13 Rules: NBA Random Thoughts - April 6, 2024

[00:00:00] NBA Random Thoughts Online,

[00:00:30] every week. Today we'll discuss what's on his mind around the NBA and the content of his latest

[00:00:37] 13 rules, random NBA thoughts and article. Steve I know because the answer is always the same but

[00:00:44] it's written down so I gotta ask it are you ready? Yes I am. All right I know that let's do this.

[00:00:51] All right I'm gonna start the timer and forgive me for not being 100% ready like I usually am

[00:00:56] or I'll try to be. All right timer is going. This week's NBA random thoughts article focused on

[00:01:03] teams that are playoff ready. We're calling those the elite teams and those that aren't we call

[00:01:08] those embarrassed. So it's an interesting article because you presented a good number of teams.

[00:01:15] We're only gonna talk about four today and there was only three that you called out as

[00:01:20] NBA playoff ready. All right let's start with one that didn't make the cut. The Milwaukee box

[00:01:27] are 47 and 30, second in the east, fourth best and three points made and by all accounts having

[00:01:34] a great season but you said they're not playoff ready. Why? Well the last six games they've

[00:01:42] lost five but worse yet let me name the teams they lost to. The Lakers, New Orleans, Washington,

[00:01:51] Memphis, Toronto that's first second and by the way Toronto they lost at home.

[00:01:59] Yannis didn't play but it doesn't matter I mean you know Toronto is just can't wait to get the

[00:02:04] season over with. Yeah and then a couple interesting things there's 17th best defensive

[00:02:10] rating in the league. Yeah I don't see many teams going far with that and the other thing too

[00:02:17] they consistently get beaten on the dribble drive. I think honestly when you talk about the

[00:02:23] box and maybe they'll make a last hurrah and get somewhere in the playoffs but I don't see it but

[00:02:29] also they have to do some real thinking are they gonna try to come back with that team next year?

[00:02:35] You know because because it really Brooke Lopez you don't see him down the stretch in any close

[00:02:40] game. Chris Middleton it's a coin toss if he's gonna play every game. Lillard will be a year

[00:02:45] older which makes him 35. Yannis is missing a lot of games he's always got some late problems

[00:02:53] they've got to do a lot of thinking about what they're going to do and I wouldn't be surprised if

[00:02:58] Yannis if they go out quick which I don't think they're anyway ready but if they go out quick

[00:03:03] and I'm going off that subject I wouldn't be surprised if Yannis starts talking about getting

[00:03:08] traded and he's just signing a new contract because he sees there's no thing and by the way

[00:03:14] Yannis great player he's not as effective as he once was I don't know why or what maybe the legs

[00:03:21] maybe teams are starting to figure him out but it's not as effective as he once was.

[00:03:27] Let me push back on one thing um collectively right over the course of the entire season yeah

[00:03:34] I noticed that number earlier as well they're 17th which is not great defensively

[00:03:39] and this is a team that hung their hat right I'm being a great defensive team

[00:03:43] in the past and we know that's a big part of right why is the trade that brought in game

[00:03:48] but they did improve right since Doc Rivers took over I don't have those numbers in front of me but

[00:03:54] just they're one game under 500 since Doc took over but they've gotten better defensively

[00:04:01] so doesn't that matter more than what they've done all year all year long?

[00:04:06] If you watch them they still can't stop the dribble drive what they had before first

[00:04:13] of all when Budenhoza was coaching they more or less packed and said beat me with the three

[00:04:19] and Brook Lopez was an effective defensive player Brook Lopez isn't as effective as he was a year

[00:04:26] or two ago that's a big thing so now it's taken away to rim protection and now you if you're

[00:04:33] getting broken down and you have no rim protection you got a problem you know because the worst

[00:04:38] thing you're going to get out of that is giving up an open three otherwise it's a layup so that's

[00:04:43] the first that's why you don't see Lopez on the court as much so it's just a breakdown look at the

[00:04:49] guards that are defending out on the perimeter none of them are good defenders you could say

[00:04:55] Beverly but he's only getting 15 20 minutes and and I don't I don't know I don't consider him

[00:05:02] a real good defender although he'll tell you he's good but I don't consider him a real you know

[00:05:10] really like and he's their best perimeter defense one land they made a major mistake in that when

[00:05:17] they when they got rid of holiday and they got dame that was fine I get it I didn't like I don't

[00:05:22] think it was great but I get it but you know what they gave up Grayson Allen check out what he's

[00:05:28] doing in Phoenix right right right tearing it up this loss yeah so they're not the same team is

[00:05:35] good point good point that's something that I haven't heard brought up before right I haven't

[00:05:40] haven't to move on from Grayson Allen that's a great point because yeah he's he's he's been a catalyst

[00:05:47] right in uh in Phoenix um all right well you know hard to disagree I think the Bucks

[00:05:53] uh aren't what they were but you know we'll see if their defense is improved enough to get them

[00:05:59] anywhere in the east but as of right now not playoff ready a team that is and one of the surprise

[00:06:05] teams in the association this season of the Orlando Magic they started this season 14 and 5

[00:06:11] looked great really doing it exciting they're a fun team to watch play and they prove they

[00:06:16] have staying power because they're still there I mean their playoff found now they're ready you

[00:06:22] said but you qualified it so they're ready but but what well if you look at their team great defensive

[00:06:30] team Jaylen Suggs is one of the best defensive guards in the game um however however yeah they can't

[00:06:38] score enough if you look at it at their team right now Franz Wagner is the second score

[00:06:46] Bankero is good but he's not a lead yet yet Wagner is second he's a little over 19 a game and he's

[00:06:54] he's plateaued with what he did last year he's about a point better than last year a game I expected

[00:07:00] a lot of people expected more they expected in the mid to the mid 20s from him they're not

[00:07:05] getting that but here's an interesting thing if you look at the team after Franz Wagner

[00:07:13] the next best score is Suggs at 12 point whatever per game now if you look at if you look at

[00:07:20] different teams for example the Knicks the Cavs have five guys scoring more than 12 points a game

[00:07:30] think about that and think about the offense will they will the magic have enough offense to

[00:07:37] survive in the playoffs I don't see it that's where I think they come up short but they are playing

[00:07:42] good ball and they have a legitimate shot at third place as do the Knicks but I don't know and and

[00:07:50] they will be ready to go but I think inexperience and lack of offense is going to be a detriment

[00:07:56] in their postseason yeah yeah hard to disagree with any of that but it's always fun to see

[00:08:02] teams like them teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves right teams that you know I shouldn't say historically

[00:08:09] because they both have you know the magic have been to the finals right before with with Shaq but

[00:08:14] recent history has not been great to either one of those franchises it's good to see them

[00:08:19] in the playoffs here's a team with some history and we talked about this before we started

[00:08:25] recording the show the Philadelphia 76ers and beat his back and he's looked really good in his

[00:08:31] time back in in spurts anyway he seems to be to me the key right to whether or not the sixers

[00:08:39] are playoff ready I mean what do you think did they have enough time to get to get ready to

[00:08:48] to to get and beat his legs and and to be who they were before and be Jindri you said they're

[00:08:54] not they don't have enough time tell me why I if you watch the games

[00:08:59] and bead is coming up the court slower than the referee he doesn't he can't run he's out of shape

[00:09:07] and it's going to take a while he can score he can score when he gets out of bed I mean he can

[00:09:12] always score yeah that that's not going to stop I didn't take a look at the numbers I'd like

[00:09:17] to see what is rebounding rebounding numbers are compared to because he spends a lot of

[00:09:22] time on the perimeter because he doesn't want to run even you know the other 10 15 feet and and he's

[00:09:28] been taken I would think from what I watched probably taking more threes than he did before

[00:09:35] so those kind of factors and and and I know people getting excited but and I'm not a big

[00:09:40] James Harden fan but somebody you're going to tell me that without James Harden and basically

[00:09:46] the same test was with hard and I know Max good I got it but you're going to tell me this seems

[00:09:53] better than last year's team think about that because you lost a score a playmaker and all the

[00:10:01] other things that you would have on it I think the teams good they might be the second best

[00:10:06] team in the east but I just don't you know and and and and bead has never been known to be in

[00:10:13] great shape I just I you know and I think he is so great but but I just don't think

[00:10:21] did you look at his rebounding numbers yeah not great six in one game four in the other

[00:10:28] he took um six three point attempts uh took six made three in one game took three missed all of them

[00:10:36] in the other what what what were his rebounding numbers before he you know what was he averaging

[00:10:45] yeah I mean all I've got is the last five games I'd have to open this up and dig a little deeper

[00:10:49] but yeah I mean the last three games before his injury he was a seven rebound seven rebounds in 18

[00:10:56] there's the interesting factor there that people forget and and really Tobias Harris

[00:11:02] who plays the four for them is really a three so you know you got to figure something out

[00:11:09] do you use Mo Babamore do you use Paul Reedmore I don't know I don't know but he he's struggling

[00:11:17] getting down the court to get in rebounding position so you gotta have something otherwise

[00:11:24] you're gonna get beat up on the board still yeah all right well it seems to me that the east is

[00:11:32] kind of simple then because if the Bucks don't scare you the 76ers don't scare you it really comes

[00:11:38] down to the Boston Celtics they had their first losing week last week they responded going

[00:11:43] undefeated this week which is what teams like that should do uh they're number two in defensive

[00:11:49] rating to the Wolves number two and often most points uh average to the Pacers they are the most

[00:11:55] well-rounded team in the association and they've been that way all season long are they playoff ready

[00:12:01] oh god yeah they're they're they're real um they will slip up it's the nature of that team

[00:12:11] sometimes they make things a lot more difficult but I'm going to cite something last night

[00:12:15] it was very interesting with nine minutes left or eight minutes left Boston was winning by 18

[00:12:21] and Missoula pulled the five starters he had Peyton Prichard and four players with him out there

[00:12:30] all bench they're winning by 18 they held on to one by one actually Tillman made a

[00:12:36] shot with seven seconds left to win the game but the point being they're at the point now

[00:12:41] they're experimenting yeah they're not taking you know they're gonna play Pozingas was dominant

[00:12:47] for what he played last night but but you know naturally he didn't play a lot because you don't

[00:12:51] want to hurt him and you don't want to overdo it with him Jaylen Brown did not play last night

[00:12:56] um Derek White didn't play last night so they're ready they're ready and the experiment

[00:13:04] they played a heck of a lot of zone last night they mess around with that two three zone

[00:13:09] and I think it's experimental and that allowed Dearon Fox to get off he had 42 or 40 or so

[00:13:15] in the game and he was on fire because he was getting a lot of open looks and I don't think they went

[00:13:21] out of their way to try to stop him as much as work on the zone so they're at the point of the

[00:13:26] season where they're working on things and let me just finish with something to think about

[00:13:33] they do have to play the Knicks and Milwaukee this week I don't know what they're gonna choose to do

[00:13:40] but they can help determine who they meet up with in the playoffs wow because the Knicks if if the

[00:13:49] Lakers win today's game the Knicks would be tied in the losses and have a chance as would the

[00:13:56] magic from get it coming into third so if the Knicks were to beat Boston I think that was

[00:14:02] Thursday night or so they play that's a big win the Bucks are a game or two above I think one game

[00:14:08] above Cleveland one in the Los Colombs if the Bucks play the Knicks tomorrow night so it gets very

[00:14:15] interesting how this how this you know plays out but Boston could have a you know determine

[00:14:23] who wins and who loses with those games it's very interesting and and J. Brown's got

[00:14:30] a little problem with his hand he might not play much until next the end the next weekend

[00:14:35] you know let him sit and rest it so if you think about it it gets very interesting for

[00:14:41] Boston because if they're gonna work on zones and things like that you know how serious sorry

[00:14:47] and by the way Boston zone was pathetic it was really bad last night you know the Sacramento

[00:14:54] was chopping it up yeah that's that's my take but I think you know they're done they've won 60 games

[00:15:01] they weigh they were about 12 13 games out in front of Milwaukee they're they've clenched the

[00:15:06] home court throughout so all you want to do is stay healthy and get ready for the playoffs

[00:15:11] right they're not playoffs ready I don't know who it would be yeah what a great luxury right

[00:15:17] first thing that I thought of as you were rattling off you know all of their accomplishments

[00:15:21] and you know Boston Celtics look amazing um Moses Malone I think it was in the 80s maybe really

[00:15:26] not he had to been the 80s you know famously said before uh yeah fall fall fall right I mean

[00:15:32] it doesn't really line up anymore but I mean at least in the east do you think do you see

[00:15:39] any team giving the Boston Celtics any problems I don't see I think they're going to win it

[00:15:45] the east yeah however however this team never does things easy yeah no so you might and I go back to 2008

[00:15:55] with Boston when they won the championship they beat a team I think the Lakers in the finals

[00:16:00] for remember but I go back to that in the first round they had the Atlanta Hawks a young Atlanta

[00:16:06] Hawks team with this real good big guy named Al Horford but but they went to seven games

[00:16:13] in that series so it kind of says something to you about how they don't do things easy

[00:16:20] because they did beat the Cavaliers in the next round with LeBron in six so they don't you know

[00:16:27] it's just their way they last year they struggled with Atlanta in the first round again but they

[00:16:33] don't do things easily so I think I think it won't be easy the one thing if I'm Boston

[00:16:37] I'd be scared of naturally you're always afraid of being upset or an injury yeah

[00:16:42] I don't know about the Denver if they can if they can beat Denver in a series

[00:16:48] so you're looking beyond the east already no I'm not I'm not at all I just think I think that's the

[00:16:54] one team that might be the favorite going in against them right well Miami do what they did last

[00:17:00] year yeah I never think that way you got to beat the team you know and if you slip up with the

[00:17:07] home court in the game well all of a sudden you don't have a home court yeah that's my my 10 said take

[00:17:14] got it yeah you're right I did check it 2008 the uh the the somethings did beat the uh the Lakers

[00:17:22] you're absolutely right yeah you know I think I saw a referee with that hat

[00:17:29] not sure I'm not sure I'm just gonna leave this on just to balance things out make sure to

[00:17:34] read that's it basically our show is over if you're not if you're if you're listening and not watching

[00:17:39] I have on a 2010 Lakers championship hat because of course I do that's it though thanks as always for

[00:17:46] listening um great fun always the to talk basketball with Steve make sure to read the entirety of

[00:17:54] Steve's article where he lists the other teams that are ready and the ones that are not

[00:18:01] make sure to join us next week when we um once again uh talk I'm not I'm going off script here

[00:18:08] actually let me backtrack and I'm gonna say it right Western Conference next week Western Conference

[00:18:13] next week perfect that's a great teaser great job all right that's it time's up thanks for listening

[00:18:17] please consider subscribing join us next week I got the hat on I forgot to read join us

[00:18:22] next week on the 13 rules NBA Random Thoughts podcast the best 50 minutes of NBA Random Thoughts

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