The Shot Clock Pod - Week #17

[00:00:00] Alright, it's time to talk basketball. I'm Jose Salviati, Editor at ThePeachBasket.net, Eastdeep Percello, Longtime Educator, Vice Principal, High School Basketball Coach, and Athletic Director. And this is the Shot Clock Pod, the best 15 minutes of random NBA Thoughts online anywhere. If this is your first time listening, welcome. We are very glad you found us. This podcast was born out of the content of Steve's 13 Rules Random NBA Thoughts articles,

[00:00:26] which he publishes weekly. Steve and I have exactly 15 minutes to discuss what's on his mind around the NBA. Today we discuss his latest 13 Rules Random NBA Thoughts article where he discusses his thoughts after week 17 of the 2024-25 NBA season, just before the All-Star Game Break. All right, Steve, are you ready? Ready. All right, let's start the timer. We start in New York. The New York Knicks are 36 and 18.

[00:00:56] Currently third in the Eastern Conference, which is a solid spot to be in. This is one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. Yet you called out an interesting stat about them against the best in the NBA. What's that stat and what's it tell you about the Knicks? You have to agree that Cleveland, Boston, and Oklahoma City are the best. The Knicks are 0-5 against those teams. They still have five

[00:01:24] games left, three with Cleveland, two with Boston. Boston's blown them out twice. They need to play a game that they can hang in and win against those teams. They have five shots, so they should. But the point being that a lot of times you throw out the regular season record and so on in the playoffs. However, if you get beat 10 times, you've got a problem by the three best teams. And it's got to

[00:01:51] be a psychological issue then where you just don't think you can go out and beat them. And that's recorders of the game right there. So they've got to begin to show that they can win. Mitchell Robinson come back coming might help them because suddenly now they've got six guys they can depend on. And Josh Horner, who I think is just a great role player, could become the guy that comes off the bench

[00:02:18] and does things that they need. So that might help them go further. And Mitchell Robinson will help at the rim because to be honest with you, nobody is afraid of challenging Carl Anthony Towns at the rim. Every team goes right at him. When Boston played him last week on the screening role, if he dragged Tatum was pulling up and hitting 15 footers. And if he came up high,

[00:02:44] he went right by him. He wasn't standing there. So you've got to do something and you've got to pick your thing. But the Knicks have to play well against them. And something I'm going to add, last year, the Knicks were a very gritty team. And they gave you a game, no matter what the situation, they played hard. A lot of guys are different now. It's a different makeup. They're

[00:03:11] not gritty team. I feel they've got enough talent to win these games and they do. However, they're not gritty. They're not digging in every stop and playing the game like they did last year. Again, they do have more talent. We'll see where that takes it. Now, I want to call it specifically what you said about Josh Hart. You didn't just call him a good

[00:03:37] role player. You called him the best role player in the NBA. Now, that's something we hadn't planned to discuss here today, but that's high praise for this guy. What do you think makes him the best role player in the NBA? He does whatever they need. If they need points, he goes and scores. The case in point was when Brunson, five fouls on him, he sat out much of the second half. Josh

[00:04:01] Hart went for 30 that night. He's not a good shooter, but he can be counted on when it counts. He also cuts to the basket real well. But the interesting thing that I found the most interesting, he's six foot four. He's ninth in, I forgot the number, but he was in the top, the 17th in the league in rebounding with 9.6 rebounds. Now, if you really think about this, it means if 16 of the guys ahead of him are centers,

[00:04:29] he's ahead of 13 guys in the NBA that are centers. Again, I'm going to emphasize six, four. That's incredible to me. So he's not an all-star because all-stars are guys who can pour points in and do all kinds of things. However, he is an outstanding role player, the best right now in the league,

[00:04:52] the best. Yeah. Without question in my mind. Outstanding high praise for Josh Hart. Good to hear. Let's stay in the East. We'll talk about Jason Tatum. Here's another guy who's pretty good. Top 10 points, top 10 minutes played. I was surprised to see that, but it makes sense. And he's one of the best players. Not really. He's the best player on one of the best teams in the association. Yet he's not listed often as a top MVP candidate. Why?

[00:05:21] One of the problems being on the West Coast is you don't get to see real basketball. But now, the truth of the matter is, because they start at four o'clock for you, you're still working hard. But truth of the matter is, the last three games, Tatum did... He scored a ton of points, a lot of rebounds, a lot of assists, without getting into the numbers. But more importantly, he took over each game. Against the Knicks in the third quarter, he went for 20. I believe it was 20.

[00:05:49] He did it again in the stretch too. He took over a game in the third quarter. Tatum has demonstrated that ability to take over a game. And that's an MVP. The thing about Tatum, his career, it's gone like this where he's unbelievable for a while. And then he goes back to being Jason Tatum. Key thing here, forget the stats for a minute and begin to watch if he takes over these games.

[00:06:15] And he's doing all this. When Boston played the Knicks last week, he was guarding Anthony, Carl Anthony Towns. And he did a good job. He's doing this as well as being one of the better defensive players in the league. This is a complete player, but he's got to go do this every night. And that's a tough thing to do. And one of the things that probably pushed him to do it in those

[00:06:38] three games was Brown was not playing into him. So it kind of pushed him to another level on taking the ability to take over a game. Things you've seen from Yoke and Sheena and guys like that and Bede when he was able to play. That's what the thing is that is really astounding about him.

[00:07:04] Yeah. And we'll get to Embede in a little bit, but you made a great case for Tatum, right? But why isn't he often talked about as an MVP candidate? Do you seriously think it's a West Coast bias? I was only kidding. No, he is not worthy of it because he doesn't take over games. Gotcha. Gotcha. He's got to do that more to get in that discussion. And let me tell you something,

[00:07:28] and I've watched the Celtics for many years in my life. What he was doing in those three games reminded me of Larry Burr. And to me, for me, is the ultimate compliment. He was just taking over. Just give me the ball, get out of the way, and here we go. And he was scoring three, he was sinked to the basket, and he was scoring in mid-range. I mean, he was just doing it all.

[00:07:54] And then the other thing about him, when teams began to double him, which they did in this three game stretch, he began to find other people. They were able to make those shots wide open, and Boston was on the three. So he was just doing it all, and not doing it in a way that he was selfish. He was doing it in a way for the team. Teams began to double him in those games, and he still was finding a way to get Boston scoring.

[00:08:24] Yeah, which is what an MVP does. Let's see how it plays out the rest of the season. You mentioned Embiid. This is a great segue. The 76ers, you call this out in your article, have a choice. Things have not gone the way they expected the season in Philly. The choice is simple. Do they take, or do they not take? You shared your choice in your article. What do you think the

[00:08:46] Sixers should do? Let's set the stage first. First of all, they have traded a couple years ago in the Al Horford deal. They traded to get rid of Horford to Oklahoma City. Their first round pick, that was coming up this year, but it's protected one through six. If Philly finishes in the bottom six

[00:09:07] six and through the lottery, get a bottom six pick, they will keep their draft. If they don't, they lose it. Now, my sense to this, and think about this, is Embiid going to be able to play in a couple rounds in a playoffs every night? I don't think so. Paul George is showing signs that he's getting a little older. He's not playing real well. So you can get a pick in the top six,

[00:09:37] and I'll remind you that three, the first three guys in that draft are considered future stars. So now you're really going to come up with something good, even if you get fifth or sixth. So, and depending on the lottery, it is. So you've got those choices. It would take, I would tell Embiid to get the surgery because he's talking about surgery. Get it now so you're ready in October. Get everything done. Let's clean it up. Even with Paul George, he's been hurt here.

[00:10:07] He's hurt. It's a tendon problem in one of his fingers. Those things, get it cleaned up. Who cares? Who cares? Let's go wonder. They have a good shot at making the playoffs because the Bulls are above them a game and a half. It's above them. And the Bulls, God only knows what they're trying to do. But if they do it, they're making a major mistake. They might be dangerous for teams, but again,

[00:10:32] let's go back to what I just said about Embiid and all. So you've got to make that choice. Now, my sense is, I'm saying quality year. Don't forget the kid, the kid McClain who hurt his knee, who should have been, could have been rookie of the year. He'll be next year. My sense is, oh, Maury and Nick Nurse, there's a little pressure. So my sense is the organization is going to want them to try to make the playoffs. I don't think

[00:10:58] it's a wise decision. Sometimes you've got to go backwards to go forward. And I think this is a case where they do have to do that. Yeah. We've talked about this before on the show, about what a tough job it is being a GM for an NBA team. You've got to know when to trade your best player. You want to do it too early, not too late when they get a little bit older. However, building a team isn't easy, but this is an interesting take on that job of GM. You want to

[00:11:24] win, but sometimes it makes sense to take a step back, to take a couple of steps forward down the line to your point. It's a tough call. One of the things that surprised me, Abicelli came over. He was with Boston a couple of years ago and they cut him because he was terrible. It wasn't in great shape, just not good and no effect on it. He's come there. He sculpted a little lot better. He can shoot. He can play. He's making minimum salary. It's a one-year contract.

[00:11:55] They could have dealt him, could have gotten something legit for him because the Sixers can only go so far in offering salary and he's going to be offered a lot more on the market as a free agent. Maybe you should have cashed him in and gotten something for it. To me also, that's an indicator that they still think they can get in and be a problem because Yamaselli has developed into a nice player. They've been using him in center. He's only 6'8",

[00:12:23] and he's held his own. To me, the other thing too is, and I know he's been hurt, you've got guys like Drummond, Andrew Drummond, Andrew Drummond, but he's a good player. They could have gotten picks and things for these people if they sold off. They didn't do it. So my sense is they're going to try to win. Yeah, we'll see how it played out for the Sixers. We talked just a little bit ago about how tough a job it is for a GM to make a decision about when

[00:12:50] to hold a player, when to let a player go. They let a player go in Dallas. It happened. It was not a dream. And you revisited the idea of Luka trade by bringing up that the Lakers have to start to build around their new star. What do the Lakers need now to build around Luka? Keep in mind, Luka's only got a year in this season on his contract. The Lakers can't offer what

[00:13:16] Dallas could, nor can any other team. I have to think Luka's going to fall in love with living in LA and the whole thing. I have to believe that. And also the next ordained star and all that nice stuff. However, if you're Luka and Rob Palenka does not go out and get a big this summer, back in play, because Luka's big on pick and roll and throwing the luck. If they don't do it,

[00:13:43] and I believe he's the one who told Palenka to get a big now and it fell through. If they don't do it, he's got to do some thinking. And all I'm saying to you is if he falls in love with LA, we know the decision. However, as a free agent, the Lakers would get something probably because it would be a sign of trade. But as a free agent, every team in the league, most teams in the league will

[00:14:11] be moving money to him and are trying to figure out a way to get him. The Lakers, Palenka got a little pressure on him in the off season and he's got to get a legitimate big man. Could you imagine, and you called this out in your article, if Luka says goodbye to LA, which he could do. I just think that's crazy.

[00:14:34] It would be like rebuking the Laker mystique, all that things that go on and just moving on. But when you begin to think about it, I know him and Jokic are good friends. I don't think I don't know if Denver can find something that can give him. How about Milwaukee? Him and Giannis playing together. Yeah. You know, a bunch of teams. Well, they have a lot of interesting.

[00:15:00] Here's a thought that's making the round here in LA, which I'm sure is going to shock you, Steve. Lakers need a center. Denver's got a pretty good one. What are you going to do? What are you going to give up? Rui and who else? Just Rui, straight up. That's about what the Laker fan would think. You kidding. They don't have, unless they're going to give away Luka, what they're going to give away. And LeBron, I wouldn't do LeBron

[00:15:25] for Jokic right now, but there's no way you can get him. That's the silly stuff. And Luka, Luka, and Jokic would be the last guy comfortable living in Los Angeles. It's a fair point. It doesn't fit. I understand the Laker fans are just hoping, you know, they're tilting at Windbills at Don Quixote. And it's a joke. It's, it's, so it's typical Laker fans. Realism is not there.

[00:15:52] And on that note, Laker fans, it is Steve Prisiello. Prisiello. I just make sure that you do that right. You've got to get it straight because offline, you tell me how crazy these Laker fans are. So let's be honest here. See, I'm going to have a lot of fun editing this show. That is it. Our time is up. Thanks for listening. As always, we're grateful that you did. Make sure to read Steve's entire 13 Rules Random NBA Thoughts article. We'll link it anywhere you're listening or

[00:16:21] hearing this show now. And please consider subscribing, liking, sharing, all that stuff matters. It goes a long way and we're grateful for it. Please join us next week when we'll have more NBA Random Thoughts after week 18 of the 2024-25 NBA season. And remember to join us on the Shot Clock Pod, the best 15 minutes of Random NBA Thoughts online anywhere. We'll talk next week. Thanks, Steve. See you.