The Shot Clock Pod: Week 2 - Early Season Thoughts

[00:00:01] Alright, it's time to talk basketball. I'm Jose Salviati, editor at thepeachbasket.net. He's Steve Perchiello, a long-time educator, vice principal, high school coach, and athletic director. And this is the Shot Clock Pod, the best 15 minutes of NBA Random Thoughts Online. For those of you who have been listening for a while, you may remember we started off as Shot Clock Pod, then we switched back to 13 Rules, and we're going back to Shot Clock Pod. Because we can. I like the name.

[00:00:28] And we've also upped our graphics game. You'll see that if you're watching along. And for those of you who have watched long enough to know everything I just talked about, thank you. We're glad you're here with us.

[00:00:38] But if this is your first time listening, welcome. We're 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. Steve and I have exactly 15 minutes to discuss what's on his mind around the NBA.

[00:00:54] Today, we'll discuss his latest 13 Rules NBA Random Thoughts article. And this week, Steve shares his early season NBA thoughts on a few teams.

[00:01:04] He wrote a lot more than what we're going to talk about, but we're going to limit our topics to about four of the things that he discussed.

[00:01:12] Steve, are you ready?

[00:01:13] Ready.

[00:01:14] Let's do it. We're going to start the timer. And this is our crack graphics department.

[00:01:18] Steve is extraordinarily excited about this. Watch this.

[00:01:22] Boom. Let's start with topic number one.

[00:01:26] How much trouble are the Nuggets in? You wrote about...

[00:01:30] Oh, did I say Nuggets? I did say Nuggets. I meant Bucs.

[00:01:34] There goes our crack graphics department.

[00:01:37] The Milwaukee Bucs won it all in 2021, then lost in the Eastern Conference Semis and first round twice each year after that.

[00:01:45] So how much trouble are the Milwaukee Bucs in?

[00:01:51] They got some problems. First of all, Middleton's out, so you got to hold off all judgment until then.

[00:01:57] But they've lost to some teams they're supposed to beat.

[00:01:59] The other night, they shot horribly.

[00:02:01] And Damian Lillard has not played up to what you expect out of him.

[00:02:06] He's not the main reason.

[00:02:08] They can't...

[00:02:08] They don't defend well.

[00:02:10] They allow penetration and they give up some easy stuff.

[00:02:15] Giannis is Giannis. He's still great.

[00:02:16] But it's just not enough.

[00:02:18] And the league's catching up to him.

[00:02:20] And they're getting old.

[00:02:22] Brooke Lopez is, what, 35, 36 years old?

[00:02:26] Dame is 34, 35.

[00:02:27] And that brings up something interesting about trusting these guys like Paul George and Damian and other people and everybody dealing for them.

[00:02:37] You're getting not damaged goods, but older goods that don't play every day.

[00:02:41] And when they don't go out and do what they did when they were 25.

[00:02:44] So Damian is not helping the cause.

[00:02:47] They lost Beasley, who helped him as a shooter last year, out of the corner.

[00:02:51] So that helped hurt him.

[00:02:53] And just the fact that they just don't stay on the court.

[00:02:55] Now it's Middleton.

[00:02:57] Last year in the playoffs, all three of them were out at different points.

[00:03:00] So they've got a lot of issues.

[00:03:02] And I'm wondering if they're adjusting to Doc Rivers.

[00:03:05] And I'm wondering if they're hearing it.

[00:03:08] I just read something that Doc Rivers has got the biggest influence, is building the biggest influence within the Bucs.

[00:03:16] Now, I'm just curious.

[00:03:17] I'm just curious of what they do and where they go.

[00:03:20] Now, it's been said for a long time.

[00:03:22] And let's look into the future.

[00:03:24] Let's say they are 15 and 25 or 18 and 20 or whatever.

[00:03:29] They begin to get rid of Giannis.

[00:03:32] Do they begin to get rid of Dame?

[00:03:35] I don't know if Doc Rivers wants to be around for something like that.

[00:03:39] But it becomes a very interesting thing.

[00:03:41] But they're just not functioning on all cylinders.

[00:03:43] It's just not a good watch.

[00:03:45] Let's put it that way.

[00:03:46] And you sit there and say, there's something wrong here.

[00:03:49] And you try to figure it out.

[00:03:50] Again, defensively, what Boston did the other night was just drive and kick.

[00:03:55] Go to the basket.

[00:03:56] Nobody stopped them.

[00:03:57] Kick it to the corners.

[00:03:58] And they killed them.

[00:03:59] So it's a similar situation with how they're getting beat.

[00:04:04] But they're just not that good is what it looks like.

[00:04:07] Yeah.

[00:04:08] Yeah, I think everything started for them when they brought in Dame.

[00:04:13] They effectively picked offense over defense.

[00:04:15] And that was their calling card when they won it all.

[00:04:18] And we've seen a steady decline after that.

[00:04:21] Not great.

[00:04:22] And I just don't see them getting out of this pit that they find themselves in.

[00:04:27] But just to add something, in retrospect, who would you rather have?

[00:04:33] Dame?

[00:04:34] And I don't want to lay the blame only on Dame.

[00:04:36] But who would you rather have, Dame or Drew Holiday?

[00:04:40] You know, you'd want it all with Drew Holiday.

[00:04:41] Hindsight's 20-20.

[00:04:42] You want Drew Holiday.

[00:04:44] But who would you rather have on your team as a player?

[00:04:47] Dame's great.

[00:04:48] Yeah.

[00:04:49] No, I can't do that.

[00:04:50] If I'm starting a team, I want Dame.

[00:04:52] If I've got Giannis on my team, I want Drew Holiday.

[00:04:55] That's the rush.

[00:04:57] Okay, that's fair.

[00:04:58] When it all went down before Drew, when Drew got traded to Portland,

[00:05:03] my immediate thought was here goes another team,

[00:05:06] either Philadelphia giving a lot of money to Paul George,

[00:05:10] who's hurt all the time.

[00:05:12] In other words, another team trying to get an older player.

[00:05:16] And they're not getting their money's worth.

[00:05:18] They're paying $50 million.

[00:05:20] And what are they getting?

[00:05:21] They're going to get 60 games out of them.

[00:05:23] So it's just my mind.

[00:05:25] I understand it.

[00:05:26] But the NBA is a young athletic league.

[00:05:29] And you're trying to do something.

[00:05:31] Yeah, if they're healthy in the playoffs and they're playing well,

[00:05:34] you might be able to pull one off.

[00:05:36] But it's not sensible to me to pay that money for these guys.

[00:05:41] When you're not getting production, the production doesn't match.

[00:05:44] We've talked about it on this show before.

[00:05:46] Building a team is probably one of the hardest things to do.

[00:05:49] Danny Ainge, here's a segue for you, has done it great in Boston.

[00:05:54] And now he's in Utah trying to do the same thing.

[00:05:58] Utah, he's collected a lot of assets.

[00:06:00] You can see where he's headed here.

[00:06:03] But I don't know, man.

[00:06:06] This year might be a lost one for them.

[00:06:07] Can he do it again?

[00:06:08] What do you think?

[00:06:08] Well, he accumulated a lot of draft picks, which was interesting.

[00:06:13] And he's got a bunch of 10 or 12 first rounders in the next couple of years.

[00:06:16] But a lot of them, Cleveland and Minnesota,

[00:06:19] because he traded Dave, Donovan Mitchell, and Gobert,

[00:06:24] they're the predominant teams that sent a bunch of draft picks to him.

[00:06:28] But when you think about it, first of all,

[00:06:30] they're not lottery protected.

[00:06:32] But Cleveland and Minnesota for the next couple of years

[00:06:35] are going to be top 10 teams.

[00:06:36] So you're not getting a great pick there.

[00:06:40] So his picks aren't great.

[00:06:43] And Danny Ainge is a big game hunter.

[00:06:45] He loves to get the big star, Kevin Garnett.

[00:06:48] And he loves to deal for these people.

[00:06:50] So what I'm thinking is he's just sitting,

[00:06:53] waiting for the right star to come along.

[00:06:56] And don't forget, in Utah, and Boston's a smaller market,

[00:07:01] but Boston guys don't mind going to.

[00:07:03] I don't imagine a lot of guys wanting to go play in Utah.

[00:07:07] I think it's a beautiful place, but I'm sure I don't think there's a lot of

[00:07:11] players that would want to go there.

[00:07:13] So he's not going to get it by free agency.

[00:07:17] And then the other thing you think about, as I said in the article,

[00:07:20] it'll be three years in December.

[00:07:22] Generally, when somebody comes in,

[00:07:24] the first year you look it over and you begin to make moves.

[00:07:27] He did that.

[00:07:28] He got rid of Mitchell and Gobert.

[00:07:30] Okay.

[00:07:31] Second year, you're going to struggle.

[00:07:33] And then the third year, you start seeing improvement.

[00:07:36] They were 0-5, and they haven't been that competitive in those five games.

[00:07:40] So now you're starting to wonder, like,

[00:07:43] there's not even a turn where it's getting better.

[00:07:46] And by the way, Murray Marken is a great player.

[00:07:50] However, he's another guy that's hurt every week.

[00:07:52] And that's not helping him because he's their only real good player on the team.

[00:07:58] So it's hard to understand what exactly they're going.

[00:08:02] I would place my belief in Ainge because of his track record,

[00:08:06] and he would get more time to figure it out.

[00:08:09] But it's three years.

[00:08:10] And what alarmed me in looking at it was the 0-5 and getting beaten pretty good.

[00:08:15] That's the things that you look at and say,

[00:08:18] it's got to start getting better here.

[00:08:20] And the fans are great in Utah.

[00:08:22] They go no matter what.

[00:08:24] But at some point, they're going to say,

[00:08:26] why do we come and see this mess?

[00:08:28] Shout out to Utah.

[00:08:29] I was there and actually texting you.

[00:08:32] And you said, hey, are you going to the game tonight?

[00:08:34] And I wasn't planning on it.

[00:08:36] And then I went on a random Tuesday.

[00:08:38] Place was packed.

[00:08:40] Crowd was loud.

[00:08:41] It was a great game.

[00:08:42] Great environment.

[00:08:43] So certainly hoping for the best for fans in Utah.

[00:08:46] You're absolutely right.

[00:08:46] That is a great place to play basketball.

[00:08:49] And a great city.

[00:08:50] Yeah.

[00:08:51] Great place to live out there.

[00:08:52] It's just beautiful.

[00:08:54] Yeah.

[00:08:54] And it's a nice way of life.

[00:08:56] You're not getting free agents.

[00:08:57] Guys don't want to go there.

[00:08:59] They want to go to the big cities.

[00:09:01] Right.

[00:09:02] Let's see.

[00:09:02] Let's see if Danny Ainge can do it again.

[00:09:04] I think he's, you know, I think we know where he's headed.

[00:09:07] But yeah, we've got to see some change.

[00:09:09] By the way, one of the picks they have is a Laker pick.

[00:09:13] Is that right?

[00:09:14] Yeah.

[00:09:14] That's not going to do a very good day.

[00:09:16] The Lakers are hot right now.

[00:09:18] Yeah.

[00:09:18] That'd probably be 30th pick one of these years because they're going to win a title.

[00:09:23] Do you, are you drafted last if your team wins the silly tournament they have?

[00:09:31] Are you, do you get the last draft pick or is, you get the last draft pick if you win the,

[00:09:35] if you win like the championship?

[00:09:37] Which way?

[00:09:38] Because the Lakers won.

[00:09:39] It's based on your, it's based on your regular season record.

[00:09:41] I thought the Lakers would get the last pick because they won that tournament last year.

[00:09:45] They're just, it's what I assumed, but I'm sorry.

[00:09:48] I messed up.

[00:09:52] There's no easy way to segue out of that one.

[00:09:55] So I'm just going to go.

[00:09:56] You wrote about one of the best and least known scores in the NBA.

[00:10:01] And we've written about him before here on the Peach Basket.

[00:10:04] The day after your article posted, this player played 32 minutes and scored 32 points.

[00:10:10] A point a minute is pretty spectacular.

[00:10:12] Who's that guy?

[00:10:13] What do you like about him?

[00:10:13] It's Cam Thomas.

[00:10:15] And by the way, in that game last night, he scored 10 points in the last five or six minutes

[00:10:19] when the game was on the line.

[00:10:21] And as I told you before, he hit a shot.

[00:10:24] They said 33 footer, a three.

[00:10:26] Think about 33 feet.

[00:10:28] I think the three point line is about 20, so 19 or so.

[00:10:32] So think about that.

[00:10:34] And he took it without a problem.

[00:10:36] And this was when the game was still close against the Bulls.

[00:10:39] And I just, he just knows how to score.

[00:10:42] My biggest curiosity with him, and if you never watched him, watch him.

[00:10:47] He's fun to watch.

[00:10:49] He's just, he's a scorer, professional scorer.

[00:10:51] My curiosity led me to believe he's going to be a free agent, a restricted free agent

[00:10:55] at the end of the year.

[00:10:56] How much will he get?

[00:10:58] Guys like Jordan Poole made a lot of money.

[00:11:00] He's better than Jordan Poole, better scorer than Jordan Poole.

[00:11:04] So it seems like nobody knows who he is.

[00:11:07] And that's the shame of it.

[00:11:08] And the Nets, if they get one more star, they'll become a playoff team.

[00:11:14] They're close.

[00:11:15] Because they've got a lot of guys that compliment him, but they need one more guy besides him

[00:11:21] that can score.

[00:11:21] And they need a little more size.

[00:11:22] But they're not as bad as people thought they would be after they traded Bridges.

[00:11:27] Yeah.

[00:11:28] Let's do this quick, because you can see our clock counting down.

[00:11:31] But I'm curious.

[00:11:32] You and I, over the offseason, talked a lot about players from the past.

[00:11:35] And we talked about who plays like them in the present.

[00:11:38] I'm going to do that in reverse for you.

[00:11:39] Cam Thomas, great scorer.

[00:11:41] Who does he remind you of?

[00:11:42] Anybody in particular?

[00:11:43] Because I have somebody in mind.

[00:11:44] Go ahead.

[00:11:45] Go ahead.

[00:11:46] You hit me with that.

[00:11:47] To me, there was a guy like, the guy in Detroit, nicknamed Microwave, Vinny Johnson.

[00:11:52] Vinny Johnson.

[00:11:53] But he's better in the way that he can, he's playing a lot more minutes.

[00:11:57] Vinny Johnson came off the bench.

[00:11:59] That's true.

[00:11:59] And they ran that little staggered screen for him up at the top, above the foul line, where

[00:12:07] he came baseline and up off two screens.

[00:12:10] And it worked for him.

[00:12:12] And he could score.

[00:12:13] Once he hit one, he hit 10.

[00:12:15] They were different players in the way that this guy starts.

[00:12:19] This guy plays.

[00:12:20] When he's getting more minutes, that's a good one.

[00:12:24] I'd have to think about that.

[00:12:25] But there's got to be guys that played in the NBA that were just pure scorers that can go

[00:12:31] and get you points.

[00:12:32] You can't say he's a shooter.

[00:12:34] You can't say he is a decent shooter, but you can't say that's his way.

[00:12:38] He goes to the, he does everything to get points.

[00:12:42] And so it's difficult to think of people that, you know, play in that way.

[00:12:47] Again, I'll have to think about it.

[00:12:49] Maybe I'll have somebody in.

[00:12:50] All right.

[00:12:51] I don't know.

[00:12:51] Appreciation to Cam.

[00:12:52] I hope that things continue.

[00:12:53] I got it.

[00:12:54] Andrew Toney.

[00:12:55] Andrew Toney.

[00:12:57] Okay.

[00:12:57] Philadelphia.

[00:12:58] Great shooter.

[00:12:59] Great.

[00:13:00] And the scorer.

[00:13:00] Always a scorer.

[00:13:02] When he played against Boston, they called him the Boston Strangler because he always

[00:13:07] played well, but he could score.

[00:13:09] He could score.

[00:13:10] And that's what this guy can do.

[00:13:11] Well, I love doing that in reverse.

[00:13:13] We've never done that before.

[00:13:14] That was impromptu, but I like it.

[00:13:15] You didn't prepare me for it.

[00:13:16] I know.

[00:13:17] I'm sorry.

[00:13:18] Yeah.

[00:13:19] But it worked out well.

[00:13:20] We got to what?

[00:13:21] A couple of minutes left for the last topic.

[00:13:24] And I love this.

[00:13:24] And I'm going to read this verbatim because this is what you wrote.

[00:13:27] Watching the Sacramento Kings is like eating stew without salt.

[00:13:32] Something is missing.

[00:13:33] That's good writing.

[00:13:34] I love that.

[00:13:36] What exactly do the Kings need to be a contender this season?

[00:13:41] What about their song?

[00:13:43] Oh, yeah, yeah.

[00:13:44] I don't have any.

[00:13:46] Oh, here.

[00:13:46] Hold on a second.

[00:13:47] You did say that their song was stuck in the middle with you, which I think, depending

[00:13:55] on the age group that we're listening to right now.

[00:13:57] And by the way, wasn't it surprising I didn't use a Laker to compare him to Cam Thomas?

[00:14:02] And we appreciate it.

[00:14:04] With Sacramento, I know they took a shot with DeRozan.

[00:14:08] He's still a good player.

[00:14:09] Yeah.

[00:14:11] But you got Sabonis and De'Aaron Fox.

[00:14:15] They probably need a real center.

[00:14:17] That might be a little bit.

[00:14:19] Although I looked at their rankings.

[00:14:21] Although I looked at their rankings, they're in the top 10 right now in defense.

[00:14:23] But I just don't think Sabonis can rebound and he can pass and score and all that.

[00:14:28] But there's not a presence at the basket.

[00:14:31] And I think that kind of hurts them in some ways because their defense is usually suspect.

[00:14:36] But also, maybe another star.

[00:14:40] Because DeRozan is on the...

[00:14:41] He still can play, but he's on the other side.

[00:14:44] I just...

[00:14:46] They're just not that good.

[00:14:48] Like, they're good.

[00:14:48] They're real good.

[00:14:49] But they're not good enough to be in the upper echelon, I guess is my point.

[00:14:54] And so I guess a big man...

[00:14:57] Here, I'll give you a perfect one.

[00:14:59] What would happen with Rudy Gobert?

[00:15:01] What would happen then?

[00:15:02] Now you changed the whole look and you changed everything.

[00:15:06] And Rudy Gobert is one of the best defenders.

[00:15:09] But any Robert Williams would even help them.

[00:15:12] Because he can defend and take away that.

[00:15:15] And Sabonis can play where he belongs as a four.

[00:15:17] You know, that's my thinking.

[00:15:23] You know, it makes sense?

[00:15:24] Yeah.

[00:15:25] The first thought...

[00:15:27] And again, we're going old school more than we usually do on this show.

[00:15:29] But I mean, my first thought was somebody like they had when they were really good.

[00:15:33] And that's Vlade Divac, right?

[00:15:35] The kind of player who could...

[00:15:36] He's going to block a couple of shots.

[00:15:38] But he was a solid player.

[00:15:39] He wasn't spectacular.

[00:15:41] Today, I think of Evita Zubac on the Clippers.

[00:15:44] He would be great with the Kings.

[00:15:46] Somebody like that.

[00:15:47] Because you've got a lot of ball-dominant players on that team.

[00:15:50] You need a center who's going to maybe get you 10-10.

[00:15:53] But be consistent and provide some rim protection.

[00:15:57] It's ironic.

[00:15:58] Both of the guys you mentioned, what do they have in common?

[00:16:02] They're both Eastern European, aren't they?

[00:16:04] What else?

[00:16:05] What teams did they play for?

[00:16:07] Oh, they both played for the Lakers.

[00:16:09] That's coincidence.

[00:16:11] What are you talking about?

[00:16:11] Oh, I'm sure.

[00:16:12] I'm sure.

[00:16:13] When you asked me before, I was trying to think of a Laker that I can compare to Cam Thomas.

[00:16:18] So it always goes that way.

[00:16:19] Maybe Gale Goodrich.

[00:16:20] How's that?

[00:16:21] But no, that's before your time.

[00:16:23] Yeah, it was.

[00:16:23] That's before my time.

[00:16:24] He's a good player.

[00:16:25] He's a good player.

[00:16:25] Lefty.

[00:16:26] They played with Phoenix.

[00:16:27] That's one we didn't cover in the offseason.

[00:16:28] We're going to have to rectify this this offseason.

[00:16:31] He was real good.

[00:16:32] He had a good career.

[00:16:33] We heard the buzzer go off.

[00:16:35] Our crack graphics are working perfectly, which is exciting to me, not to Steve, except for that little full pod to start.

[00:16:43] But cool.

[00:16:43] But I appreciate it.

[00:16:44] Thank you for listening.

[00:16:45] Thanks, as always, for finding us.

[00:16:47] We appreciate every comment, every question.

[00:16:50] And we are very honest when we say we read everything.

[00:16:53] So please send your comments, questions.

[00:16:56] Again, share.

[00:16:56] Do everything you got to do to get us out there.

[00:16:59] We appreciate it greatly.

[00:17:01] Make sure to read the entire article, 13 Rules, NBA Random Thoughts.

[00:17:05] We'll make sure to post it below to get the rest of Steve's thoughts on the topics that we didn't cover.

[00:17:11] And again, please consider subscribing and make sure to join us next week on the Shot Clock Pod, the best 15 minutes of NBA Random Thoughts online.

[00:17:20] We'll talk next week.

[00:17:21] Thanks, Steve.

[00:17:21] Thanks.