The Shot Clock Pod - NBA 2024-25 Playoffs 1st Round

[00:00:00] Alright, it's time to talk basketball. I'm Jose Salviati, editor at ThePeachBasket.net. He's Steve Purcelli, a long-time educator, vice principal, high school basketball coach, and athletic director. And this is the Shot Clock Pod, the best 15 minutes of NBA Random Thoughts online anywhere. If this is your first time listening, welcome. We're glad you found us. This podcast was born out of the content in Steve's 13 Rules Random NBA Thoughts articles, which he publishes weekly.

[00:00:25] Steve and I have exactly 15 minutes to discuss what's on his mind around the NBA. Today we'll discuss his latest 13 Rules Random NBA Thoughts article, where he shares his thoughts after the first full week of the NBA playoffs in the 2024-25 NBA season. And then there have been some great matchups, some good bad. Steve, are you ready? I'm ready. Let's talk about him. Oh, shoot. Better name my timer ready. So let's get that ready quick.

[00:00:52] Here's with the Shot Clock Pod, so we gotta have a Shot Clock. It's our thing. Boom. And we're off and running. Alright, let's start in the East. The Heat. They're competing. Not winning, but they're competing against the heavily favored Cleveland Cavaliers. In their first round matchup. Despite being down in the series, you see some light at the end of the tunnel, maybe some flashes of positivity out of Miami. What's going on that you see that you like from the Heat?

[00:01:21] First of all, they got flattened yesterday. But if you take what they have, and if you move it down a notch, and by that, Hero's their number one player. But if he becomes their number two guy. Right. And then Adebayo becomes the three, third best guy. And Wiggins is your fourth best guy. You got something. Davion Scholl has found himself. You've got something.

[00:01:44] But what they do need, like every team needs, is a star. Somebody with the ball in the basket, but also can defend a bit. I don't have somebody in mind. There's going to be, I believe there's going to be some stars on the market this year.

[00:01:56] The bad part about that for the Heat is this. Hero doesn't defend. I think the NBA is moving in a trend where they want their best players to be able to defend. So there's a problem there. Adebayo, of course, is a very good defender and so on. And Wiggins is a good defender.

[00:02:15] But the problem becomes, with Hero, what do you do? If you have two bad defenders on the court at the same time, you're in trouble. And Hero, if you watch the playoffs, they're going right at him every time. Cleveland's been just going right at him. So that's a major problem. But that's why I say they need a guy who can score as well as defend. But if you move everybody back and get a good top player, you're in business.

[00:02:43] And I think, I don't think they'll win a title with that group, but they'll be in the mix and they can be a problem for a lot of teams. And I think that would be a step up because they're still recovering. Don't forget, a couple months ago, Jimmy Butler was tearing that organization apart. So they're still recovering from that. And if they can make the right steps, they might be in business. The problem becomes, and I'm just going to use this, let's say it's John Moritz or Young. They don't defend.

[00:03:13] And I don't know if that's going to be good. And that's not heat basketball. It's a very important thing that they get the right person to get this moving in the right direction. Yeah, a big reason that Luka is no longer playing basketball in Dallas is, at least according to Nico, because he couldn't defend. And so there's a lot of truth to that. We're seeing that played out. You can't just be bucket anymore. Or you can be, but you're not going to pair with another guy who is just an offensive player. You need to defend.

[00:03:41] And that's becoming more and more evident. In the modern basketball, offenses are run to target the weakest guy on the other team. Sure. They go after those guys and try to make them defend and use them. They'll either give up a basket or because somebody has to double down, somebody's wide open. So that's the whole modern basketball game. Yeah.

[00:04:10] Yeah. That fit that mold. But one guy that I think would be perfect is Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Bucs. How's that for a segue? The Bucs won it all in 2021. Four years later, it may be time to blow that team up. I know I'm not saying Giannis is going to end up in Miami. And even if he did, they would have to lose a lot of pieces that you called out already. But what's going on in Milwaukee? This team won it all. Was it the top of the mountain just four years ago? And now things are just going crazy out there. What happened?

[00:04:40] First of all, they're paying a lot of money out and they're paying a lot of tax. So they're losing money as a franchise. Right. A small market too. I don't know any owner that is happy about losing money. That's first. Now, naturally, they make more money if they continue to win in the playoffs. If they get knocked out in the first round, which I think is a better than 50% chance. Yeah.

[00:05:03] It's a quick one. They only got about two or a couple home games in the first round. So you're losing money. Now, Giannis means a lot to the city of Milwaukee. I don't know if they want to get rid of him, but I don't know if you should want to stick around and watch this thing start over. And they can get such a big haul for him because he's still one of the best three players in the league.

[00:05:26] They're in a funny spot. And then if I'm Damian Lillard, I'd be a little worried too because he might be asking out by the end of the year. But because again, they're paying a lot of money. And what are they getting? And Damian's on the downside of a career. Right. Giannis is still unique. So the Bucs have a lot of decisions they have to make and they have to think this through. And then you've got to find a team that's going to, don't forget, McHale Bridges got five draft picks.

[00:05:55] Five first round picks. Yeah. I think McHale Bridges is a nice player. He's not Giannis. And when you go back, we were talking about the Heat. The Heat would have to give up their whole team. Exactly. So I don't know what exactly would be a good trade. Yeah. Yeah, you call out the five for Bridges, but it costs the Lakers two to get Luka.

[00:06:22] So I think it's all subjective, right? It's whatever you can get for, whatever you can fleece a team for. There's a difference. Anthony Davis won the deal. Now, I'm not saying that Dallas got enough for Luka, but Anthony Davis went in the deal. I think it might have been a little bit fairer if it was Anthony Davis and Reeves, but that might have made a little bit more even trade. 100%.

[00:06:49] But when you give it up, Anthony Davis is one of the best 15, 20 players. So there's something there that changed the whole dynamic. Yeah. No doubt. Notice we got in the Lakers plug again this week. It was inadvertent. Accidental. No, it wasn't. I do. I do think, though, that it's also different because the Bucs aren't as desperate to let go of Giannis as apparently Dallas was to let go of Luka.

[00:07:19] But yeah, I think it's going to be an interesting offseason for the Bucs, depending on. Well, that's a good question. We talked about the worst case scenario for the Bucs if they lose in the first round, which, again, you said greater than 50% chance they do. But if they advance, does that change things for you? Do you think things are OK? I think they'd have to get to the conference finals. And I don't see that happening. You've got to make some money. So you need games. All of them. Yeah. They're losing. And like I said, it's not a good situation.

[00:07:47] I believe Mark Clasry, one of the owners, sold his share last year or two years ago. And he was smart to get out because I think he saw what was going to happen here. You're just not going to make money. When you go into tax, it's a difficult thing. The one thing that could save those teams that are losing money right now is expansion. If the teams go for $6 million, two teams for $6 million, you divide that up among, what is it, $400 million apiece?

[00:08:17] $6 billion, I'm sorry. $400 million apiece. So that would keep the Bucs somewhat on a better, in a better, and I don't want to get into the whole financial stuff. Yeah. Yeah. You already lost me. Talking B is for billions. It's just a staggering moment. Let's move to the West. Again, really great battles across the board. The Warriors are playing really well against the better team as far as the record-wise, Houston Rockets.

[00:08:46] But Jimmy Butler's out. Can the Warriors advance to the second round without Jimmy Butler, who you pick critical of. You called out. He's a tough basketball player. And he's made for this kind of moment. And he's on a great team. Can they advance without him? Why not? I don't know if Houston can handle this whole thing for the first time. A lot of young players, you do have Van Vliet. But there's a lot of young players. I don't know how they'll handle doing this. It looks like they're struggling.

[00:09:15] Last night, they didn't look good at all. They did something with Butler being out. So you have to wonder if they can handle it. And you have to also wonder that San Francisco, the Warriors, were put in a perfect place playing Houston. Even though Houston has a higher seed, that's the best at getting someone. It's a lot better than playing Denver or the Clippers or any of those teams. You do have to wonder about the situation. But, yeah, they can. But I think it'll be tough.

[00:09:45] I think all Houston has to do is all, but not all, but win the next game in Golden City. And then they're back in the home court. And then the— So it's not really done. But you always wonder about a team first time playing in the big time and playing a former champion. You always wonder if they have enough to beat them. In other words, an experience. Yeah. Yeah. I know I'm going to catch some heat for this because it is a Laker reference.

[00:10:12] But you knew it was coming. But who impresses you more, Steph Curry at 37 or LeBron James and what he's doing it for you? The—not biased. I'll take Curry. Yeah, I'll take him every—I think he just—he—there's a whole buzz in the crowd. There's a whole—when he gets the ball, if he—he's got that little step back off the three.

[00:10:40] And then he also moves really well without the ball. And there's a real excitement when he's about to shoot. With Ron still good, he probably will make one—probably third or second team of all NBA. NBA. He's still really good. But I just think Curry is—and something on the LeBron thing, I think it's a work in progress with him and Luka. Oh, sure. Figuring out how to do things.

[00:11:06] And just putting it with the Celtics, with Brown and Tatum and their growth, they struggled for a while until they figured it out. And by the way, he made Yudelka help them figure it out. But the whole process is still young for that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. Yeah, interesting. It just came to mind because we're all in awe of what LeBron is doing. But Steph is doing some incredible things, and he's not that much younger. Let's talk about—oh, go ahead. Well, I just want to add something.

[00:11:35] There was something the other day. And somebody made a statement. It's a very interesting statement. They said LeBron got it at a young age. And by—what I mean is he began to eat right. He began to watch it all year round. He bought that—the thing that makes you feel, I don't know, the machine that he bought. He did all these things at a young age. And the point being, the person made was young players come in. They don't think they have to work.

[00:12:04] They don't have to watch what they do. And those are the guys that flame out quick. LeBron understood he was here for the long haul. And Curry, too. Curry does the right things. So that's a very interesting piece. So LeBron saw that he wanted to play. And he did all the right things to get him to that point. Yeah, undeniable. And it's paying off for both of those and for us as fans we get to watch.

[00:12:30] Let's talk about the first team to exit the playoffs. Very unceremoniously in four games, the Memphis Grizzlies. Unfortunate. They had to suffer through an accident. An injury to their best player. What do you see for the Grizz in the offseason and next season? That's too bad. I wouldn't be surprised if their general manager, Cleman, gets fired. I wouldn't be surprised. It's just a disaster. They've got to make a decision on Jaron Jackson.

[00:13:00] But he's a good player. Sure. And then they've got a bigger decision on John Morant. I don't know how good the market will be, but it might be time to part ways because it just hasn't been working out. But I don't know how much they can get for him because he's out a lot and he's a problem. He's not easy to deal with. They've got so many big things. Then after they figure out if the general manager's there, they've got to figure out about a high-fing coach. Do they want to do what they just finished doing?

[00:13:31] Two years ago, they were a team that was coming up. Everybody was afraid of them and all that nice stuff. Oh, my goodness. It really is a bad situation. And they've got to really sit down and do some thinking about what they want to do. And don't forget, that's a small market team. Right. You're going to be playing Jackson. You're going to be paying Bane. Marin. You're going to get close to that tax. I don't think they want to get in the tax.

[00:14:02] So, yeah. That's the situation. Yeah, tough offseason for a lot of teams. And a lot of teams would kill just to be in the playoffs. But the Grizzlies got there and just, unfortunately, things didn't play out for them. And they met a juggernaut in the Thunder. You heard the buzzer, but I got to ask, excuse me, without going into a whole lot of discussion, because I imagine you watched the game. I hope you watched the game. If you haven't watched the game, then you certainly watched the highlights. Was Aaron Gordon's tip good or not good? No doubt. No doubt good? Yeah. It was good.

[00:14:32] You fell for the Clippers. What a game. Put effort into it. And what's really ironic, they've lost two close games. Yep. And won easily and won the other one fairly less close. So, they're out playing Denver, but all they have to show for it is 2-2. And they won Denver in one time. They go seven. So, really, not a great situation to be in for the Clippers.

[00:14:59] But I guess bad luck goes here and then here with the Clippers through the years. Yeah. And that's the rabbit hole I want to go down. That's a conversation that could literally take hours. I can see you smiling as a Laker fan saying, oh, it was not shit. With a Laker fan. I can see it. But anyway. I covered the Clippers for a long time, and I have a soft spot in my heart for that franchise because of the bad luck that they've endured. But last night wasn't about bad luck. They were down 22 in the fourth. Came down, battled back.

[00:15:29] Great game. And the only thing I wish, I think they wished they could take back was that last. Because they had the ball. Eight seconds left. 16 seconds left, I think, when they had the ball. And instead of milking the clock a little more, they shot quick. Eight seconds left is what they gave Denver. And Denver did what Denver does. But anyway, on we go. Playoffs are fun, man. If you think about Jokic's shot, if he hit any part of the rim. Any part of the rim, it's over. Yeah. Never gets it. So. Yeah.

[00:15:59] That's the game. It's ironic how the ball bounces. Yeah. No, it's so cool. And that's what makes us, that's what makes me a fan. The oddity of it and the weirdness of it. One second difference. All of that stuff is amazing. But that's it. Time's up. You heard our buzzer go off. Thank you for listening. Make sure to read Steve's entire 13 Rules, Random NBA Thoughts article. We will link it wherever you're watching or listening to this article or this interview or this conversation. We'll make sure to have it linked.

[00:16:26] And join us next week to get more Random Thoughts after or as the Twitchway 425 NBA playoffs continue. Of course, please consider subscribing, liking, joining, commenting, whatever. That means a lot to us and we really do appreciate it. Join us next week on the Shot Clock Pod, the best 15 minutes of Random NBA Thoughts online anywhere. Steve will talk next week.