The Shot Clock Pod - Week #19

[00:00:02] All right, it's time to talk basketball. I'm Jose Salviati, editor at thepeakbasket.net. He's Steve Perciallo, 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. This is your first time listening. Welcome. We're glad you found us. This podcast was born out 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.

[00:00:31] around the NBA. They will discuss his latest 13 Rules Random NBA Thoughts article, where he shares his thoughts after a very interesting week 19 of the 2024-25 NBA season. This is a special week for those of you who have followed the show for a while because Steve took time to heap praise on the Los Angeles Lakers, and I'm excited to talk about that. Steve, you ready? Yeah. You can't talk that much about the Lakers, though. Go ahead.

[00:01:01] Steve, you ready? I'm just going to read what you wrote, man, and talk about it. Oh, shoot. I'm going to start the timer? My fault for not being ready there. What else is new? Come on, now. We just started. Plot is running. Let's go. All right. Well, starting in the East, the Cleveland Cavaliers will likely end up as the Eastern Conference champs after beating the Celtics in Boston.

[00:01:25] It was an interesting, weird game. How big a win was that for the Cavs to win in Boston after getting punched in the gut to start? Not just from a standee's perspective, but overall. Very big. They had to prove they can beat Boston. They split through the season, so it meant more to Cleveland than it did to Boston.

[00:01:48] Boston's got to find a way to stop Mitchell. If they don't, they're going to have a problem, and I think Cleveland's slightly ahead of them. DeAndre Hunter is one of the reasons in that game he hit a couple big shots to hurt Boston. Boston had two players out, two starters, Porzingis and Holiday, which that's fine, but I think more importantly, Boston broke down at the end.

[00:02:13] They became a one-on-one show with either Brown or Tatum going one-on-one, and I wrote this. The indicator of that is in the first half, I believe Tatum had seven assists. He only finished with nine, so another one started kicking. Now, Cleveland did something different. They guarded Tatum and Brown with just one guy. They didn't double. They didn't do any gimmicks, so they were taking away some of the open three.

[00:02:40] But by the same token, I think both Tatum and Brown put the whole game on their shoulders and don't think about how they got there by kicking the ball to open shooters. So there was a lot to it, but on Cleveland's side, as I said, Mitchell was unstoppable, and Boston had a lot of problems with that. And then Mobley hit two threes, and here's this guy shooting in the 20s from three, and they were big in the fourth quarter, and also Boston stopped getting rebounds.

[00:03:09] Those were things, I think with Porzingis and Holiday back, it'll help. But I do think Cleveland, with their depth, and follow me on this, with their depth, is slightly ahead of Boston. And while I say that, Boston's got to, in big games, Tatum's got to play all season over 36 minutes a night in a big game. Now, Mitchell's averaging around 31 or 32 minutes a game.

[00:03:38] It's going to take its toll. And even Brown, who got in foul trouble, which hurt Boston, but even he goes over 36, and they try not to because he's got knee problems and other issues. But I think that's going to be a factor in it. And Boston has to figure out how to get good shooters like Pritchard and Hauser involved more than what they were in the second half the other night. So there's a lot of factors in this to turn it.

[00:04:07] But I just think that Cleveland's got a slight advantage. The biggest question becomes, how do they handle the big lights in playing in a big playoff game? Yeah. It's an interesting topic because we're going to talk about that when we talk about the West. You've doubled down on this. The last sentence in your comment about the Cavs and Celtics was that if these two teams meet in the conference finals, I'm reading this verbatim, I give a slight nod to the Cavs. And you said that here. I was going to ask you about that.

[00:04:36] You think right now that the game is played today, Eastern Conference Finals, the Cavs win. Yeah, I do. I think it'll go seven. I think it'll be tough. I don't know what to say about the home court because both teams won on the other's court during the season. But I think it'll just be a tough series. And we're talking about everybody being healthy. We don't know. Last year, Mitchell got hurt. Last year, Jared Allen didn't play in the series. So we don't know what happens. And that's always an unknown, of course.

[00:05:05] But that's part of it. But I just think Cleveland is better suited. They've got more ammo than Boston. Boston's got the two guys and everything runs off those two guys. Cleveland's got a bunch of players that can play with the ball more so than Boston. I do believe, and I know Donovan Mitchell's good. I do believe Tatum's the best guy on the court, though.

[00:05:32] And he'd have to be for the Celtics to have a chance to advance. Let's move to the West. You've called, and you've done this before, you've called out the youth of the Thunder. They're clearly the best team. But there's some unknown. Again, how are they going to handle the pressure when it comes to playoff time, just like you alluded to with the Cavs? But this time, it was interesting. You called out the Thunder, but you also said there were a lot of other teams on the peripheral here that have a chance.

[00:06:00] And you surprisingly listed two that we're going to talk a little bit about. Let's start with the Warriors. Just a week ago, you said Warriors got no chance. The dream ball and greed doesn't know what he's talking about. He said they're going to win it all. All of a sudden, now you're called out the Warriors as a dark horse. What happened there? I think there's very little chance, if any. However, let us just think about what if the Warriors get in,

[00:06:29] and their first two opponents to get to the conference finals are Memphis and Houston. Now you've got an interesting thing, and the same with the Lakers. If both of them go through, I don't think Memphis is good enough, and I think Houston is at least a year away. They need a couple little changes, or maybe bigger changes.

[00:06:55] Don't forget, Van Vliet is a team option on this Cali track. So they can go get some other veteran who might be a little younger that can bring them home. But I don't see them as title contenders. So when you break it down, Denver, they're always troubled because they got the big guy. Dallas, I think if Anthony Davis and Wively and those people are back, they are good. The question is, are they going to be healthy? I still think they're the second best team. Right.

[00:07:25] And then, well, you throw that out. Now you start saying, okay, who's a dark horse? It's got to be. It's got to be. The Lakers are a dark horse. They're playing good basketball, and they're getting better at this time. So you got, and Luka's not really been a big factor yet. So you got to think that. And then the Warriors, like I just said, if they get the right match, they could be a problem. They could be.

[00:07:53] But I don't see any of the other teams as being it when I look for a dark horse. So that's why I came back to the Warriors knowing that I was contradicting what I wrote about last week. Yeah, that's what we do. It's okay to contradict ourselves every now and again. And let's stay with the Lakers for a minute because you called them out too. And I think it's interesting. They lost their best defensive player by far, and they got better defensively. What's going on in LA?

[00:08:21] I think Jay Reddick, it's interesting. When they hired him, I think he gets a lot of credit, first of all. They hired him. He had your doubts. I know he's a very intelligent guy just from listening to his podcast. But he had your doubts. The biggest thing he had was his co-pilot on the podcast was on his team. And it always helps to get the legendary player on your team.

[00:08:51] In other words, LeBron buys into whatever Reddick does. And slowly he's changed that whole attitude about the team, and they become better defensive. And it's very hard to understand because you've got Reeves and Doncic on the court. And LeBron, he's indifferent about defense. Some nights he brings it, and some nights he doesn't. And that's part of being that age. But suddenly, they don't have a real center.

[00:09:20] Unless you talk about Jackson Hayes, which he's a good backup. But they're still able to shut teams down, which tells me that Reddick has got them focused. And he's got them thinking about stopping the other team. And they're paying attention to the detail he brings up. And the one thing he's got them doing, they play hard. When you watch them, they do play hard. Harder than they did earlier in the season.

[00:09:48] So Reddick, tremendous job. He won't get a lot of consideration for coach of the year because you've got guys like Bickerstaff. You've got guys like Atkinson. These guys have done tremendous jobs. Way better than anything that the Lakers could do between now and the end of the season. So that's why I don't think he'll get the credit. But I think it's a great hire. Yep. Yep. It's turned out to be, no doubt. Lakers got a rough stretch.

[00:10:17] Let's see if ahead of them now in the coming release to see how things play out for them. Excited to talk about the Pistons. You called it out. You said it was great for the team, great for the NBA. This is a team that's hot right now. The Crafts are the top 10. The Peach Basket Objective top 10 list for the first time in the season. They're good. They're good. Tell me about a team that's scrappy, that plays hard. That's the business. What's behind the team's growth this season?

[00:10:42] The first thing they did, their owner, Tom Gorin, went out and got rid of his coach and GM. And they brought in Trajan Langdon to be the GM. And I'll get to that in a second. And he brought in J.B. Bickerstaff. Bickerstaff and he did not know each other, which is unusual in the NBA because usually you hire friends because you trust them in situations. But they seemed to be working well together. Now, Langdon decided to go out.

[00:11:11] And what he brought was they needed some veterans to go with the young players where last year they went all young. So he went out and got guys like Tobias Harris and Malik Bickerstaff, who is made for Detroit. He just he fits in and the city loves him and the whole thing. The other thing they did was take Isaiah Stewart and they thought he was going to be a four. They made him the backup to Jalen Durer. He's a five.

[00:11:39] And Cade Cunningham, he will be an all NBA player. He's good. He's flat out. He's strong and he's physical. So they've walked around the edges, fixed things. Jalen Durer is still is a very good player. They've got some good players with Cade and they're all fitting together quite well. Now, are they good enough to get to the second round? I don't think so.

[00:12:06] Are they good enough to sit there and say that's a future champ? No, I don't think so. I think they need to go out. This is nice and they can finish in this little niche for the next couple of years. Don't forget the East is weak. So after three or four teams. So they get into that six place spot. But that is not a team that I think would be a viable contender.

[00:12:32] I think they will bother somebody in the playoffs and it'll be a tough out. Maybe it'll take six games to put them away. But I don't see it because outside of Cade, they really don't have another star. And it's needed. So they're going to have to figure out and go out and pay or find a star to put with Cade. And maybe they'll be okay. The thing I'll add, Jaden Ivey.

[00:13:00] Jaden Ivey is out. And he broke something and he's been out. When he comes back, and I don't think, I don't know if he'll come back this year. But when he does come back, that's another player. If he develops, he can. And also one of the Thompson twins is a nice defender. And like his brother is not a great shooter, but he's a good, real good athlete. So they've got some pieces. If they develop, they're dangerous.

[00:13:30] Yeah. And I agree with you. Great for Detroit. And certainly great for the NBA to have that team back and play well. Let's end in the Western Conference with another team that is surprised, but not in a good way. You wrote that the Minnesota Timberwolves surprised everybody last season in a good way last season. This season, they surprised you, but not in a good way. What's the change with the Wolves? The obvious is they made the trade with Carly Anthony Towns and got Randall and DiVincenzo. They've been out a lot.

[00:14:00] It's not good. But I think we have to hold up on putting Anthony Edwards in the Hall of Fame for a little bit. I think he's great. He's a real good player. But I think the question has to be asked, does he make his teammates better? Mm-hmm. And the question has to be asked, or better yet, the question has to be, he's got to come up big in tough situations. And I'm seeing the Wolves lose a lot of close games.

[00:14:29] So evidently, he isn't. And it's just a problem. They're going to get Randall back soon, if not tonight or tomorrow, whatever. But he'll be back. And so will DiVincenzo. But they demonstrated no ability to play together. There's no chemistry there. So I just think there's the Wolves are a play-in team. And that's not good. Because when a team doesn't do as well as you're expected, and they get to the play-in, people expect them to win.

[00:14:59] But the team isn't happy about their play. So you don't know what you're going to get in a play-in game. Yeah. And you think that's your ceiling this season. You know what? It's hard to say because Sabonis just went down with Sacramento. It's really difficult to say it, but it looks like that's where they'll end up. It could be a lot worse. It could be Phoenix.

[00:15:23] But it doesn't look like when you think about six teams, you automatically can name five with Memphis and Houston. Houston and KC, OKC, Denver, and Michigan. Dallas is going to end up a play-in because they're injuries. So it's four. And then you think the Lakers and probably Golden State would be five and six.

[00:15:51] So I don't see, unless all of a sudden they go on a run, which I don't see. Yeah. We'll play-in team. It's tough to hear from Timberwolves fans after they made it to the Western Conference Finals last season. You want to see a move up. And obviously the next step up for the Western Conference Finals is the finals. But yeah, I don't see them getting this season. The biggest thing, and losing Towns is interesting because he doesn't defend. But they got worse as a defensive team last year. They were really good.

[00:16:20] Now, what does it mean? It can mean a lot of things. You're not listening. You're not hearing a coach anymore. They're not. And again, I'd have to look deeper. A couple of guys' salary contracts up at the end of the year. They're playing for themselves. There's a lot of factors that could go into it. However, the facts are their defense is not nearly as good as last year. Yep. All right. Let's see. You heard the buzzer go off. Our time is up. Thank you, as always, for listening.

[00:16:49] Make sure to read Steve's entire 13 Rules or Random NBA Thoughts article. We will link that below wherever you are hearing or watching this. Thank you again. Get more Random Thoughts after week 19 by clicking that link. Steve didn't just write about what we talked about here today. He wrote a little bit more. And as always, please visit or subscribe. Join us next week on the Shot Clock Pod, the best 15 minutes of NBA Random Thoughts online anywhere. Thanks, Steve. Take care.