Next on the Drive, Tim McMahon dropping dimes for your NBA Daily assists.
Van McMahon, Van McMahon batted a Land Texas blood As tickets, Mud, He's man, Van McMahon, Van McMahon, the man Man.
He is Ban McMahon.
He is the great Tim McMahon, who just a couple of days ago was on television sporting a very handsome cowboy hats? Or is ESPN Sports Center hits? Tim Happy Tuesday? Was that your idea or was the idea of one of the producers.
Howdy Parker. No, that was definitely the idea of one of the producers. It actually believed or not? The first cowboy out of my life?
Are you serious?
Because you look like that was like a consistent thing that you that you sport from time to time.
Well, listen, I am a Texan, but my first cowboy at and you know I can pull off a lot of looks.
You sure can now what was on a few Which kicks did you go with for the cowboy hat?
It was a simple look dead day. It was just some nice white and brown Nike blazer lows.
Okay, very very nice.
I've got to ask because I feel like everybody's been complaining. Did you run into travel issues going from Oka See to Indianapolis as well?
Wasn't too bad? Had they always? You know, mixed emotions layover in my home airport where I don't actually get to go home. But other than thatt, no, no, no, just you know a little connection to here boo there, I was.
Okay, fair enough. Well, since we're in Salt Lake, Tim, I won't bury the lead. I'll ask you a couple of jazz questions because over the past twenty four or forty eight hours, Sarah Todd, front of the show, works for the Desert Red News. Bill Simmons himself has talked about this. I think Zach Lowe, your former buddy, talked about it as well. That apparently, according to several outlets and sources, the Jazz are actively taking calls on Lowry and Walker, who I think are the two best players
on the roster. Can you shed some light on this as a guy who knows people over there and covers the jazz for ESPN.
Well, they actively took calls on him last summer too, so it's not necessarily a change. I mean, I think, as we found out last summer, there's a long way from actively taking calls to getting a trade done. I mean, they took a lot of calls on both those guys last summer and never got anywhere close to making a trade. Now, you know, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that there's no way those guys would be traded. If you're willing to listen, you're willing to make a trade.
But I do think that the price is still pretty high, and you know, I don't know, you know, obviously Austin Age is running the show there now. I don't know if the price will be as high as it was last summer. But like you know, there's a whole lot of talk about Lowry going to the Warriors that never got close because not only were the Warriors not willing to discuss Brandon Podjemsky, but like the picks, they never got close in the Picks either. So we'll see what happens.
Stay tuned. I do I do think though that you know, when you heard Austin Ames basically say we're not going to tank by manipulating minutes as you know, or you know basically they're not going to tank with disingenuous injury reports is what he meant as well. There, he didn't
say they weren't going to be bad. He didn't say that the you know, the roster wouldn't be very difficult to win with next year, and so you know, I don't I'll put it like that, I don't think that the Jazz are planning to win thirty five games next year.
So, ultimately, you know, if all of this is true, and I have no idea, it feels like everyone's just discussing the possibility, because, as you've said, even though Lowry could not be traded after being signed, it felt like prior to them signing him, they were con you know, at least considering moving on from him, at least considering.
So if they're really actively I'm not gonna say shopping to your point, I'll just say taking calls and kicking the tires on the interest for marketing and the Walker one, I don't know, man, he's twenty three and he's so good. That's gonna be tough if they end up deciding to
move on from him. But is it just safe to surmise that maybe they add number five this year and number twenty one this year, and maybe two second rounders that are nineteen, twenty twenty one, next to Kyle Philipowski who's twenty one, and Isaiah Collier who's twenty and Taylor Hendricks who's twenty one, and Keyontae George who's still young, and Cody was twenty, Like, is it safe to say that they're probably just gonna maybe do what the Wizards did last year?
And know we're not tanking, but we are playing young.
Players exclusively that aren't ready to win pro basketball games.
I think that's a you know, that's a fair belief. Yeah, I don't know. Like, look, I thought that they were gonna end up trading one of their veterans or even a couple of their veterans Clarkson Collins, Colin Sexton before last year's trade deadline. That never happened. They just have long running cases of like planet FASTI the itis and don't even remember what else was on the injury report. If you take off Stage's word the you know, the
uncurable uh planet fastidis cases won't continue. But again, I don't think they will have as many veterans on the rosters even they did last year. You know, this is this is a franchise that's a long way away. From uh putting together a competitive team. Now, Walker Kessler could certainly be part of their next competitive team. I mean, you can make a case that marketing could as well. I think it's a little bit harder to make the case for Loally.
All right, before we move on to the finals, which we will because there are teams playing, do you have a pulse on how the front office feels about this group of young players? And I mean it's not fair to lump them all in together because their unique circumstances. Namely,
Taylor Hendricks got hurt. We don't know as much about him, but the Keyante Georges, the Isaiah Colliers, the Kyle Philipowski's, the Cody Williams, like the draft picks that they've made, the young players they've drafted, how do you think the front office is.
Currently analyzing them and what they could be.
I mean, I know it's still so young, but we've got to talk about the players that could be part of the future.
I mean, there have been glimpses from some of those, But like Cody Williams, obviously you weren't making a lot of grand conclusions about him. After the last season. You knew he was wrong when you draft him, you know, didn't do a whole lot of lead lot like Taylor Hendricks and uh, you know after his rookie year, they did feel like Taylor Hendricks made some massive strides over the summer and then unfortunately he got hurt very early in the season. I think, you know, all the guys
you mentioned, Isaiah Colliers probably impressed the most. You know, Keyante George has has shown glimpses, but there was disappointment and his lack of competitiveness on the defensive end this year for sure. So you know, one thing you can say is there's not a guy who's shown any uh you know, who's provided any great uh reasons for confidence that they can be like a major piece of a championship type of core from that group. Now they're young, maybe maybe there's you know one two, a few of
those guys can grow into that. But for having as many young guys on the roster, you'd hope there would have been more so forward than there has him from that group.
For sure.
No, I agree there all right before we get to the finals, I mean you just hear all of these conversations about what could be a very dramatic, massive offseason in the NBA, and you know coaches and coaches have already lost their jobs. We talked about Tom Thibeau last week. Of all of the big names that could be on the move that could actually change a landscape of what the league could look like, who would you say is the most realistic and where would you say is the most realistic landing spot?
Well, I mean, it will be very surprised if Kevin Durand does not get traded. And you know, most realistic spot that I don't know, there's probably six, maybe more than that, like realistic candidates. I just kind of would be throwing dark right now to say where I think he would land out of those. You know, right now, I'm not sure if Jannis is going to be on the trademark it or not. It's it's really kind of up to him. Like the Bucks don't want to trade him.
If he goes to them and ass out, I think they would grant the request and try to get a good value for him. But it hasn't happened yet. The Bucks have been out of the playoffs for quite some time, so you know, the honest thing is at a stay tuned stage right now.
So among your duties for the worldwide leader.
Dallas Mavericks, of course, is a team you cover and cover well and no people over there. I just don't know why Jason Kidd would leave what Dallas has in exchange for what New York has, And I don't know how really this is your buddy, Brian Winhorse is the one that's talked about it, But they just landed the number one overall pick. Yes, they traded your boy Luca, but we're still looking at a roster with Ad and Kyrie and some other you know, PJ.
Washington, Klay Thompson's.
It is far from a bad situation, and honestly, with Cooper Flag on the way, it feels like it could be sustainable for a lot longer than anything New York has on their roster. So how real are these rumors? And if you're Jason Kidd, is that something you really want to look to do?
Well? I would say that the Knicks did just come off of a Conference finals appearance with a franchise player who Jason Kidd knows very well and likes a lot, really respects talking about jenen Brunson, obviously, and if there was anything to it, this stuff would have been squashed.
If Jason Kidd was just happy to be in Dallas and wouldn't want to consider the next job, he would have made that very clear by now, you know, if the Mavericks were just unwilling to consider allowing j Kidd to and I'm not gonna say talk to the Knicks, to go to the Knicks because you're not granting he's not asking for permission to interview. He's asked for permission to be hired. The Mavericks weren't willing to consider that, it would seem reasonable that they would have made that
very clear. Now. So the stuff has been out there for a little while and it hadn't been squashed, and so you know, we will see what happens. But it's
also been a pretty sloppy process by the Knicks. That we're being honest, Like I don't really understand you fire TIBs, you're top targeted a guy who's with another team, you still have an after permission, like I don't you know, I don't know, like the plant bees apparently, like you know, I mid Oakland rockstormline that happened, Chris Binch, I'm not sure why the Wolves would allow that to happen. So it's it's been a strange process by the Knicks.
What would that compensation package look like? New York does not have draft capital, Like, how would that What do you think that would look like if it actually went down.
I mean, they do have some draft capital, they just don't have, you know, great draft capital. They got kind of a phony first round pick because the protections from the Wizards. You know, there's some swaps, there's some you know, they got seconds like, I mean, it's not like the Mavericks are going to get like a bonanza first round capitol.
Ab but obviously, but here's a thing. If if it reaches a point where the Mavericks feel like j Kidd has made up his mind, I don't know if you want to permit him from leaving.
Yeah, that's fair for sure. All right, Well there's still teams playing basketball.
So let's move over there. Move over there? Does does uh?
Does Oklahoma Cities Arena remind you at all of the Jazz Arena when the Jazz are good in the postseason, Like it feels like there's that same type of like elevated atmosphere and noise and the crowd is like on top of you like it is at the Delta Center. Does it feel at all the way Salt Lake does when the Jazz are good in spring? Oh?
Yeah. Also the fact that it's a small market. You know, I know there's hockey now, but when I was covering Jazz playoff games is the one major show, you know, the one major league team in town. I would certainly say that those two arenas lead league in percentage of
PREB T shirts war. I mean, you know, there's some phenomenal color coordination going on for sure, like you've seen when the Jazz had like the whole spectrum from red to you know, orange and yell and all that, like you know, and then I'm telling the thing about like, Okay, see dude, that place is packed and loud to lay up lines much less open tips.
Yeah, it looks like a really cool environment. A fan base really enjoying that moment, all right. To start the series, I picked OKC in five. Doesn't make me unique. Feels like most everybody picked OKC in four, five, or six. To continue to be tremendously impressed that Rick Carlisle is maximizing this roster the way that he is. They're able to get a split heading back to Indianapolis, which will take place tomorrow, which will be on our radio station at six.
Thirty Mountain time.
Did anything from the first two games change your opinion on how this ultimately will play out?
No, it's it's honestly, it's the Pacers for getting out of there with a split when they have led for a total one minute, fifty three seconds in the first two games and the majority of this series. Okay see, he's had a double digit lead, but the only thing that matters is it's one to one. But I'll tell you what you know. Shaye by his MVP standards, he had a mediocre thirty eight point performance in game one,
Game two, Ho ho boy. He was cooking. He was comfortable, he was efficient, he was get everybody else rolling as well. The Pacers have a real problem to figure it out there. If Shae is that comfortable, it's gonna be hard for the Pacers to win.
The Halliburton stuff, you know, ultimately, just nothing through the first three quarters and then kind of gets going in the fourth when they were already down twenty. But what's what's fair to say? Like, okay see, did this to aunt two? Like it's it's who they are, and it's easy to criticize Haliburton to say, wake up at the start of the game, Uh, they're seven and one. When he scores twenty points and then wins, he's like twenty one points, ten assists, and losses he's like eleven points,
five assists. So is this something that Indiana needs to look at as far as getting him going earlier? Is this just kind of like you tip your cap to the best defensive team we've seen in maybe ten fifteen years in Oksee.
I mean Albert had twenty one and eleven against the Thunder during the regular season. That sounds great, but it's a two game total. I mean, dude, when you're dealing with loudor or Alex, you know, if it's not himlet's Cruso or it's Casey Wallace, maybe get switched on to a Jayn Williams. That's tough, and they've made him play in the half court. Haliburton had one transition played with the ball in his hands in game one or a game two, rather one, it was a turnover for Tyros Halbert.
Not to generate a single point in trans for an entire game. That's that's the problem for the Pacers. If they can't get out and run, it's going to be really, really hard for them to score with any level of efficiency. And you know, credit to Okay, see they make that very difficult. And I do think that has a lot to do with Mark Dagenhall's decision not to play the two bigs together. You know, they did for I think five minutes in Game two, but they've only played together
for five minutes in this series. And you know, I think he probably watched the Eastern Conference Finals looked at how badly the Knicks struggled in transition. You know, how many passed calf Siakam buckets were just him being fast and you know, getting the look ahead pass and finishing and decided, hey, you know, priority number one is going to be taking away transition from the Pacers, who have a great engine to that offense in Haliburn, who you know,
plays faster than any team in the league. And again, if you take that away from there, they're not a team that's to be able to grind out.
Uh.
You know, good possession after good possession in the half court against this defense when it's set.
I thought we would actually see to your point about the two bigs. I thought dag Naut would go away from it in game two, which he did not do. Did that surprise you after they lost game one?
Well again, oh, you said you thought he'd played together a lot in game two or that he would stay away from it.
I thought maybe we'd see more of them together only because they lost game one.
Yeah, uh, you know again, I think he had good reasons for that. I think it's something where he doesn't want to play those guys together when Haliburt and Siakam are on the court, you know, because those guys obviously as good as it gets in the in the league, create and transition opportunities, played together for five minutes. But you know, I think he was pretty confident that his
decision was the right one. And in game one, and again you can criticize, probably change the starting lineup, and he'd have the same starting lineup for every playoff game before that, and you're blinking first, and you know, you can criticize all those things. It's not like the start is what cost him in that game. They fell apart in the last five minutes. It'll really last three minutes
of that game. So I think he looked at it and said, Okay, you know, all the reasons we decided to do this in the days between the series still hold up, So we're going to stick with it.
Do you think?
I mean, look at this point, you know, adjustments or schematic approaches that are different or even rotational decisions. Like you're in the NBA Finals, You're three wins away from being a world champ. But is there anything that you've seen that Indiana can do that gives them a better chance to make the rest of the series interesting?
Does he does Rick shrink his rotation?
I don't know because where it's it's June, like, these two teams are who they are. But can Indiana do anything to maybe extend this series longer than most people think.
I don't underestimate Rick Cardisle, you know, I don't underestimate his ability to come up with solutions. Rick's a lot smarter than I am, because I'm struggling to see what those solutions might be.
Sure, all right, before I say you loose, what does your guy tell you about tomorrow? Does Indiana get the proverbial Game three at home?
Well? You know what this is interesting? The thunder of stunk in Game three during this postseason they're one of two and the one they had to come back from twenty nine down after John Moran got hurt. So that's a trend that I would recommend that the Thunder would be determined to end. Again. I think they are the better team by a significant margin, you know. I think that they just present matchup problems that are going to
be very tough for the Pacers to solve. But you know, we'll see there's gonna be the energy of the crowd, you know, especially if the Pacers can give this crowd some reason to sustain that energy early on, then you know we might have a good game on our hands.
All right, my guy, Well, enjoy Indianapolis. Glad you've traveled safely. Thank you for the time to day and we'll chat zoom.
Hey, you'll appreciate this. Guess where we are having to pick up hoops from tonight?
What do we got? Who's yours? Jim?
Yes, sir, field House got a boy?
Is mcten seed playing with you?
Oh he's the one who? Yeah, Scott Agnes, who's you know, a local guy up here? And McK tanner the ones who made sure that we were able to make this happen. So looking forward to that. Hopefully I'll be able to walk up right at the.
End, four passes before you shoot it, you know the you know the rules.
Yeah, that's found good brother.
Tim McMahon covers the NBA for ESPN.
Always appreciate his time on Twitter at ESPN Underscore McMahon. You can also find the link to his book that he wrote about Luka Doncic Luka Doncic in the Curse of Greatness And Yeah, it's been a big year for our guys, really kind of risen up the ranks over there.
Very happy for Tim. He's been a long time friend of the show.