Basketball's Brutal Truth Serum: Why Some Teams Fold Under Pressure

Thursday different type of podcast. We have so much to get into. This is frontrunner podcast collective. I am your humble host, vince. Today's show is jam packed eight seeds in the eastern conference and what they meant to what is going on. We will get into some breakdowns between like players and some of the strategies and what have you. But before we get into all of this, the one thing that we have to 100% recognize when we get to the playoffs is that the team with the most poise, the team with the most answers, the team that boys, the team with the most answers, the team that seems to be able to problem solve on the fly without panicking, is probably going to be able. That just did not weather storms very well and we got to go to california state capitol and we're going to start start talking about the sacramento king. That's not a course correction, this is that's an autopsy.

Meanwhile, chicago bulls pulled the same stunt we've seen every year drop enough hope to keep fans tuned in. Oh, josh giddy is playing well. Oh, matas buzellas is starting to play well. We're starting to see a form of a promising team. And then you go get dog walked by the miami heat, who we have been basically calling the zombie heat for multiple years. And here they are again, listening to this like damn again. You're not alone. We've seen this movie before the twist one team actually changed their ending, the other still rebooting the same tired franchise script. We're gonna go back a little bit as well. We're gonna talk about how we're gonna go back a little bit as well. We're gonna talk about how this started with mike brown. Mike brown gets fired in the season. We see it.

Darian fox said oh yo, I'm gonna break wide too. Go ahead and trade me. I've seen like four or five coaches come through here. Prime wants to play on successful teams, teams that have pedigrees. Now you would think to yourself this disintegration can't get any worse. Well, there is talk that jeremy lamb, ex-sacramento king, had the ear of the owner because he was dating the daughter. Then that seemed to quell. Then we get doug christie, the higher interim hire. But all reports are is that the job has been basically held for doug christie for like the last two coaches, and they just been looking for a reason on sacramento king understands the heartbeat of that situation. I got no problem with this so far.

Now, what you get back in return. What you get back in return now because of the fact that you are handcuffed because darian fox says, hey, I don't want to be here anymore. You get zach levine back now. Winning he has not exuded winning wherever he is gone. And that takes us here because dallas came in and put in a full quarter long whooping on them. First quarter up for deep, pj washington was out there. Dominant short roll reads brandon williams, who is the guy that they had been waiting for. He was on the 10-day contract but because they had had so much mismanagement in their cap, they were so up against the cap they had to wait to sign him. So the amount of days in the NBA they calculate okay, this is how much money you have left to sign, because, remember, he was playing great for them.

And then, if you're thinking, wasn't this the B team a year ago? Yeah, that team is gone. What's left is a group that has bad vibes and now doesn't have a president of player personnel. Monty Williams was fired literally ten minutes after the buzzer sound. The Rosen couldn't create for anyone else but himself, and then, when the buzzer hit, I don't know how long that went on. So we're going to have to go ahead and do it right back. So if you're thinking, wasn't the game team? This was the game team a year ago. Yeah, that team is gone, built for adversity, and you know what the playoffs do. They test yourself and before they can even get to the playoffs, 10 turnovers in one quarter. Sabonis couldn't defend. He's not a rim protector. Derozan couldn't create for anyone else because he is a independent front offices. Don't fire guys that fast unless the decision was already made. The horn didn't cause mcnerr's exit, it just gave them cover.

Given the fact that this was the same team that fired mike brown and then didn't hold him, does any of this surprise you at all? What happened with them now? Uh, here's the other part that I want to get into. Here's the other part that I want to get into. Vivek Ranadive is the Sacramento Kings governor. His own. The Sacramento Kings for a while bought him from the Maloose. Everybody understands what happened there now, 16 years.

So four president, all be it with trading, probably the best piece as far as talent you had in Tyrese Halliburton, because remember Tyrese and De'Aaron Fox were sharing the backcourt. One of them had to go. They decided to trade Tyrese Halliburton. I didn't like the idea then. Now D'Amanis brought them some if you want to call it stability. He brought them a sturdiness. He brought them a no-nonsense mentality and he was going to extract every piece of talent out of going to mail it in ever. He has just got, he has just got.

If you don't pair Demantis wellness correctly with somebody who can protect the rim, you're gonna have an issue the whole entire time. That's been the issue with him since he's entered the league. It is just a fact. Sacramento struggled to find somebody you could pair with him that could protect the rim. Keegan Murray was definitely not the answer, definitely not the answer, not because of the fact that he just couldn't do it.

Here's a team that what have you made? A couple decisions the de montes, sabonis extension with retention. I think they could have won another year, but who knows how sabonis would have felt within that year. I think communication could have been laid. But the problem is is that when monty mcnair is dealing with ronald dv as an owner, this guy changes his mind like people change their underwear. You know, one day it's up, one day is down, one day is blue, one day is green. We never know. So franchise or okay. So monty mcnair fired your franchise guy is in san antonio mcnair fired. Your franchise guy is in san antonio.

You traded a young guy for demontis sabonis who did bring you respectability, but that was only. That was about the level he was going to be able to get you. You were going to need to surround when you had deer and fox and sabonis. You were going to have to surround them with more talent. You were going to have to surround them with more talent. You were going to have to get a rim protector, which you never did.

And now we're here. Where do Sacramento go from here? Here's the thing that I do want to say. He's blown out multiple decision makers as far as talent evaluation evaluators. The list of coaches is ridiculous at this point. He's paying coaches that have been coached for him in like three, four years multiple. You have some talent on the team, but you don't have the high, high end talent that you need to really compete in nba standards.

Right, it's pretty good, but still here is a fan base that's absolutely loyal. When they are legitimately a team that is, uh, in the playoff mix. That fan base and that building is absolutely electric. I thought the light, the beam thing was kind of corny. I love. I love anything that's gonna help fans. You know, support their team, rock for their team. And now I'm looking at this situation and what do you tell the sacramento kings fans? They don't want to hear that the kings are gonna kang. They don't want to hear that anymore. They want to hear real answers. They want to hear truth. At this point, my suggestion is to tear it down because clearly the bill wasn't sustainable and it wasn't sustainable to compete in this high octane west that we got going on right now.

A couple years ago, you caught a wave of good fortune. You weren't hurt. Other teams were. Other teams were going through identity crisis, things of that nature. You had a really favorable seed and then you got your teeth kicked in. Now, at that point, you decided kumbaya, all of these type of things. I get it, but the talent in the west got better. I understand you wanted to resign everybody when you got to the playoffs and had the high seat, but at this point it was a bad roll of the dice and you crapped out.

Now let's move along to another team that is also just as dreadful, and that is your Chicago Bulls. What are we doing here? Okay, so, because at this point. I bought in a little bit too. I'm not okay. Okay, I love they. They they drew me in chicago, drew me again in again. Who's zealous playing when he wasn't playing early in the season? I love that. I love the development of josh giddy.

We find out I think it was pretty interesting that we find out from shams, like right before the game play through the situation, but we just want to let you know that he has a torn tendon in his hand. He's gonna play through it. I love what Kobe white has been doing, but the one thing that we had been always talking about is that the paying Patrick Williams fan and there's no shade to Nikola Vucevic at this point is still your playoff five in 2025. Your front office either hates you or hasn't watched their own tape. They keep dancing around the decision that everyone else can see this roster has a. There's no shade to nikola vucevic, but if he is your five in 2025, your front office either hates you or hasn't watched their own tape. They keep dancing around. This decision that everyone else can see is that their front line is flawed, and it's been flawed for a while, every season.

Reinsdorf was trying to get you here. He's trying to get you to the plan. So you get that. One last gate. Reinsdorf is a money-making machine. That's what he cares about. That's all he has cared about.

This whole situation when they traded Levine, it seemed like it sparked the chance of opportunity to continue to kind of deconstruct this team so you can go ahead, go through the rebuild and then come out with high level talent on the back end. I thought that was a whole point of getting the pig back from Sacramento. I, that's what I that's what I thought. You don't trade, you booch, you keep them, you keep power through this bad boy front court productivity and it's the. It's every time, every time. Just wait, just trust, just watch, and they always lay an egg at the end.

Kobe white can't be your best scorer. I love kobe white, but he can't be your best scorer. Giddy is a really good playmaker. I understand that he had the hand injury that probably really curtailed his production, even though he did play well in that game a I don't know really good. He turns out to be better than you know. Nine other lottery picks or whatever, and you got a diamond in the rough. You hope for that. Mattis booze ellis is a good find. Where they got him. What was it 11. Booze ellis is a good find. Where they got him? What was it 11. So there's still hope out there. I just feel bad for chicago bulls fans because boy reinsdorf can get that gate. He will. He will get that gate no matter what happens. So in the great words of rnb, 90s r&b group portrait, here we go again. You know, here we go again. Now let's put a bow on this. Let's talk about sacramento. So let's put a bow on this and talk to continue to happen with this freezing on this fine, fine piece of machinery.

Monty McNair, build a team that peaked early. No defensive anchors, not a really didn't have a second creator amongst them. Malik Monk is better suited coming off the bench, and their star five, who is a walking playoff liability. Get you 18 boards and regular season games, and sometimes he makes the all-star game. Once Mike Ramos will keep DeRozan, sabonis and Levine that's going to be the question for the next person. I'm not going to pitch a hole. We'll see what they actually build in the offseason. They have to go for a teardown and we'll see and actually build in the offseason. Uh it, they have to go for a teardown and we'll see and here's the other team, chicago you gotta pay giddy right. You gotta pay him for the performance that he put together in the second half of the season.

Kobe white is extension eligible. What is he going to get? Because you got him on the cheaper contract when you signed him. And then Booch and Patrick. Well, douglas, he's in no doubt he can as far as rim protection is concerned. As far as being stout defender in the paint, you can't do it. He's not quick enough to get out and stop shooters in the short corner. So what can he do defensively? But be a sib. So then, offensively, he has to be off the charts now. Vucevic is a really good offensive center, but I don't think he's a very impactful offensive hub type of guy. And if you're going to be that bad on defense, you need to be instrumental, instrumental, impactful on offense.

The the bulls got embarrassed. I know it didn't happen on Tuesday, but you know TNT likes to play games on Tuesday. There's quite a kind of pain when your team knows it isn't working, but they keep selling you hope and there's a power in the front office that's saying no more. So who would rather you root for? The team that fired the gm or the one that's faking playoff potential, let us know. Hit us up on twitter or x at frontrunner pc, or also hit rare up his area up at raya underscore bunch, frpc. We will be looking for your comments and if they're good, we'll read them on the air. So keep that in mind as well. Serea, hit me with this. You keep calling it a process. Okay, let's get to some other teams that we kind of looked at now.

A couple nights ago there was a game. A couple nights ago there was a game and in that game we had all the feels Because the playoff atmosphere Was deep. You know what I'm saying. Everything was thick in the air, everything was lovely. People were tuned in and locked To this basketball game. We stay in California and we go the chase center.

Golden state didn't just out talent memphis, they out value the moment. They close hard on bane this memphis still trying to find trailer. Because this is the thing that we will continue to talk about with job josh. A josh says that he gets picked on. No, if you're great, then we expect greatness. If you're that guy, then we expect performances that back up that guy type mentality.

Grizzlies had 27 turnovers. That equaled 27 points for the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors had half that number and then Memphis scored 12 points on those turnovers. And that's the difference. Memphis plays all fives and golden state played for survival to the game deliberate shoulders, relaxed, eyes, sharp. He wasn't trying to heat up, he was trying to close doors. Now, zach edie zach edie has 17 rebounds, which is awesome. Zack Eady Zack Eady has 17 rebounds, which is awesome. I want to help this situation. He also got Rotated off the floor In the second half Because Golden State Game plan for him Ghost Screamy Butler Dragging him out 25 feet and then just taking him to the hole and getting fouled almost every single time with the slowest pump fake known to mankind, and people continue to fall for it.

If your scheme only works when the other's playing fair, you don't have a scheme, you have a simulation. John's still one of the three most exposed explosive point guards in the NBA, but in this game he was playing. He was playing like trying to be. By the way, you're the coach on the floor for the team that fired their head coach with nine games left to go. So you really got. You really got to buckle up and lock in when these type of situations happen.

John had 22 points. He had five turnovers and three assists. So he had 5 turnovers and 3 assists. So he had more turnovers than assists. He had no control over the final 6 minutes. Now he did hurt his ankle, sprained it very badly.

That game, bane was absolutely hot. He was efficient, he was doing his thing. That should have been Josh's cue to let's feed Bane, let's continue to feed him, let's continue to ride the hot hand until it stops producing. But he did not do that because john needed to win the game. So one ankle jaw, not using bane, not using jaron jackson jr.

And here we are. For your trouble, you get to play the dallas mavericks. For your trouble, you get to play the Dallas Mavericks. I bet you they value the basketball. Their head coach will make them value the basketball. Late game offense is not. They have Ja trying to detonate every possession with no co-pilot because he's not trusting them. Jaron jackson jr was driving to the rim prior to jaw not being in the lineup. Does anybody remember last year when jaron jackson jr wasn't settling for threes? He was getting to the rim, he was playmaking short. Does any of this ring a bell? Where was that guy last? Last, in a couple days up against dallas in the FedEx World. Anthony Davis is going to do that for sure. So good luck to Memphis and playing against the Dallas Mavericks, we need to give Jimmy Butler his flowers.

Playoff, jimmy, even though we're in, the play-in has been activated. You know why. I know that. 38 points, 12 free throws, 6 assists. The way he plays, he wasn't flashy, he wasn't fast, he wasn't flashy, he wasn't fast, but he knows where to put pressure points and where to go ahead and stick his hand in there. His rotations were crisp, he knew when to go ahead. Out backpedals, gets a foul. Next play Draymond ghost screen, screen, skip to. Moody hits a three. Jimmy didn't score 38 points. He dissected the game with 38 blades because it was like see Jimmy things on the stage that Jimmy likes to do them on, which is on national TV. It was pure Jimmy.

Let's get some front-office analysis, shall we on our guys here through this game. Jaw is still electric, but he needs a secondary creator that he can trust. But bane is to the guys that I talked to. Bane is a elite. Third needs more pace in the office. You need a switchable four to make him, to make him viable, and I don't know about anybody here, but don't give me this mess about jaron jackson jr being a. I'll give him an all defensive team. Maybe I have to look at it, but, dude, what the hell was that?

Now the big question from memphis is did your core max out? Do you want to be sacramento? Do you want to be chicago? Is that they have players that they can go ahead and trade. They have ancillary pieces they can go ahead trade. So it's not like the cupboard is bare now. Golden state they out here, they the seven seed. They gonna play houston. We will talk about that and I will tell you when we will talk about that. I'm gonna say this right now mem, memphis did not lose this game because of youth. They lost this game because they value the ball, like it was January. They value the ball and I might have some travel this time of year. Barcelona sounds excellent this time of year. Barcelona sounds excellent this time of year. Maybe the travel agents were on that DM thread saying, hey, we got some real good prices to get you out to Jamaica because they didn't look real interesting in playing.

The plan doesn't crown anyone, but it reveals who treats the moment like it matters. Memphis played the game, golden State played the ending first. Let's move along, cuz we got some other teams to get to Orlando game. We did anybody catch that? If you did, you are sicko like me. If you, if you caught that game, you're sicko just like I am. They said vince, you don't know. You don't know ball. Dog, you don't know ball.

Okay, carl anthony scored 26 points on 10 of 17 shooting last night or two nights ago, four or nine from the finger and swirled it around for as many replays as I've ever seen anybody do this dude. Every time there was a questionable play he was throwing the finger up like let's go, I want to replay on that. Like dog, you ain't got no replays left. Like we still want to replay. He was into it. But let's be super clear, look really under control.

He looked like, since he cut the dreads and stuff like that, my man was punishing Atlanta's switches and flat pick and roll coverages. He didn't force any shots. He used movement, tempo changes and jab steps to get where he wanted to go and he was aggressive, but he was decisive. At the same time, there was a Intentionality to the aggressiveness. It was kind of like looking at a running back that sees the hole, sticks his foot in the ground and just attacks the hole. And that's what Cole Anthony did Against the Atlanta Hawks. The reason why he did that of trey young.

Now, trey young, 28 points, 11 of 12 free throws to assist, 8 of 21 shooting and he was ejected in the fourth quarter because he just keep the villain when he can't risk. Mastermind, devious dude, it's hard. It's hard for him to assist. Now, a lot of this was because nobody was hitting shots for atlanta. It was a tough deal. Orlando, with their length, took his floater spots away. Four switches gave him no clear reads because of the fact that he's so diminutive. He had a bad shooting night that led to an emotional meltdown under. You know, if you want to call it finality, got kicked out, it looked loud, he'll give it up. Some of the people that uh, guarded trey young, 6-7.

Anthony black, shaded screens, angles and forced early pickups. Franz and Paulo switched one through four, walled off the wings While Jonathan Isaac and Wendell Carter Jr dropped deep enough to deny lives but fast enough to contest floaters. Isaac was so long that even when Trey got to supposedly the spot that he was looking at, jonathan Isaac, it was absolutely just a clinic on defense. This is what Jamal Mosley does and he's really getting to me. He's getting everything out of this team that he possibly can get.

Remember no Suggs. No, jalen Suggs, he will not be back. He is more right now pressing matters to deal with because he was at the WNBA draft with his girlfriend, hayley von lip. Okay, listen, when your girl is going first round, round, round, shots out to our guy jalen sucks. We see you player, we see what you got going on. Okay, like I say, it was the defensive clinic. By the magic they closed the vision creation to be had. Okay, dyson Daniels wasn't as fluid as he was before step back.

Threes over, flaunt over, franz were missed. Force passes to the corner, turnover, draw, foul attempts, no whistle argue, no call technical then, oh, a lot of this goes away when Jalen Johnson gives back and you know you have more diversity in the offense. He was frustrated, most definitely. But I wonder if Trey Young has played his last game as an Atlanta Hawk. Let's get to Orlando a little bit. I love that Anthony Black's game. Uh, franz Wagner and lax again. Uh, franz wagner and paulo banquero. Uh, paulo struggled but franz, you know, held it down. You know saying I like that part and rissa shea for atlanta. He looked raw but you could see some of the glimpses there and they were. They were hurting without Jalen Johnson To not just diversify the offense but give Orlando something else to think about. That. They clearly just locked on to Trey and said that's all we got to deal with. So now let's get to our next.

It's a real interesting series that's about to go down and I want to preview it with you. The last time these two teams met, houston beat golden state 112 to 101. Steph curry was held to 11 points on blank. Today, steph, everywhere he went on the court, he was the actual make no mistake about it. I mean at every point, pin down and relocation, he had a six foot seven shadow with spring-loaded hips and anticipation. A man didn't chase, he waits, he recovers, he mirrors, he pounces, he guards stuff like a guy who already watched his second and third options. It was the first time in years I used to have steph rush in his rhythm 100.

But I do think that amen thompson provides a lot of difficulty and steph will have to be on that, like he gonna have to be on real, on some real sniper type stuff when he goes up against the Houston Rockets this time. And remember, it's not just gonna be Amy Thompson, it's gonna be Dylan Brooks there, somehow, some way VanVleet, eason, since of the world. If there's a switch, there's a Joe Barry Brooks. They're somehow someway Van Vliet, easton, eastons of the world. If there's a switch, there's a Jabari Smith waiting for you. The link never ends with the Houston Rockets. They'll shade them high on screen. Discipline defensive team and they. This is a real drag to play.

Now some of the keys to the series. Personally, I think Shingun versus Draymond Steph. Short roll reads, shingun reads shangoon can't hedge high and elbow triggers to test his reaction in time and space. This is going to be the challenge in this series. Can you play shangoon off the court? Because that's their size. Now they also like to go ahead and throw stepven adams in there and run a double big lineup. That's been highly productive. Now they have not used it a ton this year, but when they used it it has.

I'm looking forward to just some of the the chess pieces that go on in this series. Now, like jaylen green versus the warriors, wing depth golden state is going to rotate moody pauzinski and butler on to jaylen green, no doubt they'll top lock dhos and force him downhill into hell. Now green earns free throws and avoids highlight traps. Houston can be really scary in this series now because they're going to need his offense, because he's the only one that can really independently go out and get his bucket. Now can van vliet kind of steady the ship and kind of match not match Steph, but match the energy of Steph kind of? And what I mean by that is just basically being the veteran ball handler Against the. You know, that kind of Calms down the youth Fred is not going to wow you, but if he controls the pace Against the warriors they might have a shot. So the other piece of this situation is Will Jonathan. So the other piece of this situation is will Jonathan?

He didn't play in the Clipper game, he did not play against the Memphis Grizzlies. It was a DMP coaching decision and no drama. No, out, curse it. He doesn't like the spacing when coming is in there with jimmy and draymond. Not, not any minutes whatsoever.

Steve kerr, the most athletic dude you got on your squad, you cannot get him any minutes whatsoever. The only dude that can like provide some kind of weak side rim protection. He can't get no burn. Get him any burn whatsoever. Huh. So jonathan kaminga not playing the last two games, it's not a punishment. I just want to know what it's going to look like at the end of the year, because at this point I don't know. I mean, you got to. You should play him against the Houston Rockets. He is an athletic guy who can help match some of the athleticism that Houston has. Now you're telling me that he's lost on defense and switches and what. How you and he doesn't bring me to swallow. That's gonna be real hard for me to swallow that. You're gonna tell me that this guy can't provide any, any production for you in a playoff rotation against houston. When he's this athletic, it's just is that we need to pay attention to.

Turnover ratio for the Houston Rockets is 17.6%. Bench net rating I'm in, plus Eason, plus 6.8. Defensive field goal versus third and fourth options. Top 10 versus good golden state warrior corner juggernaut when it comes to this, and this is why we made amen thompson our defensive play. That's what we do. Curry's on off net is a positive 11.3. It will. Here's the thing jimmy's appearance and jimmy's uh um, in a sense stay in this rotation has kind of stabilized that time when curry is off the court he's able to get them into good offense and you don't have the just the nadir that you used to have when uh, steph would leave the game. Corner three rate 32 percent. Jimmy butler and draymond's net rating is a positive 14.1. That's their closing duo. We will see how it fares against the just ginormous houston rockets. If you are staunch houston rockets fan, you already know these things. Staunch Houston Rockets fan, you already know these things.

I'm in Thompson's ability to disrupt stuff without fouling key. Can shangoon stay playable in four quarters? Another key Jalen Greens. And can the vet in Fred Van Vliet be the steadying force for the Houston Rockets so they can control their possessions? One you don't want to bust your turn up Stuff now.

If go state wins. Steph warps Ammons rhythm and with off-ball decoys Jimmy Butler gets downhill consistent, consistently for four quarters and gets fouled, puts pressure on the paint. Moody and pods are hitting their shots. They have to hit. Draymond protects. Now draymond's not reluctance but his uh, his ability to shoot corner threes. Of late it's been real good, I loved it. He's gonna have to continue that because they are going to leave him. If they can take the, if they can take the rockets into deep water, they should be able to drown them.

Um, if they go down to zip and go in houston, this series is over. It will be houston's youth and energy against golden states just efficient. It's about tempo reads, matchup, clarity. It's the kind of series that where a six-minute, a man run or a red corner, three changes everything. Don't be shocked if Kaminga reappears, and I will say this I would pick Golden State. I think they have just a more offensive answers than Houston does see to allow the young players to kind of play free, and if they can play free they'll be alright. Close their warriors.

Right as Memphis was cutting a 20-point lead down to one, he landed on buddy heels foot, limped off and came back, but he was not the same, hence the hero ball that commenced at that point. He still finished with 22 points, but just seven in the second half and the game was in the games most important possessions. Memphis designed a decoy to set for him. He couldn't even hit free throws. He couldn't even stay in front of Gary Payton either. That was hard to watch. Job was compromised.

Now I'm not going to sit here and say, oh, that's his foot. No, listen, you land on somebody's foot, what can you do? Jaw was compromised. Now I'm not gonna sit here and say all this is well. No, listen, you land on somebody's foot. What can you do? What depend on your teammates? Man, don't bring, bring in another shooter. You're not gonna be able to. You know, shoot the ball or whatever, cuz your ankle. Now here's a. Here's a. Here's a quote from Jah I'm playing. That's basically the answer I'm giving. I'm giving. That was John Moran post game.

Nobody has ever questioned Ja's toughness. Nobody has ever questioned Ja's like listen, I can rise to the moment. Our question has always been with Ja is decision making on and off the court and how seriously are you going to take this? This is what lay it. You know you're already up against it because of Jalen Wells' injury that was so sick to hear and also we are just wishing that man well and also losing Brandon Clark to a season-ending injury as well. Also losing Brandon Clark to a season-ending injury as well. You get Jaron and Bane playing 39 minutes each. Those guys you know when you had depth, these guys playing 31 minutes. And now you got John John Moran's ankle.

Now Scottie Pippen jr can be a viable pseudo Tyus Jones type of guard for the Memphis Grizzlies. He's still young. Some campaign killers during the third quarter. Now he had to fly home and basically rest up. You just hope that you know, with the treatment, whatever case may be, he can get that ankle loose. We'll see what happens in uh pre-game and we'll see what goes on from there. But if jock can't play, dallas is gonna smoke them.

Now let's talk about the guy who was really doing it. Big desert bang. This is our guy. You know how much I love desert bank 30 points, five of eight from three. Elite movement shooter. Still not a pressure creator, but if you need some shots, that's your guy. Now we are going to get to atlanta and what we saw there um, here's a team, that man, they are about to play the miami heat and this might be a wrap for them too. We saw what trey young did all his, and anytime you can get your dude into playoff situations, it's a good situation then we welcome in the miami heat and heat culture. So we'll see how that goes.

Talk about the new orleans pelicans. Real quick, they're not in the playoffs but we need to bring this up. So the new orleans pelicans this week they fired david griffin. He's out people around the league. You got to go get analytical people. She won and again, dumars didn't come out of thin air. It came from gail benson. Gail hires people. She knows people that with ties to the saints, to the pelicans, it doesn't matter. She's running a family business model in a league run by wall street killers. Now, a family business model in a league run by wall street killers now, and what we just watched was not an executive search firing griffin on monday morning and then announcing dumar on do mars by wednesday afternoon.

This is not due diligence. This is called your cousin from the group chat and asking him you know amazon hiring homie. You know you need to go ahead and give some work. My god, all right. So we've been here before, um, with gail. She's loyal to the soil and this is what she's doing. She wanted to do this prior, but now I will say this about our guy, david Griffin does he, does he deserve more? Yeah and no. So you miss four post. No playoff series wins. You drafted well Some of the trades I was a little iffy on, but you drafted really, really well Some of the trades I understood, but I didn't like some of the execution.

What this really comes down to is if you got what you needed out of ingram and what you needed to get out of zion. The biggest l is identity some guys returning from injury. You got one dude that's returning from, hopefully like, uh, weight watchers or whatever. Are we sending zion to some kind of camp? I don't know. Is he going back to donkey where they can feed him like proper food? I don't know. That dude needs to stay in shape or they need to trade him. They need to figure that one out and Joe Dumars gets it's alignment.

Here's the quiet part that nobody's saying out loud. This isn't just Griffin being gone. This is about Zion and maybe not being the guy. This is about decisions like Dyson Daniels being traded for DeJounte Murray. I love DeJounte Murray. I don't know if he's a lead guard. I don't know if he's the guard that you need around Zion.

And then it comes down to this summer. Is there a decision made or is there a mandate made to zion, bro? And if you ask, don't, we gonna trade you and we gonna try to trade you to like a euro league team. We I don't know if it's in our bylaws to do so. Utah, zion and Utah. They don't drink beer in Utah, right, something I don't know. Coffee's outlawed in Utah. Who knows, man, but I will say this somebody had to fall and David Griffin was going to make this fall. You know, that was just what it was going to be.

Dumar says his vision is a disciplined team built on toughness and smarts. Uh, smart decision making with no excuses. Mindset you're going to hold zion accountable. No excuses means that your frugal nature as a franchise will upgrade. Maybe the worst, maybe on this team, maybe a year or two long. So my question is when you talk about no excuses, are you gonna then hold miss benson accountable? Miss Benson accountable for hiring with her heart instead of her head, because the fans in the bayou deserve better.

Have a team that reflects the city's energy tough, resilient, hungry. A team, a town that's not high energy. It's a football town. New orleans cares about the saints and lsu football and sometimes, if two lane is halfway good, we care about Tulane L Benson, who owns the Saints and cares about the Saints, priority number one, nfl, always king, right. So either you fix this issue, stop giving me rhetoric about being accountable or whatever, and start taking some hard looks in the mirror. New orleans, memphis, atlanta. Things need to change.

Speaking of change, you understand front offices and what makes them tick and how do you develop and what players and what are you looking for to develop? I look at this situation in Phoenix and we don't have to go back very far. This was a team that was in the finals against the Milwaukee Bucks and if Giannis, that series looks a whole lot different. And who is left from that team? Devin Booker. I understand the go all in for KD. I completely understand. He is a absolute freak of nature. He's an alien, he's a 101.

But when you gave up all the draft picks and then gave up Michael uh, mik McKell bridges and Cam Johnson, that was a derelict of duty. And I don't care you, you sounded like some for like a thousand dollars on the slot machine and then you're gonna take the thousand dollars and go to the craps table, dog, get your ass out the casino and take your thousand dollars and go home. You didn't do that. You double down on stupid. You got bradley bill. Oh, what could happen here? What could possibly go wrong bringing bradley bill in? He's a shooter. He'll provide space. Oh, hold on. Did you watch any of the tape? He likes to perform a high volume dudes. Devin Booker works in the mid-range. Kevin Durant's like to work in the mid-range. Where does Bradley bill like to work? Oh, the mid-range. So you got three of the same kind. They're just different sizes. They are no diversity at all in the offense whatsoever. And then you're gonna go sit here and fire coach. After coach frank vogel won a damn championship he brought at least some defensive chops to your team he gets fired.

Or you tell the phoenix suns fans that you're trying to win multiple championships. The first thing that you need to do is understand that you've made a mistake and to rectify that mistake you have to trade deviner. You have to tear it down, be humble and understand that sometimes you can be smart in the industry that you dominated in, but you are Not Intellectually capable Of handling the day to day operations of an NBA franchise. If your owner wants to play fantasy basketball and make trades and do all this stuff on his own and you're just kind of there, kind of as like a help guide through the processes I am sure that's not what James Jones signed up for. Do you finally relent and understand that this is done, ski? Do you finally relent and understand we're wrong 450 million over the salary cap and you got 36 wins out of it. If you had shareholders in the company that made you all these billions of dollars, they would look at you right now and say this is not a good return on my investment and I want out now or just continue to sell to the fans that you know exactly what the hell you're doing today. It's like a business that he just acquired at auction. He tore down to the floorboard, slapped some new paint on it and thought the champagne would pour itself.

Durant is a hired gun. He doesn't provide any playmaking anymore. He's not consistent. He's 37 years old. He can get you 30 points. That's about it. Think about this.

May of 2023 monty williams is fired. June of 2023 Bradley Beal arrives in Phoenix. It's a new day and age. April of 2024. The chairs of coaches doesn't breed continuity. How can you have any loyalty with inside your organization when, every second of the day, we think we, oh, this could be it, this could be it? And then it leads me to devin booker, 27. He's been in phoenix his whole career. He's seen all the whole way. He did it again with KD. You brought in KD about Devin Booker. Right, I thought it was so. Devin Booker is the last man standing and he romanticizes Kobe Bryant and he wants to be a long-standing member of the phoenix suns. But I wonder, once he sees the return for kevin durant, will devin booker's thought process, thought process, change? Because who's making that decision? Is it James Jones? The veteran player talent evaluator is well, he wants you to be like oh my god, you acquired this. Oh, this is great. I don't know if it fits your team whatsoever, but this is great. Look at this brand recognition phoenix.

Their season played out like a bravo reality show with no reunion episode. Show with no reunion episode. Kd was the big name guest star, bill was the surprise arrival. Ishpia was the flashy new producer who kept changing the format. And then there's Devin Booker. He was loyal, contested, trying to win the game while the rules kept shifting. You had kd, when he was playing, literally yelling at mike budenhoser and asking him what the hell are we running? And let's run something else like not two or three times a game. I heard it on good authority. It was every time up and down the court, up and down the court. He's giving mike bootenhoser, his coach, the side eye after he's missed a defensive rotation, looking at him going like what are we doing here? And your last real tangible asset is loyal to the soil and supposedly doesn't want to leave. But we will see. Once the return for kd comes back we'll see how much devin booker wants to be loyal. Devin Booker wants to be loyal.

You can't build culture with chaos. You can't buy credibility with cap space and you can't keep your stars if your foundation is cracked, the season for got exposed and this all tangled taking into the playoffs. I know Adam Silver is extremely excited about this development that we will have Steph Curry playing the Houston Rockets and Emei Adoka will cuss out Steph Curry and it will be great for TV ratings. Memphis gets one more shot, one more chance at glory to keep their playoff hopes alive. Against the Dallas Mavericks, orlando is trying to reclaim its early season status and build up their courage to go up to boston to face the defending champions, and atlanta is led by a 90s r b singing. But he gets one more crack as well.

In games are basketball's lie detector. If your culture ain't real, the moment exposes you. Okay, that's what we're talking about here. You either get real with yourself or you get played out. So surround yourself with people who lift you up, push you forward and remind you who you are. And if you got folks like that, celebrate them, text them, hug them, let them know that they matter, because growth is different when you're surrounded by love, support and real ones. And if you're building that circle, well, you can start right here. With front runner podcast collective. We always got a seat here for you always and, with that being said, we out of here. I want to thank my producer, my producing and excited about that. But y'all, take care, have a good one and, uh, we'll be back on on tomorrow. Yeah, we'll be back, yeah for sure. Deuce.