The Shot Clock Pod - NBA 2024-25 Season Recap

[00:00:01] It's time to talk basketball. I'm Jose Salviati, editor at ThePeachBasket.net. He's Steve Perciallo, 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 random NBA 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 of Steve's 13 Rules Random NBA Thoughts articles, which he publishes weekly. Steve and I have exactly 15 minutes to discuss what's on his mind around the NBA.

[00:00:31] Today, we'll discuss his latest 13 Rules Random NBA Thoughts article, where he shares his thoughts after the end of the 2024-25 NBA season. Hard to believe the season is over. The playoffs are here. Steve, are you ready? I'm ready. Let's do it. Starting the timer now. Alright, you started your article talking about one of the best players in NBA history, Kevin Durant. He's closer to the end of his career than the start, but he's had a tumultuous career.

[00:01:01] You elaborate in your article. Let me ask you this. How do you think he'll be remembered? And which team that he played for, he's played for several, is most likely to retire his number, if any? The only team that would retire would be Oklahoma. I think the only way that would happen is if he goes back there, if he gets traded back or something, all that like. The other teams, he was a mercenary going to Golden State.

[00:01:25] He smelled the championship because he jumped on the bandwagon and won. He played well in those games, but then he became a free agent and went to the Nets. Wings got a little hot over there, so then he wanted out, and he ended up in Phoenix. Phoenix is a walking disaster. So, you know, it's been a career where people who watch him play realize what a great offensive player he is. What a tremendous shooter. Unstoppable.

[00:01:50] But they also realize he's just not, he didn't have a place he called home. There is none. He made, one of the, people wouldn't even remember, as I said in the article, that Seattle, of all teams, they drafted him. And that's how a lot of younger people don't even know who Seattle is until the next Seattle comes along. And he played in Oklahoma City. People don't even quite realize that. And he got himself out of there like he's done so many times.

[00:02:19] And that's part of the allure, but the problem with Duran, the statue in front of a building, he's worthy of it. He's one of the greatest. Yeah. Little put it. He had his house. There's no place to put the statue. You know, that's the best way to sum up Duran. And it's really a shame that he is. But what's really interesting, one more piece to it. He responds to any criticism on the Twitter or anything else of him.

[00:02:47] So it indicates he's a really sensitive, insecure man. And it's really a shame because he's just such a great offensive player. Yeah. One of the best to do it. I don't think of him as a seven footer, but I've heard other people describe him as a seven footer. And then he's got those long arms and that shot that just shoots from up top. It's unblockable. He's phenomenal and pretty durable. He's certainly been injured later in his career, but I'm looking at the start of his career.

[00:03:15] 80 games, 82 games, 81 games, 81 games. This is a guy who did it right. 80 games, 82 games, 82 games, 82 games, 80 games. He's not chasing a championship, which to his credit he got, but yeah, tough to see. And we'll see where he ends up because he's not going to be wearing a son's jersey next year. Is he? No, God, no. God only knows what happens, but that's officially declared a disaster.

[00:03:46] So there's not a chance. They've got to just start over. And it's not about amassing stars. It's about amassing people that can play together with a coach, trust you enough, and you can work with. Yeah. This is as good a segue as any, right? You said the Suns are a mess. You called out three teams specifically that seem to be stuck in permanent decline. These are teams that just cannot seem to get over the hump. And these are some teams with great legacies, right?

[00:04:15] The Chicago Bulls, six championships for the franchise, but recently just haven't been that good. Sacramento Kings, great team, great excitement in Sacramento just as early as a couple of seasons ago, but stuck in permanent decline now and the Atlanta Hawks. So which team out of those three, the Bulls, the Kings, the Hawks, do you think has the best path forward, if any? I think Atlanta does because they do have recent Jalen and her,

[00:04:43] they have Dyson Daniels, who's a tremendous defender, and Trey. Yeah. They need a little bit more around the edges, but there's a couple of things. One of the things these teams have in common that I wanted to mention, none of them like to go over the tax and pay the tax. They all want the money coming back to them. So it's going to limit them with any more experienced player. That's why they traded Bogdanovich and DeAndre Hunter,

[00:05:10] because until you have ownership that is ready to commit and willing to spend, you're not going to. Because if you look at the Hawks, with those four guys I mentioned, O'Coral, who's a nice player, and so on, if they get one more guy, they can score consistently, because Jalen Johnson and Rhys Ache are going to get better and better offensively. They can be dangerous. And there's one more piece I just want to...

[00:05:37] The modern NBA talks about playing defense, and that you need five defenders on the court. Trey Young doesn't allow that. So that's part of the situation for the Hawks. They need to decide, can they win by dealing him and picking up a couple pieces, or can they win with a 6'1 point guard who basically struggles to defend when he's interested in defending?

[00:06:04] So that kind of is the best way to sum up the situation. The other thing, does he get enough points? Does he score enough to be a 35- to 40-minute player a game? I don't know. And that's another piece to it that's got to be examined, because your two guard is usually your shooter. And, you know, he's a little short of that. And Rhys Ache won't become a good player for another couple years. He will be, but he won't.

[00:06:31] So you still don't have that offensive firepower that you want. Yeah, the thing about Dyson Daniels, greatest nickname in the history of, at least this season in the NBA, the Great Barrier Thief. I love that nickname. We skipped over, glossed over the Bulls. Oh, I wanted to mention... Go there, because they got a good, exciting young player there, I think. Oh, it was... As I said in the article, they talk about you do the same thing every day. It's insanity and so on. And you expect change.

[00:07:01] The Bulls are the NBA's version of insanity, because they're doing the same thing every year. And you're going, no, they've got to sit down. And what do they want? And they do have a good coach. And Billy Donovan was smart enough to open it up and run and shoot, because they're not good defenders. Because your center, who can score with any center just about, Vucevic, there's no rim protection here. And defense has flown out the window for them. And they traded Zach Levine, who was a good offensive player,

[00:07:29] but there was a lot of issues there. So what the heck are you doing here? And if you're going to keep those guys, the only reason you came in 10th or 9th or whatever was because the rest of the other flag teams at the bottom were all tanking. And they all wanted to get the draft pick. They really, in fact, they got worse this year. And they really dropped the ball. They stunk it out against the Heat the other night. They really couldn't score. They couldn't put anything together the whole night. Just a terrible game.

[00:07:59] I don't see it. And what's amazing to me, if I ever came back and worked again, which I'm too old for that, but if I ever did, I'd want to work for the Chicago Bulls owners, Jerry Reinsdorf. He doesn't find people. He doesn't find anybody. He's been 20 years there, and finally he might realize, hey, we're not winning, so now I'm going to get rid of some people. He did it in baseball with the White Sox. He finally fired his president of the team. And with the Bulls, he had Paxson running the team for many years, finally got rid of him.

[00:08:29] Now he's had Karnasiewicz. For about five years, nothing's changed. So I don't quite get that one either. Okay. Interesting to me, before we go to the next topic, that we didn't even get to the Kings, which is very sad. The Light the Beam team is too old, and I don't think they have a path forward. So, yeah, that's a team you've got to blow up. There's a thread in this, and there's also a thread where we talk about New Orleans. Poor ownership.

[00:08:56] It's the secret that teams that win have good ownership. And these teams that we're talking about, and Vivek Grenadine, he's crazy. He fires people in very short times. He goes through coaches and general managers. He just hired Scott Perry after firing Monty McNair. So he does this, and there's no stability. There's no idea, here's what we're building.

[00:09:23] He had Vade Divac, who probably has the same qualifications as I do to run a team, which is not much. And that was, and Divac brought him nowhere, and now I hear he's listening to Divac. What are we doing here? Are you finding all the bad teams and bringing them back? Maybe he's going to hire Rick Pitino next time. Just, it's crazy. All right. I appreciate the shout-out to the Laker great, Vlade Divac, but let's leave that aside because I don't want to go deeper down that rabbit hole.

[00:09:52] He was playing the Lakers because of who he got traded for. Sikil O'Neill. No. I believe it was your friend. Or was it Kobe? It was one of the two. By the way, we almost needed to a show without mentioning the Lakers. Almost. That was on me. That was on me. I'm sorry. We talked about this already, but let's elaborate just a little bit because you called us out. You said the Hawks, it might be time to trade Trae Young. This is a player who led the association in assists.

[00:10:21] Great nickname too. This is a franchise player. Why do you think they should move on from him? If you're not going to pay, and if you're not going to pay the big bucks to go over the tax, you've got to think about getting younger players and hoping they develop while you're paying them less money. Young will command a lot of money in the next contract, and that's a big decision they do have to make. They had a choice last year with DeJounte Murray or Young, and they made a choice in Young.

[00:10:51] Look where it got him. That's something that you can get two or three players for what you're paying Young, and Younger bears fruit. And naturally, hopefully they can defend a bit. Yeah. It's interesting hearing you say that because I know you're a baseball fan too, and it reminded me, I think it was the 80s. Nolan Ryan was pitching for the California, California at the time, California Angels, and was phenomenal. Here's Nolan Ryan, but they let him go.

[00:11:19] He was eight, he was 16 and 14, the year they let him go. And nobody understood why. 16 and 14 today gets you a 500 million a year, but back then it was ant. It was very mid. But the GM of the Angels said to people listening at the time, he said, listen, I got to get two, eight and seven pitches to replace them. Done. No big deal. And what you just said, for the money that you get, Trey, you're going to get two, you're going to get two players. But the Angels never got two, eight and seven pitches.

[00:11:49] They never replaced Nolan Ryan. You got to be real careful about who you get, who you bring in. Because getting two players, yeah, but are they the right players? And we've talked about having the right players on your team. So it's a tough decision for the Hawks, but I think you're right. I think it's time to make it. Let's move on. Last topic. We got a couple of minutes. David Griffith is out. Joe Dumars is in. Now New Orleans, another team. You didn't list them in your team of problem franchises, but you could have. First big decision for Joe is what to do with Zion Williamson.

[00:12:19] What do you see in Zion's future in New Orleans? Yes. That's Gail Benson is the owner. She's the wife of Tom Benson, I believe. Tom Benson. Yeah. All the Saints do. That's right. And she took, and he actually bought the Saints, the Pelicans years ago, because there was talk of moving them out of town. So they kept them there. And they continue. But that's always, in New Orleans, football's king. It's actually chic country, and football's everything.

[00:12:49] If you've ever been, and I have been in that arena, I've been to a few arenas now, and it's not a great place. It's next to the stadium, the football stadium, which makes it look like a little nothing. But the Super don't. But the point being, they could use a new arena, which isn't going to happen. It's in downtown New Orleans. And the other part of it is, he's not really into this, so she's not going to pay the money. Again, they're not going to.

[00:13:18] Now they've got to make some decisions with Zion. And if you look at the economics of it, you're paying a guy a lot of money for 30 or 40 games a year. It doesn't make sense. Now, you probably, he's still got value, I would think. Sure. So, you probably can get something for him that will be on the court. I'm not going to say they're better, but they're going to be on the court. Zion, he's a pulled muscle away from two months. So, to me, that's sensible.

[00:13:48] And they've got to, I think they've got C.J. McCollum on like a 30 million contract, a ridiculously high contract, which is throwing money out of the window. And I don't think they're going to want to deal with him as well. They got DeJounte Murray to get paying decent money too, as well. And I believe Trey Murphy's contract is up. And Trey Murphy is legit. He's real. If people don't know about him, they should. But, they've got to make some choices. And, that might be the smartest way

[00:14:17] to find the path. And there's always going to be somebody who wants iron. Like a team that, that might think they're at a close to a championship, like the Knicks. Sure. Yeah. You, you can get a bunch of parts for him. The Knicks anymore, but you can get a bunch of parts. But they, for New Orleans, it starts another rebuild, which is another three, four years of nothing. So, take. But, but again, I want a poor ownership, bad team. And, yeah,

[00:14:47] that's the common denominator. Let me have you play owner here for a minute, or GM. Fit aside, right? I'm just going best player. You have an opportunity to bring in Trey Young or Zion Williamson. Forget about where you're giving up. Just best player. Who do you pick? That's, that's a great question. Boy, I wouldn't want either, honestly, but I would try young because he'll play 70 or 80 games, 65, 70 games. Durability. Yep. If I knew they played the same amount of games,

[00:15:16] I'll take Zion every time. Zion affects a game. And Trey Young, he, he's a great offensive player. You know what he, what's his name? Melo Ball is a poor man's Trey Young. They've got, they've got to prove they can win. They really do. And I don't know if they can unless they change their game. By that, I mean defend. Now with Zion, it, it, it's fairly easy. He goes left every time.

[00:15:46] And he's like a, he's like a tank going to the basket. Nobody's getting their funds. Really? If he's healthy. But again, he, if he's healthy and even when he's healthy, he's at the point of his career. He doesn't play back to backs. They rest him in it. If he's got a hangnail, he's out for a week. It's at that point where it just not worth it. Well, I would take him for one game if I knew he was healthy. Anytime. Okay. But if you're the GM of the new Seattle supersonics franchise and you get your

[00:16:16] pick, you're taking Trey Young. I'll take either one. I'll take either one. Cause yeah, probably Trey Young cause he'll play and we'll draw people. He's something to build while we take our draft picks and try to build a team. Right. If we get better in two years, you get rid of him and get some more players. See, GM is easy. Yeah. It sure is. How the hell am I going to do that? Simple. We can't think. So when I'm talking. Nice. All right. Well, that's it. You heard the buzzer go off.

[00:16:46] Our time is up. Thank you as always for listening. Make sure to read Steve's entire 13 rules, random NBA thoughts article. We'll link that wherever you're listening or watching this show to get more random thoughts after the end of the 2024, 25 NBA season. Join us next week. As Steve shares his thoughts on the first week of the playoffs, please consider as always subscribing, liking, commenting, all that stuff matters to us. And we're grateful for all of it. Thank you. And join us next week on the show. Clock pod, the best 15 minutes of random NBA thoughts online, anywhere. Steve, we'll talk next week.

[00:17:16] Take care. Thank you.