, Tyres will
hit you every single time. And so it's just gonna
be a very different type of challenge, and I think
that bodes well for Indiana, especially early in this series,
and so with the Knicks having home court advantage, I
think it's going to be really interesting to see if
they can hold up in those first two games, because
when you play a very different team and they roll
up into your arena and they're playing great basketball and
(14:09):
they throw you in the blender, you'd make a few
too many mistakes in Game one. Suddenly, even though you
can solve that problem, you end up losing home court
advantage in the process. And so I think that's going
to be the first thing I'm watching early in the
series is just how quickly the Knicks adjusts defensively to
what will be a very different challenge. Against the Celtics,
it was about switching and containing and the individual defense
(14:32):
in Game one, in Game two of Brunson on Tatum
and Brown, and in Game four of Karl Anthony Towns
on Jason Tatum in space. This series is going to
be less of that and more of the attentiveness. We
saw the job that the Knicks didn't transition defense in
Game five against Boston. If they bring that type of effort,
the Pacers will beat the shit out of them. And
(14:52):
so again, like we talked earlier. This is going to
be much more of a mental challenge for the Knicks
than it is a physical challenge. I'm very, very excit
for it. On the other end of the floor, we
saw some stuff last year, right, Brunson had a great
deal of success against Nemhard, not so much against Niesmith.
We'll see if for Carlile ends up making that kind
of move. But here's the thing. You end up putting
in Nemhard on a Michale Bridges, You're now conceding a
(15:15):
lot of size in that matchup, where McHale Bridges has
been a very gifted over the top shooter in the
mid range, and so it's a very different type of
team for the Pacers to match up with this time around.
I've already started watching film on this series. Weirdly enough,
the one game where everybody kind of played was in
that early phase of the season when the Pacers weren't
playing very good basketball. But we do have three games
(15:38):
worth of data. The next we're two and one in
the regular season. I mean to be watching a lot
of that film tomorrow and working on that series preview.
It'll be up on our feeds most likely Sunday morning.
Potentially Saturday afternoon. We'll let you guys know when it
comes out. I'll text you or I'll put it out
on Twitter and you guys can see it there. But
we'll have an in depth series preview at some point
in the next day or two.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
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Speaker 2 (16:31):
Channel three, twenty four, twenty five. But the sixth consecutive
year that a champion failed to get out of the
second round the following year, and this has been kind
of something that I've been pushing back on in terms of,
like every single time there's been any sort of success
in this era, every from anybody, including myself as a
Lakers fan, there's this feeling like we've reached the mountain top.
(16:55):
We figured it out, and now we're here. And it's
like the Lakers have some injuries that following year and
their roster is completely blown up. Two years after that,
you know, the Raptors, they lose Kawhi Leonard. They're completely
different team after that. The Bucks in twenty twenty one,
Chris Middleton quickly declines physically. Giannis ends up getting injured.
A couple of years after that. Next thing, you know,
(17:16):
the roster's too old for them to contend Golden State.
They catch this flash in a pan with Jordan Poole
and Andrew Wiggins, which allows what was a limited roster
to reach a level that could compete for a championship.
And you get an all time great type of performance
out of Steph Curry that allows you to hoist the trophy.
But then pretty quickly Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole kind
of regrets to the mean and suddenly it doesn't look
(17:37):
like a championship roster anymore. Twenty twenty three with the Nuggets,
they end up losing Bruce Brown, Justin Holliday, just a
little bit of that depth that they used to have.
Cacp's out of the picture, they're not as good at
the point of attack. They have looked like a second
tier contender ever since then, although they do have a
puncher's chance to win the title this year. You go
to the following year with Boston. Now, same sort of thing.
(17:57):
This is an all time great Team's gonna be the
team that runs the league. And it's like, even if
Jason Tatum didn't get hurt, they were probably about fifty
five to sixty percent likely to lose this series anyway.
Why a couple of guys got a little older, a
little more banged up. Porzingis wasn't very good. Drew Holliday
couldn't shoot the three as well as he used to,
Jaylen Brown couldn't shoot the three as well as he
(18:19):
used to. A couple guys just went cold at wrong times,
and suddenly you're out of here in the second round.
And it's just a reminder that in this era, sustaining
success is extremely difficult. So you can never get too high,
you can never get too low. Those big picture roster decisions.
You've got to be keyed in on the fact that
if you if you think you're good enough, you're probably not,
(18:40):
and you probably need more firepower than it appears on
the surface, and this has just been the latest example
of that. And I don't know, like, when we look
back in NBA history, it's kind of crazy right on
the heels of an era where we saw Lebron James
win the Eastern Conference eight times in a row, we
saw Steph Curry win the Western Conference four times in
a row, we saw the Spurs win the Western Conference
(19:02):
two times in a row, and it just there's so
much more parody, There's so much more talent in the league.
It is so much harder to sustain success. There are
realities with the second Apron and with the new CBA
that makes it very difficult to accumulate talent and sustain
talent in this league. I guarantee you that like the
next team that everyone's going to be focused on in
(19:22):
terms of like, this team's gonna win every year, It's
going to be the thunder until guess what they have
to pay everybody, And all of a sudden, there's a
certain amount of their talent that they're unable to retain
and they end up dipping a little bit in talent,
and suddenly there's more pressure on Shay to be better
in every facet of the game, and it's just really
really difficult to sustain success in the NBA these days,
and I thought that what happened to Boston this year
(19:44):
was a really interesting example of that. Jalen Brown kind
of an interesting example of the tale of two games,
and it's just something to keep an eye as we
head into next season with him. He was so good
in terms of his floor game in Game five, the
decision making, the deliberate and intentional attack king of Jalen Brunson,
the refusal to settle for bad jump shots, and just
(20:04):
like all of that went out the window today and
what was a much more uneven game from him outside
of a few shots that he made early. And so
just with that next year, that's gonna be the key
for him if he's going to have any sort of
sustained success as the leader of the Celtics next year,
it's got to be that game to game floor presence
of decision making, ruthless precision in terms of the types
(20:25):
of advantages you're hunting in the half court. That's going
to be the challenge for him next year. But it
is going to be more or less a gap year
in the sense that, like what happened with Golden State
after Klay Thompson and Kevin Durank got hurt, they used
a year to accumulate assets to try to pivot and
make a run in the future. And that's going to
be the challenge for next season is how do you
weigh the reality of the talent you have on the
(20:48):
roster and the fact that you probably could bring everybody
back and be a three or four seat. You probably could,
But is it worth it to do that and continue
to see Porzingis age and continue to see Horford a
and continue to see Drew Holiday age and then have
Tatum come back the following year, and you're not good enough?
And that's where they got. The Celtics got to make
some tough decisions about what they're going to do with
(21:09):
the roster this summer and all throughout next season as
they prepare for Tatum's inevitable return in the following year.
On that note, let's bring Jackson up. Where you're going
to Jackson put together a list of potential offseason targets. Jackson,
I want you to just kind of like put everybody
in your frame of mind my time before you start going.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Through the list, I think I was thinking about the
Celtic summer even you know, before this game, I wasn't
really expecting to win the series at this point, and
I have been trying to think about players to target,
and you don't. You can't pick players that are about
to exit their prime because you like, to your point,
your next year is a gap year. Next you're you're
(21:47):
two years away from Jason Tatum being back to anything
close to what he's he was this year, Right, So
you can't go too young. But you also have to
find mostly contenders that are willing to ship players out
because most of the players that you're in less than
a three team deal are only good, only valuable for contenders, right,
It's not like you're trade Why would you trade a
young guy in the first place. So I was trying
(22:08):
to find teams that are fringe contenders that definitely feel
like they need to make a move if they're going
to go to be actual contenders, but aren't you know,
but aren't too good where they're not going to make
big changes to their core. So I have three different
categories worth of players, some like realistic possible options, some
like are these these teams are quite good. But are
(22:29):
they going to trade these guys? And some these teams
are incomplete limbo. I can't imagine they trade the players
this good, but they're in limbo, so maybe they do.
To start with, my number one target is Derek Lively.
I feel like Drew Holiday for Derek Lively and some
you know, with whatever ancillary pieces that requires, is close
to perfect considering the Mavericks have. I mean, they have
(22:51):
Klay Thompson, I guess, but they have some needs at
the guard position and they let they want two way
players per Nico Harrison's vision, and they have three centers now.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
So let me just for to be Devil's advocate. I'm Nico,
and I say I view ad as a short term
option for US. I viewed Derek as the big picture
center for our team. Would you be interested in Gafford instead?
Speaker 1 (23:17):
How old is Daniel Gafford?
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Let me pull up the payroll real quick.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Gafford is twenty six. Yes, I would be interested in
Daniel Gafford.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
I think Daniel Gafford. You know, even when I look
back last year like that, there's a little bit of
a switch defense element with Derek Lively that's more impressive. Yeah,
but I think Daniel Gafford is actually a little bit
more physically imposing underneath the basket.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Definitely, And so it's tricky.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
I think Derek Lively within a couple of years will
be substantially better than Daniel. Yeah, but it is, it
is like it is complicated. There's also like the salary
matching piece. I wonder because Dallas is not a team
that has cap space that you'll be trading into. It
would have to be a situation where you match salaries.
So Withdrew, let me pull up the Celtic payroll real quick.
(24:02):
So Drew makes thirty or thirty two if you trade
from this summer. Gafford is at thirteen. So what about
what about Clay Thompson? Would you what about a deal
with like Gafford and Clay.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
I got no problem taking back the shallow Clay Thompson
if you know, if that's what's required from a salary
matching standpoint, let next year as a wash, let the
guy come and just put up a bunch of shots.
Get Let the guy become a meme for the weirdest
possible jersey, you know, Dwayne Wayne and a Cavaliers jersey
type of thing like, that's no issue in mind. I'm
found completely fine with that.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Let me take it a step further. So they've got
Cooper flag too, they do. So where the hell is
PJ Washington fitting into all of this?
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Oh? True?
Speaker 2 (24:45):
I like, what if it's more of like a Drew
Holiday for PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford kind of deal.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Love, what about I went throw in a first round pick.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
That that would be an interesting move that would almost
immediately make you more useful, and both of those guys,
both PJ and Daniel would be bird right free agents
this summer before Tatum returns. Okay, So what's interesting about
that then is you would have the ability to retain
(25:15):
both of them at basically whatever number you wanted, not
north of fourteen. But I don't think either player PJ
could encroach on that territory potentially, Yeah, but yeah, like you,
it's a flexibility move too, in the sense that Drew
Holliday has all those years left on his contract, but
you're getting back to players that would actually come off
(25:36):
of the books the year that Tatum comes back from
his injury right then. From Dallas' perspective. From Dallas' perspective,
Drew Holliday. You could not pay a better guard with
Anthony Davis, couldn't.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
I mean they've played before, they've played before. You get
a complete defensive specialist next to Kay who's not a
slash defensively actually, but he's going to be coming back
from a serious injury. You want someone who is going
from Klay Tom's defensively to Drew Holliday, even as thirty
four year old Drew Holiday is about as big of
a gap as you could go defensively.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
To your point, though, I'd prefer Derek. But if I
countered in that PJ. Washington, Daniel Gafford Range, I think
I think that is a deal that substantially kind of
like fits the Celtics new timeline. Also worth mentioning. Both
those guys are twenty six right now exactly.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Yes, okay, I got four more in this realistic slash
possible category. I'm gonna throw all of them at you
and you tell me which ones you like the most.
All of these are guys, well, they're on varying different
levels of teams from in terms of win now versus
not win now. I got two guards and two bigs.
Two guards, Jalen Suggs from the Orlando Magic also injured.
(26:42):
You know, timeline wise, what are they gonna do with
Jalen Sugs right now? Trey Murphy of the New Orleans Pelicans,
New Orleans Pelicans, that would probably require a third team
because the Pelicans, what do they need Drew Holiday Chris
has porzingis for. But if the third team potentially and
then two bigs being Nick Claxton and Yakam Pernle.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Okay, I'm the Magic's GM. You've pitched to me Drew
Holliday for Jalen Suggs. Point of the Magic's payroll real quick.
If I'm the Magic's GM, I'm thinking I need shooting. Yeah,
Andrew Holliday doesn't shoot the ball well enough. So what
if I said I want Derek White for Jalen Suggs.
(27:25):
Now the construction that that deal Derek White, if you
made the if you made the trade before the league
year turned over, he only makes twenty turns into twenty
eight the following year. But if you did it before
the league year, you could get it done with Jalen
Suggs and Mo Wagner. So you get a big back.
So now let's so, let's pitch it this way because
(27:48):
if I'm Orlando, I'm saying like Drew doesn't help me
in the short term or the long term because of
his age and because of his inconsistent shooting. I like
Derek White. We talked about this the other day when
we were talking The Celtics love Derek White, but for
the right deal, I would move him. Yeah, I would
move Derek White for Jalen Suggs and Mo Wagner in
a heartbeat. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
I think I would too. I think I would too.
I mean Jalen Suggs, if everything goes right from an
injury recovery standpoint and from a talent, you know, development standpoint,
he could basically become just a better version. Not maybe
not better because Derek White's very good, but I think
he can become a better defensive version. I think he's
a He's an amazing defender. Even though Derek White is
also very awesome.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Jalen Suggs is arguably the best guard defender in the league.
He's now dignatic what I'm missing here, and this is
an important detail. It's actually like a poison pill kind
of trade because Jalen Suggs is new extension kicks in
next year at thirty five million, so you actually wouldn't
get MO back. You'd have to wait for the league
year to turn over, and then you would trade Drew
excuse me, Derek directly for Jalen and you would have
(28:50):
to include a little bit more salary, I think, although Orlando, yeah,
You're gonna have to include a little bit more salary.
So it would be like it would be like Derek
White and and man, the only other guy who really
fits in that slot is Pritchard, and you don't want
to give him a down. You got to keep Prichard
at his number, and he's like, he's arguably like the
(29:10):
best contract value in the league right now. Yeah, a
guy who won't make over ten million at any point
in his contract. But that is a that's an interesting idea.
And if I'm Orlando, I'm sitting there thinking like Derek
White with Pallo and in Franz, like.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
That is a fit exactly.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
And Jalen Suggs to me is like a quintessential Celtic
type of target mate, a dribble, shoot, pass, defend kind
of guy.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Yeah, one hundred percent. Yeah. The other ones on that
that I had in this sort of you know, category
with Trey Murphy, Nick Claxton, yaka Perl. I don't think
any of those are quite as good Trey Murphy is.
I mean, I love Trey Murphy. I don't know what
that would definitely require a third team. I'm wondering if
there's a third team situation with the Mavericks there, even
where you're sending Drew Holliday to the Mavericks, they send
(29:49):
a first round pick or something to New Orleans some
salary matching we get Trey Murphy, but.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
That would be a hard one to sell to the
fans getting rid of Trey Murphy. Nick Claxton is a
very one.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
The reason why Nick Claxton would be perfect with the
Celtics is he's a switching big who also is a
vertical spacer, so he could basically be kind of like
a younger, more athletic version of what Robert Williams was
for you guys. He makes twenty eight million, so you
could seamlessly flip Drew for him. And the Nets have
(30:24):
cap space, so I could pitch it as an opportunity
to shed salary.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
So let's talk about it.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Like this, What if you call up the Nets and
you try to put together a big salary dumping type
of deal where you get rid of Drew and Christops.
So you're sending out sixty two, you probably have to
include all like, you probably have to include multiple first
round picks for them to do I think so yeah,
(30:50):
So would you give up multiple first round picks? You
got to think financially now too, because in this scenario,
Boston's trying to shed salary. So would you give up
multiple first round picks to bring back Nick Claxtun is
like the center of the future for you, twenty six
years old. He matches right up with Tatum's timeline. Yeah,
twenty six years old, switching center, vertical spacer. But you
(31:11):
got to give up your draft compensation to get off
that salary.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
It's tough. I think it depends what the other if
there's other options on the table. If from a deal standpoint,
I would not prioritize salary dumping, I think, I mean,
I think you might have to salary dumb Kristaps just
straight up regardless. It looks awful. But I think Drew
Holliday can get you something valuable from.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
A winner from a winner, So maybe you views view
poor Zingis. To your point, maybe you you view poor
Zingis as the Nick Claxton piece, and then you look
at Drew as a piece where you can actually get
something positive, right.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Right, That's kind of how I look at it, all right.
The the are they the fourth name? Who's the fourth name?
Yakam Perdle. It's a little old.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Yeah, I don't like that one quite as much, but yeah, ya,
and Yakub's good. Yakub's good. But uh but yeah, I
don't like that one as much either. Anyway, go ahead, my.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Are they open to trading this these guys? Because are
they going to make a huge shake up this summer?
Are is Jared Allen as well as as well as
Darius Garland, But Jared Allen primarily because I do feel
like big is a more of a priority than a guard.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
But so this is a really interesting one. Well, let
me put you on the spot about this first, after
how Jared Allen sucked least, I mean, I think.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
You got to just hope that you can make it,
make it work. The Celtics Biggs at this point are
in dire straits. Alan Horford is if he's not gonna
retire this summer, he's not. He's not gonna be anywhere
impactful next time the Celtics are making a playoff run.
I love it.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
He's not.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
He's not gonna be an impactful player in twenty twenty
seven playoffs. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Also, part of the issue with Jared Allen two is
like everybody on the team fell apart and he was
just like part of that kind of like mess. So
you kind of hope too that you just get him
next to Jayalen Brown and Jason Tatum and he just
kind of takes on more of their toughness and personality.
So he makes twenty million. So the calves, if I'm
(33:00):
not mistaking our second apron teams, like it's a little
as of next summer, as of the league calendar turning
over because Evan Mobley's extension kicks in at forty six
million experience, isn't that fucking crazy? So so okay, so
we need to match more in the twenty million range.
They wouldn't be able to aggregate salaries either, so that
(33:22):
gets tough. Cleveland's tough to trade with. Yeah, but Jared
Allen's an interesting idea, right.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
I think that one's kind of interesting. And then I
got two pipe drinking candidates from teams that certainly should
not have interest in trading these players, but are complete
dumpster fire organizationally right now. So maybe they make a
huge shakeup this summer. Bam At a Baio and John Morant.
This is the Heat are not trading bam Ata Bio
to the Boston Celtics specifically. I do want to be
clear that I'm not stupid, but bam Adebio and John
(33:50):
Morant are two teams that are, if not going to
make huge changes this summer, probably should make huge changes
this summer. And I'm wondering if either of those guys
might be on the move.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
In their driving kick system. And we've discussed this. The
Celtics just don't pressure the room enough, yeah, to get
the types of quality threes when things really bogged down
because Tatum's first step was never quite good enough to
beat elite defenders off the dribble.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
And Jalen Brown's handle isn't good enough to beat every
elite defender off the dribble.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
So let's think, if I'm getting rid of Jaw, if
I'm Memphis, what do I want in return?
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Yeah, I don't know what Memphis wants to do is
the thing because they are sort of locked into a
multiple more years of Desmond Band and Jaron Jackson. They
are paying those guys a lot of them. Okay, that's
why are they trying to stay relevant? If they're trying
to stay relevant, y'all Wandrew Holliday and a bunch of
first round picks. I would give up a lot of
first round picks obviously for John Moran.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Would you give up Jalen Brown for John Moran?
Speaker 1 (34:53):
I would consider it.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
So I want to three. I'd want to three. So
what what if you were like, but you could flip
Drew for a three? So yeah, Like what about a yeah?
Jalen Brown for John Moran is super interesting on a
couple of different level. It's for starters. The weakness of Memphis'
(35:15):
roster is the three.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
That's literally this spot on their roster where their weakest.
It allows them to pivot off of Jaw. Joe gets
a fresh start with a team that's actually like kind
of built as a drive and kick structure that kind
of fits his game super well. He'd be a beautiful
two man game partner with Jason Tatum. You wouldn't have
to do any sort of weird things with salary because
Memphis is way under the cap in the new year,
(35:40):
So you could straight up trade Jalen Brown for John Morant. Okay,
so let me put you on the spot about this.
Brad Stevens calls Memphis offers straight up Jalen Brown for
John Moran. Who's more likely to say no, Boston?
Speaker 1 (35:57):
I think Boston. I think Memphis wants to trade Drammer.
I think they just I think they just can't stomach
it without getting a like an all star in return.
And dude, it's pretty easy to sell Jalen Brown. I'm
not gonna lie. He's got its deficiencies, but it's a
pretty easy sell.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
And in addition to that, I immediately shed fourteen million
dollars in salary. Yeah, that's a really interesting trade.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
You change Jalen Brown for John Morant, you turn Drew
and Kris STAPs into some version of what we talked
about earlier. You're looking at a weird brand nude roster basically,
but a very fun Southeast basketball team.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
And John Moran always has like injury related issues, where
would be so easy to just like be like, hey,
you're sitting down for the next two weeks or we
can get a great draft.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Oh for sure next season, yeah, one hundred percent. Like
if you trade Jalen Brown for John Morant, you can
turn you turn Drew Holliday into into Derek Lively or
Daniel Gafford. Dude, all of a sudden, you got in
twenty whatever, twenty six, twenty seven season, John Morant, Sam Houser,
Jason Tatum, someone else and Dark Lively is a pretty
(37:01):
fun grouping of players.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
Is there? So in this theoretical scenario, if I'm getting
rid of Drew and Jalen, I'm getting rid of my
two best point of attack defenders by far. Do you
think Derek White is up to the task of being
the primary point of attack guy for a championship team.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
I don't know, not really.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
I feel like he.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Is strange for being a really good defender, a really
good defensive player. He's strangely not like the most just
guard guy one on one good. He's very smart, and
he gets a lot of weak side rotation blocks and
a lot of transition blocks. He's a great at closeouts.
He's an awesome defender, but he is not the type
of just throw him at an other team's best guard
and like hope for stops type of guy in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Yeah, and so then basically what you have to do
is essentially view the future as meaning like next year
in the following year, as like you just got to
try to find the next guy who will be your
primary point of attack guy. And that could literally be
in these trades that we've pitched in this particular scenario.
So let's call it. Uh, let's say you flip Drew
(38:04):
because Drew has immediate value to Dallas, and you flip Brown,
who has immediate value to Memphis. In this situation, you
would still have your draft compensation, and so then you
could try to look to move one of these guys
for a primary point of attack guard. That's where it's like,
maybe you look at Orlando and you go, like, now,
(38:24):
let's talk Derek White for Jalen Sugs.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
That's what I'm saying. That's that's what I'm saying. A
Ja Morant, a Jamarant, Jalen Suggs, Sam Howser, Jason Tatum,
Daniel Gafford. A starting lineup is so weird that it's
kind of breaking my brain. But of all the pivots
you could make, you know, I think we designed a
pretty good one for the Celtics.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
I like it. I like there's I was listening to
Pete Zais earlier today, was talking with Anthony Iron about
some Lakers stuff, and he's like, I think we need
to take a hatchet to the roster this summer. So
you're Jackson's here saying we need to take a hat
I'm taking a hash.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
I'm definitely taking a hatchet with these brands. It's not
this is not minor tweaks. You know, I expect him
more to do just do a minor tweaks around the
type of summer than this. But you know, if they're
gonna make changes anybody else on your list, Uh No,
that's pretty much it. I mean BAM was the other
pipe dream one.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
But BAM, Yeah, and yeah, the BAM is an interesting one,
but he definitely would have to go to a different
team first, before the before you could even potentially pull
something like that off. That's super interesting though. That was
the the Jalen Brown for Jahn Morant thing. Is a
very very interesting trade to consider because the specific dynamic
(39:29):
that Boston has been missing over the years is a
singular trait that no team can fuck with everything with
them has been aggregate talent, even like Tatum's game in
and of itself is an aggregation of a bunch of
different pieces that he's very good at but not elite at,
(39:50):
and Jahn Morant brings the singular trait, which is no
one can keep him in front off the dribble, and
that could be a foundational piece that Tatum could be
basically a force multiplier for because his versatility becomes very
valuable in the context of a team that like, like,
there's no way you lose Game one and two of
(40:12):
this series if you have John Morant, because he's just
going to be able to get you two or three
more buckets down the stretch of a game, because he
has been one of the most dynamic clutch players in
the league, because no one can stop him from popping
up off the ground seven feet from the basket and
shooting a little floater that no one can guard and
you just have to sit there and go, please miss it, Jah,
(40:33):
or hopefully we're up by fifteen before he gets there. Like,
as frustrating as a player as he's been, he does
have that upside. But this is a really fun exercise.
Jackson I think we're gonna save the mailbag for playback?
What do you think?
Speaker 1 (40:46):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (40:46):
So all right, everybody head over to playback dot tv
Slash shoots tonight. We'll do another forty five minutes of
hanging out, we'll take callers, we'll get into the chat.
As always, we sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us
in supporting the show. We'll be back on YouTube tomorrow.
We have tomorrow off. Oh my goodness, today is the
twenty eighth consecutive night that we have done this, but
(41:07):
we are taking tomorrow night off because there are no games.
But tomorrow I will be working on the series preview
for Nick Pacers that will most likely be up on
Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon. I'm actually going live with Colin
right after the game, so Oops tonight will be about
an hour after that we'll be going, but we'll have
something on Saturday or on Sunday afternoon after the Nuggets
(41:30):
Thunder game. As always, again, we appreciate you guys and
we will see you next time. What so, guys, As always,
I appreciate you for listening to and supporting Oops tonight.
They would actually be really helpful for us if you
guys would take a second and leave a rating and
a review. As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us,
but if you could take a minute to do that,
I really appreciate it. The volume
The volume.
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(01:57):
All right, well, code hoops tonight, you're at the volume
heavy Friday, Every buddy, oh ball. If you guys are
having a great start to your weekend, well, we got
a little bit of a dud tonight. As a tale
of two very different New York Knicks, teams and a
tale of two very different Boston Celtics teams from Game
five to Game six, and the Knicks are gonna blow
them out. We're actually starting a little bit early here.
There's still four minutes left over there at MSG. But
(02:19):
tonight we're gonna break down very briefly the dynamic that
took place in this game, but I want to focus
a little bit looking forward towards the Pacers matchup for
the Knicks. We won't have our series preview until probably
Sunday morning. I'm gonna be working on that tomorrow, but
we'll talk a little bit about my initial impressions going
into that series. Then after that, we'll talk about the
Celtics and what they're looking at heading into this offseason. Jackson,
(02:39):
who produces this show, is a Celtics fan, and he
has put some thought into some specific targets for the
Celtics this summer, and I have not seen the list yet,
so we're gonna work through that together and just kind
of have some fun, just kind of game planning a
potential Celtics offseason. Then at the tail end of the show,
we'll take five ten minutes of mailbag questions from the
chat so make sure you guys get your questions into
(03:01):
the chat. When we finish here on YouTube, we're gonna
migrate over to playback again. That's playback dot tv slash
Hoops Tonight. We take callers there every night. It is
so much fun. We've been really enjoying building out that
part of the show because it's just informal and we
talk shit, we have fun, we watch film. It's just
a bunch of basketball fans hanging out and having a
good time. So meet us over at playback dot tv
(03:23):
slash Hoops Tonight. When we finish up here on YouTube,
you guys are the jop before we get started. Subscribe
to Hoops Tonight YouTube channels. You don't miss any more
of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore JCNLTS
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So also super helpful if we leave a rating in
a review on that front. Jackson's doing great work on
our social media feeds Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Make sure you
guys follow us there, and then, like I mentioned earlier,
(03:44):
keep dropping mail back questions into the chat so that
we can get to them at the tail end of
the show and then again when we finish here playback
dot TV slash Oops tonight. All right, let's talk some basketball.
So I thought the abundantly clear thing that happened right
out the gates in this game just a level of
defensive intensity from the Knicks. We have another gentleman named
(04:05):
Shane who's been working with us on the show over
the course of this offseason, big Knicks fan, and he
was talking before we got on the stream about how
it's just you'd never know what you're gonna get with
the Knicks. And it's funny because another former person who's
worked on this show, Josh Rodriguez, a big Knicks fan himself.
He messaged me we were talking about it on Twitter
actually after the after they got rid of the Pistons,
(04:26):
and he was just talking about how Knicks fans have
just been like kind of sick of this team for
that type of inconsistent personality that they have, and it's
just very simple like watching Game five and there's very
little in the way of intense physical pressure on the perimeter.
There's a whole lot of just like not paying attention
or communicating in transition as they repeatedly left Derek White
(04:47):
wide open over and over and over again. And Josh
Hart is talking in the postgame presser about like this
kind of multiple personality type of issue that the Knicks have,
and he's just like, I don't know what causes it,
but it's just kind of who they are at this point.
And that is something that will have to keep an
eye on when it comes to the Pacers series, because
the Pacers are certainly a team that does not have
(05:08):
multiple personalities. They play the same way all the damn time,
and the second you let go of the rope, they
can take control of the situation, and that's going to
be a theme as we head into that series. But tonight,
I thought the Knicks brought the necessary energy on the
defensive end of the floor. Oh Jannonobey, I thought set
the tone right from the start with his ball pressure
and physicality on Jalen Brown. Jalen Man had a very
(05:29):
rough game relative to what he looked like in Game five.
He just we talked about how he didn't settle for
a single pull up jump shot in Game five until
halfway through the second quarter. He was taking some really tough,
contested ones early and often in this game, there was
a way less of an intentional effort to attack Jalen Brunson,
although there to Jalen Brunson's credit, they started to go
(05:50):
at him a lot in the early third quarter stretch
and he just did a great job. He just held
his ground and battled. And as we zoom out from
the series, I thought Brunson in particular was pretty great
defensively outside of Game five, and there were a lot
of opportunities for Boston to try to attack Brunson, especially
in Game one in Game two, and he just held
up really well. But Og got right up in Jalen
(06:10):
Brown's grill right away and made him uncomfortable. The Celtics
did get some easy ones in the first half that
didn't go in, and if the few easy ones you
get don't go in, and there's a lot of pressure
and good defense on these other possessions, it's just really
difficult to counter that. And then the Knicks were playing
with a type of desperation. You tell the Knicks new
(06:32):
They're like, we have to go back to the TD garden.
This could get ugly for us, and so the Knicks
kind of treated it like a must win, and they
brought the necessary energy and they threw a hell of
a punch and the Celtics just didn't really have much
of a chance, not with the way that they were
shooting the ball tonight. Did not score over twenty points
in any quarter until the fourth quarter tonight. So impressive
(06:55):
win for the Knicks. Now let's split this up here.
We're going to talk about looking forward to the Pacer
matchup first, and then we'll talk about the Celtics moving
forward with their future, so specifically with the Pacers matchup.
I'm gonna say this the same way that I've been
saying it with some other series around when we've discussed
the reality of going matchup to matchup, as we've now
(07:15):
seen two of the three sixty win teams in the
NBA this year lose, and as Oklahoma City is at
risk of potentially losing on Sunday. Although we did get
a report today that Aaron Gordon there was that weird
play where Jadubb dove into his legs and I thought
he was just kind of playing up the injury to
try to get a flagrant foul or something like that
(07:35):
or a review. But looks like Aaron Gordon might have
some sort of hamstring issue, which is very scary for
a Nuggets team that I would argue Aaron Gordon's been
their second best player in this postseason run, and so
that obviously is a devastating loss there. But there's a
chance that we could end up losing all sixty win
teams before we even get out of the second round.
And part of the reason for that is because more
(07:59):
and more, as the game has changed, there are just
so many different ways to play, and so many different
types of teams and so many different types of stars.
Even if you just look at the remaining four stars
that will be leading these groups, Let's say if Jokic
advances or Shay advances, right, I've got Tyrese Haliburton, who's
(08:19):
like some weird like Steve Nash mixed with a better
athlete type of hybrid modern spread pick and roll, like
keep the ball moving type of ball handler. Then I've
got Jalen Brunson, who's like this small, shifty, like incredibly
gifted half court surgical scorer slash shot maker. Then I
(08:40):
go out to the West and it's like I get
Anthony Edwards, who's like the modern version of Michael Jordan,
just this huge apex athlete two guard that can shoot
the shit out of the basketball and then out of
the other series. We're either going to get like the
modern day James Harden, this high volume score that is
incredibly gifted at getting to the foul line, but has
(09:00):
another layer of versatility in terms of his mid range
shot making that even James Harden didn't have. Or the
best player in the world, Nikola Jokic, who's like this
big Doe center who inverts yours facing and makes just
about every damn shot he takes and is probably the
best passer in the game. And as you kind of
zoom out look at that, that's just these four or
five remaining teams. If I went down the list for
(09:22):
all sixteen teams, or all twenty if you included the
playing teams, there's just so many different kinds of stars
and so many different kinds of role players and schemes
on defense and on offense. We've seen more zone, I
feel like in this postseason than in any postseason that
I can remember, as so many teams have been working
on mixing up coverages and different kinds of zone and
entire halves where a team will Run twenty twenty five
(09:42):
Possessions of zone like this is a modern MBA where
every series is different, and arguably within the game, within
the actual series themselves, every game is different, and so
it is no longer about which team won more games
or who had the best net rating, strictly about what
do you have in your toolbox to manage the shifting
(10:05):
flow of each series. So, for instance, the Celtics, they
moved the ball, especially when they get into their matchup attacking,
and you either leave an opening in your coverage or
if you, like in Game five, just concede a lot
of like size mismatches that they can bully right to
the front of the rim, but they don't come close
(10:27):
to the pace and ball in player movement that Indiana
brings to the table, So similarly to what we saw
with Minnesota, where that like legitimately took them a lot
longer than you would have expected to put away a
Golden State Warriors team without Steph. And I mean, obviously
they won the series in five games, but within those games,
it's like they lose game one, Game two they blow
them out, but game three they're like trailing in the
(10:47):
fourth quarter. Game four, it's the Warriors that think kind
of lead in the mid third quarter like it took
that they didn't dominate that team despite the massive talent
advantage because of the fact that there was some reality
to the way that Golden State just played a very
different kind of basketball than the Lakers did and it
just took them a while to adjust to it. And
so with the Pacers, there are these obvious differences switching
(11:11):
like you did against Boston. That's stagnated Boston, especially in
Game four and especially down the stretch of Game one
in Game two. No matter what you do to Indiana,
they are not going to stagnate. They are going to
attack with ball and player movement, and if you do
everything right, then yeah, they'll go hunting a mismatch. But one,
(11:31):
they're going to try to get something easy by getting
you to make a mistake botching a switch or leaving
it opening otherwise not there. And two, unlike Boston, Boston
will hunt mismatches, but they can get away from it.
That's been the story with Boston for years, even going
back to before they won the title. They have had
a tendency to have extended stretches where they play a
(11:53):
certain way and have a great deal of success, and
then they go brain dead for like twelve minutes of
real time where they just take a bunch of bad
shots and fail to go back to the thing that worked.
Indiana's pretty relentless about hunting those mismatches. If you switch
appropriately and avoid the openings that naturally occur in their offense,
they will throw it to Siakam or Miles Turner against
(12:16):
the size mismatch over and over and over again. If
you end up switching, if you end up containing the ball.
They have a process offensively that is relentless from the start.
They pick you up full court, they try to rush
you into a poor offense. They push in transition like crazy.
Tyrese is one of the best kick ahead passers in
the NBA. Right now, They're going to get you in
(12:37):
the blender, and if you survive the blender, they're going
to hunt a mismatch. It's just a very very different
type of series than what this Celtics series is, and
it's a much better version of Tyrese Haliburt. Tyres Haliburton
is playing at a substantially higher level than he was
playing for the Knick series last year. Is his matchup
specifically with Karl Anthony Towns in space. Whether it be
(12:59):
in pick and roll coverages like a high drop or
a hedge, or it be in a switch, that's gonna
be a key factor in this series. Tyrese Haliburton attacking
Karl Anthony Towns in space. It's going to be a challenge.
I expect to see a lot of Pascal Siakam and
Miles Turner in post up mismatches against Jalen Brunson as
they work through you know, maybe a Nemhard a ball
(13:23):
screen with Nemhard or Nie Smith and they get a
switch and they're just gonna throw it down there. There's
a great deal of like trusting of simple closeout reads
like the Celtics when they have Tatum dancing at the
top of the key and two guys are digging down
into the driving lanes. The Celtics are less willing to
just take that like simple swing pass. The Pacers make
that shit relentlessly. They make it like every time you
(13:47):
sink off of a man for whatever reason, Tyres will
hit you every single time. And so it's just gonna
be a very different type of challenge, and I think
that bodes well for Indiana, especially early in this series,
and so with the Knicks having home court advantage, I
think it's going to be really interesting to see if
they can hold up in those first two games, because
when you play a very different team and they roll
up into your arena and they're playing great basketball and
(14:09):
they throw you in the blender, you'd make a few
too many mistakes in Game one. Suddenly, even though you
can solve that problem, you end up losing home court
advantage in the process. And so I think that's going
to be the first thing I'm watching early in the
series is just how quickly the Knicks adjusts defensively to
what will be a very different challenge. Against the Celtics,
it was about switching and containing and the individual defense
(14:32):
in Game one, in Game two of Brunson on Tatum
and Brown, and in Game four of Karl Anthony Towns
on Jason Tatum in space. This series is going to
be less of that and more of the attentiveness. We
saw the job that the Knicks didn't transition defense in
Game five against Boston. If they bring that type of effort,
the Pacers will beat the shit out of them. And
(14:52):
so again, like we talked earlier. This is going to
be much more of a mental challenge for the Knicks
than it is a physical challenge. I'm very, very excit
for it. On the other end of the floor, we
saw some stuff last year, right, Brunson had a great
deal of success against Nemhard, not so much against Niesmith.
We'll see if for Carlile ends up making that kind
of move. But here's the thing. You end up putting
in Nemhard on a Michale Bridges, You're now conceding a
(15:15):
lot of size in that matchup, where McHale Bridges has
been a very gifted over the top shooter in the
mid range, and so it's a very different type of
team for the Pacers to match up with this time around.
I've already started watching film on this series. Weirdly enough,
the one game where everybody kind of played was in
that early phase of the season when the Pacers weren't
playing very good basketball. But we do have three games
(15:38):
worth of data. The next we're two and one in
the regular season. I mean to be watching a lot
of that film tomorrow and working on that series preview.
It'll be up on our feeds most likely Sunday morning.
Potentially Saturday afternoon. We'll let you guys know when it
comes out. I'll text you or I'll put it out
on Twitter and you guys can see it there. But
we'll have an in depth series preview at some point
in the next day or two.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
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(16:21):
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Speaker 2 (16:31):
Channel three, twenty four, twenty five. But the sixth consecutive
year that a champion failed to get out of the
second round the following year, and this has been kind
of something that I've been pushing back on in terms of,
like every single time there's been any sort of success
in this era, every from anybody, including myself as a
Lakers fan, there's this feeling like we've reached the mountain top.
(16:55):
We figured it out, and now we're here. And it's
like the Lakers have some injuries that following year and
their roster is completely blown up. Two years after that,
you know, the Raptors, they lose Kawhi Leonard. They're completely
different team after that. The Bucks in twenty twenty one,
Chris Middleton quickly declines physically. Giannis ends up getting injured.
A couple of years after that. Next thing, you know,
(17:16):
the roster's too old for them to contend Golden State.
They catch this flash in a pan with Jordan Poole
and Andrew Wiggins, which allows what was a limited roster
to reach a level that could compete for a championship.
And you get an all time great type of performance
out of Steph Curry that allows you to hoist the trophy.
But then pretty quickly Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole kind
of regrets to the mean and suddenly it doesn't look
(17:37):
like a championship roster anymore. Twenty twenty three with the Nuggets,
they end up losing Bruce Brown, Justin Holliday, just a
little bit of that depth that they used to have.
Cacp's out of the picture, they're not as good at
the point of attack. They have looked like a second
tier contender ever since then, although they do have a
puncher's chance to win the title this year. You go
to the following year with Boston. Now, same sort of thing.
(17:57):
This is an all time great Team's gonna be the
team that runs the league. And it's like, even if
Jason Tatum didn't get hurt, they were probably about fifty
five to sixty percent likely to lose this series anyway.
Why a couple of guys got a little older, a
little more banged up. Porzingis wasn't very good. Drew Holliday
couldn't shoot the three as well as he used to,
Jaylen Brown couldn't shoot the three as well as he
(18:19):
used to. A couple guys just went cold at wrong times,
and suddenly you're out of here in the second round.
And it's just a reminder that in this era, sustaining
success is extremely difficult. So you can never get too high,
you can never get too low. Those big picture roster decisions.
You've got to be keyed in on the fact that
if you if you think you're good enough, you're probably not,
(18:40):
and you probably need more firepower than it appears on
the surface, and this has just been the latest example
of that. And I don't know, like, when we look
back in NBA history, it's kind of crazy right on
the heels of an era where we saw Lebron James
win the Eastern Conference eight times in a row, we
saw Steph Curry win the Western Conference four times in
a row, we saw the Spurs win the Western Conference
(19:02):
two times in a row, and it just there's so
much more parody, There's so much more talent in the league.
It is so much harder to sustain success. There are
realities with the second Apron and with the new CBA
that makes it very difficult to accumulate talent and sustain
talent in this league. I guarantee you that like the
next team that everyone's going to be focused on in
(19:22):
terms of like, this team's gonna win every year, It's
going to be the thunder until guess what they have
to pay everybody, And all of a sudden, there's a
certain amount of their talent that they're unable to retain
and they end up dipping a little bit in talent,
and suddenly there's more pressure on Shay to be better
in every facet of the game, and it's just really
really difficult to sustain success in the NBA these days,
and I thought that what happened to Boston this year
(19:44):
was a really interesting example of that. Jalen Brown kind
of an interesting example of the tale of two games,
and it's just something to keep an eye as we
head into next season with him. He was so good
in terms of his floor game in Game five, the
decision making, the deliberate and intentional attack king of Jalen Brunson,
the refusal to settle for bad jump shots, and just
(20:04):
like all of that went out the window today and
what was a much more uneven game from him outside
of a few shots that he made early. And so
just with that next year, that's gonna be the key
for him if he's going to have any sort of
sustained success as the leader of the Celtics next year,
it's got to be that game to game floor presence
of decision making, ruthless precision in terms of the types
(20:25):
of advantages you're hunting in the half court. That's going
to be the challenge for him next year. But it
is going to be more or less a gap year
in the sense that, like what happened with Golden State
after Klay Thompson and Kevin Durank got hurt, they used
a year to accumulate assets to try to pivot and
make a run in the future. And that's going to
be the challenge for next season is how do you
weigh the reality of the talent you have on the
(20:48):
roster and the fact that you probably could bring everybody
back and be a three or four seat. You probably could,
But is it worth it to do that and continue
to see Porzingis age and continue to see Horford a
and continue to see Drew Holiday age and then have
Tatum come back the following year, and you're not good enough?
And that's where they got. The Celtics got to make
some tough decisions about what they're going to do with
(21:09):
the roster this summer and all throughout next season as
they prepare for Tatum's inevitable return in the following year.
On that note, let's bring Jackson up. Where you're going
to Jackson put together a list of potential offseason targets. Jackson,
I want you to just kind of like put everybody
in your frame of mind my time before you start going.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Through the list, I think I was thinking about the
Celtic summer even you know, before this game, I wasn't
really expecting to win the series at this point, and
I have been trying to think about players to target,
and you don't. You can't pick players that are about
to exit their prime because you like, to your point,
your next year is a gap year. Next you're you're
(21:47):
two years away from Jason Tatum being back to anything
close to what he's he was this year, Right, So
you can't go too young. But you also have to
find mostly contenders that are willing to ship players out
because most of the players that you're in less than
a three team deal are only good, only valuable for contenders, right,
It's not like you're trade Why would you trade a
young guy in the first place. So I was trying
(22:08):
to find teams that are fringe contenders that definitely feel
like they need to make a move if they're going
to go to be actual contenders, but aren't you know,
but aren't too good where they're not going to make
big changes to their core. So I have three different
categories worth of players, some like realistic possible options, some
like are these these teams are quite good. But are
(22:29):
they going to trade these guys? And some these teams
are incomplete limbo. I can't imagine they trade the players
this good, but they're in limbo, so maybe they do.
To start with, my number one target is Derek Lively.
I feel like Drew Holiday for Derek Lively and some
you know, with whatever ancillary pieces that requires, is close
to perfect considering the Mavericks have. I mean, they have
(22:51):
Klay Thompson, I guess, but they have some needs at
the guard position and they let they want two way
players per Nico Harrison's vision, and they have three centers now.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
So let me just for to be Devil's advocate. I'm Nico,
and I say I view ad as a short term
option for US. I viewed Derek as the big picture
center for our team. Would you be interested in Gafford instead?
Speaker 1 (23:17):
How old is Daniel Gafford?
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Let me pull up the payroll real quick.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Gafford is twenty six. Yes, I would be interested in
Daniel Gafford.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
I think Daniel Gafford. You know, even when I look
back last year like that, there's a little bit of
a switch defense element with Derek Lively that's more impressive. Yeah,
but I think Daniel Gafford is actually a little bit
more physically imposing underneath the basket.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Definitely, And so it's tricky.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
I think Derek Lively within a couple of years will
be substantially better than Daniel. Yeah, but it is, it
is like it is complicated. There's also like the salary
matching piece. I wonder because Dallas is not a team
that has cap space that you'll be trading into. It
would have to be a situation where you match salaries.
So Withdrew, let me pull up the Celtic payroll real quick.
(24:02):
So Drew makes thirty or thirty two if you trade
from this summer. Gafford is at thirteen. So what about
what about Clay Thompson? Would you what about a deal
with like Gafford and Clay.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
I got no problem taking back the shallow Clay Thompson
if you know, if that's what's required from a salary
matching standpoint, let next year as a wash, let the
guy come and just put up a bunch of shots.
Get Let the guy become a meme for the weirdest
possible jersey, you know, Dwayne Wayne and a Cavaliers jersey
type of thing like, that's no issue in mind. I'm
found completely fine with that.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Let me take it a step further. So they've got
Cooper flag too, they do. So where the hell is
PJ Washington fitting into all of this?
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Oh? True?
Speaker 2 (24:45):
I like, what if it's more of like a Drew
Holiday for PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford kind of deal.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Love, what about I went throw in a first round pick.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
That that would be an interesting move that would almost
immediately make you more useful, and both of those guys,
both PJ and Daniel would be bird right free agents
this summer before Tatum returns. Okay, So what's interesting about
that then is you would have the ability to retain
(25:15):
both of them at basically whatever number you wanted, not
north of fourteen. But I don't think either player PJ
could encroach on that territory potentially, Yeah, but yeah, like you,
it's a flexibility move too, in the sense that Drew
Holliday has all those years left on his contract, but
you're getting back to players that would actually come off
(25:36):
of the books the year that Tatum comes back from
his injury right then. From Dallas' perspective. From Dallas' perspective,
Drew Holliday. You could not pay a better guard with
Anthony Davis, couldn't.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
I mean they've played before, they've played before. You get
a complete defensive specialist next to Kay who's not a
slash defensively actually, but he's going to be coming back
from a serious injury. You want someone who is going
from Klay Tom's defensively to Drew Holliday, even as thirty
four year old Drew Holiday is about as big of
a gap as you could go defensively.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
To your point, though, I'd prefer Derek. But if I
countered in that PJ. Washington, Daniel Gafford Range, I think
I think that is a deal that substantially kind of
like fits the Celtics new timeline. Also worth mentioning. Both
those guys are twenty six right now exactly.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Yes, okay, I got four more in this realistic slash
possible category. I'm gonna throw all of them at you
and you tell me which ones you like the most.
All of these are guys, well, they're on varying different
levels of teams from in terms of win now versus
not win now. I got two guards and two bigs.
Two guards, Jalen Suggs from the Orlando Magic also injured.
(26:42):
You know, timeline wise, what are they gonna do with
Jalen Sugs right now? Trey Murphy of the New Orleans Pelicans,
New Orleans Pelicans, that would probably require a third team
because the Pelicans, what do they need Drew Holiday Chris
has porzingis for. But if the third team potentially and
then two bigs being Nick Claxton and Yakam Pernle.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Okay, I'm the Magic's GM. You've pitched to me Drew
Holliday for Jalen Suggs. Point of the Magic's payroll real quick.
If I'm the Magic's GM, I'm thinking I need shooting. Yeah,
Andrew Holliday doesn't shoot the ball well enough. So what
if I said I want Derek White for Jalen Suggs.
(27:25):
Now the construction that that deal Derek White, if you
made the if you made the trade before the league
year turned over, he only makes twenty turns into twenty
eight the following year. But if you did it before
the league year, you could get it done with Jalen
Suggs and Mo Wagner. So you get a big back.
So now let's so, let's pitch it this way because
(27:48):
if I'm Orlando, I'm saying like Drew doesn't help me
in the short term or the long term because of
his age and because of his inconsistent shooting. I like
Derek White. We talked about this the other day when
we were talking The Celtics love Derek White, but for
the right deal, I would move him. Yeah, I would
move Derek White for Jalen Suggs and Mo Wagner in
a heartbeat. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
I think I would too. I think I would too.
I mean Jalen Suggs, if everything goes right from an
injury recovery standpoint and from a talent, you know, development standpoint,
he could basically become just a better version. Not maybe
not better because Derek White's very good, but I think
he can become a better defensive version. I think he's
a He's an amazing defender. Even though Derek White is
also very awesome.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Jalen Suggs is arguably the best guard defender in the league.
He's now dignatic what I'm missing here, and this is
an important detail. It's actually like a poison pill kind
of trade because Jalen Suggs is new extension kicks in
next year at thirty five million, so you actually wouldn't
get MO back. You'd have to wait for the league
year to turn over, and then you would trade Drew
excuse me, Derek directly for Jalen and you would have
(28:50):
to include a little bit more salary, I think, although Orlando, yeah,
You're gonna have to include a little bit more salary.
So it would be like it would be like Derek
White and and man, the only other guy who really
fits in that slot is Pritchard, and you don't want
to give him a down. You got to keep Prichard
at his number, and he's like, he's arguably like the
(29:10):
best contract value in the league right now. Yeah, a
guy who won't make over ten million at any point
in his contract. But that is a that's an interesting idea.
And if I'm Orlando, I'm sitting there thinking like Derek
White with Pallo and in Franz, like.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
That is a fit exactly.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
And Jalen Suggs to me is like a quintessential Celtic
type of target mate, a dribble, shoot, pass, defend kind
of guy.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Yeah, one hundred percent. Yeah. The other ones on that
that I had in this sort of you know, category
with Trey Murphy, Nick Claxton, yaka Perl. I don't think
any of those are quite as good Trey Murphy is.
I mean, I love Trey Murphy. I don't know what
that would definitely require a third team. I'm wondering if
there's a third team situation with the Mavericks there, even
where you're sending Drew Holliday to the Mavericks, they send
(29:49):
a first round pick or something to New Orleans some
salary matching we get Trey Murphy, but.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
That would be a hard one to sell to the
fans getting rid of Trey Murphy. Nick Claxton is a
very one.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
The reason why Nick Claxton would be perfect with the
Celtics is he's a switching big who also is a
vertical spacer, so he could basically be kind of like
a younger, more athletic version of what Robert Williams was
for you guys. He makes twenty eight million, so you
could seamlessly flip Drew for him. And the Nets have
(30:24):
cap space, so I could pitch it as an opportunity
to shed salary.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
So let's talk about it.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Like this, What if you call up the Nets and
you try to put together a big salary dumping type
of deal where you get rid of Drew and Christops.
So you're sending out sixty two, you probably have to
include all like, you probably have to include multiple first
round picks for them to do I think so yeah,
(30:50):
So would you give up multiple first round picks? You
got to think financially now too, because in this scenario,
Boston's trying to shed salary. So would you give up
multiple first round picks to bring back Nick Claxtun is
like the center of the future for you, twenty six
years old. He matches right up with Tatum's timeline. Yeah,
twenty six years old, switching center, vertical spacer. But you
(31:11):
got to give up your draft compensation to get off
that salary.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
It's tough. I think it depends what the other if
there's other options on the table. If from a deal standpoint,
I would not prioritize salary dumping, I think, I mean,
I think you might have to salary dumb Kristaps just
straight up regardless. It looks awful. But I think Drew
Holliday can get you something valuable from.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
A winner from a winner, So maybe you views view
poor Zingis. To your point, maybe you you view poor
Zingis as the Nick Claxton piece, and then you look
at Drew as a piece where you can actually get
something positive, right.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Right, That's kind of how I look at it, all right.
The the are they the fourth name? Who's the fourth name?
Yakam Perdle. It's a little old.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Yeah, I don't like that one quite as much, but yeah, ya,
and Yakub's good. Yakub's good. But uh but yeah, I
don't like that one as much either. Anyway, go ahead, my.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Are they open to trading this these guys? Because are
they going to make a huge shake up this summer?
Are is Jared Allen as well as as well as
Darius Garland, But Jared Allen primarily because I do feel
like big is a more of a priority than a guard.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
But so this is a really interesting one. Well, let
me put you on the spot about this first, after
how Jared Allen sucked least, I mean, I think.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
You got to just hope that you can make it,
make it work. The Celtics Biggs at this point are
in dire straits. Alan Horford is if he's not gonna
retire this summer, he's not. He's not gonna be anywhere
impactful next time the Celtics are making a playoff run.
I love it.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
He's not.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
He's not gonna be an impactful player in twenty twenty
seven playoffs. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Also, part of the issue with Jared Allen two is
like everybody on the team fell apart and he was
just like part of that kind of like mess. So
you kind of hope too that you just get him
next to Jayalen Brown and Jason Tatum and he just
kind of takes on more of their toughness and personality.
So he makes twenty million. So the calves, if I'm
(33:00):
not mistaking our second apron teams, like it's a little
as of next summer, as of the league calendar turning
over because Evan Mobley's extension kicks in at forty six
million experience, isn't that fucking crazy? So so okay, so
we need to match more in the twenty million range.
They wouldn't be able to aggregate salaries either, so that
(33:22):
gets tough. Cleveland's tough to trade with. Yeah, but Jared
Allen's an interesting idea, right.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
I think that one's kind of interesting. And then I
got two pipe drinking candidates from teams that certainly should
not have interest in trading these players, but are complete
dumpster fire organizationally right now. So maybe they make a
huge shakeup this summer. Bam At a Baio and John Morant.
This is the Heat are not trading bam Ata Bio
to the Boston Celtics specifically. I do want to be
clear that I'm not stupid, but bam Adebio and John
(33:50):
Morant are two teams that are, if not going to
make huge changes this summer, probably should make huge changes
this summer. And I'm wondering if either of those guys
might be on the move.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
In their driving kick system. And we've discussed this. The
Celtics just don't pressure the room enough, yeah, to get
the types of quality threes when things really bogged down
because Tatum's first step was never quite good enough to
beat elite defenders off the dribble.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
And Jalen Brown's handle isn't good enough to beat every
elite defender off the dribble.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
So let's think, if I'm getting rid of Jaw, if
I'm Memphis, what do I want in return?
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Yeah, I don't know what Memphis wants to do is
the thing because they are sort of locked into a
multiple more years of Desmond Band and Jaron Jackson. They
are paying those guys a lot of them. Okay, that's
why are they trying to stay relevant? If they're trying
to stay relevant, y'all Wandrew Holliday and a bunch of
first round picks. I would give up a lot of
first round picks obviously for John Moran.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Would you give up Jalen Brown for John Moran?
Speaker 1 (34:53):
I would consider it.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
So I want to three. I'd want to three. So
what what if you were like, but you could flip
Drew for a three? So yeah, Like what about a yeah?
Jalen Brown for John Moran is super interesting on a
couple of different level. It's for starters. The weakness of Memphis'
(35:15):
roster is the three.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
That's literally this spot on their roster where their weakest.
It allows them to pivot off of Jaw. Joe gets
a fresh start with a team that's actually like kind
of built as a drive and kick structure that kind
of fits his game super well. He'd be a beautiful
two man game partner with Jason Tatum. You wouldn't have
to do any sort of weird things with salary because
Memphis is way under the cap in the new year,
(35:40):
So you could straight up trade Jalen Brown for John Morant. Okay,
so let me put you on the spot about this.
Brad Stevens calls Memphis offers straight up Jalen Brown for
John Moran. Who's more likely to say no, Boston?
Speaker 1 (35:57):
I think Boston. I think Memphis wants to trade Drammer.
I think they just I think they just can't stomach
it without getting a like an all star in return.
And dude, it's pretty easy to sell Jalen Brown. I'm
not gonna lie. He's got its deficiencies, but it's a
pretty easy sell.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
And in addition to that, I immediately shed fourteen million
dollars in salary. Yeah, that's a really interesting trade.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
You change Jalen Brown for John Morant, you turn Drew
and Kris STAPs into some version of what we talked
about earlier. You're looking at a weird brand nude roster basically,
but a very fun Southeast basketball team.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
And John Moran always has like injury related issues, where
would be so easy to just like be like, hey,
you're sitting down for the next two weeks or we
can get a great draft.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Oh for sure next season, yeah, one hundred percent. Like
if you trade Jalen Brown for John Morant, you can
turn you turn Drew Holliday into into Derek Lively or
Daniel Gafford. Dude, all of a sudden, you got in
twenty whatever, twenty six, twenty seven season, John Morant, Sam Houser,
Jason Tatum, someone else and Dark Lively is a pretty
(37:01):
fun grouping of players.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
Is there? So in this theoretical scenario, if I'm getting
rid of Drew and Jalen, I'm getting rid of my
two best point of attack defenders by far. Do you
think Derek White is up to the task of being
the primary point of attack guy for a championship team.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
I don't know, not really.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
I feel like he.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Is strange for being a really good defender, a really
good defensive player. He's strangely not like the most just
guard guy one on one good. He's very smart, and
he gets a lot of weak side rotation blocks and
a lot of transition blocks. He's a great at closeouts.
He's an awesome defender, but he is not the type
of just throw him at an other team's best guard
and like hope for stops type of guy in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Yeah, and so then basically what you have to do
is essentially view the future as meaning like next year
in the following year, as like you just got to
try to find the next guy who will be your
primary point of attack guy. And that could literally be
in these trades that we've pitched in this particular scenario.
So let's call it. Uh, let's say you flip Drew
(38:04):
because Drew has immediate value to Dallas, and you flip Brown,
who has immediate value to Memphis. In this situation, you
would still have your draft compensation, and so then you
could try to look to move one of these guys
for a primary point of attack guard. That's where it's like,
maybe you look at Orlando and you go, like, now,
(38:24):
let's talk Derek White for Jalen Sugs.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
That's what I'm saying. That's that's what I'm saying. A
Ja Morant, a Jamarant, Jalen Suggs, Sam Howser, Jason Tatum,
Daniel Gafford. A starting lineup is so weird that it's
kind of breaking my brain. But of all the pivots
you could make, you know, I think we designed a
pretty good one for the Celtics.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
I like it. I like there's I was listening to
Pete Zais earlier today, was talking with Anthony Iron about
some Lakers stuff, and he's like, I think we need
to take a hatchet to the roster this summer. So
you're Jackson's here saying we need to take a hat
I'm taking a hash.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
I'm definitely taking a hatchet with these brands. It's not
this is not minor tweaks. You know, I expect him
more to do just do a minor tweaks around the
type of summer than this. But you know, if they're
gonna make changes anybody else on your list, Uh No,
that's pretty much it. I mean BAM was the other
pipe dream one.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
But BAM, Yeah, and yeah, the BAM is an interesting one,
but he definitely would have to go to a different
team first, before the before you could even potentially pull
something like that off. That's super interesting though. That was
the the Jalen Brown for Jahn Morant thing. Is a
very very interesting trade to consider because the specific dynamic
(39:29):
that Boston has been missing over the years is a
singular trait that no team can fuck with everything with
them has been aggregate talent, even like Tatum's game in
and of itself is an aggregation of a bunch of
different pieces that he's very good at but not elite at,
(39:50):
and Jahn Morant brings the singular trait, which is no
one can keep him in front off the dribble, and
that could be a foundational piece that Tatum could be
basically a force multiplier for because his versatility becomes very
valuable in the context of a team that like, like,
there's no way you lose Game one and two of
(40:12):
this series if you have John Morant, because he's just
going to be able to get you two or three
more buckets down the stretch of a game, because he
has been one of the most dynamic clutch players in
the league, because no one can stop him from popping
up off the ground seven feet from the basket and
shooting a little floater that no one can guard and
you just have to sit there and go, please miss it, Jah,
(40:33):
or hopefully we're up by fifteen before he gets there. Like,
as frustrating as a player as he's been, he does
have that upside. But this is a really fun exercise.
Jackson I think we're gonna save the mailbag for playback?
What do you think?
Speaker 1 (40:46):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (40:46):
So all right, everybody head over to playback dot tv
Slash shoots tonight. We'll do another forty five minutes of
hanging out, we'll take callers, we'll get into the chat.
As always, we sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us
in supporting the show. We'll be back on YouTube tomorrow.
We have tomorrow off. Oh my goodness, today is the
twenty eighth consecutive night that we have done this, but
(41:07):
we are taking tomorrow night off because there are no games.
But tomorrow I will be working on the series preview
for Nick Pacers that will most likely be up on
Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon. I'm actually going live with Colin
right after the game, so Oops tonight will be about
an hour after that we'll be going, but we'll have
something on Saturday or on Sunday afternoon after the Nuggets
(41:30):
Thunder game. As always, again, we appreciate you guys and
we will see you next time. What so, guys, As always,
I appreciate you for listening to and supporting Oops tonight.
They would actually be really helpful for us if you
guys would take a second and leave a rating and
a review. As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us,
but if you could take a minute to do that,
I really appreciate it. The volume
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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