Tanking , Flopping and The NBA Finals

We will break down Tanking and Flopping and how bad it is for the league. Then discuss ramifications for the losers in the conference Finals and select our Pick to win the NBA FINALS!!!!

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Alrighty guys, and we're back. It's episode five, Truth Behind the Numbers, Real Talk, Real Numbers, Real Truth. If you have not checked out episode four, we were on the road. Go check it out. Had a special guest, Isaiah Spex. Also, shout out to my boy Reese Gus and the Fist for the merch today in the video. Y'all check him out. Go watch him live. He's on tour. Stream his music. Count on me, mama's boy, and roots, to name a few, because these roots run deep. Now, on today's episode, we're going to break down a couple of things. Tanking and how bad it is, some of the rules that Adam Silver has changed recently to try to prevent tanking. Flopping is a very big topic right now in the NBA world, especially when it comes down to Shay. And we're going to break down and see if this is a fair critique of Shay, or should we be talking more to the NBA and to the referees? The conference finals, the winners, the losers, more we're going to focus on the losers in those conference finals and what can change for those two teams based on how those series went. And then the finals. I correctly selected the Spurs versus the Knicks. There's some fans who have yet to come out and say that they were wrong. The Davin Smith. You said Thunder were going, you're wrong. So we'll see how all this goes by the end of it. Before we get started, I will let you guys know by the end of this my finals pick and in how many games. And we'll go from there, guys. So let's hit tanking. So the problem of tanking is a very interesting thing that they waited till now to try to change it. You know, like there's more, and I think what really forced their hand was the growth of betting on the sport. Because when the process was happening and they were losing on purpose, it wasn't as much of a thing. Um people were already sitting people at the end of the season that's at Anthony Davis that year before we got traded to the Lakers. Like, this has been a thing. Like teams have always tanked because they were incentivized to tank. If me losing more games gives me a better chance at getting the generational talents, the Wimby's, the Spurs tank to get Wimby. Like the Wimby's, the Lucas, the Anthony Davis's, the LeBron, the Derek Row. Like when these generational talents come through, and my league is incentivizing the worst team to have the best chance. I mean, I gotta do what I've been coerced to do to better my team. So let's go through a couple of these rules. I think two of them are the most important, and it'll show you a little bit what happens. So, one is there's no repeat number one pick. So if you get the number one pick this year, you can't then get it the next year, which I guess kind of incentivizes you to, after you bad, try to win a little bit more. Then no three straight top five picks. So this would have happened with the Cavaliers when they got Kyrie and Anthony Bennett. Then that last one, they got Andrew Wiggins in the span of three years. And so it would have happened that year, and that changes the course of history because they used Andrew Wiggins to then trade for Kevin Love, which then eventually got LeBron to come and they won a championship. So that would have just changed that whole that wouldn't have happened, right? Because they would have been eligible for the top five pick. So those two are some of the ones that I think are very important, and I think them expanding the lottery from 14 to 16, you add more teams. And now you have a lower chance of getting the pick if you're the worst team. It's almost best to be between four and ten. So, like being a young team, trying to strive for something like an Atlanta, like get it a little closer, or um a Charlotte, how they're playing right now. Like stay in that range where you might have a chance to get a high pick, but you're also developing your players. So now, do I think Tanking's gonna end in a whole at a whole as a whole, like you're not gonna say it again? No, I think there's gonna be times where by the end of the season, and say you won some, and it's like, okay, I want too many games, they're gonna still tank. I just think you'll have less egregious, it'll be less obvious to most people, but people are gonna try to get the best picks and the best players on their team, and that's all you're gonna have to do. Now, there was one team, the Memphis Grizzlies. They're about to be penalized for this as this goes into effect because they traded Jaron Jackson Jr. to the Jazz for three first-round picks back to back to back. But they can't be top five because they've already been top in the top picks over the last couple of years, consecutive top five picks. So now it's like, would I really traded Jaron Jackson for just those picks if I knew ahead of time that y'all are going to change the rules? So, like that stuff like that. I think this should go into effect after deals like that have been made, but you know, this is on Adam Silver make those decisions, not me. Um, so that's kind of all I got for tanking. I think it's a little less prevalent than what it's been talked about. I think the NBA is a unique league that has multiple hundreds of people talking about the sport at all times. And it's always what's wrong with it. I I think we rarely hear how good the game is, how the parity of the NBA has now caught up to a lot of other leagues. Before it used to be the same teams winning over and over again, and now we've had in the last four years, different teams represent the East and the West. And so now we're about to have our eighth different champion. Like it's eight straight years, but a different champion. Like that's that's those are the things there where you're like, okay, this is this is what you want as a league. You want fans to believe that if they're a small city team, if they're a big city team, if they have stars, they have young pieces, they have all these things, they have a team who's been through the fire and they're getting a little older and they're trying to they crack through the window at the last second. Like, you want people to believe their team has a chance because they believe their team has a chance, they show up, they buy tickets, they support. If they think like, oh, it's gonna be Golden State and the Cavaliers the next four years, there's less uh speculation, less storylines for the seat for the season as itself, as a whole. Now on the flopping. So let's put it like this I think Shay has taken the mantle of flopping, and I think the media has gone a bit too far. And Adam Silver himself said there's a difference between trying to trick the referee, like you actually weren't hit, and then you fall, and then you being hit and you embellishing the contact to make it more obvious that you were hit, right? So those are two different things. So let's attack the first one. The first one is you trying to trick the rest. That I think needs to be out of the game. I think that if you do something, a reaction to something that never happened, so like a person goes like this, you they swipe past your face, and you don't get hit, and you go and you throw your head back, you should be fined for that. Now, if the person hits my face and maybe it's like this, and I, you know, throw my head back, if I got hit in the face, if I get hit in the arm, it's on me. Now, listen, that's not does not mean that the ref has to call that foul. But if I want to have the more likelihood of me getting a foul, and if I throw my arm at the way and I throw the ball up, a less chance of me making the shot. That's my decision. And it's on the refs to make the decision on how they're calling the games. Now, I do think the way the playoffs went was consistent with all regular season playoff changes and calls as happened over the last 75 plus years of the NBA being around. It's always this is a regular season call, this is a playoff call. This is regular season physicality, this is playoff physicality. It always ramps up. So I don't want to sit here and go at Shay, which again, let's not take away from his greatness. He's a two-time MVP for a reason. His team was the number one seed for the last three years for a reason. He didn't have Jay Will playing all year, and he's still performing one for a reason. He has averaged 30-something points for three straight years on 50% shooting for a reason. So flopping fouls, all that aside, if it was that easy, everyone would do it. So now, because he plays that certain type of way, is it harder for him to adjust than most players? Yes. So then when they let the Spurs be physical with him, is it harder for him to like turn off the oh, I'm getting hit? Yes, because it took him to game seven. And if you watch game seven, he did not fall at all. And he had 35 points. And then he was like six for seven, six for nine, six for eight, something like that from mid-range. Like bump, step back, mile in your face. Like those are the things there. It's like, don't get away from how talented he is while also being able to talk about how he does use embellishing of calls. I don't want to call it flopping. Flopping, I think, is the act of doing something when you haven't been hit. Embellishing a call is you trying to sell something that actually did happen. Right? So I don't think there's any rules other than if you actually flop where you were not contacted and you exaggerate and you get a call call, you should be fined for it. If you embellish a call, that is on you, because then it's on the ref to make the judgment call of was that hit hard enough for me to blow this whistle, which is different in the regular season, to the playoffs, which I don't like, and I think the most people who are playoff risers or able to stay the same are people who don't embellish as much. Like you never worried about Shaq flopping because Shaq just played through the contact. You never worried about Giannis flopping because he just plays through the contact. Like Steph, he gets bumped all year and he gets to the playoffs. When he gets bumped, it doesn't phase him because he's used to that, right? And so like I think there's an adjustment phase for Shay where he can do a little less embellishing so that when the postseason comes and it gets more physical, he's prepared for it. Alright. So that's all I have for the flopping, and if it's bad for the league. Now, I I think the league is in a really good spot, and I think, again, only the NBA gets this. It's the only sport that gets this type of ridicule and uh disparaging upon what's actually going on rather than the other leagues. Like, no one talks like there's brief moments they talk about how the quarterbacks don't get touched. Then they're like, oh, that's good for the game. It's it's perfect, that's good. And now they're moving on. And they talk about in the NFL, like how the receivers are allowed to do these things, the DBs can't touch them. Like, every other league is pushing the chips towards the offensive side, but the only one getting talked about the most is the NBA. Like every sport is pushing the chips towards the offensive side. Why? Because the consumer wants action. Yes, they are a sport, but they also are entertainment. So we have to understand they're going to cater toward what people pay for. Right? So that's what I think it is. I think flopping is okay. I mean, I think the embellishing of contact is fine. Flopping is not okay. Tanking is not as bad as they say it is, it's gonna be about how it used to be. I don't think that's a big problem either. I think the NBA is in a great spot. I think we have great basketball, I think we had great games throughout the entire playoffs, and I think we're gonna have a great NBA finals. So going to the conference finals, this is where in a series when people say how do you say that, a loss is a loss. Yes and no. Okay, let's see. That's a great example. So when in 07 the Cavaliers got to the finals and they got swept. Whether they got swept or lost in six wasn't gonna change the thought upon the Cavaliers. I think they were gonna just be what they were, they got there, they probably weren't supposed to be there. It's cool. A loss is a loss. But when you are projected to be a championship contender, you're projected to push a series six, push a series seven, like to have a chance to go to the finals, and in the Cavaliers instance, you trade for James Harden and you give away Darien Garland so you can have somebody who could better help Donovan Mitchell in the playoffs, and you are making these moves to go to the NBA Finals when you get swept versus you losing in game seven. If they would have lost in game seven to the Knicks, there's a total different response than them getting swept. You getting swept to the Knicks shows you are further away than you really thought you were. Right? So now there's questions you have to answer. You can't bring this team back. Like you're not like young, like, oh, these guys are gonna come back better. No, the James Harris are getting older. Don Mitchell's still gonna be a 6'2 miniature size guard. Mobile them still ain't gonna be scores, and you still don't have a three who's consistent. So you have to go and throw caution at the win because your window is closing, right? Because you gotta think about this. The Knicks won this year. Boston's gonna come back better. Indiana's gonna be back because Halliburton's gonna be back. You have um Atlanta's gonna be better, Charlotte's gonna be better. What will the Wizards look like if they keep Trey and Anthony Davis, if they get AJ Devansa? Like, is Orlando gonna be better? Detroit's gonna come back. Like, there's a bunch of teams in the East that you have to now compete with, and it's like, did you show enough? Like, oh, we're one small piece away. 4-0 is not one small piece away. That is a we're in different leagues. All right. So that's what I think the Cavaliers have to think about, and I think if I was them, I'm trying everything in my power, no matter what you want. I don't care if it's Mobley and Allen, I don't care if it's Mobley and the Tyson kid. Even if it's for one year, I want to get Giannis. I will trade you whatever you want. I want Giannis and Donovan Mitchell. And even if it's for a year, ask Toronto how they feel about their championship. Ask Milwaukee how many they got, and they had Giannis for six years, they got one. Ask Denford how many they got, they got one. Ask uh Boston how they feel, they got one. Ask OC, OKC how they feel, they got one. So, like, you're not running two, three, four in a row. That's not happening anymore. So, what can you do for a year to give you the best opportunity? And then after that, if we can sustain our health, we maybe can run it back. But our number one priority is what can I do this year to slam the door and say we're going to the finals. Which is why when you think about it, because there was this stuff going on, and the reason I bring up these things, because they talked about whether or not because the Cavaliers can possibly go for him, go for LeBron. If LeBron leaves and goes to Cleveland again, was his tenure with the Lakers a success or a failure? And I'm gonna run this down to you. So in his tenure with the Lakers, he's a championship, two Western Conference final appearances, I think like six All-NBAs, seven or eight all-stars, right? So he got to LA in 2018, it's 2026. In that eight-year span, no team has more success than the Lakers. So in 2018, that's out of the last year, that's when the Raptors won. The Raptors won a championship. They haven't been back since. Okay. Then in 2019, that was the Bucks year. I believe. Yep, the Bucs won that year. They've been to one conference finals. 2020. Lakers go. Win the championship, and they went back to those conference finals in 2023. 2021 was the 121. Hold on, let me pull this up. I won't give you guys the correct information. 21 was nuggets. Sorry. 19 was the Raptors. 20 was the Lakers. Yes. 21 was the Bucks. They haven't been back since. Then Golden State gets 1-22. They haven't been back to a conference final. They've been out the playoffs multiple years. The Denver Nuggets, they've been to two conference uh championships in that span. One-one championship haven't been back since they won. The Boston Celtics went to two conference championships. One-one went to thing won a championship in 2024, have not been back since. They lost in the first round. And the Oklahoma City Thunder won last year, they went to West Copper Finals. Two West Copper Finals for them as well. And they just lost the second when now the Spurs are there. So if LeBron's eight-year span in LA was a failure, Jason Tatum's career with Boston is a failure. Giannis's career with Milwaukee was a failure. Denver and Jokic's uh term is a failure. So far, OKC has been a failure. Why with the Raptors was a failure. And Golden State over the last eight years have also been a failure. So that is the objectivity of the entire eight years and where the league has gone. Right? So that's what I'm like. I believe it was some crazy stat that since LeBron and Katie left the warrior, LeBron went to the Lakers, yada, and he left. Since then, I believe the only champion to go to the conference finals the following year has been the OKC Thunder, if I'm not mistaken. I could be wrong, I think one more team. But everyone had lost in like the first round. And it's like, so no one's going back to back. No one's doing all these things. So how could you say that someone's tenure for eight years when the normal phase of a career, not if everybody else is a failure, then I guess no one has been successful over the last eight years. And that is okay. If that is your stance, take your stance. But don't say one person was a failure due to preconceived biases you may or may not have towards said player. Me personally, I don't think with James Harden and Don Dam Mitchell in the backcourt, LeBron should leave LA and go to Cleveland. And the reason being is two non-defenders in the backcourt who can score in kind of assist versus two better versions of that in LA. Why would you leave? All right. So we'll see where he goes. I might put out a video later breaking down where I think the best fits might be for him. If it's Golden State, if it's Cleveland, if it's LA, if it's uh New York, if they happen to lose, if it's San Antonio, if they happen to lose, like all the different places. Miami, XYZ. So going on to the other side, to the Thunder. I think the Thunder would have run it all the way back without any notions of changing anything based on the injuries to Jay Will and to AJ Mitchell if Chet Holmgren didn't disappear, took his tail, and just not perform. And I think it was Reggie Miller or Jamal Crawford who said it on the broadcast. And they were like, I'd rather you be one for 15 than to be one for two. How do you, as the second option on a championship level team, the all-star, the third team all NBA guy, how do you go in entire game seven only taking two shots? And there's been three players to score two or less in game sevens, who are also like all NBA like players, right? Chris Bosch game seven against the San Antonio Spurs in the finals in which they won. Jay Kidd in game seven in the NBA final, I believe, as well. He scored zero in the game they lost. And then Ray Allen with the Boston Celtics in game seven, the game they won to beat the in 08, he had also had zero points. So the only other main somewhat guy is probably Jake Hid. Chris Bob was a third fiddle, believe the way that game went, it just went out of his way. They weren't playing to him. And then Ray Allen was a third, fourth fiddle as well. But then you go even further, right? And say, okay, well, players who played 30 minutes minimum, 35 minutes in the playoffs, in a uh winner-go home game, not even just all-stars, like anybody. There's only four of the people who had the worst games in him, and it was like Damon Jones and uh Irvin Johnson, not Magic Irvin Johnson, some random dude named Irving Johnson. Like it's very like he had one of the worst games you could play in a playoff game as a decide in a deciding game you've ever seen in the NBA. If he performs and he goes one for 15, he's had a bad game. I think the OK Center, like OK Center, were like, okay, maybe we just run it back, get healthy, get J Dub healthy, get AJ Mitchell healthy, you know, see what we can do with Dort or Hartenstein and all that. But now that you see that the Spurs are not afraid of you, the Spurs are not getting worse, they're only getting better. Because Dylan Harper's a problem, Castle's a problem, Pafel and Carter Bryant are all problems. And you still have Wimby and Cornett is a great pickup. You have all these players, like you still got De'Aaron Fox by the name. So they're not getting worse, they're only getting better. Sam Presley has a chance to do something out of this world. Do you leverage your picks? Do you go and get Giannis out of the compound? Give up Chet. Give up like maybe a Casey and Wallace and some picks and go get Giannis. Do you do that? Or do you go to the Wizards and try to get Anthony Davis for a cheaper price? They want to go, yeah, Chet and AJ DeBonzo. I see it. Right? So do you do that? Because I, again, I just don't think the windows for championships are as big as they used to be. So I think Chet has put Sam Presti on a I don't want to say hot seat, but like a, I gotta make a decision right now that's probably gonna define our next three to five years, whether or not we're gonna be making finals, having a chance, or we're gonna be second, third round exits every single year. Because the Spurs are going nowhere, and if we have to go through Victor Wimbin Yama, the alien, we're gonna have a problem. And speaking of Victor Wimbin Yama, let's get on to the finals, guys. Now, before we get to the finals, this right here, the Larry O'Brien Trophy. This right here will be handed by the end of game six in San Antonio. This will be handed the twenty-five to twenty-six season. Your National Basketball Association, champion of the world, yes, no allows the world, the San Antonio Spurs. That's my pick. N6 the Riverwalk will be dyed gold, tacos all over the place. Charles Barley and I'm gonna be down there. It's gonna be crazy. Y'all stay safe in San Antonio at the game six. Now, let's break down these finals. I don't think now, the only thing is how long are you gonna play Mitchell Robinson? I think the Spurs, based on their their defensive plan, the Knicks will have to bench Mitchell Robinson at some point. Now, the reason I say that is because if you allow Wimby to just guard Mitchell Robinson and him stay in drop coverage, you're not getting any layups or any ducks the entire night. Now, if he has to guard Kat, oh, he got to guard Kat. Because one thing about Kat, he might be the greatest three-point shooter of a big man you've ever seen. So that changes the game. Because now Wimby is out. Now they might pick somebody, but if you have a Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, uh, or even Landry Shaman, who've been shooting the thing at the ball. You got Mikhail Bridges, you got OG, you got like, you put all shoes on the floor. Jordan Clarkson, Brunson, like you put all shoes on the floor with Kat. Who do you leave open? And are they willing to leave them open the entire game? That's gonna be the chess match right there. The big chess match on who's Wimby's able to guard and not, right? And also, everyone is attacking Becky Hammond because she says she don't think you can win a championship with Jalen Brunson as your 1A. And because they made it there, they're like, oh look, Brunson was MP, yada yada. That proves that she was wrong. Not really. If you were watching the games, what Mike Brown has done is he's made Jalen Brunson the second option without him being a second option. You're like, what? How did he do that? He has put the ball in Carl Anthony Towns' hands. Because at first, when she was saying Jalen Brunson couldn't do it, is when Jalen Brunson had the ball in his hands, his uterus rate was high, he was ball dominant, creating everything. That's when she said you can't win with him being a 1-A. Carl Anthony Towns had the ball now. He's coming down against Biggs, making his read, attacking him, and then you get Jalen Brunson coming off this backside action. Now, Kat's first option is if he gets to the rim, he can go score. He's the open shot, he can go score. But now he's occupied the defense. So now Jalen Brunson's running off, able to drop it off to him. Now he's getting an advantage, gets in the split stance, gets a person on the shoulder, which is where he's the most deadliest. Boom, bump you to my little float. Right? So she's not wrong. Because they're not playing ball-dominant Jalen Brunson anymore. The ball is whipping around the corner, they're whipping around the horn, bop, bop, bow, pump, fake, drive, kick, pump, fake, drive, kick. Ooh, open three for OG. MIDI for Mikhail. Like, that is what has changed with the Knicks. The fact they had a game where they had 130 points and nobody scored over, I think it was 20, 16 or 17 points. Yeah, like four or five people with 15 points. Like, that shows she was right. They're playing like old school Spurs right now. And Mike Brown, Spurs Tree. Like, it don't, I don't think it gets like Greg Popovich deserves some credit for the people he's put out there and how they're playing. Because Golden State Warriors, one of the best offenses. Spurs Tree. Like, it just, you know, it goes together. Um, I do believe they'll lose, the Knicks will lose in six games. I think the amount of wear and tear that Brunson may get from those young guns they got in Harper and Bryant, those dudes can guard. And I don't think the way Brunson plays, I don't think he's harder to guard than a Shea. Right? So I think they're gonna be able to turn him over. I think it's gonna require a lot out of Kat. I don't know if Kat can do it consistently enough against Wimby. And Wimby gotta show up, but I think the biggest X Factor is gonna be De'Aaron Fox. If De'Aaron Fox can get back healthy between a couple of days and he comes out there and he starts dropping 15, 20, they're a different team. All right, and I think him starting a series, they won't have a game where they drop because of turnover because he's taking the care of the ball a little better than the young rookies. Well, this is episode five, guys. We went through the tanking, went through the flopping or embellishing of calls, we went through the conference finals and what may or may not change. Talked about the NBA finals. I have the Spurs winning in six. If you don't like the numbers, guys, you don't want the truth. If you don't want the truth, if you want the truth, go find the numbers and you can find them right here on Truth Behind the Numbers, episode five.