January 31, 2022 • 54 mins
On today's show, Michael and Rohan discuss Andrew Wiggins' All-Star status and wonder if the system needs to be changed. They then open up the mailbag and debate Nikola Jokic vs. Joel Embiid. Who is more deserving of the MVP? Who is better at basketball? Why do people just assume Embiid is having a better season, or is more valuable to his team? They then close with Rohan's theory about the 2021-22 Miami Heat, which is definitely not what Michael was expecting to hear.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
What's up, open floor Globe. I'm your host, Michael to
pod Pina, and I'm joined on the other line by
my good friends Sports Illustrated staff writer Rohan not Rohan.
Tonight is a big event in our relationship. The Miami
Heat and the Boston Celtics are scheduled to play a
basketball game, and as someone who takes the high road,
(00:22):
winner lose, I wish you luck, but I also know
if the Heat lose, there will either be a litany
of excuses, or you'll tell me you were busy watching
Game six of Eastern Conference Finals on YouTube, or you
didn't have time to watch because you were deep into
a Nancy Myers romcom with your dog. So I just
want to give you an opportunity to get everything all
out of your system right now before we officially start
(00:45):
today's show. Well, first of all, Mike is referencing him
texting the other night quote unquote, taking the high road,
trying to talk crash about the Heats triple overtime watch
to the Raptors, a night on which in fact I
was watching It's Complicated with my dog Boba. And pretty
soon I will be releasing my official Nancy Myers rankings
(01:08):
on Twitter, so stay tuned to that. Beyond that, I mean, listen,
the Heat first place in the East. They're playing with
house money. You know, if they win, it's because of
the culture. If they lose, it's because they're missing Jimmy
Kyle and p J. Tucker. I don't see how that's
even remotely controversial for a team to be losing six
(01:30):
of its starting lineup um and expected to win on
the road. I mean, let me put it this way,
this is the kind of game the Celtics should win
easily that you know, you're at home, You're playing against
a team that's playing its third game, uh in four nights.
Let this this is the kind of game the Celtics
(01:50):
should win by double digits. That's all I'm gonna say.
I know, but I just want to say, have you
watched the bus and Celtics play basketball this season? There's
no game him that the Boston Celtics should win. That
just doesn't exist anymore. I don't know, this is this
is all I'm saying is this is the kind of
game the Celtics should win easily. So that's I agree.
(02:12):
I also think you know the Heat your short selling
everyone else on the Miami Heat. Your heat culture, Uh
posse like they get up for everything except I will say, um,
Eric Bolster, who's a borderline Coach of the Year like
front Runner right now, just an incredible shop by him.
Yet again, calling time out right before it gave Vincent's
(02:33):
three was so epic and legendary and like the worst
time even even like my my parents were like watching
that game with like a friend's house something that came home.
Could you believe the time out? And I guess there
were some people I didn't think that was a big deal.
I mean even in the moment, like I wasn't upset.
I don't know, there's like there was two little time
(02:56):
if it was like he gets the rebound and there's
eight seconds after the clock at it. Uh you know
he pulls down that rebound with like three or four
seconds left. I think it's in fact, like that was
a good time out. I mean it was unfortunately hit
a crazy shot. I do think a bunch of guys
have kind of let up on that play. So I
don't know I saw people being upset about that, But
to me, that was like, I don't know, every spell
(03:19):
likes to let him play in most situations, I thought
it was the right call to take a time out there.
It surprised me because I was watching it on mute
um in a hotel down in Florida, of all places,
and so I couldn't hear, like I didn't know that
the play was stopped. I thought the game ended, and
I was like, oh my god. And then eventually get
caught up to me that yeah, I mean, you're really
(03:39):
just you're really bearing the lead here, which is that
you were in Florida but couldn't send your podcast co
host a text, just couldn't give me a heads up
that we were separated by only three miles instead of
literal opposite coast of the country. But you know, I guess,
I guess this podcast relationship means more to me than
it does to you. And that's mine. That's okay. I
(04:02):
sent you first of all, I sent you it. We
don't need to go too deeply into this on the show.
But I did send you a text of me inside
of Publix. But that's and then I said, like, where
are you, Like there's a few states that have publics
in them. And then I even gave you I even
like tried to convince you to order a public sub
and you didn't do that either, So I didn't even
know what the point of this trip was, if you
(04:23):
were going to see me or eat above sub. I
I just I don't understand it. It's it's just you know,
life's of mystery, Rohan. That's that's all it is. You
gotta go with the flow. And speaking of going with
the flow, we're gonna have to move on to today's show,
where we have some incredible emails to get to. And
before we do, a quick reminder to keep the your
(04:45):
questions coming to open floor mail at gmail dot com.
That's open floor mail at gmail dot com. Um okay, Rohan.
So before we dive into the mail back, I wanted
to have a quick conversation with you about the All
Star starters, and in particular one All Star starter, Maple
Jordan's Mr Andrew Wiggins, who was named to his very
first team when the starters were announced last Thursday night.
(05:07):
I know that we've had a few days to digest
this news. Everyone has um but we haven't had a
chance really to address it on the show. And I
think that there are a few fascinating questions to ask
that are connected to All Star itself. Um, I know
neither of us had Wiggins as a starter, or I
don't think either of us had him on. UM I
(05:27):
know I didn't have him on my Western Conference team.
I don't think you did either, and we talked about
him in our last episode, but I don't think you
did either. Um. Just I'm curious what was your reaction
to Wiggins getting the nod? Do you think this is
a dessert? Do you think this is deserved and you're
you're fine with it? Or is it closer to a
travesty that should have us completely rethink how these teams
(05:50):
are selected in the first place. I don't think it's
a travesty. I mean, I certainly don't think you should
be a starter. You know, we we talked about this
on the last part. I think we both realistically liked
de Jont Murray over him instead of what ended up happening.
It's you know, the fan voting is also gotten to
a point where it's not just about fan voting. It's like, oh,
(06:14):
which celebrity did you have tweet out? Yeah? His name?
It was like a K pop star or something, right. Um, So,
like I said, you, I know that more people care
about All Star stuff that I do. At the end
of the day, it's not a really big deal to me.
(06:35):
At the same time, in a situation like this, I'm
sure Andrew Wiggins is happy, but that one, you know,
I'm sure on some level he's also like does he
does he feel like it's earned to be a starter?
I'm curious how he feels about it, um deep down,
(06:56):
So I wouldn't say, you know, I stopped short of saying,
certainly that it's a trap was ty or that I'm
upset about it, etcetera. But yeah, I'm no. I mean,
I'm I'm I'm being fresh when I say travesty. Obviously
it's not a travesty. It's just an All Star selection.
I will say that when I saw his his you know,
(07:18):
his face, his body image flash across the screen when
they were announcing the starters and d n t I
like I did. My My initial reaction was I thought
it was a joke, like that's I'm not even gonna
I'm not gonna like lie about that. I was like,
I was completely expecting. I was a completely expecting Rudy
Gobert first and foremost, and then like cat maybe like
(07:41):
I voted for cat I thought he had a possible chance. Draymond.
They were just like, I don't know, I knew that
Wiggins was way up there in the fan vote. I
assumed that players would not vote for him. I assumed
that media members, like there were media members actually who
voted for Andrew Wiggins, and like, look like I think
(08:01):
this kind of brings me to like my my next question,
which is just kind of a bigger picture one about
All Star selection in the first place, which you touched
upon right now, it's fifty fans for starters. It's fifty fans,
media players, and then coaches picked the reserves. Now I
know that you you previously addressed this, but as someone
who lives and dies by who does and doesn't make
(08:23):
the All Star team, like, what changes, what changes would
you make to this system if any after Andrew Wiggins
is suddenly starting because of what we just what we
just saw here, I just don't know that you can
make changes. I mean, they tried to make changes, and
I think for the most part, the right guys make
(08:44):
the team. I think I don't think there's been since
they switched to the current system. There are no egregious
snubs that come to mind, at least for me, someone
who doesn't care that much, but you know, no one
comes to mind is like, oh, this guy, I believe
you made it this year. You know, there are certain
players frankly who I like when they're in the All
(09:05):
Star Game and if they're not having a quote unquote
all Star season or getting it on name recognition, etcetera.
But short of taking some of the vote out of
the fans hands, uh, which I think is just kind
of goes against the spirit of the what the enterprise is.
I don't know what changes you want to make, and
(09:26):
I understand why people are like sick of the idea
of we should make it all media. Um, I think
the real players need to vote, honestly, like the players
take it seriously. I don't think the players need to vote,
or or just they need to remove the importance of
the All Star Game entirely as it relates to contracts
(09:49):
or maybe even you know, Hall of Fame whatever. I mean,
not that I think it's ever been the biggest deal,
but perhaps the more important things to remove the importance
of it from these other measuring sticks that we use
or or other indicators, you know, and I think that
would make it easier when someone maybe gets into the
(10:12):
game that people are a little bit dubious about, so
that that would I think that I think is a
better fix is let's just stop talking about All Stars
when it comes to Hall of Fame cases or contracts, etcetera.
Mm hmm, yeah, I mean that would be kind of
sad to me. Like I think, like this is why
I don't want the All Star Game, in the All
(10:33):
Star teams to be stretched out to fifteen guys, because like,
it should be an honor, it should be a select few, um,
and that just like brings more gravitas to the actual event.
And I love watching the actual game, even though a
lot of people you know, bitch and moan constantly on
Twitter throughout the four quarters, Like I don't care. I
think it's fun. It's awesome to see these guys throw
(10:54):
lobs to each other and stuff. Um, But if you
were let's just say, like if you were on the
Nick Suns and you are more specifically in the Phoenix
Suns backcourt, and you saw that Andrew Wiggins was starting
um on the All Star team, and you're Chris Paul,
You're Devin Booker, your team is just like basically unbeatable.
(11:15):
Right now, you're winning. We're recording this on a Monday.
You've won ten in a row, you have the best
record in the NBA, You're the best team in the NBA,
and both of you are are way better than Andrew
Wiggins is at basketball. And that just brings me to like,
should we is it time that we like get away
with from get away from positions altogether? Like, is it
is it time because of something like this happening just
(11:38):
as a way to prevent it in the future. That
is an idea that I think I could get behind.
You know, I know that when we were coming up
with our reserves, it was also kind of frustrating to
come up with, oh, we need three front corps, etcetera.
I mean, if we're going to do that, I really
think it's probably time to just do away with both
(12:00):
conferences and positions and just get the best two NBA
players on the floor and let him go at it. Um.
That to me, I like that idea of a fix
um because especially now with the new format, I'm not
the first person to make this point the conference distinction
really doesn't matter or makes sense. Um. You know, it's
(12:23):
not like MLB or whatever. They're even playing under different
rules or something like that. So I could get behind
getting rid of conferences and positions, especially positions, because it's
just an artificial construct that is honestly getting more and
more irrelevant today's game, you know, each passing season. Well,
(12:43):
and I gotta be honest, I expected a little bit
more um disgruntled mints out of few about Wiggins making
the team, But you seem like, okay with it, You're fine.
I know that they all star. I know I'll star.
Isn't like your your b all end all, but I
mean it also has like it's also just like it
(13:04):
is what it is. It's done. It's a done deal,
like and there's nothing to do about it. Um, you know,
the fans did what they had to do to get
him and as a starter, and that's that. Like, I
am I going to argue against the will of the people,
you know, Mike, or are you gonna be one of
those people that's questioning, uh, the validity of elections? Um? No,
(13:27):
it all serious. It's a it's a bummer. But then
you're also like, there's only a there's a limit to
which I'm willing to go because Andrew Wiggins didn't do
anything wrong. And I'm not gonna don't want to put
down Andrew Wiggins because of what is ultimately an imperfect
system and there's no great solution for it. And I'm
not gonna trash Andrew wiggins game. He's obviously had a
(13:48):
nice season. Um yeah, it's uh, it just to me,
it's like, Wow, there's just nothing to gain to be
upset about at this point. I think we could uh
definitely talk about fixes, and I think what you mentioned
is good. But the bigger thing is I, you know,
I don't want to I don't want to dump on Wiggins,
who's you know, to some degree, being put in a
(14:11):
little bit of a stransmisation. But you know that that's
kind of the reason for my I guess, uh, you know,
lack of passion about the topic. But you know, I
just think that it's also a little bit frustrating because
the power has been in the NBA's hands to a
degree to kind of stop these things from happening, right
(14:31):
Like they could go position list, they could go conference
lists whatever. For whatever reason, they're married to tradition when
it comes to the All Star Game, but are willing
to do all kinds of stuff when it comes to
the regular season, so that the dissonance there is a
little strange to me. But yeah, I just look at
you know, I guess ultimately the NBA is like, this
(14:53):
is a a quote unquote small price to pay for,
you know, maintaining the normalcy of our game or whatever
it may be. Yeah, I think that there's obviously the
fear if you go position list that you know, someone
like Jared Allen would have a zero point zero percent
chance of ever making it, and this year he has
a pretty strong case because like front court players have
(15:16):
to make it. Um But I don't know, I feel
like if you if you changed a little bit of
you know, the the voting process and who gets to pick,
and it wasn't just K pop fans that, um like,
have some faith in people who are actually watching the
games and who understand that Jared Allen is very good
(15:38):
and and deserving of an All Star appearance this season.
So what if I'm like, I'm for what if you
What if you let the fans vote, but the media
comes up with the list of players who are eligible?
Oh wow, interesting? Did you just think about that? All
(15:59):
by your self, Rohan, it's possible every now and then,
I'm good for a hashtag. Whop I do you know?
I like that idea. We're gonna have to um revisit
it in the future. That's brilliant. Um and No, that's
really good um and and shout out to you for
coming up with that off the seat of your pants. Okay,
(16:24):
do you have anything else to say about Andrew Wiggins
or all start? Can we move on because this email,
I'm like chopping at the bit to get to it. Literally,
he's literally rubbing his hands together excitement. Let's hear I
had to get the lotion out. Okay, So, uh, this
email comes in from Alex who rights Hi, Michael Rohan
and Brother Herring. I love how brother Airing is catching
(16:47):
I haven't from him since he spoke to Spike Lee.
He doesn't respond to anything in the group chat anymore. Yeah,
it's big timing us, damn dash. My name is Alex
and I'm from Wichita, Kansas. I have been a longtime
listener and fan. I don't think I have missed an
episode in a couple of years. Shout out to you, Alex.
(17:08):
All I seem to hear from the media is praise
for Joe l Embiid and how he has put the
seventies sixers on his back and is quote leading the
m v P race. I just can't help but ask
a question, why is everyone seemingly pretending that Nicola Yokich
is not doing what he is doing On a nightly basis?
Yokich leads em BEAD in every per thirty six category
(17:31):
aside from turnovers with an almost negligible difference and points.
Not to mention, if you pull up advanced stats, it
is ludicrous how many categories Yoki leads in. I understand
that Yokich is not the quote sexiest player, and from
a marketing standpoint, he probably isn't the best choice to
label as the face of the n b A, but
when you look at the numbers, he is almost undoubtedly
(17:53):
the best player in the world. Not to mention the
fact that the Nuggets have rattled off eight of their
last ten and our sitting in fourth place in the
Western Conference. Why is everyone just ignoring what Yoki is
doing without two of the three best players on his team.
In my eyes, Yoki is running away with m d P.
And I'm not trying to downplay the season and beat
his having it all, but he is simply just not
(18:15):
the better player, all the best alex uh So, I
just want to stay off the top. Like every so
often we get an email here at open floor that
turns me into the the Antonio banderis gift from the
movie Assassins where he's leaning back and exhaling after he
takes a glance at the laptop. Um, that was me
(18:36):
after I read this, because I was born hater. You
were literally this is nothing to do that came out
of the zoom traveled on that lay. This has nothing
to do with that. But I will say that, UM,
I have noticed this. Um, this wave of Joel embiad
(19:00):
is the m v P from certain media members and
the narrative that is forming. And I'm just like, this
is very annoying stuff like he is not. I'm sorry,
Like every time I see um a box score of
em beads that is positive as the reason why he
is the m v per or their team's record or
(19:21):
the on office or anything. I just look over at
Yokich and his his box scores that night was better
his team one by more points. Like it's just I
can get go on and on into it, but like,
what are your thoughts about I'll throw it to you
before I I rattle off even more points about why
this upsets me. But like, what are your thoughts about
the Joe L M B Yokich MVP race and is
(19:43):
it is it a two person race for you or
there's are there more players involved? Well, I will say
in a macro sense, and Bead versus Yoki is truly
one of the great basketball questions of our time. And
I mean that genuinely. I think I brought it up
on this podcast earlier, But don't you want to see
what happened if they switched places for a week, Like
give them each ten games with the others team and
(20:05):
see what happens. That would be a fascinating experience. I
have no idea how it would go. I I do
think it's Listen, I picked your kiss my mid season
m v p Alex. If you're looking for you know,
quote unquote media members or national media guys who are well,
you know, conducting the Yo Kis train, that's me, all right,
We're Crispine and Denzel Washington were unstoppable baby, all right,
(20:28):
that train is rolling down the tracks and uh, I
made my case, he's I believe he's still in the
hundred percentile according to Cleaning Glass and on off differential,
the Nuggets played like one of the best teams in
the NBA when is on the floor, they're one of
the worst teams of the century. When he's off the floor. Um,
(20:50):
he's made a massive impact. At the same time, I
think embiads gaining ground. I don't think there's any how
can you deny that he's at least put himself in
the race. I think it's fair to say Durant's almost
certainly not winning m v P anymore. Steph. Steph is
close to your Ki in terms of impact on off numbers.
There's no doubting what Steph means when he's on the floor.
(21:13):
I believe, I wrote this recently, the threat of his
shot probably means more than whether or not his actual
shots are going in or not. That's how good news
for the Warriors, which is which is terrifying for defenses.
At the same time, I just think that the shooting dip.
I just think it's ultimately gonna hurt Curry in terms
(21:34):
of m v P. So I do think Embied is
in the race. I you make it sound like it's
almost not close. I think it's close, and uh, there's
just a lot of season left. I mean, I had
your kich Is my mid season MVP. But I do
think it's an interesting race right now, and it's to me,
it's just a more so an interesting question of Embeed.
(21:57):
I think, obviously at the moment, is scoring in a
more exciting way, at least, uh the mid range. You
wrote about his mid range last year, Mike, I haven't
looked at the numbers anecdotally, at least, like I just
think he's he's shooting the hell out of the ball
a lot more, a lot better than he was at
the start of the season, and that's helped in terms
(22:17):
of something his scoring uptick. But it's hard to separate
those guys, it really is, because we will never know
what they would do if they trade places. So I
will um. I will admit, of course, the embiid scoring
in in the last fifteen games. I mean he's averaging
(22:38):
thirty four shooting from the floor like that. I mean,
it's nuts, it's nuts, it's insane stuff. And there's a
there's a thing about Himbiid that when you watch him
and this isn't to take anything away from Yogi, who's
obviously incredibly effective as a score and I think for
(22:59):
a long time was had the best effective field goal
percentage in the league, or he was. He's been high
up there all year long, especially in terms of people
who take as many shots a game as he does.
There's just a certain dominance to the way EMBIID play sometimes,
and we don't have to get into Everyone knows how
I feel about whether or not that should trade Simmons,
(23:21):
but I think you can feel like Nuggets fans are
gonna get mad at me for this, even though I
picked Yoki as the m v P and he stole
my m VB. I think you can more incredibly guard
your kich one on one than you can EMBIID. I
just don't think there's anybody in the legal and garden beat.
I don't. So, first of all, that's a that's an
(23:43):
interesting way to to to paint it. I think that
is that is not to say that that's why Embach
should be the m v P, but I think that's
like when you watch him, I think that's why he
gets that maybe extra bump Yoki doesn't get. There's a
there's a brutishness to some of your kich is scoring,
(24:05):
not his overall game that I think people just don't
they don't know what to do. So first of all, Um, like, okay,
I just want to say that I think I'm Beat
is amazing. I think that he would be second if
I had to vote right now. I agree with you
that there is a lot of more basketball to be
(24:25):
played and Beat could easily um shoot ahead if he
continues to average thirty four and twelve announced when he's
on the floor his team is plus eight or whatever
it is, then yeah, there's it's gonna be really different,
especially if the if the Sixers finished with the first
the top seed in the East, he's just gonna win
(24:46):
the award because the Nuggets aren't going to finish in
the top two in the West because of where the
Warriors and the Sons are, and people look at winning.
A lot of voters look at winning and they value
that a lot. Um, I will say it was it's
really interesting for you to bring that point up, that
specific point up about and Bed being unstoppable one on one,
which he is no doubt about it. Um. The Milwaukee
(25:09):
Bucks played the Denver Nuggets last night Sunday night, the
Nuggets wanted a blowout, and after the game, um Janna
sent it to Kompo Andrew Holiday. Both were upset about
Mike Budenholzer's defensive strategy against Yokis because they were showing
help every single time Yokich touched the ball. They would double,
(25:32):
they would shade over, they would pre rotate, and Yokich
was just picking them apart, like that's what he does.
He loves passing, he loves finding open cutters, open shooters.
And the Nuggets shot like from the behind the three
point line and ended up winning by a very large margin,
and Yokis didn't even have to score. And after the game,
(25:53):
be honest, was like, I wish that we guarded this
guy straight up one on one. And the reason that
they didn't is because Yokich would obliterate Bobby Portis one
on one, like he would score fifty five points if
that's the defensive strategy, and Thenuggets still would have won
by probably a lot of points. So I get, like,
(26:13):
I get what you're saying about Embiid and him being unstoppable,
and I just like, and I don't think you're discrediting
Yokich but Yokich is truly unstoppable in the post and
in a in a different type of way viscerally and esthetically. Yes, yes,
that's the that's a good way to put it. They're
both unstoppable. I think Embiid just somehow does it in
(26:37):
a way that that resonates more with people like I
think that we as a society are we live in
a society that is still quite not ready to know
what to do with Nicolo kit. It's true if we don't. Yeah,
I'm just talking even just from like a pure if
you take skill out of it, just like a pure
(26:58):
size thing. I think that is when somehow that at
least tricks people into thinking, let's stick to one guy
on Yoki, But who do you think it's better? Who
do who? Do you think? It's just as like to me,
it's not even that it's not that that hard to answer,
but I think it's hard because but here's what I'd say.
(27:22):
Yokich has been really good defending the rim this season,
although I still think it has more to do with
his like verticality and body placement. What I still think
in a vacuum embat Is has a significant advantage on defensively, um,
(27:44):
I think that they they. I think Embeat is a
better defender, a more feared defender. I think that the
way Yoki is asked to defend in Denver system is
a lot different, for sure. I also think that embeed
um he doesn't really bring it on every possession, And
I'm not saying Yogi does because he doesn't. But and
(28:05):
be like, there's plays where like and Beat and Beat
is usually dropping right and sometimes he gets out there
and he moves his feet really fast, and in those instances,
you're like, this guy should win every single defensive Player
of the Year award, um. But when he's in deep drop,
it's just like I know what the strategy is, and
I know that the numbers say that they do force
(28:26):
a lot more mid rain shots and they do uh
deter shots at the rim, etcetera. But like in certain matchups,
sometimes like a guard coming off a screen will just
hit like three straight jumpers in a row, and you're
just like, mb, can you kind of do something? And
that's a little frustrating when you watch them play. But
(28:47):
like I like, I hear you. I think it Beat
is a better defender. I think what really frustrates me though.
Is even going back to last year when Yokich one,
the whole argument was like UM and Beat would have
one had he played more games, And now we're seeing
that the games are you know, Yo Kich has played
(29:08):
forty four and Beat has played thirty eight. And Beat
is also not playing tonight against the Memphis Grizzlies because
of scheduled rest, which is very frustrating because the Grizzlies
are like the best, one of the best teams, and
I would love to see that matchup. I would just
like to say Yo Kich played every single game last
season coming out of the bubble. Yeah, wild, yeah, incredible
(29:30):
feed truly one of the greatest feats of this decade. Yes,
So I mean real quick, I just wanna and I
said I would go back to this, but you you
mentioned the on offs, and I want to sit on
this question for a while because I it's really been
bothering me. As you can tell, um. But Yo Kich,
as you said, he leads the league and on off
(29:51):
differential plus twenty two point to the next highest is
George Hill at plus eighteen point three. Joel Embiid ranks
twenty one at plus ten point eight. Steph Curry is
eleven a plus twelve point six. Yokich just plus twenty
(30:12):
two point too. Like like it's just it's it is,
I know, on office and everything, and if you want
to go through every other statistical like measurement, we can
and Yokich will be better. But like that right there,
to me is like it's called most valuable Players. Yeah,
that's what it's called. That's how I convinced Harring when
we were doing our mid season awards pod. You throw
(30:35):
out that number, and I mean it. I meant it genuinely.
They have They have a net rating with Yokich on
the floor that would be I believe the best in
the NBA. I mean, obviously the Warriors, I have a
great net rating when Steph is on the floor. You know,
there's reasons for that, etcetera. But they play like the
Sun's or the Warriors when Yokich is on the floor,
(30:56):
and they are truly one of the worst teams of
the millennium when Yokich isn't playing. It's that stark of
a difference. But I mean in terms of who's a
better player, man, I really really really struggle with that one.
I say that it's like soon know, I genuinely believe
(31:17):
has been one of the biggest Yokas cheerleaders in the
media for the last three or four years. That's that
is still a tough one for me, and I'm not
gonna I'm gonna one on one. Number one number that
is really interesting to me is two point field goal percentage.
Because we talk about embed being unstoppable. He should be.
(31:39):
I know, he takes a lot of mid range jumpers
and that's part of his game. He doesn't need to
do that. He could post up on every possession if
he wanted. UM, but his two point percentage this season
is fifty two point eight, which is whatever. Like a
lot of his efficiency comes from the free throw lot
and drawing fouls getting making free throws. He's a really
good free throw shooter. UM fifty two point on two
point um shots. Uh, Yokich is sixty three point seven
(32:03):
on two point shots. And it's not like like he
takes thirteen point two per game and b takes fifteen
point four. So like that that this discrepancy right there
and just one stat And again I could go to
so many different statistics, but that right there is just
another sign of just a big man who like gets
(32:24):
to his spots and makes his shots and is truly unstoppable.
And the number one separator for me is passing. And
the one of the narratives that comes up here is
like embeat is the point guard he played. He's playing
point guard for the sixers. This is incredible. And yeah,
his playmaking is for sure improved, no doubt about it.
(32:44):
Um some of the plays he makes ever, ever, ever,
ever ever Betaker Now, Um, that's so right there. That's
just another humongous differentiator. And one guy really makes everyone
around him look like a legitimate All star, and the
other guy not that he is. Um, not that he
(33:07):
doesn't do that for certain teammates. For sure, I think
he makes his teammates better, as all superstars do, but
not to the level that Yokich does. And lastly, before
we move on, I want to just mention the standings
as I did earlier. Um denver is I believe? Okay?
So I said that they were they were fourth before.
They're actually fifth as of right now, but had the
(33:28):
same amount of losses as the Utah Jazz. By the way,
get better, Joe Ingles, this is like the worst that's
some of the worst news of all time. Injury in
the contract here can we talk about man, we were
our power rankings. Uh, sorry to derail this because our
our power rankings come out on Mondays and we vote.
We vote as his staff Utah sliding. Man. Believe the
(33:52):
five in a row, four in a row, now, um,
two and eight in their last ten. I believe you stuff.
I mean, they they don't have good they don't go there,
and they don't have Donovan Mitchell. It's not but I
mean it just sounds silly, but it's just gonna be.
The brackets in both conferences gonna be interesting. The East,
I sent you this text. I don remember if it
(34:13):
was last night, but the seating in the East is
going to lead to some really crazy stuff. I mean,
those top six teams are separated so so closely. I
think there's a two game difference between Yeah, Brooklyn is
a sixth seed right now, which some team is going
to end up with the one seed and is going
(34:34):
to regret it because they're going to get Brooklyn or
Milwaukee in the second round or something insane and be like,
you know, how did this happen? Yeah, the seating the
seatings are crazy real quick. I just want to finish
my point and then we get to touch back on
that if you want. But so Denver is twenty eight
and twenty one and Philly is thirty and nineteen. So
(34:58):
Philadelphia is two up in a lot in the lost column,
and I just like, don't even like when we talk
about again, like if Philadelphia finishes first, which is possible,
they could, but Denver could also have the same record
and be like fourth or third or whatever in the West.
And so I don't know. I just think it's really dumb.
I think yog, which is um an easy choices the
(35:21):
m v P and there are a few um like
NBA dot COM's official MVP ladder that Michael Ray does
an excellent job on. I think Yogi is still number
one there, so shout out to him and shout out
to uh that placement. But like I do, just I
like this email from Alex because it was addressing something
(35:42):
that was on my mind that I actually wanted to
talk about, and um it was timely and so wonderful
and I think I spent I hope I didn't spend
too much time. No, I think listening on about it
We're with you, man. We don't let me put it
this way, and beads not a shoeing for m v P. Uh.
There's a lot of season left, but we will be
(36:03):
We will certainly be pushing the Yokich narrative as long
as we're hosting this podcast, unless unless something changes. But
for now, I think we both have as r m VP.
I know Marcus Smart just playing with glass in his hand.
He's like plus a hundred in the last three games. UM,
we'll see what happens tonight. Okay, let's uh. Let's move
(36:23):
on to this email from Jonathan, which you'll really love.
Rohan and I also loved it. Jonathan writes, Hey, Michael, Chris,
Rohan and Shelby love the pod. My question is if
you take the best player off of each NBA team,
who wins the finals and why is it the Miami Heat? UH?
(36:44):
From Jonathan, who says, PS need more Shelby. I agree,
Shelby is the greatest. We need more Shelby. Shelby doesn't
want to be our friend, though, so we can do
about it. Okay, So, uh, Jonathan is clearly in favor
of the Miami Heat as the winner of UH. This
(37:07):
of the finals. If you removed first of all, who's
the best players, it's Jimmy right team. Okay, yeah, you
know what, Like I tried to overthink this, I think
Miami is the answer. Like, I'm not gonna get to complicated.
I mean, they've been so terrific regardless of who's on
(37:28):
the floor. They you know, that team would have Kyle
lowryod at Bam bam at a bio. They would have
um three point shooting Tyler Hero off the bench. Maybe
he starts. It's just they're ridiculously loaded basketball team that
might win the NBA Championship. Um. I have a few
other teams though, that I wanted to shout out that
I think could be interesting. And this was actually a
(37:49):
really difficult exercise because I started plucking like best players
off of teams and I was like, oh, that team
snaks now. Um, the Toronto Raptors. First of all, I'm
not even I think Fred VanVleet. I think I think
it's Van Valleet. And then it's like, Okay, there have
been really bad when VanVleet has not been on the
floor and they can't win. But I look at the
names and the players and I'm okay, it's still like Pascal, Yeah,
(38:14):
so I like them. Um, I'm always just gonna ride
or die with the Clippers. And for this exercise, like
we're taking with the team, so it's still we're assuming
we have healthy Paul George like, yeah, let's ride like
that's they're very good. I love them. Um, I think
the Clippers are my favorite for this exercise. Oh over
(38:37):
the heat? Can I I don't want to step on
the question, but let me know when I can give
my official Miami Heat take for the season. Do you
want to just give it right now? If you have
more teams you want to name, you should name those teams. Okay,
this is gonna be like a forty five minute die trip. Okay. Um,
(39:00):
you know here's the kind of a sleeper pick. Uh,
the Atlanta Hawks. You take Trey Young off the team.
I loved vibes. I love camera get trade back. I
love Trey Young. I think he's great. Um. I this
(39:20):
roster is just so deep, like and you you look
at Oneko kung Wu. The other night in the game
against the Lakers, we have like six dunks in the
fourth quarter. Can we discuss how well my nineteen redraft
take of DeAndre Hunter has aged when I took him,
I think third or fourth in that draft. Sure, like
(39:43):
I love to got on your hunt. Yes, yes you're talking.
You're preaching the choir here. Love him. Uh, the Hawks
are a good pick. I like DeAndre a lot, like
John Collins a lot. It's weird that it sounds like
John Collins back on the trade block like forever there.
I mean, they've one seven in a row now. Shout
out to Kyle Gun the struggling Hanks. Poor guy. Sorry,
(40:06):
sorry guy. But so maybe they do end up standing Pat.
I don't know. They're in a weird position because it
looked like they were ready to blow it up. Now
they're playing well enough that do you believe in the stretch.
I don't know. I don't envy Travish Slank. That's a
tough decision for he's gonna have to make because I
still don't know the chemistry on that team still does
(40:27):
not seem to be the best. Okay, one more team
and then you can talk about the heat. Okay, thank
you the Phoenix Suns. And do you think so? I
was gonna ask, I don't know who we take off?
Is it is it Booker, is it? Is it? If
they take off Booker, I think they can still win.
(40:48):
If they take off Chris Paul. I do not think
they can. So if you take off, if you take
off Chris Paul, and I granted, if they put you
at center and Chris Paul was in the I know
you would get eight and six. You would pick up
eight points and six boards and I would miss my
first I would miss my first layup, and then I
(41:08):
would get a text at halftime that was like your
family has been kidnapped. It would be from Chris Paul
and he'd be staring at Man. He'd be like, we
haven't been out of your family's hopes. Um, Look, you
know in this exercise, we're gonna be removing obviously the
best players from every team. So I do think if
(41:29):
you had a camp, if you had campaign, Booker, Bridges,
Crowder eight and like that is that's tough? You know
you're not buying it. Listen, We've seen the Suns without
Chris Paul and they were a nice bubble story. But
I don't know, Man, give me, give me the point,
God give me CP three. Are they need him? They
(41:50):
need him? I like their chances and that's what to say.
Bookers not become an outstanding player, and he was. He's
unfortunately gonna have one of those forgotten finals because he
was great in that aries. But I think Chris Paul
is their most impactful players still, and I think that
they'd have a better chance without Booker than they would
without Paul. Okay, so you like the Sons then for this,
(42:11):
for this exercise, that was a good pick. You like that? Well,
if we take if we take book if we take
Booker off, then yes, but I don't think he's their
best players. My point fair enough. Okay, So I'll let
you now talk about the heat. I hope all of
this is irrelevant by tomorrow. Well no, Chris, here's the thing, Listen,
they have been one of the more interesting stories in
(42:33):
the league. There first in the conferences. With this recording,
They've won a ton of games. About their best guys,
Kyle Larry, it looked like just when bam Adebayo was
coming back after missing all that time with the torn thumb.
It looks like they're finally enough Kyle, Jimmy and bam together.
They still have not played together since the end of November.
They've only played four teen games together, It's like, Okay,
(42:54):
they're gonna hit the ground running. Let's see what they got.
Lowry is now miss time due to personal reasons. He's
still away from the team. Me Butler's out tonight. I
think there was the conventional wisdom about the team headed
into the season was they're gonna be just kind of
get through the regular season and they're gonna be a
tough out in the playoffs just because of their defense,
(43:15):
they're coaching, etcetera. I'm a little worried they've become the
regular season smoking mirrors team. That's my take. Why do
you think that they rely a lot on three point
shooting from guys like gave Vincent, Max Struss, Hero Robinson,
(43:38):
And we've seen those types of teams to an extent
mitigated a little bit in the playoffs. Um, whether it's
seems like the Jazz or the Clippers, and that that's
kind of when they need their stars to step up.
And this all comes down to Jimmy Butler, who I
think for parts of the season early start of the season,
(43:59):
was playing like one of the best players in the league.
But I just think they're late game half court offense.
I do not know how it's going to hold up
in a playoff series. And you look at all the
other great teams in the East, whether it's Janice with
the Bucks with the Honest, the Sixers with them Bead
the Nets with Durant and Harden, or Irving. I just
(44:25):
am nervous that the Heat don't have a half court
scorer who's gonna be able to get them over the
hump in the playoffs. So that's my official Miami Heat take. Yeah,
I know it's a little bit surprised. Yeah, but I
I'm a little bit worried that they're the Smoking Mirrors
regular season team, and you look a lot of the
games they've won without Jimmy, Kyle, etcetera. They've just had
(44:46):
insane three point shooting, which is a credit to those guys.
They've made the shots. Um. I also think they're in
a weird position. I think Jimmy Butler, they're they're positive
with Jimmy Butler on the floor, but I think they've
been even better with him off the floor of this year. Uh,
that might have changed up until recently, but that was
true through like the end of December, which is it
(45:07):
goes to show how crazy their offense was in that
stretch when he wasn't playing. So, yeah, that's just my
that's me throwing a little hesitation on the heat. But
they're they're late game offense, which I think is the
most kind of analogous to what a half court offense
looks like in the playoffs. I'm a little bit worried
about them being able to score in those situations. So
(45:31):
Miami's crunch time offense, do you know where it ranks?
It's got to be close to the bottom, if not
dead last. It is tweven right behind the Detroit Pistons,
which uh, is there a full point per one possessions
worse than the Detroit Pistons on offense? Um, in crunch time,
(45:56):
I have, I personally have faith in Jimmy in those situations.
I think that you'll see a lot of you know,
basic pick and roll with him and bam spread the floor. Um,
you'll see a lot of Kyle Lowry bam, pick and roll,
spread the floor. Uh. And I just I guess like
(46:16):
the question for me that, um, like, I I love
their theoretical closing five that really hasn't played a second.
They have played a second, but not a lot of
time this season, which is Jimmy Bam, Kyle p J
and Tyler hero Yeah, they like that. You went very
little together and it basically hasn't played. Yeah, they played
(46:39):
like they blew a couple of leads against the Jazz ironically,
so they're their lineup stats are really skewed by those.
But yes, you're right, it's barely played. And I, you know,
I like that lineup. I think that lineup is really potent,
can be potent. I want to see it, and I
think that there's con siderable or maybe I could say
(47:01):
I like, I I think that the wary about um
Tyler Heroes defense because of what we saw in the
playoffs in two thousand twenties a little overblown. I think
he'll be fine. Um, he'll be targeted maybe, but Lowry
is on the floor now, BAM's better, Jimmy's Jimmy p J.
(47:22):
Tucker was not on the team in two thousand twenty, etcetera. Like,
I just think there's a lot of you can insulate him,
insulate one poor defender and be fine, and he'll make
up for it on the offensive end with everything he
provides there. So I just I want to see that lineup.
I think that that is kind of like a trump
card for them, and I'm not worried about them in
(47:44):
the playoffs. I think that they just they're so smart
in getting through the regular season how they do because
they have the best coaching basketball and they're so plug
and play. But when it comes down to it, like
they have enough talent um. And maybe I'm totally wrong here,
and maybe you're right. You you watch more Heat basketball
(48:05):
than I do, but I have faith in Jimmy. I
think last year in the playoffs was kind of a
fluke um. Yeah, last year was kind of nuts. It's just, man,
it's interesting. I don't want to turn this into the
last half of the show entirely the Heat talk. I
just want to say I'm so ready for the playoffs
in the East, specifically because just of how close the
(48:29):
top six teams are to each other. I really, I'm
really really excited, uh for the playoffs. You know, usually
you'd be lucky to get you know, last year, we're
all looking forward to Brooklyn and Milwaukee, and we're lucky
we got it, and the playoffs were good. But the
intrigue this year in the East. I can't remember being
like this ever you know, for the last twenty years,
(48:51):
and some of them having this many good teams. So man,
I'm just really excited to see a play out. I'm
I'm ready, I'm ready. I wish we could fast forward
to it. You're ready? Um, do you have any other
Miami Heat thoughts. I'm contemplating ending the show right now
after that because I'm so stunned. We have a couple
other questions, but they're so like, they're so evergreen, and
(49:12):
I might want to hold them because I just my
brain is so frazzled right now. You really were not
expecting that. Huh No, that kind of came out of nowhere.
I wasn't ready to talk about the heat. They've been
on my mind, of course, because I am going to
watch that game tonight, I think, or at least the
first half, and hopefully it'll be a blowout, but it
won't becaus the Celtic stinct. Listen, Like I said, this
(49:34):
is the kind of game Boston should win easily. You
know what I mean? Please stop saying please, just stop
saying that. I don't like hearing it. I yeah, man,
they just it's they've they've been a strange team. You
mentioned that that closing five. I do think that's that's
the lineup they're going to have to win with. Like
you said, it hasn't played much. You just look at
(49:57):
other teams around the league, the real contenders in my opinion,
like every team has that one lineup that's like twelve
fourteen net rating. They don't play it all the time,
but they go to it when they when it's crunch time,
when they need to win, when they need to pull
it out. The great teams have that lineup. The Heat
(50:17):
are expecting that five to be their lineup, but they
haven't proven it to be that yet. The wild card
in all of this and there's just I have truly
not a single idea what to expect is Victor Oladipo.
Because if he's like seventy five percent of All Star
Oladipo and you can close with him, that to me
(50:42):
that that is really a huge wild card for their season.
We have no idea when he's gonna be back. Let alone,
you know what he's gonna look like on the floor.
But yeah, I just I'm a little They've been so
reliant on threes, uh, in a way that specifically corner threes,
which are harder to generate in the playoffs exactly, And yeah,
(51:05):
it's just gonna be it's gonna be very interesting. And
I do think that last year's series against the Bucks.
Not to get into bubble talk or whatever, but I
think there were more kind of last year's playoffs just
had stranger results I thought than the bubble frankly um
or you know, last season I think was I just
(51:28):
had so many more variables in it than the ones before.
It was, like, you know, the bubble is one big variable,
but last year was players returning from COVID and empty
arenas or full arenas and blah blah whatever. We don't
need to litigate that. But my point is, as much
as I am not necessarily worried about how that first
round series against the Bucks went, there's something we said
(51:50):
about the way they defended Jimmy, the way they defended Bam,
basically daring them to shoot from the mid range, and
the heat frankly not able to capitalize. What's to say,
teams of success guarding the heat like that again in
the playoffs this year, and I do think Bam has
not necessarily taken that offensive step we've expected him to take. Uh,
(52:12):
so once again, I'm I'm I'm shell shocked, and I've decided,
as you were speaking, that we're going to have to
end today's episode on that note. I think it's mostly
because you're hungry. I think that's why we're ending the episode.
I think it is more to do. I'm not I'm
not gonna lie. I am. My stomach is growling right now. Um,
but I do think that everything you said, you know,
(52:34):
having Kyle Lowry pushed the pace, having um older better here,
Like Tyler Hero was just not good last season. He
was very disappointing. This year, He's potentially gonna win six
Men of the Year. Um. Dugan Robinson's coming around hitting threes.
You have PJ. Tucker knocking down every single Coiner three
takes and just providing that tenaciousness on defense that you need. Um.
(52:56):
Maybe Mark Keith Morris will um bless us with his
presence at some point. What a strange situation. Can I
give you my top three Nancy Meyers movies? Sure you may.
I'm going with It's complicated number one. Something's got to
give number two and uh the holiday number three? Okay
(53:22):
another okay, I was also not expecting this. I was
not prepared. I really wish I was. It's complicated, is
um ste Martin Meryl Streep. Yeah, that's that's a good one.
I do like that. Now you have me like on IMDb,
(53:43):
try to just scramble right. Yeah. Um, there's a there's
a scene and it's complicated with Meryl streepers uh rolling
out croissanto and then she hangs it from her chin
like she has like a wizard beard. Like where else
is Meryl? Where else you gonna get the god Meryl
Streep just engaging in high drinks like that one. People
(54:05):
come to this podcast and look what they get. It's
truly a miracle. We're miracle workers. You're a miracle worker.
Thank you so much, Rohan Um for everything that you
do Goo Celtics tonight. Good luck to you, Um, thank you, Shelby,
thank you to our listeners. Um. Everybody, please keep the
emails coming. They've been so good. We have like a
(54:27):
few that we're supposed to get to today that we
will hit soon that are just so terrific. So please
add to that list at open floor mail at gmail
dot com. That's Open floor Mail at gmail dot com. Everybody,
please stay safe. Everybody please continue to enjoy the NBA season.
Who WHOA thank you,
What's up, open floor Globe. I'm your host, Michael to
pod Pina, and I'm joined on the other line by
my good friends Sports Illustrated staff writer Rohan not Rohan.
Tonight is a big event in our relationship. The Miami
Heat and the Boston Celtics are scheduled to play a
basketball game, and as someone who takes the high road,
(00:22):
winner lose, I wish you luck, but I also know
if the Heat lose, there will either be a litany
of excuses, or you'll tell me you were busy watching
Game six of Eastern Conference Finals on YouTube, or you
didn't have time to watch because you were deep into
a Nancy Myers romcom with your dog. So I just
want to give you an opportunity to get everything all
out of your system right now before we officially start
(00:45):
today's show. Well, first of all, Mike is referencing him
texting the other night quote unquote, taking the high road,
trying to talk crash about the Heats triple overtime watch
to the Raptors, a night on which in fact I
was watching It's Complicated with my dog Boba. And pretty
soon I will be releasing my official Nancy Myers rankings
(01:08):
on Twitter, so stay tuned to that. Beyond that, I mean, listen,
the Heat first place in the East. They're playing with
house money. You know, if they win, it's because of
the culture. If they lose, it's because they're missing Jimmy
Kyle and p J. Tucker. I don't see how that's
even remotely controversial for a team to be losing six
(01:30):
of its starting lineup um and expected to win on
the road. I mean, let me put it this way,
this is the kind of game the Celtics should win
easily that you know, you're at home, You're playing against
a team that's playing its third game, uh in four nights.
Let this this is the kind of game the Celtics
(01:50):
should win by double digits. That's all I'm gonna say.
I know, but I just want to say, have you
watched the bus and Celtics play basketball this season? There's
no game him that the Boston Celtics should win. That
just doesn't exist anymore. I don't know, this is this
is all I'm saying is this is the kind of
game the Celtics should win easily. So that's I agree.
(02:12):
I also think you know the Heat your short selling
everyone else on the Miami Heat. Your heat culture, Uh
posse like they get up for everything except I will say, um,
Eric Bolster, who's a borderline Coach of the Year like
front Runner right now, just an incredible shop by him.
Yet again, calling time out right before it gave Vincent's
(02:33):
three was so epic and legendary and like the worst
time even even like my my parents were like watching
that game with like a friend's house something that came home.
Could you believe the time out? And I guess there
were some people I didn't think that was a big deal.
I mean even in the moment, like I wasn't upset.
I don't know, there's like there was two little time
(02:56):
if it was like he gets the rebound and there's
eight seconds after the clock at it. Uh you know
he pulls down that rebound with like three or four
seconds left. I think it's in fact, like that was
a good time out. I mean it was unfortunately hit
a crazy shot. I do think a bunch of guys
have kind of let up on that play. So I
don't know I saw people being upset about that, But
to me, that was like, I don't know, every spell
(03:19):
likes to let him play in most situations, I thought
it was the right call to take a time out there.
It surprised me because I was watching it on mute
um in a hotel down in Florida, of all places,
and so I couldn't hear, like I didn't know that
the play was stopped. I thought the game ended, and
I was like, oh my god. And then eventually get
caught up to me that yeah, I mean, you're really
(03:39):
just you're really bearing the lead here, which is that
you were in Florida but couldn't send your podcast co
host a text, just couldn't give me a heads up
that we were separated by only three miles instead of
literal opposite coast of the country. But you know, I guess,
I guess this podcast relationship means more to me than
it does to you. And that's mine. That's okay. I
(04:02):
sent you first of all, I sent you it. We
don't need to go too deeply into this on the show.
But I did send you a text of me inside
of Publix. But that's and then I said, like, where
are you, Like there's a few states that have publics
in them. And then I even gave you I even
like tried to convince you to order a public sub
and you didn't do that either, So I didn't even
know what the point of this trip was, if you
(04:23):
were going to see me or eat above sub. I
I just I don't understand it. It's it's just you know,
life's of mystery, Rohan. That's that's all it is. You
gotta go with the flow. And speaking of going with
the flow, we're gonna have to move on to today's show,
where we have some incredible emails to get to. And
before we do, a quick reminder to keep the your
(04:45):
questions coming to open floor mail at gmail dot com.
That's open floor mail at gmail dot com. Um okay, Rohan.
So before we dive into the mail back, I wanted
to have a quick conversation with you about the All
Star starters, and in particular one All Star starter, Maple
Jordan's Mr Andrew Wiggins, who was named to his very
first team when the starters were announced last Thursday night.
(05:07):
I know that we've had a few days to digest
this news. Everyone has um but we haven't had a
chance really to address it on the show. And I
think that there are a few fascinating questions to ask
that are connected to All Star itself. Um, I know
neither of us had Wiggins as a starter, or I
don't think either of us had him on. UM I
(05:27):
know I didn't have him on my Western Conference team.
I don't think you did either, and we talked about
him in our last episode, but I don't think you
did either. Um. Just I'm curious what was your reaction
to Wiggins getting the nod? Do you think this is
a dessert? Do you think this is deserved and you're
you're fine with it? Or is it closer to a
travesty that should have us completely rethink how these teams
(05:50):
are selected in the first place. I don't think it's
a travesty. I mean, I certainly don't think you should
be a starter. You know, we we talked about this
on the last part. I think we both realistically liked
de Jont Murray over him instead of what ended up happening.
It's you know, the fan voting is also gotten to
a point where it's not just about fan voting. It's like, oh,
(06:14):
which celebrity did you have tweet out? Yeah? His name?
It was like a K pop star or something, right. Um, So,
like I said, you, I know that more people care
about All Star stuff that I do. At the end
of the day, it's not a really big deal to me.
(06:35):
At the same time, in a situation like this, I'm
sure Andrew Wiggins is happy, but that one, you know,
I'm sure on some level he's also like does he
does he feel like it's earned to be a starter?
I'm curious how he feels about it, um deep down,
(06:56):
So I wouldn't say, you know, I stopped short of saying,
certainly that it's a trap was ty or that I'm
upset about it, etcetera. But yeah, I'm no. I mean,
I'm I'm I'm being fresh when I say travesty. Obviously
it's not a travesty. It's just an All Star selection.
I will say that when I saw his his you know,
(07:18):
his face, his body image flash across the screen when
they were announcing the starters and d n t I
like I did. My My initial reaction was I thought
it was a joke, like that's I'm not even gonna
I'm not gonna like lie about that. I was like,
I was completely expecting. I was a completely expecting Rudy
Gobert first and foremost, and then like cat maybe like
(07:41):
I voted for cat I thought he had a possible chance. Draymond.
They were just like, I don't know, I knew that
Wiggins was way up there in the fan vote. I
assumed that players would not vote for him. I assumed
that media members, like there were media members actually who
voted for Andrew Wiggins, and like, look like I think
(08:01):
this kind of brings me to like my my next question,
which is just kind of a bigger picture one about
All Star selection in the first place, which you touched
upon right now, it's fifty fans for starters. It's fifty fans,
media players, and then coaches picked the reserves. Now I
know that you you previously addressed this, but as someone
who lives and dies by who does and doesn't make
(08:23):
the All Star team, like, what changes, what changes would
you make to this system if any after Andrew Wiggins
is suddenly starting because of what we just what we
just saw here, I just don't know that you can
make changes. I mean, they tried to make changes, and
I think for the most part, the right guys make
(08:44):
the team. I think I don't think there's been since
they switched to the current system. There are no egregious
snubs that come to mind, at least for me, someone
who doesn't care that much, but you know, no one
comes to mind is like, oh, this guy, I believe
you made it this year. You know, there are certain
players frankly who I like when they're in the All
(09:05):
Star Game and if they're not having a quote unquote
all Star season or getting it on name recognition, etcetera.
But short of taking some of the vote out of
the fans hands, uh, which I think is just kind
of goes against the spirit of the what the enterprise is.
I don't know what changes you want to make, and
(09:26):
I understand why people are like sick of the idea
of we should make it all media. Um, I think
the real players need to vote, honestly, like the players
take it seriously. I don't think the players need to vote,
or or just they need to remove the importance of
the All Star Game entirely as it relates to contracts
(09:49):
or maybe even you know, Hall of Fame whatever. I mean,
not that I think it's ever been the biggest deal,
but perhaps the more important things to remove the importance
of it from these other measuring sticks that we use
or or other indicators, you know, and I think that
would make it easier when someone maybe gets into the
(10:12):
game that people are a little bit dubious about, so
that that would I think that I think is a
better fix is let's just stop talking about All Stars
when it comes to Hall of Fame cases or contracts, etcetera.
Mm hmm, yeah, I mean that would be kind of
sad to me. Like I think, like this is why
I don't want the All Star Game, in the All
(10:33):
Star teams to be stretched out to fifteen guys, because like,
it should be an honor, it should be a select few, um,
and that just like brings more gravitas to the actual event.
And I love watching the actual game, even though a
lot of people you know, bitch and moan constantly on
Twitter throughout the four quarters, Like I don't care. I
think it's fun. It's awesome to see these guys throw
(10:54):
lobs to each other and stuff. Um, But if you
were let's just say, like if you were on the
Nick Suns and you are more specifically in the Phoenix
Suns backcourt, and you saw that Andrew Wiggins was starting
um on the All Star team, and you're Chris Paul,
You're Devin Booker, your team is just like basically unbeatable.
(11:15):
Right now, you're winning. We're recording this on a Monday.
You've won ten in a row, you have the best
record in the NBA, You're the best team in the NBA,
and both of you are are way better than Andrew
Wiggins is at basketball. And that just brings me to like,
should we is it time that we like get away
with from get away from positions altogether? Like, is it
is it time because of something like this happening just
(11:38):
as a way to prevent it in the future. That
is an idea that I think I could get behind.
You know, I know that when we were coming up
with our reserves, it was also kind of frustrating to
come up with, oh, we need three front corps, etcetera.
I mean, if we're going to do that, I really
think it's probably time to just do away with both
(12:00):
conferences and positions and just get the best two NBA
players on the floor and let him go at it. Um.
That to me, I like that idea of a fix
um because especially now with the new format, I'm not
the first person to make this point the conference distinction
really doesn't matter or makes sense. Um. You know, it's
(12:23):
not like MLB or whatever. They're even playing under different
rules or something like that. So I could get behind
getting rid of conferences and positions, especially positions, because it's
just an artificial construct that is honestly getting more and
more irrelevant today's game, you know, each passing season. Well,
(12:43):
and I gotta be honest, I expected a little bit
more um disgruntled mints out of few about Wiggins making
the team, But you seem like, okay with it, You're fine.
I know that they all star. I know I'll star.
Isn't like your your b all end all, but I
mean it also has like it's also just like it
(13:04):
is what it is. It's done. It's a done deal,
like and there's nothing to do about it. Um, you know,
the fans did what they had to do to get
him and as a starter, and that's that. Like, I
am I going to argue against the will of the people,
you know, Mike, or are you gonna be one of
those people that's questioning, uh, the validity of elections? Um? No,
(13:27):
it all serious. It's a it's a bummer. But then
you're also like, there's only a there's a limit to
which I'm willing to go because Andrew Wiggins didn't do
anything wrong. And I'm not gonna don't want to put
down Andrew Wiggins because of what is ultimately an imperfect
system and there's no great solution for it. And I'm
not gonna trash Andrew wiggins game. He's obviously had a
(13:48):
nice season. Um yeah, it's uh, it just to me,
it's like, Wow, there's just nothing to gain to be
upset about at this point. I think we could uh
definitely talk about fixes, and I think what you mentioned
is good. But the bigger thing is I, you know,
I don't want to I don't want to dump on Wiggins,
who's you know, to some degree, being put in a
(14:11):
little bit of a stransmisation. But you know that that's
kind of the reason for my I guess, uh, you know,
lack of passion about the topic. But you know, I
just think that it's also a little bit frustrating because
the power has been in the NBA's hands to a
degree to kind of stop these things from happening, right
(14:31):
Like they could go position list, they could go conference
lists whatever. For whatever reason, they're married to tradition when
it comes to the All Star Game, but are willing
to do all kinds of stuff when it comes to
the regular season, so that the dissonance there is a
little strange to me. But yeah, I just look at
you know, I guess ultimately the NBA is like, this
(14:53):
is a a quote unquote small price to pay for,
you know, maintaining the normalcy of our game or whatever
it may be. Yeah, I think that there's obviously the
fear if you go position list that you know, someone
like Jared Allen would have a zero point zero percent
chance of ever making it, and this year he has
a pretty strong case because like front court players have
(15:16):
to make it. Um But I don't know, I feel
like if you if you changed a little bit of
you know, the the voting process and who gets to pick,
and it wasn't just K pop fans that, um like,
have some faith in people who are actually watching the
games and who understand that Jared Allen is very good
(15:38):
and and deserving of an All Star appearance this season.
So what if I'm like, I'm for what if you
What if you let the fans vote, but the media
comes up with the list of players who are eligible?
Oh wow, interesting? Did you just think about that? All
(15:59):
by your self, Rohan, it's possible every now and then,
I'm good for a hashtag. Whop I do you know?
I like that idea. We're gonna have to um revisit
it in the future. That's brilliant. Um and No, that's
really good um and and shout out to you for
coming up with that off the seat of your pants. Okay,
(16:24):
do you have anything else to say about Andrew Wiggins
or all start? Can we move on because this email,
I'm like chopping at the bit to get to it. Literally,
he's literally rubbing his hands together excitement. Let's hear I
had to get the lotion out. Okay, So, uh, this
email comes in from Alex who rights Hi, Michael Rohan
and Brother Herring. I love how brother Airing is catching
(16:47):
I haven't from him since he spoke to Spike Lee.
He doesn't respond to anything in the group chat anymore. Yeah,
it's big timing us, damn dash. My name is Alex
and I'm from Wichita, Kansas. I have been a longtime
listener and fan. I don't think I have missed an
episode in a couple of years. Shout out to you, Alex.
(17:08):
All I seem to hear from the media is praise
for Joe l Embiid and how he has put the
seventies sixers on his back and is quote leading the
m v P race. I just can't help but ask
a question, why is everyone seemingly pretending that Nicola Yokich
is not doing what he is doing On a nightly basis?
Yokich leads em BEAD in every per thirty six category
(17:31):
aside from turnovers with an almost negligible difference and points.
Not to mention, if you pull up advanced stats, it
is ludicrous how many categories Yoki leads in. I understand
that Yokich is not the quote sexiest player, and from
a marketing standpoint, he probably isn't the best choice to
label as the face of the n b A, but
when you look at the numbers, he is almost undoubtedly
(17:53):
the best player in the world. Not to mention the
fact that the Nuggets have rattled off eight of their
last ten and our sitting in fourth place in the
Western Conference. Why is everyone just ignoring what Yoki is
doing without two of the three best players on his team.
In my eyes, Yoki is running away with m d P.
And I'm not trying to downplay the season and beat
his having it all, but he is simply just not
(18:15):
the better player, all the best alex uh So, I
just want to stay off the top. Like every so
often we get an email here at open floor that
turns me into the the Antonio banderis gift from the
movie Assassins where he's leaning back and exhaling after he
takes a glance at the laptop. Um, that was me
(18:36):
after I read this, because I was born hater. You
were literally this is nothing to do that came out
of the zoom traveled on that lay. This has nothing
to do with that. But I will say that, UM,
I have noticed this. Um, this wave of Joel embiad
(19:00):
is the m v P from certain media members and
the narrative that is forming. And I'm just like, this
is very annoying stuff like he is not. I'm sorry,
Like every time I see um a box score of
em beads that is positive as the reason why he
is the m v per or their team's record or
(19:21):
the on office or anything. I just look over at
Yokich and his his box scores that night was better
his team one by more points. Like it's just I
can get go on and on into it, but like,
what are your thoughts about I'll throw it to you
before I I rattle off even more points about why
this upsets me. But like, what are your thoughts about
the Joe L M B Yokich MVP race and is
(19:43):
it is it a two person race for you or
there's are there more players involved? Well, I will say
in a macro sense, and Bead versus Yoki is truly
one of the great basketball questions of our time. And
I mean that genuinely. I think I brought it up
on this podcast earlier, But don't you want to see
what happened if they switched places for a week, Like
give them each ten games with the others team and
(20:05):
see what happens. That would be a fascinating experience. I
have no idea how it would go. I I do
think it's Listen, I picked your kiss my mid season
m v p Alex. If you're looking for you know,
quote unquote media members or national media guys who are well,
you know, conducting the Yo Kis train, that's me, all right,
We're Crispine and Denzel Washington were unstoppable baby, all right,
(20:28):
that train is rolling down the tracks and uh, I
made my case, he's I believe he's still in the
hundred percentile according to Cleaning Glass and on off differential,
the Nuggets played like one of the best teams in
the NBA when is on the floor, they're one of
the worst teams of the century. When he's off the floor. Um,
(20:50):
he's made a massive impact. At the same time, I
think embiads gaining ground. I don't think there's any how
can you deny that he's at least put himself in
the race. I think it's fair to say Durant's almost
certainly not winning m v P anymore. Steph. Steph is
close to your Ki in terms of impact on off numbers.
There's no doubting what Steph means when he's on the floor.
(21:13):
I believe, I wrote this recently, the threat of his
shot probably means more than whether or not his actual
shots are going in or not. That's how good news
for the Warriors, which is which is terrifying for defenses.
At the same time, I just think that the shooting dip.
I just think it's ultimately gonna hurt Curry in terms
(21:34):
of m v P. So I do think Embied is
in the race. I you make it sound like it's
almost not close. I think it's close, and uh, there's
just a lot of season left. I mean, I had
your kich Is my mid season MVP. But I do
think it's an interesting race right now, and it's to me,
it's just a more so an interesting question of Embeed.
(21:57):
I think, obviously at the moment, is scoring in a
more exciting way, at least, uh the mid range. You
wrote about his mid range last year, Mike, I haven't
looked at the numbers anecdotally, at least, like I just
think he's he's shooting the hell out of the ball
a lot more, a lot better than he was at
the start of the season, and that's helped in terms
(22:17):
of something his scoring uptick. But it's hard to separate
those guys, it really is, because we will never know
what they would do if they trade places. So I
will um. I will admit, of course, the embiid scoring
in in the last fifteen games. I mean he's averaging
(22:38):
thirty four shooting from the floor like that. I mean,
it's nuts, it's nuts, it's insane stuff. And there's a
there's a thing about Himbiid that when you watch him
and this isn't to take anything away from Yogi, who's
obviously incredibly effective as a score and I think for
(22:59):
a long time was had the best effective field goal
percentage in the league, or he was. He's been high
up there all year long, especially in terms of people
who take as many shots a game as he does.
There's just a certain dominance to the way EMBIID play sometimes,
and we don't have to get into Everyone knows how
I feel about whether or not that should trade Simmons,
(23:21):
but I think you can feel like Nuggets fans are
gonna get mad at me for this, even though I
picked Yoki as the m v P and he stole
my m VB. I think you can more incredibly guard
your kich one on one than you can EMBIID. I
just don't think there's anybody in the legal and garden beat.
I don't. So, first of all, that's a that's an
(23:43):
interesting way to to to paint it. I think that
is that is not to say that that's why Embach
should be the m v P, but I think that's
like when you watch him, I think that's why he
gets that maybe extra bump Yoki doesn't get. There's a
there's a brutishness to some of your kich is scoring,
(24:05):
not his overall game that I think people just don't
they don't know what to do. So first of all, Um, like, okay,
I just want to say that I think I'm Beat
is amazing. I think that he would be second if
I had to vote right now. I agree with you
that there is a lot of more basketball to be
(24:25):
played and Beat could easily um shoot ahead if he
continues to average thirty four and twelve announced when he's
on the floor his team is plus eight or whatever
it is, then yeah, there's it's gonna be really different,
especially if the if the Sixers finished with the first
the top seed in the East, he's just gonna win
(24:46):
the award because the Nuggets aren't going to finish in
the top two in the West because of where the
Warriors and the Sons are, and people look at winning.
A lot of voters look at winning and they value
that a lot. Um, I will say it was it's
really interesting for you to bring that point up, that
specific point up about and Bed being unstoppable one on one,
which he is no doubt about it. Um. The Milwaukee
(25:09):
Bucks played the Denver Nuggets last night Sunday night, the
Nuggets wanted a blowout, and after the game, um Janna
sent it to Kompo Andrew Holiday. Both were upset about
Mike Budenholzer's defensive strategy against Yokis because they were showing
help every single time Yokich touched the ball. They would double,
(25:32):
they would shade over, they would pre rotate, and Yokich
was just picking them apart, like that's what he does.
He loves passing, he loves finding open cutters, open shooters.
And the Nuggets shot like from the behind the three
point line and ended up winning by a very large margin,
and Yokis didn't even have to score. And after the game,
(25:53):
be honest, was like, I wish that we guarded this
guy straight up one on one. And the reason that
they didn't is because Yokich would obliterate Bobby Portis one
on one, like he would score fifty five points if
that's the defensive strategy, and Thenuggets still would have won
by probably a lot of points. So I get, like,
(26:13):
I get what you're saying about Embiid and him being unstoppable,
and I just like, and I don't think you're discrediting
Yokich but Yokich is truly unstoppable in the post and
in a in a different type of way viscerally and esthetically. Yes, yes,
that's the that's a good way to put it. They're
both unstoppable. I think Embiid just somehow does it in
(26:37):
a way that that resonates more with people like I
think that we as a society are we live in
a society that is still quite not ready to know
what to do with Nicolo kit. It's true if we don't. Yeah,
I'm just talking even just from like a pure if
you take skill out of it, just like a pure
(26:58):
size thing. I think that is when somehow that at
least tricks people into thinking, let's stick to one guy
on Yoki, But who do you think it's better? Who
do who? Do you think? It's just as like to me,
it's not even that it's not that that hard to answer,
but I think it's hard because but here's what I'd say.
(27:22):
Yokich has been really good defending the rim this season,
although I still think it has more to do with
his like verticality and body placement. What I still think
in a vacuum embat Is has a significant advantage on defensively, um,
(27:44):
I think that they they. I think Embeat is a
better defender, a more feared defender. I think that the
way Yoki is asked to defend in Denver system is
a lot different, for sure. I also think that embeed
um he doesn't really bring it on every possession, And
I'm not saying Yogi does because he doesn't. But and
(28:05):
be like, there's plays where like and Beat and Beat
is usually dropping right and sometimes he gets out there
and he moves his feet really fast, and in those instances,
you're like, this guy should win every single defensive Player
of the Year award, um. But when he's in deep drop,
it's just like I know what the strategy is, and
I know that the numbers say that they do force
(28:26):
a lot more mid rain shots and they do uh
deter shots at the rim, etcetera. But like in certain matchups,
sometimes like a guard coming off a screen will just
hit like three straight jumpers in a row, and you're
just like, mb, can you kind of do something? And
that's a little frustrating when you watch them play. But
(28:47):
like I like, I hear you. I think it Beat
is a better defender. I think what really frustrates me though.
Is even going back to last year when Yokich one,
the whole argument was like UM and Beat would have
one had he played more games, And now we're seeing
that the games are you know, Yo Kich has played
(29:08):
forty four and Beat has played thirty eight. And Beat
is also not playing tonight against the Memphis Grizzlies because
of scheduled rest, which is very frustrating because the Grizzlies
are like the best, one of the best teams, and
I would love to see that matchup. I would just
like to say Yo Kich played every single game last
season coming out of the bubble. Yeah, wild, yeah, incredible
(29:30):
feed truly one of the greatest feats of this decade. Yes,
So I mean real quick, I just wanna and I
said I would go back to this, but you you
mentioned the on offs, and I want to sit on
this question for a while because I it's really been
bothering me. As you can tell, um. But Yo Kich,
as you said, he leads the league and on off
(29:51):
differential plus twenty two point to the next highest is
George Hill at plus eighteen point three. Joel Embiid ranks
twenty one at plus ten point eight. Steph Curry is
eleven a plus twelve point six. Yokich just plus twenty
(30:12):
two point too. Like like it's just it's it is,
I know, on office and everything, and if you want
to go through every other statistical like measurement, we can
and Yokich will be better. But like that right there,
to me is like it's called most valuable Players. Yeah,
that's what it's called. That's how I convinced Harring when
we were doing our mid season awards pod. You throw
(30:35):
out that number, and I mean it. I meant it genuinely.
They have They have a net rating with Yokich on
the floor that would be I believe the best in
the NBA. I mean, obviously the Warriors, I have a
great net rating when Steph is on the floor. You know,
there's reasons for that, etcetera. But they play like the
Sun's or the Warriors when Yokich is on the floor,
(30:56):
and they are truly one of the worst teams of
the millennium when Yokich isn't playing. It's that stark of
a difference. But I mean in terms of who's a
better player, man, I really really really struggle with that one.
I say that it's like soon know, I genuinely believe
(31:17):
has been one of the biggest Yokas cheerleaders in the
media for the last three or four years. That's that
is still a tough one for me, and I'm not
gonna I'm gonna one on one. Number one number that
is really interesting to me is two point field goal percentage.
Because we talk about embed being unstoppable. He should be.
(31:39):
I know, he takes a lot of mid range jumpers
and that's part of his game. He doesn't need to
do that. He could post up on every possession if
he wanted. UM, but his two point percentage this season
is fifty two point eight, which is whatever. Like a
lot of his efficiency comes from the free throw lot
and drawing fouls getting making free throws. He's a really
good free throw shooter. UM fifty two point on two
point um shots. Uh, Yokich is sixty three point seven
(32:03):
on two point shots. And it's not like like he
takes thirteen point two per game and b takes fifteen
point four. So like that that this discrepancy right there
and just one stat And again I could go to
so many different statistics, but that right there is just
another sign of just a big man who like gets
(32:24):
to his spots and makes his shots and is truly unstoppable.
And the number one separator for me is passing. And
the one of the narratives that comes up here is
like embeat is the point guard he played. He's playing
point guard for the sixers. This is incredible. And yeah,
his playmaking is for sure improved, no doubt about it.
(32:44):
Um some of the plays he makes ever, ever, ever,
ever ever Betaker Now, Um, that's so right there. That's
just another humongous differentiator. And one guy really makes everyone
around him look like a legitimate All star, and the
other guy not that he is. Um, not that he
(33:07):
doesn't do that for certain teammates. For sure, I think
he makes his teammates better, as all superstars do, but
not to the level that Yokich does. And lastly, before
we move on, I want to just mention the standings
as I did earlier. Um denver is I believe? Okay?
So I said that they were they were fourth before.
They're actually fifth as of right now, but had the
(33:28):
same amount of losses as the Utah Jazz. By the way,
get better, Joe Ingles, this is like the worst that's
some of the worst news of all time. Injury in
the contract here can we talk about man, we were
our power rankings. Uh, sorry to derail this because our
our power rankings come out on Mondays and we vote.
We vote as his staff Utah sliding. Man. Believe the
(33:52):
five in a row, four in a row, now, um,
two and eight in their last ten. I believe you stuff.
I mean, they they don't have good they don't go there,
and they don't have Donovan Mitchell. It's not but I
mean it just sounds silly, but it's just gonna be.
The brackets in both conferences gonna be interesting. The East,
I sent you this text. I don remember if it
(34:13):
was last night, but the seating in the East is
going to lead to some really crazy stuff. I mean,
those top six teams are separated so so closely. I
think there's a two game difference between Yeah, Brooklyn is
a sixth seed right now, which some team is going
to end up with the one seed and is going
(34:34):
to regret it because they're going to get Brooklyn or
Milwaukee in the second round or something insane and be like,
you know, how did this happen? Yeah, the seating the
seatings are crazy real quick. I just want to finish
my point and then we get to touch back on
that if you want. But so Denver is twenty eight
and twenty one and Philly is thirty and nineteen. So
(34:58):
Philadelphia is two up in a lot in the lost column,
and I just like, don't even like when we talk
about again, like if Philadelphia finishes first, which is possible,
they could, but Denver could also have the same record
and be like fourth or third or whatever in the West.
And so I don't know. I just think it's really dumb.
I think yog, which is um an easy choices the
(35:21):
m v P and there are a few um like
NBA dot COM's official MVP ladder that Michael Ray does
an excellent job on. I think Yogi is still number
one there, so shout out to him and shout out
to uh that placement. But like I do, just I
like this email from Alex because it was addressing something
(35:42):
that was on my mind that I actually wanted to
talk about, and um it was timely and so wonderful
and I think I spent I hope I didn't spend
too much time. No, I think listening on about it
We're with you, man. We don't let me put it
this way, and beads not a shoeing for m v P. Uh.
There's a lot of season left, but we will be
(36:03):
We will certainly be pushing the Yokich narrative as long
as we're hosting this podcast, unless unless something changes. But
for now, I think we both have as r m VP.
I know Marcus Smart just playing with glass in his hand.
He's like plus a hundred in the last three games. UM,
we'll see what happens tonight. Okay, let's uh. Let's move
(36:23):
on to this email from Jonathan, which you'll really love.
Rohan and I also loved it. Jonathan writes, Hey, Michael, Chris,
Rohan and Shelby love the pod. My question is if
you take the best player off of each NBA team,
who wins the finals and why is it the Miami Heat? UH?
(36:44):
From Jonathan, who says, PS need more Shelby. I agree,
Shelby is the greatest. We need more Shelby. Shelby doesn't
want to be our friend, though, so we can do
about it. Okay, So, uh, Jonathan is clearly in favor
of the Miami Heat as the winner of UH. This
(37:07):
of the finals. If you removed first of all, who's
the best players, it's Jimmy right team. Okay, yeah, you
know what, Like I tried to overthink this, I think
Miami is the answer. Like, I'm not gonna get to complicated.
I mean, they've been so terrific regardless of who's on
(37:28):
the floor. They you know, that team would have Kyle
lowryod at Bam bam at a bio. They would have
um three point shooting Tyler Hero off the bench. Maybe
he starts. It's just they're ridiculously loaded basketball team that
might win the NBA Championship. Um. I have a few
other teams though, that I wanted to shout out that
I think could be interesting. And this was actually a
(37:49):
really difficult exercise because I started plucking like best players
off of teams and I was like, oh, that team
snaks now. Um, the Toronto Raptors. First of all, I'm
not even I think Fred VanVleet. I think I think
it's Van Valleet. And then it's like, Okay, there have
been really bad when VanVleet has not been on the
floor and they can't win. But I look at the
names and the players and I'm okay, it's still like Pascal, Yeah,
(38:14):
so I like them. Um, I'm always just gonna ride
or die with the Clippers. And for this exercise, like
we're taking with the team, so it's still we're assuming
we have healthy Paul George like, yeah, let's ride like
that's they're very good. I love them. Um, I think
the Clippers are my favorite for this exercise. Oh over
(38:37):
the heat? Can I I don't want to step on
the question, but let me know when I can give
my official Miami Heat take for the season. Do you
want to just give it right now? If you have
more teams you want to name, you should name those teams. Okay,
this is gonna be like a forty five minute die trip. Okay. Um,
(39:00):
you know here's the kind of a sleeper pick. Uh,
the Atlanta Hawks. You take Trey Young off the team.
I loved vibes. I love camera get trade back. I
love Trey Young. I think he's great. Um. I this
(39:20):
roster is just so deep, like and you you look
at Oneko kung Wu. The other night in the game
against the Lakers, we have like six dunks in the
fourth quarter. Can we discuss how well my nineteen redraft
take of DeAndre Hunter has aged when I took him,
I think third or fourth in that draft. Sure, like
(39:43):
I love to got on your hunt. Yes, yes you're talking.
You're preaching the choir here. Love him. Uh, the Hawks
are a good pick. I like DeAndre a lot, like
John Collins a lot. It's weird that it sounds like
John Collins back on the trade block like forever there.
I mean, they've one seven in a row now. Shout
out to Kyle Gun the struggling Hanks. Poor guy. Sorry,
(40:06):
sorry guy. But so maybe they do end up standing Pat.
I don't know. They're in a weird position because it
looked like they were ready to blow it up. Now
they're playing well enough that do you believe in the stretch.
I don't know. I don't envy Travish Slank. That's a
tough decision for he's gonna have to make because I
still don't know the chemistry on that team still does
(40:27):
not seem to be the best. Okay, one more team
and then you can talk about the heat. Okay, thank
you the Phoenix Suns. And do you think so? I
was gonna ask, I don't know who we take off?
Is it is it Booker, is it? Is it? If
they take off Booker, I think they can still win.
(40:48):
If they take off Chris Paul. I do not think
they can. So if you take off, if you take
off Chris Paul, and I granted, if they put you
at center and Chris Paul was in the I know
you would get eight and six. You would pick up
eight points and six boards and I would miss my
first I would miss my first layup, and then I
(41:08):
would get a text at halftime that was like your
family has been kidnapped. It would be from Chris Paul
and he'd be staring at Man. He'd be like, we
haven't been out of your family's hopes. Um, Look, you
know in this exercise, we're gonna be removing obviously the
best players from every team. So I do think if
(41:29):
you had a camp, if you had campaign, Booker, Bridges,
Crowder eight and like that is that's tough? You know
you're not buying it. Listen, We've seen the Suns without
Chris Paul and they were a nice bubble story. But
I don't know, Man, give me, give me the point,
God give me CP three. Are they need him? They
(41:50):
need him? I like their chances and that's what to say.
Bookers not become an outstanding player, and he was. He's
unfortunately gonna have one of those forgotten finals because he
was great in that aries. But I think Chris Paul
is their most impactful players still, and I think that
they'd have a better chance without Booker than they would
without Paul. Okay, so you like the Sons then for this,
(42:11):
for this exercise, that was a good pick. You like that? Well,
if we take if we take book if we take
Booker off, then yes, but I don't think he's their
best players. My point fair enough. Okay, So I'll let
you now talk about the heat. I hope all of
this is irrelevant by tomorrow. Well no, Chris, here's the thing, Listen,
they have been one of the more interesting stories in
(42:33):
the league. There first in the conferences. With this recording,
They've won a ton of games. About their best guys,
Kyle Larry, it looked like just when bam Adebayo was
coming back after missing all that time with the torn thumb.
It looks like they're finally enough Kyle, Jimmy and bam together.
They still have not played together since the end of November.
They've only played four teen games together, It's like, Okay,
(42:54):
they're gonna hit the ground running. Let's see what they got.
Lowry is now miss time due to personal reasons. He's
still away from the team. Me Butler's out tonight. I
think there was the conventional wisdom about the team headed
into the season was they're gonna be just kind of
get through the regular season and they're gonna be a
tough out in the playoffs just because of their defense,
(43:15):
they're coaching, etcetera. I'm a little worried they've become the
regular season smoking mirrors team. That's my take. Why do
you think that they rely a lot on three point
shooting from guys like gave Vincent, Max Struss, Hero Robinson,
(43:38):
And we've seen those types of teams to an extent
mitigated a little bit in the playoffs. Um, whether it's
seems like the Jazz or the Clippers, and that that's
kind of when they need their stars to step up.
And this all comes down to Jimmy Butler, who I
think for parts of the season early start of the season,
(43:59):
was playing like one of the best players in the league.
But I just think they're late game half court offense.
I do not know how it's going to hold up
in a playoff series. And you look at all the
other great teams in the East, whether it's Janice with
the Bucks with the Honest, the Sixers with them Bead
the Nets with Durant and Harden, or Irving. I just
(44:25):
am nervous that the Heat don't have a half court
scorer who's gonna be able to get them over the
hump in the playoffs. So that's my official Miami Heat take. Yeah,
I know it's a little bit surprised. Yeah, but I
I'm a little bit worried that they're the Smoking Mirrors
regular season team, and you look a lot of the
games they've won without Jimmy, Kyle, etcetera. They've just had
(44:46):
insane three point shooting, which is a credit to those guys.
They've made the shots. Um. I also think they're in
a weird position. I think Jimmy Butler, they're they're positive
with Jimmy Butler on the floor, but I think they've
been even better with him off the floor of this year. Uh,
that might have changed up until recently, but that was
true through like the end of December, which is it
(45:07):
goes to show how crazy their offense was in that
stretch when he wasn't playing. So, yeah, that's just my
that's me throwing a little hesitation on the heat. But
they're they're late game offense, which I think is the
most kind of analogous to what a half court offense
looks like in the playoffs. I'm a little bit worried
about them being able to score in those situations. So
(45:31):
Miami's crunch time offense, do you know where it ranks?
It's got to be close to the bottom, if not
dead last. It is tweven right behind the Detroit Pistons,
which uh, is there a full point per one possessions
worse than the Detroit Pistons on offense? Um, in crunch time,
(45:56):
I have, I personally have faith in Jimmy in those situations.
I think that you'll see a lot of you know,
basic pick and roll with him and bam spread the floor. Um,
you'll see a lot of Kyle Lowry bam, pick and roll,
spread the floor. Uh. And I just I guess like
(46:16):
the question for me that, um, like, I I love
their theoretical closing five that really hasn't played a second.
They have played a second, but not a lot of
time this season, which is Jimmy Bam, Kyle p J
and Tyler hero Yeah, they like that. You went very
little together and it basically hasn't played. Yeah, they played
(46:39):
like they blew a couple of leads against the Jazz ironically,
so they're their lineup stats are really skewed by those.
But yes, you're right, it's barely played. And I, you know,
I like that lineup. I think that lineup is really potent,
can be potent. I want to see it, and I
think that there's con siderable or maybe I could say
(47:01):
I like, I I think that the wary about um
Tyler Heroes defense because of what we saw in the
playoffs in two thousand twenties a little overblown. I think
he'll be fine. Um, he'll be targeted maybe, but Lowry
is on the floor now, BAM's better, Jimmy's Jimmy p J.
(47:22):
Tucker was not on the team in two thousand twenty, etcetera. Like,
I just think there's a lot of you can insulate him,
insulate one poor defender and be fine, and he'll make
up for it on the offensive end with everything he
provides there. So I just I want to see that lineup.
I think that that is kind of like a trump
card for them, and I'm not worried about them in
(47:44):
the playoffs. I think that they just they're so smart
in getting through the regular season how they do because
they have the best coaching basketball and they're so plug
and play. But when it comes down to it, like
they have enough talent um. And maybe I'm totally wrong here,
and maybe you're right. You you watch more Heat basketball
(48:05):
than I do, but I have faith in Jimmy. I
think last year in the playoffs was kind of a
fluke um. Yeah, last year was kind of nuts. It's just, man,
it's interesting. I don't want to turn this into the
last half of the show entirely the Heat talk. I
just want to say I'm so ready for the playoffs
in the East, specifically because just of how close the
(48:29):
top six teams are to each other. I really, I'm
really really excited, uh for the playoffs. You know, usually
you'd be lucky to get you know, last year, we're
all looking forward to Brooklyn and Milwaukee, and we're lucky
we got it, and the playoffs were good. But the
intrigue this year in the East. I can't remember being
like this ever you know, for the last twenty years,
(48:51):
and some of them having this many good teams. So man,
I'm just really excited to see a play out. I'm
I'm ready, I'm ready. I wish we could fast forward
to it. You're ready? Um, do you have any other
Miami Heat thoughts. I'm contemplating ending the show right now
after that because I'm so stunned. We have a couple
other questions, but they're so like, they're so evergreen, and
(49:12):
I might want to hold them because I just my
brain is so frazzled right now. You really were not
expecting that. Huh No, that kind of came out of nowhere.
I wasn't ready to talk about the heat. They've been
on my mind, of course, because I am going to
watch that game tonight, I think, or at least the
first half, and hopefully it'll be a blowout, but it
won't becaus the Celtic stinct. Listen, Like I said, this
(49:34):
is the kind of game Boston should win easily. You
know what I mean? Please stop saying please, just stop
saying that. I don't like hearing it. I yeah, man,
they just it's they've they've been a strange team. You
mentioned that that closing five. I do think that's that's
the lineup they're going to have to win with. Like
you said, it hasn't played much. You just look at
(49:57):
other teams around the league, the real contenders in my opinion,
like every team has that one lineup that's like twelve
fourteen net rating. They don't play it all the time,
but they go to it when they when it's crunch time,
when they need to win, when they need to pull
it out. The great teams have that lineup. The Heat
(50:17):
are expecting that five to be their lineup, but they
haven't proven it to be that yet. The wild card
in all of this and there's just I have truly
not a single idea what to expect is Victor Oladipo.
Because if he's like seventy five percent of All Star
Oladipo and you can close with him, that to me
(50:42):
that that is really a huge wild card for their season.
We have no idea when he's gonna be back. Let alone,
you know what he's gonna look like on the floor.
But yeah, I just I'm a little They've been so
reliant on threes, uh, in a way that specifically corner threes,
which are harder to generate in the playoffs exactly, And yeah,
(51:05):
it's just gonna be it's gonna be very interesting. And
I do think that last year's series against the Bucks.
Not to get into bubble talk or whatever, but I
think there were more kind of last year's playoffs just
had stranger results I thought than the bubble frankly um
or you know, last season I think was I just
(51:28):
had so many more variables in it than the ones before.
It was, like, you know, the bubble is one big variable,
but last year was players returning from COVID and empty
arenas or full arenas and blah blah whatever. We don't
need to litigate that. But my point is, as much
as I am not necessarily worried about how that first
round series against the Bucks went, there's something we said
(51:50):
about the way they defended Jimmy, the way they defended Bam,
basically daring them to shoot from the mid range, and
the heat frankly not able to capitalize. What's to say,
teams of success guarding the heat like that again in
the playoffs this year, and I do think Bam has
not necessarily taken that offensive step we've expected him to take. Uh,
(52:12):
so once again, I'm I'm I'm shell shocked, and I've decided,
as you were speaking, that we're going to have to
end today's episode on that note. I think it's mostly
because you're hungry. I think that's why we're ending the episode.
I think it is more to do. I'm not I'm
not gonna lie. I am. My stomach is growling right now. Um,
but I do think that everything you said, you know,
(52:34):
having Kyle Lowry pushed the pace, having um older better here,
Like Tyler Hero was just not good last season. He
was very disappointing. This year, He's potentially gonna win six
Men of the Year. Um. Dugan Robinson's coming around hitting threes.
You have PJ. Tucker knocking down every single Coiner three
takes and just providing that tenaciousness on defense that you need. Um.
(52:56):
Maybe Mark Keith Morris will um bless us with his
presence at some point. What a strange situation. Can I
give you my top three Nancy Meyers movies? Sure you may.
I'm going with It's complicated number one. Something's got to
give number two and uh the holiday number three? Okay
(53:22):
another okay, I was also not expecting this. I was
not prepared. I really wish I was. It's complicated, is
um ste Martin Meryl Streep. Yeah, that's that's a good one.
I do like that. Now you have me like on IMDb,
(53:43):
try to just scramble right. Yeah. Um, there's a there's
a scene and it's complicated with Meryl streepers uh rolling
out croissanto and then she hangs it from her chin
like she has like a wizard beard. Like where else
is Meryl? Where else you gonna get the god Meryl
Streep just engaging in high drinks like that one. People
(54:05):
come to this podcast and look what they get. It's
truly a miracle. We're miracle workers. You're a miracle worker.
Thank you so much, Rohan Um for everything that you
do Goo Celtics tonight. Good luck to you, Um, thank you, Shelby,
thank you to our listeners. Um. Everybody, please keep the
emails coming. They've been so good. We have like a
(54:27):
few that we're supposed to get to today that we
will hit soon that are just so terrific. So please
add to that list at open floor mail at gmail
dot com. That's Open floor Mail at gmail dot com. Everybody,
please stay safe. Everybody please continue to enjoy the NBA season.
Who WHOA thank you,
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