The Shot Clock Pod - NBA Week 12

[00:00:00] Alright, it's time to talk basketball. I'm Jose Salviati, editor at TheBeachBasket.net. He's Steve Priscilla, a long-time educator, vice principal, high school basketball coach, and athletic director. And this is the Shot Clock Pod, the best 15 minutes of NBA Random Thoughts online anywhere. If this is your first time listening, thank you. We are so glad you found us. This podcast was born out of the content of Steve's 13 Rules Random NBA Thoughts articles, which he publishes weekly.

[00:00:27] In this pod, 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 on select teams after week number 12 in the NBA season. Now before we get started, I feel, I wouldn't feel right acknowledging the fact that this is a crazy time. I'm based out of LA area, Steve's based out of the Florida area.

[00:00:53] And here in LA, things are going crazy. Apocalyptic even. And a couple of games were canceled today. In Atlanta, it's canceled because of snow here. It's canceled because of fire. People have literally lost their homes. And we actually took a break from our socials at the beach basket for the last couple of days, just because it felt like there were more important things to concern ourselves with.

[00:01:14] But we got to keep going. We got to move on. Jay Reddick, whose house literally burnt down, coach of the Lakers, just said that the Lakers want to play because we've got to get back to it. And I respect that. And I understand it. And as hard as it is, we wanted to have this show today. Steve, I know you and I didn't even talk about doing this. And it just happened when I started. But I feel it'd be silly to not acknowledge the craziness that's going on right now.

[00:01:38] But we're doing this because we want to move on from it. We want to remember the folks who are struggling. We want to call them out. We're thinking about them. But I think for everybody's sake, it's best to just move on and let's talk basketball and that things get better quickly for everybody. So this is where I ask you if you're ready, but I feel obligated, right? You good with all that, Steve? Do you agree? What are your thoughts? It's a horrible thing to know that people have just been uprooted with nothing.

[00:02:07] And it's tragic. You said it best. I have nothing else to add. As hard as it is, the game goes on and we're here to talk about it. So let's talk basketball. We're going to start the timer now and get into Steve's latest article. Boom. In this week's article, you crowned the Cleveland Cavaliers as official title contenders. I don't know why they're official in quotes. They are. They're official.

[00:02:35] No quotes needed after the win against OKC. So I got to ask you, what impressed you in that game and what concerns remain about the Cleveland Cavaliers? Like everybody, you were waiting and thinking, will they fold at the end of the game in the fourth quarter? They didn't. In fact, they had a surge there near the end to put it away. That told us something about their ability in tough situations. They're a similar team to last year.

[00:03:02] However, I think the biggest thing that happened is Evan Mobley has become a player. When they played Boston last year in the last game of the series, J.B. Bickerstaff had everybody. Mitchell was hurt and they were beat up. So what he did was he went to Mobley and Mobley went off, had a great game. In my mind back then was, oh, because he's going to start figuring it out. And he is. He's averaging 18 this year, but he's also a pretty good defender. And he doesn't have to play center because he's not really built for that.

[00:03:31] The other thing the Cavaliers did, they have two bigs. Is that going to change the game in the NBA? Because the NBA has gone in the last couple of years to small. Your four is usually not a big person. Now it's Mobley with Allen as the five. That changed a lot also in the NBA. Now teams are trying to match that. And Mobley's good enough that he can come outside and guard.

[00:03:58] But that's one major thing. And the other thing too, they've got four, four guys who can make the all-stars at any time with Garland and Mitchell, Mobley and Allen. So they're pretty good. And their bench, you got Max Struess coming off of it. Either he or O'Koro start. But the other one, Dwayne Wade is a player. They've got players. Sam Merrill can shoot. They can play. And the guy, Ty Jerome, is playing way above the back of his baseball card. He's really playing well.

[00:04:28] So they have a legit bench. They have a legit team. Naturally, you wonder in the playoffs what will happen. Will they be able to handle the pressure? Boston naturally has handled the pressure. They've gone through it. Oklahoma City really hasn't handled the pressure yet either. But I have to figure that right now, Cleveland and Oklahoma City are pretty much an even bet to get to the finals, if not better. They are lapping the field.

[00:04:58] So that's what you would expect. Now, Cleveland, as I mentioned in the article, Cleveland has the home court right now. They've got two losses ahead of Oklahoma City. So if Cleveland holds that, well, you've got the home court advantage in all playoff series. That's pretty big. That's what Boston had last year. That's a big thing to fall back to. So they've got a lot going for them and only four losses at this point in the year.

[00:05:25] If it continues, they're fighting with Golden State for the all-time record. It's just so many things going well. And Sam with Oklahoma City, they've got six losses. It's amazing. Last night, they went into Madison Square Garden and they just skunked the Knicks. They ran them out of the place by, I don't know, 25 or so. It's almost like they're showing there's a gap between them and the rest of the league. Very interesting to see how this is going to play out.

[00:05:53] What intrigues me about Cleveland is short of Donovan Mitchell, they have a bunch of what I would call good players. You call that Evan Mobley, phenomenal good player, multiple all-stars. But the star of that game is going to come up again in your article because you talked about you need multiple stars. They don't have multiple stars in Cleveland, I don't think. They've got Donovan Mitchell and a bunch of really good players. Is that wrong? I disagree.

[00:06:20] I think Darius Garland is one of the most underrated, unknown, not unknown, but not well-known players. I think Mobley is a player. And then they kill you with depth. And yeah, I understand Mitchell. He's not a true superstar. But then again, analyze this. Boston won the title. They had the two guys, Brown and Tatum.

[00:06:47] Mobley, he plays more than Porzingis. They're comparable. Jared Allen, who are you going to compare him with? Al Horford? He's way better than Al Horford. Yeah, Boston has an advantage with Smith, with Holliday and White. But you know what? That's comparable. And again, Garland is better than either White or Holliday, although Holliday is still a great clutch player. So it gets interesting. It gets really interesting when you break these teams down.

[00:07:15] And then Cleveland, Boston has a decent bench. Cleveland's got a better bench. And one thing I just want to add. Oklahoma City is doing all this without one of their best players. And when we begin to think about the fact that they're doing this and they're beating the heck out of teams without the kid from Gonzaga, they're legit.

[00:07:45] And I don't know. They probably are better than Cleveland right now. Okay. All of Cleveland just stirred up in anger. We'll see how that plays out. Ted Holmgren is the Gonzaga alum who you're talking about. And I think what saved Oklahoma City Thunder there was being lucky enough to bring in the gentleman from the Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers guy I affectionately call. Shoot. Hustlestein.

[00:08:14] I think that was the nickname. You say that. But you know what? Sam Presti, the general manager in Oklahoma, he hasn't made many bad decisions. No. True. He just signed Isaiah Joe, who had 30-something last night. But he just signed him to a contract over a couple years at a lower price. So he's going out and he's putting it together because he's going to have to pay these guys in a couple years when they're off their rookie contract. And he's got it all figured out.

[00:08:42] And bringing Hustlestein in was just one more good move. And it worked out real well with the injury. You know, they're good. They're flat out good. And by the way, they're young. So the NBA might have a problem if they continue to dominate. If they dominate the West each year, they might have a problem. They might have a problem because their series might not be as competitive as you'd like. It's interesting that we pivoted to the Oklahoma City Thunder, which is not in my notes anywhere.

[00:09:12] But they're that good. They're that good. Let's talk about Zion Williamson. You wrote about not Zion necessarily, but we know that he was suspended recently. And his coach is in trouble. And I've got to ask you flat out, and we're going to elaborate on this a little bit. But is Coach Willie Green to blame for what's happening in your list? Of course not. Of course not. But sometimes when teams go flat, the wheels are off the wagon. When that happens, they make change, and they make big change.

[00:09:42] I think an indicator will be who they trade, if they trade, before the deadline. If they make some big-time deals, you get the feeling they're just going to start over. So it's something to watch. But Willie Green did a nice job for a couple of years. And I don't think there's a problem there, but you wonder. You just wonder because definitely things are falling apart. And when teams hit the injuries like that, one of the things that they really have to re-evaluate their whole training methods and what they're doing.

[00:10:12] Because they've really been, as I pointed out, all those games they've lost with injuries. It's crazy. And with Zion, he's missed a whole mess of games. And last night, he got benched. Why did he get benched? Because he missed a plane. Now, teams don't do that the first time a player does that. This must have happened a few times. And it tells you something. Did he check out? Is he done with them? What's the story there?

[00:10:38] And I'll tell you, too, New Orleans has got to have had enough of him. He doesn't play. And then he misses a plane. It just, it's out of control. So I would watch that situation closely. Yeah, and we certainly will keep an eye on that. Zion came to the league with so much fanfare. And it's unfortunate. He couldn't elevate his game or elevate his team. His time in New Orleans might be done. Let's talk about a team that has reached the pinnacle now. The Warriors, right?

[00:11:08] They started out hot. People were talking about their back, their championship material. And then just everything fell apart. You pointed out, we talked about this earlier, that they need another star in the NBA. You need a couple of stars. They've got one who's 36 years old and hurry. But I'm going to ask you this because this is the rumor, right? What do you think the chances are that Jimmy Butler is that other star in San Francisco? And is he the answer for that team? They still don't have enough to win.

[00:11:36] I don't think you might get to the second round with him. But I don't see them going far. Don't forget Curry, as I pointed out, was 36 years old. They need more. And plus, you're going to give up some players for Butler. Right. So you're just, I understand going back years ago, great players, even when the franchise was going bad, they stayed with the team forever.

[00:12:03] They're making every effort to stay relevant because of Curry. The shame of it is, and he's won his titles. But if they really sink real low, he's going to want out. And they don't want that to happen. So they're trying to put lipstick on the pig because they're just, they're not good enough when you really break it down. And they're not big. Loney and Loney and he's the 6'9", is their biggest. They have a, they're not a big team. They get beat up there.

[00:12:31] Draymond is not that big, although he's still good. But they need more. They need more to win. Yeah. Watching, probably the hardest thing to do as a fan of the game is watch a team hold on to a star player for longer than they should. Right. We saw it here in LA. We might be seeing it in San Francisco and there's other examples. It's tough. I go back to what, 92 when Boston tried to hold on to Bird and his back was shot.

[00:13:01] He played the Olympics that year. That was the last thing he did. They played us to Cleveland and he was beat up and so on. And they were done. They were done. They were hoping that somehow Bird woke up and would just be fine one day so they could win. But it's the same situation. But Bird was fortunate enough to finish his career at the same place he started, McHale. So that was a good thing. And back then, players didn't ask out like they do today. Sure.

[00:13:30] Let's end with this. And it's not a great topic, but you wrote about it and I think there's value in discussing it. I got to ask you, is there a more thankless job in the NBA than to be the NBA coach of a rebuilding team? You called out Chauncey Billups in Portland, Darko Reykovic in Perrantel. What do coaches need to do when they're handed a rebuilding team? What do you want to see from that team?

[00:13:57] And how long would you give a coach to rebuild before you say it's over? I would give him as long as it takes if there were certain things going on. If you look at what J.B. Bickerstaff did this year coming into Detroit, they defend, they play hard. We're achieving. Now, let's think about this for a minute. If you're going to come in with a young team, you've got to hang your hat on something.

[00:14:24] We're going to be the best defensive team or play as well as we can, or we're going to be a running scoring machine. We're going to do something that we're going to hang our hat on. The other thing you're looking for, especially at the end of the year when a team's out of it, are they playing hard? Or are they getting blasted by 30 points? If they're getting blasted down the last 20, 30 games, you know what? They're not playing for this guy anymore. So there's a couple of different things that you're looking at here.

[00:14:54] Portland, and then over the years, have they gotten better? Portland really, this year they're a tad better than the other year on a better pace, but they're not much better. Toronto, to me, I look at Toronto, I think they've got some talent. They're dreadful. They've been beat up. They've been hurt. And let's see what happens over the next 20, 30 games or 40 games, whatever's left. But when you've got Pirtle, who's a nice player, quickly, he's a nice player. R.J. Barrett's a pretty good player.

[00:15:23] Scottie Barnes, that's not a team that's won in single digits so far. That's a better team. And they've got a win. I can go on, but that's not a bad team. And they've got a couple of good rookies that aren't bad. Shed and people like that. It boggles my mind. And they're going out and they're giving up 130 points on a given night. So where the heck are we going here? What are we doing? And to me, that's when you begin to look at it and say, we're not getting better.

[00:15:53] We're not improving. It's time to make a move. But you're looking for some little thing that gives you hope that it will get better. And I don't see it with Toronto. I don't see it a big way with Portland. The biggest thing with Portland is, and this isn't Billups' fall, but Scoot Henderson, he hasn't been as good as projected. Let's put it that way. And that's a big thing. That was the number three pick in the draft.

[00:16:22] And we messed that one up. You're in trouble. Yeah. I've always said, and it's arbitrary, right? But I always felt like if a coach has a team, right? Just like you said, because you've got to be able to, your voice has got to matter, right? You've got to project some kind of authority. You'll see maybe not wins increase year to year, but you're going to see effort increase year to year. And that's what I want to see. And so I always thought, give it three seasons is a good amount of time to figure out, right?

[00:16:52] So if I hire a coach, and for season to second season, we dip in wins, but we increase in effort, that's progress. I'm going to give that coach another year. And as long as that continues, I'm happy. But again, it's arbitrary. Three years sounds like a good amount of time to see that. It's just a thankless job. And in the NBA, there's no patience. And certain franchises have less patience than others.

[00:17:19] And Charles Barkley just called out the Lakers for something along those lines. Well, that's why they don't win. That's why they don't win in a big way. Because sometimes you've got to sit and you've got to stay with what you have if you believe something's working. Then other times you've got to be able to call it quits. Right. And when you, again, Toronto situation, I've watched them a few times this year. And I sit there and say they should be better. What is it? Is R.J. Barrett a stat filler?

[00:17:48] Quickly has been hurt a lot. Are we missing something here? What's the story? And then I watched Toronto a couple months ago when they played the Knicks in Toronto. They almost won the game. Those guys were playing hard. So is it because Barrett was playing against his old team? He had a great game that night. Or is that his motivation? Or does he go out and play hard every night? That's the thing that I think about. Now, Toronto, if you watched him, they play a great game against somebody and hang in. And then the next night they're blasted.

[00:18:17] So that doesn't make sense. So I understand your criteria. My criteria is, are they hearing the coach? And if they're hearing them, they're going to continue to play. If they're not hearing them, they're not going to. 100%. 100%. All we want is fans and we want to see effort. We want to enjoy watching our team play. But yeah, any way you slice it, it is a thankless job to be a coach in the NBA of a rebuilding team. And because of that, Chauncey and Darko and Willie are all in the hot seat. But that's it.

[00:18:47] You heard the clock go off. Our time is up. Thanks for listening. Make sure to listen. Pardon me. To read Steve's entire 13 Rules Random NBA Thoughts article. We'll make sure to link that somewhere so you can get to it quickly. to get more of his thoughts, random NBA thoughts, on week 12 of the 2020-2025 NBA season. Of course, please consider subscribing, liking, clicking, sharing, doing what you got to do to get us out there more. We really do appreciate that. Join us next week on the Shot Clock Pod, the best 15 minutes of NBA random thoughts online anywhere.

[00:19:17] Thanks, Steve. We'll talk next week.