Next on the Drive, Tim McMahon dropping dimes for your NBA daily assists.
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Playoff push for the Utah Jazz gets back in action coming up on Thursday. Oklahoma State or excuse me, Oklahoma City. Obviously college basketball to mine. We'll get back to some college ubes are the big one tonight. Well, let's do a little jazz mostly just big picture NBA topics with our guy, Tim McMahon. Fresh off vacation on this Tuesday afternoon, Tim, how's your time off?
Brother? Not long enough, but welcome. Just wish it lasted a little bit longer for sure.
Did you consume any of the festivities in the Bay Area over the weekend.
I will be honest. I've seen a couple little clips on social media, but I watched zero seconds of All Star Weekend Live.
Good for you, but we do have to do the media thing where you and I talk about what a horrible product it is and how we're going to fix the thing. So here here's where I'm at with it. There's no fixing it. They've tried everything. I like the US versus international idea, but hey, we've seen it before. I don't care if it's played in Russia or California or Europe or wherever it's. The proof is in. These guys don't give a rip, and I don't think there's
any way to fix that. So for me, it's just kind of maybe time for the league to admit that this is the deal. It's a non serious celebration of the National Basketball Association and that's it.
Okay, Like, what d damn do? I mean? Does anybody think the Pro Bowls like some kind of serious football game. I mean, I guess they're ain't playing, but like, you know, are they throwing brushback pitches in the in Baseball's All Star Game? Is if Pete Rose still running over the catcher? Like, I mean, what have we done? It's an All Star game? You know, of course, the silly exhibition. I don't know why the NBA keeps on allowing this to be some sort of crisis that exists. Oh my gosh, you know,
blood's not being spilled on the All Star Game? Who cares?
Is there a format that you actually think is good? This is what I said earlier. Like, my preferred format is the All Star game with players who play hard like we used to have. That's my preferred all That's my preferred format.
And look, it ain't like every All Star game has been some kind of classic. I mean, there were forty point blowouts, but Michael Jordan's on the wrong end of so let's not you know, I think one we kind of need to get over this good old days syndrome thing to a certain agree. But yeah, East versus list totally fine, US FAVORSUS International, Okay, interest in flavor, fine, don't give me some first to forty tournament? I go,
hold on, what are the rules again? Why is Kevin Hart still yammering like I'm men, come on, man, like you're doing too much trying to fix something that I don't think is some kind of massively serious problem.
Yep, yep, And uh, you know that's kind of the deal. That's kind of where we've landed today. And there's some fun moments here or there. Is there anything that simply an experience or keyanty George can do for him as far as being able to play on Sunday in that format? Is there is there anything tangible he was the only local rep. You know, is there anything you can take from simply being part of the experience.
I am concerned you're gonna pull some sort of muscle with that reach. I don't I'm not.
Sure you want to talk about Johnny Juzang's peer, Tim, Let's do that.
I mean, listen, it can't be a negative for Kante. George Like to me, I don't know, what, how do you spend his All Star Weekend with? You know, did he try to pick the brains of guys who are you know, who have been in that game over and over again? Maybe there's some benefit there, you know, But more did he go to a bunch of parties and have a good time like the vast majority of people good to All Star Weekend did? And if that's the case, they're sitting something wrong with that either.
So there's not the second half of the season entirely. Most teams have you know, have about thirty games left a little bit less than that, but with the calendar, it's kind of halfway home for teams that are playing for the postseason. And of course, the big story just continues to be the Dallas deal with the Lakers and how the Lakers are gonna Look. It's kind of interesting because the Jazz have actually been the team that the Lakers have played twice since the deal went down, and
you know, they got got pretty good in La. Then they came here and the Jazz absolutely smoked them. But of course that's going to take some time to kind of gel down the stretch. What how do you think the Luca Lebron thing is going to kind of manifest itself now that they've been together for a minute, They've had some time to digest and what are you looking for kind of right out of the gates when they get back going the Lakers start playing again.
Well, I think the biggest question about that is, like, is Luca going to be full speed? Does he still need time to be ramped up after you know, a month and a half or so off with that cast strain. I mean, the two games against the Jazz were mega height, preseason type of games for Luca. You know, like he's on a twenty four minute limit and you know, obviously he's trying to get his rhythm and so, you know, I don't know when we will see like full blast
Lika Luca. I do have a feeling that will at least get a glimpse of it February twenty fifth, when the Master in la I think he'll be ready to ramped up for that one. But like the fit between those guys, I mean, we're talking about two guys who are basketball geniuses. They'll figure that out. I think it's a flawed ross her And like, obviously the biggest flaw is they don't have a legitimate big man on the roster. They try to address that with the Mark Williams thing.
Then they got to look at the physical and said, hey, we can do this, and so you know, that's that's an issue that they're going to have to fix over the summer. But you know, so they're kind of they're not operating at full capacity because if you're going to have Luca, you need to have that rim running dig and you know, Jackson Hayes is a very poor man's
version of that. But I don't think you can consider the way because any sort of real contender until they've got a complete roster, and they're not going to be a contender this year.
You were one of the first guests that we had to kind of point out, like, hey, just keep an eye on Houston. You know, I don't know what it means, but just keep an eye on what they've been doing. And you know, Van Vlietz missed some time, and you can tell that they really miss him in crunch situations when they're trying to close out games. But they have kind of come back down to earth, losing seven of their last ten. And I do have concerns simply about
their lack of experience. They've ever been in the postseason before. They don't have a ton of great three point shooting. So what do you make of kind of maybe a regression of the mean after a really great start to the season for the Houston Rockets. What's kind of their their max ceiling come playoff time?
Well, I think you point out Van Bleet is a smart observation, and I don't think I said that very often about you.
Well, so thank you. I'll take that.
You know, sun shine on dogs, but every once in a while type of situation here. But look, he's like, there's a reason they took such a leap when they brought in him and Dylan Brooks, but especially Van Bleeed. He's the captain, he's the organizer, you know, he's the conductor. And his impact goes away. BEYI like, they look at his shooting steady and shot the ball. Well, he's the one who keeps everybody kind of you know, rolling in the same direction, and they definitely need him to have
any kind of a chance to do playoff damage. But look, the Rockets have punched above their weight. I think this year they're tough as hell. They're paying the button playing on a night the basis they play hard, they play defense, they rebound, they do all those things. They don't have a good offensive team. They need an offensive engine, and not just a unorganized like Van Vliet, but a legitimate, big time number one option Offensely, they need a Devin Booker,
who they'd love to get. Booker doesn't want to leave Phoenix. The Sons don't want to give him up. We'll see if that changes at some point. I think it would make a lot of sense for everybody involved, given that the Rockets are sitting there holding a whole bunch of a future Phoenix drafts capital. You know, Darren Fox decided he wanted to go to San Antonio. The Rockets weren't quite ready yet, and then and they you know, they also want to you know, they want to evaluate Hekjamen agreement.
Let's let's see, there's gonna be some ups and downs this season. Where's their hope going to be after the playoffs? On Jason Green's ability to grow into that role Aman Thompson, I think he's going to be a star. I think he's on his way to being a star. I don't think he's going to be a number one offensive option. You know, he can be a star and not a number one offensive option. Honestly, they haven't given up hope on Reed Shepherd being that guy, even though he's been
out of the rotation for most of the season. But at this point, I think the Rockets are going to be a tough playoff matchup. But I don't think they're a real Western Conference contender yet. I think they're on the path to be in there. The question is that they're gonna have to take a big swing in the trademarket to get there, or can that you know, that legitimate go to guy be homegrown.
Here's how I'll phrase this question. What sort of team? Because I've listened to a bunch over the weekend of you know, some mental gymnastics to try to make the West as interesting as possible from a lot of people who cover the league. But then they land the plane like, Okay, Sea is impossible. So it's kind of an exercise and futility. I still think if Jamal's gonna Jamalmurry's gonna play like this, You've got to talk about the Nuggets because Jokic is Jokis.
We talked about that last week. What type of team we'll give Okay see, the biggest issues come playoff time, like what is their achilles heel if they have one?
Well, and you know, they did a great job of addressing their achilles heels over the off season. One was they could get bullied, they could get pushed around. They went out and paid Isaiah Hartstein a whole lot of money in free agencies to have the option of playing big. Now chet Holman has just got back. Him and Hartstein have played I don't know, what is it, three or
four games together something like that. But you know, now when they play Joker with that big front line that the Nuggets have, they can go seven foot seven foot and then you know the other guys. So that that was one big thing. The other big thing was just a fit of Josh Gitty it was a bad fit. They flipped him into Alex Caruso or just another you know, great role player, great defender. So I don't know that they have an achilles heel. You know, if you look
at the numbers, you'll still say it's rebounded. But you have to recognize that they've only had one or the other of their seven footers for almost the entire season until very you know, basically until the trade deadline. Havn't said all that, Like, what kind of team can beat Oklahoma City? I think a very big, extremely skilled, recent championship team that employees I think, very strongly arguably the best player in the world would be the team that
would have the best chance. And oh, by the way, the Denver Nuggets have won eight straight games coming out of the All Star Break.
Yeah, and I think that's the answer. I mean, if I take Okase off the table, I still I mean, from what I've seen, I've been so incredibly impressed with the Thunder that I probably would pick them in seven games right now over the Nuggets. But at this point, I think Denver's probably the only other team that I would put in the same category. But let me ask you about the Timberwolves because they've been better as of late, and obviously around here everybody keeps their eye on the Timberwolves.
At one point, it's like, wait, are the jass getting luck into a lottery pick? I never thought the t Wolves were a lottery team. And you know, this is a team that's not too far removed from a squad that was probably in the mix to win it all. They made the cat deal for Randall, which I just, as somebody who watches the next all the time, I understand the financial implications of it, But are you buying kind of the improved play from Minnesota over the past five or six weeks?
Improved play? Sure, you know Randall has been out, which is right, you know, interesting kind of draw your own conclusions there. I just I can't see the Wolves being a real bona fide contender, And I think that does go back to the trade where they moved Carl Anthony Towns. You know, they had a Western Conference finals team and they took away the second best player on that team, and not just second best player, but like the Wolves, one of their huge advantages last year is that they
were huge. I mean, you know, they had go Bear in Towns in their front line, and then you know, if Gobert wasn't on the floor, it was Townsend Reed, if Kat was on the floor, it was Towns in Gobar. They were constantly just this massive team. And if you look at the way that they played Joker in that series, where look, Joker had some huge games, but they played him well enough and they're able to win the series in seven. Kat was the primary defender on Joker. Now,
did Cat shut Joker down one on one? Obviously not, it's an entire team concept. But that allowed them to play Rudy on Aaron Gordon and really just kind of be that Rover and you know, it's they don't really have that option anymore, and that to me is just a massive, massive difference if they get matched up with the Nuggets. So, you know, I and I also, I just don't think that the Wolves are going to be good enough late in close games, you know, in those
clut situations to make a deep playoff run. They're not the same dominant defensive team that they were last year. You know, they kind of show that in ebbs and flows, But yeah, I just I think that the ceiling for the Wolves is probably the second round.
Who'd you have in the Timmy Bontem's good time, Timmy Bontem stropol, who do you think the MVP is this year? And why.
We'll put it this way. A lot of Nuggets fans are mad ato right now, and I think a lot of Serbians are cussing at me. I've already I've been getting cussed at the Slovenian recently for doing things like reporting and the reasoning that the Mavericks made the most shocked and trading in be a history. And now Serbians are out of me, and listen, I there's not a single thing I could or would say to tell you why Joker's not deserving of winning his four straight MVP.
Like the guy's case is incredible. I just think if it's even you go with a guy who hasn't won an MVP yet, whose team is by far the number one seed in the conference, who is a lead in the league in scoring not just average, but in points per game or in total points by over two hundred points, and in plus minus by over two hundred points, the most important stats in basketball plus minus because that's the
score and points because that's how you score. Jacobs, Alexander has a two hundred and something point cushion over everybody else in the league in both of those categories on crazy efficiency while being a significant contributor on the number one defense in the league, filling the stat sheet up across the board for a team that's very likely in the season with the best record. That's the hell of a case for him to win his first MVP. And I forgot that. I went with, Yeah, it's.
One thing to have snot knows losers who use the Internet to feel brave coming at you. I don't think you want to get sideways with serbians. Bro, That's just a little piece of advice.
Listen, man, I've been over to the Balkans, beautiful hand over there. I might not be a returning to the antempt soon.
Okay, all right, fair enough, fair enough. Hey, let's before I say you loose. Let's move over now to the latest with the MAVs and what this entire citizens. You're the guy that's been on this, and we've used your reporting on the show to color the context of the conversation. Just because it's been a week, I mean, it seems like they've got a ton of injury issues, so the jury's going to be out as far as whether or not they'll be able to do anything special this year,
because they still have a lot of talent. We've been reminded of what Kyrie looks like when he's when he's engaged in playing basketball. So just the latest with the Dallas Mavericks, and now you think the rest of the season plays out after making one of the wildest deals in the history of pro sports.
Yeah, we're there and say if they gain simple fact that they're not going to be healthy, probably not for the rest of the regular season. Daniel Gafford has a Grade three sprain of his MCL, probably at the rest of the regular season. There's no certainly that Dereklively, the second who has a stress factoring his right ankle, is
available for the rest of the regular season. We're looking at still weeks before Anthony Davis is able to return, and there's not like a firm certain timetable in place there, so there's no if they can get healthy, they're not going to be healthy. The vision that they have to this team of this huge, massive, ridiculously athletic front court
is not happening this season. And here's one of the things about that trade is what you did was instead of having this twenty five year old generational talent that you have, I don't know, they felt like the runway wasn't going to be that long. You have potentially a hent or twelve year runway left for Bukado, and you crunch that down into three or four years. So you
can call bad. Look, you can call it whatever you want, but if it looks like injuries are really going to mar this season for the Mavericks, that's twenty five to thirty three percent of the timeframe that you decided to create. And you know that's that's part of the risk of trading twenty five for thirty one, and of trading the guy that you're afraid is going to break down for a guy who's got significant history of durability issues.
Yeah, well said, I can't wait for Kiante to come back and average thirty five down the stretch and completely give it all the credit to his experience in the Rising Stars situation over the weekend, and then you and I will have the conversation about exactly what that meant for young Kyante George. That's my prediction for the rest of the year for.
Jazz Kyanti is not going to average thirty five minutes, much less thirty five points. So I would say that my advice to Kiante George would be better start playing as hard as it can defensively and locking into details. If you ever want to take your starting job back from Isaiah Callier, who you know right now, Will Hardy is very happy with one of those guys, and it's not Kante George.
I will stretch one more time to simply ask you this, what's the most interesting story about the Jazz over the final twenty eight games of the year.
I mean, I think like there's the obvious answer, and it's the one that's not any fun to follow until the night of the wattery. You know, Like listen, there's just like Cooper Flag has a chance to be a generational type of talent. This whole season is about maximizing your chance to get that guy. And if it's not him, there's some other really good players at the top of this draft. As far as I actually watching this team, which I was a little bit surprised, I didn't move
any of the veterans. You know, I think when we talked for the deadline, you and I set the over under one point five and it ended up being zero, So that surprised me. But it's still about like, hey, Isaiah, you're getting this extended audition as a starting point guard. You know, what can you do with it? Deyontay George, you had your audition. You know basically you got demotive. How are you going to respond to that? You know, Cody Williams, you know, it's been a fairly rough rookie season,
but everyone understood you were raw. You know that you're nowhere near you finished product. What kind of progress can you make down the stretch? And you know, kind of on down the list of the guys, especially in these I was going to say the young guys, but especially in these last two draft classes. I think you have an idea at this point kind of who Walker Kessel is,
what he can be. You know, it hasn't been like just linear progress for him, but we've seen enough to know, Okay, hey, that dude's going to be a very good starting center
for a while in the NBA. What about these other guys who can show who can kind of prove or at least make a strong case and have a kind of an encouraging feeling about going into the off season that they can be a key part of this thing once the Jazz are able to get a going, because you know, right now the list is Walker Kessler and then you know kind of a whole bunch of will sees.
That was bravo. In fact, I should stand out of my chair and start clapping because you made the final twenty eight games of the season interesting, Tim, and we didn't even have to stretch. So well done, my friend.
It's fine. I'll listen. Rebuilding's not fun, but in a lot of senses it ain't complicated. Accumulated assets, hopeful lottery luck and hope some of the young guys developed.
Well said, all right, welcome back from VAK. I appreciate the time and we'll get you back on soon.
Text him all I appreciate your brother.
I have sim McMahon covers the He covers the NBA, should say for ESPN when the jazz are interesting. He's at here quite a bit and covers the jazz. He's kind of their jazz guy on the National Beats, joins the Shawn a weekly basis and has for five and a half years now at ESPN. Underscore McMahon is where you find them. That's brought to you today by my good friends at prize Picks, which is the best place
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