The Shotclock Pod: NBA Power Shifts: Thunder’s Dominance, LeBron’s Streak, Injury Wave, and Eastern Conference Contenders

Untitled project from SquadCast === Steve: ~I can hear it.~[00:00:00] Jose: It's time to talk basketball. I'm Jose Salviati, Editor at thePeachBasket.net. He is Steve Purciello, a longtime educator, vice principal, high school basketball coach, athletic director, and the host of Celtic Chalk Talk. Celtic Chalk Talk is a pod dedicated to the latest news and opinions surrounding you guest it. Steve's giving it away with his hat, the Boston Celtics from a lifelong fan. That being Steve, that pod will drop new episodes every Monday, but this pod. Is the shot clock Pod, the best 24 minutes of random NBA thoughts online anywhere. This podcast was born out of the contents of 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'll discuss his latest 13 rules, random NBA Thoughts article where he shares his random thoughts after week number eight of the 20 25 26 NBA season. Lots to talk about. Steve, are you ready? Steve: I am ready. Jose: Let's go. Clock [00:01:00] is on. All right. We'll start with something we discussed last week. Actually. I see a correlation. Anyway. Last week we talked about the game being faster and analytics prove that this week we're talking about injury spikes. You think those two things are related? Steve: Yeah. I think that's part of it, but I think also the schedule is a major part of it. the fact, we've seen guys, anybody with a calf strain they sent them out for as long as possible already This year, John Moran Giannis Isaiah Hartenstein. Out on the West coast, Revis has now got a little problem and they're sitting him out for at least a week. And they don't think it's serious. Reed Shepherd. It goes on the list of Jose: Yeah. Steve: there's a calf injury, 'cause of the fear of the Achilles. you take that information and you think about it, the NBA. It's very quirky to schedule The first 21 or teams played about a [00:02:00] quarter of the season, 2021 games in 42 days, which is a game every other day, and they had four or five back to backs, is kind rough now for the 10 or 12 days with the Final eight teams. In the tournament they're playing, everybody's playing two games. So now all of a sudden we've stopped and it's gone two games in 10, 11, 12 days. So all and then. After it's over by next week. This time, I think by next Friday we go again. what it's just too much. You're Jose: Yeah. Steve: and more guys not being able to play. The NBA's got a ch a couple things. A decision to make a, they play less games, Jose: Yep. Steve: I don't players association will ever go for that because that would mean less money. And nobody wants to take a cut in pay. In fact, the players like it, even though the injuries, they like it the way it is because they sit [00:03:00] out, to be honest, they sit out if they don't, if Jose: Sure. Steve: So they're fine. But the NBA now, and again, you think about teams like, like Jimmy Butler came back to Miami a couple weeks ago. I don't think he played. People pay for those tickets and wanna go see Jose: Yeah. Yeah. Steve: they get? They don't get this guy playing. That's rough. And same with Curry. Didn't play, I believe in that game, and Curry's missed a bunch of games. West teams from the opposite conference only play once in the other team city. If you're in the West Conference, you only come to Miami once in a year. Jose: Yeah. Steve: he's out you're done. Or how about up in Boston? Everybody thought LeBron's last game tickets were going for a ridiculous amount of money. Could be LeBron's last game in Boston, all that. And he didn't play. So there, there's a problem with that. Like I said, you can't, with the schedule, what you could either do, as I said, or with the schedule, decide to open [00:04:00] the season a couple weeks earlier. Now if you think about it, money-wise, generally teams have most of those tickets. Even if they started in earlier in October or a couple weeks earlier, beginning of October, most of those teams have season tickets sold. It's not, I don't know if they're gonna lose a lot of money. Owners are always worried about the money. That's why they Jose: Sure. Steve: end of October after baseball's just about done in the World Series and so on. So that's gonna be part of, the issue. They have to figure out, but they've gotta do something. And my sense being the players be happy about this, what's going on with injuries, they're gonna have to think about changing the schedule, probably more so than anything else. Jose: Yeah, it'd be interesting to see how it plays out. This has been an ongoing conversation and it always centers around, at least what I've heard is shortening the season. I've never heard what you're suggesting, which makes a ton of sense. Just [00:05:00] keep the na, keep the 82 games, keep the end the same, just. Start earlier, so now we can stretch that out a little bit. That makes a ton of sense and doesn't seem, excuse me, to me, that there's a whole lot of money involved there, right? Nobody's gonna lose money to your point. So Steve: something Jose: it's a viable option. Steve: The way they decide how much a player makes is all runs. It's with the salary cap on the gross income of the NBA, the players half, in other words, the contracts. So when you break it down, now, would the NBA, if they cut. They're still selling shirts and other things, would they lose a great deal of money where players, salaries would have to come back and that would be something they'd have to do, a study, but Jose: Yeah. Steve: that's the choices that they're going to run into. Because, like Ja and Giannis, people wanna see them. if they're getting hurt because they're playing too much, it's a problem. And, Jose: Yeah. Yeah. And we'll add that to the list of problems that the NBA [00:06:00] is facing, right? Not as many people are watching as they used to. There's a little bit of a lack of excitement around the NBA and now, we've got we've got this, so let's hope the NBA figures things out. Somebody who's figured. Things out is LeBron James. Not the greatest segue, but I'm gonna stick with it. 1,297 Straight games averaging double digits. I thought it was interesting that he ended it when he could have taken the shot, but instead he passed it up. Which I thought was telling you called it one of, let's see, I wanna get you what you said exactly. One, one record he set in his incredible career and that was really the word he used. Over and over here is incredible. What more can we say? It just unbelievable what he's done. Steve: do the math and it's about 15 seasons. Scoring 10 points or more. no injuries. 10, 10 seasons, 15 seasons. You're never gonna see that happen again. Jose: Yeah. Steve: It's [00:07:00] remarkable. And I think back when Larry Bird played, he had a streak, but I remember it was a game against the nets. He got thrown out in the first couple minutes of the game and that ended the streak. So what I'm saying is. To do that, you need really to be able to play the game, not get injured during the game, not screw up with a referee or Jose: Yeah. Steve: things as well as continually score. Now, talk about the other night when he, could have shot the ball at the end instead passed, the one thing I'll give LeBron a lot of credit for, he always makes the right play Jose: Yeah. Steve: play was to pass the ball to the corner To hit the three. Jose: Yep. Steve: And when I watched it I thought of all those things and I said to myself, what a great play. That's the right thing to do. Jose: Yeah. Steve: waited. If he didn't make it, they still, he still would've had a shot at it. And I think he was glad LeBron, when you read about what he said after the game, I think he was glad that it's over. It's just one more [00:08:00] thing. Jose: Yeah. Steve: want, I don't wanna deal with it anymore Jose: Yeah. Steve: getting harder for him now to every night bring it. Jose: Yeah, no doubt. I think that there is th there's a lot of truth there. And I think that the day after with that weight lifted, he had a great game. But yeah, amazing to see what he's doing in general at his age. But, we gotta just appreciate it. We joked, oh. Steve: what are they saying? What are they saying out in LA about the Jose: Oh, you know what? Nothing. We're just appreciating the greatness. Honestly it, I remember when Kareem had the same thing, right? Kareem's I think a little different, right? Because Kareem certainly different, I think at the end of his career he didn't he came down on the offensive end at, for the last 10 seconds of the shot clock, right? And he would just be the stop gap with the sky hook, and it was, he was playing good basketball, but he was struggling a little bit. LeBron is not struggling, right? He's still dominating. And so I think here the consensus was, hat off to the, [00:09:00] to the king. You know what LeBron calls himself? That, that, that was it. It's just a real appreciation for what he's done. Steve: He doesn't the difference is he ages. doesn't every night like he did, he'll have a great game and then the next night he might not, Jose: Yeah. Steve: that well. Jose: Yeah, Steve: the only difference as he's aged, and I think this year is the first time we can see a real drop back. Like even if he played enough games to qualify 65 games, which he won't probably play, think he'd make all NBA at all unless it Jose: yeah. Steve: vote. Jose: Yeah. Steve: you're finally seeing sort. Decrease in ability. Jose: Yeah, it had to happen crazy that it took 41 years, but here we are. Steve: It's an incredible Jose: Yeah. Unbelievable. And speaking of unbelievable, we joked at the start of the season that the the Oklahoma City Thunder would go at 82 and Oh you told me no, it wasn't gonna happen, but they're pretty darn close. This [00:10:00] team is unbelievably good. What do you see for them? I know, let's say, BARR injury, are they gonna, is this a 70 win team? They gotta be right. Steve: I think so. I, they gotta lose, they may be, they're losing this tournament. I don't know. But the thing that just astounds me, 17.4 point differential and that means if they only win by 10 tonight, it goes down. Jose: right. Steve: It's just incredible. And then the other thing too, they always say for an NBA team to be a champion. Usually they're rated, their ratings and offense and defense are in the top seven Top five. Jose: Yeah. Yeah, Steve: in defense and they're swarming they're all over the place. And an offense is second. Jose: yeah. Steve: That to me is like total domination Jose: yeah. Steve: league and of it just, I can't even begin to, the other night I put the game on for a couple minutes and I just, [00:11:00] my goodness. They just overwhelmed and just, it wasn't even, Jose: yeah. Steve: old worldly really. And. Jose: Yeah. Steve: They were just playing with the playing. They weren't just, you couldn't, let's put it this way, you can't even take you, there's, if they're playing a tough game in the third quarter, you should, you're stunned. So these Even to sweat is the Jose: Yeah, right now it's unbelievable. We have to appreciate it and it is beyond scary to know that they could very well be bring, be bringing in a lottery pick. Next season because they own the Clippers pick. So it's it's just, yeah, I don't know. NBA every NBA, every other NBA team has gotta be a little freaked out by what's going on in Oklahoma C City Thunder. But us as fans, let's appreciate it. 'cause that's fun basketball to watch. All right. Steve: Competition and it might be a situation where Oklahoma wins three or four years of it Jose: Yeah. Steve: not a great thing, but Jose: Yeah. That's I don't think that's what what the NBA [00:12:00] wants to see, but that's where we find ourselves. Steve: that's Jose: Alright. This is the time of year, of course, when we start to hear the rumors. Not that they just started, I think they've been bubbling for a while, but there's a lot of rumors around Giannis his time. We talked about it last week too. His time might be up in Milwaukee. Now you brought up Atlanta as a possible destination. Tell us a little bit about that. Steve: First of all, they could make the money work if they traded. Gianni and Kuzma for Trey Young and Pingus, the money would work. But here's the interesting thing in the, if you remember, last year, the guy Queen was drafted by New Orleans. Jose: Yeah. Steve: They had to make a trade to move up and what they offered was this year's first round pick to Atlanta to get Atlanta spot. It's unprotected. Now everybody knows what Orlando's, with new Orleans is doing and they're gonna be in the lottery and they're gonna be possibly a top three pick pro. Good chance, Jose: [00:13:00] Yeah. Steve: if you begin to think about this. Suddenly now Pingus is, contract is up this year, so it's money off the books after the year, which is what you wanna do if you're Milwaukee to start building again. Trey Young has got an option. He'll probably take it 'cause it's gonna be a 40 million and I don't know if there's gonna be a lot of takers for him, Jose: Yeah. Steve: next year he'll be off the books Now. If you can take that, pick that top pick plus Atlanta's got a trade. It's a long drawn out trade next year type but they'll still have a first round pick. And then after that they have their own picks. You can begin to look at something for two or three picks. Plus those guys with the New Orleans pick of course in there, and a couple swaps and it's feasible now. Atlanta gets him. That might move them with Jaylen Johnson. They might, it might move them to the top of the heap in the [00:14:00] east. And the east is anybody's conference. Jose: Yeah. Steve: is for Atlanta, you wanna do that, knowing that you still gotta beat Oklahoma to get the whole thing. But it gets very interesting because the money works and that pick has got to be from Milwaukee. My goodness. We can get a star right out, Giannis goes and we have a new star coming in Jose: Yeah. Steve: we try to, work and build around that. So it's just something to, to just, I guess pay attention to if it happened. Jose: Yeah, it's that time of year, right? It's equal parts Christmas time and trade time. So we're gonna hear lots of rumors, lots of stuff going on, and 90% of it isn't gonna happen. But I do think that there's a lot of. There's a there's some fire here, right? Where there's smoke, there's fire. I, I do think Giannis probably is going to, is gonna move. Do you think so? Steve: I might not be during the season because it's hard, but there's a trade right there that's [00:15:00] pretty easy. I think at some point he's gonna say, I had enough. Jose: Yeah. Steve: big question in the whole thing, as I said before, last week, I believe the next, does he wanna go to New York bad enough? And will they make him happy? If they make him happy they're selling out the city of Milwaukee. 'cause they're not gonna win Jose: Yeah. Steve: you're not gonna be able to build something again because the Knicks don't have the draft picks that they need. Jose: Yep. Steve: that, that would be the bottom line in the whole thing. Jose: And speaking of the Knicks next topic, you said they might be the most talented team in the wide open East. I, let me ask a two part here because there's, you also talked about some weaknesses, but why would the Knicks even entertain bringing in Giannis if they're one of the most talented teams in the east? Steve: Depends on how you wanna look at it. And knowing the Knicks haven't won a title since I was a little boy, or a young man. They might wanna, they might think they have a shot where they don't have a shot with with the team they [00:16:00] presently have. It's gonna be hard for somebody to beat Oklahoma four times Jose: Yeah. Steve: And they might say, let's, put it all in and take a shot. But that would be interesting. I think right now Brian Scab said this and it's so true. He said, you can't. Take on the radio on the show, there's a plug but you can't take a team that's under 500 on the road and talk about them winning a championship and the Knicks are under 500 on the road. That's an interesting point. And then Jose: Yeah. Steve: I always thought about is, as I said before, you need a team to rank in the top five to seven in both areas to win a Jose: Yeah. Steve: who's a 10th in defense. And Jose: Okay. Steve: road defense is terrible. So you begin to think, and I don't know, if they're gonna, what they're gonna do, but they good enough? Are they good enough to win the [00:17:00] whole thing or are they just, a team that'll be there for a while until some other young team comes along and takes it away. If I'm the Knicks, 'cause they haven't won in so long, I do whatever it is to bring in a superstar. Jose: Yeah. Steve: if that, because you, and we're gonna talk about this, but you need a top five or 10 player to win a title. And Brunson might is that, but they don't have enough around him right now. Jose: Yeah. Yeah, so a very good but flawed team. And you could read more about Steve's thoughts on the Knicks at the article. We'll post that wherever you're listening or watching this. Let's talk about another team staying in the East that I think is a little flawed. This is a team that not too long ago was the cream of the crop in the East, right? And it's pretty much the same team, but now they extended 14 and 11. What's going on with Cleveland's inconsistency? Steve: Last night they're 15, 11 because last night Jose: ah. Steve: before I wrote the, I wrote before, but they [00:18:00] did beat Washington. But here's the interesting thing. They were down going into the fourth quarter. Donovan Mitchell had 48. He scored 24 in the fourth quarter. So they had to really turn it up. First of all, in, in basketball, you just can't turn it up and expect to win titles. You need to have a good year. I don't know what the MCC are thinking right now, but. I, my sense being, I've watched a little bit of basketball in my life and I've watched sports. I guess we all have, a team with that talent and I know there's been injuries, but you still have Mobley and Donovan Mitchell, and there's, they're top 15 players in the league, both of them. you have that every night, you still have than the other team, better players. I don't know what exactly, but when you watch it, you start wondering, is there something wrong here? Is there something internally going on that people aren't happy with each other or they don't like it, or they don't like Kenny Atkinson? You just [00:19:00] wonder Jose: Yeah. Steve: there are no way to playing as well as they can Jose: Right. Steve: and that it just doesn't, it doesn't add up you see it. And I've watched a few of their games where they're down in the fourth quarter, they, last year, they'd have these rallies and pull these games out. They'd have a rally, but they didn't win. And you just start thinking, is there something that's not right? That, that, Jose: Yeah. Steve: all I'm saying. And you wonder if it's internal. Jose: Yeah. We talked at the start of the season about how, the Lakers are playing much better basketball this season than last. And we gave credits to JJ Reddick pretty much the same team, but they're better. And JJ Reddick has had a little bit of time to, make the team his. And so it's always tough, I think right to, to really judge a coach. But there is a point, I think, in every coach's life when their voice just starts resonating with a team, right? Kenny Atkinson has been great in Cleveland. That team has been great for Kenny Atkinson. But at some point [00:20:00] you lose that authority with the same team. Steve: It could be something's wrong. It's pretty apparent the only time a coach, will be successful over a long period of time, and I'm gonna use what Miami did. And Boston's doing it with Missoula. They're Jose: Yeah. Steve: The way, it's so you Know. And with Spry, he's been there forever. And if you're gonna take him on, you're gonna lose Jose: Yeah. Steve: So that's what, the only time you'll see that, but most teams will try dump people, coaches and nothing is long term Boston just re-up Missoula longer and what Boston seems to have and some other teams have. When you watch 'em, the Lakers, do they like each other? They like playing together, Jose: Yeah. Steve: a team likes to play together, they will overachieve Jose: Yeah. Steve: And Detroit's got that right now too. They really Each other and they play for each other. That's how you overachieve. So when you watch Cleveland, it just isn't, there's just something that just doesn't feel Jose: Yeah. Steve: because this team won 60 something games [00:21:00] last year They're a little bit above 500. I know Spruce is hurt. I know Darius Garland's had some problems. I know that and so is Jar Allen but I'll still come back to you and tell you and Mobley, any team in the league would take them as their best two players Jose: Yeah. Steve: because they're as good as any, duo in the league. Jose: Yep. Undeniably something wrong. Let's hope they figure it out. In Cleveland, you referenced the Miami Heat. This is a team, they tout keep culture which, people outside of Miami may wonder what that is, but whatever it is, it's real. And it's working in Miami. How are they So good? Steve: They've got a couple good players. They don't have a great one, which I'll talk to. Jose: Yeah. Steve: they have bam. BA's a solid player and a good defender and does it all? Hero can score. He does have every once in a while some bad game, real bad games, but he can score and then they've got Powell and Powell can score. He's a professional scorer. So you have something there [00:22:00] now the heat. Pat Riley still running the show. They will not, they refuse to pack it in and rebuild. Jose: Yeah. Steve: do that. So they will continue to put pieces in. But again, I'll say this to you. If you study the NBA, you need a top 10 player to win a title. Or 15 player, whatever, we can argue about 10, 15, but you need that to win a title. Go back and look at all the teams that want titles Jose: Yeah. Steve: had a top player this is not there. And I think the, he are pretty good and I think Khalil Ware is going to be a real good player. And so Jovic I'm not in love with him. I like ya Jaquez or whatever, I like him. But he's a good garbage player. He, he does a lot of little things on the, Jose: Yeah. Steve: But they still are missing that star player and that's a problem. And they've gotta come up with something or. They'll be in the dreaded [00:23:00] fourth and fifth po, position for the next couple years. Jose: Yeah. Steve: that's, I don't know if Riley likes that in a big way, especially as he ages he's gonna want more. So that, that, that's what I see with the heat. And I think it's an interesting study of how Riley tries to figure out how to get it. The other thing I'm gonna say is. If Giannis goes on the market, I'm sure Riley going to get involved. Jose: Right. Steve: Is he willing to give up Khalil Ware? he willing to give up one of the y vicar, Jacque has? Is he willing to do that? Plus maybe Tyler Hero Jose: Yeah. Steve: willing to do that? And I, if he does it, the whole team is, it's broken. And Khalil, like I said, Khalil Ware could end up a star. It's an interesting thing. But Riley loves to get stars, that's, that, that'll be an interesting thing to watch. Perfect. Jose: In the. Steve: One quick question before we go. Any prediction on the all, it's a shame the Lakers won't be able to put up a banner this year but [00:24:00] the, any prediction on the tonight? Jose: Yeah. I'm because Wendy's playing, at least that's the last I heard online, so that, that adds a wrinkle. And they've been playing so, so good. I love the Spurs. I think they're fun to watch. But Oklahoma City, it's Oklahoma City, and. It's hard enough to get a team, I think, motivated to play the Hornets on a Tuesday, right? But they're beating the Hornets on Tuesdays. You got some ammo right now. You can motivate this team. Let's be the first team to win the NBA cup and the NBA championship, right? So I can't, I cannot. I can't vote against the thunder as much as I like the Spurs. So that, that's my pick. What do you think? In the west? Steve: I, you have to go with, the chalk obviously, and that's, Oklahoma and I don't think the Spurs are ready for that. Meaning the big time. I think Jose: Yeah. Steve: in a year away, and they will be in the big time. I'm, this [00:25:00] is interesting, but I have a funny feel with the Knicks. I have a Jose: Okay. Steve: that they can this off. Jose: Okay. Steve: at the odds makers today, and it was four to one, which isn't bad. The Oklahoma's a, heavy favorite. But the four to one was interesting. The Nixons of the second pick in the tournament. funny feeling, I'll probably be wrong because the odds say Oklahoma but it's just. I don't know. I don't know. And that'll be a tease to the New Yorkers. So then they could start talking about winning a championship and then of course, stand up broken hearted, Jose: I was gonna ask about that. If they get to the finals and somehow beat, let's say, the thunder or the Spurs, right? Is, does that mean anything? Is that their first championships in 73? It's not an NBA championship, is it? Is New York gonna like that or I don't, what do you think? Steve: Yeah, they'll go crazy. Jose: Okay. Steve: gonna win the final and so on, and, and maybe they will, but I wouldn't bet on it. What the if you were to pick [00:26:00] any, all the teams with a chance to win a title this year, who would you say? Jose: You mean other than the thunder? Steve: The Thunder, of course. Who else? Jose: Denver? I think Denver in the west, maybe Houston. That's it. No. Steve: That's fair. I'm not disagreeing. I don't see it. I don't see anybody. But it'd just be an interesting, then the tournament, you only gotta win one you never know, certain things run. That's all. Jose: Yeah. Steve: yeah. curious because I know the Lakers were getting a little bit of room just to put that banner where they were trying to decide where they were gonna put it. They were gonna put it next to a couple world title banners. Jose: All right. I am gonna end it right there because I know where this is going. Said the man with the Celtics hat on. But that's it. Our time is up. We actually had a, the perfect ending, but this time we kept talking. [00:27:00] 'cause again, it's what we do, man. Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. Make sure to read Steve's entire 13 rules, random NBA thoughts article. We will link it below. Wherever you are watching or listening to this show today of course please subscribe, follow comment, all that stuff means the world to us. We're grateful for all of it. And join us next week for more NBA random thoughts as we recap week number nine. We'll talk then. Thanks Steve. Steve: Take care.