Statement Game from Wemby + Did Mitchell Save Cavs Season? & Big Changes Coming for 76ers & Lakers

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At least five more nights at home. I appreciate Shane the Thunder for giving me a little siesta. Really tough life for McMahon. Really tough. So Bontemps you have a special assignment before you talk about the game. You have a special assignment. So at the draft combine. Yes. At the draft combine. Oh I have to find more discoveries for WINDOW. We're already up to two McMahon. At the draft combine. You're a camera booser. You're stepping all over me. Just chill. Hit my guess. At the draft combine all of the teams interview the players on the same floor of this hotel. Okay. And over the years and as an indication of the NBA just having more money than is probably good for it. Over the years what they do is they come in early and they clear out all of the and I think they're just kind of they might be bigger rooms but because they're all in one room and there's 30 teams they've got to mostly be regular rooms. They don't have 30 suites on one floor. I think they're regular rooms. And they come out and they clear out all the furniture the bed and everything like that. And more and more it's become like an arms race of teams that bring stuff in for their meetings with the prospects. And they decorate the door and they bring in like wall size pictures of greatness of their franchise and they have games like I heard the wizards have connect for in there. I don't know if they only have 20 minutes for each meeting and at 20 minutes the NBA comes and they sound like a tone and everybody's switch. It's like speed dating. I can't have monopoly. Bonteps I want you to do some reporting and find out who's got the craziest ass setup. Who's most insane in what their conference room does. Might leave that to you to discover that. I'll discover it fine. I think I can't do reporting. I'll do some freaking reporting. I mean listen you have discoveries left and right. You're discovering things all across the league. Massively important things. Let's go. All right. So tonight in San Antonio the Spurs take a 3-2 lead. Repeatedly this postseason I have been impressed with the Spurs answering it to adversity even though I know that they were not able to get it done down the stretch of game four the other night in Minnesota. I love the demeanor that the Spurs came out with in this game. Obviously Victor had 18 points in the first quarter 16 like sort of right away. He obviously whatever he may say he hasn't given his post game interview yet. So as we're doing this whatever he may say about what happened in game four. I know that he felt that he had some making up to do because I saw the way he came out in this game. I saw the emotion that he played with and he was playing for his team and regardless of what he might say remember the actions that he had in this first quarter. And then what I really liked guys was how San Antonio played with such force particularly attacking the basket especially in transition when they would get in transition they would go to attack the basket. I thought it made a world of difference and frankly I actually felt Minnesota did a decent job of hanging in there tonight several times coming back. The force that the Spurs played with how about 68 points in the paint in a game five two two series they took 50 shots in the paint that is the way to play when you need it. And so extremely impressed with them. Yeah. And how about the fact that you know obviously Victor gets suspended in game or thrown out a game four it's two two coming back home game five. We talked about the plan a Minnesota team that has battle tested and has won on the road has already won in San Antonio in the series and the Wolves make this 14 to 2 run right out of the gate in the third quarter they tie the game. I would assume it's a layup five minutes into the third quarter makes it 61 all from there to the end of the game. It was Spurs 65 Wolves 36 like just absolute demolition or by San Antonio of Minnesota they win the game by 29 they just completely run them out of the gym. And like that is an extraordinarily mature and professional response from a young team in a big spot where they very easily could have got sideways when Minnesota made that run and instead they completely flip the game on its head immediately and slam the door and put themselves back in the driver's seat like that. That's exactly the kind of response you want to see from a team that thinks it can win a title and you know now they got to see if they can close the game series out in game six but that was awfully impressive stuff in the second half of this game. Yeah I mean Wimby came out and threw a haymaker in the first quarter 18 points in the first quarter and you're like okay like this guy is going to be completely unstoppable. Unstoppable tonight. The Wolves ate that punch and they got within striking distance by half time. They came out strong after the half got right on their heels and then like you guys said the Spurs just it was a flurry of punches and it wasn't I mean Wimby was part of it but offensively it was Keldon Johnson scoring 21 points in 22 minutes going to the basket in transition. 7 on 8 on 2 pointers and he is you know he just he's not like an explosive athlete but he's a strong physical guy who's got craft and skill and like I'm watching the game with my boys I'm like look dude look at the pivot pump they cook the way he uses his shoulder to get separation like and Dylan Harper as a rookie Dylan Harper's combination of he is a great athlete but athleticism size for a guard strength and finesse like Dylan Harper is already so good he's going to be he has superstar potential and then Steph Castle like there's so many times where Steph Castle is in the paint and it's just like there's a trampoline that he finds in the hardwood. Two feet just move. I mean seriously like just off two feet and just up and throwing the thing down with two hands over and over and over again they have this is a team that has athletic depth in the back court and on the wings you know Carter Bryan is you know not that much of an offensive threat yet but he's a super athletic wing player you know Champini and the cell aren't like crazy athletes but they're not slouches but when you talk about Harper, Fox and Castle like that's three insane athletes that are playing combined 96 minutes out of the back court. So to break down what you're talking about Bantam since a tie seven minutes to go 751 to go in the third quarter the spurs turn the ball over three out of four possessions miss on the other the fuels of wolves run so it's tied 750 to go in the third quarter over the next four minutes they push the lead to 11 they respond go up 11 then they take Victor out of the game three and a half minutes left and in those three and a half minutes they extend the lead by seven points from 11 to 18 that is a check on where this first team is and by the way the other day we talked about it even though when the yama got tossed and that was a difference making moment in that game the Spurs guards played extraordinarily well in that game they they did answer the bell they just didn't have enough against and Edwards down the stretch of that game and I'll also point out that one of the things we talked about as the season was was winding down was how would Victor play when he got more minutes well he had 24 points 17 rebounds five assists tonight and there was a little bit of garbage time at the end of the game 27 what do you say 20 20 he was plus 24 sorry 27 points there was a little bit of garbage time but he still only played 32 minutes yeah his minutes didn't get ramped up he has had some games where his minutes got ramped up more than that I would assume should they be able to finish this series off he's going to have to play more than 32 33 minutes against the Thunder but you know I really I thought the biggest test was going to be in this round with his minutes being increased as he's banging with Nicole Yolkach and playing in the mile high air but that ain't that ain't the opponent so you know that test of in terms of you know fatigue and and all that kind of stuff that that test didn't you know he didn't have to pass that one so you know now I think the question is so Minnesota has been such a resilient team I thought they were resilient in this game even in the you know after they they came back in the first quarter after taking the early punch they keep they made the run in the third quarter even in the fourth quarter they I mean it didn't make you go over the hump but they took it from like 20 down to 12 at one point Minnesota has defined itself by its ability to bounce back and be resilient so you know they get to play game six at home this you know if you are San Antonio this the Thunder are sitting there yeah by the way yeah you and you've got to finish it off you can't first of all you can't play with fire with a game seven second of all obviously the longer this series lasts the more of a rest advantage the Thunder will have getting back to women's minutes he's only played more than 34 twice in the playoffs and both been in this series the first one was a triple W had in game one when he did not have a good offensive game and he wasn't able to finish strong on the offensive end the second one was game three in Minnesota when he was breathtaking down to stretch of that game on the offensive end so you know maybe that was you will yeah so I I don't know what I'm gonna think that you know I think that the wolves still they still showed me enough tonight to know to believe that they can they can force a game seven but I'm just gonna say the Spurs playing with this level of force is what they are going to need against Oklahoma City and also probably trying to avoid turning the ball over they had so couple of they did get in some little turnover binges tonight which Oklahoma City will kill them on but just loved loved loved that mindset well and look if we're gonna talk about minutes like Anthony Edwards remember it was like I'm not say miraculous but pretty medically impressive that he was able to play in game one and he had come off the bench because of the minutes limit and then I think it was 25 in game one they're gonna they're gonna bump it up a game two but it was a blowout so it was 24 he has played he's averaged 40 minutes per game since then yeah he played the most minutes of anybody in the game tonight yeah tonight was 39 and that's the lowest it's been in the last three games on two bad knees yeah the two days off between now and game six will probably be very beneficial to aunt I would expect okay Monday night in Cleveland the Cavs even that series with a pretty we call it iconic second half by by Donovan Mitchell Bond Tamsen was iconic but it was spectacular it was tied for the most points and a half and playoff history who knows it was I did you see who was tied with by the way if you didn't see it you'll never get it yeah I did see I did it's a Texan well he's not Texan but it happened with the Rockets how about that happened with the Rockets you're not gonna you're not gonna guess it okay was like Vernon Maxwell or something right a player yeah it's the right no it's the right the right sort of time period sleepy Floyd sleepy Floyd okay yeah so anyway I just would say I just I don't know if I would say it's iconic just because like the 48 special from LeBron is iconic but it was it was unbelieve it was an unbelievable performance from Donovan Mitchell in a moment when he did not have a good first half the Cavs were losing at halftime their season look like he could be on the ropes and he came out and what was the run 23 or 24 nothing to start 22 and 0 I think the start something like that I mean they scored over 20 points in a row to start the second half Donovan scored most of them and completely turned the game on its head in the first six minutes of the 30th mention that the 48 special that's LeBron James in 2007 game 5 48 points in double overtime in Detroit I need to mention that because I don't want to assume all of our listeners were even alive back then because I met Darren Peterson in Chicago a couple days ago when I asked him what year he was born and said 2007 and I was like oh now I've got to just recenter myself here discoveries are making a mold McMahon it's tough it's a tough hit listen no I'm with them like last year I told you Cooper flag was the first kid I've covered who's younger than one of my own and that was a that was a blow and now this like most of this class is going to be younger than one of my own kids well anyway so Danny Cunningham who covers the Cavs has a sub stack and does a great job and he does locked on cast I can't remember if I read this from him or if he said it on his podcast but he said it was he was thinking about you know the Cavs were wearing their 2007 throwback Navy jerseys last night and the Pistons were wearing their whites back in 2007 the home team Revolutionary Lee wore white and so it was the same uniforms basically and he said he was having a flashback to that one from when he was a kid and I didn't think of that but that is the uniforms that they were wearing back in 2007 the the way Donovan did it was was quite different than the way LeBron did it LeBron's game was you know it made your eyes bleed the way that game was played but still the Cavs season was on the line Donovan had four points I believe in the first half I don't think he scored until he's made a free throw with like three minutes left in the first half he'd had a rough series and he had a rough first half and it wasn't you know or does should say a rough series he's had a sub substandard playoffs for his what you'd expect from him and then he delivered in the biggest spot and now you know it's the best of three series going back to Detroit for this game five on Wednesday it'll be very interesting to see how both these teams respond to it well there was a potentially iconic moment when he hits that three from the left wing in Cade's face and obviously Donovan's just been going bonkers for a while then the camera catches him and I will paraphrase saying get that gentleman off me well by the way Victor said that tonight when early in the game the Wolves were like kind of putting their hands on him and he was saying don't touch me don't touch me don't touch me don't touch me oh he was in my elbow you're in the head he was sensitive well sensitive well you know it's funny Nasred got a technical foul for for hitting Victor above the shoulders he thought it was a light call and then later in the game there was a on actually an offensive foul on Victor on the perimeter where he like swatted the Daniels in the face yeah in the face and they called the offensive foul and Nasred pummeled Victor a much in my view more intense hit than when he got called for the technical and by the way I guess Wimby's ribs remember that was an issue late in the season I guess Wimby's ribs are okay because he hit him right on the left side in the rib cage well they they didn't have any penalty for that the announcer said it was because they was because Nas couldn't hear the whistle I mean I don't know which whistle you have to hear to know that you can't put a forearm shivering guys ribs when he's in the air but okay let me compare the box scores from the 2007 game LeBron James and Donovan Mitchell so in 2007 now I'm gonna frame this it's 2-2 on the road calves are the underdog pistons were the number one seed calves were playing there in the conference finals by the way playing against the Detroit pistons who are in their fifth of six consecutive Eastern Conference finals or farther including winning a title a slightly different caliber level of team and then the one that we're seeing this year but no Ben Wallace correct should we do story time here Jackson presented by SoFi yes it's a good story time more hoop collective podcast after this it was so hot so it was June 1st it was either May 31st or June 1st and it was the first like really hot night of the summer in Detroit and I just the Palace of Auburn Hills did not have the it was not a place where they had problems with climate unlike you know Miami or San Antonio my name is only Miami was too cold San Antonio too warm anyway like Boston is famously too cold but the building was not ready for 90 degrees outside it was so hot in there and there's a point where like during the timeouts because LeBron played 50 minutes okay during the timeouts they were access was just one or no since it was double over time they would when LeBron would come to the sideline and they during the timeouts they would deploy like the guys who weren't playing would come over and fan him with towels there would be like three of them fanning him with towels and they would put like a wet wash a wet like towel over like he was like a boxer coming to the sideline after every time out because it was so hot in there and so after the game he before he did media he got an IV but a huge factor in that game was no bin walls and by the way if you go back and watch it which it's periodically on NBA TV I'm sure it's on YouTube you probably just need to watch the fourth quarter and on like there's a ton of horrible possessions by both teams in there that was sort of the standard way to play in 2007 which is partly why the rules have dramatically changed it's then because the aesthetics were not exactly high by the way the Cavs had a super hot three-point shooting night that night you how many three pointers do you think they took in that game 22 I'm gonna guess 18 they were 7 of 15 it was 109 107 in double overtime that's a good quarter these days yeah you know anyway yeah the next went 12 or 14 in the first quarter of game four the other day and that's in one quarter my story time about that game is I've never actually watched it because I was my I was my after my senior year of college and I graduated we didn't have cable at my house the game was on ESPN I believe and I was listening to it on the radio and I was freaking out gotta be Jim Durham and Jack Ramsey I think it was Jim Durham and Dr. Jack Dr. Jack Ramsey I was freaking out to the point my mom was like what are you doing like why are you yelling about whatever the hell you're listening to like shut up I said mom but Bron James has just scored like 97 points in a row the bond temps is gather around the radio in those days McMahon that's what everybody else shut the hell up it's a common refrain for me just to tell bond times to shut the hell up all right well windy story time was brought to you by so far get your money right bond time story time was brought to you by ESPN radio 2007 all right so here was the radio shack you have to wind it would you have to wind that radio he was out in the barn my dad actually set up at this wild AM radio setup where I mean I could listen to a radio calls from like half the country well maybe it was Joe Tate on 1100 come or no it was it was Dr. Jack and it was the ESPN radio calls Jim George Blaha and 760 the great voice of the great lakes anyway so the Bron in that game 50 minutes 18 of 33 from the field two of three from three point range 10 of 14 from the line nine rebounds seven assists two turnovers two steals I'm a little surprised only 14 free throws to be honest with you it was a different kind of game then bro and he he he won the game with a driving like underhand layup the leading score for Detroit was chance actually Richard Hamilton Richard say Rick Hamilton 26 big shot Chauncey billups 21 the points in that game okay the only other cab to have over 10 points in the game for the Cavs was adrenus olgowskis was 16 and I think the only guy to score a basket and the second half of the fourth quarter and overtime other than LeBron was drew good and was I recall so okay that's LeBron 18 of 33 10 of 14 at the line nine and seven Donovan last night or I should say two Monday night 13 of 26 4 of 12 on threes Cavs took 15 as a theme Donovan took 12 13 of 15 at the line five rebounds two assists in 37 minutes so 43 points so more points in 12 less minutes so way higher efficiency I guess although he missed eight threes but let's look at the second half because what's that more points LeBron had 40 more points and more minutes no I'm sorry LeBron of free whatever in the second half which is really the if you ever wanted to create some memorabilia you should get Donovan to sign a second half box score do people still do that or is that pass a second half box score Donovan 12 of 18 three of seven on three is 12 of 13 at the line 39 points pretty good for a guy who famously does not flop well thank God I was I thought that the universe was out of line but thank God JB bickerstaff came out after the game and complained about the officiating JB that's very rare for him I know I sometimes I say JB stands for just business a lot of times it stands for can we say just bitching I don't know but that's what it stands for sometimes so alright so that was the story from the Cav side let me just say from the piston side because the pistons have now lost two games in a row a couple of things number one a Sarr Thompson had definitely his worst game with a postseason he tweaked his ankle I don't know how much of a factor that was but he was out on the court at the end of the game and when it comes to the playoffs you know outside of O. J. and a nobby's game two years ago at the garden where he's dragging his leg I have been taught by Mr. LeBron James if you're on the court in the playoffs if you're available you're available that's not really I meant to attack a Sarr but like you know there might have been something with his ankle but if he's out there you're out there he was benched at certain points in this game Jalen Durin continues to really sort of evaporate in this postseason he was not good against the magic in the second half of this game he had zero rebounds if we're gonna get on Evan Mowgli for having one rebound in game two this is a vital half that could have really lopsided this game he has no rebounds he also gets benched Jalen Durin eight points two rebounds four turnovers 26 minutes his negotiations last summer were complicated I don't know it's gonna be very complicated this summer well where are you at on where you at on Durin that's who I'm talking about I mean about Sarr Thompson sorry different because Durin is supposed to be the co-star like Durin is supposed to be a guy who's a driving force on both ends of the floor the two rebound those are the second and third guys for Detroit yeah that's fair as of right now and that I mean they have both been disappointing and you know two in different ways and I mean at one point I don't know what it's our sorry I guess let me see what he finished in this game sorry this game finished minus 27 and 18 minutes he was minus 31 in 12 and a half minutes which is almost impossible to do to be to be 31 points worse and a quarter which is basically what he was you know there was one play when Cade drove down the middle kicked the ball to a sawer who had nobody within 100 feet of him on the one side of the court because the casters were guarding him but because he won't shoot it he tried to drive to the rim he was met there by both Cleveland Biggs Chaka blocked led to a run out the other way I mean the other thing that set off for this game to me the pistons just commit horrific turnovers and are just Cade and look I've seen Cade's praises all year he's had a phenomenal year he's a on my MVP ballot first he won the A like great player great season but he has been way too careless with the ball at times in these playoffs and he had those three turnovers in that stretch with three minutes to go in game three that completely cost Detroit the game and in this game he just like especially in that third quarter he was just throwing the ball all over the place and like then he's got to be way more secure with the ball in a playoff game against the Cavs team that you know they get out and transition to get easy buckets they start to feel good and you know saw what happened in the second half of that game they turned into a complete track me yeah so also Duncan Robinson who's been red hot he came into this game shooting 58% on threes in the series this was a game that the Cavs were able to attack him on defense which you know you're gonna attack him on defense every game but normally he's not normally but when he's able to beat you at the other end the the balance gets better the balance didn't get the Cavs lopsided basically the Pistons front court you know b-ball Paul Paul Reed played brilliantly and he helped keep the Pistons in the game for certain stretchers. He and Keras Leverett who also had a great game. Keras Leverett had his best game as a Piston I believe he was 10 of 16 so those guys helped but the Pistons starting front court was eviscerated in this game they didn't play great in the in game three and so while you're not going to see Don as a Mitchell of the 39 you know basically what happened you know what you know Mitchell and Hardin were subpar unacceptably poor in games one and two Mitchell has you know jaw dropping game four Hardin carries the Cavs home with several key baskets down the stretch of game three so their stars have come back the big thing to me going into game five regardless of who may try to complain with the officiating and get whatever is that Detroit front court going to come back alive because Tobias Harris who has been one of the best players in the playoffs so far he finally started missing some shots he went oh he went 0 of 8 in the second half as the as the Pistons were were fading couldn't make anything they were going to Tobias who had scored over 20 points like eight or nine straight games and he finally hit his skid so is that just in Cleveland or or is that just now the way that Pistons are gonna have to fight through well they put Evan Mowbly on him sometimes that that certainly didn't help either um and look Cade Cunningham's got to be the best player on the court like he was the best player on the court the first two games and he got outplayed by the two guards for the Cavs in the two games in Cleveland so you know even more than all this other stuff if Cade Cunningham is the best player on the court in game five Detroit will feel pretty good about their chances of winning if he struggles there's a good chance it'll be three two and if the Pistons lose game five I think they'll lose a series in six and if they do lose this series Cade's gonna think all summer about those three turnovers but three and a half minutes ago in game three because they had a chance to put the series away and those were three of the worst turnovers you'll see and you know they they had a chance to put the Cavs on the ropes they didn't harden hit those shots at the end of game three Donovan was credible in the second half of game four and you know sets up a very interesting game five Cavs corner went this happened last round when the Cavs were two two against the Raptors they had that game at home the Cavs have not won the road in the playoffs yet and I went and looked at Harden's numbers and he had played in like 13 situations where it was two two and his record it was spotty I mean that's his whole playoff track I know so you know like keep that in mind you know so more hoop collective podcast after this okay McMahon you were in LA on Monday night you watched a very spirited game where the Lakers and Thunder went down the stretch when you get into clutch time the Lakers are one of the best teams in the league but without Luca and against the clutch time masters clutch time player the year um shake of the salix and over there it went the way that you would probably expect but I felt that um that was a impressive performance from the Lakers all things considered um did not lay down fought till the bitter end do they get another one of those um bronze brooms for this sweep I know you were awarded them one for their spirited effort it swept by the nuggets a few years back yeah well the nuggets I believe won the title that year I think it was a you know well I don't get a pretty good chance to win this title I did think that was very silly when we did that with the nuggets series because people acted like you know Lakers are on the verge of winning it when they got swept I do think the Lakers did impress me in this series despite getting swept I do think it was more competitive sounds like that's what he's doing McMahon bronze broom baby I love a good bronze broom I looked up there I found the um the in season tournament the NBA Cup ribbon I couldn't find the bronze broom though I do I did I was impressed with the way the Lakers played and it was more competitive than I expected but I picked the Thunder to win in four and the Thunder much some big bands uh delight as he gets more time to just chill at home and not work chill at home yes not work no go on listen we know your deal it's all right the Thunder the Thunder did what they do and took care of business including in the fourth quarter when it looked like there was a chance for a minute it might go five and then all of a sudden jacoz Alexander closed the door was he tends to do Montib's nailed this week what about the one of these from conference that one I did not nail did not come close no I'm like you I make predictions so you've now joined you've now joined Windhorse and I don't make predictions camp so I'm just I'm just confused I'm just I cannot I couldn't figure out what I was watching because the Lakers shot more free throws in this series than the Thunder did the Thunder shot the fewest free throws of any team in the conference semi-finals and somehow they still managed to pull out uh wins how'd they do that I don't know and but in all seriousness the Lakers did a very good job of their primary goal in the first three games of the series and that was don't let Shay get in a rhythm and they did it with you know different different tactics different strategies um you know the aggressive very early double teaming Marcus Smart hugging him 94 feet uh up and down the floor whether you had the ball or not you know mixing things up um and as Shay said last night hats off to his teammates that the Lakers basically said you know we dare the rest of the Thunder to be able to you know to beat us and they did it and especially AJ Mitchell who this was a look AJ Mitchell had a great year this year don't get me wrong this didn't come out of nowhere but this was a breakout series and like did they get a star in the middle of the second round a couple drafts ago he played like a star especially in LA I mean had 24 and 10 in game three and just dominated the stretch of the fourth quarter when Shay was was resting up that's when they really put that game away and then he finished with 28 I forgot how many assists he had last night but like he just thoroughly outplayed Austin Reeves in their head-to-head matchup he also was very good on Austin Reeves defensively I'm not saying he shut him down Reeves had a couple last night he had a good game offensively and uh well it was a game two but he did he more than held his own on the defensive end and was pretty dominant uh on the offensive end Chet Holgren has been great all playoff series long or all postseason long I should say um you know four four from the floor in the fourth quarter last night um all right around the bucket um you know Michael Martin who is a Oklahoma media feller uh pretty good picket basketball player too um tends to win a lot when we're paired together but anyways you know he asked Chet last night and I didn't realize this do you know what Chet is shooting in the restricted area during the playoffs 80% 97.1% well he made a big one last night in the final minute yeah and and Hartenstein had five assists in the fourth quarter including the one that was to Chet for the bucket that put him ahead for good Hartenstein that does a great job of being a fine in there you know Shay has done a great you know they pointed out to Shay after game three in Phoenix when he was like 40 whatever and was just ridiculously awesome um but they pointed out to him in film like hey there's times where you got Chet for for dunks or layups and you know you you got to find him there and that's why if you'll see every time Chet fine or Shay finds Chet for a dunk or layup he points at the Thunder Bench he's pointing to the coaches in the second row saying I got it I got it um but man I mean this is a juggernaut and like Aaron Wiggins barely played in this series Aaron Wiggins would play 25 minutes for the Lakers like that's not me guessing I asked somebody on the Lakers staff like how many minutes would he play they said at least 25. Kenlach Williams barely touched the floor you know JJ Reddick said himself the Lakers have 13 guys on the roster outside the Thunder have 13 guys on the roster who would be top eight of pretty much anybody's rotation their depth is ridiculous um Aaron Wiggins salary goes down the next two years yeah I believe Isaiah Joe's nerves as well and by the way AJ Mitchell three mil this year uh I think it's 2.8 next two years the third year is a team option I was talking to somebody with the Thunder and they were like yeah AJ was great but you know uh he was upset that he wasn't shooting the three-pointer better he was three of 16 or four of 16 on three he was he showed like 70 on twos whatever he wanted off the dribble and I mean he he's got such good touch such good feel like dude he's a big time player and this was a he's a guy who wasn't even in their plow rotation last year I mean their circumstances you know at the mid-season toe surgery just never got back in the rotation but as a fill-in starter for Jalen Williams he that Shay said himself he was the Thunder's best player in that series this is a guy who started his career this is a crazy thing I didn't realize this until I was talking to uh Todd Ramisar his agent he started his career on a two-way contract but he never played a second in the G League because he got to Thunder training camp and Dagonals like yeah that guy is an NBA player now and Dagonals was talking about uh you know one of the off days you know obviously people asking about AJ's like yeah he's making me look bad for not playing him during the playoffs last year. Alright how about this how about these stats in that series 23 points six assists he had seven steals in the four games he had 24 assists to four turnover he's a second-year player who's a second round pick and started his career on a two-way hey you know what's the second-year player uh Jared McCain he was 12 of 19 on threes I've meant to I meant to look this up I don't know the answer maybe you guys do did he outscore the Sixers bench by himself in the second round well hold on he had 46 points no in the in the four games I don't think so well I could check but I don't think so that doesn't sound like that's gonna get it done. Whatever it's probably not too far away no I mean and look I mean we talk a lot about like these are for for the new villains of the NBA you know with the okay see whistle crisis and all that these and and Lou does you know Lou does some villainous type of stuff on occasion for sure but what a bunch of boy scouts so game two when Jared McCain is just lightened on fire in the second half daggin on the side okay I'm sticking with him I'm skipping Isaiah Joe's rotation so Isaiah Joe quality player significant contributor to a championship run last year been a good you know great uh program guy for them he he basically I'm not gonna say he got bench but he got his rotation skipped you know he didn't get the to play in the second half of that game and he's over there on the bench and he's yelling at Dagonal but he's yelling run this play for McCain you know run this play for him you know he's hot you know this is a play I love to get a three run that for him and that's just that to me kind of just epitomizes the kind of vibes that they have I mean they are as connected as any group uh that you're gonna find an NBA well he's he's been adopted right into that okay see media right there I mean he's done so much time there I've got okay see propagandas this is straight I used to call him chief of propaganda but I forgot that's Tumbleson's job Royce Young pointed out six conference finals now during the okay see era which is only 18 years which honestly considering it was a rebuild when they started and they just went through a rebuild you know hitting 333 is pretty impressive it's also worth pointing out some in Chicago for the combine that of the 11 guys who played in game four obviously jay Williams is out only one chet honger was drafted the top 10 he went second case was here's a lottery pick 12 he was the 10th pick 10th pick okay yeah uh chay was 11th jared mccain was 16th and then six of the guys were drafted in the second round and the other one was lewdort who was undrafted undrafted I mean and cruiser cruiser was undrafted they cruiser was undrafted so of their 11 guys it's not like they're a team for all the draft picks that thunder have it's not like they're a team that's created from you know like five picks inside the fairness they did have a lottery pick josh giddy like a seventh pick that they traded for caruso so I'm gonna put a star on that I mean they went out and acquired some like they Isaiah argestine wasn't on their team they went and signed him later it's it's not like they drafted all these guys but I mean they did have giddy which they turned into caruso just a just a footnote the point is that it's a team that's it's a team that's been constructed from all over the place through freehc through trades through it's a reminder that while everybody obviously was very focused on the lottery on sunday and getting top players is obviously the most direct path to competing for championships like if you have victor weben yama and stafan castle and still in harper um but do i go but it there's there are other ways to do it also and the thunder are an example yeah there's a whole bunch of number one picks still playing so uh the lakers went out lebron said he's not sure what he's going to do which is what he's been saying all year rob palinka and jj eredic had their exit interview on tuesday palinka said um he wants to honor lebron and give him the the opportunity to decide how he wants to go and we want to honor that he's basically said that a number of times over the season here's the thing about lebron and we're going to talk about this a lot more when there's some space here lebron does have the right to to have to take as much time as he wants and um consider all of his options however the lakers need to know what he wants to do relatively quickly if lebron is going to want to get paid significant money because the lakers have cap space and they may resign their own free agents they may go out and do another free agent but they're going to need to know by the draft whether lebron wants to come back and probably have a pretty good idea of what they're willing to offer lebron and what lebron's willing to play for well and and that to me is what it's going to come down to midway through the season i didn't think there was any way that lebron was coming back to la because i just didn't think the fit was there you know all the numbers that we went over at the time were pretty glaring and then he accepted that third role you know the the less is more third option role austin reves took off luke played at an mvp level they had the what was it 15 and two 16 and two whatever it was in month of march now do i think that that tells us that they're a championship contender no because the game where luke and austin reves got hurt they were down 31 at the half and okay see like they weren't beating the thunder with luke healthy so but all along you knew there was a lot of work to do on the roster and that's why to me it's not hey like i thought it was lip service on them being wanting lebron back i don't think it's lip service anymore but it can't be anything near the numbers at now because this is their one swing at using capspace to upgrade the supporting cast around luke and around austin reves and it's very clear that austin reves is going to be luke's long-term co-star unless things completely fall apart and you know turn the opposite direction well it's going to be a fast thing so we're for the lakers because you saw in this series said as you said you could put luke dodge it's out there the lakers are miles away from the thunder and i think they're just about as far away from the spurs and those two teams are not going anywhere and it's going to be extraordinarily difficult without really any draft capital and with hardly anybody you really look at long term on the roster outside of those two guys you say these are guys we definitely want to have around as part of a team that can really compete at the top of the western conference to build a team essentially through for agency that's got to be good enough to compete with those teams and it's that that's a challenge starts this summer and it also like you said brine well bron james it's not that the lakers don't want him back but if for the first time maybe in his career truly it is not he is not the number one priority going into the summer when he's up for a contract i don't think they really have cap space here's why austin reeves makes 14 million dollars he's obviously opting out of that so but he'll he'll be the last piece of business so that's right his his cap his cap hold is 20 million so just you know so lebron makes 50 this year and austin reeves made 14 so between the two of them it's 64 do you think you can get the two of them for less than 64 combined next year but i don't care because what you need is lebron to take a significant pay cut and what's significant pay a bunch of tax what's significant what's significant honestly like in like to 20 ish okay who's a better player right now austin rees or lebron james that this is this is the problem the lakers austin rees was their number two option when they were really so you're like i was gonna say that's not the question if lebron takes a 40 pay cut which is like he's an all mba player even at 41 yeah let's let's say he takes a top 25 whatever fine let's just say he takes a 40 pay cut 40 that's go find me somebody that is who's still an all star who's going to take a 40 pay cut let's say he goes from 50 to 30 okay then they don't have a lot of cap space okay now fine good ruri hachimura you know he averaged 18 points which have 50 in the play oh and i tell you like he has developed into an absolute laser of a three-point shooter okay he's making 17 million is he making uh more or less next season probably gonna get a raise from that and if the lakers and if the lakers say maybe less but not a lot less let's just say he makes the same amount which i don't think you will but let's just say he makes the same amount that's not cap space and if the late and let's just say the lakers want to spend it on somebody else and they say thank you ruri goodbye they now have to replace them yeah and and if they want to spend it they're like is it patent watson who you know hey you're paying no no no no no no no no no you're paying for money on a wing they gotta get a big well who because well just let me go through this shenanigans here go through the shenanigans marcus smarts got a six million dollar player option you think he's picking that up i would say no no sir and even if you say you'll pick his up okay so i think aiden's got six million he's probably gonna pick his up marcus marcus might pick his up but i would guess he probably won't aiden's is eight i believe well eight is it eight yeah you're right it is eight yeah he's not opting i mean unless he just wants out of there he won't get eight million elsewhere he didn't play in the fourth quarter yeah jj was clearly like you can't you can't play the game before no they'll also clearly be resigning jackson hayes for probably either the minimum or more than that given he is forget about that i mean i'm just saying it's but it's money to account for because are they gonna resign luke canard maybe this is again this is this is the point i mean i'm we've been making this point for months the lepers aren't good enough and they don't have a lot of flexibility to get better and so that is the way that they have flexibility to get better is is is to get lebron to take like next to nothing and get but even then but even then they still there's not very many free agents to sign this summer and they need to improve like five rotation spots to have a chance to the best free agents are theirs well and then some of the others are restricted like walker kessler would be a good fit in la the jaz aren't trying to let them get away but that's what i'm saying like if the goal the goal for the lakers is to compete for championships right it's not to the lakers aren't trying to like be a tryhard team that loses in the second round of the playoffs the goal is to to add banners right up there with the what do you call it the postage stamp for the mba cup what do you call it the band the ribbon the ribbon so no more banners more bronze brooms to put banners up there next to the ribbon you need to improve probably five to six rotation spots to actually be a credible threat to the team you just got smoked by the let's just say you need to improve on three because this team did have some stuff going for it i don't i think they were they were demolished every time they played the thunder all season and they were while they they showed out somewhat in this series they got swept up improving on six rotation spots in it that's what i'm saying i think the problem is how wide the gap is the gap is the gap is extraordinarily wide i agree but luke didn't play but let me just say that even if you lost by 32 the last time you played by the way jake laravia who's one of their additions last year got the plug pulled on he played every single game right up until game three and they didn't play the rest of the series i mean every single game all season long right i'm just saying this let's just say for the sake of argument they need three rotation improvements big and two wings i think it's going to be very hard to get three without deducting players that you are counting on that's my point i don't i think the lakers cap space even though you can get the whiteboard out and say it's 100 million i think it's kind of a myth well it's a it's also a myth because there's nothing to really spend it on well i don't believe that players can force their way to la they have draft capital yes like i don't i agree that again if you want i mean you're like saying you're now talking out of both sides where you're like the lakers have all these paths to get players but they don't really have money they don't they don't have paths to get players or money well you don't have to use cap space on free agents so don't i mean the free agent class is less the point than the flexibility there's going to be there's going to be good players that get traded this year because teams are trying to dump money the lakers are in position to take out maybe the thunder included i agree i agree especially with a j mitzvah playing this way okay darryl morry and the 76ers after six seasons parted ways um they had a surprising run at the end getting the second round but we're completely outclassed by the nicks um nick nurse will return nick nurse i thought did a admirable job stitching this team together and had them play in their best basketball in that series against the celtics so um i'm especially invited his brother passed away in the middle of the series i don't know if we ever talked about the pot but correct um his family on that so really when darryl morry invested 400 million in joel mb and paul george before the 2024-25 season that and i mean i know ownership signed off on it and whatnot um but that decision to enter in with those two guys with long injury histories who are who um you know are up i mean paul george is in his 30s joel is you know sometimes looks like he's in his 40s and not in a lebron kind of way he staked his his tenure basically on that and um it hasn't worked out and um i mean the jared mccain trade is what he's been getting um you know ripped for recently um and it was every three point of the mccain hit uh and the sixers bench issues but and and even more than the trade which darryl did fine on the trade the thing that darryl got ripped for which i think darryl would admit was a mistake was saying that he sold high on jared mccain in the presser africa the arrogance yeah i mean he he got asked a gotcha question and he answered it and got got and that has stuck with him over the last couple months and look darryl morry obviously built some great teams in houston i think if you go through the six years in philly by and large when he made the moves he made he generally did a pretty good job and it was a lot of people agreed with most of the moves he made i certainly thought it was a good deal to go get paul george at the time obviously it has not worked out in hindsight but it's not like people were saying that was a bad thing for them to sign him at the time when they got him i think the four year max was the issue well sure but the reason the clippers weren't willing to go there i i understand but it's not like the clipper it's not like the sixers were paying in the moment for signing it like they signed the best player available they put him a joe lb they were trying to win right then with joe lb and it didn't work right like that's the point like i the bets didn't work and it was a risky bet but like you kind of see why the moves are made when they were made ultimately though he's paying the price for uh you know a continuation of what's been a decade of disappointment for the sixers and them falling short time and again and you know they went into last season again like essentially talking about load managing their way to win in the east and they never got out of the starters block and that was always going to be a hard thing to come back and they load managed their way to the lottery well i was gonna say and that ended up actually being a great thing for them because they at least now have another guy in vj edgecom who's an absolute monster yeah who can be a long-term building block alongside tyris maxi yeah but they're just stuck in this weird situation where it's like okay you've got this great young backcourt but man you've got so much money invested in two guys who you don't know when or if they're going to be on the floor well i was just going to say joel in his in his exit interview the other day said um boy when i was coming into this season i thought my knee might have been cooked and coming into this season he had four years and 230 million on his contract i mean that's not good and it it is fascinating that darryl morray regardless of we're not going to enter the politics side of the of the retweet in houston but that retweet in houston was devastating to your rocket's business much less the nba's business regardless of anything he survived that then when he came to philly he survived sticking his neck out and going and getting james harden a trade that didn't work out then he survived harden you know declaring war on him i mean he declared he that the acquisition of harden and the trade of harden was a mess and i'm gonna push back on that i'm gonna push back on that ben Simmons was an absolute disaster when he left the sixers and darryl sold on him at the right time sold i what's that he sold i he did sell hi on ben Simmons and i think it was a messy exit but i think he did fine on the back end getting a harder when he did also well i i would i'll give him the pass i'm just saying that that was the whole thing was messy well the whole thing was messy i would say the trade to get harden wasn't a bad move but the result and the mess and all that was it was a really good work just hold on just just just it's the harden thing the acquisition didn't work the exit didn't work he goes into last year with the with that huge investment didn't work he survives all of those things then this year imbeid is a mess again paul george is suspended they're stitching the team together and they pull off one of the biggest series victories in the philly history and that's when he gets run out it's a map just saying it's amazing well and then there was something that happened what happened after that they got swept and just milleted on their home floor game four i don't think this was because they got swept by the mix oh that helped his cause i don't i i don't i think if they'd lost in six games i don't think it i agree it has been in the nba chatter that darryl was might not be there's got hired to basically oversee things that's correct i mean well but i'm just saying i don't i don't think the last two weeks i don't think the last two weeks are why darryl morrie doesn't have a job if they make you look smart which is very hard to do and win that series is is he still getting run out probably not but then they're in the conference finals and they've broken through i mean listen i uh josh harris the other thing that's worth pointing out number two things one ryan and i were at that game in 2023 in game six when they're up in the fourth quarter of that game james arden joelle abe the year joelle abe won a vp and if ben simmonds doesn't pass out of the tray young shot at the rim in 21 or if the sixes close out game six at home in 23 does all think it looked different but they didn't did no i i'm not i'm just saying there was it they were again this is it all goes back to a continuation of the decade of disappointment in philly the other thing i would say is it's not like the sixes are paying into the tax every year and part of the jared mccain trade was out of the tax well but that's my point part of the jared mccain trade was an ownership mandate to get out of the tax well internally what the jared mccain trade was was in it was in addition to getting out of the tax this year and for a team that they thought was going nowhere also was that in theory this is what they said internally now whether or not they would have done it i don't know was that they were clearing money to sign quentin grimes this year now it's not like mccain's making 12 million dollars he's effort they also did get a first back for jared mccain and like they i mean i think that trade in a vacuum was fine but it again darrell was brought in to push the team past the failures they'd had before and ultimately again well you can go through in the individual moves you can justify most of them when they were made and they all look pretty good at the moment they were made at the end of the day were six years in and the sixers never broke through and somebody was going to pay the price for that and it was darrell well and look the sell the sell high thing we know i'm what are you whatever you said i'm very confident we sold high like darrell's arrogance has backfired on him repeatedly over the years he rubs people the wrong way and i would say his biggest failings as a basketball decision maker is he's never been a guy who valued or even frankly considered the human element like he does not believe in and like basketball chemistry he wouldn't maybe say it that bluntly but he would sort of say that yeah like he's a he's a spreadsheet look i had an agent i had an agent tell me one time darrell maybe has the highest iq of any of the mba executives and one of the lowest eqs that's fair and that was an agent who went many rounds with him on things i mean it's a fascinating tenure like there were there were a lot of highs and lows there were a lot of big swings like you know like again i i would disagree like i think it was messy at the time but the outcome of the ben simmons mess was getting james arden and selling high on ben simmons at the right time but they hadn't traded ben simmons then all this other stuff would have never happened that's fair you know but it didn't work at the end of the day all these different things didn't work and the sixers continued to disappoint and like you said when he signed paul george that deal and he signed joel albide to that extension it locked this team into this team and it was a bet on this team winning and last year they were on a mitigated disaster and this year joel albide missed more than half to season again that we look more like himself at least paul george got suspended for 25 games and came back looking fresh for the playoffs as a result and yes they beat boston but they were outclassed by the next that joel was hurt again so i remember i remember like eight or nine years ago they had just redone the locker room in houston and darryl was giving me a tour of it and he was showing me that above every player's locker there was like an led screen and the point of it was that the players could have all these stats including you know they're individualized for them for that game and they would be on their thing and they could get like a little teeny stat package for them to you know about their opposition or whatever and um and then it would it would rotate through and then it would turn off the stats and it would put the player's name and picture above it and i said darryl this is perfect for you these screens he goes oh yeah we can put the stats up and i go no it's much easier to change the players out you just hit it just change the screen i was making a a con i was you know i was just ribbing him a little bit because i think that year he had had like 17 different players the year before he had 17 different players because he made like he traded like eight of them during the year look and darryl i mean darryl's got a fascinating tenure too like i mean he was the one guy that really went after the warriors got came close to getting the warriors at their at their peak in the western conference like darryl has made huge has had a huge effect on the mba not just with analytics but they have changed the way con they've been at the cutting edge of contracts he has a tree of executives who have left him and gone out to other places his his uh his conference every year at mit he's become one of the cornerstone events on the mba calendar he's had uh he has had a fascinating 20 years as the league executive of teams so but um but today was fired darryl is a revolutionary especially though in terms of the analytics and he's changed the league so much that what was always one of his biggest advantages is no longer maybe not an advantage at all if not it's not the major advantage because in large part because of darryl morry every franchise has an analytics department and in a lot of cases an analytics army it's actually not analytics anymore it's now called strategy okay same difference nerves all right it's uh it's never it's it's never easy to lose anybody in the mba family um to lose two in the same day including an active player it's one of the more somber days uh that we've ever had in the mba quite frankly brandon clark passing away of memphis grisly's um you covered him quite a bit mcmann um his last couple seasons have just been ruined by uh by injuries but um this is uh you know very upsetting and devastating to the grisly's who was his he was he was his he was their longest tenured player and he was loved in memphis you see the outpouring of love from all his teammates just like the joy and the energy that he played with you know he really connected with the memphis community um you know unfortunately he tore his achilles uh that night in dember when you know there's other unfortunate things that happened for that franchise and it's been a it was a very difficult road for him uh since then you know we don't know all the circumstances of his death frankly i don't know that all the circumstances are important um just in this you know it's just a tragic situation for like forget about what was in his mba future for a guy this young in life who had accomplished so many things um you know you would think would have most of his life in front of him had given back a bunch in memphis yeah and for it to be uh cut short however you know the it it happened at the end is is just an absolute tragedy and then unfortunately the mba also lost jason collins who between his playing career and coaching career um touched so many different organizations so many different people died of brain cancer he announced it last year um prognosis was terrible um he was able to have some time with some experimental treatment that he did he did some interviews with armonia shelber and talking about it he actually did several interviews um yeah i went to college with darmona at stanford and i covered jason collins when he came out as the first active gay athlete in our exactest male professional sports at least in the states and um yeah i mean that was a huge deal like when he came when he played for his former teammate with the with the nets jason kid who played on the those mba finals teams with j kid and um like that was a that was a wild thing to be part of and to see and obviously there was a ton of attention on him for that and he handled it all with uh grace and he and his brother jaren who had been a you know played in the mba for a long time we all know jaren from being an assistant great dude um you know but i mean jason had a massive impact on the league uh and i just you know a lot a lot of different parts of society in light of doing that so that was uh it was definitely a sober day for sure having both of those things happen a few hours apart uh all right so um our condolences to uh those who are feeling this loss the most um thank you very much to our producers who are staying up late and putting this together mark myles and jackson thank you to mcmann and bontem thank you for listening and watching the hoop collective we'll talk to you later this week adios amigos