Celtics Dominate Game 3: Is Luka Doncic the NBA's version of a Karen'?"
Front Runner Podcast CollectiveJune 14, 2024
145
00:57:5252.98 MB

Celtics Dominate Game 3: Is Luka Doncic the NBA's version of a Karen'?"

Summary:

In this episode of the Front Runner Podcast Collective, host Vince delves into the Boston Celtics' commanding 3-0 lead in the NBA Finals, analyzing their Game 3 performance and the standout plays from Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Vince also discusses Luka Doncic's controversial behavior on the court, likening it to that of a "Karen," and examines his impact on the Mavericks' chances. Additionally, the episode covers the latest NBA coaching news, Bronny James' draft prospects, and an in-depth focus on the Houston Rockets' future. Join Vince and producers Bunch of Funch and Soraya for this engaging and insightful episode!

Chapters with Timestamps

Chapter 1: Introduction and Episode Overview (0:00 - 3:00)

  • Introduction and rundown of the topics covered in the episode

Chapter 2: Celtics Take 3-0 Lead in NBA Finals (3:00 - 9:00)

  • Breakdown of Game 3, key performances, and Boston's path to victory

Chapter 3: Luka Doncic's 'Karen' Behavior Analyzed (9:00 - 18:00)

  • Discussion on Luka Doncic's on-court antics and their impact

Chapter 4: NBA Coaching News and Updates (18:00 - 24:00)

  • Latest updates on NBA coaching changes and rumors

Chapter 5: Bronny James' Draft Prospects (24:00 - 30:00)

  • Analysis of Bronny James' rise in draft boards and potential fit in the NBA

Chapter 6: Focus on the Houston Rockets (30:00 - 45:00)

  • In-depth look at the Houston Rockets' season, key players, and future prospects

Chapter 7: Predictions and Final Thoughts (45:00 - 57:00)

  • Predictions for Game 4 and closing remarks

Remember!!! Be a Friend to the podcast by telling a friend or friends about the podcast!!!

Host: Vince

Producers: Bunch of Funch and Soraya

Follow us on Twitter: @frontrunnerpc

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf1ijK6ACR1V9VzUyzJaPzw

Follow Bunch of Funch on Twitter: @BFunchFRPC

[00:00:13] It's Friday, you know what time it is. Front Runner Podcast Collective is back on the air I am your humble host Vince and today we are going to break down a little bit of the game 3 We're not gonna go too much into it

[00:00:29] We will talk about the Luka situation and then we'll get to some news and notes in regards to coaching situations Bronnie James, which we haven't mentioned on this podcast in a while and we're going to do a front runner Focus on the franchise that is the Houston Rockets

[00:00:50] That's what you have in store today. But before we get there We're gonna go ahead and break down the socials First and foremost X at front runner PC Also hit my producer up be fudge FRPC Let us know what you like about the product

[00:01:12] Let us know what you want more in the product or have we talked not talked about somebody in quite some time Or whatever the case may be we did tell you that there will be more draft things coming up next week

[00:01:25] So keep a lookout for that. I will be Tearing into some a lot of draft stuff over the weekend with that being said also Make sure that you are going to the YouTube page and you say well Vince, why would I do that?

[00:01:40] I listen to the podcast first of all Support the whole the whole the whole deal, right? then the other thing is because of the fact that You usually put in like a stat or two or maybe your quote or something that we got from sources or or just

[00:01:59] Adding those that we pop in from the podcast that just got left off so It becomes a unique experience I try to make it fun and I hope you guys enjoy it because a lot of time and effort goes into those and also

[00:02:16] We did a retrospect and an in a tribute to Jerry West and I want to put this out there If you haven't seen it, it's like 22 23 minutes long It goes by fast and I do recommend it. It's some of our best work

[00:02:33] I'm really proud of it and check it out on frontrunner podcast collective YouTube page the last thing and I won't sound like a broken record What I will just say is that I am grateful For the groundswell of support

[00:02:51] for this podcast we have a mantra and that mantra is Be a friend and tell a friend be a friend about Joining us on X asking us questions Please feel free to do that Do it on the YouTube channel as well But most importantly

[00:03:13] Be a friend and tell a friend about the podcast download the podcast Rate the podcast You know, I got a five-star rating the other day. I was really happy with that I wish someone it would have left some comments and said hey

[00:03:28] You know do this better or how more of this but you know five-star comments are great And we seem to have a decent amount of them. So pretty happy about that, but The be a friend tell a friend mantra has been working the numbers are going up

[00:03:45] I want to break out next week a light top 5 affiliate of FRPC and I will tell you United States of America Just so you know We will have a international flare in an international flavor to the top 5 affiliates of frontrunner podcast collective, but grateful very enthused

[00:04:12] I'm glad that people are enjoying the product because that's what is there for and We hope to just continue that and with that being said, let's get on with the podcast now we're gonna talk about the Boston Celtics now being up 3o and

[00:04:29] Basically on the verge of another championship and this was another crushing Confusing and now frustrating ending to this game 106.99 was the final score The the Jays finally went off together We had the final the finally the breakout game of Jason Tatum who scored 31 points

[00:04:54] He had six rebounds five assists. He actually shot the ball well for the first time He well actually for him. He was 11 to 26. So volume 4 13 from 3 he wish you would use a little bit better with that We'll talk about that a little bit later and

[00:05:14] Jalen Brown continues to be the frontrunner Pun intended looks like leader in the pack for finals MVP if you go back and listen to our preview of the NBA finals, I Did say that I thought Boston's were gonna win. I did think the Celtics were gonna win

[00:05:38] I thought this would be a more competitive series actually I will tell you that But I did choose Jalen Brown to be my finals MVP So we're looking good there. We like sometimes to be right little guy wins. That's always good, right?

[00:05:54] Independent podcast winning is always a good thing Mm-hmm, so we go from there now So the Jays do their thing Now how's her finally hit some shots as well The game got dicey because it started off where Dallas was a house on fire

[00:06:16] You got the aggressive Luca Kyrie game where Kyrie Irving ended up with 35 points Luca had 27 we will get to Luca Shortly trust me. I have a whole segment on Luca Dacic, but As far as the game goes first quarter you get Luca and

[00:06:40] You get Kyrie and they get really aggressive on the offensive end, which is this is something that had to happen The Celtics were able to absorb the early like aggression and the the fever pitch of the crowd and They just kind of walked them down

[00:07:02] Jalen Brown hit a couple shots um Derek White hit a shot and Then Luca with his Olay defense allowed Jason Tatum to slam one home at the end of the first quarter and

[00:07:18] The lead that Dallas had built up was gone. They were only up by one at that point now It's the same old story with Dallas they go into these laws because of the fact that

[00:07:37] Really how it works is Lucas the point guard and Kyrie is the shooting guard and that's fine You still need another guy who can initiate offense Hell they even tried to use a Tim Hardaway jr. And that guy went over if I'm not mistaken

[00:07:56] Yes, he went over five Over five from field so they did try to use somebody who they thought they could get Offensive creation with and they couldn't Also, he was a floor stretcher They went away from Hardy as well Hardy only had four minutes

[00:08:14] So they're trusting less people. It looks like we're you know, we're scraping the bottom of the barrel right now in Dallas and Frankly The Celtics knew it you We laid this out. I Believe in the preview pot and I said that the Celtics have too many weapons for

[00:08:40] Dallas to stop and Then on the other end is how is how is Dallas going to be able to create easy offense? It's all kind of bore out the way we kind of played it out the only thing that I said was that

[00:08:59] There were gonna be some Luca magic games and there were gonna be some stellar Kyrie games Problem is is that Luca and I'm trust me. We're about to go into a whole thing with Luca in a second

[00:09:14] He's he's basically held his end up with a bargain. He's he's held it up Now Kyrie will tell you he didn't think he has up until this game So now they get the performance that you think that you you need to get to win

[00:09:30] You even got a really good Derek lively performance. That was completely um What's more I knew that was coming right? He gets back home the crowd He's a young guy He feels more at home comfortable. He can play on he can play through the adrenaline and

[00:09:53] Play his game and he had 11 points and 13 remounts. So that's basically his deal So you got all the things that you really would have wanted now The shooting from the ice outside for Dallas in this series has been a really problematic and it continued

[00:10:15] In game three and what I say about that they they shot 36% which was their better Turn But they only took 25 shots and I only hit nine of them now the Celtics they shot 46 of them Joe Missoula math right

[00:10:36] 17 of those went in obviously that is a plus eight that hurt you in all kinds of ways They lose by seven there it is Again we talked about it We talked about it nauseam Joe Missoula has turned this NBA series into a ricking

[00:10:57] Trigonometry problem and it's like our guys can shoot threes and still create most of them You got two guys who can do that and we think we can out shoot you and get more threes up and

[00:11:14] Just basically out lash you and that's what they did because what happens with the Celtics and We talked about it, and this is why Boston the town Is so furious because even in their winning

[00:11:30] Even in the dominance that has gone on because all these games even they won. They're up 3l But they have been some of the most Excruciating victories that you can possibly get and what I mean by that is these these lulls

[00:11:50] These lulls in the game where you're going eight minutes of actual game time and like in real time it turns out to be 35 minutes, and you're not scoring the basketball and When you look at the actual shot diet in that situation

[00:12:09] You're gonna see a lot of threes taken You're gonna see a lot of shot caught into shot clock shots so desperation shots So not good looks you're gonna see some occasional Tatum step back threes of course you will of course you will and Then you'll see it'll get

[00:12:33] Bold it'll be drew holiday drives in for a layup. We talked about it talked about it talked about it The dude doesn't have to be top five He doesn't have to be top three all he has to do is stay in that 8 to 12 range and

[00:12:53] with this team how loaded it is how Both their two-sided basketball players at each position Drew holiday is somebody that you have to worry about on the offensive side of the ball as well Obviously he's more known for his defense

[00:13:12] The same can be said for Derek white, but you can't underestimate his offense Now we know about the Jays and then poor Zingas when he's healthy, but we don't expect to see him anymore Not with that injury not with what I've been told I've been told that injury

[00:13:32] From orthopedist that that injury is a six to eight week injury So I don't know what Boston is telling people with this day-to-day thing What the poor Zingas injury from a orthopedist perspective was that it was six to eight weeks

[00:13:52] Even on the most athletic dudes in the world, so take that for whatever it's worth But they have too many options and they both and they they all do the two-way thing

[00:14:06] They're not slouches on defense. You don't lose anything when Horford is in the game you might even gain some things as far as just anticipation with Horford that Because of his is his time in the league because he's 38 but

[00:14:25] It's too robust. It's too full of a team. There's too many there's too many snipers out there for you and That's the problem So the Celtics up 3-0 They win the game 106 99

[00:14:45] But what everybody is talking about and what we're gonna talk about right now and we're gonna move into this segment and We're gonna talk about Luca Donchich Now when we talk about Luca the first thing that I want to say is that if our PC

[00:15:05] front runner podcast collective made him our NBA MVP we thought his season was phenomenal I do not Go back on that statement. I think there is a narrative and I know people hate the word narrative

[00:15:24] but if you look at what he had to deal with throughout the year you look at the other candidates for this award and You can make an argument that Luca was worthy. I never said that Jokic wasn't worthy and That was a bad idea

[00:15:42] So I don't want people to sit there and say like oh you're just trying to be different and duh duh duh duh duh Well in a second, I don't think you gonna think I'm so different

[00:15:52] but what I'm here to say is that we try to give you a full view of The NBA and I think when you tell the story of the league and it's kind of funny. That is a That is a regular season award but

[00:16:07] Him being the MVP for us his playoff run has been I Think kind of legitimizes our claim to him being an MVP Now with all of that being said Here are some caveats before we get into everything Luca has played great all year all year

[00:16:33] Offensively in this series, he's doing everything he can Okay the others Up until last, you know till last night They didn't show up. I mean until Wednesday night. I'm sorry Wednesday night We're going into Friday night and we'll talk about that game tonight in a second

[00:16:55] On the others hadn't shown up. So game three they finally show up to some extent They still shoot the ball poorly and We still haven't gotten the quintessential Derek Jones jr. Game or a Outburst by Jayden Hardy or anything like that

[00:17:14] Now I also want to bring out the Luga injuries. Okay, so the thoracic is contusion that He got an injection for for before game three He's gonna have the same injection for game four so The whip the rib cage is compromised so that could also hurt his breathing

[00:17:37] So his air so his stamina and all of these things. I'm giving you all the caveat He also has a right knee sprain that he's dealing with we know that He he had it in the second round and what-have-you

[00:17:55] And he also is dealing with the left ankle sprain as well So we understand that the man is compromised we understand that he is playing hurt We understand that he's actually taking an injection a pain killing injection for the ribs Which will probably find out after

[00:18:16] The season that his ribs or his rib cartilage Is either bruised or torn or whatever I think that's exactly what the injury is and I've had it It sucks You can't breathe. It's um, it's really painful to move

[00:18:38] Obviously if you get the injection that will quell the pain But it doesn't help your air So with all that being said Now we're gonna talk about The wheel with Luca. I gave him his flowers He's holding up his end of the bargain on the office of end

[00:19:00] You know the others Unfortunately hadn't shown up for him and he has injuries now in the second round Luca gave more effort on the defensive end in the in the NBA finals on the defensive end

[00:19:20] On the defensive side of the ball Luca Dodgeage has been an absolute turnstile There have been so many blow buys lackluster closeouts on threes. I think was it was it It was Derek White Derek White kind of came off a pick and

[00:19:40] Lucas stood like in between the the the top of the free throw line and In between the three point line and Derek White just walked into a three and the contest was so weak on Lucas we have I mean there's no

[00:19:57] there's no way to sit there and and Give him grace on that one Right if you're on the court and you're trying you got to try to at least try to get there Now if you're in pain and all that you try to get there. Maybe you wince

[00:20:13] You know show a little like oh hold on that hurt a little bit Whatever you got to do, but you can't sit there and just show lack of effort. That's not you can't do that

[00:20:26] And then we get to the last part and the last part is where we're really jumping off at and You're always getting on the refs you're always arguing cause You're not getting you're saying that you don't get calls a lot of his files were lazy a

[00:20:47] Little likes to go for steals because he's not the quickest guy, but he is pretty long and he's thick So he feels like you know if you bounce off of him and you know your Your handle doesn't seem to be as good as he think it should be

[00:21:03] He'll stick his hand in the cookie jar and pick up silly files He's done it this whole series This entire series he's done it and it it caught up with him in game three

[00:21:16] He had a bunch of them. He had a bunch of silly files. It was one where um And you know, I think Elamin Hassan of the Draft King Network asked this question of Jason Kibb, but

[00:21:35] There was a play in the game where Jalen Brown and and Luca Doncias were kind of tussling back and forth. It looked like Jalen hooked them they called the foul on Luca and then Amin Said to Jason Kibb why did you not maybe?

[00:21:56] You know challenge that one since it was his fifth foul and then Jason Kibb because you know, it's 3-0 and This looks a little bit embarrassing for him, but it's not

[00:22:08] Got a little honoring which you know, I understand he's a competitor, you know, this sucks to be down 3-0 but there were just silly files and then the last one you just can't do because here's the thing if you're gonna argue every call or every

[00:22:26] Play or non call or whatever the case may be what's gonna happen is Do you really believe that you're gonna get benefit of the doubt now? when horse went on ESPN and said that everyone has What everyone has known is that the constant badgering and complaining?

[00:22:46] to other refs is Intolerable not only to his teammates But to the front office to the coaching staff and even in his circles so Here it is Dallas Maverick fans He's the price of genius you have a very temperamental young man Who? Has been uber successful

[00:23:19] But this is what he's gonna do. Oh And by the way that money signal thing that he did at the rest at the at the end where you know He's getting kicked out That was uncalled for that was like some real like dog you

[00:23:36] You weren't playing well man, you know, like it's not it's not them all the time bro, so that brings me to our our question of the day Luca has been doing this since he got into the league

[00:23:58] You know, there were times where it kind of slowed down a little bit. He's made fun of it, but Look at Donchich to me is the Karen on the court now he's more I would say suburban Karen not to be confused with lower Manhattan or

[00:24:26] Down south Karen's okay. That's a different type of Karen as far as that's concerned So Luca Donchich is not a lower Manhattan Karen He's not a southern Karen He's like your standard type of Karen You know every call, you know the scowl the expecting call

[00:24:54] When he is in the wrong what did I do? Oh You're persecuting me these sound like Karenisms so if You're gonna complain all the time. I Think we might have to change your name to Karen Luca Donchich or just Karen Donchich now

[00:25:25] The whining the pouting the injustice on the podium Do better you're telling people to do better What because you're a superstar? You could try not fouling you could do that That might be something to do but These all these these things pop up and these

[00:25:56] Get me to start thinking That these are Karen behaviors These are Karen ish type actions so as a old as I like to call myself, you know being 51 I was having a conversation with a friend earlier today and I was I couldn't figure out what I was

[00:26:25] Gen Z Gen X Gen whatever You know 72 So I looked it up so here is the actual definition of a Karen or The Karen slang is concerned is concerned So Karen is a slang term used to refer to a middle-class white American woman who is perceived as

[00:26:55] entitled or excessively demanding Hmm, so if you change Middle class to wealthy And you change white American woman to young Slovenian if you said rich young Slovenian who is perceived to be entitled or excessively demanding There's your definition. So I believe I Believe that frontrunner podcast collective

[00:27:37] Has just found the first NBA version of Karen. So Congratulations to Luca Donchich breaking barriers in the NBA finals You are Karen and you probably need to stop just just saying Listen

[00:28:00] I have a friend he has a saying I like the same so shout out to my boy guy His saying was help help yourself like Don't drop don't do things that are going to hurt you and This is what you're doing

[00:28:24] But if you want to continue to be a Karen and continue to complain 50 50 calls are not gonna be go your way So I don't know what the Dallas Maverick fans are thinking in regards to that

[00:28:40] But I know there are a couple people who are saying all these are questionable calls These are you know, whatever and yeah, you're right. Some of them were questionable but your guy doesn't help himself at all, so We We digressed we digressed into something that I

[00:29:00] thought that we were done talking about actually to tell you the truth, I am tired of it but things keep on coming up and then things keep coming up that I want to talk about with it and I want to shout out a person real quick

[00:29:19] I know I'll probably talked about him on the show a couple times, but I was listening to Bumani Jones With the right time with Bumani Jones and he made an astute observation on the Dan Hurley contract situation with the Los Angeles Lakers

[00:29:43] Dan Hurley was offered a reportedly six years 70 million dollars now I said I think on a previous podcast that I thought there was incentives involved from what I've told been told There were there were incentives like you hit this get this whatever so now

[00:30:01] They didn't report it is that they reported it is six years 70 million dollars now Bumani makes this point There's no way you can offer Dan Hurley the coach at Yukon back-to-back National title head coach for that team So he's won two national championships in a row

[00:30:32] So he's the hottest name on the face of the planet when it comes to coaches and whatever You can't offer that man less money than Monty Williams We all agree That that was a complete overpay for money But we thank him for resetting the market You know

[00:30:55] Big ups to the big homie Monty Williams to reset in the market So now that Steve Kerr, Gray Popovich, Eric Sposcha, Tyra Hoonloom All have now eclipsed Monty Williams, but did you think for one second that Dan Hurley was gonna take a dime less?

[00:31:16] So he kind of felt it as the Lakers were being kind of insincere about the offer and It got me to thinking and I talked to a Arrival front office exec now everybody says oh, you know talking to a rival

[00:31:34] Of course, they're gonna have bad things to say about the Lakers, right? But I asked him what he thought of what what had happened And he said he thought that the Lakers were going to take a dime less

[00:31:47] And he said to me he was like this is embarrassing It's embarrassing for that franchise and it's in a long list of embarrassments that's been going on for like the last six seven years Now You could say hey, is this a

[00:32:04] Executive from like a terrible team and you know, whatever I'll just put it this way You know They've had some success over you know, I'm not saying like crazy success what they've had some success so I'll just put it that way um

[00:32:22] With that being said yeah, there was no way he was gonna take less then money Williams and I'm wondering about the whole thing now cuz here's here's what I'm thinking All right, and I kind of connected dots so I

[00:32:47] Remember shortly after champ Shams coming out and saying that you know, JJ was ahead and he was a front-runner for the For the Lakers position and then JJ says something I Think on the Shaq podcast that he said after the finals. He will make a statement about

[00:33:10] You know this situation and he says specifically I'm gonna make a statement about shops and You know once the Dan Hurley thing Was out here and going crazy and stuff like that and he's flying in a private jet to Los Angeles to supposedly

[00:33:32] Finalize a deal because everybody in LA thought for one really thought That if Dan Hurley was getting on a plane to come out to LA it was done um we go back now and

[00:33:46] I go back to that quote that Hurley said he's like after the finals. I'll have more to say on this and specifically the shop so I'm wondering if The Lakers to get the the scent off of JJ

[00:34:07] Kind of threw this out there to the hottest coach out there And who doesn't want to be connected with the Lakers and the Lakers who if you're the Lakers who wouldn't want to be connected To Dan Hurley, right? It can be beneficial. It can be beneficial to both

[00:34:22] Now I know a lot of people aren't thinking on this level But I told you we give you everything in the podcast we give you like what's on the court we give you try what's on the front office and Sometimes these entities play these games now

[00:34:38] Does any of this matter to the to us like people who care about like what the product look like on the court No, we don't give two shits about this Okay but perception Perception is a big thing in the NBA. I wonder if Haven't Dan Hurley come out

[00:34:59] Take a look around You know, hey you code meals, you know come out check it out Now you go back home Get your bigger contract. I'm not saying it was a leverage play on his part But hey, you know, yo guy got on a plane

[00:35:18] I'm sure you gonna help him out a little bit after right? That's just the nature of the beast in college basketball and That dude got more leverage than anybody on the face of the planet, even though he hates the whole Perception that it was leverage

[00:35:34] It is what it is Now all that to say you get this out the way and now JJ Reddick is now the front-runner Again to the Laker job, and I just wonder if it was just to get the scent off of JJ in the first place

[00:35:57] My so food for thought hit me up Laker fans on X at front runner PC If you agree disagree you think is way off kilter just let me know I'll be waiting in the comment sections for you This brings us to Bonnie James and

[00:36:18] Right here. We're gonna talk about also next week more robust conversations about the NBA draft We will have thoughts on players. We will have thoughts on with you know where they might end up going stuff like that and

[00:36:35] We'll work it all in so we'll get you that soon, but Bonnie Has seemed to be climbing up the draft charts as of right now I looked at some tape I

[00:36:54] Kind of almost threw away like the USC season kind of went back more to like Sierra Canyon and Some of the like, you know the the summer league stuff that he did traveling on the AAU circuit

[00:37:10] But I still haven't done a complete deep dive so all of my information has come from other people at this point and But it does seem like he is going up the draft boards there were some situations where I remember

[00:37:25] I don't know who it was, but I think it was somebody from Either Phoenix or Gold State Can't recollect who it was. But I think they said something to the point of is that oh, yeah

[00:37:39] If the Lakers want them there's no way they're gonna be able to get him at like 55 because he's going way higher than that And that got me to thinking so I caught up a couple people and try to get couple things right and

[00:37:54] What he came down to me come came down to is this what franchises value and what is appealing about Bonnie James's game is that he You don't have to teach fundamentals to him he seems to have got those down He's a connective type of player setting screens

[00:38:21] You know throw ahead passes Making good reads In the passing lanes. He's a connector type guy He gets on ball. He gets off ball. He moves around He's gonna be looking for cuts. He's gonna be looking for weaknesses in the defense, but He's not a on ball type

[00:38:45] Self creation type of guy yet So there are some limitations, but if he can just be a role player be a dog on defense He's really physically strong for somebody his age Because I think he's at 6 1 and a half and he's like 210. So he's built like a

[00:39:04] running back But people are really high on them and here's the thing The one thing that you never have to worry about with Ronnie James or are the lights gonna be too bright for him Now you might say well the pressure will he crumble under his dad's legacy

[00:39:24] Maybe maybe that I don't know but he seems to be pretty well adjusted and None of this seems to pretty faze him it doesn't faze him at all. So I'm kind of Worried But not worried if you get my drift. I

[00:39:43] want him to have a fair shot not because of Lebron Well because of him. I want him to have a fair shot I personally thought that he should have went back to school. But what do I know? I'm just a guy with a podcast you know, I

[00:40:04] watch games I questions to people Who know things and I get answers but at the end of day I'm not Lebron James, you know, so he's gonna know way way more about basketball than I ever will so You know now again

[00:40:27] We'll see how it all goes. It also is the season of like misinformation People putting stuff out there You know If you go back and look at like the last two or three drafts

[00:40:41] There's been guys where you sat there all he was going this and then he ends up going way like can't whip more there was a rumor last year about can't whip more and This is gonna be a perfect segue. Watch this

[00:40:54] there was a rumor about can't whip more and He was gonna go as high off as fourth or fifth Then there was some rumor about an injury and then he drops all the way to 20 so there's a bunch of misinformation out there right now and

[00:41:13] As we move closer and closer to the drive We will try to crystallize it as much as possible as well as entertain you so keep it locked here at front runner podcast collective and remember tell a friend All right

[00:41:29] the last piece of news and stuff that we need to get to today is that we are putting the Houston Rockets in the front-runner focus on the franchise and The reason why we're doing them is because they're the third overall pick

[00:41:45] And it's time to get into these it's time to start rocking and rolling with these bad boys. So Houston was 41 and 41 this year Their exec is Raphael Stone their head coach is Emea doka this season was his first season in Houston

[00:42:06] you also saw them do a couple things right and What we like to do is we like to break it up and say what do they have with what they don't have right? They seem to have a lot

[00:42:20] Raphael Stone went in and got some vets last year in Fred van Vliet and also Dylan Brooks Both those guys contributed to the team It allowed the young players to flourish and to grow in their role The first person that I want to talk about is Alpern's Changun

[00:42:42] Now he was allowed to go ahead and get into his offensive bag at the nail He became very Subbonish it you know Various a bonus he was 21.1 points again 9.3 rebounds a game and He had five Assists again his offensive box plus minus was 3.1 plus 3.1

[00:43:12] His overall box plus minus was 4.9 That is really good for third year player He's well on his way I Like him. I like what he brings to that team. He brought a lot of like, okay, let's let's run

[00:43:30] Good offensive sets. Let's get good shot. That was the one thing that you can honestly say about that team last year it looked a Lot more cohesive in the sense of what they were running They seemed to be a goal and

[00:43:47] He was a big part of that the next guy I want to get to is the guy that probably brings a lot of controversy And that's Jalen Green Now before Eme Adoka got there. He was like the Wiz Khalifa song. He was living young wild and free

[00:44:06] You know saying but when Eme got there no, we're not gonna do that anymore So even though he was a good player So Eme came in there's a new sheriff in town. His name is Eme Adoka Now here's the thing

[00:44:27] Jalen Green still is not shooting very well. He takes average of 16 shots a game He shoots at a 42.3 percent clip he also takes 7.43s a game and he only shoots at a 33.2 percent clip and that's not very good because

[00:44:48] We kind of need to stretch the defense out and he's not able to do that Now He is box plus minus is negative 0.5 I bring this up because You know you got Alper Shingoon who was in the same draft class as Jalen Green and

[00:45:14] you know, we just talked about his box plus minus and It's a lot better now You know, we've seen a lot more maturity in Alper Shingoon with his game There's been definite developments and leaps in his understanding of angles and where to get people the ball and

[00:45:39] become an offensive hub Now obviously This year for Jalen was a real transition year because of the fact that you went from no structure to structure with Eme So yeah, we're gonna give you grace and say, oh yeah, you know, you're gonna grow in this situation

[00:45:58] But it's still telling that his shooting is not great it hasn't really gotten any better since the rookie year and There's still shots where I'm so I'm still questioning why you're shooting at now the one thing with Emei if he takes a questionable

[00:46:17] shot Emei will pull him and I think the lease will start to get shorter and shorter and shorter We'll talk about their draft situation in a second I want to get to a couple more players and give them a little love and then we can get to it

[00:46:34] Jabari Smith jr Now the first thing that I want to talk about with Jabari Smith jr. I wish that the shot diet Was reversed. I wish you know if Alcranes Shangoon is gonna take the most shots or Kind of like co-op the most shots I

[00:46:58] Think that Jabari Smith should be the second guy To take this by the second most shots or equal to Alcranes Shangoon He should he is shot 11 field goals attempt last year. He averaged 45.5 45.4 percent His three-point percentage Was 36.3 on five attempts You know, he's long His length helped him

[00:47:28] improve defensively His positioning his rebounding seemed to get better We just need more aggressive aggressiveness from him, but it's hard when you need somebody to get you the ball and

[00:47:44] He doesn't seem to be a big like I asked for the ball give it to me now or I'm gonna put you in a locker so I Wish they could switch if Jalen Green could take 12 13 shots and You gave Jabari Smith the 16. I think that

[00:48:06] The Rockets would improve just just right there the other guy that I'm that I'm excited about I was excited about him in the draft I will pound the table for this guy Continuously and this is can Whitmore

[00:48:21] Can Whitmore had shut he was his rookie year. He he averaged 10 field goal attempts a game He shot it also identically the same same percentage as Jibari Smith jr. At 45.4 percent He also tried 4.7 threes again at a 36% clip which is league average, right?

[00:48:49] Then excuse me need a little water got a little dry Sorry about that. All right So it shows a guy who has showing that there are Inefficiencies in his game, but I think could be worked out with just more development and time on the court. I personally

[00:49:17] Think that can Whitmore has a brighter future personally to me in Houston than Jalen Green does No shade to Jalen Green. I think that he needs to find a role that fits him suits him a lot better Maybe as somebody who is the third guy

[00:49:35] Maybe if somebody as a microwave guy off the bench, I don't think We need to go that far But I do think his role needs needs to change and I don't know if he can it well

[00:49:51] Here's the thing in email system. He will accept it got something in my throat Anyways, um and then the last guy I want to talk about and the only reason I want to talk about him is because Everybody will be mad if I don't Is on man Thompson?

[00:50:14] Brilliant Otherworldly athleticism But my guy I can't talk about you seriously When you're shooting 13.8 percent from three So I hope that our man and also or Thompson both Just lock themselves in the gym and shoot corner threes Don't even shoot above the breakthrough corner threes, bro

[00:50:47] Shoot a lot of them shoot a ton But we can't I mean I would love to talk about your defense your playmaking Your athleticism how you can just kind of elevate in the air and find

[00:51:05] Openings in the defense with your passes, but I can't do that until you Shoot a decent percentage from three. So Now they have the third pick overall I would be really interested if this draft was considered a little bit better

[00:51:27] Would they trade this pick? I think what the draft not being as good You utilize the pick to your best ability now Is this a chance for Houston to reshuffle? the ball handling and offense of an offense initiation

[00:51:46] With this quick or is this a way of getting maybe another? lengthy wing to go aside with Jaguari Smith jr. To help out Alpern Fungoon who is not the greatest defender in the world, right? So there's many ways you can go here

[00:52:10] I know that there are people out there who are leading leaning leaning not leading leaning towards Reed Shepard out of Kentucky. I love that kid Think that kid is gonna pop. I don't know if he's gonna pop to be like an all-star

[00:52:30] Porn only but I do believe that He can be a very good player a very additive player to a winning program so if Reed Shepard is pick at three That is something that then you start wondering who of this

[00:52:54] Guard situation because Van Vliet is there for another year You got Dillingbrook slew the wing You got can't whip more. We just talked about on man Thompson Jalen green There's others on this team. I mean, I think Aaron Holliday is on this team. So there's a lot

[00:53:14] To go around so you're gonna have to start kind of You know Maybe trading some of these cats off and getting into a different situation who knows but I think they I Would personally try to get a vet Not because I'm trying to get older

[00:53:38] But I really would like to get somebody to nail down at three position Unless you're gonna give it to can whip more. But the problem is is that I don't know if you're big enough Really Unless you tell me that all men Thompson is gonna shoot 36% from three

[00:53:56] next year and then you have it some sort of triumvirate of can whip more almond Thompson if you get rid of Jalen green Reed Shepard or whoever so I Look for more of a wing, but I definitely understand the people out there saying get a guard

[00:54:18] We need somebody who can stretch the floor shoot the ball, whatever the case may be so That is it for today. I want to thank everybody again for joining us. We have now done it again This is the second week in a row Monday Wednesday and Friday

[00:54:36] You get pods now prediction time Game four is gonna happen Luka will come out like a fire-breathing dragon My question is can The self does not stop him Just don't get

[00:54:56] allow Kyrie to get hot and can they now that Kyrie did have the good game can they now Quell his fire extinguish his light and Go ahead and do the sweep Now I think this is a gentleman sweep

[00:55:16] I think we get out of Dallas with Dallas getting a victory and then we go back to Boston game five And then it's all over So that is my prediction now of what should be going on So I hope with this being said that you enjoyed the games

[00:55:37] Especially tonight I'm gonna enjoy it and then we will reconvene on this feed Monday, all right. So with that being said I want to thank Be French bunch of fudge my guy is my producer

[00:55:55] I want to thank Soraya as well for her contributions to today's podcast and then I want to thank you guys again This podcast is growing because of you. I I

[00:56:09] Hope that I'm entertaining you so that you could tell people about us, but it grows because of you so All of the hard work that is going on and all the numbers that are going up and up and up and up

[00:56:25] You guys can take some some pleasure and some credit in that and I commend you on your efforts on The mantra be a friend tell a friend about the podcast and we are on all major Podcast platforms, so

[00:56:43] With that being said the best part of you is you Remember to keep surround yourself with people that are going to brighten your light Do not surround your people do not surround yourself with people who are going to extinguish your light

[00:57:01] If you have people who are around you say oh no, you're not gonna be able to accomplish that. Oh that you know whatever No, you should be able to try everything now Gonna fail But you're gonna learn something And with that being said

[00:57:23] You guys have been great. This has been a great week of shows. I Can be more thankful to you guys and Excited about what's coming up. So with that being said have a great weekend, and we will see you on this feed Monday peace