The Shot Clock Pod - Week 8

thepeachbasket_1_12-14-2024_123758 === Jose: [00:00:00] It's time to talk basketball. I'm Jose Salviati, editor at ThePeachBasket. net. He's 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. If this is your first time listening, welcome. We're glad you found us. This podcast was born out of the content in Steve's 13 Rules, Random NBA Thoughts articles. Steve and I have exactly 15 minutes to discuss what's on his mind around the NBA. That's why we got the name Shot Clock Pod. Today we'll discuss his latest 13 Rules, Random NBA Thoughts article. Where he shares his thoughts and select teams after week eight and it's important to note, right? This is selectively for about week eight highs and lows and what he saw in week eight and we'll keep that in mind as we go through this because it's I think it's important shout out All right Steve, are you ready? Steve: Ready? Jose: do it. I'm gonna start the timer now. 15 minutes is [00:01:00] going. Let's start with the first topic. The Miami Heat are back and being led by someone other than Jimmy Butler. There's a lot of swirling rumors around Butler, but you said that Heat are now this player's team, not Jimmy Butler's team. What's going on in Miami? Who's that player? Steve: Oh, it's Tyra. Hero. Hero. About two weeks ago I watched a couple of heat games and they looked like they didn't care. They were terrible. They were just no movement to 'em. No nothing. It was tough to watch. I watched them in the last couple, in the last week. They've won four in a row. And Tyler Hero, offensively, it is the first time he's averaged over 20 points a game, which is a big thing, but he's also shooting real well and scoring, now that's not to take away from Bam, Bam is Bam, he defends, he does all the dirty work on the team, but Hero now has become the go to guy, not Jimmy Butler, and that's an important change for the team. Is that a turnover? [00:02:00] Meaning, are they starting to, the rumors are out there about Jimmy Butler but the thing that I keep thinking to myself, even if Butler's signed for four more years, he's on the downside. And you could tell it whenever a player Butler three years ago would get you 20 every night. Now he's up and down. And that's the beginning of a downfall of a player. And that's what I think is happening with Butler where with hero's young boy. He can shoot and he comes off the screen with with bam and you know He just hurts you with the three. I think he's over 40 percent on three. So there's enough offense They're getting out of him that it's changing it if they do and just to segue if they do trade Jimmy Butler, they're not as far away. I'm not going to say they're going to win a title, but they're not as far away as being a pretty good team in the East and in the East, [00:03:00] third and fourth are wide open seed wise. That could happen. I'm not, predicting a trade or whatever with Butler, but that could happen. And maybe Butler will begin to improve but it's very hard. We go back to one other thing, availability. Jimmy Butler's not. Last year he missed 22 games, this year's probably on, that means you're playing 60 out of 82. That's about 73%, 74%. It's not enough. As players get older, they're paying them, but they're not getting anything back, teams, when they're not getting enough production over a long season. Jose: Yeah, you also called out It should Jimmy Butler and we hadn't scheduled to talk about this But should Jimmy Butler get traded who a really good team for him is remember who you said Steve: Go ahead. Jose: The Dallas Mavericks. Steve: What'd I say, Golden State? Jose: No, you said Steve: Oh, that Dallas, but Dallas doesn't have anything to match. The problem is, and people have to, I don't want to go into the weeds, but they [00:04:00] have to understand the new tax aprons when you get over a certain point, you've got to either match the salary in the trade, or you have to trade more money away. And the other team's got to be able to fit it into their cap and take less money. Butler makes a lot of money, so it gets very difficult. Yeah, Dallas would be an interesting thing because they'd be going for it all. And Dallas, you're right. I thought it was golden state because my mind, was thinking about that. But Dallas would be interesting, but you know what, if they did that. Kyrie's I believe he, he's his, he could play his option next year and take, and look for a new contract. And I'm sure Dallas will sign him. They're going to be in for a lot of money. But what's on the downside? The NBA is a young league. They might take their shot, but in a year or two, Jose: Yeah. Steve: So it gets very interesting. I also, in thinking about it, thought about Golden State. But Golden State again, if they [00:05:00] get rid of their future and let's face it, you're going to have to give up cominga if you're going to do something like that, you're giving up your future and you got to throw some money in there because there's a lot of money to match. So, I thought Golden State figuring one more tribe for Draymond and Curry but yeah, and Dallas, I never thought Dallas was a true contender. I thought Boston, in fact, if you remember, I told you I didn't think Boston would have a problem with Dallas when the series went out last year because I just didn't see them as that good. Maybe Butler pushes them over the top or puts them in the finals again, but they got to go through all KC and I don't know if they can do it. Jose: That would be fascinating. The trade season is always a fun time to talk about things like this. Before we move on from Hero and go on to the next topic, Hero's points are up, right? Career points by four. His effective field goal is up. His three point percentage is up. Everything is up. What's interesting to me, his field goal attempts are down. So he's shooting less, but making more that's [00:06:00] impressive. So let's hope that continues for Tiro. No, that's all. That was my period at the end of that. Steve: A player who's been around or starts figuring it out, realizes I can get the same points if I shoot open shots. I don't need to force my game. And that might be going through Tyler Hero's mind. Because The percentage is up because he's not forcing those bad shots that he was doing. And the other piece too I actually, he's always been liable weak defensively. He's actually playing, trying to play defense now, which he's not great because teams are hunting him, but he's much better than what he was. Jose: Seriously. Hope things continue in that trajectory for Tyler hero. That is the step between a good player to an all star player. Let's see if he makes that leap. Moving on to the next topic. You called the recent really good game. between the Warriors and the Rockets, a classic old champion versus young upstart game. Now the Rockets won [00:07:00] that game. Controversial ending side. They won it. But which team do you think between the Warriors and the Rockets is going to have a better season at the end of this year? Steve: I think the Rockets will have a better record, but I don't know if either team will get to the conference finals. I think, to get to the round two and that'll be the end. I think, but the interesting thing is if rosters stay the same, this will be, and I'm gonna use a big word for you. This will be the Zenith for the warriors while for the you look at it Jose: I am Steve: For the for the rockets. They will get better. They need to go through a playoff series and really, play some team that just beats them because they're more experienced. And once they do that, just like Oklahoma city last year, they went through it. They got a beaten, but now I have to think they had a favorite in the West. So I think the Rockets, it's an [00:08:00] ascension for a team. There's another word for you, but it's an ascension for a team to, to move up. Into the, into the upper echelon. It doesn't happen. Look at Boston. They knocked at the door for how many years until they finally the door got opened. Jose: yeah, no, there's a process you've got to go through and bead famously said, you know talked about that But let's move on before you throw out another multi syllable letter. We got Zenith or a word you got echelon You got ascension. This is crazy, and I can't handle much more of this Steve: I've been reading, I've been reading books. That's Jose: Clearly you've reached the apex. How's that? All right. All right. Let's move on. You said the Atlanta Hawks are for real and I said that's a sentence few outside of Atlanta have ever proclaimed. Now, I love, good basketball and Atlanta's playing it. But what has you feeling that particular way about the Hawks this season? Steve: if you watch them, [00:09:00] they've always had offensive talent. They're still on the edge with certain guys with injuries. DeAndre Hunter is a player. He's a flat out player. He can shoot, he can play, and he's a good defender. He's been healthy for the last week or two or three, and he's hurting teams. Jalen Johnson's ascending to become a star in the league. He can play. He can play. You got those two. Dyson Daniels. We've talked about him Jose: what's that nickname again? Steve: a player. The Great Barrier Thief, yeah so you've got that, and the other thing is Trey Young is growing up, and he doesn't, he's leading the league with 12 assists a game, I believe, but he's also, he's learned that he's taking less shots, again, another example of that, and he's, and you don't see as many of his Behind by the logo shot threes anymore, so you can see him growing up [00:10:00] I've been reading that atlanta's spent a lot of time with him about leading and he's supposedly an introvert And he's starting to come out of his shell as a leader and it's good and don't forget He's still not a good defensive player, but that's only one bad defense hunter and johnson are pretty good capella Is decent he does the job and dyson daniel's one of the best in the league so you can get by You With him teams in the playoffs teams will be hunting trey young every game He'll be guarding the best players every night But you can get by with only one and by the way on their bench. They've had bogdanovich to bogdan Bogdanovich who's another pure scorer. They've always had this offense, but I guess quinn snyder who i've been down on Is getting to them where they're finally starting to care about defense and they're learning about winning. I think a lot of people say they're going to be in the playing game. I look at them, they're going to be six, five, four type [00:11:00] team, in an outside shot at that third, because after Boston and Cleveland, I don't know what, what ends up Jose: Yeah. No, after that it's the wild west out in the east. Lots of talk about with Trey Young and I think we could dedicate the balance of our time to that, but we are running short of time. The clock is ticking and I don't want to go without talking about this final piece in your article. You NBA team was guilty of amassing the most talent over the best Which I thought was a great sentence, a great encapsulation for this particular team. Which team are you talking about, and what NBA historical team does that remind you of? Steve: first thing is the next and, Before they remind me of the Lakers and I guess all four when they had Malone and Peyton and all those stars and they got hammered by the Pistons in the finals. yeah. Colby and Shaq, of course. So that's what it reminds me of. But if you think about this, [00:12:00] if you're an organization, You need everybody on the same page and you need You don't want to admiss you want to amass talent naturally, but you also want the type of players that the coach and the gm believe They want and you've got to stay with that now. Tom Thibodeau is a defensive coach Tom Thibodeau has always been a guy who gets more out of his team than what they have. That's always been his M. O. He's done it throughout his years. He's never won a title, but he's done a great job in getting more. Now, when you look at this Nick team, he's got some stars. Think about it, Carl Anthony Townsend is a tremendous offensive player. Brunson is another great offensive player. Again, both are weak defenders. Two weak defenders on the same team, you're going to have a problem defensively. Tibbs has always been a defensive coach. So I don't know [00:13:00] if he was completely on board with all the changes. Ananobi's a nice player defensively, and so is Bridges. No argument about that. And Josh Hart, of course, he's tough and a good player. And one more piece to that, they got Josh Hart playing a four. Are you kidding? Are you kidding? He's 6'4 you got a problem. And Townes, the Knicks got hammered on the boards, offensive boards, for Atlanta the other night. Atlanta just 22, I believe, offensive rebounds they had. You can't expect it, and Towns also commits stupid fouls, and gets himself in foul trouble. Minnesota was on to something, making him the four. The Knicks need Mitchell Robinson to return, and who knows when, or they need to go out and get a true center. Because they're not gonna win with the team, with four guys that are really threes, or twos, or ones. And a five and a five, who's truly a four, just not going to win. And [00:14:00] by the way, towns, the last I looked can't protect the rim. So you've got all these issues. Like I said, Mitchell Robinson could be the savior. The other thing that people forget is they lost Hartenstein and boy, he got a million offensive rebounds, did a lot of dirty work for them. I don't see Towns, McHale Bridges, and Anobi doing that dirty work. And they need somebody, Josh Hart can, but again, 6'4 they need that. And one more piece to the Knicks. They traded Devin Chenzo. Is there anybody you can think of that would be a Tom Thibodeau? It's Steve Vincenzo and soul gives everything him and Josh heart would be like their heart and soul of a team. They're gone. He's gone. And that's a big loss. And it changed the next last thing on that they have a weak bench and that's also killing them, behind towns, they use Jericho Sims or precious to chew. And he's six, eight [00:15:00] at the guard. They get Deuce McBride, who. He's a nice player, he's not and campaigns playing real well, it's just not much of a bench. So they got their problems. They do need Mitchell Robinson back, but they also, and again, cap wise, they have some constraints, but they need to make, they need to make a trade. Jose: That's actually perfect. Our clock just went off. I don't think anybody heard it. So that was, I could not have been any better. That's amazing. That's two weeks in a row. When the clock went off just as you were finishing up your thought, that was absolutely perfect. The Knicks right now fourth. I think fourth in the West, 15 and 10. Yeah they're, I don't know. Let's see how things play out. You said to your credit, you said everything you say now, you said when they made that trade. You said this isn't a good fit. In terms of Thibodeau's, what he likes You saw some problems and and now we're seeing the fruition of that. But [00:16:00] again, you heard the timer. You heard the clock go off. That's it. Thank you as always for joining us. We are grateful. Again, please leave your comments, your likes, all that stuff matters. We are here every week sharing Steve's thoughts on anything and everything that he sees. Make sure to read his latest 13 Rules NBA Thoughts article, which we'll make sure to read to link below, where he shares his thoughts on who or which player made Luka look human. Make sure to read read up about that. I thought that was an interesting take and a really nice encapsulation for a really good player. But join us next week once again when we discuss Steve's article after week number, what would it be, nine? And yeah, join us again next week for the best 15 minutes of random NBA thoughts online anywhere. We'll talk then. Thanks, Steve. Steve: Thanks.