The Shot Clock Pod - NBA Summer League and offseason news

13 Rules - Summer League === Speaker: [00:00:00] All right, 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 and athletic director. And this is the shot pod, the 15 minutes. Anywhere. This is your first time listening. Welcome. We're glad you found us. This podcast is born outta 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 today. We'll discuss his latest 13 rules, random NBA Thoughts article where he shares his thoughts is both the NBA Summer league and off season drama has begun. I'm getting the timer ready. And boom. Steve, are you ready? Ready. Let's start the timer now. All right. We have to start. About LeBron James. We spent some time talking about it before the show. It's hard for, the greats to, to understand when you know, when to make [00:01:00] that decision to, to be a bench player like CP three, like Vince CP three is still starting, but his time is down or to keep trying to hold onto what they've got and that's not exactly what's happening to LeBron. He's still great. He had a great season last year. You called that out, but it's bumpy in LA, for lack of a better word. How do you see things playing out? Arguably the greatest player of his generation who you said in your article, he has a few years left. How do you see it playing out? Where do you think he's gonna end up playing? Speaker 2: He's gonna go somewhere next year, but I think he's going to be a little bit surprised he's gonna play with the Lakers and that could get ugly this year where he has to be traded. Don't forget, he's got a, he's got a no trade so they don't have to do. But, and I think he's having a tough time understanding that he's not the most sought after man on the team, and he's not the big wheel. And dropping outta that is, is difficult. And it's a tough thing to understand. Who's gonna, if they wanna trade them, who's [00:02:00] gonna trade them? When he's making 56 million and it's only for the rest of this year, for this year, you know who's gonna do it? And you might lose him forever. What team is going to do that? That's a lot of money. They gotta give, pay the, players they have to give to the Lakers to even that trade off that's a little difficult. So if LeBron really was so upset about everything and worried he might've taken a little less money. Or thought about it and renegotiated that. I think this is his last year with the Lakers. I think we're gonna see what happens, but I think it's difficult. He's another star. Great player that's realizing, and you don't have that ability anymore. You're not as wanted as you once were. Speaker: Yeah it's tough. It's tough to end your career gracefully. We've seen it before. Kobe's last two years in LA were, weren't great. The team wasn't great. And, yeah, it's difficult. The Cavs have come out and said they, they are interested in LeBron James, the only under [00:03:00] one condition. That's if he's available after buyout, right? That's right. So I do, because that would be, I see that fans. The Lakers hands are tied right now. Do you see any scenario at all where they just bite the bullet and go away? 56 million? Speaker 2: The only thing is if he blows it up, meaning he just doesn't Yeah. He and that, I don't know if that's a wise thing to do because then you're going out. Not beloved, the smartest thing right now for him to do. I think they're trying to figure out what kind of market would be there in a year if everything continues but the smartest thing might be to just say, you know what? This is my last year, and get his. His goods or whatever awards or whatever they give him and get the heck out. I don't know if he could handle that for his ego, because I think he likes to be out front and everybody's seeing it. No, I wanna just add something. We talk about player empowerment, which we've talked about. Braun is the poster boy for player empowerment, and what he did was. Change the [00:04:00] whole attitude among players, and I want the players to make as much as they can, but what he did was tell them basically, or show them loyalty is nothing. Get the money or go to a place and make, if you are that good, make demands. Do whatever you have to do to get whatever you want at the expense of a team. Now, for fans, that's difficult because fans look for root for laundry. The laundry meaning the team name. And when you go to different teams, you are not doing it. And that's a ring chaser. I didn't, bill Russell didn't have free agency, but I didn't see him do it. I didn't see Magic do it. I didn't see Larry Bird do it. I didn't see some of the great, Jordan didn't do it. The, these people played with one team and took the people they had and did the best they could. And also. Jordan didn't like Clary Kra Kraus but Right. But Kraus ran the show and he brought the players in. He didn't ask Jordan what he thought. He just [00:05:00] brought 'em in and Jordan came, showed up and played well too. Yeah. But so that, that's where the game has changed through LeBron, and that's not a good thing for the game. Yeah, Speaker: let's take that to, its what I think logical conclusion, or at least in my brain, what is a logical conclusion because I think it's an interesting conversation. LeBron has been in the finals, I think 10 times, just won four for three different teams, first player to ever do that. Nice resume, but to your point, it's only four in 20 plus years, you can make arguments there. Let's rewind. He stays in Cleveland. We know he won one. Okay. On his return, let's say he had a 20 year career in Cleveland and he took that team to the final, let's say five times, and won three. All right. So what's more impressive to you? A 20 year career? Same team. Five championships. Three. Three titles or 20 year career? Four different teams or three different teams. And four championships in 10 finals, Speaker 2: [00:06:00] staying with one team. And let me qualify that. Okay. If the money is similar right from both teams and guys who play with one team automatically 'cause of the agreement, the CBA. They would get more. Yeah. So if the money is somewhat similar, you want the guy to play with one team. And when you look at the calves, they might have won a few more who knows because then, they might not have had the number one. And you don't know. But the point being, what did he do? He chased rings and then when he got there, he made all kinds of demands on management trade. This guy Anthony Davis, do all this 'cause I want these guys with me. And because he is the best guy in the game. T ma management, you do, it gave in at a second. So that, that, that's where, as a fan, I understand money, but I also understand that you know what you went to Miami, what'd you do? You rigged it. So you had the best team and you only won two. [00:07:00] With the best team out. A four. Yeah, you had three. You and Dwayne Wade are two of the best five players in the game. You should have won more than that. Yeah. And Chris Bosch isn't bad either so let's not let's come on. And by the way, when Pat Riley, who's an all time great, stood up to him 'cause he wanted polster fired. Might have been the only time anybody stood up to LeBron in those years of playing. Speaker: Alright. A lot to talk about, A lot to unpack in a 20 year career, but, let's leave LeBron to the side and go to LeBron 2.0. Staying in the James family, you were impressed that LeBron James Jr. Bronny. In his first Summer League game. It's not getting a lot of publicity out here. And I think and again, I'm in la Steve is in the East coast and I think it's because, looking at the numbers right, the numbers didn't pop out at us. And so I think that's got a lot to do with it. But you saw the game. You were impressed with Bronny. What'd you see different in the second year in this summer league debut? Speaker 2: First of it's summer league, so you can't go crazy, right? [00:08:00] I think it's more significant when a guy doesn't play well. 'cause if he can't hold his own in the summer league, he's not gonna be back. Speaker: Yeah. Speaker 2: I think if a guy goes off, he's supposed to. But what I saw with Bronny and there's some problems here. He can defend. He did a nice job against Cooper Flagg the other night and really forced him into taking a jump shot and not taking him to the basket. 'cause he tried to take him to the basket and Ronnie did a good job and given away a lot of size and strength. Yeah. But. He also is confident on the offensive end, he's willing to take a shot. Last year, he buried himself in the corner and didn't really get involved in the offense unless he was the last option. Now he took charge he shot the ball a lot better. The biggest impediment he'll have is he's just too darn small. He's small and he's gonna have a tough time, and teams are gonna take him down into the they're gonna run pick, roll, they're gonna get him down low and he's gonna have a problem. I. He's on the to becoming a solid role [00:09:00] player in the NBA. He's not there can be. Speaker: Nice nice. That's good. See you player. Was thrust into a more problematic, first year than bro James. And he's, by all indications, he seems like a decent dude Yeah. Who's just out there trying to play basketball. So I hope for good things for him. I really do. Speaker 2: I think a lot of fans are gonna be rooting for him. Oh, no doubt. No. You know what I mean? Where it's a situation, he's the underdog and people always like the underdog. Yeah. Speaker: Hundred percent. A hundred percent. Let's pivot now because I thought this was super interesting. You, in your article this week wrote about the best managed franchises in the eastern, in the Western Conference, and you listed them in order. So I'm trying to pull up the article now. I had it now I, oh, there, it's because I'm gonna get these right. So I think it's interesting because you and I have talked a lot about poor teams. And that's next. Let's focus on the best managed teams first. One thing that I found interesting, here's the [00:10:00] list. These are the top five, in your opinion. The top five best managed teams. That means president gm, so on right top to bottom, and in order, the Los Angeles Clippers, golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat, and Oklahoma City Thunder. Interesting there, of course, that the world champions are on the list. But as I look at this list, the Clippers have never won a championship. The Warriors, they've had a dynasty, but they didn't do very, they didn't perform as well. Admittedly, there were some injuries for them last season. The Spurs are rebuilding, although Miami heat, the Miami heat. So this question. It's a great list, but it's interesting to note that not all of the top five franchisees franchises listed here are coming off when he seasons. So best management doesn't always mean win now, right? No but Speaker 2: let's use the Clippers. They've got a beautiful arena. They have an owner who will spend whatever he has to spend [00:11:00] to get there. Yeah. They have had the same coach and the same president for years and ownership. Balmer is a fan. He lets them run the show. He it and as long as they're competent, they will always be a pretty good, franchise. What player wouldn't wanna play in that arena with that owner? That is as good a situation for a player to get into. Look at San Antonio. The tradition for a team in a small town, small market. I mean that, that's another situation. And by the way, the same thing. And what I was really fascinated to read, how Duncan and Popovich are always around during the summer and all, so there's the history. They've had the same gm, the same owner. It just a sense where, wow. And, Mannu is around all the time. It is just a perfect situation to play in. The Warriors, I know Myers, Todd Meyer [00:12:00] not tired but Myers left. Bob Meyers left. But Dun Levy has taken over and he was the assistant and it's the same. Kara has been there forever. The ownership lake and those people have been there. What you find with teams that are well run, ownership is smart enough. It's not a toy that they manage. They don't tell you who to get. They back off and let these people run the show and they build a nice tradition in a nice situation. I did leave out the Lakers and the Celtics because ownership has changed and we don't know where that's gonna go, although I think in both cases they will be okay. 'cause both seem to have pretty good new owners coming, but yeah, Speaker: y you stole my thunder. That was my follow up question. Where are the Celtics? Red Lake is the two greatest franchises in NBA history. They're not on your list, but that makes sense. Speaker 2: I think. I think what we do know. I think every player wants, would love to play for Boston at the Lakers because of the tradition and Sure. And [00:13:00] all it stands for. LA's got an advantage 'cause the weather's better. And LA is LA where Boston's this little town compared to it. But both of them. That's a whole different thing 'cause they're at the pinnacle. If you are a Yankee or you wanna play for the Yankees in baseball because of the tradition of the years and all of that. So it, it's a similar thing in that way. Yeah. I'm glad I still, and I'm glad I, with the Lakers, I felt bad having to do that, Speaker: Yeah. No, I, not I appreciate that they're at least in the conversation. But I think what comes up here, which I is interesting. So you broad brush it, right? You want a well run franchise, you've gotta let people do their job, number one, and then you really value the loyalty that you talked about and pay fair, right? All of these franchises have guys who have been there a whole long, a very long time. Steve Kerr, you mentioned Duncan David Robinson, Manu Gen Dwayne Wade. These guys who lived, had their entire career. In that [00:14:00] franchise. And there's probably a reason why Speaker 2: Dwayne Wade didn't, he played for Chicago. So let's you know. Oh, that one. Yeah. Yeah. But he did get a statue and he got all the good stuff there so I guess, he deserves a lot of credit but that's a little different. I, I just I wanna just make one thing clear too. If you are a sports fan, you get caught up in who the general manager is. The coach. What you need to always pay attention to is the owner. And the owners will. Good ownership wins. That means people who let their people run the do their thing and don't think they're a general manager or a coach. And when you look at any sport, look at the ownership to find out why. And I'm gonna use a different sport. To exemplify that. The Washington, I guess they're the commanders in football. They had that guy Dan Snyder running the show. Washington had a great tradition in football, and when he took over for about 20 years, it was a disaster because he was he liked [00:15:00] to mingle or get involved. That's the example of bad ownership. Speaker: Yeah, which is a great segue. You heard our buzzer go off, but we're just obliterating that today because we've got a lot to talk about. We took a week off, so we're gonna go a little extra. Those are the best managed teams. Let's talk now about the worst managed teams. Yeah. Now again, in order right now I list them and then I've got a comment and I wanna ask you something. Number one, the Phoenix Suns. Number two, the Bulls, Chicago Sacramento Kings, new Orleans Pelicans. The Brooklyn Nets. Now, I noticed that the top teams weren't all winners, not coming off winning seasons, but the bottom teams are all coming off really poor seasons and have made some really poor decisions. So based on that list of worse managed teams, it seems that it does mean if you're on this list, you have an increased chance of losing. Whereas being the best run doesn't mean you're gonna necessarily gonna win, but if you're poorly run, you're gonna lose. Speaker 2: Look at it. The sons have an an owner that thinks he's, running, he's a general manager and it's [00:16:00] all about him and it just doesn't work. And they're at the bottom right now. They have some players, they have Booker and all and they just made a league again and Brooks. But there's still, it's a mess. It's a mess and it's unstable. Coaches change every year. General managers change, so it is just a mess. And then you look at Sacramento, they've gone through more coaches in the last couple years than, some good franchises, have had probably the same amount of coaches. I. Over the years, through their long term tenure where the kings in the last five years have been through a couple coaches, 10 years, whatever. And that owner is not well regarded in the NBA circle. So you have that. Then the balls, Jerry Reinsdorf in's, late eighties. He's the owner of that team. Car who's the president or general manager of that team. Any other team, he would've been fired a while ago. They're the epitome of a team just staying in the middle. And he, I don't know what he's doing. He could have gotten a draft pick [00:17:00] as well as Josh Giddy when he traded Caruso and Oklahoma City's got a bunch of them. And what it, he didn't, it just horrible. Kobe White is a good player, is. I don't think he wants to resign. He's going, look to go free agent, because if it is a apparent dislike of this situation, Vukovich, they should have traded him a year ago. He's got one year left in his contract, so his values go. They just they're just an average team. The only asset they do have is Billy Donovan. Who, is a coach and well regarded by the players. So that's what, and if we talk about the Pelicans, they're number two in the city. Everything's football there. They play in the arena right next to the big stadium by Big Superdome. The owner bought them because there was talk of movement and all that. Benson, who's she owns the football team also. Former, who passed away. So she, she's not really involved. She put Dumars in and they just made a trade that was suicidal [00:18:00] where they gave up a draft pick. With, no lottery, nothing, there's nothing that could be the number one picnic next year. They gave it away to Atlanta, for a queen. The guy from Maryland airplane. So that's crazy. The nets, you wanna talk about somebody who. Marx, the general manager there, and I'm sure Josiah is a good person or whatever, but this guy's been in charge. They've turned over personnel more in the last 10 years, three, four times. What are we doing here? So that's the point that I'm trying to make, they're not, not well run, obviously. Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. No, and I, I look at this, listen, I kept trying to think to myself, which one of these five teams, sons, bulls, kings, pelicans, nets, has the clear path out? And I don't know, I, is it in your opinion, 'cause you said it all starts with ship. Can you succeed with a really bad owner? Or is that what needs suggest? It's Speaker 2: difficult. [00:19:00] Yeah it's in the Knicks are starting to succeed with a bad owner. However, with the Knicks, the word is Dolan. Their owner hated Tibs, and that's one of the reasons he was fired. So he's getting his fingers into the whole thing. If the Knicks win it, I'll believe, but I just see him doing something that gums up the works. Yeah, at some point. But, you think about it. Dolan bought in Isaiah Thomas 30 years ago, or 20 years ago, whatever. So he's not really on top of things. First of all. Also, a good owner hires good people. The five bad ones I talked about, the new GM at for Phoenix ish, Matt ish, the owner went to Michigan State and loved Tom izo. In fact, he wanted him to coach, but the new GM was a player at Michigan State. What are we doing? Come on. It. Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. As I look at this worst list I, yeah, I know. You and I are both baseball fans too, [00:20:00] and you might remember Cincinnati Red's horrible owner name. Marge shot her team and I don't know if this is more or factual, but I think her team swept the AS four oh. Which meant that she didn't get revenue for game five. So if she was mad at her team, that's right. For winning the team, the World Series in four. So she didn't give them any money for celebrations. They had to go out and enjoy hot dogs and Cokes to celebrate. That's a poor league. That's a horrible person. But her team Speaker 2: won What? If you're, if yeah, they did and it's good. Nothing is foolproof. But if you're an owner you wanna you want your people wanting to play there and you wanna do things first class. And if you begin to not, spend a couple thousand dollars for a party or whatever else it is. Those players talk and they're gonna, so who the hell wants to come to Cincinnati? Why would you wanna do that? If you're, any of these teams, why would you [00:21:00] wanna come there? Except they're gonna, they give you more money, they're gonna pay you more. But it's not a place if you have choices, you're not going there. And that, that's part of it because it, it's just run. That's all you can say. Yep. Speaker: Yep yep. A blind squirrel every now and again finds a nuts and maybe that's what happened in Cincinnati. Alright, man. You heard the buzzer go off five minutes ago. Yeah. But that time is yeah. It's what we do sometimes. I don't think we've ever once come in under the shot clock. That's okay. We'll keep trying. But thank you for listening. Thank Speaker 2: you for watching. This was the longest, one of the longest ones we've done. Speaker: True. Let's see let's see if people appreciate it. The overtime. And it was fun. I think it is definitely a good conversation. During the off season, we'll probably, I know last season, we talked to Scott Foster. We talked to Kevin Greeny. We did things, a little differently and we, we went away from the shock clock. We might do the same again this year, but stick around and find out. But yeah, make sure to read Steve's entire 13 rules, random NBA Thoughts article. We'll link it wherever you're watching or listening to the [00:22:00] show. Of course, please join us next week. We're not quite sure what we're gonna do, but we'll be back. Please consider subscribing. Join us next week again on the Shot Clock Pod, the best 15 minutes ish of NBA random thoughts online anywhere.