Previewing the Final Stretch of the Season

On today’s show, Rohan and Chris preview the final quarter of the NBA season. They run through their thoughts on the Warriors and Stephen Curry, the Clippers deciding to sign Russell Westbrook, Nikola Jokic’s MVP case, if anyone can compete with Boston and Milwaukee in the East, and much more! 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome back to another episode of Open Floor. I'm Rohan
not Gurney, joined today by my good friend, Sports Illustrated
senior writer New York Times best selling author. This is
a super fan, Chris Herrings. Back on the show. Chris,

(00:23):
it's been a little while since we've spoken, my man.
How are you so sorry? Man? I'm mostly mad at
how I gave you information thirteen seconds ago about something
related to this and now I'm as is a super
fan and I wasn't even the one that went to
the concert, my girl, and the podcast game is a

(00:44):
dirty one. I've been watching. I've been watching Succession finally,
so I'm all about making power plays. I'm all about
making power plays. Well now that like people from sports
and pop culture websites aren't tweeting about it every day,
I find it. I find it easier to watch without
all the discourse. It's funny you say that, because I

(01:06):
think I just saw a tweet that said that this
next season might be the last one, which, if we're
keeping it a buck, it probably needs to be. I
love the show, but it probably still needs to be
the last season. Like so, I'm back from vacation. Thank
you to the patience of all of our listeners. I
know we've been on a weird schedule here for the
last couple weeks, and I'm sure you guys have seen

(01:28):
maybe some of the news going on. SI. It's we're
all just we're all day to day right now. I
was on vacation, I had two very long flights, and
I knocked out a ton of Succession episodes. I'm in
the middle of the season three and I just want,
you know, my dad agrees. I told my dad I'm
finally watching, and he's like, they're dragging it out. So yes,

(01:50):
a lot of my shows that I really really like
Billions started to feel that way after they got rid
of a key character, Like a lot of these shows
just need to be over. And even if I liked them,
I can say that it makes me feel better about
the fact that even good things should come to an end.
And you can feel when something stalling and it's like
this is stalling a little bit. Yea. So, speaking of

(02:13):
good things that need to come to an end, Chris,
do we want to briefly touch on the NBA All
Star Game or no, No, dudes have come to a
complete end. I mean, I you know what like it's
rare I do this. You're on our podcast. I don't
need to send you somewhere else to listen to other stuff.
But aminel Hassan had a great take on Lebotard the

(02:33):
other day, it might have been yesterday where he just
was like, Yo, we're talking about who was it? Was
it Shay Gil just Axanda is like, Yo, money talks,
you know, like if you pay more, the players more,
and you know, yeah, I know we're incentivizing through charities.
The players don't get a cut of that, which sounds
so selfish by the way, like I'm all four charities,

(02:54):
but like the players shouldn't need pay as motivation, and
Amine brought up a very good point from that standpoint
where he said, when these guys are out there playing
really hard in games at the Drew and getting hurt
in some cases hurt, Yeah, they're not being paid to
do that. They picked teams right before they roll the
ball out. Those are unannounced beforehand, like in some cases

(03:19):
those aren't, you know, so like what why do we
need to pay people? Like why does it need to be?
Why are people so cool about this when they work
their asses off when they're playing and games at the
drew for instance, like games that arch street games. I
think he's right, and I just don't know what more
you can really do to incentivize it. Like, if you're
going to play it the way they just played it,
you might as well be playing flag football, which is

(03:41):
what the NFL has done. And it seems to be
adding a new kind of interest in it because they're
kind of waiving the white flag of like this is
not hardcore super competitive. If that's not what it is,
then say that. And you know, but this was layup
lines left and right, and you know, I know that
you always are happy to have an Antiposta agenda. It's
not that for me. But it kind of felt so

(04:04):
lame that Tatum breaks the record for All Stars scoring
and it's like, I mean, he was on fire from three,
so credit where it's due, but like there's so many
uncontested leaves like Pascal Siakam. If you watched the first
half of that game, Pascal Siakam had like eighteen points
just on like layups where no one was there. People
would move out of his way to let him have
a layup, and it's just like this is lame. So

(04:26):
and then also it was like with the elim ending,
I feel like this is the first year we've seen
the elimending not work really, where the one team was
so far ahead that by the time the team that
was behind got three or four stops in a row,
it could have made a game of it. It was
too late because the other team only needed one basket. Yeah,
and you know all they had to really stop doing
with shooting half court shots to get the one basket.

(04:48):
So it just felt lame. And you know, if you
have to ask the question whether someone saved a dunk contest,
it's ultimately still probably not that good. And you know, listen,
it's the All Star weekend and you have a guy
who's played zero minutes winning the dunk contest this year,
the snow shape of mcmclong. Good for him, But either

(05:11):
make the dunk contest we found the five best dunkers
from all over the world on YouTube, Instagram, whatever, or
get stars in it or canceled it. The actual game
was terrible. It was one of the worst I've ever seen,
And like, someone in the league has got to take charge,
and I mean that amongst the players, because I feel
like one player tried it opens the door for the

(05:33):
next guy to try. But everyone's trying to play it
too cool. Everyone's trying to you know, nobody wants to
be the guy who's playing too hard. And people keep
coming up with fixes when this never This wasn't a
problem fifteen years ago, This wasn't a problem twenty years ago,
because the players play. And that's a great point that
I mean has about you know, I bet Lebron's I'm
not even joking. I bet Lebron James's Space Jim pickup games.

(05:57):
We're more competitive than this, perhaps, and they just it's
just it's just no one they think people. It's like
people like it's not cool to try during the All
Star Game. I don't get it. And another thing people
say is this is for the kids. This is not
for us. When I was a kid, I loved the
All Star Game because the game mattered a little bit.

(06:19):
The players tried. Um, you know, twenty years ago, I
remember Michael Jordan's last game that was beautiful. Yeah. Uh,
the two thousand and seven I remember about this. The
skills competition field in two thousand and seven was Lebron James,
Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant, and Chris Paul. That was what

(06:41):
I got to see as a kid, Not like I
didn't know that five of them did the Skills Challenged
combined in their career, let alone right here. Instead, instead,
it's like a Tenta kompo nepotism. Yeah yeah, I mean
but between that and I think Amen pointed that out.
What he said is that you have guys that are

(07:02):
fringed or like related to somebody in that competition year
after year after year, and so they have a team
on to Cumbo for that, you know, because of that.
And then you have Mac McClung. It's like you have
people that basically aren't really truly part of the league,
certainly not in an All Star context, but they're like

(07:23):
really really heavily involved in these challenges or these you
know events, um and frankly, they make it more enjoyable
to watch because they're either good at what they do
or they're trying really hard. The Skills Challenge sometimes looks
like it is very much like, oh, I'm kind of
too cool to be here. Nobody dribbles as fast as
they can. It's it's it's a little bit disappointing and

(07:46):
on the same wavelength, like I respected that Jannis Um.
You know that he showed up for the sake do
you remember. I don't know if you saw this part
right before it started and as they were drafting, I
think Ernie Johnson asked him like, yeah, honestly, you got
an injury very own and like are you gonna play?
And he's like, you know, like whatever I can do,
I'm gonna do. People pay money for this. So he

(08:08):
suited up for like the first play and then sat
the bench the rest of the game. And it's like,
couldn't you have sat out for good and just let
somebody else be in an All Star at that point?
We have these ridiculous crunches every year where there's always
a couple of more guys that deserve it. I didn't
quite understand that. I don't know, like I said, we

(08:29):
shouldn't even talk about the All Star Game, but it
was it was not good this year. It was very
evident that it wasn't good this year. And it is
a problem that you have to work this hard to
get people to care about something that you know used
to be like that. I hate being this guy. Someone
posted the Twitter clip of Kobe and Stefan Marbury went
back and forth going at it, you know several years

(08:51):
ago where Kobe's hitting tough jumper after tough jumper and
Steph is coming down and taking three after three. But
they're well contested for the most part. In the final
score of that game, and going in the last minute,
that game was something like one oh nine to one
oh eight or one oh seven. It's like it was
within the realm of scores you could actually see in
a real NBA game. These games always in one hundred

(09:12):
and eighty five, two hundred and seventy six, and it's
just like that's with them bricking shot after shot shot
for portions of the game. Is they're trying to shoot
half court threes to end the game with Dame and
everybody else. So it frustrating. Isn't even really the word,
Like can you imagine paying money for like you and
I can get go to those games as a reporter,

(09:33):
can you imagine paying money for a ticket to go
watch them play and not try like at that level?
Or I think thousands of thousands of dollars for ticket
could be me terrible, terrible people, Like it's for kids.
I'm sure kids loved the forty two minute halftime show
like that half time show was fired though that was
the only good thing about the list. I would I

(09:54):
would have watched Thames for forty two minutes. They could
have gotten all all the way off. Another just a
miserable decision by the NBA to to keep them involved.
God the draft took toong. We just listen, We're gonna
get into our second half preview here. We got a

(10:14):
rambling episode, Swenson. I can just feel them typing already
at least you're talking about basketball. But go watch Bowmonti
Jones on Karl Malone on Twitter. Um, that's all you
need to know. We'll leave it at that for right now.
But Chris, let's get into our makeshift. It's not even

(10:36):
the second half preview, you know, it's the more of
the final quarter of the season. Here. We're deep into
this season. You I thought you astutely wrote in The
Playmaker this week that most of the big questions in
the league happened to be out West. So we're gonna
We're gonna run through some second half questions here. I'm

(10:57):
gonna make, you know, sprinkle some of my own sala
on your questions and and uh yeah, and um, well
we'll look at the league that way. We'll touch on
the East just a tiny bit as well. Let me
actually start with the Golden State Warriors. You wrote you

(11:20):
know about which star do you think will come back first?
We have some big stars missing. It was funny reading
through your newsletter this Chris Week leading through your new
sort of this week Chris rather how many teams are
waiting for Carl Towns, Like, remember Carl Anthony Towns gone.
He's been gone for forty games? Is it h thirty games?

(11:43):
He's been gone for a huge chunk of the season.
You mentioned Maxie Cleverer and Dallas. That's a big one.
We got a lot of big names listening. But I
want to start with the Golden State Warriors because you
wrote about how they're waiting for Steph to return. I
think it's going to be next eight to ten days
or so. But have we given the Warriors front office

(12:07):
a past this season? Because I feel like early in
the year we hammered the Lakers front office even at
the trade deadline. I was like, yeah, whatever, and they're
cutting off a title. Now. Granted, Steph once again injuries
has been a little in an that lineup, but he

(12:29):
started the year, putting up numbers close to his MVP season.
How is this team hovering around five hundred? Like, shouldn't
this be more of an embarrassment? Um, Yeah, it's interesting
to think about. I remember having a pretty long argument

(12:49):
with my best friend, whom I don't think I've said
this on this spot before, but like, n I'm not
your best friend. You are not my best friend. Unfortunately,
I rock with you. You're talking about sprinkling the missala.
I appreciate it. I hope that we develop into much
much better friends. But I've known Marcus is like my

(13:10):
day one. Basically, I've known since I was five. He
just turned thirty. Actually today's his birthday. Shout out to Marcus.
That's why I'm here in Chicago for a few days.
So that's my boy. But he is very very what's
the word. He's very stubborn from a basketball standpoint. He's
not as analytically inclined as I am. Certainly, so we'll
disagree a lot of times. I'm kind of like, I

(13:30):
test versus you know what the numbers say, and he
was like, I think Somebody on Bleach Report blogged about
the fact that an ESPN model had the Warriors at
basically forty one and forty one or like the eighth seed.
I think I don't even know what the record was,
but they had him in the eight seed. And Marcus
is like, this is ridiculous. This is why the numbers
are overrated, and like they can't tell you as much

(13:52):
as you actually need to know. They just I was like, well, Marcus,
that's actually like wide numbers are there is because there's
stuff that we assume based on what we see that like,
you know, we saw the way the Warriors just won
this title, so we think that they're like infallible now.
And I said, like, you know, did you read the blog,
Like what did it say, like what was it leaning on?

(14:14):
Whose model was it using? And he's like, oh, it's
like someone named Kevin Pelton. I'm like, Kevin's really smart.
Doesn't mean his models infallible. And Kevin didn't even agree
with what his model spit out. He's like, I'm sure
the Warriors will be better than that. But I said,
you know, I just like, look, I agree with you
that I don't think the Warriors are gonna struggle to

(14:34):
make the playoffs, but I would also say Kevin's smart
and if something is that off with the way we
view it versus what the model says, there's probably some
validity to it, and it would be interesting. Like I
imagine some of it will have to do with injuries,
which lo and behold, Steff has missed a lot of time,
But I told him, like, there might be out something
else that were missing. And that's the whole point of models,
is that they kind of point out things that we

(14:55):
don't see with our own eyes. So lo and behold
now the thing that a lot of us miss because
we probably are willing to give Bob Meyers to benefit
the doubt their ownership, a little bit of benefit of
the doubt. Their bench wasn't ready to play. They've talked
for years about this whole two tracks, this two tiered system.
You have your vets who you know you want to
ride onto more championships, and then you've got like the

(15:17):
younger generation that is supposed to lead you after that.
They really wanted to be the Spurs all of a sudden,
and it's like, well, yeah, but the Spurs had guys
that had enough talent and enough skill because they were
sprinkled into the lineup to do that. And the truth
was that statistically, you know, I think the model that
Pelton had basically showed that, like there's no bench experience here.

(15:40):
Experience normally matters a lot to winning a championship, particularly
off your bench. They have none. They have almost none
to speak of, and make matters worse like a lot
of their youngest talent regrets. To start the season, they
were horrible, certainly Wiseman getting back into the lineup, but
also Kamingo was rough to start the year. So those

(16:00):
were gonna be two of the guys who really leaned
on They weren't particularly good, and so should they be better?
Like should we be getting on them more? If Step
missed time, you could have told me anything about this
team and I would have believed you. I think that's
the key. And quite frankly, they performed better with Step
missed this last stretch of time that I ever thought
they would. They could be in a worse spot than

(16:22):
what they are, to be honest with you, but their
bench guys started to put it together a little bit more.
They finally just removed Wiseman from the lineup instead of
letting him continue to hurt the lineups with net raining.
So they should be fortunate to be where they are
given how much time Steph has missed. Given that Clay
was rough to start the year, we all had a
lot of questions about him. Charles Barkley is talking about
him to where he responds, you know, they're fortunate to

(16:44):
be in the spot there in and that's saying something. Yeah,
their ninth right behind New Orleans in Minnesota, who both
have injury consumes of their own. I just mentioned carl Towns.
You mentioned Zion in your newsletter. He's who knows when
he's gonna be back. My brother texted me a few
months ago and he was like, we aren't we talking

(17:07):
about job over Zion Moore is kind of like a
oh no, you know, big regret, And I was like,
I was like, let's let the season play out. Zion's
been incredible when he plays. Yeah, And my brother just
texts me after like every Zion injury update and he's like,
I'm telling you, man, Ron, maybe you and I could
be best friends because me and you have the same

(17:30):
view on that. And my best friend Marcus, he's gonna
love being shouted out this much. She's gonna love it,
especially on his birthday. He he me him and one
of our other very close friends named Nick have had
this group text where every time jaw Like had a
big game and Zion was sitting out, he'd be like, Yo,
I'm telling you, I would rather have Jow to build

(17:51):
a team around. I'm telling you. And he's been beating
that drum since. I would say, like the middle of
the rookie year for the two of them, and continue
to look better and better because Zion hasn't able to
stay healthy. When he has, he's been a superstar, but yeah,
it's never been long lasting. So this is a good
year for that agenda and Marcus. Marcus would take the
place of the person you're talking about, and you you

(18:13):
it sounds like you and me are on the same
page with that, But it's getting harder to deny that
with every additional Zion injury. For sure, man and you
mentioned it, but they looked so good even when Ingram
was out and Zion was healthy. Then they lost both
of them and they had this massive slide. But I
think they'll stabilize a bit with at least Ingram back

(18:34):
in the lineup. Which is all to say, there's no
guarantee Golden State gets out of the plan, which is
just crazy to think about. They traded Wiseman for Gary Peyton.
We don't know when GP two is going to come back.
He had this whole saga with the physical, his core injury.
They're still lingering pain. He may be out until closer

(18:54):
to the playoffs. Clay has been fantastic, Like he's been
looking like Clay for the last few weeks, I think
over the last month. Even so, that's been a positive development,
at least on the offensive end, plays putting up really
good numbers. I just think it's it's shocking that a

(19:15):
team built around Steph Curry didn't seem to take this
season more seriously and it means a massive, massive disappointment
that they're not a title contender. And maybe you still
feel that way. I think, I to be honest, if
they got the Nuggets in the first round, I'd still

(19:35):
be really nervous if I were Denver because of what stuff.
Due to their defense, there's no question, there's no question.
I mean, I'm curious to see how some of the
decisions they made. I thought that Reggie Jackson picked I
didn't get to it in my newsletter. The Reggie Jackson
picked up for Denver, I think is huge. I liked
it a lot. Yeah, I really liked it. I thought

(19:55):
it was one of the least talked about good moves
for any team during the deadline because that had been
a position that frankly hurt them. They gave up Monty
Morris to get Contavious called up Pope, and you know,
called up Pope fills a real role for them. He's
been fantastic. It's not to say he hasn't, but backup
point guard is a big role for this team and

(20:18):
kind of speaks to whether or not you could have
a good bench lineup or not unless you're playing Jamal
Murray with them. So I like that move for them
a lot. But still would I be surprised if Golden
State took out Denver. Now, you know, if they're both
playing at full strength, if Steph is back, if the
shots are going down for Golden State from three, and

(20:40):
it extends Denver's defense further, it's still a really difficult series. Now,
it would be difficult for, you know, on some level,
for Golden State to consaane Joker. Draymond talked about how
much of an MVP Yokis was last year, and I
love that, by the way, elite guys being able to

(21:01):
give each other credit. Um, and you know, I think
Draymond is one of the more respected guys in the league,
despite how despised he It's kind of about a lot
of fans, uh, you know, people realize that he's extremely skilled,
he's extremely smart. I love that he could kind of
give Yoki his props when it seems like a lot
of other guys seem to kind of question it or
call it out, by the way as we talk about

(21:21):
the All Star Game, or kind of piot away from
that conversation, the fact that a Joker pretty much begged
Lebron to take him so that he wouldn't be Did
you see Joker said after after that he didn't realize
Lowry was still on stage. Oh, I didn't see it.
I believe him when he says that it was like
I thought I was the last pick already. I didn't

(21:42):
see Lowry the Oh well, I mean he's the last pick.
You don't have to beg nobody at that point because
there's no other choice. But it, I mean, it was
kind of funny because I you know, without that context, uh,
it still tells you a little bit about how I
don't know, maybe not. Maybe you just look at the
All Struck game as being guard waging dominated. But you know,
there's a weird there's a weird Joker sentiment among some players,

(22:05):
and I think some players have a ton of respect
for him. I think the players who actually have to
guard him, like Keaton, I think eight. I think even
in BEAD, I think Draymond, they all give him props
in a way that I think some guys just don't
really realize. Yeah, which so it was I say all
that to say Golden State would have their hands full too.
I mean that was they had their hands full with

(22:26):
just Joker last year. Now you're adding Murray Porter into
that conversation, a better rotation of guys. With KCP, we
were just talking about Reggie Jackson. It's it's a different team.
I like the decision to move on from Bones Highland.
I just didn't really see enough defense there, and it's

(22:46):
like the guy, at some point, we'll have to earn
more money and I don't see. I think they need
someone that is a little bit more experienced than him,
that isn't looking for his shot quite as much as
Bones as So, you know it would be an interesting
I kind of hope that matchup happens at some point.
I also think if the Nuggets play them tighter, has
the ability to you know, maybe people have wondered, like, man,

(23:08):
how could yok should be the MVP twice? NERO? If
he this this and this with this playoff result, that
would be a pretty even handed series. I feel like,
particularly if the Warriors come in as an eight or
nine or ten or whatever they would be. There's two
ways we can go with this. Do you want to
talk about the Nuggets or Clippers? Next? Clippers? Clippers? Clippers?
Let's okay, because they played a little bit of the

(23:29):
Nuggets and Clippers lay a little point guard swap here.
He believe we had a show called wife Swap. I'm sorry, man,
oh man, good lord. Um. Anyway, let's let's talk about

(23:51):
the Clippers because they get Bones Highland from the Nuggets
because they're desperate four point guard. And just in case
you thought they weren't that desperate for a point guard,
they then go and sign Russell Westbrook. Yeah, you mentioned,
I didn't. I did not. I did not realize it

(24:12):
was so stark. I knew the Clippers. I had not
had a great record against good teams, and part of that,
you know, if you go through him, sure you can
look through every game, was Kawhi playing, etc. But they've
not been very good against top competition. They signed Westbrook,
and not only do they sign Westbrook, they're like, we

(24:32):
want Russ to bee Russ. We're gonna put the ball
in his hands. Westbrook is like, I feel wanted. What
did you make of all that? Um My first thought was, damn,
this dude is moving from one locker room to the other,
and how can you see how can you not see

(24:57):
that just across town, not across that same marina, just
different locker room, that he took a title contender. And
granted it wasn't just him, but I think more than anything,
it was him, salary wise, replacing the guys that they
needed to really round out the rust of that team
to make them title contenders, and that seemingly kind of
single handedly his roster spot, his salary number kind of

(25:19):
just took that and tore it down. That was the
first thing I thought. My second thought though, is this,
and like shout out to nikais Duncan and other people
that have kind of voices, because I think it's the
right approach for all the feelings that Russ has had
the last few years. There's at least a chance this
can work. I do I think it will. No, No,

(25:41):
do I think it will. Know and I think you
could probably tell by the tone of what I wrote
in the newsletter that I don't think it will. I
do think there's something to be said for the fact that,
like the problem with Russ with the Lakers is exactly
what I just said. Russ's number was necessary at the
time because Russ was, you know, at one point when
he said that contract was still kind of in demand,

(26:01):
not even kind of in demand, was still in demand
that you know, So his salary isn't a problem for
the Clippers. Now you can argue about giving him a
certain level of a role, but it's not a salary
question anymore, which really made it inconvenient and like untenable
for the Lakers at the time, where you know, there

(26:23):
are reason they were talking about waiving him, trading him whatever.
But with the Clippers, like they do need a point guard,
I don't think the type of point guard I would
go out and look for as Russ. I'll be honest
with you, a big part of me looks at it
and says, like, man, Reggie Jackson would have been just fine. Um,
you know, he has a strange the way he fell
out of the rotation there. I mean, he was so

(26:44):
good for them in the playoffs right in the last
couple of years. It just playing there, he like he
literally kind of thanks them for reviving his career. He
had the corrective I think lay six surgery or whatever
it was. He was a dead eye sho at one point. Yeah. Um,
you know I understand John while not working out. I
think it was always a little bit of a long shot,

(27:06):
just because his injury history is efficiency and stuff like that. Um,
but I just don't russ if you can get him
to play a certain way shore. But how long have
we been saying that for. I also think that for
a team like to me and this is this will
be one of those like mind blowing experiences if he
was truly on the block, I think the Clippers could

(27:29):
have done really well with having Chris Paul And that
sounds wild. He's wait, we saw how much better he was.
Our fans upset with him for leaving the Clippers when
he did. I don't know how like what the relationship
is like there, I think the I think it was
fine with the fans. I think organizationally, there was some

(27:51):
kind of weird I don't know if friction is even
the right word, but there it felt like there was
a lingering thing between him, Doc and Blake, and you
know you saw Blake go after Doc recently. So I
don't know if that it would extend up to the
front office, which has had some new faces come in
since he's left. But I mean, I think Chrispaul would

(28:14):
be really good on a lot of teams. I just
they just the Clippers. I think when you've got I
think part of the issue the Clippers have had for
the last couple of years it's like Kawahi and Paul
George both handled the ball a lot. They're both capable passers.
You know, they've had high assess totals at times, but
the ball can stagnate a lot too, because like they're
looking for their own shots of Layton games. They played

(28:36):
the Bucks about a week before and they blew that
fourth quarter lead, and watching them try to get shots
in the half court down the stretch, it doesn't it
doesn't make sense when you have Kawhi Leonard and it
feels like you can't get a good half court shot off.
And and that's what happened when they were in the
series with Denver where they you know, it just went

(28:56):
down the tubes on them and they lost because they
had a three one series that lead, right or whatever
it was. Yeah, um, they just You've got two guys
that are good ball handlers, but not every play ball handlers,
and also like guys that are more prone, certainly Kauhai
to look for his own shot. And as a result
of it, you had those two shoot oh for nine
or whatever it was in the fourth quarter at that

(29:17):
last game. Get somebody that is going to be committed
to moving the ball, and then that guide to me
isn't necessarily Russ. Russ is gonna look for his own
shot plenty. He's not particularly accurate from certain spots, certainly
not from three. So to me, like getting a point guard,
I also thought, you know, he's on a table setting
point guard like Chris falls soon needs the ball in

(29:40):
his hands, would he'll pass right. Mike Conley is another
guy that was kind of on the trade market that
that kind of strikes me the same way of like, uh,
you know, I thought that would have been good for
the Lakers as well. I think the Lakers, by the way,
we'll get to them. But like I thought, the Lakers
had a really nice deadline. I just wish that they
would have pulled the trigger a lot sooner in terms
of getting some but getting guys that too little to see.

(30:04):
I think they're still capable. Like if you look at
the standings, everybody's bunched up within two or three years,
I don't think it. Again, I don't think it's likely,
but you know, I would have loved have seen the
Clippers gotten someone that was a little bit less kneeding
of the ball, you know, as far as shooting it.
And for the Lakers, I tend to think it's a
little bit late, but we've seen crazier things happen. If

(30:24):
if they're healthy, if Lebron and eighty are healthy, I
think now you've got the anchor, and by anchor, I
mean just something that weighs stuff down off the roster
and russ way stuff down from a spacing standpoint. You know,
the questions and the constant questions about fit have to
take a toll at some point. So now that they've
just got a roster that seems to kind of make sense.

(30:47):
Some guys that can shoot. Bamba, there, you got Beasley.
It's just a team that makes a little bit more sense.
I'm curious to see what happens. I just can't believe
they signed, right. I can't believe it. And I brought
it up in the context of them playing good teams.

(31:08):
Their playoff opponents would love if they put Westbrook on
the floor. Love if they put Westbrook on the floor,
because now you're bringing doubles at Kawhi, now you're bringing
doubles at Paul George. I'm gonna look because he even
shot like I think he shot forty from the field,
and the playoffs the last I don't even know if
he has though it's like probably close. He struggled so

(31:30):
badly in playoff series, just because it's so clear you're
gonna leave him open. I can remember back to a
couple of years agoing in his cancer just ignored him
and uh and Russ was like, Okay, I'm gonna shoot it,
and it just was not close. And I say this
as someone who genuinely I didn't mind Russ winning winning MVP. Frankly,

(31:50):
I wanted him to win MVP. It was fun. I
know that some people think it's basically ruined the awards
since Um, it's just I don't see how he works anymore.
Shelby waiting out is then Ennis cantor currently Ennis Freedom.

(32:15):
As a side note, I'm looking at Russ's number so
UM playoffs in twenty twenty one. He shot thirty three percent.
You know, Western Conference semis with Houston forty two percent,
forty one percent the series before that, but thirty six
percent in the first round Oklahoma City lost to Portland

(32:37):
where Dame hit that crazy shot over Paul George. Looks
like thirty nine point eight percent the year before that,
thirty eight point eight percent the year before that, Western
Conference Finals, thirty nine point five, thirty seven point six.
Like do you see where I'm going with this? Like,
I just don't even if he works for you now,

(32:59):
which would be why wonderful if he does via the Clippers.
He's just not a good enough jump shooter. And if
you're shooting those percentages, you couldn't be a good enough
finisher at the basket either to be shooting sub forties.
Most of these this is like the last five six years,
it's it's not a pattern anymore. It's just like it's
the way it is. And you know, I wrote a
piece shortly after I got to Sports Illustrated about the

(33:21):
way these players age and how much faster they're aging.
I used Blake Griffin is the cover of it, but
Russell Westbrook was mentioned in the story just about like
you can look at how often these guys are dunking
traditionally until their dunk percentage when it falls off, that
their athleticism is really starting to wane. And you know,
combine that with the way they finished at the basket,

(33:43):
you can tell which guys are just losing their legs.
And Blake obviously was one of them. Russ was the
other one where it's just becoming abundantly clear that it
was happening, and you know, it's it's not lost on anybody.
So I as much as we talk about him, I
hope that one this is not his last year. But
if it's, you know, I don't think it will be.

(34:03):
But I hope that he has a graceful like send off,
that it's not this conversation every time. And I feel
like by playing with contenders and playing for the money
that he's playing for that's generally what it turns into.
So I do think that just that part of it,
maybe having so that pressure removed by being a guy
that is just you know, he was a buyout guy
and because of that, maybe this isn't as much pressure

(34:26):
on him. But it does feel like a little bit
because that a lot of people pick the Clippers is
the finals favorites. So we'll see. We'll just have to see.
But I'm not feeling great about it. Is your kids,
your MVP today. I think he has to be man
like I. You know, I was in the gym when
you see the Bucks record. I think I'm coming around

(34:48):
to MVP. But go ahead, Okay, I understand that thinking.
I do struggle a little bit with it. And I've
always said this, if I have a buyers my BUYO
is that certainly for most improved, but I think even
for MVP, it's kind of like my question is like,
what are you doing at a completely different level than

(35:08):
you did last year? And Yannis his efficiency numbers have
kind of tumbles. He's pretty much as bad as he's
ever been from three. I think that's also true of
from the line, so he I mean, he's been incredible
from two, which is what he always is. He's been
incredible on defense. Still, he's one of the best room

(35:29):
protectors in the league. He obviously is not just a
room protector. He's averaging more points than he's ever averaged before,
and he's done it without having the guy that most
people consider to be like the most traditional wing scorer
they have in Middleton. Middleton either hasn't played or when
he's played up until lately, was not good. So that

(35:51):
takes a lot out of Yannis to have to do
all that. You know, the guys had weeks where he's
averaging forty forty five points a game. He's been incredible.
It is I just kind of to your point, we're
shooting percentage in five years and most turnovers of his career.
It's hard for me to call that an MVP like norm.
I'm used to seeing these guys play their best and
be deserving of MVP, and I think Yokich is the

(36:14):
only guy you can kind of say that for now.
I think, as always with Yannie, if he's losing an
MVP to Yoki, Yokis has to be pulling his own
weight defensively. He hasn't looked great all the time. Denver
has not looked great all the time. We've questioned sometimes
how much of that is scheme. There have been times where,
you know, Yokich has been kind of dominated by some
of the other guys in this race, and Bed had

(36:36):
a forty seven and eighteen game on him. So, you know,
I struggle with it a little bit from that standpoint,
just like how it looks Yannis has been really dominant
this year, and bead has been dominant, and Bebe was
leading the league in scoring until very recently. Yannis is
not far off that either. My thing, though, is that
Yokis has just been so efficient, Like I think I saw.

(36:57):
It's not he's he's shooting. There's this guy shooting for
here sixty three. He's efficient from everywhere. I mean, it's
like basically anywhere the guy shoots from the corners, the wing,
inside the arc, outside the arc, at the basket, he's
just you know, you look at a shot, start shots,
art is just green everywhere. Um, he's assisting, like the

(37:20):
Nuggets are shooting like sixty some percent off his passes
this year, Like he's not possessing the ball that much.
I think he's probably barely in the top thirty or
top forty and possession for time time of possession per game.
But he's assisting ten guys ten assists the game. Um,
I he's averaging a triple double. And the difference between

(37:43):
he and Westbrook is I don't get the impression stat padding.
I don't know how he would. He doesn't have the
ball in his hands more than anybody else. H Murray
has the ball more than he does, so it's like
he's not even possessing the ball the whole time. He's
also not playing these entire games because he oftentimes you
know they're winning by so much, he's got a triple
double already, they pull him early. He's been the best

(38:06):
version of himself, and I kind of feel like that's
generally what I trend toward. As far as who does
this award belong to. I can't really consider Embed for
how much more I can consider him, but I can't
really say he deserves it when Yokich is responsible for
so many more points over the course of the game,
and Embed for how good he's been defensively, he's not

(38:26):
been great, which I kind of feel like is normally
his opportunity to overtake Yokich. I don't think he's been
great defensively. I think he's been better lately. He was
slow to start the year. I'm still open minded about it,
but I you know, my thought is that if Yoki
stays healthy, that this is probably his award. Again, not
to mention that Denver is in first place. And then

(38:46):
the reason that Yokich has been more efficient is the
you know, the fact that he's got two other guys
to kind of carry some of the load for him
scoring ones. They've got a nice little cushion in the
West now too. After yeah, five game, exactly right, they're
on top of it. Stay Harry. It was the way

(39:08):
Boston started the year. It looked like they were gonna
be record wise, far and away of some other teams.
And you know, there's some metrics about Boston that you'd
still think they're maybe the best team in the league.
But Nuggets are right there one game behind them. The Bucks, though,
are a half game actually ahead of the Nuggets, which
is another reason why I throw the honest in that conversation.

(39:29):
They won twelve in a row in large part because
they're finally getting healthy. I mean, Chris Middleton only finally
starting to get to his normal minutes load in recent games.
Although we'll see what happens with this, honest wrist injury.
Oh yeah, that sounds so like they haven't really said anything.
They said they'll get back to playing once he's like
feeling better. I'm like, yeah, that's but how do you

(39:50):
you ask me the question? Let me flip it around
on you, like where do you feel like the races
and do you feel like there's anybody that's You mentioned
Janice and he I did that straw pole with Brontemps,
be honest, was number two on my ballot for that.
I had yokih one. Do you feel like it's still
a competitive race or do you kind of feel like
yokich is gonna eventually run away with this. I think

(40:10):
it'll be a competitive race, And the problem is when
you talk about it, you have to. Now it's like,
do you factor in how you think people will vote
because it's in order for you. I don't think there's
a scenarian Yokitch runs away with it, even though you know,
again he was leading that straw pull. I think it's
going to be he's gonna have to The nuggets are

(40:31):
gonna have to really pull away in the West, and
again they've started to do so, but I think they're
also going to pull ahead of Boston in Milwaukee to
a more significant degree for him to run away with it.
I think that there is it's I think I'd pick Yokitch,
but like there's some weird part of me that feels

(40:53):
like I can't say that because of how toxic the
discourse has gotten, and I don't want to be seen
as like a Yokich advanced stats nerd, even though it's
our whole advanced stat I know it's weird about it, though.
Like I've always made a point to follow a lot
of fans from different fan bases, you know, just to
kind of hear what the dialogue is or what people

(41:14):
are talking about. I've seen a lot of people that
I don't know if there's Sixers fans, but like I've
seen a lot of people that certainly think that Yokich
is maybe a little overhyped, but they've been like, Okay, yeah,
now he deserves it. The last two years, people were
tripping like he was not that much better than everybody
else to where he deserved two in a row. You know,

(41:37):
this is the first year in which he's deserved it,
which I've seen some people say that, and it's like
he was still there was still a gap there efficiency
wise between him and everybody else. He was scoring more
the last couple of years because he had to. This
is him really picking his spots and just as efficient
as you could really possibly be. The assist stuff is

(41:57):
just off the charts. I'll be the first one to
say that, like him playing in as many games as
he plays in helps his case. Everybody else gets hurt.
Step is out Ebid has been a lot healthier lately
like the last couple of years, but he still misses
time and has missed time this year I think more

(42:17):
than Yoki has. Yannis is about to miss time unfortunately.
Kevin Durant is a guy that would have been in
the conversation. He's missed time, Lebron, we're talking about a
d having an MVP level season. He missed time. So
it's like at a certain point, when you're that consistently
in the lineup and you're that dominant, you have a
chance to just collect and pile up stats in a
way that nobody else does to that extent. So we'll see.

(42:40):
I don't buy the idea that he didn't deserve it either.
The other two years, you could argue that someone else
maybe deserved a little bit more. But like, if anything,
this year is showing you why he was at the
top of so many people's ballots before. He's doing a
lot of the same stuff, but even more efficiently than
he did it before, and piling up the number is
even great more crazy than he was before. But I

(43:03):
don't know. At this point, I think it's him, Luca.
I think it becomes a more difficult argument for him too,
now that he's got Kyrie, where he's just not going
to be able to run away with stuff statistically anymore.
It will be interesting to see how it shakes out.
He has been fantastic. People know I'm a big Joker fan,

(43:24):
and it's sad to me that the discourse got so
poisoned and people got so kind of annoyed by I
think there's something we said about the cases being made
for Yokicha times felt a little patronizing, a little condescending.
That's something some people can have to own, perhaps myself

(43:47):
included to some extent. But he has been really good,
and one thing I'll push back on is people say, historically,
what does it mean to win three MVPs in a row?
How can we give it to someone? We just have
so much more information available as to us now than
we did twenty years ago. I've said this before, but

(44:07):
just the fact that so many more people have league
pass MVB cases just are a lot different now. The
way we cover the league is a lot different now.
I think there are a lot of factors that go
into something like this. Let's zoom to just the East
for a second. We talked about Milwaukee, I mentioned Boston.

(44:28):
I think it's fair to say those are the clear
cut two best teams in the East. Boston's offense is,
even though it's dipped slightly since the start of the season,
has still just been such a juggernaut the whole year.
They're so tough to stop. Milwaukee's coming along now. I
think the rotations really starting to take shape with Milton there.

(44:51):
I like how Ingles has looked. I think Ingles has
looked and played well for them. I like when he
has the ball in his hands and kind of there's
some of those second units they're getting. Jay Crowder, do
you think you know Phillies in third place? The Cavs
actually have the same number of wins of them. Tell
me how this happens. The Cavaliers have played four more

(45:13):
games than the Sixers four, they have the same number
of wins. Cleveland has four more losses. That does not
make a lot of sense to me. Yeah. I know
that the Heat signed Kevin Love and shot up to
number one in all the sports books for title odds
after that buyout signing. But for a minute, I was

(45:34):
like waiting, always making the joke. Okay, got you do
you think there's a team outside of Boston and Milwaukee
that you think could beat them? Do you do you
think is there a third contender in this conference? Or
do Boston and Milwaukee have it? Let me throw this
team out and just kind of see hot Lands. Um,

(45:55):
Cleveland's gonna be really interesting in this conversation, I think,
do I think that they'll in the conference? No, it's
you know, and I'm working on a story about the
Kings right now about I mean, they're they're kind of
the equivalent in someways. Cleveland I think is in Cleveland's
and fourth by two games, two games behind Philly, and
Sacramento is in third by three games behind. Memphis, and

(46:19):
they're only one game ahead of the Clippers for fourth.
Cleveland has what might be what the easiest schedule left
in the not the easy schedule. They've got the second
easy schedule left in the East. Detroit is the only
team that has an easier schedule left. They're, you know,
the fourth easy schedule in the whole league. Philly has

(46:39):
the toughest schedule left in the league. So from that standpoint,
it's feasible to think between that between the idea that
like Philly is more injury prone with embed with hardened
MAXI missed a lot of time this year. Maybe they
got the injury buck out of their system already because
of that. But it's it's very feasible that Cleveland could

(47:01):
finish on par if not ahead a Philly. If that's
the case, and who's to say that, Like, we don't
know how much time Yannest will miss. Cleveland could finish
second or third. It's a little early, but if that's
the case, Like, and I think this is what makes
Sacramento Essentially, I'm not used to looking at a team
three quarters of the way through the season in third

(47:24):
place and not considering them to be a contender, but
no one's going to consider. Second, I wrote this in
the newsletter. The difference between the Clippers and Sacramento is
that Sacramento had no expectations going into this season, really,
and the Clippers did, and so you know, even hell.

(47:45):
I talked to Monny McNair from the Kings when I
was out there to work on story, and I asked them, like,
is it kind of strange to, like, one, make it
so plain that your real goal, your sole goal here
this year is to make the playoffs. Is it gonna
be a weird hivot to have to jump from saying
that out loud to then being like, as soon as
you get there, now you have to you want to win,

(48:05):
Like it's not just about making the playoffs once you
make it there. And he was like, yeah, you know,
I understand. You mean, like you always get a little
bit greedy once you get a little taste of it.
Cleveland has not made the playoffs without Lebron since the nineties.
They were very close last year, or they did not
quite get there. It seems like they're going to get
there this year. They should and I think it actually
is maybe not likely, but it's pretty close to likely.

(48:28):
That they'll maybe even finish in one of the top
three spots. So I think they're a team that when
you look at them, they've had the best net rating
outside of Boston for the year. They've had the best
defense for a couple months now, despite having Donovan Mitchell
and Darius Garland in their backcourt. You have to take
a team like that seriously, Like they've got as much
scoring threat from the backcourt as anybody. They've got the

(48:50):
best defense in the league statistically, and they've got the
easiest schedule coming up basically of anybody that's going to
make the playoffs in the East? Does that make them
a great team? That's the fact that they can load
up on wins against some of these bad teams. I
don't know, like they don't have any playoff experience of
their own, but Donovan Mitchell obviously brings a lot of
that himself. I'm just curious. I do think you have

(49:12):
to include them in that conversation. I think it'll be shortsighted,
not too Yeah, I mean, second best net rating in
the NBA is very compelling. He brought that up. If
Danny Green has anything left, man that is h you
hate to hit your wagon to a buyout guy. But oh,

(49:35):
Danny Green of five years ago be the exact player
that they need. Oh, that would be perfect for them.
I would love that. I hope he's got something left
because he like, not just as a vet, but just
like a guy that doesn't need shots. It's gonna work hard.
You know, we all know how great a transition defender
he is. He's will you do the dirty work? You

(49:56):
put him in the corner, you have him do that
annoying Danny Green baseline, you know, corner to corner cut. Yeah.
The thing is you don't need him to start, You
don't need him to play thirty minutes a game. But
if you could get twenty two minutes from Danny Green
in the playoffs and he can close games for you,
I don't even know if you need twenty two from him,
like fifteen twenty, I think he'd be said, you know, like,

(50:19):
if you could get that, that's a big thing for
that team that has kind of cycled through that position
all year, right, okoro uh lavert? They had Why am
I blanking on his name? Dean Wade? Yeah, the guy
played some three and four for them, h you know,
so it's a it's a team that's has Lamar. They've

(50:39):
they've got a lot of guys that h them, They've
got Chetty, They've they got a lot of guys. But
he he there's potential there. Like we haven't seen it
from him enough this season. Uh, he's coming back off
a major injury. But if he can give them anything
like they're they've got enough pieces and they've got a
good enough defense to where that's a team it could

(51:00):
surprise people even though they haven't made the playoffs with
this iteration of the team. Yeah, yeah, Acors looked mildly
friskier recently, but I think teams are going to go
Andre Robertson mode on him in the playoffs. Absolutely, make
improve it. You shot twenty six percent through the beginning
of the year, and granted he's been like I think

(51:22):
closer to forty two, forty three whatever it is since then,
but it's still on a shot and a half a
game or whatever. You know, it's like, you're gonna make
improve it. And that's what we're talking about. We talk
about the Calfs. How big a threat are they in
the playoffs? How many of your guys have been through
this kind of fire before and the fact that a
lot of them have not been will be interesting, so

(51:44):
it'll be worth watching for sure. There are a bunch
of teams we didn't get to today that we will
talk about, you know, the coming weeks. The Grizzlies we
haven't talked about much, although we talked about We talked
about the Grizzlies a lot, the Suns a lot on
our trade deadline megapodcast from a couple of weeks ago.
If you guys are looking for some stuff, but I

(52:05):
want to end with this question today, Harry, and I'm
gonna put you on the spot a little bit here.
Tell me right now, I don't need a pick. I
just need a what do you think? And where's your
head at? A friendly check in? Only the two teams
right now that you feel like I'm making the NBA Finals,

(52:27):
m you know, for the sake of this was my
pick before the season. I'll stick with it. And also
they're on a twelve game winning streak. I'll be it
now without Yiannis Milwaukee, I'll keep them out of the West.
My pick before the season was the Clippers. I just
told you, I don't really see that possible. I don't
see it I had taken the Grizzlies at a different

(52:49):
point in this season. They're not looking great either, and
they haven't been good enough on the road to justify that.
So I'll say Phoenix now, I look, my only real
criticism of them, not this isn't. My only worry about
them for right now is the health, um, which I
think was a very fair thing to be concerned about,
giving that Chris Paul, Devin Booker, and obviously Kevin Durant

(53:10):
still or we're out, are out, have been out. It's
it's it's a curiosity that I'm gonna have until they
make it through the season healthy. Um. Even if they
make it through this season healthy, it's a curiosity I'm
gonna have next season is Chris Paul gets older and
Kevin Durant has annual perennial injuries. Uh, it's just gonna
be a question. It just is. Uh. I think it's
been overblown a little bit for people to say that

(53:32):
they don't know that Phoenix has the depth. They've got
a lot of guys on this team that don't even
have to play anymore. Like Okogee Okogi has been a
good player for them. I know that he has locally.
They've really liked him to the energy he brings, the
offensive rebounding. I liked the Terrence Ross pick up for them.
Yea someone who can bomb away some threes if he

(53:53):
can hold up defensively in the playoffs at least in
the first round or two. LEAs had a nice season
story for them. Yeah. Yeah, I mean it's You've got
a lot of Landry shamm It is on this Like
you've got guys that you don't even really have to
use a got TJ. Warren in that trade too for
for Durant, Like, they've got a lot of dudes on
this team that can help in some way, shape or

(54:15):
form it. You know, it doesn't have to be every night. Uh.
They've got a lot of shooters, which that's what you
want around Durant, and a bunch of guys that can
and will operate from the mid range as much as
they do. Uh. And Eton is not a bad guy
to be able to throw into the post. Like it's
a it's a pretty loaded team. It's again, it's just
a health question for me. And given that that's the

(54:36):
only question that I can't really pick apart several weaknesses
after that, Uh, like you know, I'm I'll go with
them as the favorite. I don't think they're I'm a
vast favorite because of the health questions, but um, you know,
I like their versatility a little bit more than Denvers
at this point, and their two way ability more than
Denvers at this point when you consider that the Nets

(54:57):
when eighteen and two, when Durant was healthy, they had
that stretch. I like the Sun's team more than the
Nets team. Yeah that that Durrant was So if he
can get healthy, they could go on a nice little
run here to finish the regular season. Especially with the book.
He's been at an incredible level this year CB three.

(55:18):
He's looked so much better recently. I think I'm going
to join you. I'm gonna go with the rematch. It's
hard to trust him after last year, can you but
if but if they I mean, but if Rant to
that equation and he's healthy again, That's the only real
question I've got. I do think it becomes interesting if
Chris Paul is just not playing well, but he's also

(55:41):
more likely to play well with that collection of talent
than than last year. So well, well, we'll get a
chance to see, and I cannot wait I cannot wait.
I would have liked Reggie Jackson there too, by the way,
that would have been a fun one. But like you said,
Damian Lee, they've had good they're missing Campaign. I saw
Campaign in December and I was like, yeah, well soon man.
He's like it's kind and still been a couple months,

(56:01):
so um yeah, man there. I know people are still
scarred from what they saw in that Game seven, but
I'm with you and I think that would be a
fun of very fun NBA Finals. But Chris, that will
do it? Or today's episode of Open Floor. Everyone makes

(56:22):
sure you were subscribed to the Playmaker. If you somehow
haven't bought Chris's book yet, I'm sure there's some holiday.
Maybe you forgot a Valentine's Day present? Um, get it
for the next man in your life. Uh, Chris, have
you seen the new ant Man movie? By the way,
I'm not how is it? Yeah, don't man, that was
a mistake. That note. Everyone enjoy the last twenty games

(56:51):
of the NBA season. Woll what what what what