This is the Baseline discussing the hot button topics of the nb A. Welcome everybody, your tune to the Baseline. Kylie warren Shaw discussing the hot button topics of the NBA. And while my man is out there gallivanting around the world, you know that the train, the baseline train, don't stop,
man. And it's always awesome when a show like the one that we've had the opportunity to build and construct has the ability more than anything else, to like stand on its own, you know, to continue to move forward. And we always love and appreciate those those opportunities to be able to bring on uh, people who we've had on our show previously, people who we've collaborated with in this industry. And we always feel like whenever we bring family on,
man, we never skip a beat, nothing's missed. And so I would be remissed if while my man is out there living his best life, you know what, I'm s and euro tripping with his significant other and we got everything happening right now in the association, had to put the power pile together and say, who do we want to come on here to help hype things up, And of course, out out of the You know what I'm
saying out of the Magic Blue A man, Steven Cameron. If everybody remembers him rolling with the nineteen media family and he had his show, but now he's doing bigger, better things as well too. Don't get it twisted. Still down with the Magic, still doing his thing, but you can always now catch him on the Close Up with Orlando Magic HQ. He does it every other week on Tuesdays. You go to www dot Orlando magichq dot com on Man, Steven Cameron stiff. We canna make you say, I stepfortless?
What's going on? My brother? Yo? Cal? What is going on? Man? It's always good to come on this show and chop it up with you. Energy's high, psych is high. I just watched the Orlando Magic at their asses kicked by the Dallas Mavericks. So we are but we're letting that page just kind of simmer and we're moving forward and uh man,
I'm like to talk some basketball with you. Man, exactly, not the type of magic trick that you wanted the week to start off with, right, Like, you know what I'm saying, That's not what you wanted to pull out of that. You know what I'm saying when it came to but you're hoping to get the W but we're here. We're here. This
is good because we've gotta we've gotta say called shock and awe. Right, yes, so we got a little bit of all you got a little shock, We got a little bit of aut are we going to discuss when it pertains to the Orlando Magic, but also as well to man our show.
You know, we're gonna cover some things going on so far. Was the first week or so of the NBA season, kicking off NBA Tourney, which is in full gear, I guess you can say, and just you know, all together, man, it's just been an excited first couple of weeks of NBA basketball being played and so you know, let let's let's do this right like, so, I know it's been a minute since I've had you had the opportunity to jump on. Let our listeners know and remind everybody,
you know what I'm saying, what it means for you to have the opportunity to talk basketball, cover the magic, you know, doing what you've been doing for as while. Let give people a little insight of how sc operates. All right, all right, all right, so uh yeah, I'll give the backstory, but I'll keep it short and sweet. Been covering the team since like twenty and sixteen. Started doing my own show outside of what I was doing in the beginning around twenty eighteen, called The Close Up Magic.
That's when I got connected with you guys. The baseline show you guys were actually uh I think it was like my third guest on the third episode you were. You were on my third episode, third or fourth somewhere around there, so very early in it was September, mid September of twenty eighteen. I remember looking this up. Just a few weeks ago. I was kind of wrapping up shop on that chapter of my life, but pretty quickly
got a credentialed media with the Magic living here in the West Coast. I grew up in Orlando, flew out to the West Coast in twenty fourteen, got bored of talking to Warriors fans, so I started a podcast to talk about magic. And then just recently this summer, I decided to wrap up and close up shop on my old show called The Close Up Magic. That
was a podcast I was doing by myself. I had some people helping me out on the back end and stuff, But it was really just kind of me running the ship and doing all the back end work and things like that, and decided to join ship with my homies Alan Anthony over at Orlando Magic HQ, who've been doing a phenomenal job covering the team in article and podcast form, and I am just now joining my show similar format, a couple less time, a little less frequent. It's now twice a month occasional,
we'll do a bonus episode in there maybe three times a month. You can find it on Wednesdays on the Orlando Magic HQ feed. We have reporters that go to every single home game. We got people that watch and write articles based on every single game and transaction and news and rumor that comes on the Orlando Magic. So it's not just a podcast platform, it's a It truly
is a Orlando Magic news centric platform. I mean, if you remember, like the forms on Real GM, we even have our own form for the Orlando Magic on Orlando Magic HQ. So that's how I'm rocking, That's how I'm covering the team right now. It's been a lot of fun with this new transition. Uh but but honestly, right now, the most exciting thing is being right here in this chair talking to you on the baseline talking about the NBA. Gonna get digging, get deep into some thoughts tonight. Absolutely,
man, And look, let's not let it be said. The NBA always finds a way to kind of surprise us with how they you know, roll the season out right, So I know we'll talk a little bit about, you know, the emergence of the you know, inaugural in season tournament, but I wanted to get your thoughts about how this NBA season has has
started. Like, you know, first of all, props to the Orlando Magic, right, and we're gonna take us spend a few minutes talking about them, But props to the Orlando Magic because we've been waiting for a long time to see what comes of what's taking place with Orlando over the last five or six years, with the massive talent and and and you know what they've drafted, and I mean, you can even make the argument that they are
still players that have not really even helped to scratch the surface of what this team could potentially be. But the foundation is absolutely solid. And I always believe that you have a good indication of whether or not there is longevity in what they've done. If the team finally takes advantage of coming out of the gate strong, not showing signs of struggles early, and that this is going
to be a much longer season than everyone anticipated. I think this is finally the year where people have a reason to feel optimistically excited, regardless of what the circumstance is going to be at the end of the regular season. People who are you know, loyal Magic fans, people who are wanting clamoring to be Magic fans, are really excited to see these group young group of guys go out there and really compete in ball out and it's yielding early results already.
Yeah, I mean it's fun. So, I mean, the Magic did just lose to the to the Mavericks tonight, and so they are now
four and three. But you know, you got a young team that had a very very strong home opener versus the Houston Rockets, a team that they should beat, and they beat them, and then they immediately went on a four game West Coast road trip after the very first they get one game on the East Coast and they go straight out west to hit the Blazers back to back versus the Lakers and the Clippers hit the Jazz come right back home, just to have the Lakers come to Amway Center in Orlando and have to face
them after a four game road trip. So it was it was no rest for the Wicked, right, they just had to go right right into it. And my whole thought was, if they can come out of this West Coast road trip be in five hundred or or you know, close to that, we'll be good. You know, we young team goes straight on a huge West Coast road trip to start the season. That's tough. That's tough even for a veteran team on the East. So, you know, we
come out of that West Coast road trip three and two. Then we stomped the Lakes by nineteen points at home to go four and two, and then we are out four rotation players and have a really good fight against the Mavericks tonight. We kind of let the rope go a little bit on the third
quarter, couldn't bring it back up. But I mean, I think I just say all that without getting too detailed in every single game, but more so just to talk about the culture to be able to go through that adversity of having a really rough schedule right in the beginning, you know, you have some injury issues kind of right towards the beginning too, Game four or five versus the Jazz, our starting center when olcartera junior, goes up for
a last second rebound to help control that win of the over that team and breaks his hand and he's out. We win against the Lakers with a third string center and a third string point guard in the starting lineup because Markel Foltz was also out, and that third string center Goga Bitatse and our third string point guard Anthony Black, who we just drafted in the sixth pick. They have the highest UH plus minus on the team and on the court for the
entire night when we whooped the Lakers. But so again not going too deep into all the little ins and outs of the game, but I just say that is like this team is deeper than people realize. They have a very strong culture. They want to play for each other, and I think you're seeing that right now with how they're fighting through the adversity of a hard schedule and already dealing with some unfortunate injuries with this team. So it's been fun.
You're seeing Paulo continue to to take that step as Rookie of the Year from last year. A little bit of a slow start in the beginning, but already had a thirty point game, twenty five point game, Franz Wagner being a two way beast after his Foba summer. It's just been a lot of fun Caalid and I can't be more excited as a as a Magic fan today. Well, I want to I want to touch on polow And and Wagner because I truly believe that you're seeing the emergence of a legit dynamic duo.
And it's interesting to me because I was a little bit on the fence about whether or not the Orlando Magic really are totally dug in or have bought into Pollo being the man for that team, because I think for a while
the Magic have been resting on the hopes. I think of Jonathan Isaac being that guy, you know, and he's just it's weird, how you know, his career so to speak, has kind of, you know, tail spinned out where people are not even really people are just even like if you're the Magic, you're grateful that he's even probably going to be able to be on the basketball corporate under no circumstances do you find that there is a level of confidence that he should be the person who is, you know what I'm
saying, the franchise player for this team moving forward. I think everybody recognizes Apollo is that dude. And then now you've got, you know, know, an opportunity for Wagner to come in and he doesn't necessarily have to be the man. I think there's still a lot of work ahead of him,
but you see the upside and potential. And this to me iterily reminds me a lot of what people are seeing or saying about the Oklahoma City Thunder, you know, out in the Western Conference right like what we're seeing from the Magic in the East, that there is a young core of you know,
dudes that are ready to run, some thoroughbreds ready to go. And I think they just need the right coaching, they need the Rite system, and they just need to build around that right mentality of learning how to win even when they're losing. And I think this is the season that we're kind of starting to see that, especially with the kind of schedule that was already presented to them in the first week, Like you can really see that this team
is persevering. Yeah, one hundred percent agree on a lot of that. This is kind of like the season for the Magic where expectations for the team have been laid out. It's playoffs, it's not it's not almost making the play in. It's not let's get a good lottery pick, it's not making
the play in. Like I think if the team made the tenth seed or the ninth seed and didn't get out of the play in, I think the team and the coaches in the front office would consider it a failure because they want this team to get to the next step, because they want to see what Paulo and Franz can do in the playoffs and see how to continue to
build this team around those individuals. So they've been preaching it all year, which is is interesting because it's not something they've spoke about in years past.
Right, It's been the cute word that's been said, but without real kind of expectations there, and now it is they're saying it with a different tone, a different their chest held out just a little bit differently this year when they say the word playoffs and that's where they want to go, and that's that's the expectations, and so I think this is the year we we don't even just kind of like, was Paulo a one off? Or is he
going to continue being the man that we think he can be? Is he gonna take his game to that next level defensively and as a playmaker and as a high IQ score to be that superstar corner franchise player for this team. Is Franz Wagner going to be able to live next to him? Can they both be Batman and Batman, not Batman and Robin, Because that's kind of what these guys are right now, and that's kind of how they view each other too. They don't have a problem sharing the ball with each other.
They love to set each other up with different cuts and passes to the open three, or sometimes just step back and let them cook an iso the guy in front of them. They really do truly enjoy playing with each other, and I think they recognize the power of having two six to ten wings that can dribble, pass and shoot and defend. Right that's rare, that's really special for this league. And I think they kind of understand the foundation that
those two can have together. So it's fun, man, It's watching them if you ever get a chance this year, you know, tap into a couple of magic games and then just kind of key in on those two individually and how they communicate, how they act on the court together, because it's it's a lot of fun, and sure there's some growing pains, right Franz the other night took twenty eight shots versus the Lakers. We still got the
w wasn't the most efficient of his of his shots. He's kind of figuring out, like, yeah, I gotta continue to be aggressive with my scoring, but you know, like maybe I gotta be a little bit smarter with how and when I take that. And he's gonna figure that out. He ain't gonna be taking twenty eight shots every night. But you know, right now, Franz is averaging nineteen points a game, almost twenty. Paulo, he's had at he had a little bit of a slow spart. He's averaging
seventeen to eighteen points a game right now. That'll get closer to twenty in a couple more games, I guarantee, And so it's been a lot of fun. Jonathan Isaac, he's just bonus at this point. He comes off the bench for us. If we can keep him healthy towards the playoffs, you know, we'll be using him really key on key defensive matchups here and there, because that really is his calling card. It's it's not the offense, it's the defense with him, and you know it's he's already yeah,
So I'll just leave it at that. Man, those two are are are gonna be special. We got to figure out kind of what the rest of this team looks like around them. Are the guards going to be able to apply enough enough shooting and spacing for Franz and Paulo to kick out to and help create that space. Right now, teams are really kind of dropping in and clogging the pain a little bit, making a little bit harder to operate
because we don't have the best outside shooting on this team. So there's some roster decisions that will be made in the next twelve months on this team as well. But that's what the season is all about, figuring out how this team operates on a high level with high expectations. Well, so you bring up a couple of really good points, and I think we'll have an opportunity
to highlight that in a moment or so. I'm curious you know, from from your perspective, what is it going to take like, So we can already see that this team has a defensive mindset that I think Jamal Mosley has has really kind of amped up the and influenced them. You know, if they want to compete, if they want to be in games, they have to be better defensively, which is one of the things that the Magic you know, suffered greatly over the last few seasons, not because they're just you
know, a bad team that doesn't know how to defend. They just don't know how to play together to defend right, And so I think you can see they marketably have improved that. Just even the first you know, seven games played, you can tell that there is an emphasis on them, you know, really helping out and defending you know, the opposing team's best players. And I'll be interested to see what those metrics would look like, you know, as the season moves forward, because again to your point, these
are young guys. But at the same time, this is something where last year I think was a was an eye opening experience for how important it is that they need to play better defense down the stretch of games where they have an opportunity to win. So with that being said, what my concern typically comes down to is, you know, again the Magic figuring out what kind of backcourt they want to supplement what they're getting from their wings and their and
their bigs. There has to be a table setter, and it just still feels like they're still trying to figure out who and what that's gonna be and what that's going to look like. Where are you on that if you had to grade you know, on the scale of one to ten, you know, ten being read alert, you know what I'm saying about how this needs to be addressed, or you know one basically saying it's nothing to worry about.
This is what's going to come with the territory. Where would you be on that scale when we're talking about how the backcourt for the Orlando Magic really needs to find, you know, you know, identify, like show an identity of what type of you know, back court does the Magic really want to be for the star players that they've got, you know, at the front court level? Yeah, man, great question. So a little bit of the backstory on our backcourt. Our front office has very much a defensive
mindset for drafting and just building a team in general. That's why this team right now, at least going into tonight's game, was sitting second in the entire league and defensive rating. They are a high end defensive team and will continue to be that probably the rest of the year because of the way this roster is built, and part of that is the way the guards are built. We held Luca and Kyrie Irving too. I think it was like sixteen
and seventeen points tonight. Neither one of them cracked Neither one of them cracked twenty. And that that's a testament to our guards because you're talking about two of the best scorers on the planet on the same team not being able to hit their average. You know, Luca, I think is averaging like twenty eight or thirty something points night right now, early into the season. Small sample size, but just a testament to how this team is built, you
know. I I'm gonna say, like where my alert level is is like a five, and I'll get to that as to why in a second, I don't think it's like a major red flag. I think we can like kind of take this season two. I think our guard rotation is good enough right now to help us get to the goals that we need to be. We're not gonna be this like crazy offense, like super efficient offensive team with it, Like we'll probably be around like twentieth in offensive ranking, which is
not great. It's certainly improved, yeah, certainly improved compared like a bottom twenty five, right exactly. And given where you guys are, which you know, I was gonna speak to us as well as well too, the division that there is opportunities, yeah, where the team can struggle shooting the basketball, but as long as their defense of consistency maintains, they can still win those games. Because listen, I know that divisions don't matter a whole
lot nowadays because of the way that you know, leagues have structured. You know, it's more about the conferences and things. But you got a ton of games that you still play against the Atlanta Hawks, the Miami Heat, the Washington Wizards and keeping it a hundred, those are winnable games with the talent level that the Orlando Magic has exhibited that yeah, Charlotte Hornets, so like, it's a winnable division. But more importantly, those are winnable games
that you consistently can go back to to draw from. Whereas if you were playing in the Atlantic Division, you're playing the likes of the Celtics and the Sixers and the Raptors, Like you know what I'm saying, Like that is just that's nuts, you know what I mean, that's murderer's row. Probably would not be ready for that just yet, but the Magic are getting there. I think part of this this year is going to be figuring out what
we have in the guards. Right that's kind of the question mark because we have two guards in our starting unit, Jalen Suggs and Mark hal Foltz, who are defensive focused guards. You know, Mark hel Folts have taken a really nice step in his defense, but he is kind of like that playmaking quarterback that the game manager that kind of can set up the offense. He's got a really nice mid range and a good like finish at the basket. But but both of these guards and and and Suggs is a disruptor, really
good in transition. Uh you know, attacker at the rim too. Can do some step backs and stuff, but not efficient with his three point shooting.
But I truly think, just to kind of wrap up that, that guard thing is like one of those positions between the one and the two has to be a sniper from three on a on a high end basis, like the whole Buddy Yield rumors, Like, Man, I would love Buddy Heal to be on on the Magic because you you, you got guys that are meant to play in the paint and get to the basket, draw fouls with Franz and Paulo, and they need someone to kick out too because they're both
phenomenal passers. And how awesome would it be to have that sniper from three to just get buck gets right? And I think that's what it's gonna take for us to get to that like mid tier league average in offensive standings. But you're right, man, even without that, even if we just had like a twentieth defensive rating, I mean offensive rating and like you know, a top ten, top five defensive rating, that's enough for us to be a top eight team in this in this Eastern Conference. I'm not gonna say
top six. I will say top eight. Despite the Magic talking that they are going to be a playoff team, not a play in team, I still think they land somewhere in the play in you know, in that seven to eight range is kind of like seating goes. Yeah, I guess six is possible too. They started hot, there's always that fun story. But man, you also got teams like Chicago and the Raptors that could blow it
up at any moment. Right now, rightly, you know this could be the year that both those teams probably should blow up their franchise and make some significant changes, and that that would be a story where the Magic can also make up some ground and continue to prove the Magic just gotta beat the teams are supposed to beat cal and then they gotta win some extra ones along the way versus the upper teams and playing close games. That's how they're gonna make
it where they want to go. Absolutely your tuned to the baseline. Calie Warnshaw discussing the hot button topics of the nb A and on par with my man Steve Cameron. You can catch his show The Close Up with You Orlando Magic HQ. Catch that every other Tuesday. Go to www dot Orlando Magic hq dot com. One last question I wanted to ask you, you know, before we before we end this segment, is what do you think it's
gonna take? And And look, I'm gonna sound cliche when I say this, I don't know if it necessarily means that this should be how the Orlando Magic should adopt this mentality of what it's going to take for them to be an established playoff basketball team. But obviously pollows off to something of a slow start, not significantly so, but slow to the standards of what I think a lot of people are expecting him to do in year two of his of his you know, Magic career, right, But my thing is is that
they're always going to draw to this. You're going to need a go to guy. You're going to need a guy who's going to be able to get your clutch buckets when it matters the most. Where are you on who the Magic should hone in on to be that guy? Like what will it take?
Will it take Pollow being twenty seven to twenty eight point or would you be satisfied if it's Pollow maybe doing twenty three twenty four points, but Wagner giving you twenty two to twenty three points, like the balance or leaned heavily, or the way that you're looking at this team and how they play, and and and and to your point about the offense efficiency, is that gonna come down to those two growing together or Polo taking that step saying, you
know, I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna be that dude, you know, especially in those clutch situations. Yeah. Man, that's a good question. I think for them to be a solid playoff team, they can lift balanced, no problem. I think for them to be contenders, like legitimate contenders,
cal not just pretenders. You need Paulo to be that guy that can be a top ten player in this league, that can put up twenty six twenty seven average, you know, twenty twenty seven to twenty eight points a game on a regular basis, while Fronz is still getting his buckets and and and you know, probably averaging twenty something points a game as well. I think
that's possible. But but I think I think what's gonna happen is I don't think we're gonna see Paulo be able to take that step until this team addresses the spacing, because right now, I was I was kind of hinting at it earlier. Paulo can get to the line as much as he wants,
but what's gonna limit this team is the offense. And even with Paulo averaging twenty let's say you average twenty five points a game this season, which technically as possible, I don't know if it will probably average maybe closer to twenty
two to twenty three this year, if I had to guess. But even if it was averaging twenty five points a season, they're still gonna struggle because teams literally just sag off on the wings and they just clog the paint, and when they do kick out to people, they're not hitting the shots down and that just hurts. You're missing open shots. So you have guys hesitant
to take open shots, and that's going to limit them this season. But when they can address that problem, that's gonna open up more things for them boys to work in side the pain in the mid range because there's guys hugging to their their their guys on the rim on the perimeter, which will allow our guys to do what they need to do to be more efficient and be able to close games better. Right when Paul is getting double and triple team trying to close a game, he needs someone to kick it out to and
right now he doesn't really have that. So I think we can live balanced and be a good playoff team. But again, I think if order for us to be a true dog in this fight, uh, you know, Paula probably needs to take that jump to superstardom in the next couple of years. All right, my man, Stephite like laying it down, boy, making it sound Steppordlessyan Bryan your tune to the baseline Cali Warrens Show discussing the hot button topics of the NBA with our special guest Stephan Cameron from the close
up with Orlando Magic h Q. Coming up. Well, man, step and I we're going to do a little shock in awe, Yes, sir, we're gonna We're gonna lay it down. What we gonna believe is stuff that makes you say aw shucks or stuff that's gonna make you say all damns. You don't want to miss out. But first, if you like using debit over credit, I just learned about something that's definitely a game changer.
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this segment, now we got man, it's been a while. I feel a little bad. I'm doing this with you, Steff, So you gotta appreciate this because my man and Sean might have something to say to when he returns, but I'll try and represent it well for him exactly, So I won't won't won't let you down. Bro, We'll be gonna be saying all shah instead of saying all shucks. But this segment is called shock in Awe right, So basically, the NBA season has started. It's underway, right.
Obviously, there's some you know, storylines and things that have been happening already the outset of this season that I'll either make you say all shucks, are gonna make you say ad damn. Right. So my man stuff is joining us here, and I'm gonna start it off with the Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic, Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia seventy six Ers off to a strong start, right, which one is making you say, all shucks? The Atlanta Hawks? Man. I mean, honestly, it's like that the Magic all
shucks. Like I love seeing us have a hot start. But the Hawks. Man, I was not high on this team going into the year. I just like, they're in my division. I kind of already hate them in general. They do have one of the better coaches in the league, so like, I knew things were going to get better, but like just
offensively, I didn't know if they were gonna have it. There's always a little bit of drama around Trey Young and how that team operates and stuff like that, and I just I don't know, man, I just always thought that was gonna be. So when I see them have this this start, I'm like, oh, all right, all shucks, that's cool, Like good for them. I mean, not great for the Magic because we're in the same division, but I mean, it's it's good for them to have
that start that I did not expect. I'm gonna agree with you there. I'm having an awe shucks moment about the Atlanta Hawks, but more importantly because of the fact that they are the second best offensive team in the NBA, and I think about Quinn Snyder. While his calling card has been you know, this is offensive. Over the years that he was coaching the u Utah Jazz, the Utah Jazz were recognized for being one of the better defensive teams.
Now right now, the Atlanta Hawks, you know, are twentieth as far as you know opposing teams points scored per game. But when you look at their defensive rating, their defensive net rating, they're a top ten team. And I think it balances out when you're arguably one of the best offensive scoring teams. Now, again, it's early, but this to me, for a team that I'm thinking is gonna be somewhere in the middle of the
pack, this is a very strong start. And it also has us keen in it, keying in on Deontay Murray and Trey Young and their ability to you know, really help spearhead this team and and keep them in games, and and the dynamic that the both of them bring to the table. I think we're now seeing it somewhat come to fruition where they struggled to be able to show that when you know, the deal was made last year and Deontay Murray was on this on this roster, so to me, I would agree
with you on that. One other though shucks thing though is the Celtics. I was not anticipating the Boss and Celtics, and you know, I don't know I whether or not they will maintain being an undefeated team by the time this show drops. But the fact that this team has looked every bit the part of a team that is getting back to its defensive principles with elite defensive play coming from Drew Holliday, Tatum and Brown and the rest of the guys
Derek White and the crew. Christaps Porzingis is even showing you defensive you know what I'm saying, mastery At times like real, I don't understand this because I thought that the reason why you put this team together was all right, we may not be able to defend teams the way that we used to, but we're just we're definitely going to be a much better team to outscore whoever it is that we're playing against. We're going to create all these different mismatches.
But you look at this this Celtics team, man, they are balanced on both sides of the ball, and you can clearly see that there is a market improvement in their ability to defend. Now, I still think that because it is a scorers league, that you'll probably see them take a step
back. But I think it's stabilized when you've got a heady guy like Drew Holliday really commanding the rest of that team to be where they need to be and stabilizing their backcourt play, to close out on the three ball and all of the This is a good Celtics team, man, And I'm really really surprised that they are hot out the gate the way that they are. I thought maybe this would be something that picks up momentum and steam and my god,
that making Missoula look like a freaking master at the coachings. You know what I'm saying on the sidelines, it's crazy. It's a testing I mean, to be fair, it's gonna be pretty hard for any head coach to have failure with with when you're starting five has has you know, Drew Holiday, Brown, Tatum, Chris tops White, Like that's just such a strong starting five. But I mean, like, yo, man, he's looking really prime with that. You know. It's it's absolutely it's the only undefeated
team in the league right now. It's pretty special. Absolutely, And listen, let's not snuff the Sixers given the drama that has taken place before the season has even started. But I think everybody knew. I think everybody knew that once they got rid of James Harden, they finally lifted that black cloud off of that that franchises. You know what I'm saying, demeanor that they
now are getting back to playing basketball. I don't know if it's sustainable, I really don't, but I can definitely tell you that it's much more enjoyable to watch a team that wants to play together, that wants to compete together, than dealing with all the unnecessary stuff. And I'm not blaming James Harden about what's going on out there and what had to happen, but you can clearly tell that the team didn't need all of that for them to go into
the start of this season with so much already on the line. And now with the speculation of Joel Embiid talking about, you know, exploring other places, you know, if things don't go right in Philadelphia, you can clearly see that he is making a statement that this is his team and that the Sixers need to stop. You know, throwing players that don't want to play with him on the roster so that he can work with the dudes that do want to play with him. You know, I just want to say,
like it's a shout out to Nick Nurse and Jewel Embiid. I don't necessarily like love either one of them as leaders, Like Nick Nurse is is one of my least favorite coaches in the league. And then Joel Ebiid, like there's just I just don't know if he's like the leader that I think he a team needs. But you know, James Harden just got off the team
a couple days ago. This is like they had to go through what four games training camp dealing with all that, but they still were able to keep culture vibes, team focused players focus kind of blocking out the noise and go off to this strong five and one start. And oh yeah, the one loss was like a buzzer beater, or not a buzzer beater. It was a very close game to I think it was the Bucks maybe or something like that, like a very respectable team. It wasn't just like they didn't show
up. It was a very very close game. And so, yeah, man, you're right that that is another team that definitely deserves to be having that all shucks moment because I remember thinking, Man, I can't wait for James hard to get traded because I'm just so tired of hearing about James Harden wanting to get traded from the from the seventy six ers. You know, it's like who You're right, all shucks for the for the seventy six ers, All shucks. All right, Now we got to throw on another team
in there as well too. And funny how these are like all East Eastern Conference teams. How about the Dallas Mavericks. You know what I'm saying, I'm teetering on this as saying aw shucks, because damn, you know, they're really, you know what I'm saying, showing you that they're a team to not, you know, snuff at. And it's hard to imagine because I'm still trying to figure out how this dynamic of Irving and Luca is playing,
but they're really making it work. But the other part of me is saying, oh damn, because now if we have to take the Dallas Mavericks seriously, I mean, that just completely opens up the floodgates about where the Western Conference might might tilt towards you know what I'm saying, Like I think people are saying, well, the Dallas Mavericks might be good enough, but they may not be They may be playing worthy, but they're definitely probably not
a playoff team. And I keep saying, you get off to a good start, you give yourself a chance, and you can allow yourself to separate. You know, some of those teams are gonna probably you know, pull you down or bring you back a notch or whatever, but you're still ahead of the game. This is what this is where it comes down to. Because the West is so deep, you know what I'm saying, From basically
one to twelve, it's very, very deep. So ultimately, if you're the Dallas Mavericks, you can come off basically winning five of your first six basketball games. That bowls well for you, really really good. Yes, absolutely. I mean they're second in offense right now in the league at one hundred and twenty pace, which is insane. That didn't change with their most recent game versus the Magic. That's gonna stay the same because I think they
actually scored like one hundred and twenty or something like that. You know, their defense is where you gotta have the question marks long term is still there's still at ten defensive team and they got to figure that out a little bit. They you know, they just they got to figure that out. I think they got to hope to get that above twenty, get into that sixteen
range in the defense with the league. But man, you know, it's like, is this the season that Kyrie Irving is like focused and has a really kind of reminds everyone like, yeah, the off court stuff is kind of I'm keeping that to the side, and I'm just going to remind everyone that I am a baller and can can be a great teammate to another baller. And Luka Doncic, like I think so he's really good. Absolutely man, absolutely all right, shocking aw man, the uh Milwaukee Bucks, Memphis
Grizzlies, Utah Jazz off to abysmal starts. All right, Maybe abysmal is too strong a word, but they're struggling, right, Which one makes you makes? Which one makes you want to say, oh damn, excuse me? Almost got you choked up thinking about that too, right, Yes, sir, I got a couple of them that I mean, I could say something on all of them. I say the one I'm least surprised about is the Jazz. I just I don't know if I ever viewed them as as
like true threats in the West. It's just so deep this year. Like I kind of just knew they were they were going to be a team that has talent and can give teams a good run for their money. But but that probably is just gonna come up short too often because they are just They're
just in a hard, hard conference. Man. But but but the one that really gives me all shucks is is the Bucks because, like, man, I knew they were going to lose a little bit of defense when they lost Drew Holiday, but they still have two time Defensive Player of the Year Joannison Tenakumpo. They have h Brook Lopez, who's no shrub on the defensive side. He's a really good player. He was a defensive player defen Yeah.
Man, he's he's a really good player, you know. But man, they are a twenty six in defensive rating right now, and they are just bleeding points left and right that that that trade happened a little bit late. Going into training camps, there's gonna be some vibes. I gotta get worked out to kind of shore things up. Whose turn is it to take over? When and where and stuff like that. But you know, I thought it would be a little bit better than I mean, it's early.
They're three and two, but it just doesn't feel like they're really three and two, you know. It feels like they're they're a little bit less. Well, I got thoughts on the Grizzlies, but I'll let you hit that
first. Bro. Yeah, So the Utah Jazz part, I think I'm a little surprised by it because you know, when I when I look at the Jazz itself as a team cohesively, they shocked a lot of people last year, and I thought that this year, because you know, there was so much movement with especially in the Western Conference, that they would be able to win some games, you know, you know, just based on the
fact that they've played together. They kind of overachieved a little bit, and I think maybe would be able to kind of carry that momentum going into into this season. But you know, unfortunately, that's that's that's not what's happened for them, you know what I mean. So it is what it is, you know, But I wasn't expecting them to struggle as bad as they do, like I mean, like they you know, getting blitzed in a
few of the games that they've played already. The Milwaukee Bucks situation, though, I think what really surprises me is just how bad this team is defensively. I understand that Drew Holliday, you know, was a bulldog. He really stabilized their back court. And I would not go as far as to say, you know, would the Milwaukee Bucks you know, be as bad
a defensive team as you're seeing right now. Knowing that you have Giannis you know, as your defensive stalwart, right and then getting the kind of defensive effort you've gotten the last couple of seasons from Brook Lopez, It's hard to imagine that this team is just so bad defensively. And I think this is more about Giannis. I think this is more about Adrian Griffin, and I think this is more about the Milwaukee Bucks front office and when they made the
move to bring Damian Lillard over there. I think they really believe that this is more about them and scoring the basketball, and that they're just gonna outscore basketball teams, you know, on a night in, night out basis, and to hell with the defense and If that's what they think is gonna get them to a championship, They're not getting there. They're just simply not gonna get there. I don't understand how you have already a defensive Player of the
Year person. You had a defensive Player of the Year candidate in Brook Lopez last season who many argue could have won that thing last year if not for Jaron Jackson Junior's year that he had. You've got two defensive player of the year stalwarts, right. I understand Damian Lillard is not the best defensively, and then you still also have Chris Middleton, who is was a marginally good wing defender before his injury, and I'm not saying he's back to who he
used to be, but he's still good enough. And you also have Bobby Portis. You've got depth on that team. Jay Crowder, I don't understand how this team is so bad defensively. I really don't understand it. And I think that, to me is the part that makes me say, aw damn, because if they can't figure this out. And I understand it's early, but it's not early to see what glaringly is what I saw last year with the Boston Celtics. The Boston Celtics really believe that they were a team
that was just gonna outshoot everybody and stop playing defense. And you can see how at some point it caught up with them, because when you play against a really competitive team, where you play against guys that know how to beat what you bring out to the floor on a night in, night out basis, it's gonna rear its ugly head during critical situations down the stretch. And I'm just saying people need to pay attention to this. This is not a
good formula. If you are the Milwaukee Bucks, knowing that on a night based, night and night out basis, their best players are not playing defense, that you can't have that that's just it's unimaginable. So it's just crazy we were saying that about the Milwaukee Bucks. You know, they got a new coach that is is not super proven and and I think part of this
isn't just personnel. I mean that is that is part of the problem, but like like you just mentioned, like they got plenty of capable defenders on that team, but I think there is definitely some coaching aspect that we are we are seeing right now with a brand new coach that doesn't have really the experience of coaching a team of this caliber with with with you know, a player like Giannis on it that have these expectations and then we're just kind of
seeing that that that that gap there, and I definitely think that's part of the contribution to why they are struggling so much on the on the defensive side of the ball. I'm gonna throw something else out there. Let's not act like losing Darving Ham has not also had an impact on this Milwaukee Bucks team's ability two yeah, to have an identity of what they were defensively, absolutely, you know, and now you're seeing how he's having an impact over there
with the Los Angeles Lakers. So I'm just letting people know, like, listen, I want to believe in Adrian Griffin. I want him to have his opportunity to have his chance, but he's gonna need to put some foot in this uh, put some foot in some asses. If this is what the Milwaukee Bucks is going to is gonna basically you know, parade out there to the fans and to the people watching. As far as your product goes, They're they're calling card of what got them that Championship was their ability to
play defense even though they had a good offensive basketball team. And there's no way that they're gonna they're gonna be able to replicate that with the way that they're playing defensive right now. Really quick. I wanted to get your take on the on the Memphis Grizzlies. Look, we knew that the Memphis Grizzlies were gonna struggle. We understood that, but damn man, I mean, the only winless team in the NBA. I thought we were talking about that
with the Washington Wizards. I did not think we're gonna be talking about that with the Memphis Grizzlies. Yeah. Yeah, they're like one in six, man, and they get they got they got one, they got one win. I think last night was I'm yeah, yeah, it was like a shooting star exactly because it it just goes right over your head, you know, man. It's like, I think it's real simple with the Grizzlies. You got your best player out for the first twenty or twenty five games.
Uh uh. You know, whether you agree with that punishment or not, that that's going to affect a team, and then you have your defensive anchor and Steven Adams. Uh oh, maybe not the anchor Jaron Jackson Junior is that. But but you you you, we all know how important Steven Adams is to this team. Then he's out right before they started, like I mean, he goes through training cap and then he is out days before the start of the season and he is out for the entire season and they're scrambling.
They eventually pick up Bismack Biambo. Oh wow. The first game they put Bismack Biambo in as a starter is the game that they win. Like they just they're just missing too many key pieces. And that is like a this isn't all damn not because I'm like dissp like something bad as they're in my opinion, they're not doing anything wrong. They just don't have the personnel to keep up man. And I do think you know you have you have Marcus Smart, who's a bit on the I think he's losing a step of
what what made him so specially a couple of years ago. I think he's just taking a step and they'll decline a little bit. So those are my two my quick thoughts on on the Grizzlies. I think I think he's still I think he's still kind of how do I say he's part he's been caught with the shock and awe of not playing with the Boston Celtics. How about that? You know, Yeah, that makes I think it's gonna take some
time for that to to to wear off. But he is supposed to be the one who is gonna influence and help mature, you know, John Morant, and it will be interesting to see, you know, this type of adversity. What that's gonna do, you know, for the Grizzlies as a whole. I mean, obviously it's highlighting how important John Morant really is to
that franchise with the way that this team is struggling in the outset. But at the same time, I think if you have a guy like Marcus Smart on that team, he is gonna basically really you know, get at these guys, toughen up their metal and they'll they'll figure out a way to persevere. I think they're a runaway from kind of helping quell that. But I really wasn't expecting this type of level of struggle. You know, maybe two
three games, you know, under five hundred lose or whatever. But like the way that they're playing, you can clearly see that there's gonna be struggling and they're gonna be starting to ask those questions like where are they gonna get their help? Where they're gonna get their relief? You know, knowing that for the first quarter of the season, John Moran's not there. Hashtags jaw free joh there you go. All right, couple couple more shocking offs for
you, my man. All right, Chris Paul and the Golden State Warriors and the start that they've had to this season. Man, man, you know, I live out here in the Bay I uh second favorite team because I've been out here for a decade. Not necessarily a bandwagon fan. I just happened to move over here when they were killing it. But I didn't like this move with Chris Paul. When it happened. I'm sure a lot
of people didn't like or at least didn't understand it. Yeah. Man, he's old, he's he's he's you know, is he gonna accept this role coming off the bench. There's all these question marks. Is the right fit. The team's pretty small and there's still some question marks. We just saw them go up versus the Calves the other night, and there their lack of size definitely hurt them. But but man, Chris Paul, he's limited turnovers.
You and I were talking about this before we started recording. If this team can continue to limit turnovers, that's gonna be really good for them in crunch time in close games when when they're out there. Chris Paul seems to be willing to come off the bench right now, which is a good thing. I think what really has to happen for this team to kind of like get get really. I mean, they're they're six and two, but I think what's holding them back even more from being even more dominant is is Andrew
Wiggins isn't quite there yet. He's not quite himself yet with his normal rhythm with this team. I think when Andrew Wiggins starts getting really to to his comfort level, this team's gonna be on all cylinders, which is gonna be wild to think about. But but I do still think I still question, do they need to bring in another big man to kind of like at the deadline, to kind of shure up some size when they go up against these
bigger teams in the in the postseason. So what what's you feeling about the But the Warriors, My mancal All shucks, this is a problem because to your point, if all it takes is them to look for I mean, because it's not gonna work with Dario. Sorry, I'm sorry, Like, no, he's he's okay. But you know, I don't know how many times like the Warriors actually think that they bring in someone who's supposed to be their solution, you know, to to their big manute, and they still
wind up with Kevon Looney. Just like when it's all said and done, they're gonna need they're gonna need some extra help. They're gonna need some extra girth in that front court. But the key again with this offense and the way that it's designed and the ball movement, and it's the high risk, high reward mentality that they have. You give me a guy who can stabilize not only the first unit, but the second unit in their ability to get
consistent guard play with minimizing turnovers. They're gonna be a problem for the rest of the league in and of itself because you arguably now have to make sure that you're you know, whoever the opposing team's back court legitimately knows how to play up, not just for Steph but also play up for Chris Paul, but also play up for Gary Payton. The second it also play up for
Klay Thompson, it also play up for Draymond Green. There are multiple, you know, ball handlers on that court, and they all land on the side of the Golden State Warriors. You know. So unless the gold and State Warriors beat themselves when it comes to their ability to move the ball and execute their offense, you can make the argument that they are the most well put together team when it comes to ball creating, ball movement of everyone else
that's in the NBA. The problem is they all ain't six' ten, they all ain't playing you know what I'm saying. They're all not gonna be able to match up the same way. So they're gonna have to shoot the basketball. And you can see Klay Thompson Wiggins. They're struggling early. If they find rhythm as the season goes along and they stay healthy going into the
playoffs, that is a team you do not want to face. And the fact that they're right now already off to a good start for the season, I think speaks boldly because again they're minimizing turnovers and they're playing better defensively, and those are two things that always spell CHAMPI being ship aspirations for the Golden State Warriors, that's championship run mentality for the Golden State Warriors. If those
two things are happening for them. Couldn't have said it better myself, man, I mean, like, yeah, they got steph, they got some they got some nasty players that can do a lot of really nice things with the ball in their hands. And we'll we'll see how got clutch shooters.
Man, They've got clutch shooters. And you don't want to be you don't want to be you know, you got to be basically beating this team by ten twelve points, you know what I'm saying down the final stretch of games if you want to secure victories, because you're probably not want to be that team that's hanging around with a five or six point lead when the Warriors can actually go on that you know, proverbial clutch run that they love to go on. You know, so you don't ever want to go into the boxing
match with two of the best shooters to ever touch the planet. They just and one of the best defenders and smartest defenders and Draymond Green. It's it's just it hasn't been a very good track record for those that have absolutely all right, man, final one, final shocking off for you. Heat struggling early in the outset of this season. Uh, all shucks. Oh damn man, all shucks. I'm a Magic fan. I love it when they
Heat struggle. Let's go, man. I mean I like a lot of I like some of the players on that team, Jimmy Butler or someone I've always admired by, like man. I don't like cal Lowry, never really have enjoyed him. You know, he was an enemy of the Orlando when he was with the Raptors, coming from the from the Orlando, you know, with the Orlando rap Orlando Magic and Toronto Raptors series that happened, Uh
you know twenty nineteen in the playoffs. You know, kind of a questionable player respect the franchise because they always figure it out some way or another. But I am I'm all shucks. I love seeing them struggle. Talk about talk about shocking. Oh man, you don't sound like you and be welcome in those Miami waters. They'll be driving down ninety five ninety five more time
soon. Oh well, Seaw'll give you cover. He'll definitely give you cover because you know he's in the He's he's right in the he's in the middle of the jungle right down there. Man. You don't want no part of that heat. So anyway, man, this has been an awesome show this week, Steph. I appreciate you jumping on man, and you know what I'm saying, filling in, filling in big shoes to fill. But you handle it very nicely, and you know, it's always great to have you
on. Man. It's great to be able to talk basketball. And once again steff Man, just hit people up and let people know where where they can catch you and what you got going on. Yes, yes, yes, uh. You can find all of our work at Orlando Magic, HQ dot com or on u x X Twitter. You know you can find that on oh Magic or if you want to reach out to me personally, it's steven S t E P H E N zero six one zero right there. If you are looking at it on YouTube, holler at you, boy.
I'm always down to talk up some basketball. Tell you my bias takes on the Orlando Magic and the league. Let's go absolutely my man. Sc you know what I'm saying, it's our SC thirty right here, that's rocket it. You know what I'm saying that that's the Steph brand right there, Real Steph brand once again. Man, we appreciate everybody for hopping on board with us this week for the baseline. Kl Lee my man, Steph Cameron. We appreciate you guys, you know we do, and we'll catch up with you next time.