The Shot Clock Pod: Week 4

[00:00:00] Alright, it's time to talk basketball. I'm Jose Salviati, editor at thebeachbasket.net. He's Steve Perciello, 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 anywhere. If this is your first time listening, we're so grateful that you found us. Thank you. Welcome. This podcast is 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.

[00:00:30] to discuss what's on his mind around the NBA. Today, we'll discuss his latest 13 Rules Random NBA Thoughts article with a focus on NBA trends, what he's noticing in the early start of the season. Alright, that's it. Steve, are you ready? Ready. Let's start the timer and we're off. Alright, the next first thing we're going to talk about are six and six, one of only four Eastern Conference teams at or above.

[00:01:00] 500. Successful start to the season, more or less, considering this a new team for them. But you noticed a big need in New York that they have to address. What is that?

[00:01:09] They need a shop walker. They need a rim protector. If you look at it, Carl Nymphity Towns is somewhere he's being scored upon at the rim around 90% of the time, which is not a very good number.

[00:01:24] I guess Minnesota was on to something when they moved him to the floor and got Gobert. I think the Knicks realized that. And if Rob Mitchell Robinson comes back, it also gives them a little bit of depth because one of those guys, probably Josh Hart, goes to the bench.

[00:01:41] And now he can be one of your subs, him and Miles McBride. So now you almost have a semblance of a bench. But defensively, it's a very interesting thing when you look at the numbers.

[00:01:51] Of the six wins, four of them, the Knicks have held teams under 100. Of the losses, most of the scores are in the 120s. Last night, they got away with a win in the 120s when Brunson hit that three with six seconds left or so.

[00:02:09] But anytime teams score a lot on the Knicks, they might be in trouble. And again, if they can solidify some defense, they'd be a lot better off. Lack of that. And believe me, Carl Nymphity Towns is a great scorer, but he gives up a lot.

[00:02:26] And he's really, he's not a defender in any way, but he's like a glorified wing. He shoots threes, goes to the basket with the ball. He's not a true center in any way.

[00:02:36] So they really need that rim protector bad. And if Mitchell Robinson comes back, there's rumors out there that he might not make it back this year. It's really, I don't know.

[00:02:46] Although Tibbs was in the paper in the last day or so, said that Robinson's getting closer and so on. So maybe those rumors are incorrect.

[00:02:56] You started the season high on the Knicks. Real high. Is that wavered at all?

[00:03:05] It's a good question. Yeah, in a way. Because I think the lack of the bench, and that Chu is hurt, and they've had some injuries, but the lack of a real bench, and Mikael Bridges is not what they expected so far.

[00:03:21] He's not playing well. I don't know if he's playing way over his head. But Bridges is, and that's not helping them.

[00:03:28] And so maybe, you know, we're off on the trade. They do have, between Towns and Brunson, two of the best guys, best combinations in the league, offensively.

[00:03:40] But I didn't think, I thought Towns would be more of a center in a lot of ways, and he's not.

[00:03:46] Although he can score with anybody, and it's a good second guy.

[00:03:51] So I guess I am, but I think they will get better as the season goes on, obviously.

[00:03:57] It'll be interesting to see how things play out in Gotham.

[00:04:00] Let's move to the West, to the New Orleans Pelicans, which is weird, calling the New Orleans Pelicans the West, but that's the way it lines up right now.

[00:04:08] They appear to be snakebitten this season, which is tough to see.

[00:04:11] If they keep their heads above water, and I'm paraphrasing what you wrote, until their stars get healthy, they might be okay.

[00:04:18] But worst case is a fire sale coming in New Orleans.

[00:04:21] What do you see in the future for the Pels?

[00:04:24] Well, I think Brandon Ingram, he's going to be a free agent.

[00:04:27] They couldn't agree, and he wants max money.

[00:04:29] They're not going to give him max money.

[00:04:31] And they're a frugal organization where they don't want to go into the tax.

[00:04:35] So they've got to make some decisions.

[00:04:37] I think the biggest thing they have to think about is, in today's NBA, can you win with Zion?

[00:04:48] Zion, he'll never play more than 70 games in a season in the future.

[00:04:53] Because he's always hurt.

[00:04:55] And he's hurt again with his hamstring now, and it could be a while before he's back.

[00:05:00] Remember a couple years ago, he hurt his hamstring, and he missed half the season.

[00:05:05] So he just doesn't get it.

[00:05:08] Do they trade him?

[00:05:09] What do they do there?

[00:05:09] But that's not the key issue.

[00:05:13] Willie Green does a decent job.

[00:05:15] But at some point, you're going to sit there and say it's not working anymore.

[00:05:19] And then Griffin was brought in.

[00:05:21] He won a championship with Cleveland and with high accolades.

[00:05:24] Everybody thought he was wonderful.

[00:05:26] It's not working.

[00:05:27] What you did is it's working.

[00:05:29] So those people are going to be looked upon.

[00:05:31] And they might need fresh vision to look at this and say, look, do we dump Zion?

[00:05:37] Do we keep England?

[00:05:38] Where do we go?

[00:05:40] And let me say something else.

[00:05:42] If somebody, and there's going to be takers for Zion, but if somebody gets Zion, you're gambling.

[00:05:49] You need the season where he doesn't get hurt or is good in the playoffs.

[00:05:57] Who knows if that'll ever happen?

[00:05:59] So it's a weird situation, and it's not a great situation.

[00:06:05] I think Ingram might be the first to go if they continue.

[00:06:09] I'm telling you, they did win last night.

[00:06:11] So they're four and nine now.

[00:06:13] And that was because Jokic was out in Denver.

[00:06:16] He didn't play.

[00:06:19] But there's going to be something going on because they're not going to go into the tax.

[00:06:23] They're not.

[00:06:23] I don't think they're going to pay Ingram.

[00:06:25] I don't think he deserves max money.

[00:06:26] He deserves money, but not max money.

[00:06:28] And then you've had Griffin for a couple of years with all these, this fortune drafts and everything else.

[00:06:34] And it's not gotten better.

[00:06:35] Right?

[00:06:36] As I noted, five out of six, five guys that were part of the rotation have missed significant amounts of time.

[00:06:44] You just can't win like that.

[00:06:48] In his career, Zion's high for games played is 70.

[00:06:52] He did that last season.

[00:06:54] And what's interesting to me when I look at his numbers in an NBA that really values the three, he doesn't take enough.

[00:07:02] He doesn't make enough.

[00:07:03] He might be a bit of a dinosaur.

[00:07:05] He's a young guy, but he might be a bit of a dinosaur in today's NBA, which is tough.

[00:07:09] He's great.

[00:07:10] He's great if he can play.

[00:07:12] He's virtually unstoppable.

[00:07:14] He's a freight train.

[00:07:16] But he's got to be able to play.

[00:07:18] And it just, and he's trying.

[00:07:24] This year, he supposedly came in thinner and lost weight and all that good stuff.

[00:07:28] But nothing seems to be working.

[00:07:31] And don't forget, C.J. McCollum, I think he's on the downside of his career.

[00:07:36] Although he's been hurt.

[00:07:37] He's been hurt this year.

[00:07:38] Jose Alvarado, who's a pest.

[00:07:41] He's been hurt.

[00:07:42] Trey Mursley missed the beginning of the first eight this year.

[00:07:51] You can't because there's nobody to hold it together.

[00:07:56] Hammered with injuries.

[00:07:57] But you have to wonder, will it be time if they don't go anywhere to have a new direction?

[00:08:04] Just a whole different direction.

[00:08:07] Might be fire sale coming in New Orleans.

[00:08:09] Let's see how that plays out.

[00:08:11] We stay in the West.

[00:08:12] You brought up the Dallas Mavericks.

[00:08:14] Now, this one, as I was reading, it surprised me because I've been paying attention to the Mavs.

[00:08:18] But they won the West last season, represented the West in the finals.

[00:08:21] But if starting up 5-7 so far, hasn't 12th been the West?

[00:08:25] What's wrong in Dallas?

[00:08:27] They stopped playing defense for four games.

[00:08:30] They've lost four straight.

[00:08:31] And they've given up, I think, significantly more points per game in the last four games than they did in the first eight.

[00:08:38] So, obviously, the defense is breaking down.

[00:08:41] And they're giving up.

[00:08:43] They're losing games.

[00:08:45] The other night they lost to Utah.

[00:08:46] Inexcusable because Utah has had trouble with everybody.

[00:08:50] That was Utah's first win at home this year.

[00:08:53] Wow.

[00:08:54] So, and they gave up.

[00:08:56] To lose the game, they gave up a little pass into John Collins where Luka was beaten.

[00:09:04] That was a winning basket.

[00:09:06] It's not a healthy situation.

[00:09:08] And everybody thought this team was going to continue to dominate in the West.

[00:09:14] I've been skeptical.

[00:09:16] And I'm really, I don't think they're as good as what people think they are.

[00:09:22] So, if they've struggled a bit, you know, they should come back.

[00:09:26] But, again, when you start giving up six, eight points more than what you were giving, there's something going on.

[00:09:33] It's hard to understand what it is.

[00:09:38] We had a show at the start of the season, a previous show.

[00:09:43] And we talked about coaches most likely to be fired.

[00:09:46] Uh, Jason's kid name didn't come up.

[00:09:49] Like, is he, is the seat a little warmer now?

[00:09:53] I would think when you go to the finals, you usually have a year grace period.

[00:09:58] Yeah, that's fair.

[00:10:00] The only way I would say if it does, it would be if the general, Luka is the general manager.

[00:10:09] If the general manager is not happy, that would be the only way that his seat would get up.

[00:10:16] That would get warm.

[00:10:17] So, that might be the best way to do it.

[00:10:19] Can you do an interesting study?

[00:10:21] Because they went in, they got Klay.

[00:10:23] And Klay's still going to have his streaks, his good streaks.

[00:10:26] But he can't defend like he used to.

[00:10:28] So, now you're putting, if Kyrie's healthy, and he missed the other night.

[00:10:32] But you're putting three guys that aren't known.

[00:10:36] Klay is probably the best defender of the three right now.

[00:10:39] But they're not known for the defense.

[00:10:42] Okay.

[00:10:43] That's another piece that's interesting.

[00:10:46] By getting, there was Jones who can't score like Klay.

[00:10:50] But he could defend.

[00:10:52] They're not nearly the defensive team they were.

[00:10:55] That might be part of the problem.

[00:10:58] So, let's see how things shake out in Dallas right now.

[00:11:01] They come in 11th.

[00:11:03] It's the middle of the pack.

[00:11:04] In a defensive ranking.

[00:11:05] And certainly some improvement needed there.

[00:11:08] We go to the east for the last topic that you brought up this week.

[00:11:13] And that is about the Boston Celtics.

[00:11:16] Now, the Celtics have started off really well.

[00:11:19] Started off on fire.

[00:11:20] Hit a little bump in the road.

[00:11:21] They're 10-3 right now.

[00:11:22] Second in the east.

[00:11:24] But you're noticing a concerning trend in Boston.

[00:11:27] Is there trouble with the Celtics right now?

[00:11:29] I don't think there's trouble.

[00:11:31] I think it's very difficult.

[00:11:33] You've got to have habits that are good.

[00:11:36] And what they're doing, they're not defending all the time.

[00:11:39] They get in a close game in the fourth quarter and all of a sudden they defend.

[00:11:43] But to me, defense is focus.

[00:11:46] And if you're not defending, you're not focusing.

[00:11:49] Against Giannis Sunday, against Milwaukee last Sunday, they gave up a bundle of points in the first quarter.

[00:11:55] And I don't even know or recall, but I think Milwaukee was close to 70 at the half.

[00:12:02] Which is unheard.

[00:12:03] Boston scores 70.

[00:12:04] Now the other teams.

[00:12:06] That's what the run has been.

[00:12:08] But in the third quarter, they tightened it up in the fourth quarter.

[00:12:12] And it wasn't going away.

[00:12:15] To be consistent, Boston does have an important piece, though.

[00:12:19] They won a title.

[00:12:20] So they expect to win at the end of games.

[00:12:23] And that's a very important thing for championship teams.

[00:12:27] They know how to close out games.

[00:12:29] So they can still do that.

[00:12:31] But then when the habits aren't good, you'll wonder if it's going to carry over.

[00:12:37] Very interestingly, they play Cleveland Tuesday.

[00:12:41] That's going to be an interesting game to watch.

[00:12:43] Heck yeah.

[00:12:44] To see the point totals.

[00:12:47] In other words, are they defending from the get-go?

[00:12:50] And B, if Cleveland's real.

[00:12:53] It'll be an interesting night.

[00:12:55] And you'll see if Boston does tune it up or turn it up for that game.

[00:13:00] It'll be, there's so many interesting things.

[00:13:04] If Boston beats Cleveland in a nice way, the questions will be on Cleveland.

[00:13:11] And it'll be, it's in Boston.

[00:13:13] If Cleveland beats Boston, then the questions will be, is there a changing of the guard?

[00:13:19] So it is an interesting game that I'm looking forward to seeing.

[00:13:24] I'm looking forward to the game.

[00:13:26] But it's way too early to put that kind of responsibility on this.

[00:13:31] The Cavs are 14-0.

[00:13:32] They're 15-0 tonight after they beat the Hornets.

[00:13:35] They're for real.

[00:13:36] You've got to understand something.

[00:13:38] You've got to understand.

[00:13:40] They're for real.

[00:13:41] But if they lose to Boston, they still feel like they can't beat them.

[00:13:47] That is so important.

[00:13:49] If Boston loses, there's big trouble.

[00:13:52] Well, the Cavs went into Boston and beat them.

[00:13:55] So it is big.

[00:13:57] It is really big.

[00:14:00] It's big in that way.

[00:14:01] Does Boston slap down the upstart?

[00:14:04] That's the whole topic that you want to look at in that game.

[00:14:07] Dang.

[00:14:08] Okay.

[00:14:08] Yeah, I definitely could see the gravitas of the game if this was game 70 or game 75.

[00:14:16] But this is game 16 or something.

[00:14:19] Cleveland's taking themselves seriously.

[00:14:21] If they win that game, they have every right to.

[00:14:24] Who's winning?

[00:14:27] Then they're always thinking that team's still good, better.

[00:14:31] Who's going to win?

[00:14:32] Call it.

[00:14:35] That's a great question.

[00:14:37] I guess I'd go with the champs.

[00:14:39] But it's a tough call.

[00:14:41] I would think the champions will win.

[00:14:46] But it's a tough question.

[00:14:48] I think Garland and Mitchell are really good.

[00:14:50] The one thing Boston has is Drew Holliday.

[00:14:52] No bleak.

[00:14:53] They're very good defenders.

[00:14:55] So it gets interesting.

[00:14:57] Don't forget, Boston's got one other thing to fall back on.

[00:15:00] Their center's been out.

[00:15:02] And that's big.

[00:15:03] Because he's in Austin.

[00:15:05] They're close to an Austin.

[00:15:06] Right.

[00:15:06] That's fair.

[00:15:06] All right.

[00:15:07] Well, we've hyped up this early season battle.

[00:15:09] I'm excited to watch it.

[00:15:11] But that's it.

[00:15:11] That's a wrap.

[00:15:12] You heard the buzzer go off.

[00:15:13] You heard the phone go off.

[00:15:15] And the universe is trying to tell us it's time to move on.

[00:15:18] Thank you for listening.

[00:15:20] Make sure to read Steve's entire 13 rules, random NBA thoughts article.

[00:15:23] We'll link that below to get more random NBA thoughts after week four of the 2024-25 NBA season.

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[00:15:40] Please join us next week on the Shot Clock Pod, the best 50 minutes of NBA random thoughts online anywhere.

[00:15:46] We'll talk to you then, Steve.

[00:15:47] Thank you.

[00:15:47] Take care.