Luka’s Wilt-Like Start, Mikal Bridges Trade Talk and Why the Warriors Aren’t for Real

The Shot Clock Pod - 11/8/2026 === Jose: ​[00:00:00] All right, it's time to talk basketball. I'm Jose Salviati, editor at thePeachBasket.net. He is Steve Purciello, host of Celtic Chalk Talk, a long time educator, vice principal, high school basketball coach, and athletic director, and also, Oh, wait. No. And athletic director is it. It feels like there's more, but that is it. That's plenty. And this is the Shot Clock Pod. The Shot Clock Pod was born out of content in Steve's 13 Rules, random NBA thoughts articles which he publishes weekly. Steve and I have exactly 24 minutes to discuss what's on his mind around the NBA. Today, we're discussing his latest 13 Rules random NBA thoughts article as the NBA season is starting to pick up. Some exciting things to talk about today. Before we get into it, if you're listening to this, we wanna let you know first off, thank you. And we wanna let you know that we are one of several independent fan-driven shows on the Peach Basket Podcast Network of shows. We're not owned by a big media company, which means what you hear comes straight from real fans who live the game every day, just like Steve and I. If you believe voices like this should be heard, the best way to support us is simple. Keep listening, keep watching, [00:01:00] tell a friend, like, comment, subscribe. And as soon as this episode ends, head over to thePeachBasket.net, check out more fan-run podcasts, videos, read the articles, and help this independent network grow the way it started organically, one hoops fan at a time. We're glad you're here. Thank you. Steve, are you ready? Steve: Ready Jose: Let's do it. And the clock is on. All right. Lots of good topics, like I said. We're gonna start with rarefied air for an NBA player. Now, you pulled out the Wilt Chamberlain comparison, which is always fascinating because Wilt was unbelievable. We've talked about him on the show more, more than once. And I thought when I saw Wilt, I thought you were going straight to Wemby. He's coming off a 50-point, eight block game. People are talking Wilt. But you went in a different direction. You said Luka Dončić is in rarefied air. Through eight games averaging 40.1 points, 7.7 assists, 7.8 rebounds. In [00:02:00] game 10, he dropped 53, five and five. I'm just gonna ask because, we chatted about this before. Is it fair to say Wemby and Luka are Wilt-like, or does Luka have the, the Wilt lead right now? Steve: Well, first of all, Luka plays a different game than Wilt, Wilt did. Back Jose: Yeah. Steve: You shot five-footers, and Wilt was just stronger and better, and he made those shots. And he was a great dunker. But Luka's doing this from the outside. I didn't compare their game as much as the numbers. I never thought that we'd see a 40-point average. It's early, but we'd ever see that. And the other thing, too, to just add into that, the three-point shot. There wasn't a three-point shot until, what, 1981, I believe. So there, there's a lot of differences here, but my point being that you just never see 40, 40 points a game is crazy. And the NBA now is more [00:03:00] athletic and better than it ever was. These athletes are tremendous. So what he's doing is incredible. I don't think it'll keep going. He's gonna have a night where he doesn't feel good, he plays, and the, the... And I think teams are gonna adjust to it, but it's amazing to watch. And you never saw those numbers before. It's, before, if you're young, meaning Wilt played, if you never saw Wilt Jose: Yeah, no it's amazing and again, we chatted about this before, before we hit record. You shared with me a stat that is, to me, it's incredibly eye-opening because we're talking about Luka's offense, but he's doing it on the defensive side too, right? Steve: Yes. He's got a I think it's 21.4. the analytics rates on how you defend against the man you're watching and how often, they score or whatever, and it's 21% of the time, which is the lowest in the league. But you gotta remember, as we talked before, you gotta remember, I don't think Luka's [00:04:00] guarding the best scorer on the other team. I have to think he's probably guarding the fifth-best offensive player on the other team. But still, that's an impressive number to have while he's doing it on the other on, on the offensive end. Now, the other piece that we talked about, he and Austin Reaves are taking m- probably about 60 to 70% of the shots. Jose: Sure Steve: they need to come up with something else, and what teams are gonna begin to do is get the ball out of his hands. And then the other three guys have to be able to shoot to score. If they can't or they don't, then we got... then the Lakers have a serious problem. I'm surprised he hasn't s- they haven't started doubling on him now, and Reaves also to get the ball out of his hands. But y- it's gonna happen and I just don't think anybody can average 40 points in today's NBA over a season Jose: Okay. Somewhere Luka's ears just perked up, right? [00:05:00] And he's just going, "Watch." L- let's see. It's gonna be interesting. It, And again, we keep referencing conversations we had before but we did, and I can't help but harken back to that trade, which was horrible when it happened, and now it just looks even worse. I know that Dallas is happy with Cooper Flagg. I know Dallas is happy with the path they're on, and they wouldn't have gotten Cooper Flagg without that trade. But they gotta be... Oh, man, it's gotta just be, it's gotta hurt seeing what Luka's doing. Steve: I, and I said to you before, one of the sadder things to watch is Anthony Davis is with Washington. He's still a good player. His health is the pro- always a question. The saddest thing is Luka's, up at the top right now, and Anthony Davis is re- honestly playing for a contract. So it's such a difference from what happened a couple years later that it's really difficult to even think about. Anthony Davis, in his own right, is a top 75 player of all time. It's just, it's sad. It's sad to [00:06:00] see, and you can't blame Anthony Davis. He didn't trade, he didn't trade himself for Luka. Someone Jose: Yeah. Steve: Nico Harrison did. But it's really sad 'cause two... Jose: Yeah Steve: the Lakers. The Lakers are always about big names, and they gave them a Jose: 100%. 100%, 100% save the Lakers. All right they got a big test against Detroit. Let's see, a- again, we chatted. They, they haven't played, great teams. Portland was, had a good record, but maybe not necessarily a good team. Detroit's a good team. So we'll see, they got them this week. We'll see how that ends up. All right, speaking of good teams the defending champions, you talked about them. They're surprisingly five and four. They don't look like world beaters. Now, they didn't in the regular season last year either. They got hot at the right time. But you called out Mikal Bridges. What's happening in New York? Steve: It's kinda sad but it... because if the Villanova connection could get broken up. If you begin to think about it, if they're gonna go with-- James Dolan does not wanna go into the second apron. Are right I don't even know, [00:07:00] less than a million from it, I believe. So now you gotta think about this. You're not gonna have a bench because the money's going to them. So you gotta deal somebody. Of the five guys who are making the money on the team, who's the one you're gonna get rid of? Now Mikal Bridges started out, and what was he averaging? Six or seven points a game, shooting 25% or 20-something percent from three. Who's Jose: Yeah Steve: Obviously, it's going to be him, because if you're doing a hierarchy, Towns and Brunson, they're the offense and the best guys. OG has become a pretty good shooter and also a pretty good, a real good defender. And then J-Josh Hart is the Marcus, modern-day Marcus Smart, who does all the little things on the court to help winning. So who are you gonna dump if you're gonna do that? Because you need a bench, and if you don't do it, you got a problem. And one last piece to that. If you follow the NBA, what's becoming a trend, and Doc Rivers said [00:08:00] this, and he's so true on, on Bill Simmons Pod. The NBA, the smart thing to do if you have a good team is to go... Your bench should be veterans who has a little bit left, but they, all they wanna do is win. When you use young people, they're playing for themselves 'cause their next contract. But when you get, like here, I'm gonna give you a great example. Caldwell-Pope with Philadelphia. Him playing for Philadelphia he's near done. He's not making a lot of money, but he'd like another ring, and he'll do what has to be done when he's playing to get there. Where if you have a, a 22-year-old who's playing for a contract, it's not always gonna be that way. And that's the and the Knicks have done that with Jordan Clarkson and Shamet and people like that. Drummond. They've taken these people, and that, that might be the fashionable way to Jose: Yeah. Yeah, it makes sense. We talk a lot about how difficult a job a G- you know, the job [00:09:00] of the GM is, but if you were gonna try to templatize it that's probably the right approach. Let's go with vets who are hungry, still and can do a little bit of coaching. There's value there. But yeah let's see how things end up for the defending champs. We actually, we started in the West with Luka, we went to the East with the Knicks, now we're heading back to the West. And again, talking about the Lakers. A little bit of a head scratcher. All right? They had a choice, essentially it came down to the their two picks, Bronny James and Dalton Knecht, and they let Dalton Knecht go. People here, and again, for those, if you're just now listening, I'm in the West Coast, Steve's in the East Coast. It was a head scratcher out here. Why give up on a guy who had so much potential? First game with New York, 16 minutes what was it? 10 points and six boards. A- and Bronny James is in the G League. A sc- head scratcher. Can you make s- any sense of that? Steve: No, you can't because LeBron's gone. Jose: Right Steve: ask you, the thing I'll ask you is very simple. it was [00:10:00] Bronny getting cut, Jose: Yeah Steve: would he find another team in the NBA? And obviously I don't know about that unless his father puts the Jose: Right Steve: push on Philadelphia. So it's really interesting and I think you said it. Knecht, was traded a couple years ago, but the trade didn't go through, and I think from that point on, he was a dead man walking. And they finally found a way and they had to get rid of him. They couldn't get anything for him, evidently. So that's w- that's where it ended. But I- I'll take Dalton Knecht on my team before Bronny every time. Jose: Yeah Steve: a 6'1", 6'2" guard, and 6'1", 6'2" guards, there's not a lot of use for them 'cause they're not big enough, and offensively he's not that, as good a shooter to stay on the court. Knecht can shoot the ball Jose: Yeah. Yeah, and he proved that here in LA, and he's proven it in New York. Yeah, again, just an absolute head-scratcher. I, ooh, [00:11:00] I don't wanna go too deep down this rabbit hole, but this is one area that it's hard for me to kinda understand. By that I mean you referenced a trade, right? And I can't imagine I work for a company and they trade me, right? And then the trade falls through and I'm back with my company. I get that it'd be a little weird, but I just don't understand how it messes with folks' minds the way it does. It hurt La- Lamar Odom when it happened to him and clearly it hurt Dalton Knecht. I just can't wrap my head around Steve: Basketball's a Jose: happens Steve: different than the business world. Jose: Yeah. Steve: Can look at statistics and decide he's not playing well. Is that because of what happened? In, in an office or in a business, it's-- you really have to do a deep dive to figure out he's not working as hard as he once did or whatever it might be, where this statistics tell you no lies. And that's where, Jose: yeah. Steve: where that is Jose: Yeah, it's rough. It clearly has an impact u- undeniably. But [00:12:00] I'm happy for Knecht, and I... And honestly, I wish him success in New York. I think it's a good story and all the best to him. Now, here's a sad story, I think. Kristaps Porziņģis came into the NBA shrouded with boos, right? If you remember draft night, right? The Knicks fans did not like that pick at all. And man, he came out motivated, he came out good and Knicks fans ha- had to apologize. Frankly, he was really good. Steve: Yeah Jose: But now, we're near the end of, seemingly near the end of his career and he's going out with a whimper. It's strange what's happening in in San Francisco now with Kristaps Porziņģis and the Warriors. How do you see this playing out? Steve: I'm not a doctor, but I know he's got a problem. I believe his pulse goes up to 130 and it goes when he gets up and stands up or whatever it is, and it's a problem. It's a problem. He's, he hasn't felt well since he was with Boston two years ago, so it's been a problem. He played for a little bit for Atlanta last year. They dealt him to Golden State, and Golden State gave him time to get himself together, and he played a [00:13:00] couple games and Golden State decided to sign him for 20 million this year and a, an option for next year for a t- I believe it's a team option with a 3 million buyout. Now, Not only is he injured or not injured, but he has a problem, but he didn't show... He hasn't, he's been in, in San Francisco only a few times, and they're not keeping in contact, and San Francisco decided to try to trade him. Maybe some, a bad team would take the 20 million if San Francisco threw him a draft pick with him. Just different ideas and nothing's really worked. Now finally, T- Friday, Porziņģis said, I've got to walk away for now. I'm hoping, he can come back." And what you need to realize, Porziņģis was a matchup nightmare because he can shoot the ball from anywhere, also could play and get down to the basket and shoot. And don't forget, when you're seven foot four or so, you're a little... Y- not that often you're gonna get your shot [00:14:00] blocked. So he was just good. Boston, he was with Boston, they would use him when the shot clock went down, he would be up near the elbow and posted a little bit below the elbow, maybe 12 feet from the basket, but outside the lane, and they would throw him the ball and he would just cut to the middle and take his little shot. gonna stop that, and that's a great thing to have with that. Now, State figured they had something here and he could help them, and he could have if he was healthy, but it's really a shame and now he's walking away and I just hope obviously that the health isn't such that, he gets sicker or worse Jose: Yeah, no, certainly we're all hoping for the best for Kristaps Porziņģis. He was, when he came into the league, a unicorn, right? This is a guy who was as tall as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. For those of you that remember Kareem's game, such a totally different player, this guy. He shot from three with confidence. Y- could go to the low post, block, s- a good amount of [00:15:00] shots. He was a unicorn. He, y- he was a do it all unicorn and in a very real way. Now we're seeing a lot of players like that. Chet Holmgren, Wemb- Victor Wembanyama y- tall players that can do it all. But he was the first one that I can think of that was just really good and really tall. Steve: He was a good shooter, very good Jose: and a, Steve: in his day Jose: and a real good shooter. Yeah, so hoping for the best for for Porziņģis, for sure. All right. Let's let's go back to the East. We're doing a little flip-flopping now and talk about the Miami Heat. It's the start of the season, right? So you look at teams like the Timberwolves, right? Who are playing good. The Portland Trail Blazers, who are playing good. And you think, even Luka, you said, he's unbelievable. Eh, it'll probably dip a little bit. Sh- I wonder, right? 'Cause Miami is not playing well, but it's early, right? People are jumping on and talking about, th- this is a bummer . This is not good for Miami because defense wins championships and they're not playing defense. Is this fixable in Miami or just bumps in the road? Steve: I think they'll get better, [00:16:00] but I don't know how much better they'll get. Let me go back. When Riley got Giannis, I think... and Pat Riley's a great GM and a legend, and In any way knock it, but I think he was looking at the old NBA where you just amassed as many stars as you can, and then just find guy- like they did with LeBron and Bosh and Wade, and just fill a team in around it. Jose: Yeah Steve: y- you took guys like Klay Thompson, who won a game the other night with a three at the buzzer, but he, he's near the end. And, and Davion Mitchell, he's a good player, but I kinda look at him as a guy off the bench. And Wiggins, you don't know what you're gonna get. He's talented, but you don't know what you're gonna get from him on a given day. So you've got all that and Hardaway's near the end of his career. It's nice he's come back to Miami where his dad played. But not deep. And when you trade a bunch of guys like that, you're not [00:17:00] deep and you got a problem. And Giannis isn't a shooter, nor is Adebayo, so you gotta get shooters, and they've gotta they've gotta do better than what they're doing and they're just not good. And then defensively the word would be that Giannis, who was a great defender in his day, is better off the ball defending than he is on the ball now at this point in his career. So now, what are you doing? And they've got a problem. And I think, Riley sees the NBA in the old days. It's not the old days anymore. They don't defend, and Klay Thompson isn't the defender he was. Wiggins, God only knows what he's gonna give you. So they're just not what they were. And, like here if you put on the court against Philadelphia, okay, Jose: got it. Steve: Adebayo or Gian- who's gonna guard the big guy, Embiid? Probably Bam. you gonna put Giannis on? Y- you got a problem. You got some issues here that [00:18:00] really, it's nice to get two, like the old days, twin towers but that, I don't know if that works anymore in an athletic NBA Jose: Yeah. You know what? My first thought was about the big three, right? And you called them out, LeBron, Wade, and Bosh. They started five and four. Now they got to the finals, they lost, but it was bumpy, right? So a- again and maybe I'm just, looking at it from, from Heat-colored eyes or something, but it seems to me like they're just figuring it out. But you just don't... You don't... it doesn't sound like you're that optimistic. Steve: Well, who would you rather have, LeBron and Wade or Giannis and Bam? Jose: All right, Ray. I- I'll give you the mic drop. That's fair Steve: then after you selected Wade and LeBron, you forgot a guy by the name of Chris Bosh. Jose: Yeah Steve: around Miami that's as good as Mi- Chris Bosh as your third player? You're talking title. Jose: Yeah. Steve: back to earth, Jose: No. Steve: And that, that's Jose: That's fair. Steve: my take Jose: [00:19:00] That's fair. That's fair. All right. Good enough. All right, let's let's stay connected to Giannis because Doc Rivers had some interesting thoughts about him specifically around his exit from Milwaukee. So tell us a little bit about what the, the former Bucks coach had to say Steve: He felt that and I'm not using the exact words, but he felt that Giannis wanted out but wouldn't say it because he, I guess his loyalty to Milwaukee and he didn't wanna walk out where people disliked him and all. He had hoped that the team would trade him without him asking for it, and obviously, it didn't happen. You understand it. You do understand it Jose: Sure Steve: Giannis grew up in Milwaukee. Giannis, everything with Milwaukee, and he's beloved there. He didn't wanna Jose: Yeah Steve: Out like somebody that, wasn't loved because he wanted to get traded. So you understand it, but you do feel bad for the, the Bucks wasted a year or two with Giannis when [00:20:00] they could've started their rebuild, they've started. And I don't think... The Bucks are one and seven or so. I don't think they're that bad. I think there's some talent, but they're gonna have to start dealing some g- Tyler Herro's playing well, and they're gonna have to deal him and they've gotta figure it all out. There, there's a lot to sort out there with that team. But the point being for Giannis I understand. I understand why he did want out. He wants to win, which most older players do, Jose: Sure Steve: And he got, they dealt him Jose: Yeah. No, it's tough. And we talk a lot about, how there's a lot of value for players in, in, in starting and ending their career. And I can't help but think that, Giannis would've liked that to have happened, but it just, wasn't in the cards. I think at the end of the day, a decade from now, there'll be a Giannis statue outside Steve: Oh, Jose: in, in Milwaukee for sure. Steve: with the ascension of teams, when you're good and then you slip a notch, [00:21:00] you begin to trade draft picks, trade things to try to get back to that notch. But the ultimate result is your team is going down like the Bucs, and you don't have many draft picks left 'cause you've been trading things to try to keep it going when you might not win it because you don't have enough. Go back to the Jrue Holiday trade with, for Lillard. Not obviously looking back, not a great move but still y- you're... And there was draft picks involved. You're still trying just to keep it going when it looks tough Jose: Yeah. No, understood. Again, difficult job. GM is a difficult job. All right. Again, let's finish up on the West Coast, and I think we did. We ping-ponged back and forth Steve: forth Jose: which is cool. There's a lot of excitement in San Francisco. So there's... The, the Warriors are back. The window is open again. Steph Curry is doing amazing things. Yaxel Lendeborg is not a rookie. Steve: He's real Jose: He's for real. Draymond Green says he's not playing like a rookie. This is a good team, and [00:22:00] people are very excited, and they're not gonna be very excited to read your column because you're pumping the brakes on the Warriors a little bit. Tell us why Steve: If you think about it, Curry still last night, he had 14 points in overtime and in the fourth quarter, whatever. He's still great. But do you expect him to play 80 games? And he, and I don't want to see it. I like watching him play, but there's always little, things that are happening there. And Draymond, he's right. Draymond is offensively, he's a disaster. And, so they're limited. They're getting Yaxel playing well. They don't have a great deal of size and it'll catch up to them. They just, they're just not. And if you look at the talent level, is that talent level to the Lakers? I don't think so. And the Lakers, they're a good team. I don't think they're a title team, but they're a good team. And I don't see Golden State as being that. So I think, they're going to end up wherever they end up. [00:23:00] But, probably, sixth or seventh seed when it's all said and done. I don't see much better and hopefully Jimmy Butler comes back and that helps him. Jose: Yeah Steve: playing for them. And that, that's not a good thing Jose: In the game of basketball, you still need tall people. Is that what you're Steve: Yeah. So Jose: saying? Steve: don't see, I don't see them, I don't see it. But, Fun to watch Curry at 38 years old still Jose: Yeah. Steve: He's still Jose: Undeniable. Undeniable. Seven and three right now at number four Steve: Seven Jose: in the West. Yeah, that's Incredible Steve: about it and you watched him, Kerr, that offense he, he designed or whatever w- for Curry really is brilliant, 'cause Curry's moving all the time and he gets himself open constantly, he can shoot better than anybody Jose: Y- it's fun. It's one of the things I like to do and I think it was when JJ Redick was here with the Clippers, watching... I got in the habit of watching him off the ball, and he never [00:24:00] stopped. Players today, some players who they'll take a pause, right? "I'm gonna rest a little bit. I'm gonna get..." On the defensive end maybe, or on the offensive end. JJ Redick never. He was always moving and Curry's the same way. You watch him sometime off the ball. It is unbelievable. The guy never ever stops running around. And it's amazing. It's a big part of why he is who he is. Obviously the ability to shoot that shot, but he's always moving Steve: But everybody knows he's a great shooter, but he gets open, he gets no shots. So that's telling you about his movement and how he moves and what he does. I- it, he's we'll probably never see another one like him. And hopefully he sticks around for a couple more years Jose: Yeah. Yeah. A bummer that we didn't get to see him and LeBron, honestly. I think that would've been s- kind of nice. But I think they ended up where they're supposed to be. All right, you heard the shot clock go off. That's it. Our time is up. Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. Make sure to read Steve's entire 13 rules for an NBA thoughts article. We will link it wherever you are watching or listening to this today. And [00:25:00] join us next week as we dive into more NBA random thoughts on the Shot Clock Pod. We'll talk next week. Thanks, Steve Steve: Take care