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Second-Round Exits: Breaking Down the NBA's Fallen Contenders

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The second round of the NBA playoffs saw the Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets, and Boston Celtics all eliminated, with injuries playing a pivotal role in each team's downfall.

• Analyzing the Cavaliers' future with Donovan Mitchell and whether he should seek a trade to avoid wasting his prime years
• Discussing Evan Mobley's potential as a first option and Darius Garland's ideal role as a third option with his elite assist-to-turnover ratio
• Examining the Warriors' playoff exit after Steph Curry's hamstring injury derailed their championship hopes
• Questioning Steve Kerr's reluctance to play Jonathan Kuminga and potential trade scenarios involving Lauri Markkanen
• Exploring the Nuggets' options after Aaron Gordon's grade two hamstring injury contributed to their Game 7 loss
• Suggesting positional changes for Michael Porter Jr. and potential additions of rim-protecting bigs like Bol Bol
• Addressing the devastating impact of Jason Tatum's Achilles injury on the Celtics' future
• Considering whether Boston should build around Jalen Brown and potential trades involving Porzingis, Holiday, and White

Which eliminated team do you think will bounce back strongest next season? Let me know what trades or offseason moves you think these teams should make!


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Speaker 1:

What's up everybody? It's your favorite show's favorite show Get a Bucket. I'm your host, trayton, as usual, I hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful day. Hey, look, we got to talk about. Well, all right, I'm having a wonderful day I don't know about these NBA teams that lost in the second round, but having a wonderful day. But that's what we're going to talk about the 2025 second round nba playoff breakdown for the losers. Yay, sorry about that. You know, I look, my team lost in the first round, so I, I, if you want to, you know, talk a little trash to me, that's okay. I, I, I, I get it, I get it, I get it.

Speaker 1:

But let's go ahead and break on down here the playoffs, because, again, ladies and gentlemen, this was the second round. We had here the Thunder, the Nuggets, the Wolves, the Warriors, and then the Cavs, the Pacers, the Knicks and the Celtics. These were good rounds. I got to say this was pretty entertaining. We do, yeah, we do have some things to talk about, though it's kind of sad, kind of sad.

Speaker 1:

Let's go ahead and start talking about it, though, because these teams unfortunately lost, like the Cavs, for example. Ladies and gentlemen, the Cavs, all right, so I did expect the Cavs to lose, but it was because Darius Garland's injury early on, that's right, they did have injury issues. And then Donovan Mitchellitchell got injured too. You know, I'm saying like it was. It was kind of tough, right, like, and I started out the the series thinking, damn, who do the pacers have that can actually contain donovan mitchell? And I mean he was going off. I gotta, I gotta give him credit. He also had a little help too, though. Uh, despite what other people was trying to say. But it now makes me wonder well, should we trade donovan mitchell? I'm not a cast fan, I'm just saying wonder, well, should we trade Donovan Mitchell? I'm not a Cavs fan, I'm just saying we in general. But should we trade Donovan Mitchell or should Donovan Mitchell seek a trade? I think it should be the latter. He should seek a trade. Stop trying to be the guy champ. If you're trying to win the championship, put your ego aside. Go get a bucket, go get a championship, please. Unless you believe Evan Mobley's the guy, because Evan Mobley has a one option. It does shake some stuff up Now, I will admit that would make some things a little interesting.

Speaker 1:

Just a question of can he do it? He has the talent? Will the production meet the talent? The potential? I don't know about that one. It's a possibility, but if I'm going to put my hard-earned money on it, I don't know about that one. Now we do have Darius Garland, so maybe if we move Darius Garland from the second option to the third option who knows?

Speaker 1:

I like Darius Garland from a point guard perspective. Solid assist to turnover ratio. He can get me three to one assist turnover ratio, which means every three assists he gets one turnover. That ain't bad. That's pretty damn elite actually. So again, for me Darius Garland should be the third option. He can give me three to one assist.

Speaker 1:

Now, if you are so gung-ho about keeping Donovan Mitchell Cavs fans, you got to consider trading Evan Mobley or Jared Allen. Oh my gosh, if you can't trade them, then you got to trade Donovan Mitchell or run it back, spin the block with it, it's okay. I personally think y'all need to let it go, but it's okay, it's fine if y'all think so. Here's some options for you. If you want to let it go though, I could be a little selfish with it, it could be a little biased, but hey, what happens? If you want to bring LeBron James back? Hell, you know what Some people even said let's go ahead and trade Bronny with him.

Speaker 1:

That could be the first father-son to get traded ever. That would be astonishing. And then you know what? Y'all sit up there and draft Bryce. Hey, he about 6'6", 6'7". Y'all draft him, you know what I mean. Then you got Bronny and Bryce. That's a wonderful storyline right there. That ain't ever happened, I'm just saying. And then imagine if the NBA decides to write another narrative where y'all get a championship'd be cool. But all that to say, donovan, you might not believe in some of that. Seek a trade brother, because you need to, not, you need to stop wasting your prime years, bro. You need to stop wasting your prime years. Seriously, it's, it's hard, it's heartbreaking, it's heartbreaking. But enough about them, boys, because we got other teams to talk about, like the warriors.

Speaker 1:

Ladies and gentlemen, listen, listen, this one was tough. I'm talking about, like you know, all right, maybe I sort of kind of kind of all right, I don't live vicariously through Steph Curry. We 6'3". I'm a little lanky, you know what I'm saying. I like to think I can shoot, you know, depending on the day, but this man be hooping, right.

Speaker 1:

I thought the Warriors had a shot, ladies and gentlemen, realistically at winning a championship this year. They reminded me of the 96 Bulls. Here's the problem Jordan didn't get injured in 96. Steph was out with a hammy injury. Ooh, that hurts. And after that the Wolves just beat that tail I'm talking about dog walked them. And it was so depressing because, again, a couple of things I noted and it's kind of giving me some calls to pause for next year.

Speaker 1:

I still think the Warriors could win, don't get me wrong, they have the talent. I just think it might be time to let go of Jonathan Kaminga. And it's not because of Jonathan Kaminga, the talent, it's because of Steve Kerr. He don't like wings, for whatever reason. I don't want to say black wings, but Jason Tatum, jonathan Kaminga say Black Wings but Jason Tatum, jonathan Kaminga. We starting to have a trend. This is stupid. Steph goes out, jonathan can't get no PT, we can't get not none. Kerr, for real, steve Stephen, seriously, come on bro.

Speaker 1:

Again, I like to think that the Warriors are going to make a trade which makes me think Laurie Marketing might be in the market for the Warriors. I'm sorry, the Warriors might be in the market for Laurie Marketing. There it is. I think that one works out. Here's why Laurie, I say, could be a second option on the championship team. You already got Jimmy, who could slide between two and three options, it's okay. And Draymond already said he wants to only be here for two to three more years. So you have Laurie Markkinen. You pair that with Steph Curry. I think we could work with something like that. Oh, by the way, ain't Lori like seven foot? So you get some height there too.

Speaker 1:

I'm just saying, ladies and gentlemen, you send Jonathan Kaminga on to the jazz. Collier Keontae, george, jonathan Kaminga, jazz could work with that. I think that could be a wonderful trade, because, again, kerr said he don't like Jonathan Kaminga. Actions speak louder than words. But again, though, that's the Warriors. You don't want to waste Steph Curry's prime years Because again, they do remind me of the 96 Bulls.

Speaker 1:

It's just Jordan ain't get injured. It's unfortunate. But that's enough about the Warriors, ladies and gentlemen, because we do have other things to talk about. But I'll talk more about them too, because they have other pieces that we could talk about. Like a Badinsky, can he get better? Other people say he was better than Jonathan Kaminga Hell, no. So, like I said, we'll talk about the Warriors a little bit more in depth only because we got other teams to talk about.

Speaker 1:

But one thing that you can guarantee we're gonna bring up more injuries, like with the nuggets hurts, don't it hurt, bro? All right, like, like, not defending champs, but defending defending champs. You know, I'm saying like that's just, could we talk about the defending, defending defending champs? You know I'm saying like. So the nuggets yeah, they lost aaron gordon for the game seven. He played those tip of the cap to you, dude. But like, yeah, a grade two hammy injury, that's gonna. Yeah, that's gonna, that's gonna take out a lot of folks and he looked injured. He looked, that's the thing he looked injured. So now it makes you wonder what can the nuggets actually do? Because again, the execution I thought they were going to win against OKC and if Aaron Gordon wasn't injured I do believe they would have won. But OKC won, aaron Gordon was injured, that's what actually happened.

Speaker 1:

So now, next year, I would like to see the Nuggets experiment by moving Michael Porter Jr down to the two. I know people are talking about trade, mpj. Let's not forget MPJ was on a bad shoulder. Ladies and gentlemen, it's very tough to attack with a bad shoulder. It's very tough to attack in general. Add a bad shoulder to it, that's a little tricky. So again, he did well for a bad shoulder. So I'd like to see him as their two guard slide Aaron Gordon down to the small forward.

Speaker 1:

Now maybe we can get a power forward or even a center to pair with Jokic, because we acting like Jokic can't play on the perimeter a little bit? He already does that. He can play with any player in the league. So one of my personal picks and personal favorites let Bobo spin the ball. Spin back. Oh, my God, I messed that up. Let Bobo spin the block back and come back to the Nuggets. I like to see that because he would actually fit with his Nuggets team and allow everybody to play their natural positions.

Speaker 1:

But until they do that well, let's also consider someone like a Jackson Hayes or a De'Ron Sharp, because those are players who could play with Nikola Jokic and they're not looked at as trash because again, they're lob threats, they're rim protectors and they can play help side. That's the thing. I don't need them to be a locked down interior presence. I need you to be a lanky person who can, who can stop somebody at the rim occasionally, because they got good defenders along the way, and you got somebody else outside of Aaron Gordon to be your backup center. That's all I'm saying. But if the Nuggets can do that, hey, we're looking at a solid team yet again.

Speaker 1:

If not, we got to remember that Nicola Yoke continues to play with, not an all-star Jamal Murray, michael Porter Jr, aaron Gordon Good players, not all-stars. We got to say that, though. Got to call spade a spade. It is what it is, though, but again, though, that they were hampered by Aaron Gordon's injury, which was the grade two hammy, um, because, yeah, I thought they was about to win first OKC, but again, ladies and gentlemen, that is the end for the Nuggets, uh, so let's go ahead and move on down to the defending champs, which is the Boston Celtics. That's right, ladies and gentlemen. The Boston Celtics Close.

Speaker 1:

I'm sorry, I can't laugh, because you know what my boys you know. Y'all know I'm a Duke fan. Y'all know I'm a Duke fan. Y'all know I'm a Duke fan. I'm trying to get the ring right with the face. He is a dupe nonetheless, and it is heartbreaking to see the injury that he sustained and Achilles injury.

Speaker 1:

Prime years, bro. This could be two years of Jason Tatum. We don't see no more. So now I've been asked what happens Like what should the Celtics do? If I'm being honest with y'all, we could do a couple things. I think they should keep Jalen Brown and maybe look to trade Kristaps Razengis, drew Holiday and Derek White. The great white hope got to go. I'm sorry Everybody got to sell him.

Speaker 1:

Because here's the thing there's been question marks about if Jalen Brown is the number one option. Can he be a number one option? I'm here to tell you, yes, the man can. Did y'all forget? He was finals MVP, and it's not like how people try to talk about Andre Iguodala, but he actually earned that finals MVP. You hear me? He kept Luka in check to his regular season averages, you know what I mean. And then he still did his thing on the offensive end too. So again, someone like JB. Let him run a muck next year. Hell, let Peyton Pritchard start point guard.

Speaker 1:

See what your team look like, because hopefully Jason Tatum can come back to kind of close to what he was. But if not, I think you at least still have a one option in Jalen Brown. So maybe JT can come back as a second option, and then you just got to figure out some pieces. But these trades that I talked about with KP, with Drew Holiday, with Derek White. Maybe that can bring in a third option, or maybe some draft pick that you can develop into a third option. Who knows? I know the Kings you can probably finesse. I don't think Sabonis is up for discussion, but you know what? Maybe you can get DeMar DeRozan and try to get JB and his skill set up, because, remember, demar was the one option. You need mentors nowadays and on-the-job training is something that's very valuable, so maybe that could work. Or Zach Levine, because you mean to tell me Zach can't play with JB and Jason Tatum. You're lying if you think so. So again, there's a couple of options that we can do with the Celtics.

Speaker 1:

The only thing I will say is JB's age. He will be 29 starting the 2026 season and then 30 the 2027 season, and that's probably when Jason Tatum comes back Realistically late 2026, because, again, achilles is a tough injury to come back from. So we realistically talking about him doing 20, 27. And then he really got to shake off the rust too. So like, yeah, what type of Jason Tatum we're going to come back. If that's your thinking and you want to trade Jalen Brown because of that.

Speaker 1:

I understand that, because the prime years you don't want to waste those, I do hear that. But let's not forget too that I think the Lakers did kind of waste Kobe's prime years and we still got two championships because out of that latter part of the years for him. So again, it's not definitive, you got to trade them, but I understand your logic. And then Houston would be a considerable piece, because they got some pieces that I would want to to snag if, if they're available, if I'm Houston though I don't know if I'm going to let them go, but that's another discussion for another day.

Speaker 1:

But again, ladies and gentlemen, you did hear all the losing teams from the second round of the playoffs and I got to say each team were hampered by injuries. But injuries are part of the game, right? So that makes me question which team did you really feel worse foe? Because, yeah, like I said, injuries, yeah, they hurt. But I'm curious, which team do you also think will bounce back? Which team do you think will make the best trades, the best offseason moves coming up? Because offseason is coming up around the corner, ladies and gentlemen. So I hope you all are excited, but I'm definitely excited, so I'm going to let y'all all go because I got to watch some more sports, so I'm grateful that you all have listened. Thank you all for watching. Please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show. My name is Trey. I'm the host.