Knicks Anunoby Gets His Opportunity He Has Been Waiting For!

[00:00:00] It's Thursday, you know what time it is. Front Runner Podcast Collective is back on the air.

[00:00:16] I am your humble host, Vince and we're here to go ahead and talk about hoops. But before

[00:00:22] we do that, let's go ahead and break down all the socials and the YouTube and catch

[00:00:27] up on what has been happening around here. Because there hasn't been a podcast.

[00:00:32] First and foremost, if you guys are staying with me, YouTube, Front Runner Podcast Collective,

[00:00:38] there's going to be a new video going up there probably later on tonight. And then

[00:00:45] there'll be stuff from this podcast probably tomorrow and the next day. And so go to the

[00:00:53] YouTube channel, subscribe, make sure you subscribe, make sure you comment. If you like

[00:00:58] it great. If you don't like it, let me know. But the only way we grow is for you guys to

[00:01:05] subscribe and comment. I answer all the comments there as far as that's concerned. The other

[00:01:12] thing is make sure that you are hitting me up on X. That's at Front Runner PC. And

[00:01:20] you can go ahead and talk about maybe some of the teams that I haven't hit or some of

[00:01:26] the players are going like, man, my guy hasn't gotten a lot of love so far, you know, this

[00:01:33] year. And what are you going to do about that? Vince, make sure you get me up. Make

[00:01:37] sure you let me know what I need to do correctly. And then time is approaching. And what

[00:01:44] I mean by that is that I have promised that on April 21st of this year, we will have a

[00:01:52] draft like a draft board as far as that's concerned. I don't know, we'll have it probably

[00:02:01] rate the kids as far as we're rate the kids and put them in order what we think they

[00:02:06] are as a prospect or whatever. I might just go through the first round. I'm just going

[00:02:12] to let you know to be completely honest. You boys run to the show right now. We are we're

[00:02:18] getting help actually. There is a producer that is that has come aboard as far as this

[00:02:26] concern and we're so excited about that. But also the other thing is that trying to get

[00:02:35] stories and trying to write it and trying to get it set up for you guys and also

[00:02:41] hopefully make it entertaining puts me in a position where 30 is probably about where

[00:02:48] we can do and maybe we'll have some honorable mentions and key second rounders or whatever

[00:02:54] the case may be. So that is what I am going to guarantee you April 21st. That's the

[00:03:01] date that I have said that it will be on. So look out for that. And that is at

[00:03:07] frontrunnerpc.com. So that is going to be tight. Can't wait for that. Now what's been

[00:03:14] going on around here? Why hasn't there been a podcast? What I thought we were on a schedule

[00:03:20] what we're doing? We've changed podcast platforms. We are trying out new systems or

[00:03:30] whatever the case may be next week. Monday, Wednesday, Friday there will be pods. I did

[00:03:37] a late that Friday's pot could be a mixture of whatever my thoughts are that day. But

[00:03:46] you're going to be guaranteed to basketball pods. We do not worry yourself about that.

[00:03:51] Everything is set there. And then that's pretty much it. I think we're pretty much

[00:03:56] caught up. Let's get to the hoop, shall we? Now since we've been gone a lot has gone on.

[00:04:03] We promise you Western conference like playoff updates and things of that nature. We're

[00:04:08] still going to give you that today. But there's a couple of things that I do want to talk

[00:04:12] about specifically. One is the Julius Randall injury. It was something that we were

[00:04:20] leading you down the road. We had more information on that prior, but he is out for the year.

[00:04:31] I just didn't think his physicality was going to allow him to be able to play the way he

[00:04:38] would like to play, which leaves the Knicks in a bind. And what I mean by that is this

[00:04:46] that you're looking at a situation where here is 25 points a game that's gone. Where do you

[00:04:53] get it? Now there's a lot of depth on this team, but also coach Tom Tibbeto is the

[00:05:01] type of guy that if you don't play the style of defense or the physicality that he likes

[00:05:07] to play, you might not get run. And I specifically mean boy on by Donovage boy on has come

[00:05:15] over from Detroit and that was the trade deadline major acquisition that they got along with

[00:05:23] Alec Berks as well. So with those guys coming over, you were like man, the outside shooting

[00:05:31] just got better. The spacing on the floor just got better. And here's another guy

[00:05:38] who has veteran playoff experience with Utah that can help the Knicks who are young

[00:05:46] in this situation. And Tibbs has really refused to play him. He's playing him played on very

[00:05:52] spot. It's been very infrequent and it's been one of those situations where, yes, I do

[00:06:00] understand that there are limitations to the defense. 100% will give Tom that. But

[00:06:09] Tibbs has to understand that easy scoring, especially in this league. Now, since they've

[00:06:18] done the rule changes, maybe defense is what's going to rule the day, which we've seen

[00:06:24] that kind of come back to the median, so to speak on that. But I think that this is

[00:06:31] underutilized weapon that Tibbs is refused to use. And then the other part of the about

[00:06:39] this is that with his history, is that we've seen him do this time and time again, two players.

[00:06:46] He did it to Evan 48. I'm not saying that Evan 48 is some great player and he deserved

[00:06:52] 20, 24 minutes a game or anything like that. But the way he just almost refused to use

[00:06:58] him, that he was not even, you know, he never married it any plain time whatsoever. It was

[00:07:08] strange to me. And now we're falling back into the same situation again, which brings

[00:07:14] me to my other situation is that Jaylen Brunson obviously has played so well this year.

[00:07:21] He and that Villanova connection with Dante Divincenzo and Josh Hart, both of those guys,

[00:07:31] also with Jaylen Brunson collectively have really just played their ass off, honestly.

[00:07:36] And to the point where we're looking at a situation where the Knicks are like the number

[00:07:41] three team in the East and they're going to host a playoff series, which is great. Now,

[00:07:49] what I want to talk about with Jaylen, this gets to the heart of the matter.

[00:07:53] Jaylen is averaging like 28.2 points a game and as awesome as that has been through this year.

[00:08:04] Now you know that Julius Randall will not be there. Where are these points coming from?

[00:08:09] Does Jaylen have another level that he can get to? Now, I will tell you that Jaylen Brunson

[00:08:16] has surprised all of us. I thought the game was tight personally, but I didn't know he had this

[00:08:24] and we didn't know he had this type of consistency and that dogged determination just to will buckets

[00:08:32] into existence, but he's able to do it. And I'm hopeful to see a very spirited effort from

[00:08:40] the New York Knicks. Now this also leads me to our next guy and that guy is Ogie and a nobie.

[00:08:48] And the reason why I want to bring him up is because with Julius Randall out and knowing that

[00:08:54] Ogie and a nobie when he was in Toronto, he asked for more primary offense initiation.

[00:09:04] He asked for the ball in his hands. He was very

[00:09:09] adamant about about his role and being different and he felt that he was in a box a lot in Toronto.

[00:09:19] Now, he's also going to be a free agent and I know I'm not speaking anything out of school

[00:09:27] when I say this, but I will tell you that we pretty much know that there's some sort of agreement

[00:09:35] that Ogie and a nobie is going to sign back with the Knicks. But the number, the number

[00:09:42] is what I'm very interested in. And if Ogie and a nobie is going to garner this 35 million,

[00:09:50] 37 million dollar contract, I'll I Jeremy Grant in Portland. My brother, if there was any time for

[00:10:00] you to pull out your bag, if there was any time for you to pull out this incredible

[00:10:10] dribble skill work that you've been working on and honing your skills for the last three

[00:10:15] or four years that you just been wanting to just erupt at the seams to use in a game,

[00:10:24] this is definitely the time to do it. We will see, but obviously with Siakam being the focal

[00:10:34] point in Toronto and then Scotty Barnes bursting onto the seams, Ogie and nobie was not going to be

[00:10:41] that guy. And of course, they had Fred Van Vleet last year and others. Now it's all up to him. So if he

[00:10:50] wants to be a 35 plus AAV guy, okay, if he wants to be that type of guy and be like the real true

[00:11:00] number three option on a contending title team, this is the most

[00:11:09] appropriate time to go ahead and show us and wow us with your skills. I look forward to seeing if

[00:11:17] Ogie and a nobie can pull that out of his gang. Now, for the rest of the time, what we're going

[00:11:25] to talk about is we're going to discuss the West and how it's moved up and down all around and what

[00:11:33] have you. So what we are doing is basically this is the second part of the playoff, like let's give

[00:11:42] a little capsule to the teams and see where what we think about them going into the playoff.

[00:11:48] So we're going to go ahead and start that and just so you know, this podcast was going to get

[00:11:55] done on Monday. This podcast was going to get done on Tuesday and it was going to get done on

[00:12:00] Wednesday but because of the fact that we were having issues with the platform and things of

[00:12:06] that nature, we weren't able to go ahead and do so these won't be in order. So I will tell

[00:12:13] you where the team is and what have you because I've had to do a little editing on the fly, so to

[00:12:20] speak. So what we're going to do is we're going to start off with the second team in the West,

[00:12:25] which is the Minnesota Timberwolves. And if you saw the game last night, you saw what everybody

[00:12:33] who watches this game knows is that four quarter struggles are going to happen for

[00:12:40] the Timberwolves, unfortunate. And here's the problem. Nasri, who is a fantastic scorer,

[00:12:53] you got Anthony Edwards, you've got a lot of guys, but there's really only one guy who can get their

[00:12:58] shot and that's Anthony Edwards. Everybody else needs to be set up. Everybody else needs to be

[00:13:06] put in a position where they're in their, whatever their spot is that they feel comfortable in and

[00:13:12] then you can go ahead and take the shot. But when it comes to Anthony Edwards, we know that he is a

[00:13:18] cell creator onto his own and he's going to be able to find little nooks and crannies in the

[00:13:24] defense and be able to wiggle his way to the rim if he chooses to do so or be able to give

[00:13:32] it a pat step back three action that he does as well. So with all that,

[00:13:40] the Timberwolves lose to the different nuggets. That means the nuggets right now are in first

[00:13:45] place in the West, but let's get to the Timberwolves and how we're going to do this is we're

[00:13:50] going to talk about their top player. We're going to talk. So how we're going to do this

[00:13:56] we're going to talk about the franchise's top player. We're going to talk about maybe like a secondary

[00:14:03] either good thing or an issue and then we're going to have what we call the X factor and then we're

[00:14:10] going to finish it off with a front runner focused question for that team's playoff

[00:14:17] future. So that's how we're going to do it and obviously with the Minnesota Timberwolves,

[00:14:23] they're 55 and 25. They are coached by Chris Finch and their top player is Anthony Edwards. Now

[00:14:33] the what Anthony has had to do with this team over the last what three, three to four weeks that

[00:14:43] Carl Anthony Towns is going out. He's been amazing. Now why is it amazing because

[00:14:51] it's very non analytic darling type stuff. This has been like a throwback to the 90s.

[00:15:00] This is like Latrell, Spreewell type joints. This is this is some hey man I might have to take

[00:15:08] 29 shots to get 32 points and it just is what it is right now because of the fact that

[00:15:15] the offense doesn't flow. Part of the reason is that when you don't have that spacer and cap,

[00:15:23] you're just not able to get to the rim as effectively as you were before

[00:15:28] and that and then also it's throwing off the rotations. Nasrede is a bench player who

[00:15:34] was getting 20 plus 22 plus minutes a game. You are starting the lineup with Carl Anthony Towns

[00:15:41] and Rudy Gobert. There's a couple more inches there with Carl Anthony Towns, no doubt. Also

[00:15:48] a little more physicality with Carl Anthony Towns and now your bench is basically been

[00:15:59] neutered because you're not bringing Nasrede off the bench to give you that 18 points that he was

[00:16:04] giving you and those real sturdy 22 minutes that he was also giving you. It is an issue.

[00:16:14] We saw it on full display yesterday and now here we are now and

[00:16:19] it's going to be up to Ant and the maturation process of Anthony Edwards is

[00:16:30] has been great. I love the arc that we've seen with him. He's been more efficient now obviously

[00:16:39] some of that's gone by the wayside because of what is going on right now with the injuries

[00:16:44] and things of that nature but he had been more efficient. He's been more willing passer this year

[00:16:51] by far and also you see a lot of maturity and some leadership that's going on with Anthony and I

[00:16:58] love it so kudos to that guy and now that cat is free to have physicality. It looks like

[00:17:07] he's going to be back in this lineup very shortly and if the in bead injury and also surgery and

[00:17:15] procedure that he had is any indication to what we can expect from cat then we can expect cat to

[00:17:22] come back and look pretty good. It looked like more or less what we saw of him right maybe

[00:17:32] about 80% of what he was when he left right and that's a good thing for Minnesota because they need

[00:17:38] all the bodies they can get and that is also not the X factor but I will tell you that

[00:17:48] Nasri to me is an X factor but it is also in content. It's also contingent on

[00:17:55] Carl Anthony Towns coming back and being who he really is and if that's going to be the case

[00:18:01] now you have just gave that team its depth you gave it more scoring punch off the bench which

[00:18:08] they're going to need and if you saw the game last night there were just stretches in that game

[00:18:14] they weren't able to score um Carl Anthony Edwards didn't really see he didn't score a point in

[00:18:20] the fourth quarter. Yelkic was completely dominant and you had there was points where

[00:18:27] slow mo was on him and you just think to yourself if the rotation was whole this wouldn't have been a

[00:18:38] problem that is where I go with that situation we're good to see cat back it hopefully just

[00:18:47] steadies the line up and steadies the roster construction going into the playoffs.

[00:18:54] The other thing is the front runner focus question for the Minnesota Timberwolves is this

[00:19:00] do we trust cat's mobility in the playoffs and what I mean by that is simple this is that

[00:19:07] is he now in a Denver series he's not going to do a lot he's going to do some chasing of

[00:19:14] Yelkic and then what they're going to do is then have go bear guard Aaron Gordon if we

[00:19:21] saw anything in this game we did see some sort of like matching with lineups when Gordon went off the

[00:19:30] court then Nasreed went off the court but what they were doing is when those two specific

[00:19:37] players were on the court go bear would guard Aaron Gordon and then help off a Gordon because

[00:19:45] Gordon is not a great three-point shooter and he would be the help to Yelkic.

[00:19:51] Now I think similar situation you would have cat on Yelkic and then you would bring go bear off

[00:19:58] Gordon and that's how you handle that situation. The Lakers like to do that but they don't have

[00:20:09] the height to do it with their backup center right now so LeBron ends up playing that role

[00:20:15] and then AD is coming over as a help defender. Minnesota has a better shot at this because

[00:20:22] the fact that you're talking about just a little more linked with the two guys that they're what

[00:20:28] they have and then also off of that you have Nasreed coming off the bench so here's a little

[00:20:34] more help so it's not just going to be as cakewalk for Yelkic as it could be but here's the thing

[00:20:41] Yelkic is still purely dominant he's also putting his stamp on the MVP situation in a real way

[00:20:49] acting like a real boss okay so my question is calls mobility what the knee can allow him to do

[00:20:59] will he be able to chase little guys because the other teams aren't going to have the big

[00:21:05] and the other big in Gordon that Denver does right so who is going to be the guy that chases the

[00:21:13] Senui long forward that probably can shoot threes because that's probably who you're going to be

[00:21:21] facing. You are looking at situations where you could end up facing Golden State in the first

[00:21:28] round you could end up facing Sacramento in the first round you could end up facing Phoenix in

[00:21:33] the first round is Carl Evian Towns needs sound enough where he'll be able to do those things

[00:21:40] and really play all basketball will dictate to us what that answer actually is.

[00:21:46] It's a question and we can't have it answered until we see them on the court so that's

[00:21:51] where we are with that now we move along to the team who won last night and the team that is

[00:22:00] just doing big things and it's a it's the team that won the championship last year so

[00:22:05] shots out to the Denver Nuggets, shots out to hashtag mile high basketball and all my people

[00:22:12] out in Denver they are 56 and 24 we know Michael Malone is the coach and we also said

[00:22:19] they are first in the West. Nikola Jokic is obviously their top player and he's another MVP type

[00:22:25] season and I'll tell you this there's this been times in the year where Jokic's look completely

[00:22:33] bored. There's just been games where Jokic look like okay I'm gonna try to I'm gonna see if I can

[00:22:44] dominate the game by taking five shots or I'm gonna I'm only going to I'm not gonna work

[00:22:55] pick and roll action with Jamal Murray tonight I'm gonna just bring up the ball and flow into

[00:23:02] the offense and whatever and you know I'm gonna get my sis another way like he's playing like

[00:23:10] games within the game for himself to keep himself amused during the regular season and

[00:23:18] that's like some crazy like super high level only like the best of the best have to ever do it

[00:23:29] do that sort of thing so with that being said um what else can you say about Jokic

[00:23:35] he's just he's an absolute sorcerer at this point there's nothing more there's no more platitudes

[00:23:42] or accolades that we can give this man a bestow upon this man because he's doing it and he's doing

[00:23:48] it right now there if you want to call it my my secondary focus and I call them these guys

[00:24:01] so Murray KCP Gordon they play in concert with one another with Jokic it looks like a modern dad's

[00:24:10] afro fuse performance art piece that is beautiful to watch because there's just a

[00:24:18] there's just a succinctness to the motion that goes on and they all have melded together in this

[00:24:26] this brain melt situation and he knows where everybody's going to be on the court he just

[00:24:32] knows and they don't disappoint and the movement is constant it's just constant movement and if

[00:24:39] this didn't work one time let's try to work let's try to see if we can switch it and do it on the

[00:24:43] other side and that only comes with continuity that only comes with great vision and great skills

[00:24:52] of passing and that's what Yolkish has in spades and these guys are thinking to themselves

[00:25:02] and think of your favorite team or your favorite player would however you consume basketball

[00:25:08] when I consume basketball I'm a team guy I'm a Laker guy if you're new to the podcast welcome

[00:25:15] I'm a Laker fan but I've been a Laker fan since 1979 so a little different not a bandwagon

[00:25:23] been there for a while but the one thing that you notice with a lot of teams is that when you

[00:25:30] don't move or you don't think that you're getting the ball your your energy is not as good

[00:25:39] that's the one thing you don't have to worry about with the Denver Nuggets

[00:25:43] now their x factor is none other than Michael Porter Jr and for this reason and this reason only

[00:25:52] Michael Porter Jr is an absolute bucket no doubt about what he is but I want to say this

[00:26:00] NPJ averages 31.8 minutes a game okay that's how many minutes he's playing

[00:26:08] NPJ has a 6.7 percent assist rate okay so he's playing damn near 32 minutes a game now some of

[00:26:21] these games because the nuggets have been so good this year some of those games have been blowout

[00:26:26] so they haven't needed them or whatever they'll be up by 16 but four or five minutes ago you don't

[00:26:33] need Michael Porter Jr when this game is really in hand so for him to have played 32 minutes game

[00:26:41] and has have an assist rate that is at 6.7 percent is crazy here is the thing that I want you

[00:26:50] to grasp is that his field goal attempt per 100 possessions is 21.2

[00:27:01] now Michael Porter Jr is considered like the luxury item of the Denver Nuggets when you think of the

[00:27:08] Denver Nuggets you think of Yelgich Murray and Gordon and then you have Michael Porter Jr

[00:27:14] Michael Porter Jr is still getting buckets because he doesn't play enough to garner this but

[00:27:22] his 32 per his shots is still at 15 percent 15 shots per game so he's still getting shots up

[00:27:38] at a crazy level so here's our question here's our front-runner focus question for the Denver Nuggets

[00:27:47] MPJ he is a leading man all of a sudden or the bench or lack of real fire power off the bench

[00:27:58] is the demise of the Denver Nuggets now Michael Malone has a good solid control over that team

[00:28:08] and he is he's not afraid to pull punches he's been given a lot of latitude to be able to do

[00:28:17] these things and I wonder as we go on I wonder how the stars start to

[00:28:24] how that messaging continues to speak but for right now he does have his thumb on everything so I

[00:28:31] don't think the Michael Porter Jr thing will be an issue whatsoever it will be the bench

[00:28:37] if you don't get enough on the bench that would be the only Achilles heel but the Nuggets are

[00:28:42] a absolute machine I don't think they'll have any problems in the playoffs whatsoever so I look

[00:28:49] forward to this run and how great Yolkage is and I wonder if he'll get bored in the playoffs

[00:28:56] and do something funny like I think I'm just gonna shoot with my left hand no he will not do that

[00:29:01] you won't cheat the game that's the one thing we do know about Nicola Yolkage he will not cheat

[00:29:06] the game all right we move on to the Oklahoma City Thunder and you know I'm a big fan of the

[00:29:13] I'm a big fan of the Oklahoma City Thunder for two reasons one OKC fans that show

[00:29:20] FRPC a lot of love and we appreciate that love anytime that we can spotlight their team

[00:29:28] we're happy to do plus also they draft kind of

[00:29:34] I shouldn't say that because that's disrespectful to Sam Presti

[00:29:38] Sam Presti's philosophy on drafting seems to be

[00:29:43] congruent to my and I really love what he does in draft in J.Dubb is another example and

[00:29:51] Kason Wallace is another example and Chet Homeran is another example for me this is

[00:30:00] this is great to see them finally being able to go ahead and

[00:30:04] fulfill the promise now with all those draft picks that they've had so let's get to it they are 55

[00:30:11] and 25 their third in the West Mike Dagnode is the coach he is uh to me if it's not him it should be

[00:30:20] Orlando's coach mostly per coach of the year but I think Dagnode might get it

[00:30:27] their top player obviously is Shay Gilges Alexander and there's a no doubt about it that SGA is going

[00:30:36] to be a first team all NBA player then we don't have to worry about that whatsoever his game has

[00:30:43] spoke volumes this year he has some stupid streak where he has I think it's like 45 plus games

[00:30:52] of 30 points or more I mean it's been when you thought there was no other level to get to

[00:31:00] there was another level so which is scary to me to think that if there's any more growth in this

[00:31:09] look out we still are in a position of awe of Shay Gilges Alexander and also it's been good

[00:31:18] to see him be able to get through another season and be able to play and what I mean by that we

[00:31:24] is that we know that Presti cut a couple of those situations short because of you know

[00:31:31] jockeying for ping pong balls but now that we're at this point at the point where we're trying to

[00:31:39] win you know SGA is going full vote full glow and it's been great to see the next guy on our

[00:31:47] list is chat home green and the one thing I want to say about chat is to me and I said this to

[00:31:55] on Twitter and to other people that I've talked to around the Oklahoma City area who you know I

[00:32:02] contact every once in a while to see what's going on with the team our discussions again about

[00:32:09] the big three they already have and check home green is the final puzzle piece of that

[00:32:16] and the one thing that I do want to say about this particular situation and what makes it

[00:32:25] I won't even say unusual but that really is I think that's the kind of term I'm looking for

[00:32:31] for to see these young men now SGA a little bit older than everybody else but to see chat and

[00:32:39] Jaylen Williams from Santa Clara be on their rookie deals they we know what they're chasing right

[00:32:46] we know that at the end of the rainbow is that extension and do I get that max extension

[00:32:54] and to not worry about shots not worry about how much am I gonna test the ball

[00:33:02] play the style and the in the whatever the game plan is for that night try to do the very best

[00:33:12] to execute the game plan and everybody seems to be okay with how everything is going and that

[00:33:20] is so unusual for young teams because what we always hear about teams that aren't doing as well

[00:33:27] as Oklahoma City Thunder are is we hear well how many why am I not playing enough minutes

[00:33:34] and how many shots am I getting that's what the young cats want to know because I want to

[00:33:42] listen we're trash okay but what I can what I can't hold now is getting buckets

[00:33:52] and get in you guarantee me some playing time to get said buckets right but you don't see that with

[00:34:00] them and chat has been a big part of that he's come in and he's filled a role because if you look

[00:34:05] at this team it doesn't look too drastically different from last year's team so what is the

[00:34:12] big difference check he is defense his switchability his ability to help on the offensive end to be a

[00:34:23] pick and pop partner to be a he rolls hard he has a better dribble package game than we realized

[00:34:32] and it's everything that Oklahoma City could have ever asked for honestly their acts their

[00:34:42] x factor is this the up and down year that Josh Gideon's had we talked about early in

[00:34:50] year his three point woes we talked about him not wanting to shoot the ball as far as threes

[00:34:57] were concerned he was reluctant to shoot those and it wasn't bordering on any sort of

[00:35:04] Ben Simmons new Brooklyn Ness type of situation it wasn't anything like that but there was a worry

[00:35:12] where you're going to lose that size of the lineup because if you're not going to shoot the

[00:35:16] ball then it doesn't make any difference whatsoever but he is turned around last month he's been

[00:35:23] very good he had a triple double couple games back and he's been like this he's been like this

[00:35:33] since March it seemed like everything's clicked in and it's a good time for it to click in because

[00:35:40] I think his contract's coming up soon I think next year is when he's eligible for extension

[00:35:45] it's not that he's a free agent or anything like that but he will be eligible

[00:35:50] and they're gonna need him and this is the reason why Josh Gideon because of the fact that they don't

[00:36:00] have the prerequisite size that you would normally have at the power forward position

[00:36:08] you're going to need this guard who definitely can rebound and rebound at a high rate you're

[00:36:15] going to need him because now your lineup is so extremely big if you got Gideon who's 6a

[00:36:25] SGA who's 6 6 Jada who's 6 6 6 7 and chat and I'm missing one whom whom I'm missing

[00:36:36] but the duffer for 4 Gideon SGA Jada chat and if it's not the other Jada is it Isaiah Joe

[00:36:50] is it Casey Wallace their trade deadline acquisition really hasn't done much you

[00:36:59] and think he's averaging like 10 minutes 11 minutes a game it's going to be up to Gideon

[00:37:07] to be able to get his shot off enough they're respected so he can bring all his other

[00:37:15] specialties to the dance table you know saying I can't wait to see it all right now move on to

[00:37:21] the clippers the clippers are 51 and 29 their head coach is Ty Lu they seem to have gained regained

[00:37:32] whatever it was that they were looking for in it and it's so funny it coincides with Russell

[00:37:38] Westbrook getting back Russ getting back allows the clippers to play this frenetic style

[00:37:48] and play with some energy and they're going to need it their top player is Kawai Leonard now

[00:37:53] Kawai in April has not played need 10 tonight is things that nature is supposed to be like some

[00:38:01] sort of hamstring on top of it or whatever but that's a problem

[00:38:10] this has always been the issue with the clippers it's never been about the talent it's always will

[00:38:20] the talent be on the court if the talent is not on the court we can't win the basketball games

[00:38:28] and we can't win the basketball games we damn sure can't get to the championship

[00:38:33] and that's where we are so it's crazy but I hope they get Kawai back for the playoffs

[00:38:42] they just look like a completely different team when they went on that 26 and 5 run

[00:38:47] I know we've talked about ad nauseam but they haven't looked the same but again we talked

[00:38:53] about it Russ might be the agent of chaos they need to bring that frenetic energy that just

[00:39:02] mucks the game up enough where it settles everybody down and gets them locked into the defensive

[00:39:11] game plan and philosophy and the keys that they're trying to use on that side of the ball

[00:39:17] I think also what Russ brings is that you're not going to see dudes walking up and down the

[00:39:23] court when Russ is out there because Russ is trying to get the ball up court fast fast that's what he's

[00:39:31] trying to do the second person I want to talk about is playoff p paul george or podcast p paul george or

[00:39:44] or

[00:39:46] pico Rivera P paul george whatever

[00:39:53] you can tell I don't like the clippers but they got some people over there that I get down with so

[00:40:01] I try to give them respect all right so getting back to it paul george is having hell of a year

[00:40:08] he's shooting 61.1 true percentage true shooting percentage he's shooting 41 from three point land

[00:40:17] this is great he's playing at the highest of the levels I can't get it's just so great what he's doing

[00:40:27] and here's the one thing that we love about paul george paul george is that tweener guy

[00:40:33] and what I mean by that is that he is a probably he's on the he's on the higher spectrum of a two

[00:40:42] that could slide to a one so if you're one is out because of injury or whatever the case may be

[00:40:48] he's the type of guy who says okay I'm okay with taking 18 shots and I'm good with that

[00:40:56] but if you need me to take 25 shots I can do that as well so you have this guy who can be fluid and

[00:41:06] that in those waters and knows how to play when all three of the guys together and how the shot

[00:41:13] distributions are going to go and he seems to be fine with it and finds very impactful ways

[00:41:20] to bring his team success whether he's shooting ball a ton or whether he's shooting the ball

[00:41:28] his prerequisite situation when kawai is on the court with him let's move on to their x factor like I

[00:41:36] said I have notes and some of this stuff I haven't looked at excuse me for a couple of days

[00:41:44] because nothing changed with them obviously the x factor for the clippers is west works energy

[00:41:53] and that also is to be added with norming pals capability of getting nuclear hot okay so it's

[00:42:03] the combination of west works chaotic energy and norming pals ability to be a 28 point a gang person

[00:42:15] and when norming pal was at UCLA I loved him because he dunked on people and he played defense and

[00:42:26] he seemed to really just get it but it just seemed like he cared about the things that you needed to

[00:42:35] care about to really win basketball games now he shot the wall decently never did I see this

[00:42:46] at UCLA never a couple games he got hot whatever but nothing to the point where

[00:42:54] this dude can score like 60 he can be a 16 to 2 run guy onto himself

[00:43:05] those are my x factors for the clippers and the front runner clip question is this it's health

[00:43:14] and will playoff ghosts come back to haunt the clippers so it's a two fold question

[00:43:20] health is kawaii gonna be healthy can we get six weeks of health between those three guys

[00:43:28] and everybody else around them because they're gonna need everybody else around them

[00:43:33] and then can the clippers

[00:43:37] look their ghost in the eye and tell them to go piss off and go ahead and finish this journey

[00:43:46] it is all up for them on the table to do so we'll see how it all goes the next team on our list

[00:43:53] is the Dallas Mavericks now there's a lot of hype around this team their fifth in the conference

[00:44:01] right now Jason kid is their team they're 50 and 30 Luca Donchich is their best player

[00:44:07] and obviously I have a video clip up on youtube on a previous from a previous pod in regards to

[00:44:17] Luca and his MVP claim I think I made a pretty good claim for his MVP status even though I think

[00:44:27] Yolk it is also a worthy candidate as well oh by the way we will be giving out those awards

[00:44:38] look for it on Monday we'll be giving out awards on Monday we will also have playoff seating we

[00:44:45] could start getting into some of the matchups and all that sort of stuff so look out for that on

[00:44:50] Monday and as we get closer and closer to these playing games man we'll be getting

[00:44:55] it spicy because I think my team is definitely gonna be in it okay getting back to Dallas and

[00:45:01] Luca he has been silly all year with the numbers the 30 point plus triple doubles the crazy shots that

[00:45:12] he has taken the game winners that he's made the buzzer readers that he's made the passes that

[00:45:20] he's made because now he has two lockrets and Daniel Gafford and Derek Lively Jr. and he's also

[00:45:28] been very I think that Kyrie and Luca work very well and if you would have told me that

[00:45:40] at the start of C Soundlife we'll see how this all works but it has worked and both of those

[00:45:49] guys deserve a bunch of credit and I know Luca is not the greatest defensive player on the face

[00:45:58] of the planet I definitely understand that but this do what he's doing on the court right now

[00:46:03] he's averaging 34 points a game he's far and away above he's gonna win the scoring title no question

[00:46:10] whatsoever about that and you just wonder you just wonder if he had one more guy just one more

[00:46:20] now what they're doing with PJ Washington Daniel Gafford and then the plethora of wings that they have

[00:46:28] which is uh Jaden Hardy and Dante Axum which we did something on Dante Axum I want to say

[00:46:36] at the start of the year and we bugged down his production and what are you shooting and

[00:46:44] some of his story and how he fell out the league he worked on his shot and now he's back it took him

[00:46:52] two years to get back man but man are we happy to see Dante Axum who was a lottery pick people do

[00:47:00] not forget that guy was a lottery pick by the Utah Jass so it's good to see him back and it's

[00:47:07] good to see him playing at a crazy level and it's great to see Luca Doncius playing at this

[00:47:13] level it must be absolutely just a sheer joy for Dallas Maverick fans to go ahead and watch Luca play

[00:47:23] in Dallas second thing it's all quiet just hoopers at work here nothing to see Kyrie is just

[00:47:33] putting his craft and his artistic talent on display as much as he can this year when he's

[00:47:43] been playing but he has been everything has been injury or whatever it is not getting nothing is not

[00:47:49] been anything of any sort of weird issues or anything like we have gotten a great year out of

[00:47:58] Kyrie and also I would have lost money on that as well I would have lost money on Kyrie not

[00:48:07] getting through a whole season without some sort of weird incident and he hasn't he's been a model

[00:48:15] citizen there we enjoyed the hell out of him playing basketball some of the shots he's made

[00:48:24] this year and again his ability to I think Luca just respects Kyrie and I think that's

[00:48:32] as much as we bemoaned the Jalen Brunson no if Jalen Brunson came back now

[00:48:41] then there'll be respect because he saw him go do it on his own and go from there but

[00:48:49] Kyrie has been excellent and we again we were wrong we were wrong on this clock hat

[00:48:59] we got nothing to say at all about this situation there it is now the X actor for them

[00:49:07] is the musical chairs of the third guy sometimes it's going to be XM sometimes it's going to be

[00:49:12] Tim Hardaway Jr sometimes it's going to be the Biggs that's lively and Daniel Gafford

[00:49:18] and sometimes it's going to be PJ Washington and we pray to God that it's Jaden Hardie

[00:49:24] because Jaden Hardie has the ability to explode and I can't wait to see it

[00:49:32] our question for the Mavericks is this more Luca magic

[00:49:40] and more Kyrie illusions in the playoffs how far does it get up

[00:49:47] as great as Luca is and as great as Kyrie is and I understand that the rotation

[00:49:54] shortened I understand there'll be more rest days and all that do they have enough to go

[00:50:01] through this gauntlet that is the West we're going to put it all on the line very soon because

[00:50:11] we are getting the Clippers and the Mavericks we got a couple games left to go in this NBA

[00:50:17] season but we can pretty much sit here and tell you that as of right now you can lock that in

[00:50:24] that's your first round series five four Clippers versus Mavericks now we move on to the 17 which

[00:50:34] was the 16 the Phoenix Suns are 47 and 33 again they're currently seventh in the West Frank

[00:50:43] Vogel is their coach and it's been an up and down year there's nothing more to say about this

[00:50:50] let's get into it top player obviously as Devon Booker has played the role of point guard

[00:50:58] he's played the role of team therapist he's played the role of I think orthopedic

[00:51:08] like rehab guy for Bradley Bill

[00:51:13] he's done a couple commercials he's put on a fly shoe he's got dope cars there's nothing he can do

[00:51:21] okay so Devon Booker is our guy we love you D book you go out there and show out

[00:51:28] show out on display in the playing tournament because that's where it looks like y'all gonna be

[00:51:35] okay all time great run is it now time is it now time

[00:51:45] if you're new to the podcast again I say welcome for our day ones or guys that have been

[00:51:51] been with the podcast for a while they'll know what I'm talking about here KD is one of my favorite

[00:51:58] players and okay D and KD who speaks his mind is my one of my all-time favorites right

[00:52:08] I went through this spill not that long ago talking about as superstars get older

[00:52:14] they just start popping off and KD is one of those guys for me so now

[00:52:20] LeBron got his title Steph got his title

[00:52:24] this big three that they put together we you know honestly you know this is the talk at the start of

[00:52:32] the year is that this team was going to get to the finals and now my question is this does

[00:52:39] if he wants to be one of those all-time greats if he wants to put himself in that conversation

[00:52:46] with the true goats of the league you make this run KD you want to talk about love you want to

[00:52:56] talk about all-time approval rating you get inquisitive about why there's so much discourse

[00:53:07] around you you go out here and you average 33 points a game and you could take this team to

[00:53:14] the finals and win a final dog you won't have to worry about nothing else for the rest of your life

[00:53:21] nobody will say a word to you it will be much respect to UKD you are awesome we don't have to

[00:53:29] worry about it we'll call it the triumvirate of goats you know what I'm saying we'll call it

[00:53:35] the Mount Rushmore goats and add another face to the mountain or whatever but if you

[00:53:43] got one the title now with this team man you are the goat you won the goats all right the extra actor

[00:53:51] obviously is Bradley bill myself personally if you listen to the pie for any point in time

[00:53:59] I was skeptical when it happened I understood what they were trying to do but I was skeptical

[00:54:04] when it happened here's the thing Riley bill hasn't played 60 games in six years it just hasn't happened

[00:54:14] and it's not going to happen this year and they just have not had the cohesion

[00:54:21] they seem a team that's disjointed and there's a team that needs a point guard desperately

[00:54:28] and I don't know if you can maybe take less on back on the dollar you take for what 55 cents

[00:54:38] less on the dollar depending on what if there's a market for bill I mean I'm not trying to trade

[00:54:43] on them just trying to say like this team is flawed it's really flawed it doesn't have enough

[00:54:50] they don't have enough guys and any sort of injury to anyone that is of consequence

[00:55:03] Grayson Allen Eric Gordon Royce O'Neill especially your Nurkic use of Nurkic if they lose or if

[00:55:16] those guys are diminished in any way this team is shot this is they no chance whatsoever

[00:55:26] I will be excited to see what KD is able to do with this team so we'll go from there

[00:55:32] now getting to the team that is now out of the plan and into the playoffs that is

[00:55:38] the Bayou Pelicans the New Orleans Pelicans are 47 and 32 under coach Willie Green

[00:55:46] who might have or might not have been on the hot seat earlier this year

[00:55:53] okay we'll see what that noble looks like at the end of this year but

[00:55:59] maybe there was a discussion here and there come

[00:56:04] some time before the middle of the season happened

[00:56:10] when we digress their best player is Zion Williamson

[00:56:15] finally Zion Williamson is the best player that means he's stayed healthy that mean he

[00:56:23] has lost a little bit of weight that means that he's been able to play in games that

[00:56:28] means that we've been seeing dunks that means we've been seeing black shots that means we've been

[00:56:34] seeing the things that we were wanting to see since he came into the league so we're happy to see

[00:56:39] Zion playing and Zion playing at this high level and we're gonna we're gonna need it because Brandon

[00:56:47] Ingram as of recording this podcast we still have no idea on what Brandon Ingram is going

[00:56:58] to look like at this point in time we hope that the Pelicans are able to get him back because

[00:57:06] having that type of stable scoring threat and his ability to give you 24 night with no

[00:57:13] light work basically is a definite loss let's get into the other shall we

[00:57:22] one of these guys must show out a trademark with third C.J. McCollum,

[00:57:27] Herb Jones, Jordan Hawkins, Jose Alvarez whoever it is one of these guys is going to have to step up

[00:57:35] if Brandon Ingram can't go. Tray Murphy the third to me is the best candidate for this I love his

[00:57:43] game I love his ability to shoot off the dribble but also the catch and shoot at the weird

[00:57:50] angles he comes off the pick and roll when he comes off a dribble handoff he's coming at a rate of

[00:57:57] speed that is quite unusual for somebody six nine he doesn't he does not downshift he comes right

[00:58:09] through that and get the ball and he just raises up and launches and it's nice if there was

[00:58:18] anyone guy who I thought personally would actually step up and show out and basically garner some

[00:58:27] more playing time next year it'd be Tray Murphy the third the X factor for this team is to me it's

[00:58:38] a long shot but if they're going to get bi back even at 80% that would help them a lot

[00:58:46] it'll help this team I think anytime that you can have somebody on the court with the resume that

[00:58:52] Brandon Ingram has you got to have them on the court and then basically the question that I have

[00:58:58] the front runner Pelican question that I have is this what are we actually going to see from

[00:59:05] Zion in the playoffs and what I mean by that is that I have a childlike giddiness to

[00:59:13] what the possibilities are

[00:59:18] and we still know that he's not in optimal shape but he's in better shape he's definitely in

[00:59:24] better shape than he was during the end season tournament now we're like three months three

[00:59:33] four months removed from that and he looks in better shape there's a bounce to him there's a

[00:59:40] a reinvigoration and I am so excited to see what this force of nature is going to look like

[00:59:53] in a playoff setting because there's nothing like Zion Williamson at a full speed

[01:00:01] Gallup coming at you with all that force can't wait to see it just cannot wait to see it

[01:00:13] now we get on to our next team which is the team that every time I hear their fans all they talk

[01:00:23] about is 2002 or 2001 the Sacramento Kings light the beam 45 and 34 their eighth in the west

[01:00:34] Mike Brown is their coach their top guy is Dearon Fox he's clutch

[01:00:42] he's made himself a good three-point shooter or a credible three-point shooter to give his team

[01:00:48] more space as for certain and get himself as a ball handler more space as well I love everything

[01:00:58] about Dearon Fox I think he's certified personally I think the work ethic is crazy I think his

[01:01:07] dedication to his crowd is commendable and I think they are going absolutely nowhere in

[01:01:15] the playoffs and it has nothing to do with him their other guy also give a ton of flowers to

[01:01:22] so bonus we did a clip on him early in a year we talked about how he's maxed out everything

[01:01:28] in his potential in his his effort is great every single game and let's talk about a little bit

[01:01:38] man 13.8 rebounds per game is he's in he's leading the NBA he's got a thousand double doubles and he

[01:01:48] got 500 triple doubles I'm just kidding but he has a ton of double doubles he's a ton of triple

[01:01:55] doubles he's almost 14 a game in rebounds I don't know what more this man can do the only

[01:02:03] thing is that he doesn't provide a real enough interior presence and until Sacramento addresses

[01:02:15] that situation or gets another powerful score to compliment all of what Sabonis does and things

[01:02:26] of that nature I just think this is what it's going to be and I understand that they stood

[01:02:32] back because they wanted to see maybe more development out of Keegan Murray who's their

[01:02:37] second year guy out of Purdue but it really hasn't come to fruition and then the injuries right

[01:02:45] Kevin Herter's hurt he's out for the year shoulder elite monk knee surgery or yeah he's out for the

[01:02:54] year so honestly Sacramento it's a tough situation I hate the way it's ending for you guys and as far

[01:03:02] as this year is concerned but I think I hope in the offseason they really look at the team and

[01:03:11] and see where they can go ahead and make some improvements so then we can we don't have to

[01:03:19] go oh they have a great record but they have no shot in playoffs I don't feel good saying that

[01:03:25] to the Sacramento fans I think people think oh I get some sort of kickoff of it because

[01:03:31] I'm a Laker fan no I don't I want you guys to do good things I want you guys to be able to

[01:03:39] experience going to a Western Conference finals and going to a finals and stuff like that and

[01:03:45] to know that a lot of it is management or was management in prior seasons

[01:03:54] and that sucks for you guys so yeah I hope the best but I hope there's some changes I hope

[01:04:01] there's some moves that they can make because here's the thing Rob Polinka has said it in the past

[01:04:06] and other GMs have said it you know you can have all these great ideas about what you want to

[01:04:11] do but if the other team doesn't want to trade with you there's nothing you can do so there that is

[01:04:19] speaking of Rob Polinka the Lakers are 45 and 35 and we would have done this podcast Monday

[01:04:32] or hell yeah we've done it Monday they were in a sunny or a disposition about the Lakers but

[01:04:38] now that we're at the end of the week and we've seen a couple more losses go go through the wayside

[01:04:44] as far as that's concerned it's hard and 80 is her and I know I've hard done it all year but

[01:04:58] this is the reality of it is that now that LeBron Blue James is at this point in his

[01:05:08] career yeah the dude if ad goes out there's no way that this dude can just summon it and say we're

[01:05:15] gonna win and that's what's gonna happen no it's going to take a collective now he can be special

[01:05:22] 100% but if he's special the others around here are gonna have to be special as well

[01:05:32] and he's having a great year he is shooting 41.41.3% from three there's nothing that you can be mad about

[01:05:46] whatsoever it's just they need another guy and I'm gonna fight in it since the west grip thing

[01:05:57] because you get gunshot after you see it not work out which I didn't think the west grip thing was ever

[01:06:03] gonna work out I was mad about that one but they need another guy they need another guy that you

[01:06:11] can really feel some sort of spooky feeling that this guy could pop up for 40 at any moment

[01:06:20] and they don't have that guy on the team right now so ad is the guy that we want to talk

[01:06:25] about as well let's give him his flowers all NBA selection I believe personally it looks like he

[01:06:32] settled he settled into the center position 2.4 blocks a game 12.6 rebounds a game he has been

[01:06:41] as reliable as you can possibly want this is more that I could have possibly ever imagined

[01:06:51] at the start of the year because those two dudes combined are going to play

[01:06:57] 135 games and I said to Laker fans then if you got 135 games which I said a guarantee you're not

[01:07:04] going to get those so long again on that one right the other thing is that

[01:07:13] with those two dudes playing the 135 I thought the Lakers record would be better

[01:07:19] and it wasn't and you wonder why because you go man D'Angelo shooting the ball great

[01:07:28] Austin had a dip here and there he's still having a pretty pretty good year nothing to sneeze at right

[01:07:38] it's dumbfounding that we're here but the west is deep and these guys are 10 games over 500

[01:07:45] here they're they could finish out at 47 35 and still get a nice seed so it is what it is my

[01:07:55] here is my x factor for the Lakers will Darwin ham finally understand what his team needs and

[01:08:05] put the right lineups together that's the first thing and then our question is

[01:08:12] for the Lakers does LeBron blue James love the play in now remember when the plan started LeBron was

[01:08:26] like whoever thought of this they should be fired he didn't like it he didn't want it by the way

[01:08:36] by the way he has needed it and it looks like they're definitely going to need it this year because if

[01:08:45] we were under the old rules and they were the nice eat they wouldn't have gotten in

[01:08:51] with that being said I wonder how his feelings have changed about the plan

[01:08:57] oh and then our last team but not least is the Golden State Warriors Golden State obviously has been

[01:09:07] playing a ton better they just beat up on the Lakers Steph and everybody shot the hell out of the

[01:09:16] wall they had 25 threes in a game last night and they shot 63 percent on their threes which was

[01:09:24] stupid Golden State is 10th they're 44 and 35 currently Steve Kerz to coach Steve Steph Curry is

[01:09:32] awesome he shoots crazy now here's the thing Steph Curry to me this is what Steph Curry

[01:09:46] is going up against when I think of what their role to just the Western Conference finals

[01:09:55] hell I can actually say this just their role to get into the playoffs it reminds me of Cody Rhodes

[01:10:02] his role road sorry Cody Rhodes rolled to WrestleMania and what I mean by that is that if you're

[01:10:11] not a wrestling fan the Rock came back to the WWE Dwayne Johnson the guy who does all the superhero

[01:10:18] movies and the fast and a furious and he did the tooth fairy he did a lot of stuff Dwayne the Rock

[01:10:29] Johnson that's our guy the Rock comes back he is real life family members with Roman Reigns

[01:10:40] and they've created this bloodline Roman Reigns created this bloodline with the Usos who are Jimmy

[01:10:48] and J who are family and they have Paul Hammond but they stuck the deck against Cody Rhodes

[01:10:57] that's the whole deal they stacked it and that's how I look at Steph Curry

[01:11:03] my brother you got a long road to go and you got some hard times coming for you

[01:11:14] but go out there and shoot like crazy my man just do you do you player just shoot

[01:11:20] and just feel free you got four rings don't worry about it all right the next thing I want to ask

[01:11:27] is who are the wings will play big now you would think this is a shot at Wiggins it's not it's not

[01:11:38] but he has been a lot better but you're gonna need some consistency from any of these guys so

[01:11:48] what I mean by that is that you got Wiggins and you got Kaminga and you got Pazinski and

[01:11:54] you got Clay Thompson and three of the four are going to have to show up

[01:12:02] every single game that they want to advance in this playoff situation this year with the atmosphere

[01:12:12] atmosphere that we're going into the guy the others are going to have to play at an

[01:12:19] exemplary level that is no question about it so take your pick whether it's pods Wiggins in

[01:12:28] clay one night or it's clay pods and Kaminga or it's Wiggins Kaminga and play whatever it is

[01:12:39] whatever that combination is that's what it's going to take for this team to get

[01:12:45] it to anywhere close to the Western Conference finals but I will tell you this

[01:12:52] it has been a blast to do this podcast again the socials on x which is twitter at frontrunnerpc

[01:13:02] the youtube page is frontrunner podcast collective and make sure to keep your eyes out

[01:13:09] on the web which is frontrunnerpc.com because we will have the draft situation going up there

[01:13:18] and remember next week Monday Wednesday and Friday Monday Wednesday and Friday we will get pods

[01:13:24] out to you trust me we are back we are happy to have squad cast is our platform that we are using

[01:13:33] and for creators out there I will tell you I'm in love with this situation and some of the things

[01:13:42] that I'm going to be able to do with it in the future with the patreon situation and things of

[01:13:47] that nature I can't wait to be able to unlock all of this with that being said be a friend

[01:13:54] tell a friend about the podcast make sure to also follow the podcast on Apple Spotify

[01:14:02] amazon music wherever you get your podcast make sure you tell your friend to download the podcast

[01:14:08] make sure you tell your neighbor to download the podcast and then go on to youtube and subscribe

[01:14:14] and then follow me on x so those are the things that you got homework this week you guys

[01:14:21] and what have you but again it's been a pleasure and as we like to leave you

[01:14:28] the coolest part about you is you don't let anybody take your individual

[01:14:35] ality away from you do what you need to do to make yourself feel good throughout the day

[01:14:42] along you not killing anybody causing anybody any harm if you're just singing a song or

[01:14:48] you like to paint or you like to podcast or if you'd like to get tattoos whatever it is

[01:14:55] do you and be the best you doing it all right I'll see you guys back on this feed on Monday peace