The Shot Clock Pod: LaMelo Ball’s Struggles, Celtics Comeback Hopes, and Raptors’ Rise

13 Rules - 10_19_2025 === Jose: [00:00:00] Alright, it's time to talk basketball. I'm Jose Salviati, Editor at thePeachBasket.net. He's Steve Purciello, a longtime educator, vice principal, high school basketball coach and athletic director. And this is the shot clock pod, the best 24 minutes of NBA random thoughts online. This podcast was born outta the content of 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 shares his random thoughts. About several things as the NBA season is set to tip in two days and now that we're 24 minutes as opposed to 15, and this is more of a traditional random thoughts article. We're actually gonna get to talk about each of them in a little bit of detail, which is cool. At least I hope we do we'll. We'll see. 'cause when the shot clock goes off, we drop everything, which is a blatant lie. We keep going, but let me get started here. I gotta get the clock going. All [00:01:00] set. Steve, are you ready? Ready. Let's do it. The shot clock is starting now. Alright. You called Lalo Ball and when I read this I didn't know, I just laughed because it shocked me. You called him the most talented non-actor in the NBA, which at first glance seemed harsh. So what'd you mean by that? Steve: It wasn't, I don't think a mellow ball. Understands I don't wanna say he doesn't wanna win, that's wrong, but he doesn't affect winning at all. He, when you watch him play. You see him pull up and take 25 foot 30 footers and just outta nowhere. And this is like with the 20 seconds left in the shot clock. It just, he does things that are crazy, but he's so talented and I think, playing with Charlotte is difficult because you're losing all the time. So you're gonna continue to play the way you [00:02:00] play. I really think he would love to be a winner and be on a winning team, but I don't think he quite understands what has to be done to get there. And you hope that Charles Lee can begin to do it. I think when Steve Clifford was coaching him, he got frustrated with, and I'm guessing, but he got frustrated with some of the things Ball would do. There's one other problem when you talk about Laila Ball. He gets hurt a lot and he's had some problems with his ankles and his legs and that means he's out and that doesn't help a team when they're banking on their best player to be there. And one more piece to that. I believe he's made one All-Star team in his years and he is been, he's been the best player on that team for all these years. Yeah, he, that tells you something. It tells you what the mb I would make him like Trey Young, a guy that everybody expects to break out and become just a dominant point guard, but he hasn't done it. And then the last piece on it, [00:03:00] his disinterest. Defense and I wanna see what happens this year. But the best way to see it is anytime there's a screening action and there's a switch and he's switching, what he'll do is not follow the man. So if that man cuts through, he's getting an easier shot. Ball will give up around the Fallon. And I've seen him do it numerous times, and that's like my goodness. Are you getting it here? Or what's going on? And then with that, you have to look at his upbringing, his dad, featured these kids and maybe he never quite got it, but I do believe. Inside there, there's a great player who does wanna win. And I think it's up to somebody to get him to see it and bring it out of him. Jose: Yeah. So many times, and we've talked about this before, it's about being in the right system, right with the right coach, with the right team the teammates around you and that, that's gonna help somebody blossom. And that's tough because you don't [00:04:00] always, you never get to really pick. You do, as you get to be a veteran in the NBA, but you don't really get to pick so tough situation. And, I, being a California guy, I lived for a long time in Chino Hills, which is where he got his start, and he was a winner there. I can't push back. ~His. His~ his professional career just hasn't Steve: lived. ~Basketball's an interesting sport ~ Jose: standards. And that's too bad. This is what ~entry,~ I think it's fifth or sixth season. It's time. ~Basketball's an interesting sport. Yeah. If you, which is why we're here talking about it.~ ~But we're hoping~ ~go ahead. I think we're stepping on each other a little. Go ahead. ~ Steve: ~No.~ Basketball's just an interesting sport. If you play it. Even in the school yard, you're going to find people who could care less about their teammates and just will throw it up no matter what, and it's just not fun to play with those people. There's no comradery and that's why you like to play the game. So I think that lolo's not like that. But that would be the worst thing you can say. And there are guys in the NBA or in all places Sure. Who are people who only consider what they did and never think about, the greater good of the group. So [00:05:00] that's something just to think about. Jose: Yeah, we're hoping for good things for Mello and the Hornets. I think it's time for them to take a move forward. I think it's past time, but let's talk about somebody who has absolutely taken that giant step and unfortunately got hurt. That's Jason Tatum. You wrote that. He's dunking four months after Achilles tear, which is pretty unprecedented. He KD rather without 18 months. The same injury. So are the Celtics optimistic and hopeful, cautiously optimistic that he returns this season? Is that possible? Steve: I don't think they're gonna rush him, but if you look at Drew Smith on Miami, he got hurt in December of last year, and he's back. And he had the Achilles. So I think there's a hope that he will play. But if you really start looking at Boston, it gets interesting because if you take, if you can take a healthy Tatum and let's just step back [00:06:00] and say, first of all, the Eastern Conference is not strong. Second of all. If Boston can hang in with what they have and Tatum is able to come back in March or April. It gets interesting. Now Boston needs one more thing, and if you think about what they had last year, they lost Drew Holiday, who's a good player, you have to hope that both Pritchard neither are as good defensively, but both Pritchard and Anthony Simons can fill that. It's a different type of team now. It's more offensive, but. They're pretty good players. Now, the other piece, you lost Pius, but he never played, he missed the playoffs and they lost Al Horford. That's a loss, but that's, and Luke Cornett. But that's a loss in the way that Horford was the fifth guy to take a shot. He was always the extra guy setting screens and doing all the invisible things. Now they are hoping na NAIA will fill that. Cada played well for [00:07:00] Portugal in the World Cup and they're hoping that it follows through. He did play well in their last preseason game. I think he had well over 10 rebounds in about 20 minutes. If he can do that or if Boston can go out and get somebody that can rebound, score around the basket and be a presence defensively. Tatum is playing. They're dangerous because again, you have to make up for holiday. I don't know if Simons and Pritchard defensively can make up for 'em, but the big, if you have a big who can play Pingus didn't in the playoffs. If you can do that you know what? You're, you are almost there. And don't underestimate the fact that they can go out and make a trade. So it's interesting if he does come back and they've held the fort, meaning Boston's still gonna make the playoffs, if that is all happening, they become [00:08:00] interesting and they're not, they're gonna be a tough out at the very worst for somebody to be if he comes back healthy. And that's asking a lot. But it is an interesting thing. And I wanna just add something very interesting. During the summer, they had the Celtics had a guy named Bassi who played for them. A rebounder from San Antonio and. Everybody wanted him to stay, but what happened, they didn't sign him. He just got cut. And he's not a, a value player, but he could help Boston. And the one thing they didn't show in the season was an ability to rebound. So I'm just throwing things out there because they do need somebody who can get the ball off the backboard. Jose: Yeah. Yeah, which is probably on, on most NBA teams is a checklists right to, to have somebody like that. Let's see how things play out for Boston and Jason Tatum. The [00:09:00] most exciting thing about a new season in my estimation. Is finding and attaching myself to a new player, somebody I'd never heard of. That's one of the coolest things about talking to you weekly. You always, have a way of introducing me to, to new players I hadn't heard of, and I got to follow 'em. That's how I learned about Jalen Duren from the Pistons. Somebody I really enjoy watching you called out a player that hasn't received a great deal of press, but somebody to keep an eye on. Introduce us to Trey Johnson. Steve: Trey Johnson's a shooter. He could score and Washington does need somebody that could fill it up. He's a guard about six four, I guess he was the sixth pick in the draft last year from the University of Texas. People don't know a lot about him. He's not shy, that's for sure. And wash again. They've got some pieces. Pieces. Not great pieces, but pieces. Bug Carrington's, a nice point guard. They got, what's his name? The big guy, SAR, I believe they do have Middleton and McCollum, CJ McCollum. But they've [00:10:00] got some pieces. If they can find a guy who can shoot, and I think he will. I'm not gonna say he's gonna be the rookie of the year. I'm not going to say he's gonna start out, going, but he's got potential to be a player. And if they can do that and he can fit it, all of a sudden they're good. And keep in mind, somebody will say, oh six pick. What do you expect? How many six picks? Have, so I just see something in a player look out. He could be real good. It's gonna take. Jose: Love that. I will certainly keep an eye on Trade Johnson. And that always excites me when I've got somebody I can follow on a team that I don't normally follow. So that's cool. Let's stay in the east. We'll talk about the Cleveland Cavaliers now. They're the favorites in the East going into the new season, but you called out that they're not exactly the same team this season as they were last. What's changed in Cleveland Steve: without getting into the betting, but right away you wanna see something when a team last year. [00:11:00] They won 64 or 65 games this year in the betting. I believe they're over under is 52. That doesn't make sense. So right away, something's not right. I believe it's 52. I might be wrong. But even if it's 57 or even higher, you know there's something not right and I'm gonna give you what I think isn't right. What they did was they lost a couple. They lost their bench. Caris Vert, who's a nice player off the bench Ty Jerome, who had a tremendous year and parlayed that into making real money. This year they lost those two which are big hurts. Georges Yang who could shoot it. These guys were all gone. They did, and they traded Koro and they got bell ball's brother. Him, he's the backup guard. They don't have the backups they had. Now Mitchell misses games. Ernie Darius Garland is out for a while still. Sam Merrill will be starting in Garland's place. He was there last year. He was a shooter [00:12:00] who wasn't great on the defensive end. In fact, when he played teams, went at him and tried to make him defend. So if unless Mo Mobley takes a big step forward. Donovan Mitchell's gonna be Donovan Mitchell, and Alan's gonna be Alan. If he takes a step forward, that could save them, but they're not as deep. And last year one of the things the Cavs did was they didn't play those guys for extended minutes. So it gets really interesting. I don't if I'm not a gambler, but if I were. I would really suggest that go with the under on, on the Cavaliers this year because something's not when the odds makers make it the way it is coming off last year. It just doesn't make sense. And the other thing I'll, I said I think before, anytime you get a team that's won like Cleveland did during the regular season last year, the team has accomplished that. So now they begin to [00:13:00] look for ways to sit players more. So that they are ready for the playoffs. And when you do that, you don't win as many games, Jose: right? Regardless, they're they remain the, the favorites in the east, which is a little weak certainly when compared to the west. Let's stay in the east and talk about the patient. It's all east. Piss it. You're right. The rest of the conversation is all east. So let's talk about the Indiana Pacers, another team that's. Changed a lot. Really? I think even more so than the calves. Matter of fact, that's easy. Absolutely. More so than the cals. They mean they may need, and this is interesting you're you fell just short of predicting this, but you said they may need to move on from a promising young guard with career averages of 16 points per game, 34% from deep. Who is that guard and why do you think they might need to move on from him? Steve: They lost miles Turner. Miles Turner. I don't consider a star an all star, but a good player, they lost a big, they lost somebody around the [00:14:00] basket. That could be a problem. Now this year will be a trial and error type year with Tyrese. Halliburton out. And he's already said he's not coming back. Yes. So now they've gotta figure things out they do to become the team they were last year. They need a big, a legitimate, big. How do you get that big? A couple things. Indiana, as I've said before, has never paid the tax right in all the years. Now, having said that, they don't wanna go into the tax. Now if you look at Benedict Mathre, his contract's up Bene Benedict Mathen. He is a player with a great deal of potential and he's a good player. He's gotta be a 20 to 25 million a year player that will push them probably into the tax. What do you do now? Right now his salary isn't good because he is still on the rookie contract, but. What do you do? You begin to explore how do I [00:15:00] trade mathen? And a lot of teams will take him good player. Sure. Trade mathen and get a big back. But when you look at that, even if they do that, and even if they get a legitimate big, not a great one, a guy in Turner's range, they're not as good 'cause they lost math. So their inability to pay money. We'll hold them back from possibly being as good as they were. And I believe guys like Nee Smith are coming up for a contract too, and he's gonna want more money 'cause he's a very good defensive player. So they're gonna be juggling. And does that mean they start running guys out and getting rid of getting rid of people for salary And once a team does that it's a problem. So that's, the long and short of it, Jose: And it's a conversation that we've had. We've circled around it, but I think it's worth a deeper dive. Not now because the shot clock is running, [00:16:00] but what responsibility does the ownership group of a team have? Because we've seen, especially here in la, we had a situation with a really poor owner who just was in it for the money and there's no other way around that he did not care about providing the best team out there. He didn't care about wins, he didn't care about the fans. He just wanted to make money. And I'm not saying the Herb Simon is doing that in Indiana, but it sounds to me like there, if you're not paying the luxury tax, it's almost like you're not trying, there's only been two or three of franchises. Out of 30 that, that are failing to do that. Again, conversation for another time. Steve. We can't go down that rabbit hole right now, but it's a it's an interesting conversation, that I think the NBA might wanna have somewhere down the line. If you're gonna buy a franchise, listen, we're gonna need you to. Pony up. We're gonna need you to make an effort. We need every team out there trying to win, not just trying to make the most money. Quick thoughts on that before we go too deep. Go Steve: ahead. Just a simple comment is very simple. Yeah. Very [00:17:00] easy to understand. Indiana is basketball, crazy state. They're sure they're at every game. Yeah. So why, they are tolerating the team not being very good. They were good, but not being the top team. And they still go to the arena and they're great fans. Speaker 3: Yeah. Steve: So that's probably the best answer I can give you. That would make sense if the people stopped going and go back to the Clippers. You brought up the La Clippers with Donald Sterling people, they were still going. They played the old decrepit arena and yeah, and people, as long as people show up and they pay the big bucks, why make change? Jose: Yeah, it's it's tough, but something's gotta change, man. I again, not calling out Herb Simon, but $4.7 billion net worth, longest tenured NBA owner. Pay the tax man. Pay the tax. [00:18:00] You got a good team pay the tax. Steve: Last thing on that is and if you were to think about this, I'm guessing there's probably eight to 10 owners that would don't care about the money. And wanna win. Jose: Yeah. Steve: The rest of them probably have their fingers on how much, so when you buy a team, that should be a fun thing with all your money. It shouldn't be a thing you're trying to make more money with. Jose: Especially when you bought 'em. Probably, I'm trying to look it up right now so I can have it ready, but I know that. Right now the cheapest NBA franchise is worth 4 billion. I just saw that stat not too long ago. Herb Simon probably bought the Pacers for 30 million. I'm guessing Greg because he's the longest tenure owner. I'll figure it out. That it. He's made his money off this team. Now it's time to put some money into it, but again, we'll save the deeper dive for another time because I think there's value there. But let's talk about the pistons. We're gonna stay in the East Shot clock is still winding down and I'm [00:19:00] feeling the pressure now. The. Falls feeling heavy in my hand. The Pistons won 14 games in the 20 23, 24 season, then 44 last season, they were the NBA darlings. You think we talked about this a little last week? Yeah. You think the team will regress this season? So it was 24, 25 in aberration. Steve: I don't think it was an aberration. They played it hard every night. They snuck up on teams and they were able to beat them. They had players who were happy in their roles and they did it, but they lost a lot of them, as I've said. And I just think it's not a straight line when you get in bed. Not a straight line, but a rapidly. Ascending line as you get better, as you rebuild, sometimes you take a step back. Right now Jade Ivy's out for at least four weeks. He just got surgery on a meniscus, I believe. So you lost one of your better players. You're counting on, so now you lost him probably for what three. About 10 games already in the year. They didn't sign [00:20:00] Jalen Dur and they didn't sign I believe, was it Ivy? Whatever. But they didn't sign these guy or Johnson? No Johnson. They didn't sign, I believe. Or Thompson. I'm losing my mind. But Thompson they didn't sign Thompson. And those guys, you don't know how they're gonna react. They're gonna become restricted free agents next year. You don't know how they're gonna react. They might be angry and who, who knows? Who knows if they're smart? They play hard because they want the money, but they're not the same team. Don't forget, they had, and I've pointed this out, they had Hardaway. They had Schroder, they had a bunch of decent players around 'em. Now they got Duncan Robinson, who's. A great shooter, but a limited player. So they also lost Beasley, although who knows what's gonna happen with that, but they're not the same team. And you know what? When a team, like last year. People love it. They go crazy. Sure. That doesn't go, that doesn't go forever. And you can sneak up on people. I did forget the one [00:21:00] asset they have is Cade Cunningham. He's just a great player, but, I don't know if that's enough. It could be because the east is so weak, but I don't think, they will match what they did last year. Jose: Yep. Yeah, let's see. Hoping for good things in Detroit. I enjoyed watching him play last year. Hope for the same this season. Just to put a period at the end of the earlier conversation, $11 million in 1983 is what he paid for the Pacers. That'll get you a nice three bedroom, two bath here in California. That is craziness. Alright, let's finish here. Shot clock is winding now. We should be able to get this one in just under the shot clock. The most improved team. BA this season will be, I Steve: like Toronto. I think they played the defense. Love that they've got some really nice players. Between Perle and Barrett and Barnes and quickly the and they brought in Brandon Ingram, who's probably the master of the mid, le mid shot. In other [00:22:00] words, not a three, about a 15 to 18 footers. He doesn't miss them. So they've got that, and then they've got a couple good defenders in shed and aji. The one thing I don't think they have is a lot of rebounding outside a hurdle, and that could hurt them over the season. But I am, I've seen a couple of their games in the preseason. They go out and defend and if you can defend in the NBA, you can be dangerous. Yeah. I think if you combine the fact, if they wanna defend and you have the talent, the offensive talent they have. You have to be somebody that's figuring on a good a shot at the playoffs. Because they're pretty good. They're pretty, really pretty good. The one interesting thing too, I find their coach a couple years ago said, Scotty Barnes would be the face of the game. I got bad news. Scotty boy has never. As a shooter. [00:23:00] And being the face means you can shoot and that's a problem that's a problem. Speaker 3: Yeah, Jose: undeniably. But I was surprised to see the most improved team Tar Toronto Raptors. I'd love to see some success up in Toronto. They had a really nice run in major League baseball which continues I think games. Five or six is today? Six. Just see who the six. Game Six. Game six. Hoping for game seven. That's been a great series between them and the Mariners. See who faces off to lose against the Dodgers in the World Series this season. But hoping for good things for the, from the Raptors. Speaker 3: Always lost. You heard our week is Los Angeles. It Jose: just, it wasn't the Lakers, it wasn't the, it wasn't the Lakers, so I know it's in la. Have you ever heard the timer go? I give up with that. Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. As always, make sure to read Steve's entire 13 Rules. Brandon, maybe a thoughts article. We'll link it wherever you are watching or listening to this right now to get more thoughts. We [00:24:00] covered just about all of 'em, but there's some nuance in the article. You definitely wanna read it. Please subscribe, follow it all means a ton to us, and we're grateful for all of it. And join us next week for more NBA random thoughts as we recap the start of the 2025. 26 NBA season with promises to be a good one. We'll talk next week. Thanks, Steve. Steve: Take care.