Well, well, well it's playoff time, baby. We got the matchups. We're recording this before the playing games, so we don't know all the matchups. We do know generally where things are gonna fall. Uh, we're gonna talk about that. We're gonna talk about the NBA's top ten plays the Week with journalist and radio host Justin Spears on today's episode. I'm Jack O'Brien.
And I'm Jabarian from MYUS, and.
This is Moles and Jack and Jack. We all got mad boosts. Yes, dog, sorry, got it? I looka donic kids.
Ta okay, mb drive me Spinny fatter number eighteen.
That's Drid sic Jord.
The Celtics are NBA champions over the double team.
Be honest, where's.
Justin? Welcome to the show man. Let's roll, baby, let's roll. You are a Tucson in Yes, you got here from Tucson. I have my note for Tucson Tusonian. Tusonian.
I don't know.
It don't sound right, Jack, it sounds it's cleaner, even though it's adding syllables. It's cleaner. I'm going I'm going Timberlake on you make it the very Facebook. It's cleaner anyways, you are from Tucson. You are a Lakers fan based on your T shirt?
Yes, sir, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Los Angeles Lakers. I'm a diehard Lakers fan. So kind of quick background here. My family's originally from Hunting to Beach, California, so I come from Orange County. Those are my connections. So I'm an LA sports fan. But we moved to Tucson when I was two years old, so I claimed Tucson. I am a Tucsonan or Tusoni and if you're Jack, and I love this city. But yes, I am a diehard Lakers fan.
Well, Orange County Onion originally, but yes, all right, Well we're gonna get into a bit of a playoff postseason preview. But first we got a little we got a little business to take care of because there have been some upsets a little closer to your current home. The Suns have fired coach Bud former Hawks coach, former Bucks coach less success in this stop on his journey, so the Suns ended up ten games under five hundred. I just wanted to highlight something that. So they fired Frank Vogel
last year after finishing sixteen games over five hundred. So that's where the expectations were heading into this season, was that sixteen games over five hundred is unacceptably bad. They ended up ten games under five hundred, so twenty six games worse than the mark that they viewed as unacceptable. So not a great year for the Suns. I mean, I don't think they were alone necessarily in coming in with much higher expectations than what they ended up at
this year. I think a lot of people were like, I think they're gonna be good. They've got Kevin Durant. You heard about this guy, Devin Booker, and they were not. They were They're pretty midland. What are you guys thoughts?
So, I think the Phoenix Suns experiment under matt Ishbio has been a complete failure. No, I will give him some grace here because if you look at the previous ownership with Robert Sarver, he was a very frugal man. He was a man that did not swing for the fences, a man that did not bring these bigger names to Phoenix.
Did they have some success with Sarver, Sure, but this guy, Matt Ishbia comes in and I think, what less than a week on the job, he makes the trade for Kevin Durant, and so then you're like, okay, who you got your superstar? You pair him up with Devin Booker, Let's see if they can make magic happen. And then he got new owner syndrome. He got a little too crazy, and then he decided, well, wait, hold on, if I can get Kevin Durant, let me get Bradley Beal and
let me eat trade for him. Oh wait, he's got a no trade clause. It's a big gamble. I don't care. He's still Bradley Beal. He's still a bucket. And they sold their soul to the devil because they wanted to win an NBA Championship, and unfortunately for Phoenix, they gave up way too much of their future. Right, they got rid of Deandreyden, who was the number one overall pick in that trade with Portland. They got rid of Cam Johnson, McHale, Bridges.
It was like all the pieces that they built up to get to the NBA Finals in twenty twenty one, they just got rid of them because they wanted the splashy names. And on top of that, those splashy names when they don't work out, when they have a no trade clause. It makes it so difficult, and they made their bed. This is what they had to deal with.
And you know, they tried to make that trade for Jimmy Butler, and I remember a lot of people were like, but wait, Jimmy Butler's contract, They're going to have to give him a ton of money. We'll look how it turned out for a team like the Golden State Warriors. They're enjoying Jimmy Butler right now. So it's just been a colossal disappointment in Phoenix. I feel bad for Devin Booker because he's kind of been that franchise player and the guy that's been through it all since day one.
But he definitely deserves better. And I'm not really sure what's next for Phoenix. I'm not surprised that they fired Mike Budenholm but also at the same time, they're about to have their fourth head coach in as many seasons, and I know the head coach is usually the scapegoat here, but you can't pin all of this on Mike Budenholzer. But with that being said, the culture was also really bad too. They didn't talk to each other during pregame warm ups. It just got off the rails so fast.
And it's so crazy to think that this is also the same team that started off the year eight and one.
I think they're like.
One of three teams, They're one of three teams in NBA history to start the season eight to one and not make the playoffs. So it was just a disappointment, a colossal failure, like I said, and I think that this will probably go down as the most disappointing season in Phoenix Sun's history. And what's also so crazy too, and I'll just wrap it up here, is it's not like Kevin Durant played bad. Like Kevin Durant still played at an all star level and still showed that he's
still one of the premier players in this league. It's just the Phoenix Suns right now. They need to hit the reset button. They need to blow this whole thing up. And that could also meet trading Devin Booker away.
Doesn't selling your soul to the devil. Usually like get you something good, don't get positive.
Yeah, usually get a championship.
Like for instance, I'm a big football guy, right, like I look at what the La Rams did, the Kroankey family, making all those trades.
They got a Super Bowl out of the deal. They're okay with that.
Teams do that to sacrifice for that one championship in Phoenix, being a desperate franchise that they are, team that's just hungry for a championship. Matt Ishbia came in thought, Okay, I'm a mover and shaker. I'm going to come in and make these deals and we're going to get this thing popping. And it completely blew up in their face and we'll see if Matt Ishbia can learn from his mistakes.
It definitely felt like a kid with a credit card situation, you know what I mean, where you get your first credit card. You know you're trying to be responsible at first, you know, you pull off that KD deal that's incredible, but then you start going.
Well, I mean, you know, I've got a month, and then you max it out on a foolish, foolish field situation.
And I'm not going to call it a purchase, you know, given the ever speaking about athletes, but you know you
purchased that contract and it didn't quite work out. Just quickly before you get off of this jack, I'm interested in justin you said it might end up in them trading Devin Booker, what's your gut tell you, given you know you're here in the state, you're you're talking to the fans, you're talking to I'm sure you know you people that are surrounding the surrounding new organization, what's your gut tell you?
Well, the Phoenix Suns right now, I feel like are in in the fork of the road right here now, because what's Kevin Durant going to do well?
First and foremost, what are they going to do as head coach? Who are they hiring?
I feel like this hire could be very important for Phoenix's future because let's say it's a guy that Kevin Durant does not want, well, do you trade kd to a place like Dallas and pair him up with Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis? Do you maybe send him to Dare I say Oklahoma City?
I would?
I love the idea with all the picks that they have, like the Phoenix Suns saying, you know what, let's hit the reset button, Let's get some picks back, Let's get a bright future. And Kevin Durant doesn't really have a home right when you think about his his NBA tenure, Like, which team could really grab on to Kevin Durant. Yeah, he won two championships, but he also joined the dynasty that was already there with the Splash Brothers and Draymond Green.
So I think it'd be cool to see Kevin.
Durant maybe go back to Oklahoma City and be paired up with those superstars and what they got going on here. And you know, Devin Booker could also get into a position now where he's like, Okay, I'm in the prime of my career right now, I'm playing at an all star level. Do I really want to go through the rebuild again? I was already a part of the rebuild as an early player.
I don't want to go through this again.
Get me to another situation to where I could be Devin Booker and we could be contending for championships. So I feel like this is probably going to be a very important summer for the Phoenix Suns, and it could determine are they going to run it back with the couple superstars that they have, or are they going to blow this whole thing up and start from scratch.
We'll see.
Yeah, it's a it's a bum. I mean, Dallas kind of makes sense to me they need to do something. And then as far as Oka see and I've also heard Houston tossed around as potential KD destinations, I think, you know, if OKAC goes out in the second round again, like then I feel like you might see them think about, Okay, we need like somebody who's just a walking bucket or something like that. But uh, you know, if they make it to the finals or win the championship, that would be a strange move.
Can I ask you guys this though, What do you guys think about just the whole coaching situation around Kevin Durant over the last few years, because if you look at the trend, he's gotten coaches fired.
Yeah, what do you guys make of that?
Because you know, I do think that Kevin Durant is an incredible player, but also at the same time, you know, there is that narrative that he's kind of chasing off coaches.
Yeah, I mean, I don't know. It feels like he has also been given some input into the team that gets built around him because he keeps ending up in these situations that are I feel like an older model of team that's like superstar based and you know, maxed out at the top and then like they just don't
have enough depth to compete. So I kind of blame that more than anything heavy to do with the coaches, although like I just don't know enough to know, like are they asking him before they make those decisions about like who to hire and then who to fire? Yeah, but I mean I certainly don't think they made smart decisions, Like I don't. I don't think it was smart to
fire bobul after last year. But you know, it's like Phoenix has been burning through coaches since before Katie got there, So yeah, sure, you.
Know, just really quickly on that, I will just say six or seven years ago, I remember Katie saying that he understood why people wouldn't necessarily want to play with or alongside Lebron because it's a toxic environment. Regardless of whether Phoenix has done you know, like you know, was already in this spiral before him. He himself has been in four different situations with three or four different situations and had a new coach or multiple coaches you know,
at at each stop. I'm at a certain point I do wonder how long the juice will be worth the squeeze.
Absolutely.
Yeah, I don't know, but I love Katie, so I don't. I don't want to time player legs nothing.
If you if you were to say, like, hey, if the Lakers could foolishly swing for the fences and get him, I would foolishly tell you, yeah, go ahead and do it in the off season, because yes, but you know it, one of.
The greatest, one of the greatest scorers of all time.
Man all right, well, uh, New Orleans got rid of David Griffin seven years of you know, relative futility. But I mean, very pretty recently, everybody was like the futures bright for this team. So I mean, it's just a bominable season this year due to health reasons and just a lot of things not not coming together. So I'm
not I don't have too much on that one. I do just want to keep talking about the Luca trade for the rest of my life, so if you can move on to that, But anything you guys want to talk about with the Pels.
I get the feeling that Zion is gone this summer. I get the feeling that they're gonna go ahead and press reset and try to, you know, try to start over.
I would love to see him in like Miami or like one of those places that you know puts an emphasis on conditioning and uh, you know health. That could be fun, all right. Dallas reportedly held an invite only no recording devices allowed press conference with a handful of selected journalists. Today. I still am like trying to wrap my header around the Luca trade. I mean, I think I really need This is just my plea journalists out there.
I need someone to write a book on this trade, like an entire book on the decision and how it came about, because like there's been reporting now that you know what, when when the trade was first announced, Nico's like, it's on me, and people took that to be like so it was just like he was the only one who knew, because otherwise it doesn't make sense that anybody heard that and didn't like throw their body in front
of it. But now it seems like the whole like people in the organization knew for at least an hour before it was announced, like they they knew that this was happening. There's this there's a book called The Wisdom of Crowds that spends like a whole section on the
Challenger decision. Like the you know NASA Disasters launch and like how that because they actually like knew it was very possible, Like they knew there was a problem with the O rings, which was exactly what caused the explosion, And there were people inside the organization being like, what
are you talking about? We absolutely can't launch today, and like they just got overruled, and it's a fascinating read, Like I need somebody to do that shoe leather reporting on just like what happened here, because I still like that.
Literally we were before you got on, Justin. We were talking about our best guess as to what happened, and I was speculating either like a liar liar style birthday wish that actually you know, like a child in the Los Angeles area, just being like I wish Luca was a Laker like on that day and it just like came true. Or you know, Jabari has long health that but you want to give your theory, well.
It's it's funny.
Like when Justin said soldiers sold to the Devil, I was like, wait a second, what that? Like I had just mentioned this to Jack that I jokingly said that, you know doctor Bust, the late great doctor Bush must have sold sold his soul to the devil simply because of all of the different ways. We have been very fortunate since the eighties, and you know from from the eighties and on, UH.
And that would have been worth it. That would have been a good purchase, one soul for the type of success that the Lakers have had over the past four decades. Yeah, that's that's a good purchase. I don't put it past Matt Ishbia to have sold his soul for UH for the This Sun's team.
But you know, yeah, my conspiracy theory is that Dallas has their site set on relocating, getting out of Dallas and going to Las Vegas. Yeah, I would love to see the NBA back in Las Vegas. I'd love to see the NBA, the NBA back in Seattle. I've always said those two markets. Put teams there. Get the Pelicans out of the freaking Western Conference, get the Grizzlies out of the Western Conference. Like and when you talk about like those parts of the country, they all are. They
have they have colleges that are in the SEC. Do you know what the East stands for an SEC? Eastern It's a southeastern part of the United States. So gets get New Orleans, put them in the Eastern Conference. Put Minnesota in the Eastern Conference. We need teams in Seattle in Las Vegas. And I think my conspiracy theory that the Dallas Mavericks are completely tanking everything because they want to get.
To Las Vegas.
And honestly, I just think that this is one of the most dumbest trades I have.
Ever seen in NBA history.
And what's so crazy is like the other side of this trade is Anthony Davis, like an all time defensive player, like an all time great. But it goes to show how stupid it is for the Mavericks to make this trade. And not only is it stupid for them to trade away twenty five year old Luka Doncs, but the fact that, like, you didn't even shop him around. You just have this backboard deal with the Lakers, with the Lakers of all teams, right, It's not like you traded him to like the Knicks
or some other Ringdom team. You traded him to the Lakers, where before that trade man their future looked dark in the post Lebron era, and.
Now we got some good Dodges.
Yeah, this is a Lakers fan saying this. By the way, it's the truth as only a Lakers fan can be that that infuriating, like can you believe? How can you believe? But like Dallas is so the top media markets in the United States, New York's won, LA's two, Chicago's three, Dallas Fort Worth is number four, it would be by far the biggest media market to not have an NBA team, Like the next would be I guess Tampa at number eleven, but I mean they can root for the Heat, so
Seattle's at number thirteen. But yeah, I mean, Dallas is a massive media market. It doesn't make sense to not have an NBA team there.
And that's why, to be honest with you, I think if the NBA ever approved them moving them to Vegas, it would come with an expansion franchise.
Right back there.
I don't think, I don't know if any any of you it's going to take place. But you know, to that point, I don't think they're going to be just vacating the Dallas market simply because as you know, you know, these owners don't seem they want don't seem to want to be there.
Yeah, all right, let's take a quick break, we'll come back. We'll talk about the top ten plays of the year and take a look at some matchups and just overall predictions any any of these teams that we think are going to do better worse than what people are expecting. We'll be right back and we're back, and the NBA just released I saw it on Twitter, the top ten plays of the year, and some of them more than
one play. At number one, we have an entire sequence that you guys aren't gonna love, but I think they did a good job. They've got Jaws double three sixties, which that was the crazy first thing I was checking for. Was like, he hasn't done that in a game since, right, It was just that one game where he just decided ate up a shot that nobody had ever done.
Before, situational like greatness.
Yeah, he could just do.
It, improvised that and was like, I'm doing that tonight. So they have both of those. At number two, they've got a couple of like monster dunks on people. So they have Jaws double three sixties at one spot, and then they have Jokic going full court taking up two separate uh so, two full court shots from Jokic. They've got Trey's game winner. And then at number one. They have the whole final sequence of that Bulls versus Lakers game where the Lakers are up by five inbounding the
ball under the Bulls basket. Yeah, with the ball in in the hands of the basketball computer. Greatest decision maker of all time. I will say, Brian the editor made a really good point. They did miss that Jokic pass where it just like passed. He just flicked it over his shoulder from the top of the three point line and brook Lopez was it just oh maybe, well somebody was in between and just was looked ridiculous, Like yeah, they were like, I'd say that would be my big omission.
But overall, a fun look back at the year. Any any plays to jump out at you guys or anything you think they should have given a spot too.
Well, I definitely want to double down on that Jokic pass. And you know, I have some some buddies who are Denver Nuggets fans, and they are pretty much like, yeah, Jo Jokic does that, like on a nightly basis. He does that all the time. It's just a lot of those passes don't get shown. And I'm like, I don't know, man, I don't I've never seen a pass like that. Like Jokic is, in my opinion, the best passing big man
of all time. He's definitely carving out a legacy that will go down as one of the all time greats. But yeah, honestly, that Jokic pass, I'm glad you brought that up because that was one of the craziest plays I've seen all year.
Yeah, that was a blast. They have a dime from one of the players in the Warriors where he saves it as as he's running out of bounds and like saves it behind his back all the way down the court to a streaking teammate who dunks it. That's I think,
I forget who it is. But they also have right up there with the two jaw three sixties, they have that Steph kind of spinning between two players and then like kind of throwing it in off balance, like falling from the wing, and it's just like a weird direction. That Again, the analysis that I saw of Steph early on where someone said Steph's got a demon that's all still still jumps out to me. This is this is the podcast where we just give supernatural explanations to NBA success.
But that Jokic pass just like sometimes when he's as passes, like the ball seems to move like slower, like in slow motion, but like the players just like can't catch up to it, and so it's really strange. So here's what we know. We don't know the playans. We know, okay season the one seed, and we're feeling pretty good about them against any eight seed. The Rockets are number two.
They are being People are expecting Golden State to win their playing game, and I think people are kind of penciling in Golden State to beat Houston or that's kind of the energy that I'm picking up. That is just a bad matchup, and the main thing people are pointing to,
I think is just Houston's inexperienced in the postseason. I feel like, I don't know, the past few postseasons, there's been a couple teams who we discounted because for that reason because they lacked experience, like Minnesota last year, I
think Men the year before. I still do think Golden State probably beats them in a series if the Warriors win in the play in, but I think it's because like both Memphis and Minnesota in those series had somebody who could get a bucket at the end of the game, which you need, and I feel like Houston doesn't have that, so that that would probably be the reason that I don't see them having a lot of success in the
postseason at this stage. But I also wouldn't be shocked if they just like, you know, one by ten, like four times against Golden State, not like a sweep, but you know, if you just win by enough and play crazy enough defense like they've been known to do, then it doesn't matter if you can't get a bucket at the in the last second. But what are you guys thoughts on Houston's postseason prospects?
Man very young, and like you said, they're inexperienced. They don't have the playoff experience, but they do have a really good coach that's also been at this level two in Emo Doka. So I think Emo Dooka in his second act in the NBA after that whole mess with Boston, it's been it's been really fun to watch.
I really like this Houston Rockets.
I like the young talent they have, but they kind of give me the Oklahoma City vibes from two thousand and seven, two thousand and eight, where it's like, they got the talent, they have a good coach, but maybe just give them another year to let them add some more pieces and then they'll be in this position.
I think they've drafted well.
I give their front office a ton of credit with the young players that they've added. But now you're going up against a franchise that has the same coach, the same star player, and his and his kind of right hand buddy outside of Clay Thompson and Draymond Green, and then you add in the ultimate competitor that is Jimmy Butler. And Jimmy Butler at the trade deadline, he was kind of viewed as a toxic character, right, like, who, who are?
What team is going to add a player like Jimmy Butler for how he treated Miami in the ending stages of his career there and then you got to give him that crazy contract. Well, ever since the Golden State Warriors have added Jimmy Butler, I've had one of the better records in the NBA and we are talking about them at Jabari. We talked about how the Lakers are so damn lucky. I mean, the Lakers are like one basket away from playing against the Golden State Warriors in
this three to six matchup. So I'm counting my Lucky Stars as a Lakers guy that they don't got to play Golden State in that first round. This is a team that is a dynasty, that's probably on the tail end of their run, but they've got the championship pedigree, and that's why I'm probably gonna go with the Golden State in six.
Yeah. Look, just to echo this, and I mentioned this to Jack before the show, Golden State's one team I actually didn't want to face, especially in a first round, you know matchup. I don't want to see a fresh Steff, a fresh and hungry Jimmy and all of those guys executing like crazy in a first round, first round matchup. I think Houston can make it interesting, but it's tough and it sucks because Houston fought, you know, fought all year.
They earned that, you know that, you know, that second seed, and you know, for their troubles, it could very well wind up being, you know, a little bit of a first round buzz saw.
Yeah, we'll see, but you know, who knows if Golden State. Golden State has been able to lose the inexplicable games that they should have wanted to win.
You know, if Harrison, if Harrison Barnes doesn't hit that game winner with a depleted Spurgers team down the stretch of the season, you know, it's a different conversation.
All right, Lakers, Wolves, you guys, I'm pretty sure I know who you're taking. So Minnesota makes it through to the second round and then Clippers Nuggets. Clippers are the hottest team in the NBA right now. They're fifteen and two to finish the season. Something I always talk about is like two years ago, you know, Kawhi for one playoff game, the best player in the NBA, and then he got hurt. And for the past two years, everybody, everybody's just been like, yeah, Chhile'll never not be hurt.
And that's been true for the past couple of years. But he's looking strong. Harden is looking good. I don't know, I could see the Clippers making making some noise and upsetting some Lakers fans along the way. Well we'll see. But what are you guys' thoughts on the Nuggets Clippers.
I do want to give credit where credit is due. James Harden has played seventy nine games this season, right like James Harden was a guy that wasn't playing nearly that many games, and he's he's been around and he's been effective as not only a score averaging just under twenty three points per game, but I think he's averaging like nearly nine a sis per game two. So James Harden, like you said, Jackie, he's playing some really good basketball
right now. I just feel bad for our guy, Lakers legend, even because Zubats, because he's got to go up against that best of luck brother.
I think that the Denver Nuggets. I think Clippers don't make it interesting.
They might win a game or two, but I think the the Nuggets will figure it out.
Been so good.
So you're saying Nuggets in five or six.
I'll say Nuggets in about five or six.
Yeah, Okay, I thought I was gonna be the I thought I was gonna be the only one because as as well as the Clippers have played, and I'm not gonna take anything away from them, not even gonna do the little brother thing. They have played well, and to be honest with you, I don't want to face him
in the first round either. I still think they don't have any answer whatsoever for you and as well as as Zubac has been playing, and he has been playing well, I think over the course of the series, you know, yeah, that damn Terminator is gonna wear him down.
Okay, the Turk because I have heard Kawhi described as a terminator too. Terminator was Terminator versus Terminators Terminator to Judgment Day, and that's one of the best movies of all time. So I think either way, all we're talking about is there's gonna be a great season here, all right. Any team in the West that you guys think is going to make a deeper run than people are expecting.
Oh man, deeper run than people are expecting. I mean, I would say the Lakers, but I feel like the Lakers are expected to represent the West in the NBA Finals. I think that this is the year of the Lakers. And I know I'm biased, but I look at the the addition of Luca, I look at how that's matched up with Lebron. I did have some concerns with the front court, with guys like like Jackson Hayes and others, and that could be a concern later on in the postseason,
but they've actually performed better than I thought. I'm curious to see how ruy Achimora plays in this postseason with the front court matchups they got. But yeah, yeah, I'll probably say the the Lakers, and probably the Nuggets. Just I mean, they're the number four seed, They've won a championship before in a seven game series. It's tough to bet against Yokid. So I'd say probably the West. I go with with Denver or the Lakers.
Dang, all right, just piggyback.
You know where I stand on the Lakers. I think that they can and probably will make a deep run. But if they don't, the wild my wildcard for this postseason is still going to be the Golden State Warriors. I think if the Warriors, you know, you get that seven and they beat Houston, guess I recognize where that would line them up next. I think a hot Warriors team is the team that I just would personally like to avoid.
Yeah, that makes sense, And out Yeast is basically I mean, so on this podcast, we support the League versus Celtics is kind of how I think about it. But I do think it's probably gonna be the Celtics again coming out of the East. Well, what do we think anybody able to make me feel better and say that there's another team that has a good shot. I mean, I guess the Cavs would be the obvious one. Sixty four and eighteen, you know, best offensive rating in the in
the league this year. But do you guys think they have legit shot at beating the Celtics. I think they do.
Now.
I do think that, you know, we're talking about conspiracy theories earlier. I think that this crazy Luca trade is just pairing up Lakers versus Celtics, the old classic rivalry in the in the NBA Championship. But I think, honestly, outside of Boston, the one team that I think could really go far and maybe even get to the NBA
Finals the Milwaukee Bucks at the number five spot. Now, I know Dame dealing with with his whole thing, like that's that's a tremendous loss, right that, Like, that's that's.
A big time there.
But you still got Giannis as one of the top big men in basketball right now. I still think that the Bucks they have that that championship pedigree. I still think they can't go far. I'm curious to see how that matchup's gonna go with Indiana and a team that I don't think is going to say go far, like go to the NBA Finals, but I could see them winning a playoff series. About those Detroit Pistons turn things around. Man, They're playing against the Knicks, and you know, Tom Thibodeau is,
you know, solid coach. I love the Knicks and the pieces that they have, But the Detroit Pistons have been one of my favorite stories in the NBA this season. This was a team that was riding one of the worst, if not the worst, losing streaks and NBA history. Like they were telling fans, hey, if the Pistons win, we're giving you free food, and then they proceeded to drop twenty eight straight games like that is the ultimate tease. But hey, great marketing for whatever food the company that was.
But the Pistons, they're turnaround. Cade Cunningham, I like this team a lot, and I think, honestly, this is kind of like a just the beginning stages for them. I think over the next couple of years they're going to add some pieces and we're going to see the Pistons back to being a force in the East.
I'm right there with you with Detroit. I think they're going to be solid. I don't necessarily know that it's going to happen this year, but you know, to your point, shout out to Cad, Shout out to Jamie Bickerstaff, former Coach of the Year. You know, he goes there and absolutely turns things around, and then you know, very first year, Jentle.
Have been back. Look for him if he hadn't. You know, the Calves had a huge turnaround after he left there, but then he turned it around, So you know, it's I guess it's a statement about who was coaching Detroit last year.
So shout out to MONI, shout out legend at the Bank Jack to ask your question just directly. The team that I hope comes out is the Calves. The team I think is going to come out is the Celtics. The team I really want to come out deep down inside is exactly where where Justin just went.
I want the Bucks. I want.
You know, Giannis over the last fifteen to twenty games has been absolutely incredible. I don't know if if you guys had a chance to watch a lot of Bucks, you know action I did. He is truly an offensive hub in a way that we haven't seen him before. Double digit assists if I'm not mistaken, almost averaging that over the last like fifteen or so games, and the word on the street is today they may actually be back during this series.
So while I.
Don't, I don't want them to like just like throw everything on him when he gets back. Look if they could find a way to get through this first round matchup and Dame gets going and Giannis is still playing the way that he's you know, dominant on both sides of the ball, even though Doc Rivers is their coach, I think it's a possibility.
Even though do we think we're past the era of best player? Whoever has the best player, you're gonna just inherently you should put your money on that team because that that feels like where we're going in a lot of these But it also feels like that hasn't always been the case in the past few years. Do you think that things have changed or you still think that's a good rule of thumb for the postseason?
I think that things have changed, Like I'm not gonna bet against Lebron James in a seven game series, right or some of these other elite players like Nikola Jokic or some of the best but You know, if if you look at the past chanceapions, it kind of reminds me a little bit of the college basketball model. Right Like when John Calipari at Kentucky, he tried to load his team with all of these one and dons, and he thought that that was the formula to win in
a championship. Meanwhile, you had Villanova all these other teams that prioritized veteran players and mature players and experienced guys that you could rely on in the tournament. And they were players that were with programs for several years. They built up that championship culture brick by brick. You look at the Boston Celtics. I mean, how many times have they been deep into the playoffs. Heck, they were in the NBA Finals and lost to the Golden State Warriors.
But they didn't going back to our point year with the selling are sold to the Devil, they didn't trade away all of those pieces. They continue to develop them and got them better, and eventually they were able to break through and win an NBA championship. The Golden State Warriors in their dynasty, yeah, they added Kevin Durant during those couple of years, but for the most are all
of those guys on that team. We're all homegrown players, guys that were drafted and selected by the Golden State Warriors.
So I think there's something.
To be said about having a culture and developing a championship team over time, and I feel like you're starting to see that with teams like Oklahoma City and Houston and some of these others in the NBA. So it definitely helps having a premier superstar player on your team, a guy that is one of the faces of the league. But I think having that depth and having a good roster, you know, having a good rotation, I think that's definitely valuable, and we've seen in recent years that that matters.
And just to add to that, I think it I think it's specifically the way the game is played now.
You know, more more motion, more.
Ball movement, more body movement, less one on one isolation, less like of just like either one on one isolation or like two man action. You know, more complex, you know, more complex schemes, and all of a sudden, While yes, you still want to have the best player in the series, I don't know if it's as much of an impact, especially if it's relatively close around you know, around those play around that player.
Yeah, all right, let's uh, let's take a quick break. Well, come back and we will do the rapid fire round of questioning, the fastest, nastiest segment in basketball podcasting, and we'll be right back and we're back in. Justin, justin, Justin, I don't know you have all right? Should we just scrap this part? Actually? I there's no way, no way this guy's ready uh for for this. Uh. This is the rapid fire round of questioning. Uh, you've just wandered
into the shooting gallery. Uh. There there's gonna be bullets pinging around, whizzing past your ear and do it.
Uh.
So you're gonna want to get in an athletic position and and just be ready. We're gonna be firing some questions at you, uh, and you're just gonna fire them back. We're gonna keep this ball moving. We're gonna keep the ball fizzing around the perimeter. Do you think you're ready?
Let's do it.
I'll just just note if you delay or allow one of us to delay in between, we will be rude to you. We will because you are getting an EP credit on this particular episode.
So get this together.
All right, let me lock in you ready, Let's do it.
Brian, start the clock. My kids are in the next room and they think I'm verbally abusing somebody. All right, Uh, Jabari, why don't.
You kick us off?
All right?
More dominant player Jokic back in Shacks era or Shack in this current era.
Yokic back in shacks era. Oh, Yokic's game is transcendent. It could be in any era at any time. Give me Yokic.
All right. We have a new king of top selling NBA jerseys. I want you to guess who it is. But Yama incorrect, sir, top five, although he's so he's at he's at number six, And that did make me want, like, you don't see a lot of Webb Yama jerseys in the wild. Yeah, a long name, and you need to like, I feel like it only makes sense on a skinny, like tall person, you know, like it like I feel like it works better? Yeah, yeah, yeah for the full name.
This one changed mid season. I'll say justin new leader mid season, new.
Leader mid season.
Let's go with Luca, you got it? And any of these So Luca number one, Steph number two, Lebron number three, Jason Tate the number four. That one surprised me a little bit. I don't see a lot of Jason Taylor. Maybe it's just maybe it's just because when you moved to Boston, they just give you one of those just yeah.
It's like at the airport in Hawaii. Yeah, yeah, you get at the airport there, you just get a Tatum Jersey. Hey put this on.
Jalen Brunson number five, WEMBM six, Anthony Edwards seven, Jaw number eight, Shade number nine, Yokic ten, Yannis eleven, LaMelo Ball at number twelve, then KD. Booker thirteen, fourteen, then Jalen Brown at fifteen, and any that jump out to you, guys's surprising any that you thought would be there that aren't.
Oh man, well you brought up LaMelo Ball.
And the first thing I thought of was so last summer I was at a basketball camp for kids, and I asked all the kids there, like, all right, guys, So when I say, mellow, who do you guys think I'm talking about? Every single one of them said LaMelo Ball. And it made me feel so old because I'm like, Carmel Anthony is.
Not old, right, and he is.
The real mellow. He is the real mellow.
As far as you didn't mention Kawhi Leonard, did you? No, Kawhi is not interesting because I feel like that would be up there, like he's still a big time player, right, but maybe he's so boring that nobody wants to buy his jersey or it's James Harden or Kyrie Irving.
I think it's team dependent, Like I bet Kawhi was there when he was with the Raptors, but like now, I just feel like not a lot of not a lot of Clippers jerseys out there, even in the Greater Los Angeles area.
It's because the thirty thousand Clippers fans have already bought one prior to now, so then stets.
Right, it's also another one.
I'm surprised because US Lakers fans, we love this guy, Austin Reeves.
You thought you thought he'd crack the top fifteen.
I thought like he'd be.
One of those sneaky guys that just got up there because he's a fan favorite.
Let them make a deep run with him playing well this year, I bet you he'll jump in that time, like somewhere in that range of fifteen to twenty. Yeah, all right, keeping to going really quickly, Lakers trivia for you all time franchise leader in rebounds?
Who do you think is that leader?
For the last oh man, it's it's probably somebody obscire like George Miken.
It is not. It is not. I chose this for a specific reason.
Will Chamberlain.
He is number five because this is Lakers.
That they got. This is rebounds they got while playing for the Wall playing Withers.
Okay, is it not Pau Gasol, No, it's not Shaquille O'Neill.
It is not. He is number six.
Wow.
Not Kareem's number two?
Two?
Oh my goodness, lamar odom is it?
I'm like, I got you.
It is Elgin Baylor, Elger Baylor eleven, four hundred and six.
For him to do that as a guard, Yeah, that's wow. And I mean, yeah, there's a lot of guards on like Kobe is number three. But it's just I think it's partially a testament to like who played the most games as a Laker? But magic number four.
A c.
Green. Speaking of who played the most games shot out, I was my guest was gonna be Vern Mickelson, who comes in at number seven.
But that was right on the tip of my toes, right off, a little.
Bit off, all right. And finally you have the ability to pick any former Lakers legend to make a run with this current squad.
Who are you taking Kobe Bryant Man?
Come on now, not gonna take a center? Like it doesn't matter that we don't have any any bigs. I get it, I get it, But I had to throw that out there. It's like, yeah, we need a big.
Yeah, you do need a big I do worry about the hack of shack later on in games. So in Shack honestly, uh yeah, Like I said, he's dominant, but the free throws is what concerns me. Yeah, Mann, I'm gonna go with with Kobe Bryant Man because even in games where he's not scoring, he still figures out ways to to make when he plays and when you need a bucket and clutch time, it's always gonna be Kobe Bryant.
So I'm biased.
Actually you know what.
That's True's go that's not true.
But also Kobe was also a really good defender too, And it's kind of the knock on Luca, especially last year in the NBA Finals going up against the Boston Celtics, so perimeter defense, all around great player. I would definitely go with h with.
A guy like Kobe.
We've done just a couple of times now I keep I think my pick would be Kareem. I know my pick would be Kareem for this particular team because he was a good defender.
Yeah, the thing of it is, like this question and Offen skews with age, we are gonna pick either Koreeb or Shack or somebody like that. Where to be honest, my people would be Magic just because like I don't care, I Magic to my guy in the same way that Kobe.
Is his guy.
M But I mean, you know, I don't think you can go That's the thing about you know, you know, picking this with the Lakers, you can't really go wrong.
Like you're you're you're.
You're you're picking between like top ten all time guys or fifteen or wherever you have them, you know, not to offend anybody.
Well, if we're talking about fit, to think about someone like Pau Gasol playing with Luca and Lebron, Like he's a seven footer, but he's also an elite passer too, So you have the size, you have that length, and you pair that up with Luca and Lebron, I.
Would be disgusting, disgusting.
I'm so old. I was I was actually gonna pick Lou al Cinder and all right, right right, Mama, Lou, I'm gonna go h there goes that man, all right, justin What a pleasure having you on Mild and Jack and sometimes your body got Matt Boosti's where can people find you? Follow you, hear you, all that good stuff.
Yeah, so when I'm not talking basketball with you guys on this amazing podcast, Thank you guys again for the invite. I really do appreciate it. I'm a I'm a diehard Lakers fan. I love the NBA, so getting to jump on a podcast like this is an absolute honor for me.
So thank you again. You can check out my work.
I cover Arizona football for the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson dot com.
I also host a radio.
Show on ESPN Tucson down here in the Old Pueblo, and you can check out the Spears and Ali podcast. That's the name of our show, Spears and Ali. We're on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, the whole nine. And yeah, man, I'm really really thankful that I was able to jump on with you guys.
Thank you for having me.
ESPN TWOS shout out Ali.
Also find me on Twitter as well or X I'm gonna call it Twitter.
You can call it Twitter. It's Twitter.
It'll always be Twitter. But yeah, follow me at justin Esport all right.
You can find me on Twitter, Jack Underscore, Brian on Blue Sky at Jack Obie the Number one, Jabari where you can have people find you.
Jabari A.
Davis on Twitter, Jabari Davis NBA on the Better site also known as Blue Sky.
Yeah, yeah, all right, and that's gonna do it. Another one in the books. Swish back next week with more NBA actions, some playoff coverage. Can't wait. We will talk to you all then bye,