The Shot Clock Pod - Week #24

[00:00:00] All right, it's time to talk basketball. I'm Jose Salviati, Editor at thePeachBasket.net. He, Steve Purciello, a longtime educator, vice-principal, high school basketball coach and athletic director. And this is the shot 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 of Steve's 13 rules, random NBA Thoughts articles which he publishes weekly. Steve and I have exactly 15 minutes to discuss what's on his mind around the NBA today. We'll discuss his latest 13 rules, random NBA Thoughts article where he shares his thoughts after week 24 of the 20 24, 25 NBA season. Lots of good things to talk about today. Steve, are you ready? I am ready. Let's do this. All right, we're starting the clock. let's start with Portland. It's been a rough year for Portland and the Trailblazers, but there's been a guy breaking out and I love these kind of stories and I love when you call 'em out. Denny Abdi [00:01:00] things have not run great for the blazer. Go ahead. Oh, is it Abdi? Yeah. No, not D is D silent. Or apologies to Denny. Thank you for that, Denny. And that goes to show you, and when I wrote this. I, I usually defer to you on guys in the east. This guy's in the West, and I'm not really familiar with his game. So it was exciting to hear, that, and I've seen his name come up, but, obviously clearly didn't even know how to pronounce it. Apologies to Danny. Tough year for the Blazers, great season for him. It might cost, Chauncey Billett his job, the fact that the Blazers are not having a great season, but things are doing really going really well for. I'll let you do it. Tell us about First of all, I would think Billups is gonna be back, and I'm gonna say why they're a couple games out of the playoff playing spot. I think he'll be back and what'll happen is there'll be pressure. He is gotta get in the playoffs next year. right. some, and Danny Avia was a, in 2020 draft, he was number nine [00:02:00] chosen. Now in that draft, after he was chosen by a Washington Wizards. After that, a couple guys that have done fairly well. Halliburton was 12th and Maxie was somewhere in the twenties. Washington's never had a great history of doing well in drafts. He played with Right. for the first couple years until this year. And Washington, in the beginning he had Beal and around him, so the ball didn't move that well. And, and then later they got the guy, the shooter from Golden State. So the ball still did move. They dealt him this year. And he went to Portland. Now Portland's got two good offensive guards and sharp and, simon's, they're two pretty good guards, so the ball didn't always come. Simon's had a little problem. He is been in and out with some injuries, problems, but in the last 10 games, this guy just took off. Avi has been scoring 20 over 26 a game in the last 10 games, and he's shooting 40 [00:03:00] over 42% from three now. And by the way, he came into the league. He's an Israeli, by the way. There's not many Israeli NBA players, but he came into the league a defensive guy. Now Paul has a lot of guys that can score. Now you're getting somebody that might be able to defend as well, and he can play. He's definitely, him and Kumar are the other forward. They've been using. They're pretty good defenders. So suddenly you're starting to move towards the defense. Now, Simons and Sharp are not known for the defense. Neither is Scoot Henderson, the other guard, but suddenly they're starting to find some players before they played. No defense. So this guy is a pretty good all around player and he's really good I'd venture to say, I don't know, 'cause his contract's high and he's been hurt a lot. I don't know they can get anything, but Jeremy Grant might be on the market This guy's ability to play Avi has changed the way they look at it. And Portland has gotten [00:04:00] better this year. For the first time for a couple years now with Billups, they've been, on a flat line. This year I think they've won already in the thirties 30 games. It's starting to look up, I guess is what I'm saying. I don't think they're a championship team, Outstanding. And that's always fun to see. I know Jeremy Grant, there was a lot of interest in him a couple seasons ago, so I think there might still be just based on that alone, but we'll see how things pan out pan out for Avi in Portland. You also, oh, go ahead. He resigned the contract. That's pretty big. So that's why, I don't know, That's the tough part, right? couple years ago it wasn't as big and he was sought after by everybody. Yeah it changes 'cause you're not trading for a player as much as you're trading for that contract. And so that, that changes everything. Un undeniably. We didn't plan to talk about this, but again, I love when you call out players and you called out the heart and soul of the Detroit Pistons. Just talk quickly about who that player is and. Beasley, if you watch the Pistons you like him. He comes off the [00:05:00] bench. I think he should be the sixth man of the year. He has Wow. everything that goes on there. Everybody talks about Cunningham and Bickerstaff. Cunningham will probably make 13 wall NBA bicker staff's getting a lot of recognition as the coach of the year. Nobody realizes about this guy. He shoots and he shoots quite well from three, he's well over 40%. He's averaging 16 points, I think about 27, 28 minutes a game. That's of points. And he's shooting nine threes which surprises me because he's getting open and teams aren't trying to take it away. And he's getting the threes and he's making over four, or around four a game. So that, that's pretty good. And like I said he's got a, if you watch the pistons play, an affinity for the fans to him. And he's energetic. He electrifies the crowd. Yeah. things there. That have worked well. Now the Pistons have a lot of other pieces that are working well, but he's [00:06:00] something that the fa there's a real relationship there. And by the way, he'll be a free agent at the end of the year, which will be interesting if the Pistons give him, pay him some money. He wants to stay there 'cause he loves to, the whole energy, the crowd and everything else. But it'll be very interesting. I think when you watch the Pistons. He comes in, you could just feel, especially in Detroit, you could feel like right. here. He's gonna score. And he's the kind of guy that every championship team needs. And I'm not saying that the Pistons are a championship level team, but that's the kind of player you need on your team. So happy for Beasley, happy for the Pistons. Let's move on. You talked about OG NN Obie. We've talked about him a lot on this show, and you admitted to being wrong about him on the offensive side. He's helped carry the load with Brunson out, but he's now being touted as the defensive player of the year, at least a candidate. What do you think about that? I think it's funny. Just it's, everybody's got a short memory. Beginning of the year a lot of people were eating them alive. They [00:07:00] were just scoring on him and like defensive player of the year, he has come a long way offensively. He, a year or two ago, he tripped over his own feet when he went to the basket. Now he, he can do things offensively and he's. A lot of the loads since Brunson's been out. It's gonna be interesting to see how they come together. Brunson's supposed to play today and it'll be interesting Oh, nice. fit the pieces together. But for him to say that, you look at Lou. Now that's my guy for defensive player of the year. He Right. every good player down that he goes against, and he's guarded for everywhere from, to one to a four. And he's only six, four or so. He's tough. He's physical and he just defends every night. And by the way. If you think about Oklahoma City's got the top rated by far best defense in the league. The Knicks by the, on the other hand, I think a 13th. So 16, I think. Yeah.[00:08:00] yeah, here's this guy making this claim on a team that's an average defensive team. You try to make sense of that one. Oh, 13. Yep. I really can't I guess the Lakers will be talking about Austin Reeves being defensive player of the year. I dunno what's coming next, but that's what you're hearing. But again, I Yeah. kudos becoming a much better offensive player and I was totally wrong on that. Wow. Outstanding. OG take light because, or take heart rather. Maybe DPOY is not in your future, but you got an apology from Steve Cielo, so that's something. Go ahead, All right, let's move on. Talk about the Warriors a little bit. Draymond Green said a couple of months ago maybe that the Warriors would be champions this season. Everybody laughed. But Steph Curry's trying to prove his friend, right? Man. He's he's been playing phenomenal. What's been the difference in the Warriors recently? Curry. Curry is acting like he's 25. Don't forget, he's 37. Yeah. All of a sudden, I guess with Jimmy [00:09:00] Butler, everything's revitalized and just Curry is just, he's shooting real well. He had a 52 point game a week or so ago. And the 37 point game on another time, he's averaging 26, which is down from his best years, but he's not playing the minutes he played. And he is more prone to, in injury. He hurt himself a couple weeks ago with his back or hip or something. So it's not, but he, but when he's in the game, he's back to being somebody that if you are rooting for the other team and he gets the ball, he said, oh God. 'cause he'll just, he'll light you up. And he's so elusive that it's very difficult to defend, the Butler trade. I don't like what Butler did to Miami, but the Butler trade has revitalized him and revitalized the team. Now they have a puncher's chance to go to the finals and, I don't, they have a puncher's chance and that, an interesting thing to see if they can do it. But I will say, I don't think anybody wants to play them more than anybody else. [00:10:00] Oklahoma City, obviously, but. Outside of Oklahoma City, I don't think anybody wants to play Golden State in the West. Yeah, the West is interesting. You and I have talked about it. I think there's there, if we add the Warriors to that list, I would add Denver Nuggets, right? The Denver Nuggets, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Golden State Warriors. And it doesn't matter where you land, one through eight, those are teams you don't wanna play, you don't wanna play early. No. No and some, when you start thinking about it, there's six legit teams. If not more, maybe seven or eight. If you the clippers are legit. Memphis could be a problem, but when you think about it, probably six of those teams, seven of those teams belong going to a second round. Isn't it crazy, three of 'em won't. right? so loaded compared to the east that it's such a big difference. Perfect segue. We're gonna finish with this. You predicted the West Seedings. And it's such a tough prediction right now. One and a half games separates the number three spot from the number eight spot [00:11:00] right now, which is just wild, right? Not a lot of games left, so it doesn't much matter, but it's so tight there. At the bottom of the, but you predicted the the Lakers. Finishing three nuggets. Finishing six Warriors, finishing four wolves. Finishing five, which was set up that matchup between those two teams. So Lakers, nugs, warriors, wolves. What makes those interesting to you and who do you think wins? I I, I look at the Lakers in Denver, and you had said that everybody out there doesn't want any part of that. Yep. I, that will be an interesting series because the matchups are fascinating. You have Yoic and I don't know who's gonna guard him. Nobody. Nobody. That's the problem. That's right. And so that makes a problem in the first place. But then you come back with that offense if Luke is playing and he just had a decent game the other night. he's back to what he was, they're gonna score a lot of points. and it gets really interesting. Like how do what do you do? Can [00:12:00] LeBron guard Yoki down the stretch for a couple minutes? Sure. also, can LeBron play 40 minutes? Every night, you, there's a lot of like variables. And then of course, and I look at Denver as a team on the down, meaning they won the championship two years ago, last year, a little worse this year, getting a little worse. And if you follow the NBA, realize as players age, you're making ridiculous money. they sit out more and more. Take a look at. Murray's missed a bunch of games. He's had bad legs, he's had knee problems and all. Gordon has missed a half the season. He's been out constantly. So they're getting hit with injuries as players age, and that's why probably they're getting worse. And here's an interesting thing, how much. A player runs in the course of a game and how hard they run and soft, they run the, this is interesting. I'll ask you a little silly question. Who was [00:13:00] clocked the least amount percentage-wise of running in the game? The least amount of running hard? Across the entire NBA. Yeah. I believe it's across the NBA. This is a fascinating thing. It's gotta be somebody, older who's gonna pick a spot. So yeah, my, and immediately my first thought somebody like LeBron. No, it's ish. Really? 2.9% of the time does Wow. It's a fascinating stat when you think about it and Wow. this is the best player in the league. Yeah. you figure that out and try to understand that. That's interesting. And he's even starting to miss a few games now and then, Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. so you wonder if Denver's on the way down. And the other thing with Denver, they didn't spend money to pick up a bench. They don't have a bench. So when these guys go down they're in trouble. They're in trouble. They've got a couple guys, straws, a nice player off the bench, but they don't have much depth on that [00:14:00] team. So Denver's got some, some real issues, I guess would be the best way to put it. Who wins Denver or Lakers? My mind says the Lakers, my heart says Denver. I would think the Lakers, but I don't know. I, that's a, again, if you tell me Murray's gonna be healthy, not just If That changes things. Yeah, Gordon's gonna be healthy. I might say Denver, but I don't know. And then you tell me about, the other way and so on. And then who's gonna guard Murray for the Lakers? I, that's an interesting thing. And then, Luca, who's gonna guard Luca, Yeah. series. So it's hard to even determine. Okay. we would go in LA but I, that's not Toss up. I Toss up. Alright. Alright. Yeah. Warriors. Wolves. that's a good one. That's a real good one. You got Butler, naturally and Anthony Edwards. And don't forget, ju Julius Randall usually plays well in the [00:15:00] playoffs. So it gets, I don't know if he plays, he's decent, but he's an unknown factor. If he has a good series, wins. If he doesn't, golden State wins. I would think Golden State will be the big favorites. And I would think if he had, again, you push me, I'd say Golden State. But that's not to say that again, Minnesota, they belong in the Final Four in the west. Right. Or so does Golden State, but The point Yeah. No, that's tough. Did you ask something because you cut out there at the end? About which about No, I warriors was. Okay. Okay. No, I just, again, you cut out a little bit. let's turn it back now for a minute. What do you think? I think it might be time to and I don't want to go down this rabbit hole. I do not. But we talked a lot about the imbalance between the east and the west, but do you think maybe it's time just to pick the 16 best teams regardless of conference? No. Doesn't that seem more fair? no, [00:16:00] it goes in stretches in a couple That's true. The east be on top and That's true. And somebody will be saying, why isn't the what, it just goes round and, and the other piece to it, I don't think the owners would want it. Let us just say the Knicks, were playing Golden State in the playoffs. Lot of money on going back and forth, True. And it's tough on the players if they have to play every other. Think about if you get to the semi-finals, the schedule is And then you flying back to New York, Yeah. and then you gotta play and you're not, it just, it's just not worth it. No, I. it, but who do you take? I you avoided the question. I did, I think the best player in the world is playing against a team that has no big, literally no big so how do you, there's no way the nuggets beat the Lakers warriors and the Timberwolves the wolves are in decline. Inexplicably 'cause this is a team that should be getting better and the warriors are getting better when they should be in decline, which is, again, inexplicable right now. [00:17:00] So I would pick the warriors and the nuggets in those two battles if they come up. going back to the Laker series I'll ask you this. Is the NBAA big man league or a guard league now No. You know what? I think it's a, ever since Michael Jordan, it's been a six, six guys league, right? Somebody who could play guard, who could play forward, those three and D guys, that's the league. Yoic is just, he's just a, he's a one-off. He's a unicorn. Who's got better wings? The Lakers or Denver? I think it's a toss up. Really? Yeah. What do you think? Reeves Luca against Murray and Porter offensively, who do you think has a better series? The Lakers, but those are guards. I don't see those guys as wings. I was thinking of Rui, hacha, Moura. I was thinking of about Aaron Gordon. I was thinking about those guys. I think Denver might have a nod there. Or go? Yeah, no question. Gordon's much better player and he does more things on the court than does, But. I just I, [00:18:00] maybe I'm, but I just think the offense that just a Lakers fan. You're a closet Lakers fan, and we appreciate it. so proud of those, how many titles did they have? So proud to see them win all those titles, and we just if, just think if a guy like Kareem, going way back, didn't wanna get traded to the Lakers, if. All these great players, the Lakers don't draft them, they trade for 'em, Yeah. So you know, big deal. Everybody wants to go play in LA so Big deal. They still don't have the most titles lakers fans. That's Steve Perello, P-U-R-C-I-E-L-L. Just so it's clear who said what. Alright, that's it. Our time is up. You heard no buzzer go off because of my fault and I think we probably went a little over, but we always do anyway, so what we do. But thank you for listening. Make sure to read Steve's entire 13 rules around MBA Thoughts article. Will link that below anywhere you are watching or hearing this to get [00:19:00] more NBA random thoughts after week 24 of the 20 24 25 NBA season, and join us next week. As we share Steve's thoughts on the final full week of the NBA season, crazy to think it's it's over in the playoffs, spur beginning. Please consider subscribing, liking, commenting. All that stuff matters and we appreciate it very much. Join us next week again on the Shot Clock Pod, the best 15 minutes of NBA random thoughts online anywhere, Steve. Thanks, we'll talk next week. Yeah.