Are We Live? Episode 44

- Lottery Thoughts

- Brad Stevens Presser

- Round 2 catch up

Song: Podcast By Snail Music (Loop)
Author: ‪@SnailMusicES‬

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Or we lie. No, no, no, yes. Yes, yes, yes. We lie. Yes. Okay, so I ain't gonna cover you.

unknown 0:06

But he's punk.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Yo, we back. Another Tuesday. Another pod. A lot to talk about. Um pretty much exclusively about the NBA. Oh, exclusive, it is exclusively about the NBA. But a lot to talk about. We had the lottery. We're in round two. Um, I gotta talk about this Brad Stevens end of the season press conference. Um, but let's just get started with the lottery. Um, and really, I don't know why it felt so monumental, because we've had you know the Cooper Flag draft, the Wemby draft, we had Zion a couple years ago. Like we've had like big, big, like generational, if you want to call it that, talents where the lottery was, you know, the lottery to get them was you know a huge deal, but for whatever reason this lottery just felt so important because of the like the league-wide, you know, ramifications. Like it felt like teams that are not even on lottery are hugely affected by how the these uh ping pong balls landed. So let's get into it. Um first I'm gonna start with the order and then go into what each you know what each selection I guess means going forward. So the order was 14, Charlotte 13, Miami, OKC um at 12, Warriors 11, Bucks 10, Mavs 9, Hawks 8, Kings six uh 7, uh Nets 6, Clippers at 5 with the Pacers swapping, Bulls 4, Memphis 3, Utah 2, and the Wizards 1 with uh the first pick. Um so yeah, we had Memphis and the Bulls jumping into the top four. You had the Nets and Kings following the 6 and 7. Um, let me start from the bottom and work my way up to the top with whatever, you know, the the ramifications for each you know selection, I guess to say. Um so at 13 in Miami, they stay at 13, no jump for them. Um, the reason I think this is important is because uh I'm almost certain they're gonna be a suitor for Giannis. Um, I'm sure Giannis will have them on whatever his hypothetical list or preferences is. Um the reason I think it's so important is because now that they didn't they did not jump, the 13th pick, like it's still a valuable pick, but it's not like you know amazing. And on top of that, like Miami as a team, if they were to land, Giannis, they're not gonna be in the tank, and they're they're just not gonna tank anyway. Maybe with the new lottery odds, then like their picks are actually kind of valuable. But the issue for with me with it with Miami trying to trade for a star is I'm just not a fan of any of their um young players. Like um Tylero, I'm not a fan. Uh Khalil Ware, I mean he's got talent, but clearly he's he doesn't play for reasons. Like his effort has been an issue throughout the time, his his overall awareness of the game to me is lacking. Like, clearly a talented player, but I don't think he's like a blue chip, you know, young prospect you would throw into a trade. Um, but to be fair, the Milwaukee Bucks are not an intelligent organization, so maybe they look at Clay Aware as like you know a poor man's whimby or someone like that. Um, who else? Eckachonis, the guy that is drafted. You know, we haven't seen enough. Jovich is terrible. Uh Paukaz is alright, but not really a needle mover. Um, anyone else that they have that's young? Um not really nothing else coming to mind, but like ultimately their players in a trade for the Bucs. I don't see the the appeal to them in a potential trade. Um, so them not jumping the lottery could you know hurt them. Um, of course, if Giannis makes it abundantly clear he only wants to go to Miami, then it might not matter. But um, let's just say that Giannis doesn't become you know achievable for whatever reason. Um I'm assuming they're gonna hunt for another star, whether that be Kawhi or I mean whether it be KD, like who knows, like some other all-star, like this asset being worse than they hope for. It also makes a big difference. Um now up to 12. OKC did not jump. I mean, the NBA really got saved that they didn't jump because they jumped into the top four. Oh my god, there's like it would just like um yeah, it would have been crazy. But um, even then, like them owning the 12th pick, and I believe they own the 17th pick from uh Philly as well. Um, that's still like for the team that's the title favorite and already won a championship to be in that situation is incredible. Like, you know, everyone feels bringing up how the second apron is gonna like sink the the thunder the long run like it has it everyone else. I'm like, I don't really see it because I mean they just have like this infinite pit glitch where they have like multiple firsts every year, multiple seconds every year, and as long as you even if you don't like have a low hit rate, any hit rate at all means they're gonna have you know good players on the roster to come in. Like, I mean on their current roster right now, I would say the only players that are completely like you know irreplaceable is of course SGA and then I would say probably Chet is someone you don't find like that often in the draft or anywhere. But like other than that, like I mean J Dub has missed damn near this whole season and playoff run, and look where they are right now, you know, like like they've had like numerous injuries throughout the year, but they just have so many guys to play that it has not ultimately not mattered, you know. And of course, SGA being the constant with you know Mark Diganall in chat as well. Um, so yeah, they're just gonna have keep refueling, like they're probably gonna move on from maybe Lou Dort, maybe Hartenstein within maybe Caruso the next couple years, like they're gonna have several first round picks to replace them, you know. Um so yeah, I just is there Sam Pristie. Like, I'm I I've been critical of him in certain times, and I think he deserved it, but the way he's done this uh Thunder 2.0 rebuild, you know, the post KD Westbrook, the post Paul George Westbrook era, I mean, incredible really. Um now on to up to 10 with the Bucs. Um, they did not move up, and even the thing issue for the Bucs is that even if they did jump, it would have gone to Atlanta in this situation, but they did not uh move up. Um and the issue for the Bucs with this is the number 10 pick. There's no chance that's enough to convince Giannis to stay. Um, and I do think Giannis staying would be the best situation for the Bucks. You know, they don't have their future picks, so them tanking is not viable. The new lottery odds makes it so tanking as a strategy is not even really viable anyway. Um, they don't have very little talent on the roster, like outside Giannis, it's what Ryan Rollins, and then who gives a hell about everyone else? Um I don't think that 10th pick can get you a player that moves the needle in a trade to convince Giannis to stay. Um so yeah, this um this to me almost guarantees that they do the sensible thing and start to build for life after Giannis um with whatever that is. Um okay, moving up Hawks get the eighth pick from the Pelicans from the Derrick Queen trade. Um and really the only thing I wanted to mention with this is like how bad are the New Orleans Pelicans to be bottom 10. I think they've there was seventh orest record, I believe, or something like that, in a year where a third of the league is tanking, and not only is a third of the league tanking, like you had Zion for like 60 plus games to still be this bad. I mean, I don't know how I know the coach uh Willie Green lost his job early in the season, but everybody should be gone. Legitimately, everyone should be gone to be this bad in a year where racking up you know wins in the regular season was easier than God feels like forever. But um, yeah, Hawks, it seems for them, they didn't get they didn't jump up, and in fact, they moved back, I believe. But um, yeah, top ten pick when you're in the playoffs, pretty good. Um yeah, and I want to bunch up these next two teams together. Nets and Kings fans, wow, that is a kick in the balls, if I've ever seen it. I mean, with the Kings, you have uh you were one of the worst teams all year. Um, like I think I think they were like third or fourth in the in the yeah, I think they were third, yeah. They were fourth, I think, in terms of you know, fourth worst team in the league to get bumped to seven in what is considered, you know, a four-player draft in terms of top end talent. I mean, I'm not to say they can't find a great player at seven, because you obviously can, but wow. You have a team with Zach Levine, Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan, Westbrook, like this team that has big names, but they're not they're not good. The team was terrible. There's minimal young talent on this rock star. Like they have uh Neat Clifford and uh what's like the big man's name right now, I think it is, that are like somewhat interesting, but like, nah, man. Like, this is this is hell. Like, what the hell what the Kings fans are in right now is worse than hell. Um, and like I said, if they implement these new lottery odds, I don't even know what they do to get out of this hell. Like, how do they even improve the team going forward to like obviously if they if they make that new thing where the bottom three, you know, the the bottom three records are actually punished, like how do they get out of that, you know? I mean, crazy. Um, and with the with the Nets, I mean, just a more hell for them. I mean, first of all, you get the stimulus, the Mikael Bridges stimulus. I think it was like five firsts. You're out, you're done chasing, you know, being a mediocre team. You have five first round picks in last year's draft, which was a really good draft, by the way. And I know Yeagor Demon and Nolan Trarari showed some flashes, but like I don't think either of them you can be like, Yep, that's our franchise going forward, you know. Um, and the rest of those other three guys were pretty terrible, but um, yeah, to have five firsts, to not feel that great about any of them really, and to then drop from the top three to sixth in in this draft. I mean, wow, man, that is bleak. Um, and on top of that, they owe their pick to the Rockets next season. Um, so I mean, I'm realistically, I think they're gonna be aggressive to try and win now, right? Like, you might as well. What else you do now? You can't tank, you get your pick is gone. So I wouldn't be surprised if they're like an Austin Reeves team, if they're a DeAron Fox team, if they're a if you get you know, if the Spurs want to shop him, which I'll get into later, if they're an Anthony Davis team, you know, like what if they're like, you know what, screw it? AD doesn't want to be in DC. Let's bring him, let's have our front court be MPJ and uh Anthony Davis, and let's get De'Aaron Fox and let's win like 40 games. Like, I don't know, I don't I don't even know, bro. It's um yeah, and now moving up to number five. The probably the biggest you know the biggest like news or whatever of the lottery. I would say I mean, I guess number one, who gets number one is the biggest story, right? But this is just a massive result um for both franchises. Um so for I mean, if you didn't know, the this pick, the fifth pick, which ended up going to the Clippers, was owned by was uh sent to them from the Pacers for Zubotch, along with other stuff, um, and it was top four protected, you know? Um, and they've ended up landing in fifth. So the pick goes to the Clippers. Um the Pacers pay this price for Zubotch. And let me just go through this whole thing. Now, first of all, the history of this pick itself is just incredible. Like, this pick initially, of course, owned by the by the Pacers, was sent to Toronto to get Pascal Siakum, you know, to get Pascal Siakam and pair him with Halliburton, uh, which is like what three or four years ago now. Um, then Toronto took that pick and sent it to New Orleans for Brandon Ingram. Now, at the time they did that trade, I'm assuming they were like the Pacers are gonna be a contender or like a really good team. That pick isn't invaluable, it's gonna be in the 20s, right? But that pick goes to New Orleans for Brandon Ingram. Then, I believe it was a day before game seven. If you remember, Halliburno had already been you know suffering from calf issues. Everyone was talking about how him playing is a massive risk for his Achilles hurt like tearing and stuff like that. And the day before Game 7, the Pacers trade for their pickback from the New Orleans Pelicans. I mean, by the way, one of the craziest trades ever. Just like, did they really trade for that thinking? Man, what if Halliburne's Achilles explodes and next year we're cooked? We need to be like, did it is that what really would happen? Like, that's kind of crazy. And then if you're the Pelicans, did your antennas not go up? The fact that they were trying to get their pick back? Like, why would a team that's in the finals care so much to get their pick back a day before Game 7? Like, why would why would they be doing that? Um, so yeah, just a crazy turn of events for this pick in general for to go to patience to trade it to get it back and then trade it again and then lose it because the lottery. Wow. Um, and let's start with the Clippers side because that's a lot easier, and I think a lot more um, you know, because the the opinions on that is a little bit more, you know, popular and easier to agree on, more agreeable on. Um for the Clippers, I mean this was a home run. You cut the fifth pick in the draft, along with Matherin, who, you know, isn't too much, but it's something. Uh Isaiah Jackson, who's like, you know, a decent rotation backup big. Um 2029 first round pick, unprotected, by the way. Um, and of course this fifth pick for the Zubards. Um, and now you trade a Harden for Garland. I mean, Garland and this pick, whoever it is, that's like moving towards a new era, you know? To an era where they I still I still think they owe future first, by the way. I think for the Harden trade they owe a pick to the Sixers or something. Like it's still in debt, but it's something to look forward to in the future at least. Um and to me for the Pacers, this is a disaster. Um, and there's so many layers to peel back on to talk about, but like first thing I want to say, like the rationale that there that the Pacers decided that there are only gonna be guards outside you know, point guards outside of the um top four of the draft, so they don't really care if they lose it because they'd be looking to trade that pick anyway. I mean, first of all, that that logic just is not doesn't make any sense to me. Like, for one, if you're picking in the top five or even like maybe top ten, even no, let's not say top ten, but top five, if you're picking in a top five, like fit should not really be you know in the discussion. Now you could say that the paces are, you know, when a whole and healthy, you know, a contender, so the fit is more of a calculation for them, and I somewhat agree with that, but also like Tyrese Halliburton towards Achilles, bro. Like, I know we had the Jonte Murray, Kevin Durant, and Jason Tatum look good after tournament, but he still needs to come back and look like Tyrese Halliburton again, you know what I mean? Um, and on top of that, DJ McConnell is up there in his 30s. Like, first of all, who's to say that you couldn't draft up, you know, let's just say Kingston Flemings or Darius Acuff or Mikhail Brown, whoever, like whichever guard is gonna go there, you know, Waggler, whoever, who's to say that player can't play with Halle Byrne? Like, I don't think that's I don't think you can just necessarily say that that player cannot play with Halliburn. I think he can. I think Halle Byrne is, you know, even them hardlight is kind of like a combo guard. Um, he of course played with De'Aaron Fox. I know the Kings thought that they couldn't mesh, but um, yeah, I don't necessarily think that he could not play with another point guard, you know. Um, but really my main issue with that talking point is like there will almost certainly be a forward or a big layer in the draft that is really good that should have gone, you know, in the top 10, but fell to 15 or 12 uh you know, 17, whatever it is, right? So your job as an organization is to find that player, you know. Like I was talking about today, that my player might be, you know, a day Mara, a center who could have filled in in that position, who could be really good, that you are some for some reason acting like no, we're we don't we're we would never take him at five. Like, how do you know? There is a world where that guy is the is the fit best player in the draft. Like, just because the consensus is that doesn't mean that's not gonna be the case, that you know, no big or forward is worth taking at five. Like, there almost definitely will be some forward or wing that goes later in the draft that should have gone in the top ten. So that ration out to me makes no sense. Um and then moving on, like let's just say you had to trade that fifth pick because you don't want to take a you think all the players in that range, you know, can't fit with your current core or whatever. Um, are you the who's to say Zubots is the best player you could have got for that fifth pick? Like, I know that salary matching was been talked about as an issue in trades, but could that pick have landed you Kawhi Leonard? Could it have landed you Kevin Durant? Could it have landed you? I mean, there are countless players, you know, just as good or if not better than Zubas that could have Jalen Brown, could they have landed you that? Like, who knows, right? Like, I don't even like who who's to know what player could have been available for that pick. Um, and maybe the Clippers trade for that player, right? Um so yeah, I I that I don't I don't understand that. And the last thing I want to talk about with that is Zubots as a player. Now, if you can guarantee me the paces are gonna get uh 2024-2025 Evita Zubots for the next few years, then I can be talked into the trade because that player was really damn good. That player was like borderline all-star, borderline all-NBA. Um, I'm pretty sure he made all defense, but that player was really good. But this year, 25-26 Zubots was not that good, and realistically, when the Clippers traded him, they did not like really miss it that much. And the replacement was 2026 Brooke Lopez, who's washed beyond belief. Like the fact is that it was more or less, you know, he was more or less replaceable. I mean, I don't know. I mean, uh, we basically have a one-year sample for a 30-year-old player of being as good as they're hoping. And on top of that, like the Zubots and Siakam fit, like, I don't know, like Siakam is kind of in-between type player. Is it kind of like clunky to have him in the mid-range area and uh Zubots in the Dunker spot or you know at the rim or whatever? Um, of course, Siakam has you know shot three better, you know, over the last few years, but still, when he gets the ball, he wants to be in that mid-range face-up drive area. So, what does it look like with you know it used to be Miles Turner out there on the three point line, and he was a pretty good three point shooter for a big um this year? They tried to get they um this year they wanted Jay Huff to replace him. So clearly the the Pacers like the idea of a shooting five in their team. And I actually remember when Siakum got triggered. To the Pacers, he mentioned Miles Turner's shooting ability as one of the reasons he wanted to get traded there. So I know Miles Turner was an incredibly frustrating player and sometimes just a downright bad player, but his shooting ability, you know, had its had its pros. And I'm I don't know, I'm not like sold on the fit of Zubots and of Siakam in the front court. And on top of that, I mean how what does Zubots look like in this up tempo type um offense? You know, could and of course the Pacers could adjust their offense to accommodate for what should be what they hope to be their third best player going forward. Um yeah, I mean, just to me personally, it just a horrible risk that from the start was a bad risk to take, you know. I don't think and and the last thing I want to talk about, a lot of conversation about the Pacers is that they're next year they're gonna be a contender right away. And I'm just like, I don't know. Like, do you just go from one of the worst teams in the league? You add a player that missed the whole year because of a torn Achilles and dealing with some other stuff too. Like, I don't does that does that just you just come back and everything is good and you're back to being contender? I don't know, because like, first of all, even when Halliburton was there, this is not some 55-win, 60-win team, you know, infallible contender that is a juggernaut in the waiting. Like, this is a team that was between 45 and 50 wins that got hot in the playoffs. And you could argue, you know, glass half full, glass half empty, that there was a lot of you know luck involved in that. You know, the glass half full would say that the roster was built for the playoffs, glass half empty would say they had some luck go their way, which I think you know, in some ways both sides are true. But yeah, this is not a Halliburn comes back and we're gonna win the 60 wins type team. No, Halliburn comes back, we hope he's back to the same player he was, and even if that happens, we're probably like a 48 to 52 win team, right? So if that's the case, in three years, they owe their pick to the Clippers for this trade 2029 first. Are we certain that in three years when Siakam is like I mean, at that point you would think he would not be a star level player? Um, we don't even know. Well, to be honest, we have no idea what the roster will look like in three years, right? It can be completely retooled with the young guys around Halliburton. Um, but of course, also on top of that, we don't know is Rick Carlisle gonna be there in three years? He's kind of up there in age too. Like, what is like this team is a lot in flux for them to have taken this much risk. Um, and again, with the new lottery odds, if for whatever reason they're an eight seed in 2029 and they miss the playoffs, like that pick to the Clippers might be gold again. Like that that that part cannot be discarded. Like, it just can't. Like, I know Paces fans are gonna take the optimistic route, but like you have to consider the downside risk we make a trade like this, and the my biggest point of all this has been that this much downside risk for your Ivica Zoobots is just not worth it at all. Um, and yeah, that's that's just how I see it. We'll see how it goes, I guess. Um but the last thing. I'm sorry, this trade is just this whole scenario has just like been in my mind for the last couple days. But like Kevin Pritcher, the Pacers GM. Bro, please shut up. Like, if you're on Twitter, you saw his tweet basically apologizing for what happened to the lottery. Now, two things stuck out to me in his um statement, if you want to call it that. He said that he was surprised and that he thought he was they were due some luck. What the fuck are you talking about? You're surprised. It was a coin flip that it was basically a 50-50 proposition. What would happen? How could you possibly be surprised about that? And you do some luck? What the hell? You do some the lottery, you do luck is literally uh random, completely random. What do you mean, do some luck? Um so yeah, I had to say that because I've I've seen people say that they're like respect, like, yeah, you know, props to him for owning it. What do you mean owning it? He did what the what you said would drive me insane if I was a fan of the Pacers. Um but yeah, just a crazy situation. Now, I've got two more topics in the lottery. Um let's just start with the the wizards winning the winning the lottery and getting the first pick. Now, without a doubt, getting the first pick and winning the lottery is what you want as an organization. But deep down, I think the people in charge on the wizards are sweating like crazy because this is not a typical like you win the lottery and there's Victor Maiyama at the end, there's not Cooper Flag at the end, there's not Zion at the end, LeBron James at the end. Um this is a lottery, and there's four guys that people could argue for being the best player in a draft. Now, more realistically, three, I would say, you know, with Darren Peterson, Cam Boozer, and AJ DePonsta. But still, would it stun me if Caleb Wilson was the best player in his draft in five years? It wouldn't stun me. Would I predict it? No, but it wouldn't stun me. There are four guys that you could say have a chance to be the best player in this draft, and all four guys, you could see the path to them having some level of disappointment in the NBA, right? Like A.J. DeMonster, for example. Um, his three-point shot, big question mark. His defensive effort in college was terrible. Um, if he doesn't figure those things out in the league, he's not gonna be the franchise player, you know, superstar wing that people expect him to be. I'm not saying he's got that's gonna happen, but I'm just saying that risk exists. Um, Darren Peterson, I mean, his injury stuff is really, you know, it's concerning you, I would say. You know, I think the conversation of him being soft and all is completely ridiculous, but what does his medicals look like? You know, what does his playmaking look like? Like the fact that he was not really much of a playmaker in college, like that's a little bit concerning to me. If I was looking at him as number one pick. Uh Cam Boozer, I'm a big fan of Cam Boozer. I think he's the best player, best prospect in the draft. But yeah, I think a traditional power forward that kind of plays like a hybrid between Kevin Love and Pistons Blake Griffin is kind of like a unique player to evaluate. You know, there's a world where he's not good enough offensively to be a franchise player. Now, I think his floor is quite high with his you know the fact that he's so young and so like advanced as a playmaker and all that stuff. And deep down, I think he's gonna be incredible. So even though I'm making this argument that there's a world where he's not that good, um, I don't really believe it. But there is a world where he's just not he's just good, but not like you know, elite. You know what I'm saying? Um, and Caleb Wilson, there's a world where he just can't shoot and nothing else, you know. At that point, he can't be a great player without any jump shot, um, unless he becomes you know Giannis Light or some shit like that. But um, so yeah, all four players could be the best player in the draft. All four players could be end up having disappointing careers. So having the number one pick and having your own choice is a blessing, but the pressure of getting it right is it can be tough. Like, I'm sure that like you know, Memphis and Chicago are three on four. I'm sure part of them is like, all right, what does take who falls to us, right? I'm sure because you know, a lot of this job security is important. If you pick the wrong guy, that could be your job, you know. So, um yeah, and then you see some brief rumors about them being open to training down, and it makes sense, like it makes sense, uh, because it's not an easy choice. Like, I know people will be like, oh, it has to be this guy, it has to be that guy. I think my only real opinion on that is that I can hear an argument for all these guys, and especially the top three guys. Um, so yeah, Wizards win the lottery, but it's it's a little bit of pressure on um and the last point I want to make on the lottery is that you know the Jazz, the Wizards, and the Pacers made deadline acquisitions for frontcourt players. Um, you know, big name front court players. You know, I've already talked about the Super Bots plenty, but Utah traded for Jaron Jackson, the Wizards traded for uh Anthony Davis. Um there's some level of commitment to those players now. For the Wizards, there's much less commitment to Anthony Davis, and there, I mean, they could even trade him tomorrow, and it would not be an issue, right? Um, and there's been some whispers that he's not happy to be a wizard, he wants to play for our winning team, yada yada. So, yeah. I mean, to me, the biggest Coper is maybe the wrong word, but the biggest offender here is the Jazz, who have now traded a lot for Jaron Jackson, have maxed out Laurie Markinen, um, and now picking second. So, I mean, if that if the fact you own the fact that you already have Jaron Jackson, Larry Markinen, if that leads you to valuing Darren Peterson over Cam Boozer, that would be a huge mistake in my opinion. Um, like the fit to me, when you're that bad, should not be a consideration in the slightest. You should be taking whoever you think is the best prospect. Um, and I mean I think Utah wants to win now next year. So would I be shocked if they lean towards Darren Peterson solely because he's a guard and he can play with Jaron Jackson and Larry Marketing? No, I would not be shocked. Is that that's not me saying that there's no world where Darren Peterson is better than Cam Boozer? Like there's absolutely a world where Peterson is a better prospect than Cam Boozer anyway. I'm just saying the fact that you're gonna consider the fit with those two other players to me is a horrible process. And let's just say for argument's sake, they made the right decision and picked the best player who they think is the best player in Cam Boozer or even Caleb Wilson, and they're like, we don't care if we have Lowry, Jaron, and another you know, forward, power forward really um in Cam Boozer. I mean, that just they traded a lot for Jaron Jackson, so then you have to again trade one of these players at least. I mean, could Jaron Jackson and Camboozer play as a 4-5 with Lowry the three? Maybe, maybe. Um, personally, and I feel like it's kind of overkill with you know big bodies, and I think at some point you need more ball, like traditional ball handling on the court than just your guards. But um, yeah, it makes it kind of like it kind of makes it an issue. Um yeah, so yeah, that's the last thing on the draft. Whoa, 30 minutes on the draft on the lottery, you know. But like I said, there was a lot to talk about. But um, moving on. And the second topic, if you're not a Celtics fan, you might not care about this too much. But even still, I think the Celtics are pretty important to landscape of the league. And I thought this was a massive scathing press conference from Brad Stevens, you know, the end of the season press conference. And really, as I was done listening, I go back and watch it twice now. I'm kind of shocked that there wasn't like you know, on Twitter we had these aggregation accounts that like you know clip up what people say and stuff and put it out there. I'm shocked I've not seen more of that kind of stuff coming from this because what he said was a pretty big deal if you ask me. Um so yeah, let's just start with the quotes that I thought were the most important. Now I'm gonna tell you what he said and then I'll give you my thoughts on it. Um so first, before any questions are asked, Brad Stevens sits down and his in his opening statement says, Yep, it's disappointing to lose to Sixers. Um, I thought the Sixers deserved a win, and we really struggled to create good shots throughout the whole series. Now he's not even been asked a question at this point, he's unprompted, which is a huge theme for this press conference. You know, Brad Stevens saying how he feels really about the team, unprompted. It's not like he specifically asked these questions. Um so yeah, he said that basically we didn't create good shots, and once the Sixers stopped our offensive rebounding, we struggled on offense to get good looks in the first shot. Um, he then went on to say how he's obviously aiming for a championship, and the truth of the matter is when you lose in the first round and you're 3-11 versus the top three in the west and top two in the east, you're kind of far away from that. Again, he is saying this unprompted himself. He brought up the record against the top teams in the league um this season, and he was talking about you know honest assessment about the team and whatnot. So he's basically telling you this team is far away from real, real contention to win a championship. That's what his uh thoughts on the team really are. Um, and so much so he believes that that again, unprompted, he went on to say that there uh you know a huge portion of the league was tanking this year, and that inflated teams win totals, and that realistically, next season you're gonna get a better indication of how good your team is in their season. Now, okay, I'll give my thoughts on that later, like I said, but that I mean that is wow, I don't think I've ever heard that from a from a you know from someone that works for a team, but um, and then what to we to what I believe was the most important or the biggest takeaway from Brad Stevens' whole press conference, he goes on to say that the Celtics have struggled to create good shots on offense over the last two playoffs, and he said, even including versus Orlando, you know, he felt like they didn't create good shots, and he said we need to have a bigger impact at the rim, and he said we need to add to our team to do that, and you know, and then he later on he went on to say, like, yeah, all of us would prefer a dunk over a three, um, and we struggle to create dunks, so clearly there's there's gonna be an emphasis on scoring in the paint going forward, but uh anyway, the last um, yeah, so that those are I mean he wanted to say a few more interesting things in my opinion, but those to me were the most eye-opening. Um, now let's you know dig into it. Like, first of all, this is the most honest I've heard Brad Stevens talking about the team in God knows how long, like, even since he was a coach, really, too. I can't remember uh him being this honest about how he sees the team at any point, you know. And this is before he made massive trades, you know, trading Marcus Smart and trading Rob Williams and you know, all that stuff. Um, you know, this is the most honest I've ever seen him. Um and like I mentioned earlier, the the critiques he was laying on the team, these were unprompted critiques. These are not like the team of the media are asking him a tough question. He's like, let me just answer for truthfully. Now, this is him bringing stuff up himself. Like, the fact you brought up the last two playoffs makes me think he's not saying it's not just this year. You know, people are I think the reason he said that is because people will say, like, oh, this is a team that you stripped down, you traded away Drew Holiday, traded away Porzingis, Tatum is still recovering, got rid of uh Horford Luke Cornet. Like, this team was not supposed to be good this year, right? He's saying no, no, no, no, no. I'm talking about last year too. When we had the talent to win a championship, our offense was still not good. Even in this series, we won rather comfortably in five games. I was watching that and not impressed with the offense. Um, yeah, like I mean, I don't know what else to say. It felt like he was just incredibly eager to go out there and lambast the team's performance in the playoffs the last two years. Um and to and to me, like listening to the whole thing, I did not get a committed response that sounds like he's committed to Joe Mozilla going forward. If anything, I felt like he was very much, you know, putting him on the hot seat going forward with how he was talking. I mean, he was straight up asked if he believed in Joe Mozilla going forward. He did not say, I believe in Joe. He did say that he thinks Joe is a good coach, but I mean he kind of alluded to the fact that he thinks Joe Mozilla needs to be better going forward. So to me, he did not commit to Joe in the slightest. Um and the last thing, I mean, the critique of the offense um is really what he's getting at in this press conference, you know. And when we talk about the offense, we have to like break it down, okay? Who is in charge of the Celtics offense? Now, to me, it's between four people, and you can really throw in a fifth if you want. But to me, it's clearly Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown, Derek White, Joe Mazzula, and you could include Payton Pritchard in that too, I guess. But those are the five people that are you know responsible for how the offense goes. Um, and if you're going back to 2025, you can bring up Porcingus as well. But um, yeah, so of the so I'm gonna go like into each player's role into the offense and what um Brad could be talking about. Now, I'll start with Jason Tatum, the head of the snake, typically, you know, I don't think this year he wasn't really that even when he came back. I mean, I still think Jalen Brown was very much like the first option in terms of shots and touches and whatnot. And uh but of the four, Jason Tatum, I would say, in terms of shots at the rim, is the biggest needle mover on the team by a good amount. Because if you look at the numbers, and this the Celtics shoot way more shots at the rim when Tatum was on the court as opposed to off. Um, and that was true in the regular season when he came back from the injury, and very much so um in the playoffs, even more drastic, I would say. Um and I know people don't think of Tatum as a driver like that, but he is, even if people think it's not. Um, not to say that Jason Tatum is like you know an elite level, you know, rim scorer. I can't think of a better word to explain that, but scorer at the rim, um, to me that would be like a Giannis, a LeBron at his peak, uh a Jokic. Um rim score is the wrong word, you know, in terms of you know, impacting the rim as Brad Stevens said. So that can be scoring or creating. I think Jason Tatum is really good, like really, really good at that, but the elite mark to me is more like uh a Giannis, a Jokic, um, a healthy and prime embiad, a younger LeBron James, um, you could say a Harden at his best in his peak, you know, a couple of years ago. Um, you know, players like that. I think Jason Tatum is a notch below in terms of creating and scoring shots at the rim, but he is by far the best on the team and really good. Now, moving on to Jalen Brown. Now, Jalen Brown has the physical tools of someone that lives at the rim, but in actuality has to resort to his mid-range quite a bit. Now, that's um, and although this and despite that, he does draw a good amount of fouls, I would say. So he gets the free throw line quite a bit, but he's not creating shots at the rim for himself or his teammates at a super high level. Um, super high level is I would say he does it at a okay level. I would say he doesn't go at a good level. Um but and the one thing with Jalen is when the offense runs through him, or you know, when he's on the court without Jason Tatum or or even Derek White this season, the team ends up shooting a lot of mid range shots, most of which are from him, but yeah, it's not the same like driving kick that you see with like a Jason Tatum um on the court. You know, it's a bit more inside the arc type scoring. Um Yeah, and like I said, he does get to the line quite a bit, which is a boom. But in terms of impacting that rim, like Brad Stevens said, his impact is not as you know as much as you would like for his you know player type and whatnot. Um moving on to Derek White, who gives you very minimal creation in general, and in a playoff setting, he gave basically none. You know, until the first half of game seven, he basically gave them nothing on offense. Um and yeah, in the regular season he gave them some pretty good playmaking. I won't lie to you. Like he had like close to seven assists a game with like um you know very minimal turnovers, but against top-tier defenses um in the playoffs, regular season, either one, he's not gonna create an advantage for you off the dribble at all. And if he's the ball that has the ball in her hand, the ball in the if he has the ball in his hands, the third most of the Celtics, then yeah, you can see that the offense being capped when it comes to creating shots to the rim or games to the rim in general. Um, and the last player, I mean, Peyton Pritchard, I can't have any complaints about him really offensively. I mean, first of all, he's making like what eight million dollars, which is literal robbery, you know. In NBA terms, is actual pennies on the dollar. But um, yeah, I mean, I'm pretty sure Peyton was the number one ISO player in the regular season this year. And I know the the volume his volume is much lower than guys like you know SGA and whatnot, but I mean his ISO numbers were astronomical this year, so I have very little complaints about him in terms of his role to the offense. Um, yeah, his playmaking is kind of subpower for for a guard, but I mean if you can score like that, I can stomach it for my bench guard to be that good of a score. Um, and lastly, Joe Muzua's hand in the offense. Now, Brad Stevens was asked quite a bit about the Celtics being so reliant, you know, aggressive, whatever you want to call it with the three-point three-pointer, right? And the thing that he said is, yeah, I dislike the bad ones, right? And that to me is key. Like, he even went on to say, like, in the fourth quarter of game seven, we got some good threes that you live with, right? But we definitely also shot some bad ones. So the thing about the three-pointer to me is that I don't know what the alternative is that people are looking for. Like, you know, I just went over the four key components of the subject's roster when it comes to the offense, you know, Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown, Derek White, and Payne Pritchard. Of those four, I would say only Jason Tatum impacts the rim at a high level. And like I said earlier, I don't think he impacts it at an elite level. I would say he impacts it at a high level, but not an elite level. So, with that being the case, this idea the Celtics should turn down threes to get to the rim more. I mean, it's just based in what reality are they talking about? Like, I just don't think this roster over the last couple of years has been suited to that type of approach. Like, in fact, I believe I really believe that emphasizing hunting threes and asking their player asking the players to not turn down open threes has led to the offense being maximized, in my opinion. Um, of course, they brought in Porzingis, and they he Joe Mazzo utilized his post-up game plenty. Um, some may say too much, you know. So I don't feel like the three-point stuff with Joe is the fair criticism, you know. Like, don't get me wrong, he has a lot to answer for in the playoffs. I don't think the three-point stuff is on him, is is an issue in the first place. I think it's a result of the roster and what they've had to work with over these last couple of years. Um, and really, if you can create open three or consistently, that's a good thing. Like, I don't think that's an issue at all. Um, and on top of that, Joe, I mean, this season, Joe made a huge emphasis on crashing the glass for offensive rebounds, which was a huge reason the offense you know survived losing all those pieces from master. Um, because in terms of shot making, the team was not in the top 10 in terms of like um effective field percentage and whatnot. So there were a team that was reliant on the offensive rebounds. So to me, Joe Mazzula has clearly displayed that he can maximize offense for what he's given with. Now, when it comes to the playoffs, he has not done that to be fair, but generally speaking, he knows how to maximize a team offensively. Um, so yeah, like I said, I don't I don't I think the roster when it comes to impacting the rim is the biggest culprit. And I mean the people that have been like you know looking at what he said and connecting to Giannis, it's kind of an obvious connection to make. Is that realistic? We'll see, I guess, but um yeah, and the last point I wanted to make about this, you know, Brad Stevens presser, which I by the way I suggest everyone go and listen to it full because yeah, you won't see a more honest um you won't see uh an executive talk about their team or honestly, to be honest in basketball at least, you know. Maybe a different sport, you would, but in basketball, I have not seen a coach, an exec, a player, anyone talk about their team that honestly. Um yeah, but moving on, the last topic, round two, we gotta talk about these series. Um the first one, Knicks Sixers, which is now over because the Knicks have swept uh 4-0. Three of the games are basically comfortable. Game two was close, but it kind of always felt like the Knicks were gonna pull that out. Um and really I pr I predicted Knicks and five before the series. Um, and more or less, this is what I expected. I don't think I don't think the Sixers could hang with them at all. Uh the Knicks five out offense with Kat, you know, as a hub of the offense, if you want to call it that, was just I mean, the Sixers had no answer for that, you know, back cuts, you know, the driving lanes, all that stuff. I mean, the pick and roll game with Embiid not being the same, you know, in terms of the mobility, they just couldn't guard the Knicks even a little bit. Um, and the fact that the Knicks were able to handle them in Philly without OG just shows like these teams are not on the same level uh in the slightest. Um so yeah, I mean I said before the year, the Knicks or in the summer, even the Knicks were right to fire Thibs, and hopefully, I think this series and in general the playoffs should um show you why they were validated in doing that. Because, you know, Mike Brown, who is not like you know, a top-tier coach, this is not Greg Pavovich in his prime, Steve Kerr in his prime, Phil Jack. This is a good solid coach that lost his job in Sacramento, mind you, has lost his job in multiple places. He's a solid coach, but Mike Brown, I mean, he instilled some offensive principles that we saw in Sacramento, and he's getting way more out of this team offensively. Because last year, I mean, it was just Jalen Brunson or bust, and now it's like he's he's gotten the best version out of Carl Anthony Towns. Um, at 30 years old, he's become the passer that we all thought he could be, the playmaker that we thought he could be. Um, you know, he's become much better on defense, too. Um, so yeah, despite them making the conference finals last season, they're making it this year, and anyone who's watching can tell you it looks a whole lot different, right? Um yeah, I'm expecting, you know, I said the all year I thought the Knicks were gonna win the East. Coming into the year, I said if the Knicks or the Cavs don't win the East, they need to fold it up. Um, but um, yeah, I would say the Knicks look like pretty convincing favorites right now. Um, but my only nitpick on the Knicks, right? And I think everybody is kind of like bending the knee on the Knicks, like, yep, they're the top team in the East, and I agree with them. My only nitpick would be I don't really rate the Hawks or the Sixers as opponents. And to be honest with you, I was a little surprised the Hawks were even able to get uh two wins off the off the Knicks in the first place. Like I just felt like the talent on paper was nowhere near the same. And to be fair, I know Knicks fans are gonna be like, oh, everybody said we were gonna it was gonna be a tough series with the Hawks, tough series with the Sixers. Not me. I was not one of saying that. I thought it was a mismatch from the jump. Um, and to be also to be fair, like, yeah, if you don't think the Sixers and Hawks are any good, the Knicks did what they're supposed to do against teams that are not on their level, so yeah. Um Yeah, going forward for the Knicks, they're gonna play either the Cavs or the Pistons. To me, they would beat the Cavs in five or six games rather comfortably, but I think the Pistons matchup is a lot tougher and would be pretty even, honestly. Like, just I mean, I've not thought about it deeply, but like, first of all, you've got um you've got Assar Thompson, who's possibly the best at guarding Jalen Brunson in the whole league. Um, I mean these two teams played last year, like I said, and it was a very even series. I would say the Pistons are a little better than they were last year. The Knicks, I would say, are a good amount better than they were last year. So I think that would be a six or seven tight game series. And really, I don't know who would win as of right now. I would probably lean towards the Knicks, but it would be a tight series, in my opinion. Um, so yeah, that's all on the Knicks for the Sixers. Despite losing in somewhat embarrassing fashion, I mean, you know, especially having your arena taken over by the opposition fans, which is again, by the way. Um despite all that, yeah, it kind of has to be looked at as a successful season for them, really, for the franchise. Like, first of all, I'm sure their fans are thrilled to get one over on the Celtics finally. Um, their first time being the Celtics since 1982 in a series. Um, BJ Eshcomb very much looks like a future building block. Uh Maxie continues to get better, I would say, even if there are still holes in his game. But Embiid ended a season where he doesn't need surgery. He's gonna be presumably more healthy, you would think, next season. I mean, I don't know. Um, Paul George actually looked like I'm not gonna say looked like Paul George because Paul George at his best was, you know, an all-NBA player. But he looked like a really good player at the very least, and he gave you high-level play, I would say. Um now that could be a reason that the reason for that could be that he got you know a third of the season off because of suspension, but at least he gave you high-level play that you were hoping for when you sign into a match deal. Um, and maybe that could make him more tradable or what can we see. Um But the issue for them is that um the rest of the roster on the on the margins is atrocious, like absolutely horrible. Like Andre Drummond, Kelly Ubre, uh even Grimes is not very impressive. Uh Justin Edwards, like uh Adam Bona, like this is not a good crew in the slightest. Um, I don't know what Maury has been doing for the last like 18 months. Like, and then when you think about the fact that they've let go of you know Paul Reed, who looks amazing whenever the Pistons let him play, Isaiah Joe, who's you know, not anything crazy, but like, you know, a bench shooter could go a long way for this for this team, especially the lack shooting. Um champaigning on the Spurs, like, yeah, he would start on this team over Kelly Ubre very clearly. Um, and then of course Jerry McCain, they traded to OKC for uh, I believe one first, which was the Rockets pick. Like those four guys, if they're on the team, like what does the team look like? You know, like first of all, I don't think they'll be a seven seed, they'd be a much higher seed, and then like maybe they avoid the Knicks and they get a much favorable matchup. Like, I mean, the fact just that thinking about that is kind of crazy. Like, yeah, Maury needs-I mean, there've been reports that he might get fired, who knows, right? But he needs to put like real peace on this team because the rest of the roster outside that top four is horrible, like really horrible. Um, and like what does Embiid look like going forward? Like, personally, I just think it is what it is with him. He's not really someone you can count on at this point. Like, he's gonna be injured, he's gonna deal with stuff, like he's just kind of been the theme with Embiid throughout his career. Like, it is what it is. Um, as long as he's on the court, I think he's gonna be able to score at a high level, like forever. Like, to me, he's just he's just too skilled to not be able to score the basketball. I think the issue with Embiid is that he's lost a lot of mobility on defense. He's in terms of like his lift, he's not really there consistently. Like, he doesn't look to dunk often, he doesn't look to dump jump for rebounds often. Like, yeah, I just don't think you can like carry forward expecting MB to be anywhere close to what he was in you know 23, 24, 22. Um, and really the franchise is VJ and Maxi going forward, uh, whatever you think that is. But um, yeah, that's all on Knicks Sixers. Moving on, Cavs Pistons. I mean, this this series has gone exactly how I expected it. Exactly. And the biggest question going forward now at 2-2 is are the Cav leaders capable of showing up on the road? I mean, I mean, it's just baffling that a veteran team like this with guys with extensive playoff history, like you know, Mobley and Jerry Allen, it's not them, it's not a ton, it's some playoff experience, but Harden, loads of playoff experience. Mitchell, loads of playoff experience. Uh Max Struess, loads of playoff experience. Dennis Schroeder, a really a lot, a lot of playoff experience. The fact this team cannot play like coherent offense on the road is just it's crazy to me. And like the watching them on home, it's completely different. Like, for whatever reason, Donovan Mitchell and James Harden only play well offensively at home. It's just it's just crazy to me. Like, and I and I know that Mobley and Jerry Allen catch a lot of the flack, but people need to watch the game and realize these guys are covering up a lot on defense on defense for these perimeter guys, you know, like they're outside Dean Wade, they're really small in their perimeter. Um, Harden and Mitchell's defensive effort can be can be pretty bad. So, yeah, I know you look at the box score and Mobile only has one rebound, you're like, what the hell is he doing? And it's like you watch the game and he's covering up for three guys at the rim. It's like, yeah, no shade he can't get a rebound, and he's always rotating over to block the shot or something like that. Like, um, and offensively, like, Harden is the only one that can really create for them good looks because that's not really Mitchell's game. Like, he's an immensely talented scorer, but when he has the ball in his hand, he's looking to get to his floater in that mid-range area or a step back three. That's like 80% of his offense, really. So, I mean, that's not you know, that doesn't help the two bigs get easier shots. And really, the offense is the Harden is the key to the offense because he gets deep in the paint, he can, you know, throw a lob to one of the bigs, he can find uh Mobley or Jared Allen in the short roll, he can drive, kick it to a shooter. He opens up the offense for everyone else to get easy shots. Um, and even Mitchell that he got going playing off ball with Harden, and then he just caught crazy fire by himself. But like Harden is the key for the Cavs offense. I really do believe that. Um, and this series is gonna come down to can he do it on the road? Can the Cavs as a whole team play offense on the road? I mean, it's kind of baffling to me to watch it. But from the Pistons perspective, I mean Cade and Durin, especially. I mean, they really struggled bad in uh Cleveland. I mean, Durin, I don't know what he was doing in game four, like just throwing up weak shots to the rim, just late on defense, just you know, charges and all like turnovers and turnovers of Cade, especially. I mean, and the thing with Cade is like, you know, what's funny is like whenever you watch the Pistons, the commentary at one point will talk about how Cade Cunningham plays with so much poise, he plays at his own pace, uh, you can't speed him up, and then the next possession, he'll throw the ball out of bounds to someone in the front row. And it's like, what the what the hell is going on? Like, uh, his turnovers are really baffling to me. Um, and I don't think it's like people will say, like, oh, it's because of spacing. I don't think so. I think he's just a little bit sloppy with the ball for whatever reason. Um, yeah, and Duran is just his lack of impact is crazy out there. It's like literally doing nothing. Um, and then whenever in these last two games, like JB Bickerstaff has gone to Paul Reed as like a upbreaking case of emergency, and he's made a huge impact in both times, and he very clearly looks like their best big man in this series so far. Um, so yeah, I mean, you know, those NBA politics are crazy, bro. Like Jalen Duran, first round pick, you know, all-star, probably gonna be all NBA, big name player, he has to start. Isaiah Stewart, um, he's gonna he paid an extension. Um, I don't know if he did make all defense, I'm not really sure, but he's all defense caliber player, big name, somewhat big name player. He has to play. Paul Reed, can you can argue it might be better than both of them, but he can't see the floor because he's Paul Reed. You know, it's kind of crazy how it is. But um, yeah, we'll see. Does JB fold and just play Paul Reed way more? Because it looks like that's what the series needs for them. Um before the series, I had Pistons and seven, largely because the Cavs, for whatever reason, can't play offense on the road, and through four games, I feel the exact same way. Like Pistons and seven feels like the most you know, most likely outcome. Um and I will say, I do believe the Pistons at their best, the Cavs at their best. I think the Cavs would be the better team. But for whatever reason, we don't see that version of the Cavs at home. Um, and to be fair, the Cavs, I think their defense on the road has been pretty good. Like I said, the issue for them is that their two-star offensive players, James Harden and Darling Mitchell, have been quite bipolar based on where they're playing. Um so yeah, game five will be massive. Um whoever wins that team wins the series. But um, yeah, a hilarious series in one way or another. And moving on to Spurs and Wolves, a series that has had me change my opinion, like multiple times. Um before the start of the series, I had the Spurs winning it, but I don't really I didn't really like couldn't really have a good feel for how many games, mostly because of Ant's you know knee, like it came out late that he's gonna play game one. Um, and then after game one, I was really worried about the Spurs because it looked like it was an absolute slog for them to score in the half court in that. And the fact that Ant came back and looked, you know, pretty comfortable on offense, despite not being close to 100%. Like he's clearly like he's not in you know peak condition, he clearly doesn't have his lift at the rim, like he'd be dunking guys if he was 100% healthy right now. So at that point, I was like, oh, this looks like the wolves might be might be better. And then after game two and game three, I was like, Alright, the Spurs look at the bear team, and I thought they're gonna win this in five or six, um, because the wolves just can't score. And um, but then game four, Vembi gets ejected pretty early, by the way, of extremely deserved ejection, and Vemby is pretty fortunate to not be suspended. Now, ultimately, I think all of us that's not a wolves fan is happy he didn't get suspended because you want to watch you know stars go out and whatnot. But if they had suspended him, it would have been earned. Nobody can be like, oh, they're that's too hard. Nobody can be like that. That would have been earned suspension. And the only reason to me he didn't get suspended is one or two reasons, I should say actually. One of them, he has no prior history of ejections or you know, cheap shots or whatever you want to. Call it because if that was and people say, Oh, if that was Draymond, he would have been out for three months. Well, yeah, because Draymond Green stalked his own teammate, bro. Um, and I saw a lot of people comparing it to the Ronald Test who got a seven-game suspension because yeah, because Ronald Test ran the stadium and beat up a fan that threw a beer at him, dude. Um, yeah, like I said, he has no prior history, and two is Wemby. They're not gonna suspend Wemby unless it's egregious. Like, we just can't be surprised at this point, and it would be the same thing if it was I don't know, SGA or LeBron or whoever, right? It would be the same thing. Um, yeah, and the huge issue for the Wolves in this series has been that everybody but Ant looks frozen on offense, and it's one thing for that to be the case when Wemby's on the floor, but in game four, uh Wemby was not on the floor for the majority of the game. It was Luke Cornet, and then there were times where it was no center. So the fact that you still everybody looks like lost on offense, or looks like they can't do anything on offense, that's a huge issue to me. Um, Julius Randle has been a complete disaster. He just he's more turnovers than assists, I believe. Uh JD McDaniels has been scared to shoot the three-pointer for good reason because he's been an absolute brick from three, and the Spurs are daring him to shoot the ball. Um, Rudy Gobert, I mean, generally he has his own issues on offense, you know, in terms of finishing at the rim, free throws, turnovers, yada yada. Um, and the biggest issue has been that whenever they double Anthony Edwards, just the Wolves just look like it's their first time experiencing double team ever. Like it's crazy. Um, and I think the biggest reason for that is that Dante DiVincenzo being out because for one, he's outside Ant, their most aggressive three-point shooter. Like any space, he's pulling that, you know, and he's making it a good clip. Um, two, he's like a good connector type player where he can get the ball from Ant and then drive and dish to someone in the short roll or wherever, you know. He's a good release valve in that way for Ant. And three, I don't know if people remember this, but last year when Ant was talking about you know the Lakers throwing up a bunch of different coverages at him, he mentioned that DiVincenzo was like a coach on the floor for him and telling him how to break the defense and what he's seeing and all that. So that to me is that's gotta be a huge factor in this set as well. Um, so yeah. And moving on to the Spurs side, I mean, the biggest issue for me for them is that De'Aaron Fox has been a massive disappointment in this series. Um, and the whole time I'm watching him play, I'm just like, I want to watch more Dylan Harper because that guy, first of all, is incredible. Second of all, he looks better than De'Aaron Fox, you know, like De'Aaron Fox doesn't really get to the rim like that anymore now that he's lost a step. Like, he's basically at this point a mid-range jump shot player. Like, he gets to the rim occasionally, but he's not really getting to the rim that often. Like, even Steph Castle gets to the rim, you know, way more. Of course, you know, part of that is playing with Wemby. But like, yeah, I mean, De'Aaron Fox is just as a you know primary perimeter option at this point in his career, he's just not that, you know. And I Dylan Harper, he gets the rim. Tefon Castle, for all his rewards, he wants somebody can't shoot yada, he gets the rim and the free throw line. Um, and De'Aaron Fox has not been able to do that in this series, and I don't think he did that well against Portland either. But um, yeah, I mean, for the rest of the series, I'm expecting the Spurs to win this in six games. Alright, I think they'll win the next two. Um, I just feel like the wolves are kind of drawing blank on offense. And when Wemby comes back for game five, he of course opens up you know the five out spacing, the lob threat, the offensive rebounds, all that stuff. His own, you know, alien shit on offense where he shoots fadeaways and shoots threes and all that. So I think once he comes back and they get their they get the Wemby stimulus on offense, I don't think the Wolves can hang with the Spurs like that. And I think this should be over in six games. Um, and I expect the Wolves, I mean the Spurs, to continue to double team Ant a lot because nobody else on offense seems to do anything, and the Wolves do not handle these doubles well. Um, so yeah, that's it on that. And the last series, OKC Lakers, which is now over. Bro, I did not watch this series at all. I watched the last 40 seconds of game four when the Lakers got eliminated, but yeah, I didn't watch any of this shit. But um, yeah. You know, one thing I want to mention that it's kind of disappointing that OKC's tile defense has been this uneventful. Now, to be fair, they can only beat what's in front of them. Like, I'm not blaming them, but like, come on, I want to see the NBA champs, you know, play someone, you know, at least that has a chance to beat them. Like, the Suns had no chance. The Lakers without Luca had no chance, even with Luca, where they really I mean they probably would have won a game or two, maybe, right? But even then, like those regular season matchups of uh OKC and the Lakers were not even like competitive in the slightest. So it is kind of disappointing to see, like, to not have them even really break a sweat. Like, I guess you could say game four, they broke a sweat, but yeah. Um, pretty uneventful title defense so far. Uh but that's it. That's all I got this week. We'll be back next week. Probably some more Premier League stuff to get into. Um, it looks like Arsenal are gonna wrap the league up. But um, yeah, see you then.