Knicks and Nuggets: Elimination Analysis and Future Moves

[00:00:00] It's Saturday and it's Front Runner Podcast Collective. I am your humble host Vince and

[00:00:18] on today's show we are going to talk we're gonna break down the teams that got eliminated in the

[00:00:27] the second round of the playoffs we're gonna talk about the games that are going on now

[00:00:33] in the conference finals and where those are going and we're also gonna finish up with a

[00:00:39] couple of news and notes that we need to go ahead and get into but before we get into all that let's

[00:00:45] break down the socials we've had an incredible week in regards to the podcast so I commend everybody

[00:00:55] who is really understanding being a friend and telling a friend so thank you so much

[00:01:03] we got people in the Congo, Kenya, I mean it's the just seeing these places light up

[00:01:15] is such a joy for me so thank you I appreciate you guys so continue to spread the words of

[00:01:23] downloading the podcast obviously you guys are listening I can see that and letting everybody

[00:01:29] else know about what's going on here so we can grow our community and get into some more

[00:01:36] exciting things like I want to create a discord for you guys and some other things so we got

[00:01:41] a lot of things going on up here so the other thing is X Front Runner PC also get with my guy

[00:01:52] BFunch and that is at BFunch FRPC all right so I think we got pretty much everything out the way

[00:02:03] one thing I will ask is that we put out a video I want to say about three days ago

[00:02:11] in regards to what was it we put a lot of videos this week so give me a second

[00:02:21] um it was a T Wolves video now the video itself obviously we're gonna get into the games now

[00:02:33] but I thought it was some of our best work so go check that out uh we're gonna have more on

[00:02:38] the T Wolves as we get into the podcast but that is on on YouTube at Front Runner Podcast

[00:02:48] Collective all right let's get to these games and let's get to some of these

[00:02:53] storylines that are going on now and we're gonna start with our Front Runner focus on

[00:03:00] the Knicks, the Nuggets, the Cavs and you know it's a it's a tough situation anytime you lose

[00:03:12] right anytime you have a situation where you are thinking you might go further or whatever

[00:03:19] the case may be or the injury bug bites you it is always tough to get to a point where um

[00:03:30] you're out of the playoffs so now let's get into some of these teams and what they can do

[00:03:39] um let's start off with the defending champions the Denver Nuggets now they're out of the playoffs

[00:03:49] Minnesota's moving on um there's a couple questions that we need to ask right and the

[00:03:56] first question I believe is Calvin Booth are you still hanging with the kids are you still loyal

[00:04:05] to the draft picks are you loyal to this philosophy that you have in building a dynasty

[00:04:13] one of the quotes that Calvin Booth came up with was that you know he's not worried on

[00:04:18] winning back-to-back titles he's worried on building a dynasty I hate to tell Calvin this

[00:04:26] but building a dynasty is also imperative that you win back-to-back titles

[00:04:35] now people will debate me on whether the San Antonio Spurs are a dynasty I think if you

[00:04:45] don't have back-to-back titles it doesn't count you can have a 10 year run where you

[00:04:53] win four and you're always there but if you don't have back-to-backs in it it's kind of

[00:05:03] hard for us to kind of give you the flowers that you're looking for and Denver had an

[00:05:09] opportunity to do that they were on their home court and it was all the ruggaboos that we

[00:05:17] had talked about before it was the the lack of veteran depth on the on the bench because

[00:05:26] Jokic was out there playing 47 minutes he was absolutely gassed you know you had Jamal Murray

[00:05:35] who was clearly compromised from the last series and then the other thing that we need

[00:05:45] to get into and this is a perfect segue MPJ Michael Porter Jr. didn't show up in this series

[00:05:55] and the problem with that is is that that young man is making 35.8 million dollars a year

[00:06:03] and having a game where you score four points or seven points in a game where your team is

[00:06:12] needing you needing you to you know your bench is compromised you know you don't have enough

[00:06:20] Malone has now shrunk the bench to only Reggie Jackson so the only person coming off the bench

[00:06:28] is is six foot two Reggie Jackson so you know at this point that as somebody who's been on

[00:06:39] this team for four years that it looks like it's gonna you're gonna need to go ahead and

[00:06:44] contribute a little bit more and I think the length of the timber was bothered him tremendously

[00:06:53] I think the quickness of how they closed out really bothered him and I think his lack of

[00:07:02] um on-ball initiation or on-ball creativity if you want to call it that I think that

[00:07:09] really to me is the big point here so my question about Michael Porter Jr. is this

[00:07:18] are the Denver Nuggets in a position to stomach cutting away a piece of their continuity

[00:07:28] a piece of their team that has been together for a while and getting somebody who has a little

[00:07:33] bit little bit more on-ball creation juice because if Michael Porter Jr. attacks those closeouts

[00:07:43] with any confidence it has any sort of handle they win this they win this series they

[00:07:51] probably don't go to seven no disrespect to the timber wolf you know how I feel about Ant and

[00:07:58] we'll get to him a little bit later but um I think it's fair to ask that Michael Porter Jr.

[00:08:06] still fairly young I think he's 26 at this present time you know the contract for what

[00:08:12] he does is still good and maybe people can talk themselves into oh he can be our number

[00:08:19] three or whatever it is or maybe Michael Porter Jr. just needs to take more shots

[00:08:26] maybe this is the point where he needs to go off on his own and kind of graduate to a situation

[00:08:33] that's better suited for his talents I don't know but I do know this is that in the game

[00:08:42] where you're at home and Jokic and Murray are putting up these incredible numbers when you get

[00:08:53] seven from Michael Porter Jr. and you get four from Aaron Gordon

[00:09:01] that's not nearly that's not nearly enough to combat what's going on on the other side

[00:09:11] so those are a couple things that I think that the Nuggets need to look at now we'll do a more

[00:09:18] in-depth breakdown as the seasons season continues to wind down and you know when it

[00:09:24] gets down to like two teams we'll have the finals to talk about rumors to talk about and

[00:09:30] then we'll have other time to fill and what we'll do with that is we'll do a in-depth

[00:09:37] offseason breakdown for each team as we go along so you can look forward to that

[00:09:43] as we lead up to the draft and through the finals and what have you

[00:09:48] the other team that I want to get to is the Cavaliers and the reason why I want to get to

[00:09:52] the Cavaliers I think is very quick right it doesn't work what's going on in Cleveland

[00:10:01] doesn't work you tried it two years in a row the double the double big lineup and the too

[00:10:08] small guard lineup does not work you need to diversify your roster you need to get a little

[00:10:16] more length on your wings and also I think the pairing of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland

[00:10:26] Garland that experiment has run its course and I think it's time to go ahead and make a change

[00:10:34] now here's the funny part front cut front runner podcast collective had reported that Donovan

[00:10:42] Mitchell um despite of all the uh the things that were put out there that Donovan Mitchell

[00:10:51] would probably probably be the one moved I will go ahead and retract that statement now

[00:10:57] um it does seem like it's a toss-up it looks like Kobe Altman has a decision to make

[00:11:04] I think he has a decision to make on two uh extremely talented duos on his team so it

[00:11:14] looks like there's going to be a Darius Garland Donovan Mitchell kind of flip a coin deal and

[00:11:23] loser leaves town and then you have your Evan Mobley and Jared Allen

[00:11:31] and that's also a corn flip and actually it's not a coin flip I take that back

[00:11:36] Evan Mobley has clearly won that political race okay he has won um just based off of where he was

[00:11:44] drafted also his age and his upside still I know that a lot of people have have uh kind

[00:11:52] of soured on Evan in the sense of that he was promised to be this kind of Chris Bosch type

[00:12:00] of guy and um it just seemed to not work out I don't really believe that the Donovan Mitchell

[00:12:10] thing which was good for the team so hear me when I say this Cavalier fans so let them know

[00:12:18] let them know okay so when I say this Cavalier fans I'm not crapping on the trade or

[00:12:27] any kind of negative connotation to it strictly on development only when you got Donovan Mitchell

[00:12:36] you truncated the development of Evan Mobley because of the fact that he was not going to be

[00:12:43] on ball anymore okay he just wasn't um sorry about that my my little notes fell down here

[00:12:50] my little notes fell down here we're doing a lot of solo dolo stuff right now but uh

[00:12:57] we are actually doing more freehand stuff this is a lot more smoother but getting back to the

[00:13:04] situation with Cleveland yes it was promised yes he looked like he could shoot from the outside

[00:13:14] and I still believe that could be still in his uh future the problem is is that when you have

[00:13:19] Donovan Mitchell you have Darius Garland you have now uh Max Struth you have other mouse to

[00:13:26] feed and the problem when you have all those mouths to feed and you're trying to win

[00:13:33] you're trying to win um we're gonna just leave that there because it's gonna fall down so

[00:13:39] not gonna deal with that anymore so sorry about that interrupting podcast that's my fault

[00:13:46] um getting back to Cleveland the whole deal is is that now there is that divide you know that

[00:13:55] there's going to be a trade now I think the trades look a lot different depending on the

[00:14:01] the combination okay so if it does indeed work out to be Jared Allen and Darius Garland I

[00:14:12] don't think they'll be moved in concert with one another I think they'll be moved in separate

[00:14:18] trades so uh Cleveland can get back picks and players so if Darius is worth more he will

[00:14:29] probably be the one that you know he'll probably get to be the one that garners the

[00:14:34] the bounty of picks that they would want back in a deal and then Jared Allen because he is

[00:14:41] such a specific big man and also such a um needed type of big in the league I think you can fetch

[00:14:49] your role players or to augment your lineup to diversify your wing um your wing group

[00:14:58] and I think that might be the way to go now if it is the blockbuster of Donovan Mitchell

[00:15:06] now there's a caveat with that because I really believe and I said this to Laker fans so I'll say

[00:15:12] it to Cleveland fans too um I hope everybody's listening Laker fans click uh Cavalier fans even

[00:15:22] Clipper fans I like y'all I don't like your team but I like y'all um I am it's gonna take

[00:15:35] Donovan to want out now there have been murmurings all through this season that certain

[00:15:45] things weren't working and we can just go ahead and get into it now since we're talking about

[00:15:51] Cleveland J.J.B. Bickerstaff is is out as coach um here's the thing I like J.B. Bickerstaff I

[00:16:02] like what he does um the thing about it is is that 170 and 159 is a really good record

[00:16:12] he built a young team into a team that is now permanently in the playoffs but we saw over the

[00:16:20] last couple years that that team wasn't tough enough to get through and that kind of falls

[00:16:29] on the coaching staff once you went through what you went through with the Knicks last year

[00:16:36] so yep changes were made you uh brought in screws commendable you needed a shooter

[00:16:43] you needed to change it up you saw it but yet and still I don't know if there was a uh

[00:16:53] urgency to Evan Mobley or Jared Allen or any of the the larger wings um as far as their

[00:17:02] physicality and their mentality with physicality because those are two different

[00:17:08] entities all together your physicality is what you are putting upon the defender

[00:17:17] right dealing with physicality is they are pressing up against you how are you able to continue

[00:17:31] um shot creation how are you able to initiate offense how are you able to position yourself

[00:17:38] for rebounds those type of things so again it's going to be a fascinating summer it's going

[00:17:49] to be wild I can't wait to see what goes on in Cleveland but you guys got a lot going on so

[00:17:55] until we figure out what's going on that's kind of like the uh the cliff notes of what the

[00:18:02] offseason focus is going to look like for you guys so we got we got Cleveland out of the way

[00:18:11] we who else did we get we got the Nuggets out of the way

[00:18:15] who else did we get we got the Nuggets out of the way um I guess that leaves OKC

[00:18:25] okay so we picked OKC to win um we are not afraid to be wrong it was clear the one thing

[00:18:38] that we talked about even as the playoff started was that OKC we got it we had to see how they were

[00:18:48] going to handle physicality and what they ran up against with Dallas is a really active seven

[00:18:58] foot one guy in Derrick Lively and we're going to give him his flowers um later in the podcast

[00:19:06] trust me on that Mavericks fans I got love for your guy um but the the combination of of Lively

[00:19:17] Daniel Gaffer PJ Washington the the second chance points the boards all that you know I

[00:19:26] mean we're going to get into like how it all happened and you know we got into all that before

[00:19:32] but here's the main thing that needs to really be looked at with OKC and I think we've talked about

[00:19:41] it in the past on the podcast but I definitely want to say it again the playoffs are the

[00:19:49] the absolute light of truth of who you are as a team every flaw that you have will be exposed

[00:20:03] because these teams are breaking down film every single day on your habits your likes

[00:20:13] where you like the ball what positions on the court you like to shoot you know do you go to

[00:20:20] your left primarily do you go to your right primarily they break it all down they have it

[00:20:26] and now the other thing that goes down with this is that here is a ton of tape for the

[00:20:34] rest of the NBA next season to start to counter what you do so in the off season

[00:20:39] you got to go back into the lab and get grab something else

[00:20:44] um with that being said OKC was too small we we thought we identified that is a real major

[00:20:50] concern with them um we still love Chet we still love um Jaylen Williams and obviously Shay

[00:20:59] is going to be a perennial MVP candidate as we go on OK now

[00:21:08] Giddy was almost unplayable um it it was stark his inability to want to

[00:21:19] be aggressive towards the basket was glaring his his unwillingness to shoot

[00:21:27] and Dallas's defense which played completely off of him

[00:21:35] really told you all you needed to know like dude we do not stress you at all

[00:21:42] on this basketball court for sure so I think what you're looking at with OKC is that

[00:21:51] um they're in the best situation of anybody um who is out of the playoffs right now

[00:22:01] and they have a ton of picks a ton of first round picks they have a ton of second round picks

[00:22:06] they have like 30 million dollars in cap space they could create more cap space with

[00:22:13] a simple trade um they could have their pick of the litter when it comes to uh star guys and

[00:22:23] what have you the only caveat to that is that the guys would have to want to go there they

[00:22:31] would have to have some sort of inclination obviously talking to the agents and saying

[00:22:38] hey listen if we bring this guy board is he gonna be cool in OKC and you know unfortunately a lot

[00:22:46] of times that's gonna be no you know I'm not trying to front a horn OKC but it's gonna take

[00:22:54] us a special type of guy to go out there and want to go out there and want to be there the

[00:23:00] money is great right I know the fan base is awesome shout out to the thunder hashtag thunder

[00:23:08] up you guys have been great to me all season so thank you to the thunder fans out there

[00:23:15] I appreciate you um but I do believe that change has to come and you have to really

[00:23:25] and this is a great thing with Presti he is going to be able to identify the type of guy

[00:23:32] that they're gonna need I think they do need a big it doesn't need necessarily have to be a

[00:23:38] center but uh another large wing you know a rebound eater somebody who could stretch it

[00:23:45] you know I mean you can be very picky with the mountain of picks that you have OKC so

[00:23:52] don't worry about what you give up to get it because you still got plenty more

[00:24:01] so that now leads us to the New York Knicks and I saved them for last for many reasons but the

[00:24:11] main reason is because man they great they gave us great moments in this playoff so I wanted

[00:24:18] to go ahead and just shout them out again you know shout out to Jalen Brunson, Dante DiVincenzo,

[00:24:26] Josh Hart, our guy Isaiah Hardstein played big our guy Deuce McBride you know how much

[00:24:36] love we have for Deuce here on this podcast we really just enjoy watching them talking about

[00:24:45] him so it's hard to see them out of the playoffs but now that we're here let's turn the focus

[00:24:52] let's turn the spotlight on New York City the city that never sleeps right OK so OG is going

[00:25:01] to test free agency now I'm going to talk to my New York Knicks fans out there OK I know

[00:25:10] y'all got a taste of OG and Inobi I know you did and I know you like the taste that you got

[00:25:17] believe me I understand the defense was incredible that 14 to 16 points he was putting up

[00:25:26] spectacular well here's the thing Coach Tibbs is going to be there and this guy has had a

[00:25:39] propensity to have some sort of soft tissue injury every single year and this dude is good

[00:25:50] is good for about 57 games to 60 games a year so Nick fans I ask you

[00:26:04] how much do you want to pay OG and Inobi remember he wasn't there for the playoffs

[00:26:10] kind of you kind of needed him with Julius being out so he's the first thing

[00:26:17] I'll put it this way I don't know

[00:26:22] I don't know how you know Tibbs feels about other wings I know that OG provides such a

[00:26:30] premium on the defensive end he really unlocked that team I saw it my whole thing is is that

[00:26:42] I wonder how long Nick fans will be satisfied with oh oh he's gone for like 10 days again

[00:26:53] oh where he at oh oh we uh we don't we don't go into this nationally televised game without

[00:27:01] OG the Toronto Raptors fans would like to introduce you to the OG and Inobi experience

[00:27:10] so you guys are welcome so that's one of the questions for the New York Knicks

[00:27:16] the other question that I have is this and it's kind of low key you know so kind of with

[00:27:23] Cleveland the Knicks are kind of in the same situation and I don't think a lot of people

[00:27:28] are really talking about this but Mitchell Robertson his extension kicks in I think this

[00:27:34] year right or was it last year I think yeah mind me last year so he's already making you

[00:27:40] know close to 20 uh what are you gonna pay Isaiah Hardenstein if you're the Knicks

[00:27:51] you really kind of needed him Mitchell Robertson also has a propensity to get hurt

[00:27:57] he's dynamic when he plays don't get me wrong I love Mitchell Robertson I love the energy

[00:28:03] that he brings I love the he has that kind of I don't want to say when we like because

[00:28:11] Wimby is in his own category but Mitchell Robinson's activity

[00:28:20] near the paint he just makes period people leery when they go to the paint like oh where's

[00:28:26] uh where am I that okay I gotta make sure because I'm not trying to get embarrassed

[00:28:32] I want no block I want to end up on no poster so yeah uh so you Mitchell

[00:28:40] Mitchell Robertson is the obviously the incumbent but Hardenstein won the hearts

[00:28:46] of Knicks fans everywhere with his tremendous play throughout the playoffs and one of the

[00:28:53] one of the key contribute one of the key factors to why they were even in um this series

[00:29:00] with with the Pacers at all so Hardenstein is about to get paid I have no idea what's

[00:29:08] going on with that so those are a couple questions surrounding the Knicks and then

[00:29:13] here's my here's my kind of funny question but real serious question all at the same time

[00:29:19] What type of wildcat are the New York Knicks going to bring in? Okay now Leon Rose and Worldwide West

[00:29:32] they wanted to bring in a lot of Kentucky dudes to the program CAA seems to keep a lot of

[00:29:42] Kentucky dudes um so that was their first thought we're gonna get a bunch of Kentucky dudes because

[00:29:51] Calipari grows pros down there shouts out to John Calipari the new head coach

[00:29:58] of the Arkansas Razorbacks so I hope he has his pig suey ready down there I can't wait to see

[00:30:07] Coach Cal doing pig suey in Arkansas it's gonna be crazy but back to the Knicks

[00:30:15] so I asked a question about what kind of wildcat are you gonna get we all know about the Nova

[00:30:22] the Nova Cats the Nova Knicks right you got Josh Hart out there you got Dante DiVincenzo

[00:30:31] you got Jaylen Bronson there's another Villanova Wildcat in the actual vicinity

[00:30:40] of Madison Square Garden I don't know if Knick fans know this or not but there's a team

[00:30:49] that plays in Brooklyn I know Knick fans I know it's shocking there's a team that

[00:30:55] literally plays in the same city the same city that you're in there's a team it's called the

[00:31:02] Brooklyn Nets they used to be the New Jersey Nets yeah you remember when you played them

[00:31:08] in New Jersey and now they're in Brooklyn you haven't heard of them

[00:31:14] yeah they've been insignificant for a while so I understand why you haven't heard of them

[00:31:21] but anyways getting back to the situation Mikael Bridges is a former Villanova Wildcat

[00:31:30] he is a apple of a lot of people's eye now Joe Tsai the governor of the Brooklyn Nets just

[00:31:39] came out like within the last couple hours and said that he's looking for more of a

[00:31:46] culture situation and then culture and then sustainability and then winning

[00:31:53] he wants all those three things so this might be a patient rebuild for the Brooklyn Nets which

[00:31:59] means that Mikael Bridges the apple of a lot of people's eyes might not be on the market

[00:32:08] now Joe Tsai didn't go on to say that Mikael Bridges wouldn't be on the market I am sure

[00:32:14] if they got a godfather offer from Mikael Bridges which how could you not right he's six seven

[00:32:23] long arms 220 pounds he can play multiple positions score he has a little second side

[00:32:34] creation available to you that he busted out in Brooklyn so there is one type of cat and

[00:32:44] then there's the other type of cat and that is the Kentucky Wildcat now this is a rare species

[00:32:52] because the Kentucky Wildcat although do not win national championships in college basketball

[00:33:02] these cats seem to mature at a rapid rate when they come to the NBA

[00:33:08] okay now our highly highly paid analytics and scientific department research department

[00:33:20] has come up with some with some names for you all right so we have in the league right now

[00:33:29] we have Tyrese Maxey we have Devin Booker we got Anthony Davis we got Shay Gildge's Alexander

[00:33:40] getting it in putting in work I'm sure I'm missing one who am I missing I got I got Maxey

[00:33:48] Davis Booker Shay there's another one that I'm missing but you get the point Kentucky puts out

[00:34:01] pros and they seem to when they get to the NBA they seem to level up more like if we can

[00:34:12] say anything about the kids that Cal did recruit and then coach when they get to the

[00:34:18] when they get to the professional situation they are well equipped to handle it they don't

[00:34:23] seem to be flustered and they seem to be able to get into the program very quickly

[00:34:29] so if Devin Booker is out there if Carl Anthony Towns which we will get to in a second

[00:34:37] we will get to in a second um if Carl Anthony Towns is out there I wonder if

[00:34:43] there's a move to be made on the Knicks side to do anything there now Devin Booker I will tell you

[00:34:51] the chances of him leaving Phoenix are slim and none and I think Slim left town about 10 hours

[00:34:58] ago on a business of flight Delta uh to parts unknown and so I don't think Booker would be

[00:35:09] the one but Carl Anthony Towns might be out there also oh Julius Randall who is also a Nick

[00:35:17] right sorry about that guys sometimes you just need more coffee I don't know what to tell you

[00:35:23] right so again so the Kentucky guys come into the league they do very well uh I know Leon

[00:35:30] Rose and Worldwide West they have an affinity for the Kentucky guys I wonder if they would

[00:35:37] augment the Nova Cats with the Kentucky Wildcats and then create a Wildcat super team

[00:35:45] but we will see but those are kind of the things or the storylines or the questions

[00:35:50] that you should be talking with with your group of people when you're breaking down

[00:35:55] the basketball as far as that's concerned um let's get to the the Eastern Conference

[00:36:02] and Western Conference finals first and foremost I need to make a formal apology

[00:36:09] to Luca Donjic who we picked as our MVP here at Frontrunner Podcast Collector

[00:36:17] now the great thing about the Mavs in their uh they're up 2-0 now we'll get to all the stuff

[00:36:29] that happened um you know the you know what I'm talking about the end shot okay the end

[00:36:34] the dagger we'll talk about it trust me we'll get there but the first thing that I do want

[00:36:40] to talk about when it comes to the to the to the Mavericks is this is that um Kyrie's

[00:36:48] I don't even want to say handle his his his command of the offense is uh

[00:36:57] uh it's majestic I mean it's it's it's regal he weaves his handle is so tight and he weaves

[00:37:08] in and out of traffic the leverage that he's able to get when people are leaning on him

[00:37:13] his his his low center of gravity that he can get to that allows him to continue to

[00:37:21] accelerate forward um and get himself into really um bioletic positions around the hoop

[00:37:33] and some of the English that he throws off the glass is the filthiest that we've ever seen

[00:37:40] so Kyrie has done this thing in the playoffs which is I think Rossello

[00:37:47] hit it first he does this thing in the playoffs where he kind of takes off the first half he's

[00:37:53] not taking off he's you know manages the game he's just being the point guard he's doing his

[00:37:58] thing you know moves the ball around and then Kyrie mode takes over and he goes on these

[00:38:06] offensive bursts like exactly at the point in time where his team needs it it's almost like

[00:38:14] it's almost like Jason Kidd looks at him as the ball is being inbounded and he says

[00:38:22] I know what we can call him initiate moccasin man because he's wearing moccasins to the game so

[00:38:28] you know hey whatever Kyrie you want to do at this point the game is so tight I can't say

[00:38:34] anything about it man you do what you need to do if you need to save the arena if you need

[00:38:41] talk to your your ancestral spirits as far as your Native American culture is concerned do what

[00:38:50] you need to do okay do exactly what you need to do because your game is incredible right now

[00:38:59] Luca looks spry he looks healthy I did say when the series started I picked Minnesota to win

[00:39:07] I'm sorry Luca sorry MVP sorry my guy I know that Jokic won the MVP but here at

[00:39:13] Frontrunner Podcast Collective Luca you are our MVP so don't worry about it my man

[00:39:20] but he is doing something that is going to be hard to stop and what I want to talk about is

[00:39:32] when Luca gets the ball and it's in the pick and roll action

[00:39:37] now you have a couple ways of doing it you can go you can go over the screen and follow Luca

[00:39:45] or you can go underneath the screen and hope Luca doesn't step back for three now Luca's

[00:39:53] three-point percentages fluctuate sometimes he gets on a heater and it's beautiful to watch

[00:40:00] and it's cold it's just it's cold-blooded but when he when you go over the screen with him

[00:40:09] and now he is now in the pole position he's in the front position

[00:40:15] and he has you on his hip there's no way for you to speed him up there's no way for you

[00:40:22] to really bother him because his handle and his vision is so great and then here's the other

[00:40:29] thing he's so wide you can't get to him or get to the ball without fouling him

[00:40:40] so you got all these things working against you so then he just kind of

[00:40:45] really slows down even further slows down a little bit more he's assessing where all

[00:40:51] his shooters are he's assessing his lob options and the ability to score and he's breaking all

[00:40:59] this down in like you know you know like that right so it's it's going to be hard for them

[00:41:09] to stop unless they blitz him problem is Kyrie is on the team you can't really blitz him

[00:41:17] so you're gonna have to pick your poison i think right now you just individual with this dude

[00:41:23] and whatever he does he does but don't let anybody else get off i still believe that

[00:41:31] minnesota can turn off the faucet that is kyrie i think it's going to be incredibly hard now

[00:41:39] though because he's playing at such a high level but because of his size and because of

[00:41:45] the length that the temper was have they can't shut that faucet off but the problem is you're

[00:41:51] down 2-0 you this is where we're going to get into the cat situation all right first game

[00:42:00] ant tired obviously well the last series with denver long he carried them

[00:42:06] um you know played pretty good shot lost shots uh wasn't effective but he played defense he kept

[00:42:15] his team in the game he initiated offense um and even the coach said that they should have played

[00:42:22] mike connelly jr more so now game two happens and this is where we're going to get to the

[00:42:28] shot we're going to get to cat and all of it but here's the deal um ant needs to be

[00:42:35] more aggressive um two free throws in the first game um he was more aggressive in the second game

[00:42:45] but it was uh it was a little like too little too late and here's the other thing that we kind

[00:42:51] of need to talk about derrick jones jr is a complete just he's being brilliant on the defense

[00:42:58] event anthony edwards right now is shooting 11 for 33 from the field in two games

[00:43:10] okay all righty um

[00:43:18] 11 for 33 not great where's cat where is carl anthony talents carl anthony talents is sitting

[00:43:31] on the bench in the fourth quarter um he said something after game two because in game one we

[00:43:39] saw this also in game two it repeated the same pattern uh cat gets taken out with like 10

[00:43:46] minutes ago in the fourth and then he doesn't reemerge until the game is handled basically

[00:43:55] uh they go with a smaller lineup they go with naz reed who's a more switchable switchable big

[00:44:03] uh now they might have to lose rudy go bear and then bring cat back but uh let's get to the

[00:44:15] shot now um man this is crazy so for all my people all my sickos who watched like every

[00:44:24] second of that game there was a point in time in the second quarter late i want to say like

[00:44:28] with three minutes to go or three minutes less or what have you to go and rudy go bear of the

[00:44:35] minnesota timberwolves took a take foul and you know when you look at it when it's on the

[00:44:43] court from the view you have oh no big deal take foul i don't know why he's doing that

[00:44:49] we're like 60 something feet away from the basket well i don't know why you would do that

[00:44:53] but anyway but when you get a look from the behind the uh the field goal the basket

[00:45:04] rudy go bear punches luca donches in the solar plexus so in the stomach area

[00:45:10] you know ab area whatever and there's words that are exchanged at that time luca looks

[00:45:18] at him like man don't you know that's not basketball that's you know that's ish this that

[00:45:23] whatever but brings me now back to the final seconds of the game now jason kid in his press

[00:45:32] game uh postgame interview says you know we were going to give luca the ball and then deal

[00:45:40] with the results as a fill and he said whether luca was going to uh attack the basket or

[00:45:53] dance like he did which he danced and he danced right in front of rudy go bear by the way

[00:46:01] NBA defensive player of the year rudy go bear so we got the defensive player of the year

[00:46:08] on luca donchett's seconds winding down luca hits him with like a crossover dribble

[00:46:18] pussy between his legs steps back in all seven foot to 285 pounds of rudy go bear

[00:46:29] is lunging aimlessly looking like a drunk deer as luca falls back shoots this shot

[00:46:43] and it's a dagger three and the mouths win and now they're up two zero luca scored 32 points

[00:46:55] that game he had a triple double he had 10 rebounds and 13 assists obviously the game

[00:47:00] winning step back three that was so cold that my wife was in cryo for two days after true story

[00:47:09] all right um luca's incredible he's he seems a lot more healthier than he was before and now

[00:47:18] we are at this point where this is the scariest part for minnesota timberwolves fans and for

[00:47:24] somebody who picked them but we still stay with our pick we stay loyal right i think that

[00:47:30] dallas is going to win this series now but we pick the timberwolves we stay with quick

[00:47:38] but dallas has still not played a good game

[00:47:42] luca has been completely inefficient even though he's been so huge in the last moments

[00:47:48] we've had bits and pieces of kairi we've had like spurts of kairi but we haven't had the full

[00:47:56] on experience where i just feel good and it's just flowing think about that so minnesota has

[00:48:05] a lot of stuff to clean up um it is a tall task they're heading back to dallas down two

[00:48:13] zero but uh anthony edwards has irrational confidence and if there was anybody in the world

[00:48:22] who could look at this mess and go hey we still cool everything's still good

[00:48:30] it's gonna be anthony edwards so i am really interested to see what kind of aggression

[00:48:36] comes out of anthony edwards in game three i think he will be snorting and looking like a

[00:48:42] raging bull coming out at a game all right let's move on to the eastern conference finals and

[00:48:50] the boston celtics and the indiana paces down um this series unfortunately has uh taken a turn

[00:49:00] for the worst um boston is better right we knew that going in um i challenged jason tatum

[00:49:11] to be better his clutch numbers so far going into the eastern conference finals were abysmal

[00:49:19] he was shooting 36 from the field in crunch time moments and i wondered if that narrative

[00:49:29] would change i've been looking and searching for the answer and it is still not come

[00:49:35] out uh due to injuries and lack of competition unfortunately the teams that have played the

[00:49:44] celtics have either a run out of players or b they were they were just so um so under man

[00:49:53] as far as talent wise that it was never going anywhere and i thought that indiana not as

[00:49:59] talented but spunky and uh playing with a lot of confidence would give them

[00:50:07] a scare now obviously game one happened we talked about it uh wow just the turnovers

[00:50:14] and just blowing that lead that was the game they they could have stole and everybody knew

[00:50:19] that game two it wasn't going to happen that way and sure enough jaylen brown went completely

[00:50:28] into a b-small type situation jaylen brown was getting downhill jaylen brown was dunking on people

[00:50:37] jaylen brown was hitting threes jaylen brown was getting rebounds it was crazy he was doing

[00:50:44] everything 40 burger for our guy jaylen brown jason tatum i will say this he played an

[00:50:55] effective game um it still wasn't great i don't know to say uh drew holiday played excellent

[00:51:07] derrick white played great um they're missing christophe porzingis even though they are up

[00:51:14] two oh and then here's the uh the sad part about it uh all-star god guard uh one of our

[00:51:22] favorites on the podcast tyrese halliburton of the indiana paces has been reported by woe

[00:51:29] shams and the alike that he has a hamstring injury he is out for game three um i i am here

[00:51:38] to tell you i have talked to uh two orthopedists and we commiserated on the unfortunateness of

[00:51:49] this injury to tyrese halliburton and one of the things that was brought up to my attention

[00:51:55] i forgot this it's the same exact hamstring it's the same one so i understand that you're holding

[00:52:05] out hope that he can come back for game four i would not get your hopes up i wouldn't um

[00:52:15] whatever kind of spirited effort you guys give tonight as the game is going on right now

[00:52:20] i can't wait to get to it um but i just think right now you know this series is pretty much

[00:52:27] over sorry pacer's listen you had a hell of a year you you got nothing nothing to be ashamed of

[00:52:36] indiana paces fans hashtag boom baby you guys are great you got a lot to look forward to

[00:52:43] pascal siakam coming back y'all gotta you know y'all got a little wink wink deal over there

[00:52:50] it's all cool and then whatever else you guys can add and you got young players and everything so

[00:52:56] yes extremely disappointed right you get to the eastern conference final and you don't have your

[00:53:02] your number one gun i get it but the future is still bright indianapolis and uh they gave

[00:53:11] us some great moments in that next series so to hell with it you know i hey bravo hey man

[00:53:19] you made it to the eastern conference finals we didn't know if you were going to be a playing

[00:53:23] team so great for indiana i'm thrilled for them let's get to some news and notes real quick

[00:53:33] and then we can get up out of here uh the first thing that we want to talk about is the

[00:53:38] detroit pistons have selected a former new orleans pelican secondhand man to david griffin

[00:53:46] trajan langdon former duke blue devil there's a theme here a lot of dukeys in the mix right

[00:53:57] trajan langdon was a guy who really focused on the prospects and the draft

[00:54:03] uh gave all the information to david griffin obviously as a team they put it together

[00:54:10] they were instrumental in and trying to build that culture in new orleans um langdon has been

[00:54:17] one of those guys that has a lot of people around the league have had their eye on him

[00:54:24] and it was just a matter of time for him to become the president of player personnel

[00:54:32] of a franchise and he got the pistons deal now i am going to say this

[00:54:39] i don't know how much i believe but i will say this tom gorse the governor of the detroit

[00:54:48] pistons has said on record that trajan langdon has the autonomy to handle all personnel issues

[00:55:00] underneath him so what that means is is that if troy weaver the general manager who may just

[00:55:10] have a gullible idea that he's going to get the job done and that he's going to have to

[00:55:17] kill all of the people on the board to get the job done. So now in this case,

[00:55:26] tom gorse has already said that if trajan langdon wanted to pull the trigger

[00:55:34] trigger on firing Monty Williams and remember Monty Williams is making 13

[00:55:43] million dollars a year this dude got like 60 something million dollars left

[00:55:49] on his contract and if changing landing wants to go ahead and pull the trigger

[00:55:55] and get a new coach he can so good news for Detroit Pistons fans out

[00:56:02] there it looks like there is a ray of light at the end of the tunnel I think

[00:56:10] Trajan Langdon will do a good job he has a mess to clean up though be patient

[00:56:16] this is year one I know Detroit fans you guys have been patient and rebuilds

[00:56:23] and rebuilds and rebuilds but this guy year one let's see if Gores actually

[00:56:31] allows him to let go of Monty Williams and Troy Weaver let's see if he lets

[00:56:36] him do it and then we'll let the chips fall where they may after that but at

[00:56:42] least this is a good sign for our Detroit Pistons fans out there they

[00:56:47] had a really tough year the next story that I want to get to I was

[00:56:52] shocked when I heard this one Jana Austin she was the athletic the

[00:56:58] assistant athletic trainer for the new New Orleans Pelicans she was also Zion

[00:57:03] Williamson's personal trainer she was let go after four years now my

[00:57:11] question and people will probably either get mad at me or we will all

[00:57:17] laugh together I don't know but she got four years man that is some really

[00:57:25] cool job security that lady lasted four years she was the personal trainer to

[00:57:33] Zion Williamson are you kidding me what have we been talking about on this show

[00:57:41] we've been talking about habits getting your habits together you know

[00:57:46] making sure you're getting down and weight not because we want you to be

[00:57:52] super thin just so you can be healthy we've been talking about these type of

[00:57:57] things with Zion Williamson ever since he came into the league and this lady

[00:58:05] no offense to her but what was going on and here's the thing we can't put

[00:58:12] it all on her because Zion has to take responsibility as well you can

[00:58:18] only put forth the plan the player has to follow the plan and if the player

[00:58:25] doesn't follow the plan that means he's not respecting you if he's not

[00:58:30] respecting you or the position then there needs to be a change and there

[00:58:36] should have been a change earlier so on that I will say David Griffin would

[00:58:43] be the one that we would look at when it comes to that all right let's

[00:58:48] move on we talked about the Jamie big the JP bigger staff deal we talked about

[00:58:53] his record we talked about Kobe Altman a lot of a lot of stuff going on

[00:58:59] there but the coaches that are available now are interesting in the

[00:59:05] sense of Kenny Atkinson is out there long-time assistant he's in Gold State

[00:59:12] right now he was also the coach of the feel-good Brooklyn Nets and I'm talking

[00:59:18] about this is pre KD pre Kyrie this is like young Spencer Deadwitty you

[00:59:25] know people like that Kenny has been known as a good development of talent

[00:59:33] he seems to communicate and convey his message very well now people will say

[00:59:42] his blind spot is you know the superstars and how he deals with them I

[00:59:48] guess if you're coming from a situation of building it in a sense from

[00:59:53] scratch or building it from a level or whatever that you got a lot of young

[00:59:57] players that this might be a type of guy that you would want to look at

[01:00:02] another guy that is also out there James Borrego now it's so funny that these

[01:00:07] guys are also the guys that are also in the running for the Laker job as

[01:00:12] well so it's a lot of incestuous stuff going on in the NBA but James

[01:00:18] Borrego I think he also deserves another chance I think he he has he has

[01:00:24] a system he will augment to that system he we know about his his his

[01:00:32] development in San Antonio when he was there he was with Charlotte prior in

[01:00:39] last year or so so you know James Borrego or I mean I don't know who

[01:00:43] else would might be out there they're still the matter of Chauncey

[01:00:48] as well right Chauncey is in a situation where they don't know if they're gonna

[01:00:54] move on from him at Portland so there's still a couple coaches and the carousel

[01:01:00] still has to stop moving yet so I'll be interested to see how it all goes

[01:01:06] down with Cleveland and their coaching high and their coaching higher and

[01:01:10] their coaching search so I'll be interested to see how that goes down and

[01:01:14] I guess the last thing that we need to get to is this Paul George has been

[01:01:20] speculating out there that he is looking vigorously at free agency that

[01:01:28] you know he you know just wants to see what's out there supposedly

[01:01:32] there's some danger in there for the Clippers if Paul George hits the open

[01:01:36] market and Philly is sitting there with it with a bag of money you know we got

[01:01:43] a couple other teams that could clear out some calf space we talked about

[01:01:47] Oklahoma City and their 30 million dollar on calf space type situation so

[01:01:54] I think the Clippers are playing a dangerous game now here's the problem

[01:01:58] though here's the issue with the whole deal Kawhi Leonard in the middle

[01:02:04] of the year signed a contract extension he took less money and when he took

[01:02:10] less money it was just assumed that Paul George would take less money right

[01:02:17] because Paul George is second best player on the team how we parse it out

[01:02:22] as podcasters and as people who watch hoops and so he undoubtedly take a

[01:02:30] pay cut right nah not Paul George not as of yet so be interested to see what

[01:02:38] he gets on the open market it'll be interested to see what the years and

[01:02:42] the dollars and here's the other thing when you're thinking about Paul

[01:02:46] George don't think of him as a 2k character think of him as an actual

[01:02:53] Paul George is 34 years of age Paul George has a metal rod in his leg from

[01:03:02] that horrific injury he suffered back like seven eight years ago now but

[01:03:09] we're getting to a point where some of the athleticism go some of the

[01:03:14] explosion goes and he already has a deficit with that because of the

[01:03:19] metal rod in his leg so how many years and how many dollars do you want to

[01:03:26] invest in Paul George that's the question all right and that will pretty

[01:03:33] much do it for the podcast again front runner podcast collective on YouTube

[01:03:40] has clips from this podcast well there'll be clips from this podcast

[01:03:44] and previous podcast but we always stick something in there that's new

[01:03:49] fresh that we didn't do on the pot right and we also try to make it funny

[01:03:55] entertaining for you there's a certain NBA player that seems to pop up in

[01:04:02] every video I don't know how that works out I need to talk to my crack

[01:04:06] staff I need to talk to be funch see what the hell is going on I don't

[01:04:11] know or so rare too you talk to either one of those two all right with that

[01:04:19] being said we've had enough fun here enjoy your weekend enjoy the rest of

[01:04:25] the games we will see you back on this feed on Monday also if you have

[01:04:30] any debate any questions about what I talked about if you didn't like what I

[01:04:36] said about the Knicks nuggets or you like what I said hit us up on Twitter at

[01:04:42] front runner PC or get out my producer at be funch f you in CH FR PC and as

[01:04:55] always the best part of you is you make sure that you have people who

[01:05:03] surround you that brighten your light and don't extinguish your light and

[01:05:08] make sure that you're going out there and you're trying to do something

[01:05:12] positive in the world today y'all take it easy I'll see y'all on Monday

[01:05:17] Deuce