The Shot Clock Pod - Week#11

[00:00:00] Alright, it's time to talk basketball. I'm Jose Salviati, editor at thebeachbasket.net.

[00:00:05] He's Steve Prusiello, a long-time educator, vice principal, high school basketball coach, and athletic director.

[00:00:12] And this is The Shot Clock Pod, the best 15 minutes of NBA Random Thoughts online anywhere, bar none. Stop looking, you found the place.

[00:00:20] If this is your first time listening, welcome. This podcast was born under the content of Steve's 13 Rules, Random NBA Thoughts articles, which he publishes weekly.

[00:00:29] Steve and I have exactly 15 minutes to discuss what's on his mind around the NBA.

[00:00:34] Today, we'll discuss his latest 13 Rules Random NBA Thoughts article, where he shares his thoughts on select teams in Week 11.

[00:00:42] And we also have some extra credit content because some news broke after he wrote his article, and we'll get to what that is a little bit later.

[00:00:51] I will just say that it's based out of Miami. All right, Steve, you ready to talk?

[00:00:57] You know, we're ready to talk. But I always got to ask. It's in the script.

[00:01:02] We start the timer, and we're off. All right.

[00:01:07] You pointed out in your article this week that only three teams in the last 10 years have won a title after having the best record in the league.

[00:01:15] It's an odd stat, but it's true. Why do you think that is that you called that out because of who's leading the league right now in the Thunder and the Cavs?

[00:01:24] Why do you think that is? And do you think it's going to hold true with one of these two teams should they get to the finals?

[00:01:30] One of the things I pointed out was you needed, they had the three teams that did had a six-game difference between them and the next team. Six or six difference.

[00:01:40] Right now, the Cavaliers have a one-game difference between them and Oklahoma City. So that gets interesting.

[00:01:47] I think it becomes difficult when teams are comparable. That home court isn't a great thing to play a whole season for. And anything can happen. They can get beat.

[00:01:57] So that home court isn't as big when teams are pretty even. Last year, it was Boston. And Boston rolled through a lot of injuries to the teams they played. But also, they rolled through because they really blew away the field last year.

[00:02:11] The Warriors were the team that did it twice, two other times. And if you think back, the Warriors always blew through the field. And really, there was no comparison.

[00:02:21] So when the playoffs came around, they were able to not only hold the home court, but also win usually in less than seven games as Boston did last year. But again, going back, the teams are somewhat equal.

[00:02:34] I believe whoever's in the finals, we're going to have a good finals this year because they're comparable. And I wouldn't shell out Boston and I wouldn't shell out any, and even the Knicks, but there's some flaws with the Knicks.

[00:02:47] But also in the West, Oklahoma City didn't go far last year. I don't know how legit they are, nor did Cleveland. You know, you don't know how legit and what's going to happen when things get tough.

[00:02:59] But that's basically the thinking when I looked at it because Cleveland has got only four losses. If you do the math, what are we looking at at this pace? Ten losses for the season?

[00:03:11] That's up there with Golden State, I believe, 172, right? For the record. That would be the same record. And that would be incredible. We're going to find out a little bit about Cleveland in the next couple of weeks because they do play Oklahoma City twice.

[00:03:25] So we're going to see, you know, where they stand. But that's my thought process on it.

[00:03:32] We'll come back to that a little bit later. Not the first place team, but more around the second place team. But before we get there, you also wrote about issues in Phoenix. Now, the sun started hot, then injuries hit them.

[00:03:46] And injuries, unfortunately, have been a key in the NBA in its entire season, which is unfortunate. But you called out.

[00:03:53] And I hope I don't even know how to pronounce his name, but Matt.

[00:03:56] Ispia.

[00:03:57] Ispia.

[00:03:58] All right. Apologies to Matt. But what? Why? Isn't it just injuries in Phoenix? Why are you calling out Matt Ispia?

[00:04:05] Well, first of all, I think any general manager, whatever, team president, would have spelled out to them that you're gambling with an older Kevin Durant and a beat up Rod Beal.

[00:04:19] You got to be careful on that. And they sold their future out.

[00:04:23] And that was because their owner, Matt, just bought the team two years ago.

[00:04:27] And he came in and like any business owner, they think they know more and they can do better and so on.

[00:04:34] It was his way to get these two guys.

[00:04:36] They sold their future out.

[00:04:39] I don't know what Durant's got left. He's still a good player.

[00:04:41] But how does he got left? Booker's good and he's young.

[00:04:43] But it's not going to go on forever.

[00:04:46] But more importantly, to me, in sports, not just basketball, go out and hire the best people and let them work.

[00:04:55] Don't sit there as an owner and overrule them because, again, Ispia made his money in mortgages.

[00:05:02] He didn't make his money with basketball.

[00:05:05] It takes a lot of nerve to come in.

[00:05:07] If you don't like the people you hire, then you get rid of them and bring some new people in.

[00:05:12] But let them then go from there.

[00:05:14] Now, he fired Frank Vogel after one year.

[00:05:18] If Budenholzer doesn't do well this year with that team, what do they do?

[00:05:22] They fire him too?

[00:05:22] Well, you know, and both of those coaches, Budenholzer and Vogel, are champion coaches.

[00:05:28] They've coached championship teams.

[00:05:29] So at some point, owners have to back away.

[00:05:33] And again, I'll use it.

[00:05:34] In all sports, the teams with success are the ones that let management make decisions.

[00:05:42] Of course, they improve them if there's money involved, especially.

[00:05:45] But the managers, the people they hire who have been involved in that sport for their whole life are the ones who make the decisions.

[00:05:54] Yeah.

[00:05:56] We've talked on the show a lot about probably how difficult and probably the most difficult job for a general manager is when to let a player go.

[00:06:04] Right?

[00:06:04] You don't want to do it too early or you'd rather do it too early than too late.

[00:06:08] But I never thought about this before, quite honestly.

[00:06:11] But I think it's equally difficult, and it seems weird, but it's difficult to buy a franchise.

[00:06:16] Okay?

[00:06:17] Because I don't know probably half what Matt Ishbia knows.

[00:06:22] And I know that I would want to, if I'm going to do it, there's some things I would want to do.

[00:06:26] It's hard to be hands-off, especially when you made your money, to your point, being hands-on.

[00:06:32] How do you do that?

[00:06:33] I would think it takes a real special talent to just say, okay, I'm going to hire the right guy and just back off.

[00:06:38] But you're right.

[00:06:39] That's what winning franchises do.

[00:06:41] Maybe it takes a while.

[00:06:43] In a couple of years, Durant's not going to be around Beale.

[00:06:46] You know, he's running.

[00:06:48] He's not exactly in great health either.

[00:06:50] In a couple of years, when it bottoms out, that might be the lesson for him.

[00:06:55] Because unless something happens, they're in trouble in five years, four years.

[00:06:58] They've traded away a lot of picks, and they don't have any money to spend.

[00:07:02] And Durant's up for probably this summer.

[00:07:04] He might get an extension.

[00:07:06] And that's really, you're going to get 50, 60 games out of him each year.

[00:07:10] So they're in trouble.

[00:07:12] And I just think ownership has got to be smarter.

[00:07:16] And with guys 35, you've got to realize you're not going to go on forever at 36 or 37.

[00:07:22] LeBron's case isn't even he's starting to show somewhere.

[00:07:25] It just takes a different type of thought.

[00:07:28] And by the way, the general manager or the president, depending on the team, probably the toughest job he has is handling the owner.

[00:07:37] Because if you get an owner that's out of control, and if the owner makes some decisions and they don't work out, the general manager's neck is on the line.

[00:07:46] Right.

[00:07:48] Yeah.

[00:07:50] Another difficult part of a difficult job, which we've talked about.

[00:07:54] Let's go back to the Cavs, or really more to the Eastern Conference.

[00:07:58] You wrote, unless the Cavs go into a tailspin, they'll probably get the first seed in the Eastern Conference.

[00:08:03] We just got done talking about them.

[00:08:04] They're on a great pace.

[00:08:06] And yeah, unless the bottle falls out, that's probably where they're going to end.

[00:08:09] How important is that second seed in the East, and which team do you think wins it?

[00:08:13] I think Boston will get it.

[00:08:16] I think they probably will play the Knicks.

[00:08:20] Knicks kind of exposed themselves last night by no depth.

[00:08:26] All those guys won for over 40 minutes, the five starters.

[00:08:30] And if you look at a box score, it fell apart in the fourth quarter.

[00:08:35] Because you're asking guys to play more minutes than they usually do, and they struggled.

[00:08:39] So I think that's a very important thing.

[00:08:42] Now, that five they have is a real good five.

[00:08:46] But unless they can find some depth.

[00:08:49] But with the new salary cap rules, it's very difficult to be able to have depth.

[00:08:57] I think Boston, if they get number two, of course, they'll have the home court of them.

[00:09:01] And that's big.

[00:09:02] And I also think Boston might be one, and it's a good argument, but Boston might be one of the few teams that has a better five starting than the Knicks do.

[00:09:13] Plus, they come in with Pritchard and Hauser.

[00:09:16] And these guys can play a lot better than the Knick bench.

[00:09:20] And that's a big thing.

[00:09:21] The last thing on that, if that series comes about, it'll be a physical tough series.

[00:09:27] The Knicks do need Mitchell Robinson back.

[00:09:30] And that makes it more even and off.

[00:09:33] And more importantly, gives the Knicks a good chance.

[00:09:37] And also, both teams will be worn down if Cleveland does it.

[00:09:42] And let me just add something.

[00:09:44] I think Milwaukee's going through this.

[00:09:47] Some teams are going through this.

[00:09:49] Philadelphia, they're looking, and their goal is to get in.

[00:09:53] Just get in.

[00:09:54] Rest their guys as often as possible.

[00:09:57] Now, and just get in.

[00:10:00] They know they're going to not have the home court, but there can be trouble.

[00:10:04] I don't know if that's in Tom Thibodeau's dictionary.

[00:10:08] He plays every game like it's the last game of his life.

[00:10:12] I don't know if he can do that.

[00:10:14] But if he, like, downshifts a little bit and decides to do that, that might give the Knicks

[00:10:21] a better chance.

[00:10:22] Because he's asking a lot.

[00:10:23] And by the way, when guys play a lot of minutes, injuries happen.

[00:10:27] And I'm not jinxing.

[00:10:28] I'm not wishing that on the Knicks at all.

[00:10:30] Right.

[00:10:31] What I'm saying is it's not a healthy thing.

[00:10:34] If you have eight or nine guys that can play, you've got a chance.

[00:10:40] And going back to Boston, I forgot Al Horford also technically is on the bench.

[00:10:44] Benches-wise, it's a big difference between the two teams.

[00:10:49] We'll see if Tom Thibodeau has that gear or finds that gear later in life.

[00:10:54] But I don't know.

[00:10:56] He's never had that.

[00:10:57] And I don't think Knight is a good example.

[00:11:00] At some point, got to get guys right.

[00:11:03] Carl Anthony Towns has got a bad knee.

[00:11:05] He had it operated on last year or two years ago and missed most of the season.

[00:11:11] Just you're pushing it.

[00:11:12] You're just pushing.

[00:11:13] We pulled his hamstring last year.

[00:11:15] Pushing these guys.

[00:11:17] And there's still 50 games left.

[00:11:19] There's 45 games left in a season.

[00:11:20] You got to slow down with that.

[00:11:22] And you can't do it every night.

[00:11:25] And by the way, the Knicks have a back-to-back tonight.

[00:11:27] They play Chicago.

[00:11:29] Now, that should be a winnable game.

[00:11:31] It would be.

[00:11:32] I think it's not going to be an easy game.

[00:11:34] Boy, then.

[00:11:35] Because of what happened last night.

[00:11:39] All right.

[00:11:40] Let's see how it plays out.

[00:11:41] This is why we're sports fans.

[00:11:43] Because we just don't know.

[00:11:44] We just try to guess.

[00:11:45] But we're going to finish with this.

[00:11:47] This is something that you didn't cover in your article.

[00:11:50] But the news broke after you published.

[00:11:52] And it's probably the hottest news in the NBA right now.

[00:11:55] And that is the old drama in Miami with Jimmy Butler.

[00:12:00] There was talk he was going to get traded.

[00:12:02] Riley said it's not happening.

[00:12:04] Butler then made a statement by just not playing particularly hard.

[00:12:08] Not scoring a lot of points.

[00:12:09] And then saying he wasn't comfortable in Miami.

[00:12:11] Didn't think he would be comfortable in Miami.

[00:12:13] And he wants to trade.

[00:12:15] So Miami suspended him.

[00:12:17] So I got to ask you.

[00:12:18] Number one.

[00:12:19] Was the suspension justified?

[00:12:20] Eight games, I think, in Miami.

[00:12:22] It's a pretty significant amount of time.

[00:12:24] And generally speaking, is Butler a problem?

[00:12:27] And if so, which team do you think he ends up with?

[00:12:30] Who's going to take a chance on Jimmy Butler?

[00:12:32] What do you think about him being suspended?

[00:12:35] I'll ask back.

[00:12:35] Eight games.

[00:12:36] Yeah, yeah.

[00:12:37] I appreciate it.

[00:12:38] Eight games seems like a lot to me.

[00:12:39] It's a message for sure.

[00:12:41] And I will say that the players union pushed back and they filed a grievance.

[00:12:46] I don't know if it'll amount to anything, but it seemed like a lot to me for what he did.

[00:12:51] Players have done worse and not gotten suspended eight games.

[00:12:54] I think they've had enough of him.

[00:12:57] Pat Riley does not handle the craziness.

[00:13:00] Right.

[00:13:00] First thing I want to say is like for the working class American, seeing a guy making near 50 million,

[00:13:06] they're going to have a difficult time with this.

[00:13:08] Butler's got a tremendous talent in a sport that people want to watch.

[00:13:12] So he's going to make the money.

[00:13:14] It's not management doesn't always have the upper hand in today's sports because Butler's contract is guaranteed.

[00:13:21] Butler will probably get that money back even though he's suspended after the union fights it.

[00:13:27] I think what Riley's figuring is this.

[00:13:30] I've got seven games the middle of the month, I believe, to trade him.

[00:13:35] He's not staying.

[00:13:37] I don't want him with the team.

[00:13:38] I don't want him around.

[00:13:40] Enough's enough.

[00:13:41] Now, when you look at Jimmy Butler's history, I think he's got himself run off many teams, a couple teams now.

[00:13:48] He's just a guy.

[00:13:49] He's a mercenary.

[00:13:50] He's getting his money as long as he gets paid good money.

[00:13:53] He's happy.

[00:13:54] They didn't upgrade.

[00:13:56] They didn't extend his contract this year.

[00:13:58] So what did he do?

[00:13:59] He's pulled this game.

[00:14:01] He's done this before.

[00:14:02] In Minnesota, he wasn't happy and he started his stuff.

[00:14:06] He's just a common thing where he's not happy.

[00:14:10] Some people say he's got a grime because Miami never went out and got Lillard or all the other guys that were available.

[00:14:19] And I understand that.

[00:14:20] But I think the thing I'll keep coming back to is most people would say, you know what?

[00:14:26] I play with four alligators to make $50 million a year.

[00:14:30] Regers.

[00:14:31] Right.

[00:14:31] It just, that's a lot of money.

[00:14:33] And this guy, and he wants the extension, you know, for another $50 million at least.

[00:14:39] Plus, he's got an option for next year.

[00:14:41] It gets ridiculous when you think about it.

[00:14:43] And it's enough.

[00:14:44] It's enough.

[00:14:48] I'm still really, you could have gone anywhere.

[00:14:51] You went with four alligators.

[00:14:52] I am.

[00:14:53] You're clearly from Florida.

[00:14:56] It's true.

[00:14:57] It's true.

[00:14:59] At what point though, does one is enough?

[00:15:02] And the other thing that always is you're like all of us are working class person.

[00:15:07] I've worked all your life.

[00:15:09] When do you shit me?

[00:15:11] When you work, the balance of power is with ownership.

[00:15:17] In the NBA, the balance of power is with the players.

[00:15:21] That's a very difficult thing for us to see.

[00:15:25] So, you know, and so a lot of people have difficulty with the fact that this guy is doing this and guys has to be traded.

[00:15:32] And don't forget, their salaries are guaranteed once they sign that contract, unless it's non-guaranteed, which are very few.

[00:15:39] And it's usually guys making very little money.

[00:15:41] Very little means a million or two a year.

[00:15:45] Right.

[00:15:45] So, it's hard for people to understand this, that these players, they've got the balance of power.

[00:15:53] Because you can have Riley coaching or Phil Jackson or Ren Auerbach or anybody.

[00:15:59] But if he doesn't have talent, he's not going to win.

[00:16:03] You know, that's my take.

[00:16:05] What's your take on that?

[00:16:07] Yeah, I don't know.

[00:16:08] Any day, I'm sad.

[00:16:10] I just think this kind of stuff just takes away from the game we love.

[00:16:13] I think somebody, you said it at the start of this, he's not going to finish this season in Miami.

[00:16:20] He'll likely be traded.

[00:16:22] I think that's Pat Riley's way.

[00:16:23] He's going to put up with this.

[00:16:24] He's going to trade him, likely before the suspension is up.

[00:16:28] And somebody's going to take a chance on him.

[00:16:30] What I'm hearing is a Golden State might be in play, which would be interesting.

[00:16:35] There's not very many other teams, right, that have the assets to trade for him.

[00:16:40] But he'll be gone.

[00:16:41] It's unfortunate for Jimmy.

[00:16:42] We're in.

[00:16:43] Unfortunate for the NBA.

[00:16:44] And I wrote this.

[00:16:46] The Lakers got Finney Smith, and he's going to help them.

[00:16:50] But they traded a $17 million player they could have used in getting a Butler or someone else.

[00:17:00] And to me, that gets interesting because now Butler comes open.

[00:17:07] I don't know if the Lakers have enough to get him because Pat Riley's going to be 80 years old.

[00:17:11] He wants to win now.

[00:17:13] He's not thinking about five years from now.

[00:17:14] I don't know if there's enough Russell and a few other stuff that the Lakers have, but they would have had a shot at it.

[00:17:22] And I don't know where they're going to come up with $45, $50 million in salaries to match or to get near Butler's.

[00:17:31] And so by getting Finney Smith, the Lakers could have kibosh in.

[00:17:36] I don't think Finney Smith is enough for the Lakers to get out of the West.

[00:17:41] And a good point.

[00:17:42] You did write about that and more.

[00:17:44] We'll make sure to link below so you could read all of Steve's comments after week 11.

[00:17:49] But that's it.

[00:17:50] That is our time.

[00:17:51] You heard the buzzer go off.

[00:17:52] Thank you, as always, for listening.

[00:17:54] Make sure to read Steve's entire 30 Rules, Random NBA Thoughts article.

[00:17:58] Again, we'll be right back below to get more Random NBA Thoughts after week 11 of the 24-25 NBA season.

[00:18:05] Please consider subscribing, liking, commenting.

[00:18:10] All of that stuff matters to us.

[00:18:12] We appreciate it all.

[00:18:14] And make sure to join us next week on Shot Clock Pod, the best 15 minutes of NBA Random Thoughts online anywhere.

[00:18:20] We'll talk next week.

[00:18:21] Thanks, Steve.