The Shot Clock Pod: Dysfunction in Memphis, Celtic Struggles, and Unexpected Lakers

Untitled project from SquadCast === [00:00:00] Jose: It's time to talk basketball. I'm Jose Salviati, Editor at thePeachBasket.net. He is Steve Purciello, longtime educator, vice principal, high school basketball coach, athletic director, and he's also the host of Celtic Chalk Talk. Celtic Chalk talk is a pod dedicated to latest news and opinion surrounding the Boston Celtics from a lifelong fan. Steve, the pod will drop new episodes every Monday. But this is the Shot Clock Pod, the best 24 minutes of NBA random thoughts online, anywhere, bar none. This podcast was born outta the content in Steve's 13 rules random NBA Thoughts articles which he publishes weekly. Steve and I have exactly 24 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 discusses his thoughts after week three of the 20 25, 26 NBA season. Steve, are you ready? Steve: I am ready. Jose: Let's do it. The clock is on. Alright. Tail is old as time in Memphis. What I mean by [00:01:00] that is, is this the coaches team or is this a player's team? What's going on in Memphis? Steve : The NBA is a player's league, Jose: Yeah, Steve : but and this is a foreign coach, so Jose: I. Steve : familiar with the American. Ways where the, I think the biggest rule you wanna make would a, as a coach in in, in the United States is get along with your star player. I don't think that's working out real well there now, John Moran, and that doesn't make John Moran innocent in anything. Jose: Okay. Steve : You've gotta sit down, he's gotta do some thinking. And by that this. And I said it was a bad look for the city. It was a bad look for him and the team for him, what? The average person who is 50 50 on the NBA, they look at him and say, look, the guy's making ridiculous amount of money. If somebody was gonna pay me that, I'd jump through the, jump off a building. Jose: [00:02:00] Sir. Steve : And look at what this guy's doing. He's throwing a tantrum Jose: Yeah. Steve : John Morant I'm blaming him, but I'm pulling back. He's a star player and everybody around him in his little entourage has kissed his, you know what? So he doesn't understand. That and I'm not saying it's right, but he doesn't understand that you play hard no matter what. You don't count. If you have a problem, keep it, you could talk about it, but play hard. People wanna see that again. He's making money People will never make in their lifetime Jose: Yeah. Steve : So they wanna go to a game or watch on tv. A player who's giving everything he's got. why guys who run and play hard become favorites, even if they're only making a small amount of money. doesn't quite get that. What does it do with the city? Memphis has got its own problems. A lot of players in the NBA don't want any part of it. I know [00:03:00] LeBron made a joke about it a couple years ago about going to Memphis. Players don't wanna be there. And there's a lot of reasons why with him doing this and the coach being there, it just makes it harder to attract players. Now they're a small market, so they don't really go out in the free agent market at all. Jose: Yeah. Steve : Just sign Jaron Jackson to a good contractor Max by, I dunno if it was Max, but close to Max contract, Jared Ja. Jackson's one of the. players that nobody knows about. Now, if, think about it, if Jar Jackson sees nobody's coming, he's going to, I Jose: Yeah. Steve : I wanna get out. And where does that franchise go? So Jah is hurting a lot more than just him and the coach's relationship. He's hurting things. Jose: Yeah. Steve : That's the problem, Jose: yeah. A tough situation, I agree with you. You've got a job to do the job. When what's surprising to me when I look at Jaw's numbers, his numbers, his point per [00:04:00] game, are down, but by only about three points. So it's not horrible. The Marx difference in John Morant this season is a shooting percentage. This is a 30%, 31% free three point shooter. You're shooting 12% from deep this season, which is just mindboggling, that's just unbelievably bad. Field overall, field goal percentage is down. So this is a guy who's maybe pouting, taking bad shots, rushing shots and my gosh. Do the job, do the job. But I don't know how this is gonna play out the situations like this. Didn't this happen with Jimmy Butler last year in Miami and we saw how that ended up. That's gotta be the end of this, isn't it? He's outta Memphis, Steve : There's an alarming piece to this. John Morant, when you watch his game, he scores most of his points Jose: the hoop. Yeah, Steve : going to the basket Jose: sure. Steve : things. His numbers have changed this year. He doesn't go to the basket as much, so he's realizing about injury and to be honest with you, at yes, he's Jose: Right. Steve : an average shooter. that's also something [00:05:00] else, another dynamic to it. If somebody's looking at, and by the way, supposedly his market is very small. So if somebody's looking to deal for 'em, there's, if I'm seeing it, I'm sure a GM in a, in another city is seeing the same thing. Jose: Yeah, tough situation. Let's hope things clean up in, in Memphis. Oklahoma City is proven. You can do good in a small market, so let you know. Let's hope Memphis gets through this, but we gotta move on. Steve, as always loves to talk about the Lakers. I can't, I, with apologies, it just keeps coming up over and over again. It I don't know what's going on with Steve, but he did bring 'em up again this week and he called out that they are really good. They have started off really well without their top three players on the court at the same time. So how have the Lakers been so good? Steve : First of all, I don't wanna say they're really good. I think, they're winning some close games. And, this was written before. last night when I know [00:06:00] Atlanta had a few guys out Jose: Yeah. Steve : and they drilled the Lakers which, is a shame, but the Lakers, they're winning close games and that's important Jose: Yeah. Steve : if you look at the NBA and I hate to make a big thing about it, but it is a big thing. The point differential usually tells you what your record is Jose: Yeah. Steve : Of the five best teams in the Western conference. Four of them have a point differential over 10 points. And by that how much do you allow and how much you score. So they, four teams have a, an above 10 point thing. One team in the top five, and I believe they were second going into last night, was the Lakers. They only had a, and it pro, it went down after last night, obviously, but they only had a three point Now to me, if you look at the end of the year, it's usually tried and true Jose: Sure. Steve : And so though I think they have a chance to be the second best team in the [00:07:00] west, however that makes me think that they're in they're going to go through a downfall as hard as it is for me to say it. But one of the things that jumped out at me Maybe JJ Red, it has really got a clue. Jose: Yeah. Steve : Maybe that's part of it because he is getting these people to buy in and play. I, I don't know. I don't watch him enough. It's too late for me. I'm sleeping by then but you tell me. You're Reid. Jose: Yeah. And I appreciate you asking, right? I think, listen I, and I'm not gonna talk specifically about the Lakers. I'm just gonna talk very in, in very general terms. When you take a team. That, didn't change really from the end of one season to the start of the other, and you see a marked difference in that team. That's the coach. That's the coach, because the coaches had an off season to, to drill some thoughts into this team, to prep the team and I gotta give credit where it's due. I think you nailed it. I [00:08:00] think JJ Reddick has, understands the job. He understands the, the role. I'm a little bothered after the Atlanta Hawks game yesterday. He held a 92nd press conference. He was furious. And I think as a player, if your coach is getting that upset with you about a loss on the road in November, that could get t him pretty quickly. But he is getting through to these players. They're playing good basketball. Marcus Smart is not a difference maker. He is not the reason the Lakers are that much better this year. It's gotta be because JJ Reddick had a full off season, a full training camp with Luca and all the other players, and he's got a plan that's working. Now the key is gonna be how long does this last? And that's the thing that I'm questioning because this is the same team that kind of was a middling team last season. And generally things always go back to normal, right? It's either a good start and something they're gonna build on, or it's just a little bit of an aberration and then they'll dip. We'll see by by the end of the year. That's. Steve : I think I think [00:09:00] he's done a good I, as we said, I think he's done a good job. I think the Lakers I can't keep emphasizing, first of all, LeBron's not playing, but more importantly. And don't be hating Deandre Aton. He's playing well. But the, I guess what I'm saying is they're just not that good Of those Jose: Yeah. Yeah. Steve : three guys. and I just don't see, like he's defying. When you look at a team, you say, okay, 40 wins, 50 wins, whatever. you look at the Lakers, yeah, those three guys are good. However. You just don't see it, but it's happening. Jose: Yep. Steve : you, it's just like in the opposite. You talk about the coach doing a good job. Jose: Yeah. Yeah. The key is to see if it stays, but I, I have to call out that Great. Deandre Aton rhyme. Well done. That's gonna be on a t-shirt somewhere, I'm sure here in la, but we gotta keep going. This week's up and coming Player high [00:10:00] draft pick. Coming off the disappointing rookie season. Tell us about Alex Sar. Steve : Alex SAR is really, last year he looked like I don't wanna say a bust, but he wasn't gonna live up to being the second guy in the draft. Last year was his first year and his numbers were not great. 13 points, rebounds. Two assists. Not great this year. First of all, he's become ex an outstanding three point shooter, which is. Great for a guy that's seven foot. he's getting 19 points a game. So he's on the borderline of being a real good player. And he is only playing a little over 30 minutes a night eight rebounds and almost four assists. So he's really progressed. Now, the problem here is the Washington wizards are terrible. They can't get outta their own way. They don't defend they don't do much of anything, but. And I guess when you're in that position, you're looking for pieces, you have this piece, you have that piece. They thought that Bob Carrington would be a piece. [00:11:00] He's really not gotten better. hasn't gotten better. So they're searching for pieces that they can put together and maybe then, have a have a legit team, but they're far away from being decent. So maybe. The question becomes is SAR doing well because there's nothing else there. Jose: Right. Steve : it does appear that he's good and in the modern NBA seven footers that can shoot over 40% from three those guys are like gold. Jose: Yeah. Steve : So it changes the whole game 'cause it takes the other team's shop walker away from the basket. So it's an interesting situation. Jose: Yeah. Yeah. It's so weird still to me to talk about seven footer shooting, and needing to shoot from deep. But that's the game, that's the way the NBA is played today. And you're absolutely right. Yeah, if nothing else, Alex sars proving that he can be good which I think is important for him and his career. Another guy who's proving he can be the number one guy. When needed is Jalen Brown, you called this out. [00:12:00] He's been really good for Boston, but the Celtics are struggling. What's going on with Jalen Brown and the Celtics? Steve : Jalen Brown the big question is can he fulfill Tatum's role, and play and score and do all those things? He's. I think it was 27.7, but I think that went up a little bit after the game the other night against Orlando. he's become the master of the mid range. He can hit that shot all night and a little tiny, and he's got great footwork. so he's become very good at that. Naturally. Lost Tatum. Not going to do as well as a team. But Jalen Brown has proven himself as a one guy on most teams. And that's a big thing for them. He's gotta get help. Naturally Tatum, if he's healthy, he's got brown. That's pretty good. Number two. Jose: Yeah. Steve : Brown is, Boston, they're searching for number two, I guess Peyton Prichard might be, or Derek White. Although [00:13:00] white's not playing real well. They're trying to figure this out on the fly and it's not an easy situation. Jose: Yeah. Steve : lost we'll talk about the loss against Utah in a little while, but. They lost a game against Utah, which they should win, especially at home. So there's a lot of things that are loose and have to be put together for Boston. Jose: Yeah. Jalen Brown, 28.1 is what he's up to. So yeah he's definitely answered the bell. And is the expectation in Boston that. Just keep our heads above water until we get our team back. 'cause we know Gayland Brown. When Tatum comes back, that's, that changes everything. A assuming he comes back this year is that the goal? Just keep our heads above water, make it to the playoffs, and then we'll roll the. Steve : I think they're trying to figure it out, and I think what they're looking at is the players they have and are they pieces that are there for the long term. And I could bring up people like Hugo Gonzalez who's really a very good defender, 19 years old, Josh Minot. They found this guy and this guy can play. He's a good defender. He [00:14:00] gets a lot of fa. Gets in foul trouble easily. But he can play and he's becoming a decent shooter, which I thought was his weakest part off the ball defensively. He's excellent on the ball. He is really good. Boston puts him against all the scorers on other teams, so they're finding pieces. And it's not it's a work in progress. They're still figuring out how to fit in with each other. There's a lot of stuff going on there. I think they have some talent, not a great deal, but some talent to win 40, 45 games. You can't go out and lose to Utah and you can't do those kind of things. Jose: Yeah. Steve : That, that's where they are. But I think. By the time Tatum's back, which probably next year, but could be this year, They'll have some things figured out and they'll be ready to make a run. I forgot to mention Kada. The Mayas Kda who's really he's starting to get double doubles. He's playing well. The big problem with him, he is not bulky enough to handle guys that are but he can play. Jose: [00:15:00] Yep. The Celtics are struggling. We expected the struggle, the magic are struggling, and we did not expect that struggle. This is odd. So the Orlando Magic. Rough start. I gotta ask you, is this a blueprint for the season? Is this who they are or is this a, just a bump in the road for them? Steve : It's a good question. I think the big thing, there's two things that are hanging out there. One is their defense is not nearly as good as it was last year. I think they were 14th rated this year, last year they were second in the league. So it's really not as good. So that's big. 'cause they were always, a tough team physical and they still are. They're big. And they do that. They have all that, but it just hasn't And the other thing, they've never been a good outside three point shooting team, so that's hurt them. It's hurt 'em last year. It hurts 'em this year. The other interesting thing, I didn't really write about it, but Pao Bacaro, everybody. is in [00:16:00] involved in the NBA we're saying this guy will become a superstar. Jose: Sure. Steve : hasn't taken that step. And that's a big thing. 'cause Franz Wagner has got become a better shooter from the three and he's a better player. But Paulo. Still where he was. He's not a great foul shooter. He's not scoring at the rate he did. There's a lot of little, a lot of que not little, but questions about him. And if he doesn't progress to where he should, that's gonna bring Orlando down. And let me just say, I thought Orlando. be a top three team in the Eastern conference. And it still could happen, but it's gonna really depend on if Pao becomes the stories we expect them to be. Jose: Yeah. Yeah. Still young still can make that jump. But yeah I get that. And the magic. Yeah. Really low middle when it comes to three point percentage, not. That's certainly not where they wanna be. So you just to answer the question, you see this [00:17:00] more as a bump in the row, but a key has gotta be Ben Carro making that jump. Steve : yeah, and I think there's something I didn't mention is Desmond Bain is not shooting real Jose: Yeah. Steve : Bain is a proven three point shooter. They paid a lot for Jose: Yeah. Steve : to bring him in and he's a good player. He's not really shooting real well. I don't know if it's something in the water in Orlando or what, but it seems like last year it was Caldwell Pope who couldn't shoot threes. Jose: Yeah. Steve : So I don't know what goes on there but it, they're not shooting real well and they never do. But you thought when they got Desmond Bain. That would make them with Suggs and Bain and Ben Carroll and Wagner. And you thought my goodness this team of So Suggs stays healthy, good and it just hasn't really, at all happened. Jose: It's always fun at this time of the year when you take a look at the players or the teams that were assembled during the off season. You and you think that's a good team on paper, but it just doesn't pan out as well. I think we're seeing the same [00:18:00] situation in Los Angeles with the Clippers looked great on paper, but it's just not panning out. Steve : Modern basketball, more so than the older times you need. I think teams need time to play together. Because the game is different now. Again, I go back to a time when if you were over six, eight, they put you down on the block and they threw the ball in the post. Jose: Sure. Steve : eight guys they're guards Jose: Yeah. Steve : they can shoot. So the game is changing a lot Jose: Yeah. Steve : Adapting to each other is important. Now, Desmond Bain with that group, he brings a, an intangible, and maybe he's struggling to fit in, I don't know but Jose: I. Steve : it's a different team when you put Bain on the court, because now he's gonna get more shots and he's more in the offense than Caldwell Pope was last year. So things change, and maybe that's hurting Ben Carroll. But Jose: Right. Steve : the game, with new players, the game changes. Jose: Yeah. You can put five of the best players in the world on the team, but there's still only one basketball, so [00:19:00] figuring that out takes some time. Let's talk about the defending Eastern Conference champion Indiana Pacers. They are having a difficult season, understandably. Again, lots of injuries. Do they buy into the tank or do they try to salvage with this season? What do you think? Steve : First of all let's think about this. Tyrese for the year. We know that Ben Catherine, who's made good steps forward, Jose: Yep. Steve : two games. Obie Toppin three, and he's gonna be out for a long time. Andrew Emhart has played one. TJ McConnell. There are other point Guard with Now, all along all, now. Most teams would look at that and say, look, we lost Miles Turner, so let's, let's get a lottery pick and see what we can do. Jose: Sure. Steve : see that in Rick Carlisle. They're just not that good. But I don't see it in Rick Carlisle meaning. He is gonna try to win every game he can. Jose: Sure. Steve : and I don't think management in Indiana is gonna be upset about that because Rick [00:20:00] Carlisle right now, after what he did last year, he could do anything he wants in Indiana. He's a hero. Jose: Yeah. Steve : so it's an interesting thing. I don't think they have the talent, and I think they will be in the lottery if these injuries continue, obviously. But Carlisle will try in every way. To keep them, in playing and Jose: Yeah. Steve : And again, I can't, we talk about the injuries, miles Turner is a big loss because he helped them. He was always a bailout guy with the three, the offense late in the shot clock broke down. He, and he rebounded and he was also a presence around the rib. Jose: Sure. Steve : that's a big loss too. Jose: Yeah. Steve : I just don't see that happening. Jose: I always hate to talk about injuries in the game, but it seems every year we talk about injuries in the game. It's just the way it is. Another thing we talk about often are three point shots, right? We're gonna end with this, and you talked about the Celtics in the Utah game, it referenced here, but NBA players are taking more three point shots than ever before. So I'm gonna just ask you a [00:21:00] general question here. Is that good? Is that bad, or is that indifferent for the game overall? Steve : What do you think about the three point shot? Jose: I remember when it like you, I remember when it happened. I remember the season they had none and then they had him. They had it. And the Lakers I remember drafted Brad Holland, who's a really good three point shooter from UCLA thinking that was gonna be their sniper. And the NBA, I think in total took one or two, three point shots. You know that first season it was a novelty. It was a novelty. When somebody took a three, you got really excited, and then just over time to see what's become of it now, it's just an important part of the game. I think it, listen at the end of the day, that extra point, if you're shooting 30%, because what are you shooting? You're shooting 40, 45, maybe 50% if you're really good, from the mid-range. I don't know. I think do the math. Yeah, it makes sense. Take as many threes as you can. You're gonna get more points. And it's tough. It's a difficult shot to defend, I think. So I think it's good, but I think watching [00:22:00] eighties highlights when there was no three point it's just, it's a different game. It's different basketball game. And I think, there, there's, there's areas of that game that I miss. So I, I don't know. I'm torn. I'm torn. I love the game. I love watching the game, but. It's difficult. What do you think? Steve : First of all, the three point shot came into existence in 81. Jose: Okay. Steve : the way, here's a trivia question for you. Who made the first three point shot in the Jose: I know who almost made it. 'cause we talked to him on this show that was Kevin Greeny, right? He thought he made the first shot, Steve : He didn't. Jose: But then he found out that somebody beat him to it by a couple of seconds or something. And honestly, to this day, I forget who that was. Steve : Chris Ford. Jose: The Celtics. There you go. Steve : Yeah. And if you watch the film of him shooting it, it was really a nod. Not like NBA players shoot today, Jose: Oh sure. Steve : Enough of that the, they lost against Boston, lost against Indiana. They shot 11 for 51 from three, Jose: Wow. Steve : is barely above [00:23:00] 20%. having done that you start to think about it naturally, the people start saying it's not, don't do it. And so on. And I wrote this the other day and just something to think about many years ago. I went to A game, I think it was in New Orleans the Celtics were playing and Marcus Smart was before the game and I really like, if you go to a game and you're a fan, get there early. Usually the gates open an hour and a half before get there. Then, because that's when players are out there doing workout, shooting and all. Marcus Smart, who is never. Never known as a three point shooter. And I just, I was amazed. I'm watching him and he's moving from station to station around the three point line, and at one point he made 10 in a row, and I'm sitting here saying, this guy is considered a terrible shooter in the NBA. These guys are that good. Jose: Yeah. Steve : The thing, I use that for one reason, very simple. If [00:24:00] you are an NBA player and you are open, should shoot the ball. Jose: Right. Steve : Your weak shooter can shoot that well. You know what does a Jalen Brunson do? He's not gonna miss if he's wide open or he is gonna shoot at a pretty high percentage. The point again, and just to, to if an NBA player is open, he should shoot the. that that's the extent of it. Now, I'm not gonna go crazy and say Deandre Aton should be taking threes. I don't think he can. I don't think he's got good accuracy. But you know what? This year seen Andre Drummond take a three. He made one. So it means Kada took a three a couple weeks ago. So some big, these big guys who you'd never think would shoot a three are doing it and they're adding it to their game. To the point where, you gotta, you have to defend them and that makes them more valuable in the NBA Jose: Yeah. Steve : now you're bringing people away, as we talked about earlier. So my thought [00:25:00] being, again, you gotta take it if it's there and only a few of those shots that Boston took against Utah. Were bad shots, meaning defended shots. They were just ice cold and they still were hung around. And there was a tough call on Jalen Brown at the end of the game where a guy fell down. He tripped didn't make the foul call. And that's where Boston lost the game. And it went on the last a two minute report that foul should have been called. But they shouldn't have been close with Utah except for the fact that they shot 1151. Jose: It's funny how far the pendulum has swung, right? In 81, right? It was a rarity to see guys shoot it. Now it's a rarity when you see a player who's never taken one. He was taking one, I think in Zubo, not a three point shooter. I think he's taking one or two in his life. It's just so wild the way the pendulum has swung in a lot of ways. I, and I know you are, you follow baseball, I know, baseball. It's like the [00:26:00] math behind. Do I. Take that base, right? Do I steal second? Is there bang for buck there? It's not exactly the same, right? But if I was if I had a guarantee that I could make, steal second base 30% of the time, would I do it in baseball? Heck no, that's not enough. 70% of the time I'm gonna be out. But in basketball, if you're making 30% of that three point shot, there's some value there. So you've got to take it. And that's just the way the game is today. Steve : It is. And, and a lot of times we get ourselves caught up in tradition Jose: Yeah. Steve : And so on. And sometimes you gotta realize things just change and you gotta deal with them. Jose: Yeah. Steve : you would talk about the Lakers with Zox and Clippers with Zox. He's one of the few guys in the NBA. Jose: What I'm saying. Yeah. Steve : Post player. But what's interesting is he doesn't get as many shots as you would think he would get in the post Jose: I. Steve : because they don't enter the ball to him as often a lot of post players of the past did. And he's pretty [00:27:00] effective down there. Jose: Yeah. Steve : The game has changed where teams don't enter the ball, they'll take the three and move the ball. When you move the ball from side to side, you get an open three and. That's what happens. Jose: Yeah. Yeah. Big zoo, a career, 8%, three point shooter, so he has made one somewhere along the line. I'm not gonna dig too deep into the stats, but yeah, he is a quintessential throwback center and a rarity in today's NBA. But that is it. You heard the buzzer go off. Our time is up. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. Make sure to read Steve's entire 13 rules, random NBA thoughts article. We'll link it wherever you are listening or watching to this today, please as always subscribe, follow, comment. All that stuff matters to us, and we're grateful for all of it. Join us next week for more random NBA thoughts as we recap week number four in the NBA. Thanks Steve. We'll talk then. Steve : Take care.