Welcome into NBA Pulster production of iHeartRadio in the NBA. I'm Sarahustak, NBA analyst for the s Networking Today is Monday, December eighteenth, from our terrific core group of NBA journalists. We're joined now by NBA dot Com Senior writer Sean Powell and Sean. How you doing.
I'm doing great, doing great. We're going to the holiday season. Yeah, on Christmas Day. You have to feel great this time of years.
We got good stuff going on and a lot to get into. And I would like to begin with the Golden State Warriors and what things look like for them. I got a chance to see them up close and personal on Saturday night as they had defeated the Brooklyn Nets. They've won two straight games here in the absence of Draymond Green indefinitely suspended, beating the Portland Trailblazers by four
last night. They if one two, but they had lost their previous three games, four of their prior five, and of course there's a lot of questions surrounding this team. You look though at last night's game against a Trailblazer's steph which is seven points. It was the first time in gosh, as long as we can remember, he didn't hit a three point shot, struggled from the field to a twelve o eight, but he was blistering and helping
the Warriors win on Saturday night. Though Clay has started to put together a couple solid games, the efficiency you've seen from him. Play again another three play with the shot clock at five.
He checked it, returned, fade.
Fire, and hit it in a tough loss to the Clippers. The wins over the Nets and the Trailblazers. Andrew Wiggins with a nice night last night with twenty five points. And you've got some role players that have stepped in and taken on added responsibility, Brandon Pajemski being one of
those individuals. But when you look at this team, look at where they said currently I think right around eleventh there in the Western Conference, Sean, what do you see for the future in some of the uncertainties that sits with where this team and what the roster looks like right now, Given the situation of Draymond Green.
I think the hardest team, in the hardest situation for any dynasty is the breakup period, because then you have to ask yourself some very hard questions with some very key players who are responsible for you winning those championships, and the organization has to make a decision do you elevate players over the team. It's hard. I mean, take Steve, Steve Kerr is going to go down with his guys. You know, those guys have made Steve Kerr rich. Those
guys have put rings, more rings. I guess Steve Kurrs are already had rings coming to the Warriors, but put more rings on his finger. And those guys are going to put Steve Kerr into the Hall of Fame. So there's a sense of loyalty there. There's a sense of
loyalty with Klay Thompson. There's a sense of loyalty with Draymond Green, a sense of Lord tib with Steph Curry, and in a sense with Draymond Green, maybe you don't scold him or get on him like you would a player who wasn't responsible for doing all that for you, Sampany McClay Thompson. You know, would Clay Thompson during his struggles would he still start if he hadn't helped you do all those things? So I can unders stand it
and I can even admire it. To an extent. But the bottom line is, you know, the organization has to make a decision on some of these players and it's not easy. And I think that's where the Warriors are right now. I mean, you know, think about the last couple of days, I mean a couple of games. When did the Warriors start celebrating wins over teams at the
bottom of the Western Conference. That shows you the sense of desperation, as shows you the sense of where they are and where they are right now, Sarah is you know Bill Parcells, the former great football coach, said something that always stuck with me. You are what your record says you are. And the Roys right now are twelve and fourteen. The Warriors were sitting outside of the play and said, now, I know we haven't even gotten the Christmas yet, So I get that, so let's keep it
all in the context. But the bottom line is this is going to be a struggle for the wars particularly they don't have Draymond Green. And I know you have Trace Jackson Davis, who you know, young kids going to play well, but you're stepping You're asking him to step in and make some big decisions. Andrew Wiggins, you know, is he going to break his way out of his funk? Had the Warriors given up on him by having him
come off the bench. Uh, and then Klay Thomas, I know it was last three games thirty points, twenty four points, twenty eight points, seventeen may threes.
Lay Thompson has been the lifeline play an open corner three.
Jot, but that should not mask what we've seen inconsistency we've seen from him off season. But I think the best thing to come out of that last game against the Blazers is, you know, Step for the first time in two and sixty eight games doesn't hit a three point shot, but his teammates picked him up, and you know, and he's going to need that sort of uh, you know, rallying the troops and help to compensate for the Draymond
Green loss and inconsistent inconsistency with Klay Thompson. That's the only way the war is going to get this done and elevate further up in the standings in the West.
Yeah. And I think when just watching and seeing them, you mentioned Clay Thompson. I do think it's important to remember that not only I think we so often talk about age here he is in his eleventh season in the league, but also coming off those two devastating injuries, in the fact that you're you know, tearing your knee,
tearing your achilles. How he's been able to come back and respond and I think, you know, whether it's you look at Clay, I think to me, the bigger question marks with Wiggins and you mentioned it to move off the bench. Can he get back to any level of play that you would see out of him in their title run and how important and critical he was to that.
Jonathan kaminga, Moses Moody, those in the preseason were you know, the the players coming in that are the X factors of okay here in their third season, can they make a jump? And they've looked nice and they've been good, but the level of play that I think you've needed from them has not been there. And so I think, you know, is the season progresses to your point, a lot of tough questions to make and we'll be interesting
to see. Steve Kerr had said that, you know, between the organization, Draymond Green, everyone committed to supporting him, but what that looks like, I think that's where a lot of a lot of the answers will come here as you move further into the season to see the trajectory of where they go. Another team looking to answer some questions will be the Memphis Grizzlies. They play tonight at Oklahoma City, but all eyes will be on the Tuesday matchup on TNT when they visit the New Orleans Pelicans.
You get Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, and the return of Jah Morant. Sean. When you look at where the Grizzlies are at, how they've been trying to keep things afloat here without job but currently thirteenth in the Western Conference six and eighteen, what do you think what impact do you think that will have having Job back, both on the court and in just the feel around the team and in the organization.
I can only think it can have a positive impact, because you can't get more negative right now for the Grizzlies. They're desperate for savior. You know, if your John Moran, this is you know, as crazy as it sounds, if your Ja Morant, this is a perfect situation for you to walk into. You know your team needs you. It's not like you know, they were bawling really well without you, and they're like, oh, okay, whatever. But this is a perfect situation for a Jamran to come in and show everybody,
or remind everybody. I guess I should say the player that you are and how you, despite your size, can elevate, get to the rim, dunk over people, help your team win, all those things that he's done in the past. This is the perfect stage for him to come in and just really instill some good not only within the organization, but outside of the organization. Now, obviously, Sarah, he hasn't played competitive basketball since what you know, early last May.
You know, you don't have those NBA reps behind you. Yeah, you can practice and everything, but it's quite different, as you know, playing in an actual game versus practicing. So you wonder there's going to be some rust. But you know, if you look at this Grizzlies team, and obviously the big question is can they salvage what's left of the season.
I mean, they've got to play, you know, they've got to win, and this is a guess of the mind, something like six or seven out of every ten games they play from from here on just to put themselves in position, you know, to play in or even make the NBA playoffs. That's a lot to ask of a team that doesn't have Stepen Adams. Remember Steven Adams up for the season. You know, he's hurt. You know, Marcus Smart has only played eleven games. Jaron Jackson Jr. Has
been very inconsistent. You know, he hasn't been a dominant force that he was, particularly defensively as he was last season. They did have this Desmond Vane. I think by the way the guy's absence, you know, like twenty five points a game. He would if it wasn't for where his team is right now, he would be in the conversation for a potential All Star spot in the West. But everybody, you know, he's buried because of that. So John Moran
coming in coincidentally playing against you know, Zion Williamson. You know, of course they went one to two in the draft. You know, I just think actually both players, you know, Zion and Job have to do some things you know, this season to sort of you know, I think, make themselves right. You know, we saw what Job, I mean, what Zion think to do in Las Vegas when he played against the Lakers in that semifinal game. That brought up all the old questions about you know, his conditioning
and his commitment and things like that. So this will be a very good game, very interesting game. I think John Moran is really schomping at the bit to come back and remind people what he can do. And we get to sit back, stare and watch and see.
Yeah, and I do think that's fascinating both those points. One, there was stretches when Joh had missed time with injury when the Grizzly We're still playing fantastic and you'd hear little chatter of oh are they better without Joh, which was not the case, but just given how well they were able to still collectively play without him, you know, is something there now seven games back of the Phoenix
Suns for that tenth spot. So I guess my question to you, Sean, do you think they still have enough runway time and the personnel if they get John Morant back the way we have seen him play in the past to make the play in.
I think John mort would have to be one of the top ten player. You know, again, given that the Grizzlies have looked disheveled without him, and also consider that in the West, you know, there's some steep competition, you
know for playoff spots. You know, you're looking at a conference where Golden State is not guarantee the playoffs, where you can even say the Lakers are not getting nobody is really guaranteed other than maybe, I mean the way we look at it, Denver's probably going to be there, even the Nuggets are not, you know, ruling the West right now. You wonder if the timber Wolves can keep this up, you know, just you can go on and on. So the bottom line there is a competition is thick
in the West. And again John Morett is going to have to be pretty much close to Superman and a lot of things will have to go right for the Memphis Grizzlies to put this team where it was last year, which was right near the Attica. First of all, I think getting in the top two or three spots wests out of the question. You just want to put yourself in a play in situation and then maybe you're rolling by then and then maybe you get in the playoffs.
It's going to be interesting to watch the Western Conference. You said it is thick, and especially when you look where things are in the middle of it and towards those bottom spots, a lot of teams that looking not only to get right, but get healthy and how that could change things. Sewan, we are going to take a quick break and then preview a story that you've got coming up Thursday. A trade that was made five years ago.
Welcome back to NBA. Paul Sahara Kustak, joined by Sean Poll and Sean, You've got a story coming out Thursday as the Los Angeles Clippers play the Oklahoma City Thunder. A key trade that was made between those two teams, Shay Gildas, Alexander and Paul George. Of of course, all of that came together as Kawhi Leonard had signed in free agency with the Los Angeles Clippers. And let you go through the the different mechanics of all of it,
but just how things look. You got a Los Angeles Clippers team that, quite frankly, since that happened, has not been able to to really perform the way you would expect them or see them attempt attempt to do that because of a lot of injuries to those those big names of Kawhi and Paul George. Currently sitting sixth in the Western Conference and second place though is the Oklahoma City Thunder, a young team, tremendous cores, and Shay Gildess Alexander is at the front of it, leading everything. He
has been tremendous. He's been tremendous throughout his career. But I think now the attention has even elevated to another level because the Thunder are sitting there in that second spot in the conference. Give us a little breakdown of what what do you anticipate to see in what that looks like now five years later.
Well, first of all, let's let's apply some context. At the time the trade was made, the Clippers had no superstars. I mean, this was a team that just really looking for I mean, Chris Paul gone, Blake Griffin heard. I mean that Lob City was over, and I think you had a new owner, Steve Bomber, who you know, Look, Steve Bomber has a little bit of cash in as well. And I don't know if you've heard Sarah, and he said, you know, we want to you know, money is no object.
I won a winning team in a very competitive market like Los Angeles. Also understand that Shakes Alexander at that point was just a young player. He was not what we see right now. I mean, I don't know if people saw that coming in him. I mean he is right now, he's top five guard the NBA, top or you know, top ten player in the NBA whatever. But you didn't see that.
Back then, shot Clock is on Arte using a time out scab. He's expinding Gang for the lead. SGA cks it down.
We're just under a second to go. The thunder finally get the defensive stuff and SGA puts him in front, said I got this, folks. Yes, I think we have to keep that in that context with the Clippers. Make that trade today. Well, I don't know. I think you have to ask one person. That one person is Kawhi Leonard. Because Kawhi Leonard was not coming to the Clippers unless
he had a co star. He needed someone to write Shotgun, and Kawhi let that be known to the Clippers when he met with Jerry West, who then was an advisor, Uh, Steve Balmer and Doc Rivers who was in the coach I need a co star. You get me a co star, then I'm going to sign with the Clippers. Otherwise I'm going to sign with the Lakers. And by the way, Sarah and I know the Lakers won a championship. Since then, can you imagine the Lakers with you know, Anthony Davis,
Lebron James and Kawhi Leonard, Oh my goodness. Uh. The other thing, the other thing we have to keep in context with this trade since then is that Kawhi has been hurt. Paul George, who they got in the trade from Oklasumi, he's been hurt. Imagine if those guys were healthy, we would not even be having this debate about this trade. I would think the Clippers would have gotten at least one championship since then. But be that asn't made, they
don't have any of the show for it. And ever since they've made this trade, they've had to try to mortgage more of their future to try to you know, patch this thing together. You know, look at you know, getting James Harden, you know, getting Russell Westbrook, just trying to really maximize this trade for the shelf life that it has left. Now, let's go back and look at Oklahoma City. You know, they've got three they had three number one picks from the Clippers. Clippers also tossing two
number one picks from the Miami Heat. And there's like there's three number one pick swaps from the Clippers, so Oklahoma City, just to sum it up, Oklahoma City has Shay Gillis Ath Alexander, a batch of very good young players, more players coming in the future, and Sarah just sitting at number two in the Western Conference right now. I would say, you know, if the Clippers don't win a championship, Oklahoma City has won this trade and they last slide.
You said it for for a lot of different reasons, both the now and the future. But let's talk about the now. Sean this season second in the Western Conference. As you'd mentioned, there are three games back of Minnesota. Some of the teams kind of around there, up in the top four, Dallas Denver. How good do you think the Thunder can be this season? And the potential that they have for the playoffs?
They kind of remind me a little bit of last year's Sacramento Kings, a young team that you know, came up finally hit that you know, hit their stride, you know, finished high in the West, led by a dynamic point guard, you know, Darren Fox, you know, had a good you know,
big man, you know. So I think I can see where the parallels are you know with Sabonis and you know and check, you know with Shay Gills, Alexander and dearon Fox and all the young pieces are around them, you know, Javin Williams, Josh Giddy, a young coach who's who's hitting all the right uh, you know, making all the right calls, hitting all the right buttons. And you know,
again they have to have the staying power. Do you wonder how some of these teams like Phoenix will be if they were healthy, When they get healthy, will they come up? You know, all those things are in consideration. But right here and now, Oklahoma City is taking advantage of number one good health right number one and number two young players starting to reach their potential. I'm not even going to say they even hit their potential, which is a scary thought. By the way. You think Shay's
probably got another level to go. Chet certainly you know, has another a few levels ago.
Uh.
This is a good situation for a team. And the other good thing about Oklahoma City is that they have assets to trade if they want to next year, even about the trade deadline. If they want to deals, they can make deals. They've got number one picks, they've got
young players, to throw in. I just think this is a good situation for an NBA team, And I would even venture to say this, Sarah, if you said, what team is in the best shape and I'm not just not talking about winning right now, but just in the best shape all around, Oklahoma City would have to be top five because you have young players, you're winning right now, and you have a batchup number one picks to either
use for yourself or to trade. Tell me how many teams are in better shape overall shape right now than Oklahoma.
City, Mike Drop, Sean Paul. We can't wait for your story to come out on Thursday, and continue reading and watching all your stuff on NBATV and NBA dot Com.
Appreciate you, Sarah.
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