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After the Buzzer: NBA Playoffs Round 1 Reactions · The Poi N Soy Podcast

• Keoni McKeague: Welcome back to the podcast. I'm your co-host, Kearney McKee, and with me today on this very special episode of After the Buzzers, my boy, Boog, say what's up to the pod, Boog. Jared Shirai: What's up? Keoni McKeague: Why is it special? Because we haven't been here all season. I don't think you've heard from us on this podcast since I want to say since we were rebuilding teams in the off season. So it has been a minute. But we are here to talk about NBA basketball because we're in the midst of the playoffs. And to be quite honest, the way the NBA is now, this is this is the most entertaining time of the year for them. You know what I mean? Jared Shirai: Yeah. Yep. Keoni McKeague: Not a lot of stuff to get excited about during the regular season, especially when you got. you know, half the league resting for the entire season. So, ⁓ yeah, we'll get into all of that and more as we talk about the playoffs and we're in round two of the playoffs. So we'll talk about all the teams that got eliminated and get into that in just a second. But before we do that, we have to give a shout out to our partners over at W Energy. Fantastic tasting energy. All of the energy you need to get through your day. I need some today. I did take a little bit right before this. But you head on over to W.G.G. or use the W Energy app in our promo code, which is POI and SOI. That's P-O-I-N-S-O-I. for 10 % off your order book. Let's talk some NBA basketball. Jared Shirai: Just get it. Just figure out what's going on. Keoni McKeague: ⁓ Yeah, for real though. ⁓ I guess first and foremost because you know it's been it's been a hot minute since we talked to NBA basketball. There's been a lot of talks about ⁓ just the changing of things. They're looking into a new lottery system. They're looking into sort of flattening the odds. ⁓ They're also looking into. different changes for the regular season, including the possibility of a drop in the amount of games that they play in the regular season. They're looking at the rules regarding the MVP awards and all that sort of stuff regarding how many games are required in order to be eligible for awards. There's a lot they're looking into this offseason. And I'm assuming it's because the TV deals are coming up soon. They're looking into the expansion draft, ⁓ which Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: supposedly is gonna happen in 2028 and we know what two cities are leading the conversation with Vegas and Seattle being the top two options. There's a lot going on in the NBA. We haven't really been able to talk about it. So let's catch up on it just a little bit. First and foremost, ⁓ well, I guess regarding the sort of flattening of the lottery odds, do you think that this will actually help the, you know, I mean the entire conversation is based around? Jared Shirai: you Keoni McKeague: you know, the idea of teams. What a tanking. Yeah, exactly. So this is supposed to help the anti-tanking rule. There's a lot of different versions of this. I believe we said I sent you guys like a geez, a long time ago, a video about the different types of ⁓ lottery odds that they're aiming for. What do you want to see? What do you think can actually, you know, keep teams from tanking? Like, where is your head at when it comes to that stuff? Jared Shirai: Thank you. Yeah. I think for me, like anything that they try to do is going to be a good thing. They got to start somewhere. I mean, like, it's going to be one of those trial and error things because there's always going to be teams or organizations that find a loophole. It's like, hey, maybe we could do this. Maybe we can't play this person today because of this or we're going to have to sit this person or they're going to. Like they're going to they're going to take it to the extreme and like, we're just going to trade away all our good players. And that's that's our taking, you know, it's like so I mean, I don't even know where to start when it comes to that, because when you think about like, OK, when you think about professional sports, you don't ever want to think about taking, but. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Jared Shirai: because you want to play through the season. But when it comes down to it at the very end of everything, it's kind of one of those like, well, if it gives us a better odd, I think if you flatten the odds on everything, I think that's that's the first way to start and see how that goes. It doesn't matter if the rich get richer. It's one of those just let everybody have an even chance at it. That way you have to play. It's not like, ⁓ I get. ⁓ 20 percent like. Possibility because I'm the last place team. It's okay. They Why not just tank for the whole season if you have the worst organization as in like the Wiz Washington Wizards or somebody? Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Ironically, I feel like you kind of gave the suggestion a long time ago. And then that's been one of the ideas that's been circulated about when you're officially in the lottery, then your wins actually start counting towards your ⁓ bettering your chances at being higher in the lottery, which to me feels like the only way that you can make those teams that end up sitting players at the end of the year not sit players at the end of the year. I mean, know for instance, the Chicago Bulls, last two or three games, they were sitting Modus and Josh Giddy just because the two of them were helping them at least compete in games. So. Jared Shirai: here. Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: ⁓ I don't know to me that that seems like the best way to go about it because then at least you have guys competing until the end of the season even once they're mathematically eliminated Yeah, man, I don't know I don't know if I I like the idea of them flattening the odds because as you kind of threw out there well first of all the reason I don't like it is because There's clear evidence that the NBA likes to screw around with the odds. You know what mean? Let's let's get that out of the way. Everybody knows it. It's out in the open Jared Shirai: Yeah. Yeah. Keoni McKeague: And LeBron James even said it, like he said, there's no way I end up on the Cavaliers without something fishy going on. And he said that's the same thing for Derrick Rose. Like there's no way he ends up in Chicago without something fishy going on. And then, of course, this last year with Cooper flag, like it just happens that the Dallas Mavericks win that coin toss with the Bulls. They ends up putting them in the perfect spot to jump all the way up to number one after they got rid of Luke. Yeah, exactly. So let's. Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. after they got rid of Luca and all this other stuff, yeah. Keoni McKeague: This is why I'm kind of like I'm against the flattening of odds is because it's already rigged for the top teams to end up getting the top picks. And I think there was like a statistic about like when it ends up being like this, like generational talent that everybody feels like is going to be like the next like the Wembe's, the Anthony Edwards, they somehow always end up in the Western Conference. Like it always ends up being like these top tier names in the Western Conference, which This is because I was like, when was the last time you heard anybody super big landing in the East? Like Joel Embiid is probably an extreme case, but even he ended up in Philly because he was injured. It wasn't because they thought right out of the gate this dude was going to be a game changer. He ended up there because he was out for his first two seasons. Jared Shirai: Good. Keoni McKeague: Anyway, all that to point to the fact that like if they do flatten the odds, I'm only worried that it's going to make the rich richer, which we're already starting to see like now, like the Mavericks got, you know, this ridiculous influx of talent the last couple of years, and then they end up getting Cooper flag. So it's like one of those things where I'm like, I wouldn't want to see like next year, the Warriors end up with like the top, the number two pick or something. You know what I mean? Like like that to me would be like scary or like the Spurs or something. I don't know. But all that to say like Jared Shirai: Yeah. Keoni McKeague: I like the system that you kind of mentioned with the winning and that adding to the totals. I think that could be an interesting thing. But I don't know. I think at the end of the day, you just need to figure out a way to get these players motivated to play. mean, if a player is motivated enough, can force the hand of his owners and the GM and the coaches to make him play that day. But a lot of these guys are just a little bit too Jared Shirai: Yeah. Keoni McKeague: lax and daisical with that. Like they don't really, really care to play. Like if they could sit a day and earn a paycheck, they'd rather do that, which I feel like is such a big change in the league now. It's like, like now they want to go less games. It's like, how can you say you want to play less games and you already don't play games? Jared Shirai: Yeah. That's that's that was the wild one to me. I I don't agree with them cutting the games Keoni McKeague: Yeah, like, Supposedly he is looking at 72 being the number, which is 10 less games per season. And yeah, I mean, you kind of already mentioned it. I agree with you wholeheartedly. Like if they drop the amount of games to accommodate these players, like to me, it's already ridiculous the amount of money that you guys get paid on a per game basis. Like to then increase that by making it so they only they only have to play 72 games as opposed to 82. Jared Shirai: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: It's just ridiculous to me. Like, what are we even doing nowadays? Especially with the expansion coming up, like, you're going to have two more teams in the league and you're going to be playing 10 less games. Like, let's... Jared Shirai: Yeah. I think my fix for that is like, extending the season. I know everybody talks about like, ⁓ like, well, if you go to the finals, you don't get that big a break. Well, that's because you went to the finals. That's kind of something you should have to deal with. I think if they extend the season, then you don't have to play as many back to backs. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. go. Jared Shirai: And I think that's like what everybody complains about, The back to backs. So if you extend the season by like a month earlier or maybe even like two, three weeks earlier, you have that opportunity to to actually just give the amount of rest needed in between games. Maybe you get every other day. mean, yeah, it's a travel day, whatever. But still, every other day is better than playing a back to back. So. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. That's such a good point. Yeah. That's actually really, really smart. didn't even think about that. Yeah, like literally the time itself. Like if it was just like a month longer, yeah, you could push games out a little bit more so teams aren't having to do back to back. Yeah, that's a really good point. Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I think that would help tanking because everybody's like, ⁓ we played it back to back and my star can't handle it. And because he's coming off injuries like, no, like, dude, you had a day in between. Yeah. Yeah. I have knee soreness every day, I can't sleep because of knee soreness. I'm old. Yeah, I know. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Yeah. Or it's like knee soreness, which is like the biggest one I always see like, ⁓ knee soreness. just like, ⁓ gosh, anyway. Yeah. I wake up with knee soreness. ⁓ Yeah. It's like, I don't know. It's not even that. It's just this it's the way this this generation thinks. And it's funny because that's been such a hot topic of conversation now. Like another part of it that I think could really, really make a difference is like if the pay was based on a per game basis, like to me, guaranteed money is where we're losing players at. Like if you didn't guarantee them $180 million over the course of five years or whatever, and instead said you'll get paid X amount per game that you're actually playing in, that to me would wake some people up. Jared Shirai: Yeah. Yeah. or like practices that like if you're there for like eight hours or like seven hours, five hours of practice, your shoot around and film session. Like if you're there, sure, you earn your paycheck for the day. If you do your shoot around and like, hey, maybe you're a game time decision, but you don't play, but you do the shoot around and the warm up kind of thing. Like, cool. But it's like it's one of those where it's like, ⁓ I'm just not going to like even go to the gym today. I'm just going to come in street clothes, sit on the bench, like collect the paycheck. Yeah. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Or better yet, if you have a legitimate injury, something where they could verify that there is an actual injury and not just like, I have knee soreness. To me, that would be one of those things that I feel like would motivate players to actually play. Because right now, Jared Shirai: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Kind of like fight MMA, right? Where they go through the protocol, the pre-match protocols. Keoni McKeague: Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's like you're literally giving these players incentive not to play. So it's like when you wonder why they're sitting, you know, 20 games a year and then like and that's the other part of it, too, that was getting more annoying is like you're hearing players like fight back against this idea of like, ⁓ you have to play 64 games in order to qualify for MVP candidacy. And it's like to me, it's like if you can't play 64 games. Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. You shouldn't be part of the MVP column unless unless unless it's like unless it's like a big circumstance or something like ⁓ Keoni McKeague: You're right. You shouldn't be part of the MVP conversation. Yeah. Shake it, unless you're averaging 40, 20, and 15 in one season. Jared Shirai: Yeah, but you know what's crazy like, okay, as we lead into this, I love that because for me, I think it should be minutes based. Keoni McKeague: ⁓ OK. Yeah. Yeah. Jared Shirai: instead of games base because like you're going to play, say I play 60, 60, say I say I play 62 games, but I play 45 minutes every game like the New York Knicks of last year. Like I should be, I should be in the, the candidacy for everything because I've played majority of the games. And the only reason why I can't finish the season is because I got overrun because of the amount of minutes that I had to play. mean, for me, I think like that's a big thing or like a percentage of say I played 64 games Keoni McKeague: if you play 48 minutes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Jared Shirai: You take the percentage of the minutes and see like did he really play over 30 minutes per game? And if you played over 30 minutes, I think that's a lot of time in honesty to be in a match. Maybe like maybe like 2028 or something, you know, like something weird like like a good average amount of time that a superstar would play. guess you would say. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. No, is. Yeah, I was like, I mean, think totally. Yeah, this is like more than half of every quarter you should that that's the time or half of the entire time I guess is the best way to put it but. Jared Shirai: Yeah. Yeah. So for me, like that's why I feel like I love how we're talking about it because like I get like sometimes you can't help that. But if you're playing a lot of minutes, I think that could be a different game changer to change it. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Or I feel like a legitimate injury. Just to me, it's the rest days that bothers me. I agree wholeheartedly. You shouldn't be in the conversation if you're just taking a bunch of rest days. Rest days shouldn't even be a thing. And now they're trying to get rid of that, but then you still have players who are faking these injuries. Or like I said, knee soreness ends up being one of the things that pops up. And I feel like. Jared Shirai: That's the thing that kills me, man. That one. Keoni McKeague: That should be a league mandated thing. Yeah, you have the team doctors that whatever. You should have somebody that's a medical official from the actual league that looks into these medical things and looks at whatever fake reason to come up with. Because to me, that's the one that drives me nuts. It's like, OK, cool. Whatever. You're playing 48 minutes a game. You're having a rough time keeping it going. This is your job. So technically, you're calling in sick. Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: every other game, know what mean? Like, how does that, you know what I mean? Like, I don't know. To me, that's I think of this from a workers mentality and it is one of those things where it is super annoying because of how much money they make. It's like anyway, anyway, to steer away from that, though, that does actually lead me into the conversation regarding Steph Curry's recent interview where he talked about the fact that he thinks that players need to get paid more money, that he doesn't think that they make enough in the NBA right now. And I'm assuming this is Jared Shirai: Yeah. Keoni McKeague: because there's the whole CBA thing coming up. The TV deals are coming up. There's a lot of stuff that's going to be adjusted in the next couple of years regarding the salary cap and all of this stuff. Long story short, do you agree with Steph Curry? you think that basically his argument was like players bring value to the organizations? He's like they think he thinks that they should have more equity within these teams. They some of these guys who like our top dollar earners should actually be, you know, able to have stakes in some of these teams, thoughts, opinions, like do you agree with what Steph said? Disagree. Jared Shirai: I want to say I don't agree with it, but I also agree with certain things like how like for a player like Steph Curry. One team. He is the franchise, like, OK, I get it. Like that's the face of your every and this is where I feel like they can take a page on the kind of NFL where you get the franchise tag and that's where you get the. the additional bonuses to it. So I think that should be a thing. If they are going to get paid more money. I'm not saying that they should, because like you just pointed out, they make a lot of money. You know, they make a lot of money for the 82 game season that they play. And now they want to make it 72. Like, and if you don't make the playoffs, like your gate, you're basically cut from there. You make the playoffs. You have an additional, what, maybe 30 games or so if you go seven and like. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Yeah. Jared Shirai: You're already making a good amount of money. You get a good amount of days off. You have a good time off in between seasons right now. I don't think more money solves a problem that we're trying to fix the NBA. You're just babying them in that regard. But if you are a franchise player, like the Yonases, the Yocaches, like the Wembees, you know, in the face of your franchise. Yeah, sure. Why not get a piece of the equity because you're Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Jared Shirai: Literally representing that organization, people are coming to see you, not the team. They're coming to literally see, I go to state games because I want to see Steph Curry or who he's played against. I go to Phoenix because I want to watch Katie and Devin Booker. We went to Utah, I watched Denver play. I don't remember who they played, but I want to see Jokic. Keoni McKeague: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Jared Shirai: Like these are the players that I would pay to see so if I'm paying to see like their superstar or their franchise player why not why shouldn't they get a little bit of it? Not everybody but those players should get it and like I think that gives you like yeah it's gonna say ⁓ I want to go be the face of this franchise then go be the face of the franchise if you can do it great by all means they'll trade for you if they're not then ⁓ well you don't you don't get that extra money you just gotta work harder sorry Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly. I was going to say the same thing regarding. Steph has a right to say it because Steph is one of the few players in the league that I agree wholeheartedly. He probably is underpaid because he does provide a value way above what, you know, his contract says or whatever. But he's I think he sets a scary precedent saying that for like all NBA players like, let's let's keep it a buck here. This is this is the. Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Don't say it for every. Keoni McKeague: Yeah, this is the exact reason we have WNBA players asking for more money when their league is bleeding money. Jared Shirai: No, but they're the best player in the world in WNBA. Keoni McKeague: Yeah, Angel Reese, exactly. Yeah, she could be LeBron, she says. Yeah, she's the best player in her mind. Anyway, like that's the exact reason why I feel like it is a scary thing for him to say, because yes, there are players who add value to to these organizations. And I agree wholeheartedly that those guys in particular should earn more money, because you're right. There are guys like I do want to go see Steph. I do want to see Wemby. I do want to see Yoke Hitch. You know, when LeBron was Jared Shirai: Yeah Keoni McKeague: in his heyday, like you did want to see LeBron. Jared Shirai: Yeah, I mean right now you still want to watch LeBron. He's doing it at his age, you know Keoni McKeague: Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Like you still you still want to go watch these guys and those guys deserve more money probably because their value is way above what the value of the league or what the value of the contracts can be. But that's not yeah, I mean, that's why you have guys like Patrick Williams getting paid 90 million dollars because the potential of a guy which it didn't never ever lived up to the hype. And now this franchise is bleeding money to a player that that sits on the bench and plays like four minutes a game like Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Yeah, sadly. Keoni McKeague: That's the precedence that I feel like is something that needs to not be a future thing. So hopefully that doesn't gain any traction, but we'll see because it feels like every NBA player feels like they need to get paid more, which is already ridiculous for what they do every year. So anyway, moving on to the actual playoffs because we are sort of in the midst of that. ⁓ Round one is in the books. We had some surprises. We had some ⁓ not so Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: you know, surprising results. But we did see the debut of a couple of teams, the Trail Blazers being one of them because they haven't been around since way back when with Damon in there. And then we also had the debut of the Pistola and not the view of the Pistons. Sorry. Excuse me. debut of the Hawks. I don't know. I said the Pistons are the debut of the Hawks in the playoffs, which has been a minute since we got them in there to. ⁓ Well, actually, I think that back to David. Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. You Keoni McKeague: They kind of were the eighth seed for a couple of years in a row. Yeah, I was like. Yeah, this was. Yeah, higher ranking seed will start off in the Western Conference book. You know, we had ⁓ well, to start off the rip, we had the thunder taking on the suns. This one didn't was never really a contest ⁓ watching the suns. I think we're starting to see sort of the limitations of a guy like Devin Booker. Jared Shirai: Yeah, but I mean like they were a sixth seed in this one. So I mean that I mean as a higher ranking seed Keoni McKeague: ⁓ specifically in leading a franchise, you know, obviously you had the addition of Jalen Green and Dylan Brooks this off season and Mark Williams as well thought, you know, everybody thought that might be enough to like maybe propel them to the next level, but then they get, you know, just mollywopped by the Oklahoma city thunder. And really, I mean, we're pretty disappointing considering the additions and they only really made it to the eighth seed. ⁓ From the Suns perspective, their bounce from the playoffs, what do you want to see them do? What do think they need to do? Do you think that Booker maybe asks out ⁓ or they decide to trade him? Where is your head at with the Phoenix Suns? Or are they just a piece away? That could be your take two. Jared Shirai: I think. I don't know about a piece away because like they traded all the bigs they treated like they treated away a lot of good pieces that was the hard part for me when they made the trade the Katie trade great they got Jalen Green you know to bring in the Dylan Brooks in the sense of like adding that grit but they just don't have any depth pieces so I can see like Devin Booker I mean I mean if Devin Booker is gonna be that one of the guys that says like hey I want to be here I wanna this is my franchise like I want to build from here great but they're gonna have to do Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Jared Shirai: lot. They're gonna have to bring in a point guard. They're gonna have to bring in a small four. They're gonna have to bring in like, they're gonna have to figure out what big they want to go with. Like Mark Williams, Igor Daro, Malou Ak. Like they had all these, had, they were a team with the five centers and they drafted centers and we're like, what are we doing here? And now it's like, okay, now let's pick a couple that we want to like invest in fully. But they, yeah, past that, I mean, Let's just think about their depth right now. Devin Booker, Galebsi, Grayson Allen, Jalen Green. They have Goodwin at the three, Brooks Royce O'Neal. And for me, that little, I'm looking at their roster and like, that's it. That's not even close to being like a top tier. I mean, Golden State went toe to toe with them and Golden State literally only had Steph. Keoni McKeague: Mm-hmm. Jared Shirai: out there. No Jimmy, Dre was whatever. And then he was basically just deaf trying to get the job done. And they barely got the job done against them. So it's like, if you could do it against a fading Golden State team, especially because they're injury based too, what are we going to do? Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Jared Shirai: And I think it's the rebuild either like saying, hey, Devin, like, we'll give you the trade wherever you want to go and no trade for pieces and build around, I would say, Jaylen Green and Dylan Brooks, because I thought they brought a good spark, a good like young chemistry to the to the organization that you could build off of and use Devin Booker as a piece to get more assets, whether it's in the draft or even get another like. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Jared Shirai: above average, not to say elite, but like an above average like superstar to come in and help build around as well to make it more of a foundation like foundation game rather than ⁓ a one one like devil is your guy right now when you really look at it. And we all know he's not going to get the job done. So why not bring in one or two other pieces and make a better cohesion through the team and play more team ball like what I mean, the Spurs have done for years and Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Yeah, 100%. Jared Shirai: and see if they can build the organization that way. Keoni McKeague: Yeah, mean, it feels like there's a lot of teams that could use a Devin Booker. So I do feel like the best case scenario would be to just trade. I just I feel like it's time. You know what I mean? Like you got your closest with the CP3 year. You know what I mean? That was undoubtedly a team that you probably shouldn't have traded everybody. You know what I mean? You shouldn't have brought in Katie during that. We're seeing that again this year. And we'll talk about that in a second. But that he's not that guy. So it feels like with Devin Booker. Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: I don't know, like the writing is on the wall. And maybe he wants to be, you know, the forever franchise guy. And I would applaud him for that. You know, it'd be cool if they could keep him in the organization and try to build around him. But this does feel like sort of the Dame Lillard sort of situation where it's like, should we, if we wait a little bit too long, you know what I mean? Like I think right now he's still very valuable to the team, very good. ⁓ Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Keoni McKeague: I just feel like it'd be, yeah, you don't wanna wait till it's too late, I guess is the best way to put it. Yeah, yeah. Jared Shirai: You want to do him justice too, right? Like we always talk about the give him an opportunity to win a championship and it's hard to win in the West, but it's also hard to win when it's only you. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. And the other thing is, I don't know. I think we already talked about it already, was like, the Jalen Green was always going to be like a redundant player that felt not like somebody you want to pair with Devin Booker. So again, it's like you either maybe trade Jalen Green to bring in somebody else that could compliment him, or you just bite the bullet and trade him and keep Jalen Green and Dylan Brooks because. Like you just mentioned, like having the greedy guy and then having the score guy could be very beneficial for you. So anyway, let's lead to the next team that did get eliminated because we did have the Lakers and the Rockets going to a game six ⁓ with the Lakers ultimately taking down and the Rockets being eliminated. Bug, I mean, we were we've been on the stream. We talked about this many a time that that boy, KD, is not the dude like. Jared Shirai: No. Keoni McKeague: I don't know why teams keep trading for him and thinking he's going to lead their franchise and do all that. Like this guy has shown time and again that he is just not that dude. And I, I want to say this from a different perspective than like the obviously he could score. Obviously he's a superstar. Obviously he is a game changer. To me, the biggest thing that he lacks is leadership. Like he is not a leader when the team starts. Jared Shirai: Yeah. Keoni McKeague: Faltering when the team starts falling apart like this guy is like the ultimate I cannot hide my face type of guy like he has no poker face when it comes to this team and his his teams losing like I I truly feel like he's one of those guys that like I would hate as a teammate because You're supposed to be the guy, but you're the guy who always seems to like Be the most downtrodden when we're losing like you should be the guy that's Jared Shirai: Yeah. Keoni McKeague: getting everybody hyped up and ready for the next one, but he's not that guy. So the league, I mean, the Rockets obviously lose. They're going to have a lot to figure out this off season, particularly what to do with KD. And it sounds like there's a possibility he could get traded to get another franchise. If that does happen, where would you like to see him go? And if it does happen, what do you see for the Rockets and what they can do to sort of fix the problems that they had handling this Lakers team? Jared Shirai: Yeah. mean for me. Yeah, I'm gonna start with the Yes, I agree with you with Kevin Durant. ⁓ Keoni McKeague: Which, I want to say this off the rip though, before you get into that though, is like, I think we can agree that this isn't even the best version of this Lakers team. for the Rockets to have lost, it's one of those things where it's like, you fell apart for multiple reasons, obviously, but like what can they do in order to shore up the issues that they did have in this playoff series? Jared Shirai: Yeah. I mean, for me, well, first off, of course, it's going to be health. Having KD and Fred Van Fleet off the court. I know this is where we talk about leadership. I feel like Fred Van Fleet had more of a voice than KD. If you watch, if you watch off the court, the bodiness of it. Also, I do think for me, it's the depth of this team. their bigs are deep, right? We have Adams, Capella and Seung-gun. Three different types of bigs actually, when you really think about it. Keoni McKeague: 100%. Yeah. ⁓ Jared Shirai: But they're deep there. But it was everywhere else. Past Ammon Thompson, ⁓ leading literally the team in everything. didn't really have... ⁓ Shepard had himself a pretty good year, kind of disappeared in the playoffs. And I account that to his youth. He's 21, probably first playoff series, you know. But I think it's getting a more veteran-led second team. Because their first team, if you really watch, like I got to watch the games because it was Lakers and you know, love Prime Video. They showed like all the things. So I got to watch it, but I got to watch. They were very defensively like gritty and just like if you watched game one of the Lakers Rocket series, it was just a grit on both sides of the ball. So they have that that Thompson's a freak of athletic. Keoni McKeague: Mm-hmm. Jared Shirai: Person that you want to build around the boy does need to learn how to shoot some free throws because I would follow him all day and let him shoot free throws I think that's partially why they lost but it's like their second unit that that kind of killed them for me because when you look at their second unit you bring in like the Capella's the story, you DFS Aaron Holliday, they like Jeff Green at 39 even got minutes in this in this series because they didn't have anybody there and so for me moving forward, it's like Keoni McKeague: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Jared Shirai: building around Thompson, but building pieces like, if you look at the other side of the ball, kind of what they did. Kennard had himself a series, Harui had himself a and this is all without the Reeves and Luca. So all that second team that came in literally is what helped LeBron. Helped. Keoni McKeague: The veteran, yeah, the veteranness on the Lakers squad specifically, mean, Marcus Smart was Mark. Jared Shirai: Yeah, it showed. Marcus Smart and Cunard had themselves a series, so did Rui. And I think that was one of the biggest things. They don't have anybody on this roster who has that veteran experience besides Fanfleet, I would say. But if he's injured, When you really look at it, because Jeff Green wasn't a big... Keoni McKeague: Go. Yeah. Yeah. Jared Shirai: role guy. Capella was never really that guy. He got blamed a lot for a lot of things. Steven Adams, yes, but Steven Adams is super limited into the way that the Rockets play. So he can he's a good bench glue guy. But other than that, they don't have anybody. So, mean, honestly, they traded for the wrong superstar. should have Devin Booker here. I think that would help them a little bit more. You know what I mean? Keoni McKeague: Yeah. ⁓ yeah. Yeah. I think the other part that you're missing, which is obvious in the series is like you actually did need Dylan Brooks. Like you needed a guy who was not only going to defend the crap out of whoever he was guarding, which, you know, undoubtedly would have been LeBron in the series because he's been the most ⁓ pestering towards LeBron. But. Jared Shirai: Yeah. I'm LeBron. Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: You missed you were missing that that guy to kind of bring everybody in together. I'm in Thompson's more of a quiet player. Shen Gun is more of a crybaby. We saw that coming out more than a couple of times during this whole this whole series. ⁓ You really and then KD, of course, like as we mentioned already, is this sort of prima donna type of I'm better than this team type of guy. So it's one of those things where it's like you weren't getting anything out of the guys that you needed to be getting something out of. So. Jared Shirai: Yeah. Keoni McKeague: Yeah, ultimately it feels like they're going to be moving off of Kevin Durant. There's a lot of rumors around the Nuggets, which I feel like would be a crazy swap if that did end up happening, because supposedly that would include Jamal Murray, which I feel like I do actually like the fit of Jamal Murray with this team. ⁓ But the KD going and playing with Jokic part would be, I mean, wild because. That could be really, really good or really, really bad. So there's two very, very distinct versions of what that team could look like. And I don't know. We'll see. I mean, maybe, maybe, maybe Michael Porter Jr. was right. Maybe they should have illustrated him either. That was another, you know, sticking point for this Nuggets squad, which we'll get into right now, because as I just kind of alluded to, the Minnesota Timberwolves do win the series four to two, knocking out the Nuggets in game six. Jared Shirai: Yeah. Keoni McKeague: ⁓ And after they were the lower seed in the series, which I feel like is sort of more just. You know, more on just the just a weird season for them than it is that they talent level weren't that, you know, great because just they're a really, really good team, obviously. So, yes, they do end up winning this one. The Nuggets now on the flip side of this. Out of the playoffs in the first round, which ⁓ it feels like Jared Shirai: Yep. Keoni McKeague: They have progressively gotten worse since the championship season as far as competing in the playoffs. Something has happened over the course of this last few years where they went from finals to conference finals to ⁓ semis to now this is the first round elimination for them. And we're staring down the barrel of a team that really just underperformed throughout the regular season. They were not the sort of nuggets of old that we're used to kind of dominating and all this other stuff. There were a lot of factors that fed into it. mean, obviously injuries were a part of this season, ⁓ but they were getting contributions out of some of the guys that weren't really high up there, you know, previously like Peyton Watson. He ended up being an absolute stud for them this year. ⁓ Cam Johnson was seemed to be sort of just a nothing burger that. Truthfully, I don't even know why they traded for him. anyway, and now you got this hodgepodge of guys that like we're looking at and we're maybe figuring out whether or not we're going to be able to keep them. And it sounds like right now, Jamal Murray might be the first name out of Denver, which doesn't necessarily mean he's going to go to the Rockets or anything. There's also rumors around him being traded to the Heat and all these other organizations. But. Jared Shirai: No. Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: Thoughts, opinions, what do the Nuggets need to do? I know you've kind of been on the train of them needing to fix the depth issue. other than that, if they did bring people in here to play with Jokic, who do you want to see? What kind of player do you want to see? What do you think would be the best fit for him if they do move off of Jamal Murray? Jared Shirai: I mean, for me, like you talk about how they've been falling off since that championship season. The one name that comes to mind is KCP. KCP was like kind of like not the glue guy, but he was the grit guy for them. And and that's the type and the second person was Bruce Brown. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, undoubtedly. Jared Shirai: They let both of them go and from there it's like, okay, well, because we have, ⁓ what's his name? Christian Braun, who was getting minutes and like, he could take Bruce Brown's spot. And then they relied on other players to try and like, mimic what KCP does. And that that's kind of like for me, but honestly, I would love to see a type of player like. Keoni McKeague: Fill the rose, yeah. Jared Shirai: I mean, I don't know if they're going to go get him because it might be interesting, but you get a get a grit guy kind of like. A Dylan Brooks or a Grayson Allen, like somebody from Phoenix that you can like take. I mean, not going to get Dylan Brooks probably here, but you can get a Grayson Allen who's like not. He's a dirty player, but like he's a grit guy and he can shoot. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Jared Shirai: And that's what you want, you know, he can be he can be a score if you want to, or you can just be a defensive pest. And to put somebody alongside that, because I feel like that's what they're missing. They have like the Cam Johnson in the score, right? They have Aaron Gordon, who has to play the four. You'll get to place the five like they're your bodyguys. But when it comes to the ones and twos like Jamal Murray is a defensive liability. We all know that your two is what Tim Hardaway Jr. and Keoni McKeague: Mm-hmm. Jared Shirai: He's not really known for his defensive proudness. And you put Christian Braun there, but Christian Braun hasn't lived up to the hype of what you wanted him to be. So why not get a two that can play some defense as well? know, if they, and with the, honestly, with the year that Marcus Smart had, if you're trying to just put a big, like, the gap really quick, send Jamal Murray to the Lakers, bring in Marcus Smart to Keoni McKeague: ⁓ yeah. Yeah. Jared Shirai: instill some kind of culture with these young kids because that's what he's been doing for the Lakers and that's what he's been doing all his career. And so for him to come in and bring back that grit type of ball that the Denver had before the championship, I think that's where they got to start. They got to refine the identity of that type of ball because offensively they have weapons. It's it's a like you said, it's the health but B it's actually playing defense now. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Jared Shirai: I feel like they get complacent on defense and that's where it's like, ⁓ they can score. look, they lost to a team that Anthony Edwards didn't even play. Like, Ant was injured, I think in the last two games, if I remember right. And they lost. And so like, that's just crazy because you're supposed to be able, A, you're the higher seed, B, you're supposed to be the better team. And yet you still lose. Keoni McKeague: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think part of that and I I think it has to do with the fact that the the Timberwolves I mean they just are like a matchup nightmare for the for the Nuggets. I feel like they're like the perfect combination of like size, strength, defense, all that sort of stuff that like the the Nuggets can't combat because when you're you know throwing when you're throwing a you know perennial sort of defensive player of the year type of guy in Rudy go bear at Yoke Hitch and then pairing that with the you know fact that you're gonna have like Julius Randall you're probably gonna end up throwing I Was just hitting all the Sixth man, what is his name? Naz read at him like you're getting you getting a bunch of bodies that you can throw at Yoke Hitch and you're really mitigating what he does Jared Shirai: Jaden McDaniels, Desumu. ⁓ Nasred. Keoni McKeague: I will. I just think that they're just like the perfect matchup nightmare for the Nuggets. Like that would not be the opening round that I'd want to see if I'm the Nuggets organization. So that it has to be a large part of it. Obviously, they get to game six. So it's not like they got smacked around by this team and they could have. They really had a chance. But you're right. Yeah, you didn't have Anthony Edwards for a couple of those games. And it's like if you can't mitigate, you know what the rest of that team does, you know, in order to win it. Jared Shirai: Yeah. Yeah. Keoni McKeague: something is going wrong. I feel like I think Jamal Murray is like the biggest part of this that I mean, I mentioned this already that I just feel like you can find a Jamal Murray, you know, he's there's a bunch of Jamal Murray's. Yeah, exactly. Like you can find Jamal Murray's all over the league. Like there's a bunch of these non defending scoring guards. You can find any which like Jared Shirai: Yeah, you said it in our season part that we did like the buildings Keoni McKeague: To me, what you really need and what I actually would love, even though I don't know that it's completely possible because he might be on the contract for another year. can't remember if he's a free agent this off season, but like a drew holiday would be a fantastic get for this squad. Like to me, that's the prototypical guard that you need in a team with Jokic because you want somebody that can defend. want somebody that can hit an open shot and be a leader on the court. Like to me, That guy would be like the perfect addition for this team. Does that mean you're sending Jamal Murray to that squad? Probably not. And I don't think the Portland Troubles is after the success that they had this season are going to let him go. that, I mean, that's the type of guy that I would like to see you go get. If not him, like Devin Booker actually could be a pretty solid addition because he does, you know, the main thing that you need. And he is a little more defensively like sound, which I feel like. Jared Shirai: Yeah. Keoni McKeague: He showed with Team USA, right? Like he was able to like actually defend when they needed him to. He was a lock. He kind of became their lockdown guy, ironically, on the perimeter, which is not necessarily his shtick, but he became the guy they needed when they needed him to do so. So he feels like a guy that would make a ton of sense here. I think the Cameron Johnson thing was a mistake. mean, truthfully, like, I don't know if it was because Michael Porter was being honored. Maybe he was a locker room headache. I have no idea. Jared Shirai: Yeah. Keoni McKeague: like you got rid of the guy who was probably the most comfortable in the system. It feels like Cam Johnson was just kind of a wash of a year guy. I think if you do move off of somebody, move off of Cam, move off of Jamal, give Peyton Watson ⁓ an extension because Peyton Watson honestly should be a starter for them because he's just defensively really, really good. He can hit the three. He's like just about the prototypical wing guy that you need in the league right now. Jared Shirai: Yep. Keoni McKeague: ⁓ And then go and find yourself like a real, you know defensive-minded guard. I know there's not too many of those You know what I mean in today's NBA. It's a lot of just I can score and I don't do anything else guys But you know, I'm just saying like they could go out and find somebody else who that is drew holiday is my pick but I don't even think he's available to them, but That would be a guy I would love for them to try to get Yeah, I mean if somehow the Portland Trail Blazers Jared Shirai: Hahaha Yeah. Probably through trade, if only. Keoni McKeague: just love the idea of adding Jamal Murray, then yeah, I'll go out and do it. But I don't think that's going to happen. anyway, ⁓ that takes us to our final series in the Western Conference, excuse me, with the Trail Blazers, ironically, who ended up basically getting smacked around by the Spurs. It was a gentleman sweep with a series ending 4 to 1 ⁓ in San Antonio. I will say this. First off, the rip. watching this one on the plane home and watching a couple of the games after that. I love what the Spurs fan base is doing with the colors. Like it's it's a sight to behold. I love that so much. It's like the coolest looking playoff arena period right now. Like I won the retro kind of color scheme because I feel like yeah I was like but second of all the the colors matching like it's it's so cool to see on TV. Jared Shirai: Yes. Keoni McKeague: That was one of the few ones where I was like, wow, that really stands out and is really fun to watch. But anyways, obviously the Spurs are going to win this one. No offense to the Trail Blazers, but they were never really going to have a chance in this series. They looked a lot better than I feel like people are giving them credit for heading into this playoff. But yeah, we're sitting on the precipice of a possible Tiago splitter. Jared Shirai: Yeah. Keoni McKeague: Separation thing because they haven't guaranteed that he's going to come back and they're already looking at candidates Which I feel like it's such a slap in the face of Tiago who took over for Chauncey billups ⁓ I think it was after the second game of the season with Chauncey billups being caught up in that whole betting scheme thing ⁓ but anyway That sounds like it's probably going to be a thing so they're looking at other candidates for the head coach for next year ⁓ All things told book, you know Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: Trailblazers, like what did you like? What did you not like? Obviously they end up losing this, but there were a lot of positives I feel like coming out of them from this series in particular. ⁓ What do you want to see from them to maybe give them a better chance in the next couple of years? Jared Shirai: I want them to get a superstar. Like that's, think that's the, that's the one thing they're missing. They play amazing team ball. Like Tiago Splitter did an amazing job with them all season, building the youngs up, giving everybody opportunities, like knowing that, yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna live and die by people like Denny Adria or like the scoot Henderson's like whoever comes in and is hot that they, they found ways to get them the ball. So I do love how it was a very team-based. ⁓ Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Yeah. Jared Shirai: organization this year. But for me, it's like you want that guy that one guy in the playoffs. So one guy in crunch time that it's like, hey, we're going to give you the ball, we're going to run plays for you, we're going to get you open, whether you make the shot or what, or you run the offense through. It could be that guy. I think honestly, ⁓ I if they were super bottom, Jamal Murray, I think this is Jamal Murray type of team. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Jared Shirai: because you put the ball in Jamal Murray's that's what he wants, right? Jamal Murray wants the ball in his hands, whether he's going to score a facility and knowing that he has people around him that can get the job done, or you just give Jamal Murray the ball and let him work because on defense, yes, he has a liability, but you have people around you that's grinding for you, so you don't have to do as much on that side of the ball. I would love that trade here, and I think it works out for both teams. But for me, it's one of those, you didn't really have a guy? Well, I mean, it's a tough matchup. Let's put this to be real to start with. It's a tough matchup. You play the Spurs. The number one, the two seed. The two seed, you know, they were, they were coming in hot, you know, you got a freak on the other side, as well as you got people around him that were just playing out of their mind, right? The castles, the vassals, like the foxes, you know, like there's Keoni McKeague: Mm-hmm. to see. Jared Shirai: Other pieces like when B is a big part of it and he did go down the game that they did win was the game that he did get that mild concussion or like that he whacked his head on the floor. But it's like beyond that, you still had a team that stepped up in the next. I think was it Castle that went off the next game? It was Castle, right? Yeah, it's. Keoni McKeague: It was Castle. Stefan Castle and what's his name? Dylan Harper. Both went off. Jared Shirai: ⁓ that's right. It was Dylan Harper. Yeah. So like you have people that were stepping up in that regard. it all in all, it is a tough matchup and it is a tough matchup because you're playing Wemby who stretches you like long as well as like defends the post as well. He can do basically anything he wanted to do. But for me, when it comes to the Portland side of the ball, I think it's just having not not not a Wemby type of player because it's it's one in a million, but a type of player like that you can really depend on. in those moments, you know, I mean, even, I mean, we keep throwing his name out here, but like even a Devin Booker here, or if they're moving on from Jalen Brown or Jason Tatum, like, because we'll get to that Boston series. And I mean, that I get Tatum was hurt, but like, maybe it's time to move on from one or two of them. And this would not be a bad landing spot for them because Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Jared Shirai: A, they play defense, B, they can score. And that's kind of what you want in this system. And that's what you're kind of looking for in this system. Keoni McKeague: Yeah, to be quite honest, I don't know why this has been such a loud rumor ⁓ since I'm assuming it has everything to do with the fact that it's ⁓ the team has. ⁓ Jewelry on it, but. Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: I was like, supposedly there's like a rumor that Janis has interest in being traded to the Portland Trail Blazers. To me that I mean, it's obvious that he would be like a major get for them. ⁓ And the price wise, which I kind of saw being one of those maybe the reason why you don't do the the the trade. But I mean, doesn't seem that steep when I actually saw what they would possibly give up in the trade, which is. ⁓ Jared Shirai: ⁓ yeah. Jeremy Grant Keoni McKeague: Jeremy Grant obviously has to be included in there for money. Scoot Henderson to have somebody young. Did it include Denny Avia? Jared Shirai: Danny Adria. I mean, he's a big contractor. Robert Williams, those are their big contracts, that's why. Keoni McKeague: It might have been Robert Williams. was like. But I mean, even if it does include Danny Alvia, which I feel like he made great strides and he's a great player, I do think that he's going to be at least an All-Star at some point. You know, what's he? ⁓ he was an All-Star this year, wasn't he? Jared Shirai: YEEEE Keoni McKeague: I was so disconnected from the NBA. can't really remember. But yeah, I feel like, yeah, he was he was an all star this year. But I do think that he has multiple all star type of ⁓ qualities to him. He could be really good in Milwaukee. ⁓ Obviously shows that he can be a big time fish in a little pond ⁓ being that guy in Portland right now. If that did end up happening, like obviously their, you team goes from maybe contender to obvious contender. I actually would love to see him in Portland if it's not, you know, I mean, I mean, clearly Milwaukee is not doing enough to get him to compete and he didn't even make the playoffs this year and injuries aside, like they still weren't going to be doing anything even if he was healthy this year. ⁓ Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: Portland would be a great organization, especially if they do end up keeping Thiago Splitter. ⁓ Throw in the fact that he gets to reunite with both Dame Andrew Holliday ⁓ in that lineup. think that could be like a really solid trio. And then add to the fact that he's going to have a big band that I do actually really like alongside him and Donovan Klingon. ⁓ Assuming that trade that we just kind of mentioned is the trade. Yeah, I mean like, and then you throw in the fact that you could just toss in like a shade in Sharp, who's a really good scorer in Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Keoni McKeague: to that three spot like that's a really good team. ⁓ Especially within the Western Conference, you kind of need a guy who can maybe mitigate the Wembe's of the world. You know what I mean? Like you need some length there. They need some athleticism in the big man position. Yanis feels like a dream get. But if that is true and he does actually want to go there and they do make that happen, that to me is going to flip that franchise very quickly. ⁓ Jared Shirai: Yeah. Keoni McKeague: Anyway, let's move on to the Eastern Conference. have the Orlando Magic getting, I mean, after being up three to one, losing the series in seven games to the Detroit Pistons, who undoubtedly should have, you know what I mean, been the Detroit Pistons that we saw for the last three games of the series. But they came back. Obviously, we've seen sort of the duo of Kate Cunningham and Jaylen Duren sort of. Jared Shirai: Yeah. Keoni McKeague: step into their leadership roles and really kick into high gear with this team. Boog, thoughts and opinions on the Orlando Magic? They were this close to maybe getting out of the playoffs round one this year, but they didn't. What are your thoughts on what the Magic needs to do, and what did you see in this series? Jared Shirai: I mean, for me, was like they came out strong. They kind of punched Detroit in the face. And then Detroit decided like, they had to remember that they were the number one seed and they needed to start playing like and actually started playing like if their leader stepped up, like in the last game, like you talked about Duran, Duran was 15 and 15. Tobias Harris came alive. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Jared Shirai: scored 30, Cade Cunningham played like the all-star that he should be playing like and I think that was the biggest thing it was get hot early don't give them that and then play defense and play that that grit that they had all season and I think that's what that's what really changed the series for me with Orlando though I mean past Bonchero you don't really have much Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Jared Shirai: Like he was the number one draft pick. He does a lot for that team offensively and defensively. I don't think they have the greatest second option. I don't even know what their second option is. They traded for Desmond Bain. It was supposed to be him. Not really the guy. I mean, he was... Keoni McKeague: I was gonna say, I feel like they got a lot. mean, Desmond Bain, Franz Wagner, I mean, they just. Jared Shirai: No, no, Francis was out though. Keoni McKeague: Oh, you mean in, I thought you meant in general. was just like, I mean, they have, I was like, they definitely have a second option. I don't know. Jared Shirai: And now in general. ⁓ But for me, it's like the jail and sugs, like I just disappears for me. I think it's more for me, one of those where it's where did it go? I was literally just looking at it. It's it's their big. It's their big, whether it's Goga or it's when the Carter Jr. I feel like you need a two way big. in that regard, where you want you want some kind like they do great on defensive and the board part of everything. But it's like you kind of want an offensive big to go alongside a Pablo because then you can run the high screens. You don't have to worry about that. You can play a lob game, which you can with Wendell. But like he gets I feel like he gets in his head and he gets shut down. Also. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Jared Shirai: This game for me, it's not because Jonathan Isaac, we talked, we talked so big about him coming into the season and because he was out that didn't help their cause because he's a kind of grind grit guy for them, ⁓ which matches up really well against Detroit. But I think getting rid of one of their 19 point guards to get, to get deeper at other positions would definitely help them in this off season. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think they ironically got rid of one of the guys that probably could have contributed the most during this, which was KCP. ⁓ You needed KCP in this series, especially when it came to trying to handle the Cade Cunningham. ⁓ Jared Shirai: Yeah Keoni McKeague: I mean, even Tobias Harris to some extent. Like, I just feel like you needed somebody out there who could be a defensive stopper for you. They don't really have like Jaylen Suggs is technically supposed to be that touted guy. But I mean, he can only do so much on the perimeter as far as like defending. He's not a big body, so he's not going to be the guy who's defending like your three fours. They need somebody like that. And especially when you got Pablo, who or Paolo, who is kind of like, you know, I feel like he's. Jared Shirai: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: He's one of those guys that he does stuff on one end, doesn't do stuff on the other end, or vice versa. He's either defending really good in one game, or he's shooting really good in one game. He's never doing both at the same time. ⁓ Yeah, I don't know. It feels like they definitely need a shake up. I'm not sure exactly what, because it doesn't. Roster makeup-wise, you would think they have a really good team. got Jaylen Sox. You got. ⁓ Jared Shirai: Yeah. Yeah, Desmond Bain, Franz Keoni McKeague: Desmond Bain, Franz, Paolo, and Wendell Carter Jr. And then you still have a lot of guys off the bench that... But yeah, you're right. Honestly, even if you were to push Franz up to the two, Paolo to the three, and then bring in Jonathan Isaac, who we already know what he contributes, I feel like he makes a lot of sense. Jared Shirai: Yeah. Keoni McKeague: He makes more sense in the lineup than, you know, adding like a Jalen Suggs to the lineup as opposed to like, you can put just Desmond Bain at the one or whatever you want to do. there's a lot of different versions of that team that I feel like maybe this maybe coaching is it. I don't even know. I mean, I know they just fired their head coach. So we'll see if that ends up changing anything for them. See if they can figure things out for their land of magic. But. Jared Shirai: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: Maybe Tom Thibodeau? Nah, I don't know. Maybe he can unlock the defensive prowess with the squad. I have no clue. Yeah. Oh, God, no. Don't waste it, Steve Carey. Don't go over there. Jared Shirai: Yeah. Steve Kerr. Steve Kerr come here, you know, he's in talks. Keoni McKeague: Anyway, yeah, so that that'll be an interesting one to catch up with and then we'll get into the Pistons when we talk about the other series but We have the Cavaliers and the Raptors going to game 7 It seems like the Eastern Conference was pretty evenly matched because a lot of these series went to game 7 so But we did see the Cavaliers ultimately end up squeezing this one out. The Raptors are eliminated ⁓ After putting up a hell of a fight and honestly having a really really good season for them specifically They have this pretty pretty brand new core and the Jared Shirai: Yeah. Keoni McKeague: They're still figuring things out, but you saw sort of like this surgence or I was going to say resurgence, but it's not really a resurgence because they didn't have an initial surgence. So I don't know what the technical term for this would be. But anyway, ⁓ you saw this like really, really good play by Brandon Ingram this year. First time all star this season. ⁓ Jared Shirai: Yeah Keoni McKeague: I would say you almost had a regression, probably I guess that's that's a terrible way to put it, because he obviously was still elite Scotty Barnes. But you did see him take a little bit of a step back with that happening. So there was that sort of happening. ⁓ But Boog, obviously, this is a team that's not complete. They're still figuring things out. ⁓ What do you think that the Raptors have to do in order to make up for the shortcomings in the playoffs this season? Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. I mean, for me, it's going to be health, right? Because Ingram was not playing at the end of everything. And like, it's great. I think this is exactly, but I mean, like you said, he had a really good resurgence of, I think it's a resurgence of a year for him just because he played a lot of games. He was an all-star. Like he showed that he can still do it. He just has to be healthy to be able to do it. And I think that that's kind of like for me, I think he plays this series. They win the series in six just because. Keoni McKeague: Yeah, which is his entire schtick, feel like. Yeah. Yeah. Jared Shirai: Like he's such a difference maker. did help Scotty Barnes in the playoffs because then Barnes got a little bit more touches here. But I really like what they're doing. ⁓ They found some kind of identity with like a three headed horse in Barnes. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Jared Shirai: What's it called? Ingram and Barrett. RJ Barrett's kind of come into his own as well. So without them, that's two-headed horse of Barnes and Barrett. I love what they're doing. Their big sis play their perfect role. And I would say like the youth that they have, like they're trying to incorporate bigger things and they actually have decent depth on this team, which is beautiful because they can switch people in and out. Now it's just about playing in big time moments. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Jared Shirai: and finishing through like RJ Barrett shot in game six was beautiful. Like, you know, that high bounce goes through the basket, like forces a game seven. But then in game seven, for me, I think it's like, I think they were up, but it's like they didn't have that close out. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Jared Shirai: Yeah, they don't have that closer where it's like, okay, we're going to block down defensively and then we're going to, I'm going to hit big shots. And I think that's where Brandon Ingham could have been that guy because he is kind of that, that late game lanky scorer. Like he knows how to get to the basket or he knows how to get to the free throw line and kind of get you in those moments. So I think they were just a health piece away from, from winning this series. I think for me, that's, that's kind of more how I put it, but amazing season for them, like big turnaround this year. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly. I was like, to me, they are. Kind of the big surprise of the year. I think that they don't really need to do anything particular because really they I mean they were the fifth seed this year. They almost won the series against Cavaliers team that is supposed to be like this top tier team and all this other stuff. ⁓ The addition or not the addition I guess kind of the research or the the ascendance of a guy in Jamal Sheed. ⁓ He was really big for them and defensively he's been really really good. I like what he's added to that starting lineup. ⁓ Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: specifically yeah Jacobi Walters was kind of like the he was like the addition because Brandon Ingram is out but I would I would like to see ⁓ obviously the health would be great I think the them drafting Colin Murray Boyles was a fantastic get for them I think having somebody like that who's I mean coming out of college he was like sort of the dream on green that's what they kind of comped him as Jared Shirai: Him and Jacoby Walter. Yeah. Yeah this comp. Keoni McKeague: I really like his ability to sort of be like the do it all guy and that's a really great gift for them off the bench when you kind of factor in the fact that they will eventually move, you know, ⁓ like Walters back to the bench and you'll have sort of this deeper bench lineup. I mean, they could be really, really good and really, really scary. Do they? I can't remember. Do they still have quickly on the roster? OK, so that's another one that I feel like, geez. Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Yeah, he was injured. Yeah, that would have been a difference maker too. Keoni McKeague: Yeah, if you get Emmanuel quickly in the lineup in whether it's a six man capacity or in the starting lineup like that. Yeah, those that combination of players and length and all this stuff, they've done such a good job drafting over the last few years. Like they could be a really scary team. And that's a team that always has the bulls number. So, I mean, I like they're just a not fun team to play against, especially defensively. But anyway, let's move on to the Knicks and the Hawks. The Knicks end up winning this one in Jared Shirai: Yeah. Keoni McKeague: 6-4 ⁓ to 2 against the Atlanta Hawks and you know we're looking at this Hawks squad post Trey Young and to be quite honest I mean They made it to the playoffs. They didn't have to even play in the playing this year like they didn't. You know, there was no playing game for the Hawks to make it in. They were a sixth seed heading into this ⁓ into the playoffs like Boog thoughts, opinions on the Hawks. Like what did you see? What did you like? Obviously, they're without Trey Young, but they're you know, there's an influx of new talent like your thoughts and opinions on what the Hawks need to do or if they need to do anything. Jared Shirai: Yep. mean, the two of the games were by one point that they won, but I think it has to do with like the grit of what they're doing on that side of the ball. You have the Nikhil Alexander-Walkers, the Dyson Daniels, Jalen Johnson, Saquon Wu. I feel like that's kind of an identity that they were missing. It was basically what Dyson Daniels, because he was the steel leader last year. He was there, that spark plug for them. Now I think they have more players, like even the game Vincent and the Kumingos off the bench. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Jared Shirai: that help bring that defensive grit and get stops for you. Before I was like, ⁓ they couldn't get stops. And so they were relying on Trey to shoot the three and do all these other things. Also, do feel like there's no real, like CJ McCollum's supposed to be their scorer, right? That's why they have him. ⁓ But I feel like they move the ball a lot more. It doesn't just stick in one person's hands. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Jared Shirai: And I think that's been a big thing. Like, Trey was a facilitator and a shooter, but he was also a defensive liability. But yeah, and he needed the ball in his hands. Now it's like we can put the ball in anybody's hands and we can facilitate through almost anybody on the court. And I think that's been one of the biggest things for me. Also, it's been nice that they have a little bit more depth with this team. Like, Rizashe is like... Keoni McKeague: Indeed, the ball, a sense. Yeah. Yeah. Jared Shirai: listed as the third under depth chart because of the kumingas and the gay vincents and players like that, which is like, it's great because now he actually has time to develop. Not before I was like, throw him on the court because he's your number one draft pick and we, got to figure things out with him. Now it's like, okay, you can sit behind a guy like kuminga and learn a thing or two. And I think for me, kuminga found a better home just because the utilization of what he does. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Jared Shirai: and what he brings to this team when you have him and Dyson Daniels on the court together. I think that that makes a big difference for me as well. I really like what the Hawks did. Great turnaround season, know, like you said, didn't have to play in the play-in, finally made the playoffs outright. And they're in a really good spot moving forward because they kind of found a good identity in what they wanted. There are a couple pieces I would say like to add to get them over the hill. But man. You took a good Knicks team to six and you outgrinded them in those wins. Shows a big spark moving forward. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Yeah, to be quite honest, they might just be without their true superstar on this team. I mean, quite literally are like, to me, they're like the Detroit Pistons in the sense that the depth is unreal. They. Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: Like I actually liked the I surprised I liked the addition of CJ McCollum because I remember when we talked about the trade, we kind of were like, well, there goes their season because, you're adding a guy who kind of just whatevs. But honestly, he's been he was a great leader for them throughout this year. And I actually comp him the comp to steam to the Pistons because I think he kind of fits the Tobias Harris role where they traded for Tobias Harris or the broad answer. I forgot how they got Tobias Harris, but they got him on that Pistons squad. Jared Shirai: Yeah. think they brought him in. Keoni McKeague: And you get the leadership, you get the playoff experience, you get sort of just this guy who can help the team move along. I think they brought that in when they brought in CJ McCollum. I actually think that he added a ⁓ lot to this team. And then on top of that, like you said, like the Gabe Vincents, the Corey Kisperts, the Jock Londales. I mean, you look down way down the depth, you still got Buddy Heald on this roster who wasn't healthy. you know what I mean? Like John, Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Keoni McKeague: I think Omega is still on there. Zachary Rusashe is not even really playing to be, you know, like this is a very, very deep team. think that ⁓ to be honest, you could probably package some of this stuff and go out and get yourself a guy like, you know what I mean? Like we keep throwing it out there, but Devin Booker would be perfect for this team. Like, like to be quite honest, like a scoring guy like him, if you were to. Yeah. Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Yeah. superstar guy that does play defense too. Keoni McKeague: Exactly. you were to maybe combine some of these assets into... mean, you got Risa Shea who's technically still a very young, growing piece and even if he doesn't fit the timeline of this team, can still be an asset for a team like the Suns who don't really have anybody who's that young. That'd be a great get for you. I'm just throwing out there. Yeah, exactly. Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Jalen Green is their youngest, probably. That you're going to build around. Keoni McKeague: And like I'm not saying him and research are a great combo, but I mean, it's two young guys that you can build your franchise around. So, ⁓ yeah, interesting things ahead for the Atlanta Hawks. I do really like what they did. And I agree wholeheartedly. They they're on the rise, man. Now let's look to the Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics, the Celtics who were the second seed. And this was probably the biggest upset of the first round with the Boston Celtics being eliminated in seven games. ⁓ Obviously, Jason Tatum was Jared Shirai: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: playing for the last one. You did get the addition of Joellen Bede for the last couple of games. Bug, thoughts, opinions. ⁓ What do you see for the Boston Celtics in the future? Obviously, they're in sort of disarray with like the team roster and all the sorts of stuff. They probably win this one with Jason Tatum, but you know, he wasn't there. So ⁓ what are your thoughts on what the Boston Celtics can do? Jared Shirai: Yeah. I mean, for me, it's just tough. feel like we say this every year, but I feel like it's time to move on from one of the two. Like I truly feel like it's time to move on from one of the two. I mean, I feel like it's got to be Tatum, right? Because like two injuries in a row, the availability part of things, Jalen Brown's. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Jared Shirai: Kind of your guy that does it on both ends of the ball regardless. That's why he was your MVP and whatnot. ⁓ but for me, I think it's moving on from Jason Tatum and this year, this year, honestly, we're a little surprised, right? Because we talked about how this team kind of blew it up. They kind of blew this team up. We thought they weren't going to finish in the top. Like we thought they were going to fall off a lot for them to end up second seed ⁓ means that a lot of their youngs played really well, like the Pritchards. think Sam Howser stepped into big roles. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Yeah. you Jared Shirai: like and then they got the Vujic, right and quite a and the Garza's like they're that that trio of centers. I think that for me, that's one of the biggest things they'll still have the core and Derek White and Jalen Brown and Peyton Pritchard, I would say, because that's kind of like their proudness of their defensive heads. And then Jason Tatum, hopefully they they could use to get a three or a four in that regard to kind of fill that void. But ⁓ I think I think it's about time, you know, you got your one chip with them. They got they got there where they wanted to be. But time and time again, I feel like we just keep coming back to this conversation. And and I would say is trade value if he keeps getting injured, it's just going to keep going down. his then. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. ⁓ yeah, it's. So if it is, well, I'll throw out the idea that I've seen here because I think that it's an interesting one. ⁓ kind of going along with some of the stuff that we've already talked about here. But if it is Jaylen Brown that gets moved and it ends up being or Jason Tatum staying, you know, with the Celtics, which seems more likely because of the injury history and all that sort of stuff. I'm not sure that people are super bought in on and Jaylen Brown. Obviously, his value is just yeah. Yeah. At the top of at peak right now. Jared Shirai: His value is, yeah. Keoni McKeague: thoughts and opinions on the possibility of a three team trade including Yannis Santantacumpo going to the Boston Celtics. The one that they have listed here is the Celtics getting Yannis, the Hawks getting Jalen Brown, and the Bucks getting Jonathan Kaminga, Corey Kispert, Zachary Risachet, and a ton of picks. Jared Shirai: That's what I was thinking. You look at that really quick Keoni McKeague: So you're pairing Jalen Brown over there in Atlanta alongside CJ McCollum and Dyson Daniels and Jalen, I was gonna say, oh, it is Jalen Johnson. was gonna say, cause I think there's a corner in the NFL, the Bears, I'm pretty sure his name is Jalen Johnson too. So that's why I like, I thought that was I was singing the name wrong. So it is Jalen Johnson. Jared Shirai: Jalen Johnson. Jalen Johnson. He's like, wrong sport? It is Jaleigh Johnson. Keoni McKeague: Yeah, I was going to say wrong sport, but I was like, oh, I guess they have the same name. And then Onyeke Okongu. mean, Jaylen Brown in Atlanta looks kind of nice. And that is the star power we were just talking about. Jared Shirai: I think that adds. I think that does add. Yep. I mean, I would I would be 100 % down for this trade. I think every team wins. The Bucks are looking for a new identity and they get a ton of picks on top of good players that just had a great season. You know, Janis gets to go play alongside playing in Boston in a storied franchise, as well as they still have an opportunity to win. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Jared Shirai: with the players that are there. I mean, look, they were the second seed and I'm not saying it's all because of Jalen Brown, you know, you bring in a player like Yannis Yannis will be there. He'll contribute in the same amount of ways as well as they'll still have great defensive players that are still there. The role players that are still there. Man, I'd be all for it. And I think, like I said, every franchise wins in this trade. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think so, too. was like, on top of that, feel like because we know that Jaylen Brown can carry the team. He obviously did it a lot of this year. You know what I mean? Like they were the second seed for a reason. He was doing a lot of the heavy lifting in the beginning of the season while Jason Tatum kind of got healthy. Giannis to me is like that plus the fact that he's he plays big you know I mean you don't he doesn't occupy the same spaces as a Jason Tatum so you have the ability to sort of play this ridiculous pick and roll type of deal with him whether you throw him out at the four or you know maybe slide him into the center position like the fact that you could roll out a lineup that has the Peyton Pritchards the Derrick White's Jason Tatum Giannis and then probably Vucevich who's probably still on the roster Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: Like to me that that's a team that could be really really nice and then of course from the Bucs perspective you're getting Just about every asset you could want in a trade because you're getting a couple of young wings to build around in Jonathan coming gun Zachary resashay You're getting a guy who is no not not a player to you know scoff at either in Cory kiss bird because he's Undoubtedly probably one of the most sought-after role players considering what he does from a shooting perspective perspective and just from sort of a you know a bench player perspective and then on top of that you're getting a bunch of picks like to me this this is undoubtedly a win win win trade scenario that I would love to see happen for all three of these franchises especially as they're you know kind of all dealing with being eliminated from the playoffs and having to deal with ⁓ mean, just kind of restarting in this next year or whatever, especially in the Eastern Conference. So yeah, if that does happen, that would be fantastic. Jared Shirai: I think ⁓ it'll kick around as well, like the standings, because of how each team will upgrade. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Oh, yeah. I think you could undoubtedly see those three teams being one, two, and three if they play the cards right and are healthy all next season. That's three organizations that could take that next step. I actually really like that idea, and it sucks that it didn't actually happen, because it would be really, really cool to see. So let's go back. Actually, you know what? Let's go in kind of reverse order here. Let's start where we are in the Eastern Conference. We're in round two. Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Keoni McKeague: New York and Philadelphia are locked up in the first round series or excuse me in the second round series of this Eastern Conference ⁓ and the New York won game one, know, now they're up 1-0. What did you see in that game? ⁓ What do you think that the 76ers need to do to sort of combat whatever the Knicks did in the first one? Thoughts, opinions and better yet, do you have a prediction for the series? Just in Jared Shirai: I think, okay, I think this is gonna probably go to seven. I think Philadelphia edges them out. I think game one for me was just about being tired. You know, New York had that one extra game, like one less game played. So they had that little two, three days of rest probably on top of it. know, Philadelphia had that nail biter with Boston, which was a tough series going out. So for me, I think that's one of the biggest things. It was just fatigue. Keoni McKeague: Mm-hmm. Jared Shirai: for game one, but going into game two, you know, I mean, I'm not going to take it away from from New York, but like Jaylen Brunson is Jaylen Brunson. He's going to get his, you know, they got out to an early lead. I think it was it was at seventy four fifty one. At halftime and then, you know, that's very deflating. It's a big lead to play a big deficit to play from. And I think from there, like they kind of just I want to say. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Jared Shirai: Philadelphia just gave away game one at after that at that point and so they're like, okay, we got him in game two will come back stronger will come back fresher and from there I think that's where it's gonna be a bigger difference. But I think game one was a lot about fatigue. Also, New York was at home. So it's that home court crowd, you know home court crowd. And it makes a big difference because you know the stars come out and everybody wants to show out. It is the playoffs and things like that. But I mean, I can see this game going this series going seven because Joel Embiid will wake up. Edgecombe has been having a hell of a year. know, Tyrese Maxey will show up and that's kind of been. Keoni McKeague: Well, ironically, it's like Joel Embiid's not playing in game two, but yeah, he's out with an ankle injury. Jared Shirai: ⁓ is he out? What? ⁓ my god. Keoni McKeague: I was just about to was like, mean, it feels like you definitely need Joel Embiid to make this a series. I think that they found their backboard of the future, obviously, with Vijay Edgecombe and ⁓ Tyrese Maxey. That's undoubtedly who you're going to be building around in the future for this team. Vijay Edgecombe has looked like an absolute stud all year. Jared Shirai: Yeah. Keoni McKeague: I just think that he obviously he's the difference maker. Dwell and Beat is the difference maker in this series. I think he's the reason that ⁓ especially in the last series that they're able to just like really lock it in. You know what mean? Like you needed him to come in and do what he does. Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: We'll see man. You know what I mean? Like his health is going to be a big concern. Obviously already being out for game two is already looking bad. That's probably going to be maybe another you know maybe they're up 2-0 after this. But I agree with you. Like if they are all healthy and you lock in like I do think that ultimately the Philadelphia 76ers are better than the Knicks. So they should be able to come out victorious in this series. ⁓ So I would agree with you. I actually like the game seven prediction with New York winning. Let's move over. Jared Shirai: Yeah. Keoni McKeague: until the next series we have the Pistons and the Cavaliers Detroit leads this one one to zero you know really like we're we're starting to see sort of like this You know, it seemed during the regular season that there was like this really great chemistry with James Harden and Spidey and we kind of were like starting to see the the makings of like this sort of elite pairing and team and all this other stuff. The playoffs haven't really gone that way for them. They have not looked quite as outstanding as they did during the regular season. Obviously, they both have still played very well on their, They just won that last series or whatever. But something about the playoffs has not been quite the magic that they were showing throughout the regular season. But thoughts, opinions? What do you think about game one? And who do you think is going to win this series? Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. I think Detroit wins the series. ⁓ I think momentum, the youth, experience from Tobias like you talked about earlier. I think their defensive proudness is a lot higher than Cleveland is. ⁓ I mean, it showed in game one, the ability to... Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Yeah. Jared Shirai: get 19 turnovers to 11. I think that's that plays a big part. know, Harden had seven of them. I do think for me, like I love how you talked about Harden and Mitchell. I feel like sometimes they're not on as much of the same page in the playoffs as they were throughout the season. And it shows I feel like the frustrations get there too. But for me, I think it's just the grit of Detroit right now. Keoni McKeague: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Jared Shirai: The consistency of their play, know, Tobias is scoring. Cade Cunningham is playing like the all-star that he has been all season. know, Jaylen Duren locks it down. And then you have like a player like Duncan Robinson coming in and you know, he just hits shots. He hits shots and he plays defense, you know. It's exactly what he did in Miami when Miami was successful. What got him the big paycheck. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Jared Shirai: And I think that's one of the biggest things for me. ⁓ Just just having those players that are like their their best five players will always play the best amount of minutes. But these five players also like the grind when they're out there, they don't take plays off. They don't like they hold each other accountable. Like they're all playing for with a common goal rather than like they don't look like they're trying to figure it out. I think that for me, that's what Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Jared Shirai: That's why I like I'm going to take the try. think Detroit like five. But I think Detroit is head and shoulders a better team than Cleveland right now. Keoni McKeague: Mm-hmm. No, I agree wholeheartedly with that part. ⁓ I think that they probably win it in six. I'm going to give it. I'm going to give the Cleveland Cavaliers one more game. think they're overdue for probably like a James Harden vintage playoff type of game or something. Yeah. Or yeah, big time spider game or something. I think they definitely need to take advantage of the home advantage right now. You know what mean? You have one more lock it up, get the two advantage and really put a stamp on the series. ⁓ Jared Shirai: or Donovan Mitchell kind of big game. Keoni McKeague: That to me is going to be a big time difference because if they lose this next one then I feel like maybe the momentum swings a little bit With all of that said I do think that they have sort of they just have more motivation to win this I mean, it's you know, there was already a big time get for them to come out of the first round, right? That was the first time in what they say like 20 some years like that since they won our first on playoff series ⁓ I think they have that chip on their shoulder. I do really like this young core ⁓ I do really like the makeup of the Jared Shirai: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: roster. think that Duncan Robinson, especially the way he's been playing is like a perfect addition to the starting lineup and this unit and this team. And I just I really like what they've done this offseason. I think that they can ⁓ take that next step and really prove that their contenders and really prove that the number one seed was in a fluke by putting a stamp on the series and winning this one. So to me, they have more motivation to win it. And I really want to see them win this one. So, yeah, I'm going to give it to Detroit in six. Jared Shirai: 18 years it says. 18. 18. But still, was a big number. It was somebody's whole ⁓ education career. Keoni McKeague: ⁓ 18 years. it just like it was basically 20. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Anyway, let's move over to the Western Conference. We've got Minnesota ⁓ taking game one against the San Antonio Spurs. ⁓ You know, it's it's it's home for the Spurs. So undoubtedly you have that sort of thing. But I think this one, you know, to start the conversation, I think it does come down to like kind of how I mentioned already. Minnesota is a nightmare matchup for a lot of teams and they are that matchup for the Spurs. Like even though we've seen the Spurs be an elite unit, their starting unit is essentially three guards, Wemby and you know what I mean? Sometimes depending on the matchup you got Champagne or you got Harrison Barnes sometimes out there. Like it's always this grouping that is not necessarily the biggest. You know what I mean? ⁓ So that puts Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: to question, you know, how sustainable that lineup can be. Obviously they were elite all year, so there's not, I'm not counting them out or anything, but when you have a team that has a more traditional lineup, like the timber wolves who, you know, get the rollout with the Mike Conley, Anthony Edwards, Jayden McDaniels, Julius Randall, ⁓ Rudy Gobert lineup, you have size, you have length, you have the defensive prowess, like they're not really giving up anything as far is like the speed of the game. Because of course, yeah, they can get out in transition with the Spurs, but the Timberwolves can kill it in the half quarter, which is kind of the reason why we saw this team struggle against them. But Boog, thoughts, opinions, like ultimately, do you think that that will be a hindrance to the Spurs? Or do you think that Spurs sort of behind this just ridiculous? Alien whatever guy in Victor weapon Yama can you know? Take this series even though they just lost game one and got punched in the face with it Jared Shirai: I mean, honestly think San Antonio can win this series. Like you said, it is a defensive nightmare because of the different types of lineups that Minnesota can throw out there with power, size, and whatnot. But the biggest, yeah. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. They could match him guard for guard too. That's the other thing. If they wanted to, it could be like Conley, Io, Bones, Hyland. You could increase the speed of this lineup just like that. It's not like it'd be very difficult for them to do. Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Exactly. like one through five, like they're scary matchup. But the biggest thing, the biggest stat for me was they shot pretty much even 46 and 45 percent, but San Antonio shot 28 percent for the three point line, whereas Minnesota shot 38. And the biggest numbers for me was 0 of 8 and 0 of 4, Wemby and De'Aaron Fox. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Jared Shirai: Like that's huge because like I mean they hit one, they win the game. And for your your stars, right? Your two stars, because as they're basically your two stars on that team to go over and realize like when we taking eight threes like after five, you got to realize, but like you got to get in that post. You got to get if you're not making threes like, yeah, you hit one here and there, whatever. But for you to shoot eight and miss all eight. You're not helping your team being 7-4. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. I'll say he was making Victor. mean, he was making Rudy go bear looks silly on some positions. My gosh. I was like the the footwork game. Yeah. Jared Shirai: Mm hmm. And that's why I like to sit at the three point line. Yeah. Like put them in the pose. Like bring the double. You're going to see you see over everybody anyway, you know, and he's a good facilitator. Like he passed the ball and there are people around him that to hit shots, whether it's threes or hit like mid range jumpers. I think that's going to be the change in the game for me. But. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Jared Shirai: I see San Antonio probably winning in like six. I think this is going to be a grinder just because, you know, Ant doesn't have to do a whole, like he played 25 minutes and came off the bench because he's still technically injured. just having him, like he said it perfectly. Having him on the court kind of gives you that sense of mind that, hey, he's still Anthony Edwards. Like he still has that mindset that I'm still going to be a force to be reckoned with. And you still have to honor that. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Jared Shirai: And that's what kind of opened up the rest of the court for everybody else. Like, ⁓ Ant's not playing? Okay, now we can focus on the Jader McDaniels because that's who they're going to go to, the Julius Randos, who's going to want to play one-on-one. But when Ant's out there, I think he just helps spread the floor a little bit more. that's, for me, I think that was the biggest thing in game one was that Ant coming off the bench. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. I will say though that that to me is kind of the reason why I do have Minnesota taking this series like I believe in Minnesota. mean, I'm sorry. Excuse me. I believe in San Antonio. think that they are undoubtedly one of the best teams in the NBA right now. And I think that they do. I mean, there's no writing them off. There's still definitely a chance that they could take this whole series and prove me wrong. Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: But you put it out there as this was without Anthony Edwards really playing. He really wasn't playing at all, essentially. He was essentially just a bench guy in this game. And they didn't really need him necessarily. Obviously, he had some big shots near the end. He got 18 points, which contributed to the team. But. Jared Shirai: Anthony Edwards. Keoni McKeague: Yeah, Terrence Shannon out there who they threw out in the starting lineup actually did a lot defensively and offensively for them. Like to me, it is one of those things where it's like if you don't even have Anthony Edwards getting to play his full brim of minutes with, know, yeah, if he's not playing 40 some minutes in this game, I mean, geez, like to me, I there are some only so many there are so few players in the NBA, especially that a younger generation that I feel like are those difference makers Anthony Edwards is. Jared Shirai: Roll. Keoni McKeague: undoubtedly that guy. ⁓ Victor Webinamba that guy, SGA that guy, Anthony Edwards is in that conversation for me like he's the type of guy that like he is such a big time difference maker for this team. If you could get him into that 40 minute conversation and get him fully healthy for the series. I just Jared Shirai: Yeah, that's gonna be tough Keoni McKeague: Like I said, I just think it is the it's the matchup nightmare that they have. And for the San Antonio Spurs squad, you just kind of threw it out there as like they do need to hit their shots. And if they're not hitting their shots, which I mean, truthfully, San Antonio is I mean, excuse me, Minnesota is just really good at contesting said shots, especially since they're one of the better defensive teams. that is gonna be an issue for them throughout this entire series. And I think the lack of size for them, especially in that starting lineup, we'll see what they do. I think that there's a chance that they do go with sort of the Harrison Barnes lineup. Jared Shirai: Yeah. Keoni McKeague: That to me is going to be the biggest issue because they're going to have a hard time getting rebounds. They're best in transition. ⁓ They're not really like a half court team. And we kind of knew that already going into the season. We said that about when they drafted ⁓ Dylan Harper this season, that that was going to end up being an issue for them because you have sort of this Fasel, Castle, Fox lineup. Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: Given that you can still roll all three of those guys in different spots, like Castle can technically play the three type of deal. I just feel like you don't have the prerequisite size and length to match up with the Minnesota Timberwolves. So we'll see. Maybe I'll get proven wrong, but I do like the Timberwolves winning this one in six probably. ⁓ But let's move over to the final one. We got the Thunder and the Lakers. Lakers were, well, I guess. They weren't they were the higher seed, so they weren't necessarily a surprise, but a lot of people did have them as a surprise considering that Luca and Austin Reeves were both out. ⁓ But so they head into this one with sort of a chip on their shoulder. The Thunder obviously just absolutely dismantled the Sun's the only ⁓ sweep in the first round and looking to do the same again in this series. And if you watch this game, I mean, it could happen because good Lord, they were just completely outmatched. Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: ⁓ in this matchup and that was without Jaylen Williams being in the starting lineup. so like this, mean, yeah. Anyway, all that to say that, you know, scary times for Laker fans if you know, and that's 90 percent of the people I know. So. ⁓ Jared Shirai: Yeah. Hahaha Keoni McKeague: book, thoughts, opinions. What do you want to see, I guess, what do you want to see the Lakers do or what can they do to sort of combat this like what has been just this impenetrable Thunder team since they won the finals? Jared Shirai: want them to go back to what they did against Houston. I want Austin... Sweep the leg. ⁓ Keoni McKeague: He's just like, I want them to break their legs. Like, yeah. So who's not who's not getting minutes? Throw that guy out there. He'll take the technical. Bronte, you have one job now. Just get out there and tackle somebody. Yeah. Jared Shirai: Hey, put the arrow out there. He'll get another ejection. We're good, man. Throw him out there. Luka will pay your fine. Spear him. No, I kind of want them to do what they did in Houston when they didn't have Austin Reeves, because I think Austin Reeves was the killer in this game. Like he had eight points, he was three of 16, of five. Like he turned over the ball four times. Like Luke Kennard played so great in that role. That you have to give him his props to start him and have Austin Reaves in that second unit, because when they go to the second unit, they know already that Kennard is going to be the guy, know, Larravia, kind of like, I mean. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. ⁓ jeez. Your entire starting lineup was a negative. I just realized that negative six negative 21 negative four negative 10 negative 10 because I was about to say I was like, yeah, he played a negative but I was like, nope, everybody played a negative. Yeah, goodness. Jared Shirai: Yeah. Yep. everybody played negative. But for me, I think that's one of the biggest things because like Austin Reeves can be that scoring guy. And yeah, he maybe he didn't have this game, but Canard doesn't have to be the scoring guy in that first unit. because they still have the Ruys, the Market Smarts, then go 18, LeBron shot great this game and facilitated well, he only had two turnovers, which I was super happy with. The hardest part counteracting this team though of Oklahoma City Thunder is just the depth. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Jared Shirai: You look at their players, you look at the amount of minutes they're playing there. I mean, even if it is like the two, five, 11 minutes, but you got 50, 19, 20, 20. And like it's spread. Nobody played over 35 minutes. They're all contributing in some way of scoring, like shooting for good percentages to like, what is the, the, they wasn't a bad percentage, except for what the ⁓ for two, but that's Aaron Wiggins or five minutes played. I could care less about that, you know, and, and they both, the, Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Yeah. Jared Shirai: bot in this of their defensive side of the ball is just ridiculous. And the length of check is going to be the hardest thing. Let me you watch check, get the block and then run down and get the alley up on the other side like the willingness to Keoni McKeague: ⁓ yeah. Jared Shirai: play great defense and then to break out and be in a transition game. I think that's one of the most underrated things about like Chet. Yeah, he's skinny. Yeah, he's this. Yeah, he's that. But he has that grit that he brings to the court and that length that it's hard to defend and it shows, you know, and they play a great team ball. I think that's one of the best the best ways to put it. And that's why they swept the Suns in the first series. And that's why this could possibly be a sweep series. I mean, Keoni McKeague: Mm-hmm. The leadership of Alex Caruso, Bro. Yeah. Yeah. Jared Shirai: Looking past. Yeah, I agree. But he just brings not just the spark, but the vocal leadership and and he does not just the vocal, he does it by example, too. He's not willing to get his hands dirty and be like, hey, you guys are going to do it. I'll do it. Just watch me do it and I'll go out and do it for you. I think that's one of the best things about him that's always been about him is. He's he's really a glue guy when it comes to like the offense defense and holding a team together, accountability of everything. ⁓ And that's why they were scary team. They're scary team that could repeat again. And I wouldn't be surprised. mean, like I said, they're super deep. Jalen Williams coming off the bench playing 20 minutes. mean, and they still won by 18. It's the he said scary times for Lakers fans just because. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Jared Shirai: This is a very, well-rounded team. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. I think I I I couldn't I can't say that they're not going to win one so I'm going to give them like a gentleman sweep the thunder in this one. ⁓ I mean, truthfully, the Lakers outperformed in that first series. The thunder kind of I mean, the thunder, the Rockets kind of underperform. So there's like a mix of like the, you know, one team doing really good and one team not doing good at all sort of thing happening in that first round. ⁓ So, you know, it's not really on the Lakers necessarily being like this true contender, which I've kind of held to since the beginning of the season that they were always not going to be. And obviously, when you're missing Luka, Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: Donchich that obviously puts into question how much of a competitive series you're put together anyway With all that said though, I agree with you wholeheartedly like Austin Reeves disappearing for this one Supposed to be your you know, number two guy on this team right now Was terrible for them in the first match in the first game ⁓ Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: But yeah, I mean, I just, I don't know how they keep up with the depth and with the speed of this Thunder team. Like the amount that this Thunder team can throw at you. Jared Shirai: Yeah. Keoni McKeague: And the fact that they didn't have Jaylen Williams out there, and the fact that they, like, I mean, just the energy that they bring to the court. ⁓ I mean, I think the other part that stood out to me was them getting Jared McCain, man, was, mean, goodness. That kid was knocking down every wide open shot. I mean, it makes, like, at some point in the future. Jared Shirai: Yeah. How? Yeah, I mean, he left, yeah. Keoni McKeague: They won't be able to sign their team. Like that's the biggest part. That's something that the I know the figureheads for the Thunder organization are trying to figure out. They're trying to combat against the NBA in particular about like the rules regarding the salary cap and their ability to like retain the players that they drafted, which I do feel like is partially like an understandable thing, right? You draft really well. You'd like to be able to resign all your players. ⁓ Jared Shirai: Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Keoni McKeague: But on the flip side of that, they did tank for like 10 years in a row. it's like, like naturally you were going to get eventually you were going to hit on some of these picks, especially when you get like back to back number ones or whatever. And then you get the trade for SGA. Anyway, it's like all that to say that like eventually this team is probably going to have to break up a lot of its depth pieces and then, you know, hopefully continue to filter in new draftees and all that sort of stuff. But right now, man, this Thunder team just looks. Jared Shirai: Yeah. Yeah, I agree. Keoni McKeague: unstoppable and if fully healthy, especially with Alex Caruso, I feel like just providing everything you need for a championship team. Like we talked about earlier that Alex Caruso is the perfect piece for any team that needs to win a championship. Like there's Drew Holliday and there's Alex Caruso. Nobody adds more positively to your team when you're trying to win than those two players. Period. Like Lebron, you should have fought for Caruso. Jared Shirai: I agree. I agree. Hahaha Keoni McKeague: I don't you should have got that dude signed on the dotted line for the Lakers because I think if you have him like you're the projectory of this team is probably a lot different than it was post Caruso Jared Shirai: Yeah. If you have him, like if you have him and you get more like you still end up getting like a Marcus smart, like that would have been a crazy two pairing right there. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Yeah, mean like what before the team just the trio alone of like LeBron, AD, Caruso. mean, to me, you're you're just so much better and so much more competitive than you are currently constructed. Like it just I don't know. We'll see. ⁓ Who knows? Maybe AD comes back because apparently he's not happy being in Washington and he's going to be a free agent this offseason. Who knows? We'll see what happens with that with him in that team. ⁓ Jared Shirai: Yeah. Mm-hmm. say the thunder in six. I'm just gonna throw a number. I'm going to because I feel like this this next game is going to be a lot I feel like it's gonna be a lot closer because I can't see Reeds having two bad games in a row. Keoni McKeague: but You give them two? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like... Yeah, I think that's undoubtedly a part of it. ⁓ Jared Shirai: So. So if they could steal one, I mean, that would be wild because OKC is not an easy place to play there, so. That's why. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. No, it is not. It was very loud watching that game. was like, goodness, the Thunder Stadium is just, I don't even know what it's called. What is their actual stadium name or arena name? Yeah. Jared Shirai: their arena. Let me see. I have it right here. It is called Paycom Center. Keoni McKeague: P-Com Center, that is a terrible name. Jared Shirai: Paycom is an app like that's what we use for our paychecks. Yeah, that's how we clock in and clock out. But yeah, mean, crazy. Yeah, it's not a good place to play. I mean, like it's a very home. It's like playing in the Sand Sheriff, you know. Keoni McKeague: Yeah, this is the. Yeah. I will say this. Obviously, if you're listening to this pod, you and. this is something you're interested in hearing. know, we need to we need to hear it. We need to see it. We need to to taste it. No, it's like we need to know that you're interested in this pod so that we can continue to, you know, bring up after the buzzer and continue to talk NBA basketball. In general, it's been, you know, obviously for everybody, it's been pretty hard to watch. think the regular season undoubtedly has become. I will say this to kind of round out and finish this conversation we've had about the NBA playoffs and all of the stuff that we've talked about today. Jared Shirai: Yeah, we need to know. Please. Yeah. Keoni McKeague: That is probably the biggest reason why we're seeing such a decline in like people watching ⁓ NBA basketball and like people like us who are hardcore fans having little to no interest in NBA basketball is because they have done nothing to excite us about anything outside of the playoffs for NBA basketball. I don't want to watch my favorite team. rest for half of the season. You know what mean? I don't want to watch my favorite players not play or see these marquee matchups, but then not see the best players playing in the games like that is not exciting. There's a big reason why we haven't been paying attention or talking about this regular season in the NBA. It's not a great look for you guys that we have to keep tuning in to watch XYZ bench player take on XYZ bench player like we are wanting to see Jared Shirai: Mm-hmm. Keoni McKeague: the marquee matchups. And if you're an NBA player, you're probably not listening to this pod, but you know what mean? Suck it up and play some basketball. That's that's all I got to say. I was like, you're getting paid. Jared Shirai: or come on the pod and plead your case. Keoni McKeague: No, but really, though, like, prove to me why you don't need to be playing, you know, 30 games a season like that seems ridiculous. This is supposedly the most athletic era, the most skilled era, and yet none of you guys play your game. So it's like how many real seasons are you even playing nowadays? Like, goodness. Anyway, with that said, boo, do you have any last minute thoughts before we bounce on out of this one? And hopefully next week it'll be much shorter. We had a lot to catch up on this this week, but if we hop back Jared Shirai: Yeah. Keoni McKeague: we're going be talking about game twos and threes I'm assuming by that point. So yeah. Jared Shirai: 2s, 3s, yeah maybe a series might be done who knows. We'll see. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. ⁓ Jesus. Somebody already gets swept by that. Kind of crazy. It could happen. I'll tell you. ⁓ Jared Shirai: I mean, it could happen, right? It could happen. I mean, the thunder rolling right now. like you talked about with and and gets in that starting line of plays the 40 minutes like that could be another series that could go for so. But I mean, at least playoff basketball has been a lot more exciting and more to talk about more to look at. Not not not the greatest still yet. But I mean, it's it's still something that has piqued interest and. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Yep, that's true. That is true. Yes, much very much so. Mm. Jared Shirai: Hopefully, if you enjoyed it, please let us know because we want to put out more pods. But because you guys don't show interest or we don't know, we don't do it. So, sorry. Exactly. Keoni McKeague: Yeah. Yeah, we just don't know that everybody wants to actually check it out. we will. And especially with the NFL warming up and our heating up and we getting closer and closer to draft day for us. Like, there's a lot of content to talk about there. But anyway, with that said, thank you for joining us on this very special episode of After the Buzzer. I don't know where my. Jared Shirai: Yeah. Keoni McKeague: outro song went so it has been a pleasure it's been a joy from all of us here at poi and soy good fortune love bang bang Jared Shirai: Tschüss!