The Shot Clock Pod - NBA 2024-25 Playoffs Conference Finals Week 2

13 Rules: Conf Finals Week 2 === [00:00:00] Jose: I'm Jose sdi, editor@thepeachbasket.net and it's time to talk basketball. I forgot to start with that. He's Steve Perello, a longtime educator, vice principal, high school basketball coach and athletic director, and this is the Clock Pod, the best 15 minutes of NBA random thoughts online anywhere. This is your first time listening. Welcome. We're glad you found us. This podcast was born out of the content in Steve's searching rules, random NBA thoughts articles, which he publishes weekly. Steve and I have exactly 15 minutes to go through what is on his mind. Around the NBA today, we'll discuss his latest searching rules, random NBA thoughts article where he shares his thoughts as the NBA playoffs continue in the 20 24 25 NBA season. The conference finals are set. Before we get started, I wanna share once again that one of our own creators, John Camacho, has written a book along with Zach Hamilton called Sports Chaos. It is now available. Please visit the peach basket.net. Click the link and order your book. It is a, an [00:01:00] exploration of expert business, legal and moral decisions as it relates to sports. It's a pretty unique niche book that I think you'll enjoy. And it includes a discussion on the Luka DCIS trade, which is the epitome of sports chaos in 20 24, 25 in base season. Alright, that being said, Steve, are you ready to talk basketball? Steve: Let's do it. Jose: Think you're always ready. It's waking up at two in the morning. We'll talk basketball. Let me start the timer. Boom. Or we're off and running. We'll start with the OKC Thunder, the team you called, the best team of the Final Four remaining. Now as we record this, they got beat up pretty good yesterday, but I don't think anybody would deny. They are the best team of the Final Four. Not only are they good though, but they are young currently and. They're very well said for the future. You presented that really nicely in your article. What do you see ahead? Why are the Oklahoma City thunder so well positioned to dominate for the next 10 years? Steve: First of all after last night, it's gonna be interesting to see how they [00:02:00] react to getting beaten by 40 points. an interesting thing a stat I read, team that's been beaten by 40 points in the playoffs has won a title, Jose: Really, Steve: It's very interesting. So it's just something to think about and we're gonna see how it's young team and they've been through a few fires. This in the playoffs, we're gonna see how this young team reacts from last night. That's a beating. Jose: right? Steve: And and it was just, if it was a fight, they would've stopped it in the second quarter. Let's, from. If they manage the salary cap, they could be around for quite a while. they've got a whole mess of draft picks and I wrote about it in the story. Jose: Yep. Steve: whole bunch of draft picks, two and three in a year. first round picks over the next couple years, what they're going to have to do. And it's gonna happen like it's happening to Boston. They're gonna have to figure out. Who to [00:03:00] get rid of, even though these guys, not because they're not good enough, because they're making too much money and they're not gonna fit into a cap, the other piece to it, a team that's good falls into that second apron a couple teams are Boston and Golden State or two of the teams in it. I know, and that. So then you start thinking about it Jalen Williams contract, Shea Gil is con, they're gonna be max big time money. And then the rest of those guys, Holmgren's gonna be probably a max or close to it. How do you fit 'em all in? Or do you pay that ridiculous tax? then the pressure, if they could do it right, Presti has to continue. Sam Presti, the general manager, has to continue to draft. Stars, future stars so they can fill it in and keep it going. But what's interesting is here's a team on the Verge, has a good shot at getting a title. Usually those teams have very few [00:04:00] assets left. Jose: Right. Steve: We have a ton of assets, and I'm gonna use the contrast. The New York Knicks year went all in by getting Mikhale bridges. They really don't have much. In draft picks or even to trade to try to up what they have because they went all in and most teams, Boston went all in. most teams, when they go all in, they don't have much to deal and they don't have much outside of, their players that they can deal with and they're out. Oklahoma City is such an exception that it's going to be interesting how they, this plays out, but they have a window that could be forever And that's the interesting piece. Jose: Yeah, you wrote, and I, I don't wanna dissuade people from reading the article 'cause you gotta read it, but it, it's pretty staggering. They got two first rounders this year. Three first rounders next year, two more in 27. One in 28 and two in 29. These [00:05:00] are first round draft picks. That just is mind boggling how well set up they are. And you finished your little snippet on the thunder by saying this, the only thing that can stop them is paying everybody. And yeah, that's the key, right? It's a good problem to have if you're a gm. But seeing how this plays out is gonna be very interesting for OKC this year and in the years to come, they are very well set up. Alright, let's move to the East and talk about the Knicks. I was fortunate enough to be in New York for for game one. I didn't get to go to the game, but I got to be outside of Madison Square Garden. As we talked about it and it was it was interesting. Fans were excited. Fans were confident. Going into game one and then game one happened man. And then game two happened, and now the Knicks are in an oh two hole and some are pointing a finger at coach Tom Tito's decision. There are a lot of finger pointing going on, but this one specifically did not play Carl Anthony Townes for much of the fourth quarter. What do you make of tibs decision? Steve: First of all, I'm surprised with all your money. You didn't buy a [00:06:00] ticket and go to the game. Jose: Six grand man. They wanted six grand. Come on. Steve: That's you can shake that outta your ashtray. but Jose: All right. Steve: about this. Let's, the next Tibs has taken a beating for. Taking towns out and doing that. Now I look towns in Brunson don't play defense. They're Brunson draws charges. That's the extent of his defense. Towns moves his feet like I do, and I'm old but he can't guard anybody. He played in the drop and he was dropping deep and giving up that Miles Turner was hitting that 15 footer because he was dropped so far down. The point being. They've been doing that all year. Teams are targeting more so in the playoffs, but they've been doing it all year. Now you gotta make a decision to me, you dance with the one you brung. So Jose: yep. Steve: means that you keep towns out there. know what you hope you can outscore 'em 'cause this is the way it is but I think people are missing the bigger story and the bigger story on this, [00:07:00] and I know Mitchell Robinson, everybody likes to backup. Everything backup quarterback backup up anything. So Mitchell Robinson's the backup. He plays a couple minutes. He's great. Okay, that's good. The bigger story. And to me, when you really step back and look at this, TS is a defensive coach. Always been, that's where he hangs his hat. In fact, in 2008, he was the defensive coach for the Boston Celtics, and if, They want a title. And the defense was very good, Boston's, but he's been a defensive coach. My question to my thought goes back to a year ago, why do you trade for Carl Anthony Towns when you have a defensive coach? Why do this? Everybody knows he doesn't defend. Why are you, why? And I understand. I understand. But teams get off and get away from what they wanna do when they begin to search for that one more piece. It doesn't always [00:08:00] fit just right. And just to add something, if you watch, I guess it was the first game towns got into it with Mikhail Bridges on the bench. They went back and forth on something. Jose: Oh, Steve: says to me. I don't know if they hold Carl Anthony Towns in a high, in, in the place he belongs and that's not a good thing for a team. Jose: Yeah. Steve: I, I just don't think the team meets what Tibs wants and they've way overachieved beating Boston was great. They've way overachieved, but I just don't think this team was chosen to suit the coach. What he does. Jose: Right. Steve: but now he's gotta make a decision. Word is Mitchell Robinson will start and Josh Hart won't. That'll 'Cause now you've got two bigs. How are you gonna defend? are you going to defend what? Against smaller appeal players who can beat 'em to the basket. It's gonna be really, and you got Jalen Brunson, it's gonna be interesting if you watch down the stretch and the announcers [00:09:00] said it. Every time Indiana had the ball down the stretch, they targeted Brunson. They went right at him. Jose: Yeah. Steve: Again, you Brunson stays out there because he is great offensively. But he is a problem on defense. But Jose: yeah. Steve: My thinking. Jose: Yeah. And for people that maybe you just discovered the show and you're listening to Steve talk about Kat I encourage you to go all the way back to when Kat made his way to New York. He said that very same thing the day of the trade that does didn't make any sense that he's not a defensive player. How does he fit into Tito's rotation? And here we are. This is not new. And it's just something Steve's been saying from the jump. And we're seeing it come to fruition, unfortunately for the Knicks. Yeah I read about the shakeup with Josh Hart. Yeah. What do you make of that? It's that desperation because Josh Hart's a good defender and, but he's shorter. I don't know, I don't know enough about that East Coast team to talk about it intelligently, but what do you make of that potential switch? Steve: if you're a [00:10:00] Laker fan, it's hard to use the word intelligent with. Jose: Oh man. Steve: I Jose: Okay. Steve: Think Josh Hart is a pest the things on the court, annoys everybody. But he's Jose: yeah. Steve: And I think I wrote a week or two ago, if he has to shoot threes, you're in trouble. That's Jose: Yep. Steve: He does all the other things. So I don't, I understand you're trying to do something that gets him shook up and gets him to play. I get it. I get the whole idea. But I'm gonna go back. beat Boston. Boston was the favorite. Jose: Yeah. Steve: Why do you gotta put it out there and play and use the people that got you here. I, and like that, that smells a patch. Jose: That's what I was getting at it. It looks like a little bit of a desperation move. Which, could be problematic because when, if I'm the Indiana Pacers and I see that, I'm just thinking, yeah, this team's, they're freaking out. I got 'em right where I want 'em, which which is not what you wanna be if you are the team heading to Indiana to try and take game three. All right, let's let's [00:11:00] move on to teams now that, that aren't playing. But have some real important decisions coming up. Those are the Denver Nuggets and the Boston Celtics. You mentioned them before. So you wrote about these in great detail. I just wanna ask you this, which of these two teams, the nuggets of the Celtics, do you think will look a lot different? Because you talked about, big changes, coming for each of these teams potentially. So which one do you think is gonna look different at the start of next season? Steve: Just without Tatum, Boston's gonna look different Jose: Yeah. Steve: But if they're successful in making the deals they're talking about, they're gonna be completely different. Denver's gonna add up, add players on the fringe, meaning guys Jose: Okay. Steve: off the bench, give them 10, 15 minutes, 20 minutes a night and help them rest their players, they need a backup center because they're asking a lot out of and he's great. And if Denver doesn't wanna spend the money. This, you gotta understand, is one of the top 10 [00:12:00] players of all time. Easily Jose: That's wild. Yeah. Steve: You don't do things to help him. That's ridiculous. Malpractice horrible. If you're gonna save money as an owner, five years, you ain't gonna have these situations again. So you gotta do it with Boston if everything works right. And Boston just does minimal changes. Holiday and Pingus and Hauser are probably gone. changes everything. gets more of a chance to play depending on what they get back, but the really, the reason they're dealing them is to get under the second apron. So They're gonna be a different team. And without Tatum, what are you looking at? Sixth, seventh, play in the eighth play in type team. So you gotta and maybe they have to step back before they, they get going unless. Pritchard or somebody is better than we ever thought and becomes a star, which I don't foresee, but, Jose: Yeah. Steve: Boston would be a lot different unless they can't make deals and [00:13:00] perished a thought. But they might even have to trade Jalen Brown and that would be crazy because you don't get stars of his magnitude that easily. And they have, Boston has two. You can't lose one, but. Jose: Yeah, the trajectory, I think of what Boston wanted it. Obvi and injuries like this do that, but it changes everything. And now I, not that they're scrambling, I'm sure that they've, they've had contingency plans in place, but there's a lot of, probably a lot of conversations, a lot of whiteboarding going on right now in Boston. And we'll see how things play out. Steve: About it, everything in the NBA for next year goes on. From, let's just say June 20th to probably the end of the Summer League. So in that area, although Boston years ago got Garnett on in the end of July, but. Everything goes on in that period. So I am sure that Brad Stevens has a general idea Jose: Right. Steve: get from holiday for Pingus and each of these players and you know where that [00:14:00] fits and how he can slide it and which is the best trade they can make, and so on. I think holiday's value might not be as good 'cause he got three years left and this year he was out a lot. He was under 60 games, I believe, or right around 60 games. you know that value isn't what it is. But if Boston can unload the salary that's what they want. And by the Jose: Yeah. Steve: thing on that, the only team that's got money to spend is only one team under the cap. It's the nets. Jose: Interesting. Steve: that. They only Making over 20 million. Johnson, cam Johnson and the big guy the center. Those are only the only two players. Everybody else is making low, very low. They're gonna have to spend some money, but Jose: Nick Claxton. Steve: that's it. He said 27 million I think. And that's a lot of money for a guy that can't shoot. He's a Jose: Yeah. Yeah. Steve: a he's a good rebounder. But 27 is a high rate for a guy [00:15:00] that, not running anything for him offensively. He's, just cleaning up things. Jose: Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. Oh yeah. No. And I admit to having to Google it, but we got there all. I cheated. You heard the buzzer go off but I, we got one more thing I wanna talk about. 'cause I love this little tidbit that you threw in at the end of your article and I'll just read it verbatim. It's not rocket science to figure out, but in all four games to this, to, to the point where you had written this round of the playoffs. Yeah it, it still holds true. The team with less turnovers has won. So we talk a lot about defense with championships, right? But you gotta con you, you gotta handle that ball, you gotta protect that basketball. That probably means as much. And it's showing to be true. Steve: I I, when you think about that, in the Indiana Nick series, Indiana's relentless they pressure everything. So it's almost automatic that you're gonna turn the ball over more. Jose: Yeah. Steve: And I guess that negates the Nicks advantage on the boards offensive [00:16:00] boards. it, every game it seems like the team with the turnovers is the loser. I, I didn't go back. I would like to go back into the play all the playoffs Jose: Yeah, that'd be interesting. Steve: Yeah. But it and that's true in all basketball. If you turn it over, you're not winning. Jose: Yeah. Steve: it's not like a brilliant thing, but it's very interesting stat. Jose: Yeah, no. Agreed. And I think it'll be most interesting if you get a team, a disruptive team like the Pacers meeting, a disruptive team like the Thunder, right? Who that's, rock meet in a hard place. I, a lot has been, people are writing a lot about how a boring that's gonna be for non a b, a fans, right? Two small market teams meeting in the finals. But these. That's a good matchup. It could be a potentially really fun matchup. But let's see how it plays out. Yeah. And maybe this week I'll I'll go through and see how turnovers have impacted the last few championships. Steve: one thing to add, To add with this, if Indiana does win this series and gets in the finals. Football, [00:17:00] basketball, they're all copycat leagues. A team that has success. Everybody begins to do what they do. Jose: A hundred percent. Steve: plays a different style. If you think about the playoffs through the years, it's always come down to a, a slow game where you isolate somebody and get 'em the ball and let 'em go. If Indiana does something, what you might see is younger players on teams and teams pressuring a lot more a And not pressuring where there. the ball. But what they're doing is defending, basically giving the inbounds pass, but then taking and forcing the drib to, to weave. In other words, they're gonna turn him, they're gonna, if he goes left, they're gonna push him back to the right. So he's gotta some energy doing it. And also it might speed up a team and that might become a new trend in the NBA. No more slow down basketball, [00:18:00] which would be fun to watch. Jose: Yeah, no I'm I am absolutely on board. And yeah I love the term copycat league and we see that every year. So we'll see how this season plays out. You you heard the buzzer. We talked through it. If if this is your first time finding us, it's a soft. A hard cap for us. A soft cap, not a hard cap for us. So we, I don't think we've ever finished before the buzzer but there's lots to talk about. So on we go, but our time is up. Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. Make sure to read Steve's entire 13 rules, random NBA thoughts article. We will link that wherever you are listening or watching this. Today. Join us next week as Steve shares his thoughts as the conference finals continue, we might very well have a probably potentially will have a finals team set next week. We'll see. Please consider subscribing Join us next week on the Shot Clock Pod, the best 15 minutes of NBA random POS online anywhere. We'll talk next week. Thanks, Steve. Steve: Thank you.