It's @HowardBeck on NBA Playoffs, round one matchups, MVP race + more

or react to the spotlight. And the Knicks are a very, very playoff steeped team, So there's that. But the Pistons are tough as heck, and I think we've seen that all season. They have proven that over and over again. They are tough defensively, and I think they have the ability to make life tough on Jalen Brunson and to make the next work for this. I think this series could go the distance, but I do expect the next to win it.

Now Kay got hurt and he's everything to them. So I just wondered, from your perspective and vantage point, since we're out here in Salt Lake in the midst of a very very long rebuild, what stands out most to you about the way Detroit has gone about this where they're back in the playoffs and very relevant and should be for a number of years.

finally gotten their feet under them again? I mean, if you're in the lottery enough times and you get the number one pick at least once, which they did to get Kid, uh, cool, But you know a lot of times, like the Pistons have had pretty bad life lottery luck. They've they've slipped a lot of times, and so you know, if anything, there are a lesson in the lottery and being bad or tanking is not a panacea. It's no

guarantee of anything. I think the most interesting wrinkle in their evolution of the last couple of years is and this is, of course, after flushing the front office a couple of times, flushing the coaching, you know, the head coach a couple of times, that the current group, led by Trajan Langdon, decided, you know what, we need some veterans in here with our young guys. And I was a skeptic, I'll be honest. I was like, I don't get why they're signing Tobias Harris to a big I

don't know. It's only like a two year deal, I think. But I wasn't convinced last summer that that was the move. But they brought in Tobias Harris, and then they later brought in Dennis Shrewder, and they signed Malik Beasley, and they they traded away Quentin Grimes for Tim Hardaway Junior, another deal I did not agree with then and I still kind of don't agree with. And you know, bolstered by the fact that Quentin Grimes traded again from Dallas

to Philly went off in Philly down the stretch. Didn't understand it. But I do think that bringing in some of these vets to put around the young guys has helped stabilize them. And obviously the hiring of JB. Bickerstaff fresh off of being five was a huge move for them. So I think some of this is just like, there's a little bit of luck and a little bit of patience and a little bit of you know, finding the right vets at the right time and the right coach at the right time.

the foll statement holds true. Seventh and eight seeds are cannon fodder in this league, and most first round series involving one eights and two sevens are are predictable and

often dull. I'm not expecting much to change this year, other than, of course, the biggest you know outlier to that, which is the Warriors as a seventh seed, and you know, they were very, very very narrowly the seventh seed after losing on you know, Game eighty two, and the West is just that tough and that deep, and the Warriors, you know, if they'd had Jimmy Butler from day one, probably would not be, you know, the seventh seed today.

As former team, the Heat who are playing tonight, who you asked about, don't have Jimmy Butler anymore, because that's how trades work. When you trade a guy, you don't have him, you have Andrew Wiggins instead. The Heat that we saw the last few years, you know, play their way out of the play in get to the finals, be this really tough out all the time. Like there's some of that still there, but a lot of that was Jimmy frankly, and you know, Tyler Hero has been

really good for them. Bam out of Bio is still Bam out of Bayo. They're still tough, they still play defense, but they just don't have a lot of offense to speak of, and and a lot of you know, not enough ways to just put points on the border create open shots. And the Cavaliers are awesome. So no, I'm not expecting much out of that series. If it's if it's if it's the Heat, or if it's anybody, I don't care who it is.

see you know, peak Dame Lillard. But I think that the Bucks were already you know, going to be facing a bit of an uphill battle here, like they have the best player in the series. And you know, one of our playoff axioms in the NBA is go with the team that has the best player, and that's clearly Yannis by quite a bit. However, everything else from two through whatever I think is in the Bucks favor, they've got us in the Pacers favor. I should say the

Pacers have more depth there. It's interesting because they're not the prototypical like Championship contender where you've got like an absolute stud top five, top ten player. Tyres Haliburton will probably make all MBA. He was on my ballot, I think, on the third team, but he's not in that Yiannis tier. But they have Siakham and they've got em hard, and they've got Nie Smith, and they've got Miles Turner, and they just got a lot of really good, you know,

teaching McCollum. They's got a lot of really good players who contribute and know their roles and play them to the hilt. And they've got a bit of a swagger about them and We saw that last year when they beat the Knicks and then you know, played a really tough series again the Celtics. I think the Pacers have the overall advantage here, you know, even if Dame is back, and even if Dame is at you know, back to one hundred percent.

first three quarters. But Howard after, I don't know, after kind of dialing into that game, and I don't know how many people are really giving the Rockets very much, you know, very much, you know, attention or credit for what they've achieved all year. I don't think Golden State has the size of the length to deal with what

amy you Douk has in Houston. Now, you could make an argument that, you know, back to your point about the Pacers bocks, when the team clearly has the best player, you tend to side with that team, and you can make the argument that Golden State has the two best players in the series. And maybe it's not even an argument, maybe they just do. But I'm and Thompson is going

to be stuck like glue to steath. And they've got Dylan Brooks, They've got a lot of tough wing defenders, and they've got size down load that I don't think Golden State does. So I've heard a lot of people say, even though it's seven to two, Golden State is going.

the size advantage across the board. We also have a a little bit of a depth thing where I think I think the Rockets have a little bit better depth. But also there's a youth versus a veteran thing that's you know, forget the experience for a minute, but just youthful legs and you're on an every other day's schedule and you know, you know, Jimmy, Steph and Raymond are all in their mid to late thirties. I could they

just wear down. So I think the Warriors have the advantage going in based on all the obvious things to do with playoff experience and know how and just you know, higher level of talent at the top end. But I think the depth and the youth of the Rockets is going in, their size is going to make it really difficult for them. And we saw that a couple of weeks ago when Men Thompson you know, kind of locked up Curry and had you know, Steph had one of

his worst games we've seen in years. Can the Warriors do enough to get him off of him, to get and to keep Dylan Brooks and the rest of them off of him as well. That's a question. Can the Rockets, on the flip side of that, though, stick with their double big lineup of Shanngoon and Steven Adams or can the Warriors play those guys? Or you please play play Adams off the court because they're gonna be smaller and running up and down the court and trying to you know,

Steven Adams away from the basket. There's a lot of cat and mouse and chess game that's gonna go on here. But I give the Warriors the slight edge.

I assume he'll play tonight, but you know, John Morant. First, the Grizzlies have to get past the mass and then Jahn Morant needs to be you know, close to one hundred percent by Sunday, which is probably not gonna happen. I don't trust what Dallas has, Like there's they don't They don't really have a point guard now, they don't have a lot of shot creation that they get their shot creation through mostly ball movement and just power. But

you don't have without Kyrie. You don't have that off the bounced guy who can just penetrate a defense, break it down, force help and then get get you know, get guys in rotation. So I don't I don't trust the Mavericks top level talent right now, they don't have it they need. If you don't have Luca, then you needed Kyrie, and now you don't have Kyrie. They don't have Luca, by the way, because they traded him to the Lakers. And as we've established, once you do that no longer.

But I'm glad that he has a job. I wonder if he's going to get a head coaching job after how we You know, he's kind of been credited by helping Tylu with his defense. I'm not taking anything away from Tye, but Nuggets clips round one. Man. There's a lot on the line here because you know, Denver of course fired their head coach and Howard just so you know, when you fire a head coach, he no longer coaches the team. Uh So, Denver La clip, Denver La clips?

Like are you trying to contend or are you not trying to? Like what's going on here? Really you're relying on always hurt Kawhi Leonard and you know you never know what you're going to get from him, James Harden at this stage of his career, and oh, Norm pounds that there's some nice players here, but like, really, where are you guys going with all this? And oh here they are fifty wins. Incredible job by Tyler and as you point out by jeff Bean Gundy who joined the

staff this year. Incredible job by James Harden holding it down until Kawhi Leonard got back. Incredible job by Kawhi Leonard becoming Kawhi Leonard again. And you know, being an interest an incredibly dominant player for the last couple of months. The only reason not to believe in the Clippers right now. And they've had one of the best every like every metric you can cite for the last six seven eight weeks.

The Clippers are are right up there with the best teams in the league, and the only reason to doubt them would be if you don't trust Kawhi to stay healthy through a series, which fair understandable, We've seen that play many times, or if you don't trust James Harden to come through in the clutch, which again fair, we've

seen that play many times. But he doesn't have to be their leading scorer in this case, because they've got Kawhi Leonard, and they've got Norm Powell and Ivika Zubac has had a great season and is one of the few centers who can at least make Jokic work. And

the Nuggets are in a weird place. I mean, they, as we know, just fire their GM and coach and one fell swoop with days ago in the regular season, one of the stranger things we've seen, and so I feel like there's still a little bit of a cloud over them, though they did finish strong under Dave Battleman.

I'm looking around. I'm like, did I'm the best in the world at this and you need to do more to take advantage of me before I'm thirty two to thirty three years old? If they lose round one? What does the offseason look like in Denver?

And I don't expect it. As bad as things have gotten there, or as shaky as things have been, I should say, I don't expect even a first round knockout is going to suddenly cause him to like start stomping his feet and say trade me. But it's the NBA and you just never know, and you can't take guys of his caliber for granted. And it's got to be frustrating, you know. Ever since they won the championship, you know,

they lose key rotation players. Now they've fired the GM and the only head coach that he's ever played for in the NBA. There's just a lot of static there right now, and we don't know who the new GM is going to be. We don't know if David Adaman is going to be the permanent head coach. There are questions Jokic and his representation. I'm sure we'll be asking some of those questions, but I don't I feel like we're getting too far ahead of ourselves to speculate on his future at this stage.

what their identity was now. But they've been really good, another one of those teams where the staying And they won forty nine games, which is not bad at all, But they finished the season much stronger than they began it, so the record is not fully reflective. I think of how dangerous they could be. You know, the Lakers, you know, you're always like, you should never bet against Lebron. We've

learned that many many times. And Lebron and Luca together is just absolutely you know, striking fear in the hearts of every coach, every film breakdown, guy like you don't want to face that. But the Lakers don't have a complete roster, They don't have a real traditional big Jackson Hayes will play some nominal minutes out there as the starter at center, but otherwise it's you know, Dorian Finney Smith or Ruy Hashimura. In the Minnesota Timberwolves take advantage

with Randall and Rudy Gobert. Randall likes to play bully ball. Who's guarding him. But the flip side of it is the Timberwolves have to contend with with Luca and Lebron. They do have some great primer defenders the Kail Alexander Walker and Anthony Edwards himself and Jade McDaniels and Chris Finch is a really good coach. So I think that siver Wolves can make this a real series. I think

this thing could could go six or seven games. I do think the Lakers, just based on the firepower of Lebron and Luca and Austin Grieves have been has had an incredible season as well. So they've got they've got three guys who can hurt you in crunch time, and I'm not sure that Minnesota could say the same.

of those stats. But it's all there, trust me. But there's also a long standing, you know, structure for this award that is not acknowledged, but it's there. If you look at the history of the award, with very few exceptions, it is usually a player on one of the best teams. And you can't say that about the Nuggets this year. They've barely got the fifty wins, and the Oklahoma City Thunder won sixty eight games sixty eight they were flirting with seventy, and Shay is a really big part of that.

He's the most important reason for that. Does he have a better supporting cast, Sure, but that's been the case with this award many many times over the years. It's not punishing a guy who had a great individual season, but his teammates just weren't good enough to get him there.

It's no this is the standard. The standard is again a couple of exceptions Russell Westbrook one of the other Yoka Chiers actually, but for the most part, for the last forty years, the MVP goes to a team that is clearly among the elite, and the Thunder one sixty eight games, eighteen more than the Nuggets, sixteen more than any other team in the conference. Shay was the biggest reason for that. He had a phenomenal year offensively. He's a plus defensively as well. I think his case was

incredibly strong. I had no reservations about voting for him.

on him. So I'm not saying that as a criticism or as any kind of like doubts. I just I don't know what that is, right, Like, I haven't talked to all these owners in GMS about why they didn't hire Jeff any of the other years that they could have, But it felt at a certain point like the league had just decided to move on and he was no longer the hot name or as you know whatever. I don't know what to make of it. It was kind of a mystery. But he spent that year with Boston.

He's now but on the bench with the Clippers. He's getting a ton of credit, deserving credit for how the Clippers have you know, built their defense this year, especially without Kawhi for most of it. I gotta think that that is getting him some notice. And if he wants to be a coach again, you know, we know there's already a few openings and there will probably be a couple of more.

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