13 Rules: NBA Random Thoughts - May 4, 2024

[00:00:01] Alright, it's time to talk basketball. I'm Jose Salviati, editor at thepeachbasket.net.

[00:00:06] He's Steve Perciello, a longtime high school basketball coach, educator, vice principal

[00:00:11] and athletic director. And this is the 13 Rules Random NBA Thoughts podcast, the best

[00:00:17] 15 minutes of NBA Random Thoughts online. This is your first time listening as always.

[00:00:22] Welcome. We're glad you found us. This podcast was born out of the content of Steve's

[00:00:28] articles, which he drops every week. Steve and I have exactly 15 minutes to discuss what's on his

[00:00:33] mind around the NBA. Today we'll discuss his latest 13 Rules Random NBA Thoughts article with

[00:00:40] a focus of course on the playoffs. Steve, are you ready? Ready. Let's do this. I start the timer

[00:00:49] now. All right, let's go. Okay, we start with Jalen Bronson. You called out

[00:00:56] that he moved from being a good player to a superstar in these playoffs. And you know,

[00:01:01] I don't think anybody would disagree with you. But here's the question. That's kind of a

[00:01:05] subjective definition, right? A subjective move from good player to superstar. Can you make

[00:01:10] it as objective as possible? In other words, what makes a superstar a superstar and extra

[00:01:17] credit? Is there anyone else that's looking to make that move that's still in the playoffs

[00:01:23] right now? Well, first of all, what makes him special? He falls in his hand all game. So

[00:01:30] he's in a great situation. But more importantly, he makes decisions that are unheard of. I think

[00:01:36] I wrote the other day about when you watch an NBA game, the best guy with the last shot,

[00:01:41] the best guy gets the ball inbounds, dribbles the clock down and then goes one on

[00:01:46] whatever and throws it up no matter who's open. The other night Bronson had a situation

[00:01:51] similar. And what did he do? He threw it to the worst shooter on the Knick team,

[00:01:57] Hart, and Hart hit a three because they ran a double at him. Bronson just makes plays.

[00:02:05] He just makes plays continuously when they need it. You go back a week ago when they were down

[00:02:12] by six or five with 30 seconds or so, he's the one that started it by hitting a three.

[00:02:19] I mean, he just continually makes plays. And I've watched a lot of basketball over the years.

[00:02:25] I don't know how you can stop him. You watch different players and you always have an idea.

[00:02:30] Well, if we do this, we could stop him. You try to take away his left hand,

[00:02:35] he just goes right and does that turnaround little shot in the lane that's unstoppable.

[00:02:41] He does so many things. And if you try to double him, he finds somebody. So

[00:02:47] you know, I don't know how... Isn't that the definition of a superstar? You can't stop him.

[00:02:53] And he's unstoppable. And I'll say this, if there wasn't the big guy Jokic in the league,

[00:03:00] he's the MVP. He's the flat out MVP of the league. I mean, there's no comparison in my

[00:03:05] mind. All right. Let's stay on the subject a little bit because I'm intrigued. We bring up

[00:03:12] before, I'm a West Coast guy, you're an East Coast guy. I haven't got a chance to watch

[00:03:15] Brunson as much, but hearing you describe him and knowing that he's smaller in stature,

[00:03:21] my first thought when I think of the players like him, is he the new Allen Iverson? Is

[00:03:28] that a bad comparison? Yeah, I think it is. Different type of player. Brunson's a great

[00:03:35] shooter. He's a much better... When Isaiah Thomas was going off in the Celtics for

[00:03:41] two or three years, but he's much better. He could do more. He's unstoppable. Isaiah would just shoot

[00:03:48] open threes or open stuff and kill you. But this guy will shoot under pressure. He'll do

[00:03:55] so much more than him. And the other interesting thing, and I think we talked about this,

[00:04:00] he was second in the league in taking charges, which means he's getting a beating because

[00:04:06] he's small. And he takes a pounding and gets up and keeps playing. And I don't want to see it

[00:04:14] happen. The only negative is that his body gets worn down and gets beaten up and it takes away

[00:04:20] his game because of his size. He's almost got to... And teams have tried to go at him,

[00:04:26] make him play defense. He's done it. He's held his own. He's not great, but he's held

[00:04:33] his own. And the other thought being wearing him down by making him play defense. I don't think you

[00:04:38] wear him down. I don't think you wear this Nick team down. They just keep coming at you.

[00:04:45] Tibbs went with seven guys the other night, a bunch of them playing over 40 minutes.

[00:04:50] And look what happened. I mean, they don't wear down. In fact, they won at the end of

[00:04:54] the game. So I've seen a lot of basketball. I am impressed.

[00:05:04] Okay. Looking forward to that Nick Celtic series. Let's hope that happens. That would

[00:05:09] be pretty amazing. Well, what do you think will happen? What do you think will happen if they

[00:05:15] meet? I think it'd be a great series. I think if there's any one team left that could

[00:05:24] challenge the Boston Celtics based on what I've seen, it's got to be the Knicks. So I think that

[00:05:30] would be a great, great matchup. But when you just compare at the very basic level, player

[00:05:36] to player, and you figure this player is going to offset that player, this player is going to

[00:05:39] offset that, the Celtics have got more players. So you give them the credit. They've got to

[00:05:46] go into it as the favorites just based on that alone. That's very, very basic definition,

[00:05:51] but I think it'd be a great series. Okay. Let's see if it happens. All right, next topic. You

[00:06:01] said the Minnesota Timberwolves have a great shot at beating the defending champion Denver Nuggets,

[00:06:08] who got by the Los Angeles Lakers. We are contractually obligated to mention them every

[00:06:13] show. Every four minutes. Every four minutes, you mean? Time it over. I'm going to buy you an

[00:06:22] egg timer so you can just turn it over and every time the sand is out, you can mention

[00:06:27] the Lakers or the Clippers. All right. Well, Lakers are done. We got another four minutes

[00:06:32] without them. You said the Timberwolves could beat the Nuggets. If something continues,

[00:06:37] what is that something? Well, I think there's two things. First of all, Minnesota is the

[00:06:41] best defensive team in the NBA, highest rated and they do play great defense. Every one of

[00:06:46] those guys outside of towns are good defensive players. But the first thing is Jamal Murray's

[00:06:51] calf. If that keeps acting up, that changes the whole series. But more importantly, I think

[00:06:58] is can they figure out a way to stop Jokic? Mike Brunson, he's virtually unstoppable. He

[00:07:08] moves in slow motion, but you can't stop him. He'll score, he'll pass. Him and Murray in a

[00:07:14] pick and roll is just perfection. So if they can figure out a way to take away or not take

[00:07:23] away, but to hold Jokic down or Murray's leg acts up, you've got a tough series. Right now,

[00:07:30] I think I believe Denver in six, but I make the exception being injury or if they defend him real

[00:07:40] well. I don't know how Minnesota is going to be able to defend him, but that would be the two

[00:07:45] things. Yeah. Yeah. Nobody's figured it out yet, but if anybody can, it's that defensive

[00:07:51] team. I tweeted not too long ago watching the Denver Nuggets first round series that-

[00:07:57] Who was that against?

[00:08:00] It's too early, but I'll bring it up. We just got a couple more minutes,

[00:08:06] but I brought up the point that Jokic is the basketball equivalent of a baseball

[00:08:15] EFAS pitch. Super slow, but incredibly efficient. Right? You watch him and you just,

[00:08:22] especially when he drives to the lane, those low post moves, they're just so

[00:08:25] slow, but so effective. It makes no sense, but the guy's incredible.

[00:08:32] Did the egg timer run out of sand?

[00:08:37] Oh, good timing. It was Los Angeles Lakers.

[00:08:40] Okay. I didn't know. I wasn't sure. Go ahead.

[00:08:43] On we go. Injuries impacted a lot of teams this season. You listed off a few players who

[00:08:49] were hurt, unable to play and whose presence for their team might've changed things. You

[00:08:53] called out Julius Randall, Joellen Bede for sure. Dane Lillard. I mean, it's a long list,

[00:08:59] unfortunately. Interestingly though, the Phoenix Suns had their big three intact,

[00:09:05] right? Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Devin Booker. They still lost and they still believe

[00:09:12] somehow that they'll get better next season. What's going on in Phoenix?

[00:09:17] I don't know. Something's in the water or something, but it's kind of crazy when you

[00:09:22] think about it. Durant, for the first time this year was more human, meaning he wasn't always

[00:09:30] just killing you. He did it in spurts, but not like he did before. You have to think at 36

[00:09:35] next year when the season starts, he's got to be slowing down. Then Brad Beal,

[00:09:45] I don't know what to say. Don't forget, by the way, he's got a trade option,

[00:09:49] no trade clause in his contract. He's 30. He hasn't played more than 60 games in five or six years.

[00:09:59] Are you all of a sudden expecting these people to find the fountain of youth and get better?

[00:10:07] I don't see it. Next year, I would think there'll be a play-in team. They're hamstrung

[00:10:13] because they can't spend anything. What can you do to get better?

[00:10:22] There's going to be another team that if you can trade with them, get their draft picks in

[00:10:28] the future because they're just going to get worse. I don't see it unless they can beat

[00:10:36] Father Time. The only person that's kind of beating Father Time is Laker, LeBron James.

[00:10:43] Right on time. Well done. I said it a little early, but yeah,

[00:10:49] it's LeBron. He's the only one that I've seen. Even LeBron, he's still great,

[00:10:54] but he's not as great as he once was. You can see little things like he plays 40 minutes,

[00:11:01] but then in the fourth quarter, you don't get a lot because you're pushing them.

[00:11:05] Same thing I see with Durant and then Beal just staying healthy.

[00:11:11] If you think about it, the only person that can really trade is Durant. Nobody will take

[00:11:16] Beal even with or without the clause, the no trade clause. What do you do? It has to only

[00:11:23] get worse. Yeah, it's tough. I think you and I chatted a little bit before the call,

[00:11:31] before we started recording, and we really want the focus of this show to be on the teams

[00:11:36] that are still playing, not the Suns. But there's a lot of conversation to be had about

[00:11:40] the Suns, about teams like the Clippers, about what the path forward is for them.

[00:11:46] Who's the other team? Clippers, Suns, Los Angeles Lakers. That's it. Okay, go ahead.

[00:11:53] Let's end on a positive non-Laker point. You said, and this is the great point I loved reading it

[00:12:02] because you're absolutely right. You said the NBA playoffs are the best two months on the

[00:12:07] sports calendar. 100% agreed. It's so fun. Tomorrow we get a game seven between the Cavs

[00:12:14] and the Magic. There's nothing better. You said that statement referencing the Knicks in

[00:12:19] the 76ers first round matchup, which was great. So I got to ask you as we look ahead to the

[00:12:24] second round, what second round series has you excited kind of on par with what we saw

[00:12:32] for the Knicks and Sixers? No question. Denver and Minnesota. That's going to be just fun

[00:12:39] to watch. There's so many side stories. Anthony Edwards, is he breaking out?

[00:12:45] Can somebody beat this Denver team? That's incredible. Minnesota is good. If they keep

[00:12:55] everything intact, they probably will be in the finals and in the next few years.

[00:13:03] It's a great, great games to watch tonight. I'm looking forward to it.

[00:13:09] There's no question in my mind that's the best series. How about you? What do you think?

[00:13:14] When I read that and I came up with that question, that's exactly what I was thinking.

[00:13:19] That's going to be a great matchup. You've got an established veteran team, probably in my

[00:13:26] mind that the best team. What I mean by that it's the best group of five that knows how to

[00:13:31] play together, knows their idiosyncrasies, knows where to pass the ball to every player.

[00:13:36] They're just a good team. I've always said that the good team is going to beat the better players.

[00:13:44] You can have a team of five guys who are individually better than your team,

[00:13:48] but if your team is better than those five guys, your team is going to win.

[00:13:54] That's what the Detroit Pistons did when they beat the Los Angeles Lakers, I'm sorry,

[00:13:59] back in the early 2000s. The better team wins and they are the best team.

[00:14:04] What a timbre was. When they started to show up at the top of the rankings, at the top of

[00:14:15] the Western Conference, I honestly thought the same about the Magic. There's no way it's going

[00:14:20] to last. This team had been bad for so long, but they stayed there and they're good. They're

[00:14:27] good because they're defensive minded first and then you've got Anthony Edwards doing stuff that

[00:14:32] we just haven't seen in a while. He's playing so well. I'm excited to watch that game for sure,

[00:14:39] or that series. Something to think about, and this is interesting, the bench has been

[00:14:48] depleted since last year. They lost Bruce Brown and Green. The Minnesota bench is far superior

[00:14:57] than the Los Angeles Lakers. Besides their bench being much better, the big thing in the finals,

[00:15:08] teams only, the starters go 40 minutes in the playoffs rather, they only go 40 minutes.

[00:15:15] That might negate the fact, but Minnesota just throws a lot of guys at you.

[00:15:22] It gets very interesting if it gets to a bench type game for that. That's where we go back

[00:15:31] to Jamal Murray being hurt. If he's hurt, they're asking, they're going to have a lot of

[00:15:38] problems, but that remains to be seen. All right, so call it. Who do you got right now?

[00:15:47] I think you said already, but Denver versus Denver was. I guess I would like Denver, but

[00:15:56] shaky, but I like Denver. Yeah, and you said Denver in six, right? Six or seven, yeah.

[00:16:04] Usually they get the first two, Minnesota gets the next two, and then we move along.

[00:16:10] The interesting thing, just to realize, I know this one starts tonight

[00:16:15] and the next game would be I think Tuesday, but then they have three days off until the fourth

[00:16:21] game because they want to get them all in sync. Now if that happens after that,

[00:16:26] they play every other day. Again, with Jamal Murray with that leg, you don't know if it

[00:16:34] gets to that point where they're going to be. So there's factors involved in it that are

[00:16:41] beyond. I think one of the things too, in Minnesota, Anthony Edwards can play all day.

[00:16:48] There's so many factors involved, I guess is my point. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, which

[00:16:53] is why we're sports fans and why again, like you said, this is the best two months

[00:17:00] of sports on the calendar. Boom, undeniable. All right, outstanding. You heard the clock go

[00:17:08] off. We went over it again because that's what we do, but please make sure to read Steve's entire

[00:17:13] article. We'll make sure to link that below to get all his thoughts on the playoffs. We only

[00:17:17] hit a couple of them, but thank you again for listening. Time's up. We will be back next week.

[00:17:23] Please consider subscribing so you don't miss any of the shows and join us again, like I

[00:17:29] said, next week on 13 rules, NBA random thoughts, the best 15 minutes of NBA random

[00:17:34] thoughts online. We'll talk again next week. Thanks, Steve. Thanks. All right.