35 Burst results for "Eastern Conference"
The Crossover NBA Show with Chris Mannix
A highlight from Milwaukee's Growing Pains & Early Season Observations
"The best part of a Ford truck is right behind the wheel, you. That's because strength is in your DNA. The 2024 Ford Ranger truck is designed for those seeking a new adventure, the type that puts a new meaning behind knowing a good lunch spot off the beaten path. The 2024 Ford Ranger truck includes Ford Co -Pilot 360 driver assist features like pre -collision assist and rear view camera. Tap your screen now to learn about the 2024 Ford Ranger truck, built Ford tough. Tis the season of making the perfect wish list and the perfect playlist with Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra Earbuds and Headphones. Breakthrough immersive audio uses specialized sound to bring your fave holiday classics to life and world class noise cancellation ensures a not so typical silent night and an epic holiday party of warmth. It's everything music should make you feel taken to new holiday highs. Visit Bose .com forward slash iHeart this holiday season and shop sound that's more than just a present. People are excited about what AI will do for them at IBM. We're excited about what AI will do for business, your business introducing Watson X, a platform designed to multiply output by training AI with your data. When you Watson X your business, you can build AI to help coders code faster. Customer service respond quicker and employees handle repetitive tasks in less time. Let's create AI that transforms business with Watson X. Learn more at ibm .com slash Watson X IBM. Let's create. Welcome back to another episode of the Crossover Podcast. I'm Rohan Nagani, joined today by the former host of the Open Floor Podcast. He's a senior staff writer at the ringer, Michael, the pod, Pina, Mike, how's it going? I am doing terrific, Rohan. How are you? Pretty good. Um, you know, just trying to suss out what you got going on in the background there. Mike's got a blurred background for the first time in the history of all our podcasts. Um, I can only imagine what you're hiding. I explained this to you before we started recording. I did not make my bed. It's a messy bed in the background. That's the only reason I didn't want to keep you, you know, waiting before we started recording. I know you're a busy guy. You woke up immediately before the podcast. Um, all right, Mike, I just want to run through basically as many teams as possible today. I know you're watching as many games as you can, and I want to hit as many teams as we can, but I'm going to just, I'm going to throw them at you in the form of some buyer cells. If that works for you. And we're going to start in the Eastern Conference. Um, just, just, we're going to rip hot right off the jump here. All right, Mike, buy or sell. The Sixers are currently the best team in the East. Like currently? Like today? As of this moment, I'm not talking about record. I'm not talking about any of that. I'm just, just vibes, feels, talent, et cetera. Uh, yeah, I, I'm, I'd have to buy, I, I would have to buy. They're playing great. They just beat the Celtics who technically have a higher net rating, but you know, that game could have gone either way, et cetera. Cut it off. It's a, hey, Kirstaps Porzingis wide open three with five seconds to go. It was also like a 13 point game with two minutes left and it took like a very, I said, I'm buying. I said, I'm buying. But then you immediately started caveating it very quickly. I'm buying, um, I bought it very skeptically. I love, uh, I think Nick Nurse's impact is pretty transparent to anyone who's watched this team play their offense, ball movement, pace, all that sort of stuff. Tyrese Maxey looks really good. One player of the week in the opening week of this year, player of the month, whatever player of the week. I don't even know. Whatever. He's been really awesome, um, averaging just all star numbers and efficient shooting splits and he looks really great. He is him, Luca and Jokic are the only guys I think at like 25, five and five right now are 27 something crazy. It's just those three guys. I got to look up what it is. Didn't know that. That's very impressive.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
A highlight from NBA Over/Unders, Part 2: The Pacific and Central Divisions With Ryen Russillo and Joe House | Starring Booker, Curry, LeBron, and Giannis
"Coming up, part two of the annual NBA Over -Unders Extravaganza with Rossello and House. Let's do it. Next. It's the Bill Simmons podcast presented by FanDuel. It's the best time of the year with football in full swing and basketball returning soon. FanDuel, the best place to bet on the action. The app is safe, secure, and easy to use. And when you win, you get paid instantly. Get exclusive offers every day. Jump into the action at any time during the game with quick bets and take home a fast W. Plus check out the Explore page for the simplest way to start betting. Download the app today. Bet with America's number one sportsbook. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Visit TheRinger .com slash RG to learn more about the resources and help lines available and listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Must be 21 plus and present in select states. Gambling problem, call 1 -800 -GAMBLER or visit TheRinger .com slash RG. Support for this podcast comes from Royal Caribbean. Introduce their newest ship, Icon of the Seas. It's the ultimate six slide, eight neighborhood, zero compromise vacation. The ultimate never done that, can't wait to do a vacation. The ultimate chilling by a different pool every day of the week vacation. This is the Icon of Vacations, Icon of the Seas, arriving 2024. Book today. Visit RoyalCaribbean .com. Come seek the Royal Caribbean. Ship's registry, Bahamas. Tap the banner to learn more. If you missed part one of the big over and under podcast with Brazil on House, it is already up. This is part two. We're doing the Pacific in the Western Conference and the Central in the Eastern Conference. Here we go. Pearl Jam, one more time.
The Crossover NBA Show with Chris Mannix
A highlight from Preseason Begins & The Annual GM Survey
"This is the crossover NBA podcast Chris Mannix joined as I always am by Chris Herring and Rohan Nadkarni. Quick housekeeping note fellas the NBA preview issue is out I guess the basketball preview issue because there is a lot of college stuff in there as well but the cover is NBA Jimmy Butler guest editor for this NBA preview issue Rohan you spent some time with Jimmy Butler in parts unknown I assume South Florida did a a story with him it's excellent check that out I've got a piece on the Phoenix Suns spent some time talking to Matt Ishbia James Jones Frank Vogel key pieces of that organization trying to recreate exactly what happened after the season ended how they got this point where they have one of the most expensive teams in NBA history a lot of good stuff there scouting reports different elements as well make sure you pick up the magazine on stands right now. So fellas we've got the NBA GM survey that's out and I want to dive into some of the elements of that but before we start recording this podcast I was just going through social media looking up some clips and all that stuff and I came across one from the Pat Bev pod the Patrick Beverly pod he does with Barstool Sports I just want to play this clip for you because Pat Bev was joined by Michael Rubin the former owner of the Philadelphia 76ers now this still the CEO with fanatics someone who has a strong relationship with a lot of players including James Harden who they discussed in this clip here as a past NBA owner obviously you're close to the Sixers the situation that's going on with James Harden how would you handle it it wouldn't have happened you know first of all James is family to me and like I'm not going to hide about that I love James this thing is breaking my heart this thing was just not handled well he was playing with us in practice and boy he was cooking he was oh I'm talking about the pot was out and he was stirring that bitch up there's nobody who wants to win a championship more than James Harden I know this guy like my brother people give James a hard time because you know he likes to have fun it's bullshit like the guy the guy's work ethic for basketball is insane and his attitude has been great he's been leading he's been giving advice so you might hear all the bad shit you know TV from reporters that's not there but actually being a teammate that's there he's he's been phenomenal I block out the noises really same because I think a lot of people just don't know like the real James Harden how badly he wants to win I think he's in great not good shape he's in great shape yeah he's in great shape right that's right body looks great yeah every time I'm in the weight room he's in the weight room he's gonna ball out this year so herring I know my blood shouldn't boil when I hear stuff like this and I know it you know the podcast is doing its job if it gets me kind of drawn in and talking about it but to hear Michael Rubin say that James Harden wants to win a championship more than anyone at the same time that James Harden is trying to force his way off a championship contender that is a Rubik's Cube of nonsense that I'm really having a hard time wrapping my head around your thoughts on the propaganda emerging from the Pat Bev pod about James Harden I'm just trying to think of a stranger mashup than the one you just explained I mean the the whole universe of Michael Rubin and all the there's so many things lately that just on social media that I've wanted to mute and I don't think I know enough about how to do it I haven't taken the time to do it but if I had a way of muting like Michael that Rubin parties James Harden and any other number of athletes are at or like all these white parties and everything else it's like I would do that but that makes this element of this story this this framing odd because it's like okay well he presumably is friendly with James Harden or James Harden is friendly with him but also the fundamental standpoint now at this point that maybe there are people in the organization that instead of kind of just gloves off which it seemed like it would be based on what James Harden said about Daryl Morey earlier this summer that there's also the very real possibility that maybe he's not traded and so they need him to feel wanted and they need him to feel like they want him to perform well which is what you would want if you're a team that at least there's a you said in one of the last pockets we did it's not out of the realm of possibility that they could be a winner a contender a champion if everything fell right you know the right way so I think that's all this is is just positive reinforcement but I mean it's also silly from the standpoint that you're saying that clearly people that are making trade demands whether it's behind the scenes whether it's publicly whether it's saying my general manager my president is a liar it's hard to hold those two thoughts in the same time in your head that you know on the one hand he can say those things but also nobody wants it more than he does come on like I did I know it's just you know the first thing probably that popped into Ruben's mind but it's just silly Rowan I know you're you're a regular at these white parties but do you have a issue let me just first of all echo my esteemed colleague Chris herrings fatigue with Michael Rubin just this guy's everywhere all the time fanatics sucks I'll say it fanatics is not good wow let's start there I mean like kudos to Michael Rubin you know what he did getting involved with meat mill etc but like we could have left it at that listen I if I were James Harden I might be living my life a similar way I let me put it that way but there is now a what is it a preponderance of evidence that winning a championship is not necessarily number one on this guy's priority list just not only in terms of how he's carried himself this offseason but how he likes to carry himself during the season when he's staying in Miami or Vegas for an extra night I'm away from steam mates are flying separately etc that all that stuff's been reported I'm just I'm sick of the the Sixers offseason I'm sick of the Embiid hard in partnership I respect you Mannix for still holding out hope having faith you've always been kind of an optimist a wanderer a dream I died that's why I don't describe you but I'm just so over this it just well like you said I mean respect to that podcast we're here talking about it I love Pat Bev he's a good personality but like what are we doing here Michael Rubin who are you who are you fooling okay we are familiar with James Harden's game okay you're not fooling us game off the court specifically right like you you can't say James Harden is misunderstood or gets a bad rap when right he he forced his way out of Houston by throwing a multi -week temper tantrum he effectively quit on the Nets which forced them to make a when deal they probably didn't want to and now here he is trying to get out of Philadelphia after holding you know one of the worst holdouts in holdout history to stay away from the team it just the the I mean just trying to get us to believe that is just wild so you know we had to talk about it you know James Harden still officially member of the 76ers we'll see what happens as these preseason games go on and what they do with them but right now James Harden kind of between a rock and a hard place might have to play for Philadelphia this season so I want to talk in this episode about the GM survey which always provides good preseason material whenever it comes out and there were some interesting elements in this year's GM survey guys and I want to start with the championship prediction from the NBA GMs which turned into a two -way tie between the Boston Celtics and the Denver Nuggets Milwaukee coming into third place 23 % Phoenix 7 % they came in fourth in the LA Clippers finishing at 3 % last year the Bucks were the leader at 43 % Denver doesn't surprise me Denver has the core of that team back we've talked about this before I think they can expect some organic growth from Christian Brown I think Peyton Watson might be able to play they've some other guys on that roster that can take steps up by the way while we're speaking of the Nuggets condolences to Mike Malone's family for the passing of Brendan Malone his father that was revealed by the organization this week but when it comes to Denver on the floor I can see why they'd be a championship contender the Celtics I might be one of the few pessimists I don't know if I'm pessimistic about the South I have more questions about the Celtics than many people do my good friend Scalabrini was on TV recently and he said every GM would want this roster and I tend to agree with that sort of because if you could bubble wrap this roster and guarantee that it plays 65 to 70 games together and will be healthy going into the playoffs I think you're absolutely right I think the backcourt is really strong especially defensively Drew Holliday elite defender Derek White big time defender we know what Jalen Brown Jason Tatum can do you know that that that speaks for itself the front court is good right Chris has Porzingis good player Al Horford good player but Porzingis chronically injured right like he played what 60 -65 games last year but that was a contract year and I have less confidence he's going to be able to repeat that he was already injured this off season with whatever happened with his foot over in the World Cup Al Horford's 37 by design he's probably only going to play like 50 games this year because they want to keep him healthy for the playoffs so we don't know what's what Al Horford is going to look like at the end of this season after that what is there they signed Wennion Gabriel Wennion Gabriel last year played 68 games for the Lakers in the playoffs he played 10 he averaged 3 .7 minutes per game in the playoffs with the Lakers last year that is the definition of playable in the regular season and unplayable in the playoffs like it just is what it is Luke Cornette is still there he was unplayable for Boston in the playoffs last year you know this is a team that was already thin when Grant Williams was there now Grant Williams is gone and I don't know what they do if one of these two guys goes down for any length of time so that's a long way of saying like yeah I can buy the argument that the Celtics are the team to beat Eastern Conference I can buy the argument that they are a championship contender but Rohan I just I have a lot of concerns about what happens if anything goes south in that front court I agree I mean that's why I thought the holiday trade was so fascinating and why I wasn't sure how seriously to take Boston as a contender for holiday even though his name was obviously their name was obviously coming up that entire weekend before he was traded a huge reason why they've been been special the last few years is kind of the alchemy of their front court mix -in matching Horford, Rob Williams, and Grant Williams that's gone entirely I see people saying now Porzingis and Horford might start together this talks about does Derek White come off the bench there's a right that's another thing I don't understand I mean you don't you don't have a backup really for either guy right now why aren't they backing up each other that already is starting to not make a ton of sense for me the way I look at it Mannix is I do think we're starting to see some trickle -down effect of the second apron because you look at the top teams right now whether it's Milwaukee, Boston, Phoenix, Denver to an extent it's not that the championship teams of yesteryear were flawless but we're looking at teams that are especially top heavy these days and Boston doesn't have a lot of avenues to improve the roster same for Milwaukee I mean I think Milwaukee has a great five and uh Holliday, Conaton, Middleton, Giannis, and Lopez but then they have Bobby Portis and they have a bunch of question marks after that they don't have a lot of playoff rotation guys uh Phoenix is in a similar boat Denver I think you and I are probably high on Denver's bench than most people we like what we think Peyton Watkins can do Peyton Watson can do Zeke Najee Swarther had a nice pre -season debut but those are a bunch of question marks for them right now so on one hand I echo your skepticism about Boston only in terms of Horford's coming off the worst postseason of his career um I think on both ends of the floor and he's only getting older Porzingis he's played 10 playoff games in his life but when you match them up against kind of the other contenders unless you think like a team like the Lakers or Warriors who have a little bit more depth maybe not quite as much top and talent uh can make a push I understand why you'd put Boston there only because I think a lot of the contenders are really top heavy right now well I mean but the the front court like to get out of the Eastern Conference you gotta get through Milwaukee and Milwaukee's front court is still really strong they still have all the pieces that were in place they still got Giannis still got Brook Lopez still got Bobby Portis they've still got all the guys that have the potential to give Boston a lot of problems and I go back a couple of years and the Celtics back when they had Rob Williams and they had Grant Williams they were in the mix for Yaka Purdle when San Antonio was trying to deal him they wanted to get Purdle they didn't want to get two first -round draft picks back then but they knew back then when they had you know three you know strong front court guys that they needed one more to get through Milwaukee that was when they made the deal for Mike Mascala and he turned out to be unplayable in the playoffs as well so I have concerns about Boston's front court anything about the predictions hearing concern you or you know stand out to you whether it's the Celtics or somebody else I mean I can admit to the same thing you guys are saying that I was surprised that Boston was tied for first for just you know the team that GM's thought was the most likely to win the whole thing it's really hard for me to look at this roster without wincing just a little bit we all can acknowledge that there's a lot of top and talent in this team there was before the moves they made this summer there is now the Porzingis fit is interesting I think everybody can look at that and say wow that if this works out they can win a title obviously no one's denying that it's just to have him and Horford as your two centers and then Wendy and Gabriel who I really like but I don't think of as necessarily my second or third string center or you know if he's even a center he's like six nine or whatever he is so that's all it's just you know and look I've been critical of the Celtics from the standpoint of you're trading away a lot to get Porzingis if only you're talking about Marcus Smart from the standpoint of you know a backbone a heart and soul obviously a very versatile important defender within that cog that they have defensively so they go get Drew Holliday and I think it does kind of answer a lot of those questions a lot of those criticisms but I just I still wonder a little bit of if now you're doing that and in doing that you give away Robert Williams if it makes you thinner at the spot that I was most concerned about now you know it's center even when they had those three it was kind of a weird hodgepodge of guys that you're not for any reason you're not gonna feel comfortable about whether they can hold up and be healthy the whole year also stylistically if you're missing one of guys it changes the way your offense looks because two of them are guys that can shoot from three one is a guy that's kind of more around the rim and setting screens and stuff like that so anyway I was just a little bit surprised that as we're all acknowledging the potential thinness of this group that they would be a co -favorite here I think the Nuggets still deserve to be the favorite and I personally would probably take the Bucks over the Celtics as a favorite but but all that said you know I don't think there's a runaway team here after the Nuggets I would probably leave them at number one because there was a lot of other stuff that happened between the depth of the Lakers the top end stuff of the Celtics the top end stuff of the Bucks to me when I see that much stuff happening I'm just going to defer to the team that won last year that granted they did lose some things but they have the potential to get better with more continuity of the top end guys that they have that haven't been healthy up until last year so I would you know I was a little bit surprised to see that Boston pulled into a tie with Denver among the GMs well we as we know the Boston media mafia is working over time in these kinds of situations I'm kidding I know it was the GM survey one thing I want to throw out there is in a in kind of a funny twist like the Celtics have had the best Joel Embiid defender over the years in Al Horford and Horford was giving Embiid problems in the semis last year to the point where Tucker had to get in his face and be like bro you need to take this matchup but what does Boston do now in that matchup because if you're playing Horford against Embiid does that mean you're playing Porzingis and Horford together and which of your guards are you keeping off the floor does that mean you keep Derek White off the floor it's kind of an interesting problem they've created for themselves unless they're willing to live with Porzingis on Embiid but that kind of takes away one of the biggest strengths they've had in that matchup over the years yeah is it going to be a challenge for them because Horford has been excellent I mean Embiid he gives him so many problems he clearly has the timing down on Embiid like he does he knows yeah it's fat it's fantastic to watch he pushes him off his spots he's he's just got a lot of you know and maybe some of it's mental too like Embiid's seen him so many times over the years that it's like all right well Al Horford again and you know he's asked about every single postseason he's had great games against Horford don't get me wrong he's played really well at times but it is I have a little surprise guys that the team nobody's really in on the Suns yet seven percent seem a little low for me you know man look I understand maybe Herring you got to give this team time to figure itself out and see if these guys can play together and see if this mix of players can work but you know if that team gets the playoffs fully healthy hard to stop very hard to stop in the postseason no no question I mean you know I watched clips I watched bits of the the game that they played against the Pistons and granted it's the Pistons you know one of the youngest teams in the league but to watch the Suns who you know have just started playing together that you know have 80 points between the first and the third quarter of a road game road opener for preseason there's obviously a lot of potential there offensively I would say that as we talk the things we like and dislike about teams the thinness the depth of these rosters I'm a little bit surprised that the Suns haven't done a little bit more to go out and get a a bonafide point guard I think it's a big granted you have a lot of ball handling on that roster it's not to say you don't and top level guys that can do it but it's a big change to go from having Chris Paul be your point guard and even to have campaign be your backup point guard to then going and just saying we're you know we're going to kind of take the Clippers route to have our forwards handle the ball to have Devin Booker handle the ball again all guys that can do it but these are also guys that you like to just kind of throw in iso situations you don't want to wear them down the whole season of having them handle the ball so I they've added depth and I think they need that they obviously needed it last offseason or I'm sorry last postseason and so they've done well to add to that but I think that they still it would do them well to have even if it's you know I look at something like what the Bulls did they went and got Javon Carter someone that played for the Suns at one point the sort of guy that could really be helpful to this team I also wonder just a little bit just a little and I think I saw some of this in their first preseason game as well Yusuf Nurkic is an interesting fit I think he can do good things for them he's good you know as a playmaker here and there defensively I worry just a little bit about him of how big it seemed like he took in Portland and you know for all the problems Ayton has at times I wonder if he's more nimble defensively and would work better defensively with that team but we'll see we'll see what happens I think that the Suns absolutely could win it they absolutely have the talent and skill to do it I think they have you know a coach that I really like one of my favorites in league and Vogel but I definitely have some questions about them which is why again would still take Denver head and shoulders above everybody else for now I actually am a little bit surprised the Lakers didn't get more picks here as well in this in the survey I maybe would have liked the Suns more before the Nurkic trade I'm just I'm replaying that Denver series in my head and while Landry Shammet was getting a ton of open threes and theoretically that could be Bradley now I mean I look at them as even worse or you know more poorly equipped to slow down the Nuggets than they were last year and while we're on the subject of health I mean Durant you know he missed some time obviously he came back right before the start of the playoffs and looked great at times and I think bookers only continue to improve but I mean there's a health there's a health question mark hanging over them you know as long as Durant is there and I I need to see it I mean there's definitely some exciting moments just watching kind of Beale Booker and Durant take their turns in that preseason game and it's like oh man like they have three guys who can go just iso and get a score seemingly anytime they want but and I'm I'm warming to the Nurkic move more than when it first happened but I really need to see that defense in action for a little while before I can take them seriously as a title contender yeah I think you guys just articulated why they only got seven percent of the vote there's a lot of question marks out there about them until we see them actually come together and play all right we had Nicole Jokic picked up first place in two different categories and I want to talk about both of them first was the player most likely to win the 2023 -24 MVP he got 43 percent of the vote in that category Yanis at number two at 20 percent and then if you were starting a franchise today and could sign any player who would it be he got 33 percent of the vote in in that category Victor Webayama coming in second with 23 percent on the subject of MVP guys let's start there 43 percent of the vote I'm actually shocked it wasn't higher like I thought it would be like 70 percent because not look first he's 28 years old he's in his prime he's durable he's just won a championship he was you know the best player on the best team in the NBA there's no reason to believe he's not going to come in next year and put up comparable or this year put up comparable numbers and I do think that the people that were divided on Nicole Jokic last year are not going to be divided this year the people that were skeptics about his ability to win and use that against him when it came to MVP voting and use that as a reason to vote for Joel Embiid those people aren't going to exist or that feeling isn't going to exist if Nicole Jokic puts up MVP numbers on the guy on the team that is at or near the top of the western conference there is no doubt in my mind he is going to win MVP he is going to get deservedly I think every benefit of the doubt this year when it comes to MVP votes so whether it's you know Embiid, Giannis, Jason Tatum, Luka Doncic I think Jokic is going to get the benefit of the doubt there Herring I think he's going to be by far and away he is by far and away the front runner to win the MVP.
AP News Radio
Butler, Jokic lead Heat, Nuggets into a NBA Finals after unconventional paths
"This is the first time the nuggets have ever played in the NBA Finals. And the team's first time in a final series since the last year of the ABA in 1976, that means the dearth of experience for nuggets players this deep into a season. One Denver player with finals experience is kentavious Caldwell Pope, who was on the Lakers 2020 title team. Just trying to keep him calm knowing that and the first couple of possessions are going to be a lot even for myself, you know, I'm feeling anxious right now I'd even get out there. The nuggets have rest on their side, having polished off the Lakers last Monday in a four game sweep. The heat will have had two days off since winning game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. I'm Dave ferry
AP News Radio
The NBA Finals are set: It's the Heat and the Nuggets for the Larry O'Brien Trophy
"The Miami Heat champions of the Eastern Conference even after getting in only as the number 8 seed will take on the top seeded Western Conference champion Denver Nuggets in the NBA Finals. The heat got there by winning game 7 of the east title series in Boston Monday night. It came one year to the day after the Celtics won a game 7 on Miami's floor to claim the east crown. Meanwhile, the nuggets swept the LA Lakers in the west finals to claim their first finals birth in franchise history. The series opens Thursday in Denver. I'm geffen coolbaugh.
AP News Radio
76ers hire former Raptors coach Nick Nurse, AP source says
"The Philadelphia 76ers have hired coach Nick nurse, weeks after he was fired by the Toronto Raptors, according to AP's sources, nurse led the raptors to the 2019 NBA championship after they beat the 76ers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Nurse will replace Doc Rivers, who was fired after he led the 76ers to their second straight 50 win season behind NBA MVP Joel embiid, but again failed to lead them to the Eastern Conference Finals. I'm geffen coolbaugh.
AP News Radio
Caleb Martin helps Heat to 103-84 Game 7 win over Celtics and spot in NBA Finals
"The Miami Heat denied history and made some of their own winning game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals one O three 84 over the Boston Celtics to punch their ticket back to the NBA Finals. Jimmy Butler scored a game high 28 points to help Miami become just the second number 8 seed to reach the NBA Finals. The heat won three straight before dropping three straight in the series NBA teams are 151 and O all time when leading three zero in a playoff series. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum had 19 and 14 points respectively for the Celtics. Get them cool ball, Boston.
AP News Radio
AP News Summary at 10:47 a.m. EDT
"AP sports, I'm get cool bought Derrick white scored on a putback with one tenth of a second left and the Boston Celtics moved to the brink of the greatest comeback in NBA playoffs history, holding off the Miami Heat one O four one O three Saturday night to force a game 7 in the Eastern Conference Finals. Jayson Tatum had 31 points and jaylen Brown 26 for the Celtics who became only the fourth NBA team to erase a three O deficit in a best of 7 series and force a deciding game 7 played Monday in Boston. In other NBA news, the bucks are finalizing a deal to make Adrian Griffin their head coach after spending the last 5 seasons as a raptors assistant. Stanley Cup playoffs tied to scored twice in a span of one minute, 27 seconds, midway through the third period and the Dallas stars beat the Vegas golden knights four to two to stay alive in the Western Conference final Dallas host game 6 Monday down three two and engulf PGA Tour rookie Harry hall from England and Adam shank shared the 54 hole lead at colonial. Gethin kuba AP sports.
AP News Radio
The latest in sports
"AP sports, I'm Bruce Morton. On Saturday in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics continue to pursue history after dropping the first three games of the series to Miami, Boston won the next two of the first 150 teams to trail a best of 7 series three games to none, only 14 have made it to a 6th game, and of those 150 teams, none have won the series. Hockey, it's also an elimination game for Dallas and the Western Conference final. The stars trail the golden knights three games to one with game 5 Saturday in Vegas. Crow football, the Arizona Cardinals have released three time all pro wide receiver Deandre Hopkins. It was a salary cap move after they failed to find a trading partner in the off season. Baseball, in a battle of division leaders, the rays routed the Dodgers 9 three. Yandy Diaz went three for four with a home run. AL west FrontRunner Texas won big at Baltimore 12 too. And the Padres beat the Yankees 5 to one. Bruce Martin AP sports
AP News Radio
Celtics thrive on 3s, beat Heat 110-97 in Game 5 to extend East finals
"Derrick white had 24 points, including 6 three pointers and the Boston Celtics dominated Miami Heat won ten 97 on Thursday night in game 5 to extend the Eastern Conference Finals. You can go top to bottom of someone that hit a big shot at a crucial time. And they're a good team. They're always going to come back and attack us. So we can never be satisfied. Jason Tatum and jaylen Brown finished with 21 points apiece as the Celtics claim their second straight win and trim Miami series lead to three two. Duncan Robinson scored 18 points for Miami which host game 6 Saturday. Geffen kuba, Boston
AP News Radio
Bobrovsky gets shutout, Panthers top Hurricanes 1-0 for 3-0 lead in East final
"Sergey bobrovsky stopped all 32 shots he faced as the Florida Panthers defeated the Carolina hurricanes one nothing taking a commanding three zero series lead in the Eastern Conference final, the Stanley Cup playoffs. It was bobrovsky's first career playoff shutout. My teammates did a great job, you know, all those little details, block shots, you know, got good sticks and gaps and everything all those small details. Panthers for Sam Reinhart scored the lone goal of the game on the power play at ten O 5 of the second period. Panthers forward Alexander barkov left the game in the first period with an entry and did not return. I'm Dennis Cox.
AP News Radio
The latest in sports
"AP sports I'm David Shuster, one game in both the NBA and NHL playoffs Sunday and they were completely different from a competitive standpoint. We start in the NBA with geth and kuba filling us in on Miami and Boston. The Miami Heat cruise to a three O series lead in the Eastern Conference Finals after blowing out the Boston Celtics one 28 one O two at home in game three. Gabe Vincent pace the heat with a playoff career high 29 points on 11 of 14 shooting. Caleb Martin added 18 points, Jimmy Butler scored 16 and bam adebayo 13. Boston stars Jayson Tatum and jaylen Brown were held to 14 and 12 points respectively on a combined 12 of 35 shooting. Miami can clinch its second NBA Finals birth in four seasons with a win in game four Tuesday. And now over to hockey with Mark Myers reporting on Las Vegas and Dallas. Chandler Stephenson scored early in overtime to give the golden knights a three to two win over the stars and a two O series lead the knights were able to tie the score in the final minute of regulation on a goal by Jonathan Marshall, Aiden hill made 26 saves in the Vegas nets, Jake Avengers stopped 21 shots for the stars who were now zero in four and overtime games this postseason. Turning to baseball, Houston completed a three game sweep of Oakland Sunday's final two zero and how bad are the a's well they're on pace to lose 138 games which would be a record. Other highlights Sunday Oscar Mercado with 5 RBI St. Louis ten 5 over the Dodgers and Cedric mullin 5 hits Baltimore 8 three over Toronto. To golf and Brooks Koepka won his 5th major title, he won the PGA Championship by two shots. That was good. Yeah, this one's this one's definitely special. I think this one's probably the most meaningful of them all with everything that's gone on, all the other crazy stuff over the last few years, but it feels good to be back and get number 5. And in auto racing, Spain's Alex pillow captured the pole position for this year's Indy 500. I'm David Shuster, a P sports.
AP News Radio
Heat roll past Celtics 128-102, take 3-0 lead in Eastern Conference finals
"The Miami Heat cruise to a three O series lead in the Eastern Conference Finals after blowing out the Boston Celtics one 28 one O two at home in game three. Gabe Vincent paced the heat with a playoff career high 29 points on 11 of 14 shooting. My teammates tell me time and time again to come off the picker and be aggressive and then make reads from there. So when they're giving me that confidence and I see a couple go in, you know, I'll definitely continue to be aggressive. Boston stars Jayson Tatum and jaylen Brown were held to 14 and 12 points respectively. Miami can clinch its second NBA Finals birth in four seasons with a win in game four Tuesday. I'm geffen coolbaugh.
AP News Radio
AP News Summary at 1:00 a.m. EDT
"For AP sports on geffen cool bar, the Denver Nuggets rolled to a three O lead in the Western Conference Finals with a one 19 one O 8 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. Jamal Murray scored 37 points and Nikola Jokić added 24 for Denver, Anthony Davis totaled 28 points and 18 rebounds in LeBron James scored 23 for the Lakers. In the Stanley Cup playoffs, Matthew kuchak was the hero in overtime again, scoring one minute and 51 seconds into OT to give the Florida Panthers a two one win over the Carolina hurricanes and a two O lead in the Eastern Conference final. At the Preakness stakes, Bob Baffert's national treasure crossed the finish line first, Kentucky Derby winner mage finished third in the Preakness, meaning there will not be a Triple Crown winner for a 5th consecutive year. And in golf Brooks Koepka fired a second straight four under 66 to surge into the lead through three rounds at the PGA Championship. Victor Holland is won back at 5 under following a 69 alongside Corey Connors who shot 70. I'm geffen kobach for AP sports.
AP News Radio
Tkachuk scores another OT winner, lifting Panthers to 2-0 series lead vs Hurricanes
"Matthew chuck's power play goal at one 51 of overtime gave the Florida Panthers a two one win over the Carolina hurricanes in game two of the Eastern Conference final at the Stanley Cup playoffs. Kachak was thankful to end it early in OT. It's great celebrate when the guys in the locker room and I don't know it's just great to end it early. The Florida Panthers are now 60 no one overtime this postseason and hold a two zero series lead over Carolina, anti rata made 24 saves in net for the hurricanes while Panthers goalie Sergei bobrovsky made 37 saves for Florida, Dennis Cox, Raleigh, North Carolina
AP News Radio
Jimmy Butler scores 27, Miami beats Boston 111-105 to take 2-0 lead in East finals
"Jimmy Butler scored 27 points and Miami beat Boston one 11 one O 5 to take a two O lead in the Eastern Conference Finals. Butler also provided 8 rebounds 6 assists and an emotional spark after Boston's grant Williams started jawing with him, resulting in a double headbutt. It makes me smile. It does. When people talk to me, I'm like, okay, I know I'm a decent player if you want to talk to me out of everybody that you can talk to. Bam adebayo had 22.16 rebounds in 9 assists. Jayson Tatum had 34 points, 13 rebounds and 8 assists for Boston. Geth and kuba, Boston
AP News Radio
Tkachuk ends 6th-longest game in NHL history, Panthers outlast Hurricanes 3-2 in 4th OT
"Florida Panthers for Matthew chuck scored with 12.7 seconds left in the fourth overtime to get the Florida Panthers a three two win over the Carolina hurricanes in game one of the Eastern Conference final. The game was the 6th longest in NHL history. Chuck was elated to a score of the game winner. My favorite one so far in my life. Ryan lomberg of Florida appeared to have won the game in the first overtime, but his goal was overturned due to goalie interference. Panthers goalie Sergei bobrovsky made 63 saves while Frederick Anderson made 57 saves for Carolina, including 39 in the overtime periods, Dennis Cox, Raleigh, North Carolina.
AP News Radio
Butler scores 35, Heat rally to beat Celtics 123-116 in East finals opener
"That he took in one of the Eastern Conference Finals by dominating the third quarter of the one 23 one 16 win over the Celtics in Boston. The self led by 9 and a half time, but Miami outscored them 46 25 in the third to take control. Jimmy Butler provided 23 of his game high 35 points in the second half and finished with 7 assists 6 steals and 5 rebounds. Bam adebayo had 20 points and 8 rebounds for the heat who were 16 of 31 from three point range. Jason Tatum scored 30 points and jaylen Brown added 22 for the Celtics who host came to on Friday. I'm Dave ferry.
Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"eastern conference" Discussed on Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"I don't think picking Toronto means Cleveland is not going to be good. They're kind of like a better version of what Donovan Mitchell had with the jazz. I mean, they don't have one great defensive talent. They have two incredible defensive talents. And Jared Allen and Evan mobley, who I think can help cover up for Donovan Mitchell. I think Mitchell has almost gotten underrated. We're talking about the guy who was the best player and really kind of sole creator on the number one offense in the NBA. I think him and Garland are like a way better fit than say, young and Murray, for example, Garland doesn't strike me as the kind of person who wants to be on the ball of the time. It's kind of a role. He was forced to be in. I mean, they brought in Keras levert to help alleviate some of that burden. I mean, he wasn't the right fit there ultimately. He's just on the team. He can contribute, but yeah, I think they're in fantastic position. I think they're going to be really good. And I think an underlying factor to all of this is there's a chance Evan mobley turns into the guy. I mean, we talk so much about Scottie Barnes, how he can do everything. Mobley is not quite as well rounded offensively, but the athleticism. He could take a leap that none of us are expecting and that throws him into another level. Like I loved the dawn of Mitchell trade, I wrote about it. For our website, I talked about it on podcast. I thought it was a fantastic move for them. They didn't give up any of their young core. Yeah, I think they're going to be really, really good, and I'm with you. I think Mitchell, you know, you look at someone like Devin Booker, who he might not be a great defender, but the sons were able to play great defense with him on the floor. And he competes. I think Mitchell, I'm sure he's heard it. You know, he's heard the criticisms and I think that he's probably ready to respond to that. So the Cavs were the team I spent the most time with in the preseason and that question came up. I was actually kind of floored by how prepared for the question Donovan Mitchell was, 'cause you know he's new to the city. It's not a small market necessarily. It's a pro sports city. But somebody just pretty much directly asked him the question like, you know, this defense has the potential to be really good outside of you. Like, what about with you? And he was essentially owned it. He basically said, I wasn't always trying hard enough in Utah. Donovan Mitchell has like a 6 ten wingspan or something crazy like that despite only being 6 one.
Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"eastern conference" Discussed on Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"By the way, Deandre Deandre was didn't like Denver sign him like right away. Like wasn't he like it was the weirdest signing of the whole off season because like I actually loved Denver's off season but that was like you know the way that woes and shops kind of go back and forth and they've got those drafts ready because those essentially because there's been all this tampering going on. But who's tampering for Deandre Jordan? I'm gonna go out there and I'm getting Deandre Jordan. Shout out to the nuggets shout out to the nuggets pie guy who introduced Deandre Jordan as Deandre. Yeah, it was tough. Oh wow. I guess to go full circle. I believe in this team more than I really thought I would. Daniel house is another guy that got two. Yeah, he saw something. They've got some depth. They've got some depth to this team. Let me ask you this. What are what should expectations be for James Harden? Like what kind of players should he be at this day or can he be at this stage? Is what we saw of him at the end of last season just what he is because I keep hearing about like, oh, the lingering hamstring injury all that. James Harden still a guy's put a lot of minutes in his career. He's got a lot of miles tires. I do think that the 75% of Houston version that we got last year from James Harden is kind of what we should be expecting moving forward. And that might be enough 'cause that's still an all star. It's just not like an MVP candidate. Right, and that's where the question and I know sixers fans would hate to hear it that you have to rely a little bit on Tobias Harris. If Maxie takes, I think maxi becomes one of the most important players in the league this year because if he takes that step forward and you can get some of the production that you really wanted out of harden from maxi instead, I think that's okay. Maybe in a playoff setting it comes up where you just have to go one on one with guys and you need harden to do some of that, but really if we're being completely fair to harden with the hamstring stuff and everything else and all the hijinks in Brooklyn and everything else at times they have asked for a lot out of him during the regular season, at least Brooklyn was during that time and that's part of why Hardin was so frustrated with the Kyrie thing and obviously Durant being out is that he had to kind of put he had a heavy burden on his back for most of the regular season and then all of a sudden you need something out of him in
The Crossover NBA Show with Chris Mannix
"eastern conference" Discussed on The Crossover NBA Show with Chris Mannix
"And then the big one, emea doka, suspended for the season for violating team rules team policy with the Celtics. I guess we keep the focus on the coaching change. Emea doka, who was instrumental to this team's success. Really broke them of some bad habits they had in the first two months of the season. That helped catapult them into one of the best teams in basketball in the final 5 months of the season. He is replaced by Joe Missoula, 34 years old, was a back bench guy last year. It was going to get promoted because will hardy left for the Utah job. But jomo is really was a back bench guy last year. Chris harring, how big a deal is this? This is a team that is bringing back the core of the group that made it to the finals, but we just talked about Steve Nash, coaching matters in the NBA. How big a deal is email going out and Joe Missoula coming in? I think it's potentially a huge deal. Like granted, I think if you had to kind of like create a perfect storm of stuff that gets NBA attention and the attention of TMZ and the fans, you would incorporate the idea of something potentially sketchy happening with a coach and someone consensual or not and the coach being married or engaged to a celebrity. Like it had all that, but to me what made this really interesting was the idea of exactly what you just said. It was really important to this team. Like they looked like they were off the rails last year. I was guilty and I think a lot of us were guilty of thinking that when Marcus smart spoke up about Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum not moving the ball enough that it had the potential to really kill stuff in the locker room to hurt the team to, you know, you started to have the discussion. I remember we had the discussion on open floor about whether one of them should be traded. What should happen and all of a sudden, you know, the calendar starts to turn and the Celtics are essentially the best team in basketball because you don't get basically broke them up those habits and said, this isn't good enough. This isn't going to get it done. Which is exceptionally rare for a first time rookie head coach to say. So it just makes me wonder, like, what does this look like now? Does the team carry over enough of the good habits that they picked up under ema's time there? Do they even run it? Do they have enough talent to kind of overcome a lot of the problems that they might have anyway? It's kind of what I'm wondering about. I don't think we know enough about Joe Missoula yet. What I will say just in some of the preseason stuff, he'd already kind of been tinkering with just different looks and different lineups. And the Celtics obviously being a team that's pretty comfortable having two bigs on the floor at a time. Saw plenty of action where they really were just going with one at a time. So I'm really intrigued to see how it looks. I think that there's a case to be made that they've got enough talent, especially now after adding brogden that the coaching might not matter right up front. At the very beginning, it could be something that's more of a playoff question. But I think it's hugely consequential. And I think we'll get a chance to see that. At some point over the course of the year, how good Mozilla is as a coach and how much it actually matters, given how much talent he's got. Yeah, listen, this is going to be one of those really great tests of like, how much a coach matters period, right? Like coaches matter. Having a really great coach can make a difference, having a really crappy coach can make a difference. Most coaches in the NBA are in the wide middle. But the Celtics are a team that made the finals with emea udoka and will now see if they can make a finals without give me udoka. And some of that will be a reflection on his absence and on the cloud that it cast over them. Some of it will be reflected on Joe Missoula and his abilities. And a lot of it will be a reflection simply on their core group. And whether the chemistry that we saw that got them to the finals, whether that's sustainable, because they're still doubts. I talked to a scout last week and again, this is during the course of Maddox and I canvassing the scouts for the preview issue. But, you know, somebody that talked to was like, listen, I'm still not entirely convinced that jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum have got this figured out in perpetuity or that Marcus smart will stay on point in perpetuity. It was fragile enough that they needed emu doka to go old school on them to call everybody on the carpet and that Marcus smarter to call out guys. All that happened. So you fix it once. It can come apart again. Nothing this is permanent. It's still a fairly young team at its core, at least with their most important players. Then you got the Robert Williams stuff and his health. You know, there are plenty of wild cards in all of this. And having stability at the coaching position, I think, just casting that stuff into doubt. And besides, on top of that, listen, everybody, almost universally across the league believes that Chris Middleton had been healthy. It's the buck's not the Celtics in the finals. We'll never know for sure. That's not to say that there's any asterisk or anything. It's just to say, hey, look, some stuff had to go their way. It may not go their way this season. And you've got the sixers who should be stronger. The nets who, as we just discussed, should be stronger. You've got a rising raptors team, the heat aren't going anywhere. I don't think. It's a lot to get through. Enough that I'm not expecting the Celtics to repeat. So I was just going to say, emea doke is important is there in the abstract and in the specifics when you look back at last season, like in the abstract, the way he built that defense. Years passed under Brad Stevens, they were a more traditional blitzing defense, didn't switch everything, played a more basic system. Comes in and revamps the defense and says, we're switching everything. And it took them some time to figure it out, but once they did, they became an absolutely terrifying defense. In terms of specifics, email DOCA from a very early time in his tenure. Was a supporter of Marcus smart. And look, he stuck by Marcus smart as his primary playmaker through a lot of tough times early on. I know this because, I mean, God, I would, I would all but show up at the NBC sports Boston studios in like Alonso ball Jersey. Like that's how down on Marcus smart, I was as a point guard. I didn't buy it. I didn't believe it was the right decision to say to Marcus smart you're a guy. I thought he was better as kind of a Swiss Army knife type of player. He proved everybody wrong. You know, taking that team to the finals and proving that he was a high level playmaker. Robert Williams, so you mentioned. Robert Williams coming into last season, had a reputation for being a little bit soft, of not playing through injuries. And I remember vividly being there. And he Mayo doka talking about Robert Williams, impromptu bringing up Robert's got to play through this. Robert's got to play through that. Gotta play through pain. Gotta be tougher. And that had an effect in April, May and June, when Robert Williams was out there dragging that left knee around, helping the Celtics get to the final. So he was instrumental in every possible way in getting that team to where they are. Now, Joe, I've known Joe for a few years now, incredibly bright guy, had a lot to do with the defensive changes they made last year. That was kind of his department or part of his responsibilities last year. And to Chris haring's point, I don't know that we're going to be able to draw any conclusions in the first couple of months of the season because this team is just built to play well in the regular season. They've figured some things out. They've learned how to play together. They've learned the defense. They've learned each other. Brogden, assuming he's what he's saying is true. He's bought into being kind of a reserve once again with this team or at least not being a primary point guard. Where we're going to figure it out is the playoffs, right? I mean the Celtics went to what a couple of game 7s in the Conference Finals and the conference semifinals. That's where coaching comes into play. That's where you have to be a great strategist. Where do you have to be great at making adjustments? And that's when we'll learn about Joe. Joe, he was a finalist for the jazz job last year. He's probably a couple of years away at most from getting a head coaching job somewhere else. So this is not somebody just kind of, you know, they're taking a flyer on. This is somebody that a lot of people across the league are very high on. But Rohan, I just, I saw firsthand how important email DOCA was this team's success last year. And just kind of swapping him out, I think there should be some concern might be too strong a word at this point, but there should be some questions about whether it will be as seamless as people hope. I mean, I think there's absolutely questions. They were 18 and 21, nearly halfway into the season last year. Remember, January, but yeah, a lot of people in and out of Boston credit you don't come for that turnaround. I mean, you think about Brad Stevens, who is universally agreed upon, one of the best coaches in the league. You look at, you know, during his entire tenure, one of the best coaches in the league, he arguably had teams that were maybe even a little bit more talented or had more depth than you doka did, couldn't make the finals, and you Joker does it in his first year. I mean, he goes through Giannis, he goes through a very well coached heat team that was the number one seed, they went to huge road games facing elimination, game 7 in Miami game 6 against Milwaukee. I also think just to go on court for a second here, I think there has to be a little bit of concern as well about the front court right now. I mean, they went from having maybe the deepest and best front court in the league to Horford Horford had a full year off before last season. Now he's coming off this big playoff run. He's 36 years old. Are they do they have the luxury of managing his minutes? Will he be able to be fresh enough for the playoffs like he was last year? Williams is hurt, can he stay healthy through an entire playoff run? I think grant Williams is very, very good. He's in a contract here, which can kind of cut either way. I know a lot of people are talking Sam Hauser, the guy, you know, I'm curious to see who steps up because a huge key to their defense is a lot of teams kind of hide bad defenders on corner three point shooters. The Celtics don't hide Robert Williams. He's a one man wrecking crew. Frankly, I think the best defender on that team even better. And then the defensive player of the year and Marcus smart Horford is a massive key to that defensive. If those guys are not the same, then their defense is not the same and there's a little bit of a cascading effect and that's a very difficult thing for Joe missile to have to deal with. Yeah, I agree. The front court does concern me. Robert Williams is out for at least a couple of months now. I thought the Blake Griffin signing was curious, Blake's fine, and I think he's more versatile than some of the other guys that were out there, but I would have, I would have gone to the Dwight Howard direction, you know, even if Robert Williams and when Robert Williams comes back, the Eastern Conference is loaded with really strong big men, physical teams, whether it's Philadelphia, Milwaukee, I mean, there's just a lot of physical teams in the top tier of the Eastern Conference and Blake, the Celtics have run the benefit of the doubt in terms of personnel moves that made all the right ones over the last couple of years, but I thought that was definitely curious to do. But look, they've got the talent to get right back to the finals. It's just, we'll see how it all kind of comes together with the new voice there on the sideline. Any other thoughts on the Celtics? I could just talk about them all day long because I have to do that. I spent way too much time over there. All right, so I want to talk about the Philadelphia 76ers right now. It's been pretty interesting a few months in Philadelphia. When they got knocked out of the playoffs last year, I think there were questions about just how good this team could be. I mean, James Harden did not look like the James Harden we saw during his years in Houston, even that first year in Brooklyn. You had Joel embiid out there saying, you know, don't expect James Harden to be that guy anymore. He's a little bit different at this stage. And they go out and they have a pretty strong off season. They get a guy like PJ Tucker who was just like, that missing piece on a lot of winning teams, Lucy has been over the last few years. Hardin's looked pretty good in pre season embiid, looks like he's gonna be the same Joel embiid, tyrese maxi, looks like he's someone that's gonna take another big step. Harry, how bullish are you, if at all, on the 76ers? I really like them, man. And it's weird because there was a part of me that, you know, just watching how hard and looked last year that I was just kind of out on them generally. I think a lot of people were we have that annual kind of James Harden isn't that good conversation, which that's probably strong, but you can't trust them in the playoffs. There's a part of me that wants to trust this team a little bit. A lot of it is rooted in what you just brought up with maxi. I think he is a guy that I feel like can take some of the pressure off of hard not to where you would necessarily trust him more in the playoffs. But if he's going to be that aggressive and can put up 30 spots like he did, whatever game that was against the raptors, if he's going to do that, you might not need harden to be quite as great at times or to do as much or to be that guy all the time alongside embiid. Part of me just kind of feels like embiid. I know we have a roundtable that's going to go out soon about our predictions for this season. I put him bead as my MVP favorite this year. I kind of feel like obviously it's burned him to not be named MVP either the last two years. I think he realizes now that he's got to be basically healthy all the time, which is kind of crazy to think about the fact that he's basically been pretty healthy the last couple of years. And that it hasn't quite been enough if you had said that along with the fact that he would have James Harden on the same you'd probably expect more out of this team. But I just kind of feel like this team, some of the depth they had, they went out and got melted and we were talking about him in the first part of this podcast. The fact that they have him, can they get enough out of Tobias Harris? Can they get a little bit out of montrez harrell who they got this off season? I just kind of feel like there's enough here to put a real scare into somebody. If pardon is even remotely good in the playoffs, I just kind of feel like he's ready to some extent. I feel like Doc has been criticized to the point where it's almost a little bit too much, even if you take issue with some things how much he was willing to use Deandre Jordan at times. I understand it. He's not on this roster anymore. He's done Doc fired once before. By the way, Deandre Deandre was didn't like Denver sign him like right away. Like wasn't he? It was the weirdest signing of the whole off season because I actually loved Denver's off season, but that was like, you know, the way that woes and shops kind of go back and forth and they've got their giraffes ready because those essentially because there's been all this tampering going on. But who's tampering for Deandre Jordan?
Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"eastern conference" Discussed on Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"Lot of people in and out of Boston credit you don't go for that turnaround. I mean, you think about Brad Stevens, who is universally agreed upon, one of the best coaches in the league. You look at, you know, during his entire tenure, one of the best coaches in the league, he arguably had teams that were maybe even a little bit more talented or had more depth than you doka did, couldn't make the finals, and you joka does it in his first year. I mean, he goes through Giannis, he goes through a very well coached heat team that was the number one seed, they went to huge road games facing elimination, game 7 in Miami game 6 against Milwaukee. I also think just to go on court for a second here, I think there has to be a little bit of concern as well about the front court right now. I mean, they went from having maybe the deepest and best front court in the league to Horford Horford had a full year off before last season. Now he's coming off this big playoff run. He's 36 years old. Are they do they have the luxury of managing his minutes? Will he be able to be fresh enough for the playoffs like he was last year? Williams is hurt, can he stay healthy through an entire playoff run? I think grant Williams is very, very good. He's in a contract here, which can kind of cut either way. I know a lot of people are talking Sam howser, the guy, you know, I'm curious to see who steps up because a huge key to their defense is a lot of teams kind of hide bad defenders on corner three point shooters. The Celtics don't hide Robert Williams. He's a one man wrecking crew. Frankly, I think the best defender on that team even better. And then the defensive player of the year and Marcus smart Horford is a massive key to that defensive. Those guys are not the same. Then their defense is not the same and there's a little bit of a cascading effect and that's a very difficult thing for Joe missile to have to deal with. Yeah, I agree. The front court does concern me. Robert Williams is out for at least a couple of months now. I thought the Blake Griffin signing was curious, Blake's fine, and I think he's more versatile than some of the other guys that were out there, but I would have, I would have gone to the Dwight Howard direction, you know, even if Robert Williams and when Robert Williams comes back, the Eastern Conference is loaded with really strong big men, physical teams, whether it's Philadelphia, Milwaukee, I mean, there's just a lot of physical teams in the top tier of the Eastern Conference and Blake, like the Celtics, from the benefit of the doubt, in terms of personnel moves that made all the right ones over the last couple of years, but I thought that was definitely curious to do. But look, they've got the talent to get right back to the finals. It's just, we'll see how it all kind of comes together with the new voice there on the sideline. And the other thoughts on the Celtics. So I could just talk about them all day long because I have to do that. I spent way too much time over there.
The Crossover NBA Show with Chris Mannix
"eastern conference" Discussed on The Crossover NBA Show with Chris Mannix
"Cooper has to have surgery. Again. No matter what you have going on, you can still afford lasik. Really? At the lasik vision institute, Lasix all we do, so we can provide amazing pricing and discounts that others just can't. Okay, but what I really can't afford
Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"eastern conference" Discussed on Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"They're going to be in the mix for buyout guys. Just looking at on the court, you know, Simmons at the end of the day, he's finally playing the role we've all wanted him to play. He doesn't have to handle the ball. He doesn't have to worry about a 7 footer who needs post touches, clogging up the paint. I think there's a lot of potential here for them to be really, really good and even amid all the drama. Even amid all the James Harden drama from two years ago, when he joins the team, amid the drama last year when he's trying to get the trade out. When the guys have been on the floor, outside of that Celtic series where Katie look gas, they've generally played well together. So I swing wildly back and forth on this team, but I'm describing myself in an in period right now. I'm all in on the nets. I think they have a chance to be fantastic. I really do. As crazy as it sounds, like I think they could be, they could ball. I do want to circle back to something that has been mentioned, but I think it's getting glossed over a little bit. And I just think it will be something interesting to watch. For all the stuff that Durant said over the summer, not publicly, but just obviously through the trade request. He wanted Steve Nash out, what did Sean marks out? There were a lot of people that from the outside looking in weren't necessarily that he wanted Steve Nash out because Steve Nash did not really do all that well. In my opinion, it's certainly not in the playoffs. Where ISO after ISO, we're just watching Durant kind of get loaded up on. And lose the ball and really not have any way out. Essentially. Don't forget Christie. Don't forget, ISO after ISO against the best offensive team in the league. Yeah, they're just nothing else. There was nothing else, and it was just kind of like, I don't know. It would be going too far into the past, but I remember thinking that this was the first time coach who never had a head coaching job before getting premier talent and I remember questioning that aspect of what the nets were doing at the time. But anyway, neither here nor there, what does that look like when they, when we talk about them, maybe having the most talent in the east or in the league even, but just kind of on a level playing field, like nobody would say that they have the best coach. I think it's really interesting that they brought an Igor coca sov. To this team, looking at them in the preseason, they had stuff that looked a lot different. But it'll also be interesting like it for whatever reason they're struggling for any number of reasons we've all talked about Kyrie and how, you know, him putting his finger to the wind and trying to figure out what he wants to say on a given day. There are all sorts of things that could break this team down. But also like if Nash is underperforming or failing this group in some way, does that kind of open the door for there to be a coaching change with someone that is maybe a little bit more experienced as a head coach who has a little bit more creativity the way he calls plays. I'm just interested to see it. Maybe that would be a step too far given that the team just vouch for Nash and said that they wouldn't let him go in light of what Katie was asking for, but in some ways maybe that softens some of the hard feelings that were there before anyway. I don't know. It'll be an interesting team to watch. I don't see them as the favorite.
The Crossover NBA Show with Chris Mannix
"eastern conference" Discussed on The Crossover NBA Show with Chris Mannix
"The calendar is flipped to October, and that means the MLB postseason is back on TBS. Watch the biggest names in brightest stars in the American League take the field in battle it out for a spot in the World Series. Catch all the jaw dropping action starting October 11th on TBS and stay with us all month long as we crown in American League champion. You're not going to want to miss all the slick plays crazy hits and clutch performances that make postseason baseball, America's greatest pastime. From the ALDS to the ALCS, TBS has you covered this October. This is the crossover and NBA show hosted by Sports Illustrated's Chris mannix and Howard back. It's a whole new level for you and me, Chris. This relationship. Like and subscribe for the best weekly NBA content these two are capable of. What does that mean? Could be the best duo ever. I don't see how you can beat that. Here they are. Chris mannix and Howard back. And we are back crossover NBA podcast Chris mannix Howard's Beck with a new cast of characters joining us for part two of the Sports Illustrated NBA mega podcast, the co hosts of the crossover are here, Chris and Howard, the co host of open floor, Chris herring, and live from his dorm room in Central Florida, Rohan not Carney, Rohan, glad you could join us from I am podcasting as God intended from my parents house. Okay, that's awesome. There's no true or form of podcasting. Wait. Are you podcasting for the basement? There are no basements in Florida, unfortunately, but science willing, I would have been in a basement. If possible, but yeah, I'm podcasting the old fashioned way gentlemen. All right, well, the first part of this mega podcast was over on the open floor feed. That was our Western Conference preview. Now we're gonna do a little Eastern Conference storylines as we get geared up for the start of the NBA season on Tuesday night. And fellas, we gotta begin in Brooklyn, which is going to be a fascinating case study all season long. The nets have what I feel is like the highest ceiling, maybe of any team in the league. They also have potentially the lowest floor of any contender in the league because God knows how all these personalities mesh God knows if Steve Nash can coach them, God knows what Kyrie Irving's gonna wake up thinking on any given day. So Howard, I want to start with you then on the nets. And I guess we'll frame it this way. As you get ready for this season, with all the dust settling on everything that happened in the off season. Do you look at the nets as a contender or pretender as we begin this season? I think there are contender until further notice. So the backdrop of the summer is as ghastly as it gets. Raises a thousand questions. But they're all back and there's no outward signs right now that anybody is kind of just dragging themselves through practices and shoot rounds and games. Like there's the discontent that led to Kevin Durant's trade request that was wrapped up perhaps or not perhaps in kairi's wanting an extension that he didn't get. Whatever the misgivings, the bad feelings, the bad mojo, it's not clear right now. And granted, sometimes it's hard to tell because this team is so weird anyway, but until we actually see some cracks in them as they're constructed playing games as opposed to just the theater of the off season, then I'm going to look at them based on their talent and their talent as you said at mannix is as great as anybody's got in a big three. Now, Ben Simmons has never played with these guys except in the preseason. Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant haven't exactly had great success together so far in Brooklyn, but the last three years have been choppy to say the least. James Harden coming and going bubble, dread injury, Kyrie injury hard injuries, all of it. They're almost a blank slate. But I'm not going to evaluate them based on what was going on in July with Kevin Durant's trade request. They're all here, and it looks like they're all playing as hard as you would normally expect them to play in a preseason. So for now, they're contenders. They've got stars. They've got playmaking. They've got Ben Simmons, who's a Swiss Army knife, defensively. They've got great shooters in Seth curry and Joe Harris. They're pretty solid. And it's not as though the other contenders don't have their own caveats, albeit not quite as spectacular. Yeah, I just want to, I want to lean on the expertise of one of the most famous basketball writers of all time. His name's Howard Beck, who said earlier this summer, I remember when Kobe and Shaq hated each other and they were at each other's throats and the Lakers kept the team together and they made the NBA Finals. We'll remember Kobe Bryant famously tried to leave the Lakers in 2000 late 2000s. They keep him. They trade for pau Gasol, end up winning two more championships. Listen, I'm with Howard. There's the theater of off season and then there's what they can be on the floor. And on the floor, I'm about to say something insane. I think they're like a Dwight Howard away from potentially just running away from the rest of the east, okay? I think they're 5 man lineup of Joe Harris. Royce O'Neal Ben Simmons, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant has the potential to be, you know, you think about what the Celtics did last year with kind of this really switchable group. I think this next version has to be a potentially an amped up version of that group. I just think they need more front court depth. But you look at who can bring off the bench, Seth curry, TJ Warren, I'm really intrigued by what TJ Warren could possibly bring them. They're going to be in the mix for buyout guys. Just looking at on the court, you know, Simmons at the end of the day, he's finally playing the role we've all wanted him to play. He doesn't have to handle the ball. He doesn't have to worry about a 7 footer who needs post touches, clogging up the paint. I think there's a lot of potential here for them to be really, really good and even amid all the drama. Even amid all the James hard and drama from two years ago, when he joins the team, amid the drama last year when he's trying to get the trade out. When the guys have been on the floor outside of that Celtic series where Katie look gas, they've generally played well together. So I swing wildly back and forth on this team, but I'm describing myself in an in period right now. I'm all in on the nets. I think they have a chance to be fantastic. I really do. As crazy as it sounds, I think they could be, they could ball. I do want to circle back to something that has been mentioned, but I think it's getting glossed over a little bit. I just think it'll be something interesting to watch. For all the stuff that Durant said over the summer, not publicly, but just obviously through the trade request. He wanted Steve Nash out. What did Sean marks out?
Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"eastern conference" Discussed on Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"Yeah it was like for the graham. I ain't going to do it like sort of thing. So i mean. He's got a really good opportunity kind of rewrite that you know that story for himself. I think mark morris has kind of interesting for them to guy that did not play particularly well this past season and i think if he does play well could be an interesting piece for them You're right. I mean at tucker. I was a coup getting tucker for reason. Because it takes them away from milwaukee in the lineup milwaukee milwaukee's able to use. But you're right. I mean this is a team that has some older pieces now that if they play to their capability and most of them play their capability. You know you're talking about a team that could easily get to the eastern conference finals and maybe upset their way into the finals playing brooklyn. Or what have you. It's just a tough team team. That has a little bit of nastiness to it. That has enough shooting. I think heroes a big key to that a guy that people went from really hot like really cold on a short amount of time for a kid. That's only what twenty one twenty two still. It has a good defense around him. So i'm curious. I mean they certainly were kind of the team. That had the sexy off season in the east at a lot of that being lowery. And tucker but also got market morris who like i said if he has a bounce back year that's nothing to sneeze at like that team and kind of the roster that they have considering they already have bam already have butler already have hero. So i'm curious to see and not to mention it brought back dunkin robinson a big big contract for player that was under the biggest contract. Nba history for someone. who's undrafted. so. I don't know that was a team that probably only needed to add a couple of things and did it and so it'll be really interesting to see. Now if they stay healthy how good they are. I had them at three on my list for this around..
Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"eastern conference" Discussed on Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"I mean you're implementing these new rules. The league put out the video the other day about a foul drawing. I mean that will impact certain teams more than others and i think atlanta's at the top of that list. Obviously trae on. I'm curious to see the way that plays out. Is it something that you could just take out of your game immediately. And it's not a problem. Is it something where you're gonna be firing four shots a game trying to drop out you. Don't get a call for if it is. That's something that they're going to probably lose some games because it sounds really small. But i mean it's it's not. I mean particularly with the team. That is young. It does blow leads occasionally a team that makes twenty six point comebacks in the playoffs. Appoint here. they're actually matters quite a bit. And if you let's say you cut trae. Young free throws down by ten fifteen percent all of a sudden that matters a whole lot around the margin so. I don't know exactly what to expect. You could make the argument that they're going to be better than they were last year. They brought that more guys than i thought they would. This past off season. It didn't actually seem like much issue for them to do that. Their owner talked as if they were gonna let certain guys go then. They really didn't so i'm curious to see what happens with them. But i'm putting them at five mostly just because i think that they've got upside from what they did last year with all the injuries. So i i want to tell you where i had atlanta and then i'm gonna tell you who i added my six we gotta bounce back one slide for atlanta hot take year incoming Their number three for me. Wow wow okay. Yeah and i just think that you roll the roster back and you're building on what you did last season you get to the conference finals. You probably would have gone to the finals if trae young doesn't step on referees foot. After march first. Nate mcmillan took over for loyd pierce. They had the second best offense and the second highest point differential in the eastern conference. So you have those numbers on your side. You resign john. Collins who has spoken publicly about how contract situation really affected him throughout all of last season including an article that That i wrote about him in an interview and he gets one hundred. Whatever million dollars and i just feel like he could go up a level trae. Young is probably you know. I didn't really honestly factor in the rule change. That's really good call by you and you had me sweating when you were talking about it But i do think the trae young enough to improve the pull up threes..
Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"eastern conference" Discussed on Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"And like zach levine. Got cova late and they just never bounced back. After that i think lonzo and crucial will help on defense and also opponents shot forty seven point three percent against them in the mid range which was the league high mark and i feel like that should drop a little bit in their favor. I don't know i'm not saying that. Their defense is gonna be incredible or anything like that but it might not be like dead last. I think it can be you know closer to league average than last and that should so i'll agree with you but i want to look at one thing if i could put up quickly enough. Where were they defensively. Once they made the trade for bitch. 'cause i mean i think he's a the kind of person that makes a difference. Where having him in there you kind of or conceding that you're not going to be great so i'm trying to look it up and see if i can was in march. What was the trade deadline this year. I can't remember march twenty fifth. Something like doug. I can't be remembering dates from the last season. it's making trying to look it up. I'm i'm gonna try to look at real quick. I will say. I have it right here. Post all-star break. they were eighth. they finished eighth. Yeah defense last season. So i wonder if some of that was also what you're saying about levin out okay. Maybe i don't know if the bulls. I'll put it this way up. The buzzer top ten defense if they finish in the top ten defensively. They're going to be. They're going to be either a top half of the playoff team in the east meaning like home court more. They're going to be knocking on that door. And i don't quite see that. But if they're that good defensively and they added all this offense. I think it's certainly feasible. That they do that. I mean there. Their offense would have to be underwhelming all the taliban just added for them not to be in that conversation if their top ten defense. So we'll see i okay at that point. What reason would they not be atop if you're a top. Ten defense in their offense has three all stars in it at that point I don't know we'll see we'll see. I'm really intrigued by them. I wanna see what happens with them. So who is your number seven. I don't think i my seven was the raptors right. So remember the knicks at six. I put the celtics at seven and this was one that i think we kind of had a little bit of a fundamental disagreement on last week to whereas that i didn't quite trust them and then i think it's a little bit weird did not have really a starting caliber point guard now. I'm not the biggest fan of schreuder. But if they add him was it. Sounds like it's one of the last realistic places. He could kind of land. I might be a little bit higher on them. Like i'm not a huge fan of his game. But i also see how adding him there. You don't have a starting point guard. Where that would that would help. And it takes a little bit of the pressure off of someone like tatum having the handle it all the time or brown having to handle it as much as he would have to. So you know. I could see how that would make sense. They've got a lot more top end talent than i think. A couple of these other teams do just having two guys that i think are potentially going to be all stars for a long long long time and i still like some of your post play..
Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"eastern conference" Discussed on Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"Much of a stink with miles turner and sa- bonus and malcolm brogdon and certainly kind of one of the more guy in the league. Just kind of seems like is a great head on his shoulders like. I don't think that rick is gonna find much trouble with them as currently constructed. So i i tend to be more glass half full with the pacers with rick. Carlisle running it and with all those guys coming back. Presumably maybe not that are dealing with more chronic stuff or develop more injuries than soviet. But you know i i would put them ahead of the other teams that have got in that. I'm not sure list. Which like. I said i've got three of them but i put them at number nine for me And had a couple of teams underneath that that was also kinda unsure about okay. So give us your eleven okay. So my eleven was charlotte. I've got the hornets right there. I actually kinda liked their off season. I didn't think they needed a whole whole lot. I think really if you're charlotte. What you need to be focused on. It's just having lamelo healthy. Then getting gordon hayward back which. I think that really took a massive wind out of their sales when he got hurt. I don't know that anyone realized how much it would hurt them. Actually maybe we did. Because i'm trying to remember the chronology of win lamelo got hurt. And then i think he got hurt after that so they were without both of those guys for a stretch. If i remember correctly but no i mean it's a really look up and down there ostra. They're easily one of the most athletic teams in the league. Right now I can't even remember the dude's name. Whoever they drafted though that crazy ass dunk that he had in the summer league. Game yesterday There's just a team. That has a lot of scary athleticism. they got oubre. A smith is one of my favorite players in the league to watch and they just got mason plumlee for not very much to think actually had a really nice season with detroit Again i think people kind of right folks off when they get signed a contract. That looks like it's too big for what they what people perceive perceived there could be deserving of but had a really nice with him. I think he had a triple double in game but is a perfectly fine big backup big sort of player for them so i kind of like what they've done I don't expect that much of them. But they could also overachieved just given that again. They'll have hayward back and i think lamelo will probably take a little bit more of a step than he did because he'll be back in the in the mix and able to play so i like charlotte. I don't know if i like them enough to say that. I think that they'll make the playoffs but they were pretty close to that conversation this year and again not fully healthy when they did that so i like them. So yeah i have charlotte at nine and it's right around in that same that same tier I think one of the reasons. Why a little down on charlotte and i didn't have them even higher because i loved watching them last year. One of my favorite teams Yeah they were so good and crunch time like abnormally. So that i feel like we're going to get some regression there but again. I don't know what matters from last season going forward. It's really hard to factor any seven The reason why. I have them in nine is i think lamelo is just. I mean he's a star and i would not be shocked if he made some kind of leap this season and just he's one of those players who is not only going to get his own numbers but he makes everybody around him better so if they have health..
Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"eastern conference" Discussed on Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"With my eleven because like you said we had to select let me get my twelve. Okay yeah I'm sure that i actually. I have no idea where you have this team. I'm not even going to try to to guess. But i have no feel for them whatsoever. And that is the indiana pacers like you know. Rick carlisle's their head coach. I think that is definitely a positive. We know they're gonna play slow. We know they're gonna be a little bit better on offense. We know that especially in the half court they're going to be able to execute whatever you know. They're going to call a ton of time outs just the rick carlisle. Stampa there maybe trade bows turner this season. That's a little bit of a variable to account for tj warren. We'll be back He would miss basically last season with an injury. I just. I don't know. I don't know if like continuity is their friend. I don't know with everybody's sick of each other. I don't know how rick carlisle will mesh. I just i can't i have. I have no feel for this team. So i just i had to just kind of stick them at the bottom of the the acceptable organizations if that makes any sense so. I didn't do that but i did. Have my teams nine through eleven. So this was your twelve my my nine through eleven. I bracketed off and put in full letters. No idea i put the pacers in that nine spot while also acknowledging. I have no idea where they'll finish. They finished higher. They could obviously finish lower but what i thought about them was a lot of what you just said. They had really as many injuries as anybody last year. I think they were kind of strange injury. So i think they were the type that people didn't notice delivered after the trade needing surgery and you know basically learning that the guy you know had something that would have been cancer since by essentially had cancer so there was that jay warren missed essentially the whole year. Was it the whole year. I can't even remember at this point but tj more and miss that whole stretch. Jeremy lamb missed half the season miles. Turner missed a big chunk of the season. They discovered o'shea toward the end of the season. Who was a really nice piece for them and it sounded like they were dealing with quite a bit of turmoil within their locker. I'm just as far as whether or not these guys actually wanted to play for this first year coach they had. And now you bring in. Rick carlisle who is not necessarily the easiest personality to get along with but also has a championship pedigree to him knows what he's doing. And you know for the most part. The guys on that roster. You know from what i've seen at least are not guys that are seemingly that difficult to kind of get along with you know guys.
Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"eastern conference" Discussed on Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"Most of their young guys played a whole lot last year. And so you know maybe spurs development a little bit quicker city bay was really really nice for them last year. It was really nice for them last year and quite frankly to be there and have a point guard who obviously inexperienced from an nba standpoint. But it's gonna come in knowing what he's doing we'll be really interesting to see how the guys around him play off that and like you said olympic. I think we'll make life easy for them even easier for them. Even though i think a lot of people were kind of scared off by the money wasn't really that bad of know of signing as far as the money to have spacing big there instead of okeafor. Instead of stewart in particular will be really helpful for someone that is trying to get into the paint like kept cutting abbas so we before we started to record you and i were talking about how difficult this exercises and here is where it gets. Here's where like feelings are going to get hurt. I feel like Just because they're such a logjam in the east this season and so many teams that are flawed but also intriguing and positive ways. and so. i'm gonna. I'm gonna let you give us your number twelve instead of me because i feel like the pitchforks are going to be coming out from. This point is all alright so here we go i'm gonna plug the raptors in twelve. And i also have a big asterix here saying this is the team. That could still make me look really stupid decision. Because they've got look they're gonna be younger. They elected to take. Scotty barnes who. That was one of the couple of games that i watched yesterday in summer league. He looks really talented. They've got a lot of veterans on this roster. Still i mean guys that maybe not lay career veterans. But i think last week. They said that they're not necessarily looking at garage. Which i think he's gonna score a lot for you. He's going to be decent if he stays healthy You already have been bleed. Who again is not like a late career veteran but you know a guy that is a very good point guard. I think what it comes down to is. That you lost lowery. Who wins a lot of games for you regardless of whether he does much in the box score just a really really hard nosed defender. God's gonna take a lot of charges and play really saw defense for you But you've also got guys that every time someone's been taken out of the rotation for them you get in an ob to step up or you boucher to step up Someone always steps up for this team. I've always kind of referred to them as like shark's teeth that something else kind of comes up and and establish yeah shark's teeth we're going to change the name from raptors to the shark's teeth. So i think the big question with them to can't be lost as like how. How ready is ciocci. I'm going to be the play after his physical stuff the stuff he's been dealing with. I don't know yet. If there's like a clear answer to that but i that's where it starts to get dicey in terms of saying that they're absolutely in the playoff race easily is whether or not they're healthy. I think not having lowery and kind of going a little bit younger. And kinda handing the keys over a little..
Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"eastern conference" Discussed on Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"Have the best non max non rookie scale contract basketball jared allen. They just signed to a huge contract. And it was maligned in some corners. I think it's okay enough right now. and they have some other young pieces we we don't really know if collin sexton will be on the floor for the next year. That's one of the shoes that may drop. They may look to move him. We'll see but you know it's still it's still feels like there's several moves away from actually being good and a lot of this speaks to the upgrades that other teams made in the eastern conference than it is that i just than it is me you know crapping on cleveland. I think a lot of the teams got better. Yeah they're they've got some guys kind of in the middle of the rotation words what. Where do we go from here. Like what are they doing. I think osmond's A really good example of that where you were really excited about him. I i'll be honest that I love jared allen. You're not gonna find too many people that like him more than i do and still. Maybe they signed him with the idea that well as long as we get him on a reasonable enough deal even if we kind of run into a logjam here where we have him and we've got mobely. It's okay because we can move out if we need to. I don't know if that's the thinking but this is a team that has not been going out and signing centers trading centers whether it's drummond Guys that can play center. You know when you look at somebody like nansen. His skill set So i just kind of not sure what they're doing you know. And even with the sexton thing a guy that is really blossomed nicely on offense since a really horrendous start to his rookie year a historically bad start to his rookie year. Where guys in the locker room. We're kind of talking anonymously in the media about how guys weren't really a fan of his game that he wasn't looking to pass. I remember at one point at five thirty eight. I was like looking into the story about how it was literally the worst start in. Nba history really for some of them have been drafted as as he had been And then he started to turn it around and so basically went into a you know. I think the headline we use was like Colin sexton's not historically bad anymore. He actually might be good. And i think that's kind of what we're looking at a little bit. I mean it's still not much depends but he works hard. He can really shoot. He's become a little bit better of passer but they've got a team. That essentially has two point guard so to speak. They have like two of everything but like not of anything. That is so good that you wouldn't move on from it if the right opportunity came up so there are weird team in that sense. I had them at thirteen on my list. Not not fourteen but pretty close in that range rubio. Ads has slightly interesting wrinkle to them. I kind of wonder to some extent how he feels about that but he's also leaving a team. That was young. That had some pieces where you weren't quite sure with what's happening..
Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"eastern conference" Discussed on Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"I think definitely actually It was the three of us We sat down and talked about. They have a comic book manga. Which is japanese comic book that they just created so they were kind of plugging nat. And then i asked him a bunch of questions about other stuff and including robbins relationship slash rivalry with stuff. The magic dragon orlando's mascot. So go check that out. It's very hilarious. And those guys are just i mean they are very unique obviously So yeah. I had the magic fifty. If we don't really need to spend too much time on them. I do like i want to add something about okay. You said about robin so much fun. I covered him for one season. Maybe two i think it was one in new york when the knicks. Actually i started to look like they knew what they were doing. And not just go after the big names and ignore everything else. During the phil jackson tenure they went and signed robin he was a big signing for them. And i remember wanting i was still relatively new to the beat. I think maybe a year to win and the journal told me When i was working for the wall street journal they were like chris. Would it help you. would it be helpful to you as a beat writer. If you could potentially. Andy would you be interested in a story if we could do it. This way. obviously brooklyn robin or like massive star wars fans and like all things fantasy. We may be able to get them into like an early screening for the film and we could send you along long kind of a story. Unlike their reaction in real time to watching it. And i was like holy shit. This is incredible. And so i think two or three days later i went in the locker room and like floated it. Who was like dude. I'm so on that like just let me know time and place me and my brother. We'll take a night off from the season if we have to. If it means we're missing a game we'll do it. And then something through and i felt so bad like it would be like teasing a dog with food or a treat or something and then just like putting it behind your back and the dog getting. I felt so bad so hopefully. He doesn't hate me for that. I was super angry with my boss at the cyber floating. That and then saying we couldn't make it happen but does such an enjoyable. Do those guys are so much fun to cover and write about and talk. They're so fun and when they make fun of each other like just me. Laughing cackling in the background as another awesome. So i'll give you my fourteen and we might still be on the same page. Maybe we diverge a little bit. But i can't see where you go here. Okay yeah i have. The cleveland cavaliers. You know i think ricky rubio is a floor razor and they just traded for him. I think that was a big step in the right direction for a team. That wants to win. Right now You know evan. Mobile is exciting. I'm really high darius. Garland i think he can make a leap this season. Larry nance junior make sense on every single team in the league..
Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"eastern conference" Discussed on Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
"Summer league has just started were finally dipping into a section of the off season where we can just now starting to look ahead to the two thousand twenty one two thousand twenty two season with partial clarity as to what each team will look like and you know this upcoming nba year maybe one of the hardest to predict or even just read in recent memory given the last two seasons were filled with such disruption. And we're played under singularly harsh conditions that make it hard to know what matters and what doesn't as we look ahead so even though there are still a few huge shoes that may drop between now an opening night. I kinda wanted to see where we are. And what we think about the league at this exact point in time by having you and i predict the final standings in the eastern conference down to one You know we'll probably revisit this exercise later on in offseason. But i thought this would be fun right now just to see how wrong and foolish you and i will be when we look back on it in a few months or a year or whatever So like i said we're doing eastern conference today Rohatyn and i will be doing the western conference later. this week. so let's just get into it do you wanna give your fifteen Against like the worst team that you think the team you think will be worst. Yeah finished last. haven't yeah i mean. I'm not sure if this will be your number fifteen. But they're they're kind of tearing down completely Obviously the the kind of head of fire sale last season letting go some guys The trade deadline they drafted to tap ten guys who i really liked by the way. I did not watch much college basketball. I'd i'm pretty open about that. That i think it's already a full time job and a half to for you and me to be able to sit here and bemoan how few people watch the spurs. That's because we're doing that. And we're watching all these teams. I feel like we're kind of like the vacuum cleaner for everybody else doesn't watch these teams in the middle of the country then aren't big markets so while we watch the magic and the spurs you know the magic are going to hurt a little bit. But they're doing it to try to be better for the future. I'm hoping that they'll get jonathan. Isaac back. I think that would be a really really good step for them But really when you look at their roster. You've only got a couple of guys that are in their thirties. You've got robin lopez and a bunch of young dudes basically on this team. So none of that really spells playoff contention to me. I think it would be really surprising if they do that. but i'm really looking forward to seeing sucks and wagner. Wagner was a complete joy to watch at michigan he's such a good defender and just kind of a smart player. But i don't expect much of much from them. In the way of wins next year wouldn't be shocked if that's your number fifteen team as well. That was my number fifteen team. And i mean i second every single thing that you just said. I'm glad you mentioned robin. Lopez gives me an opportunity to plug in interview that i did with brook lopez robin lopez which honestly went up on the site right before we started recording Honestly the funniest zoom call interview of my life..
Big Fellas Basketball
"eastern conference" Discussed on Big Fellas Basketball
"Welcome to art enzi. Hoops eastern conference playoff preview. I'm your host. John hart phyllis joined by our land division. Expert chris ambrosio and our central region expert. Zach carson will be split up among different teams including some southeast division teams To give us a quick preview on what predictions are for the this upcoming eastern conference. Playoff bracket sodas off. Tonight we have the fight for the eighth seed going down. Going down between the indiana pacers and the washington wizards. Who do you see taking that crown. Punch their ticket to a date with the philadelphia. Seventy six the first round. I think i'm putting my money on the wizards in its matchup. I think i think that star power. The drive of russell westbrook bradley beal's hungry for playoffs. The playoffs and i think. I just think i just think they're going to have it in them to pull us out. Also the pacers coming off in exhausted game. Seven sore the wizards but i think i just have a good feeling about the wizards in this one. And i think. I i don't know i think these are guys that really wanted have shooting. They have rate offense. Defense is lacking i. I really think comes down to russell. Westbrook with his drive and bring the team to win so carryover silent. And i'm just going to have a bit of battling. Everyone expects the us against the hornets still managed to blow them out. cannot can they care the momentum without carries over into this game the wizards and hope to find any success. I think so. I think the wizards have that game. I was absolutely shocked when i saw the vinyl. Swear that game in halftime.