NBA Finals Recap: Celtics Dominate & Key Mavericks Player Analysis

[00:00:11] It's Friday, you know what time it is, Front Runner Podcast Collective is back on the air

[00:00:17] I am your humble host Vince and we are going to talk about the game one finals between Dallas Mavericks and the Loser Celtics

[00:00:29] We're also going to get into a couple of the rumors that are going on out there in regards to coaching position

[00:00:38] And then we're going to finish it up with a Front Runner focus on the Detroit Pistons

[00:00:45] But before we get to all that, you know what we do here

[00:00:49] We get into the socials so let's go ahead and do that

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[00:03:07] So with all that being said, we have a spicy game going to get to

[00:03:14] So what I want to do is we're going to pick it up about 2.20 left in the first quarter

[00:03:20] At this point, the Celtics are up 28-18

[00:03:24] Poor Zingas has come off the bench, she scored 8 points and 5 minutes

[00:03:30] And the Mavs have called a timeout

[00:03:34] Now as we go along, we talked about this before the series started

[00:03:42] We talked about the Boston Celtics not giving up corner 3s

[00:03:46] And how Dallas has lived off of those

[00:03:50] By this point in the game with 2.20 to go in the first quarter

[00:03:54] Dallas had not shot a three-pointer from the short corner at all

[00:04:00] And this is going to be a trend

[00:04:04] So at the end of the first quarter, we had the Celtics up 37-20

[00:04:11] They went on a 9-2 run even after that timeout

[00:04:15] So with 2.20 left to go in the quarter, Celtics go up by 17

[00:04:21] And poor Zingas looks completely healthy

[00:04:27] He scores 11 points, grabs three rebounds and has two blocks in his first 8 minutes of action

[00:04:35] So he looked very fluid out there which was great

[00:04:39] And he provided a different type of rim protection that I thought

[00:04:45] That Luca had a problem with all night long

[00:04:49] And we'll get into some of the gameplay as we go along

[00:04:53] So I'm just giving you my notes as we go and then we're going to tie it all up towards the end here

[00:04:59] Hardy hits a 15-footer, the only reason I put that in there is because it was a tough 15-footer

[00:05:05] And we'll get to him a little bit later

[00:05:07] 10-05 left to go in the second quarter

[00:05:11] Jaylen Brown has a ferocious dunk on like three guys

[00:05:17] It reminded me of the ESPN commercial with Duane Way when he was asking one of the editors to add a couple more CGI dudes to make him look like a superhero

[00:05:34] It was funny

[00:05:36] Now, at this point the maps are 2 of 10 from 3-point line

[00:05:42] With 7 minutes and 16 seconds left to go in the second quarter

[00:05:46] A lot of things are going bad

[00:05:48] At this time, and we'll get into it now as we have gone through a little bit of what has gone on in the game

[00:05:56] This is my personal observation as I'm watching it

[00:06:00] Two things are happening

[00:06:02] We talked about it in the previous podcast but it went to bear

[00:06:08] It literally went to bear

[00:06:10] And what I mean by that is that they put lengthy guards on Kyrie

[00:06:18] They did not put Jason Tatum nor Jaylen Brown on Kyrie which was interesting to me

[00:06:24] They did enough with Drew Holliday and Derek White

[00:06:29] Now, it didn't look like Kyrie was being aggressive enough personally for me

[00:06:35] So I expect in game two to see some adjustments there

[00:06:41] The Boston Celtics played the Dallas Mavericks straight up

[00:06:45] They said we have enough athleticism to stay with Lucas, stay with Kyrie

[00:06:53] We do not have to double

[00:06:55] That allowed the lob threat that is very important to Lucas and Kyrie to get going

[00:07:04] That never got going in game one

[00:07:07] Also, the corner threes again as this continues and we get to the half

[00:07:13] Now at the half of this game, we had a 42-63 game

[00:07:19] And Boston is now up by 21

[00:07:22] At this point, Dallas is 3-13 from 3

[00:07:28] All of these shots have been above the break threes at this point

[00:07:33] So for the first half, Dallas does not shoot a short corner three

[00:07:39] Very important

[00:07:41] So 3-13 from 3-point land

[00:07:43] At this point in time, Boston is 11-27

[00:07:47] So they shot 14 more shots from 3-point land at halftime

[00:07:53] And they've also converted 8 more three-pointers

[00:07:57] So what that means is that is a 24-point difference right there

[00:08:03] Remember what I said about the Boston Celtics in the preview

[00:08:08] Joe Mazzullo has turned this into a math problem

[00:08:12] If you shoot threes and make them at a high enough clip, you will outscore your opponents

[00:08:18] They are proof of concept and they've shown it all year

[00:08:22] And we reiterate their historic net rating which was 11.6

[00:08:28] It's one of the greatest net ratings in the history of basketball

[00:08:32] At this point in time, and Lucas talks about it at the end of the game

[00:08:38] It was an ISO game

[00:08:40] They did not allow the Mavericks at all to get comfortable

[00:08:45] Lucas looked really uncomfortable with some of the stuff that was going on

[00:08:50] And his creativity to get passes off to other people

[00:08:55] Because of the fact that the defense was very disciplined

[00:08:59] In staying with their guys and not leaving the short corner

[00:09:02] And not leaving shooters open

[00:09:04] He had to go ahead and do a lot of one-on-one

[00:09:07] Now, we move to the third period

[00:09:11] This is when things get a little rocky

[00:09:13] Mind you, Dallas makes a run

[00:09:16] Just like Dallas makes a run

[00:09:18] Lucas is doing all kinds of Lucas things

[00:09:22] He's the only one that's really getting off

[00:09:24] Really providing any scoring production whatsoever

[00:09:29] But he puts them back into predicament

[00:09:33] Where they can go ahead and compete

[00:09:35] And actually maybe even win this game

[00:09:37] They go on a crazy run

[00:09:39] It's 4.27 left to go

[00:09:41] In the third quarter, there's a timeout called

[00:09:43] The Mavericks are down by 8

[00:09:45] 58.29

[00:09:47] They were up by 29 points at one point

[00:09:49] And then Dallas kind of chipped away

[00:09:53] Chipped away

[00:09:55] With a little over 4 minutes to go in the third quarter

[00:09:59] The Celtics call a timeout

[00:10:01] Now, Horford Tatum and Drew Holiday

[00:10:04] Are running the huddle

[00:10:06] And it turns out

[00:10:08] I believe that Drew Holiday makes some sort of

[00:10:11] Declaration that he's guarding

[00:10:14] Luka Dončić from here on out

[00:10:16] Now, prior to Drew Holiday

[00:10:19] Switching over to Luka Dončić

[00:10:23] Luka has scored 27 points

[00:10:26] Okay

[00:10:28] Now remember the score

[00:10:30] It was 74-82 Celtics

[00:10:34] With 4.27 left to go in the third quarter

[00:10:37] Drew guards Luka

[00:10:40] And he just, he stops him

[00:10:43] Luka scores three points after that switch

[00:10:47] So Drew takes the Dončić defense's assignment

[00:10:51] And the Mavs go on from

[00:10:54] 4.27 so you're talking about

[00:10:56] 16 minutes and 27 seconds of game time

[00:10:59] Where the Mavericks score 15 total points

[00:11:03] Because the Mavericks

[00:11:05] Only scored

[00:11:07] 89

[00:11:08] So it was 107-89 Celtics win

[00:11:11] And a couple observations

[00:11:14] We went into the game not understanding where

[00:11:17] KB was

[00:11:20] We got that answered, he looks very healthy

[00:11:23] He even came off the bench

[00:11:25] And that was significant

[00:11:27] Because I didn't know if he was going to start

[00:11:30] If he was on a minutes restriction

[00:11:33] All those questions got answered

[00:11:35] He looked fluid

[00:11:36] I don't know if he continues to come off the bench

[00:11:39] If they continue to do this

[00:11:42] As the series goes along

[00:11:45] But what we do know is that

[00:11:48] They tried a completely different dynamic

[00:11:51] To the Boston defense than Al Horford

[00:11:54] Now Al Horford for

[00:11:57] What we thought

[00:12:00] That Dallas was going to be able to do to him

[00:12:03] He held up pretty well

[00:12:06] They tried to

[00:12:08] They tried to pick on him in pick and roll action

[00:12:11] It really wasn't too effective whatsoever

[00:12:14] They tried to get him on isolations

[00:12:17] That seemed not to work

[00:12:19] He understood the principles of the defense

[00:12:22] And really confused Luca all night

[00:12:25] And the reason why I haven't mentioned Kyrie a lot

[00:12:28] Is because Kyrie was stifled

[00:12:31] He only hit like three shots all night

[00:12:34] He was not aggressive getting to the paint

[00:12:37] He didn't have paint touches that were purposeful

[00:12:42] Or having intentionality going to the hole

[00:12:47] I don't see that happening again

[00:12:50] If Dallas is going to try to make this a series

[00:12:53] And that was one of the observations

[00:12:56] Is that Kyrie must be more attentive

[00:12:59] In getting into the paint

[00:13:02] So then you can do the drive and kick stuff

[00:13:05] And then get Boston into the spin cycle

[00:13:08] And then get him on the line

[00:13:11] The Boston Celtics never were in that at all

[00:13:16] In game one

[00:13:19] They stayed true to their defense

[00:13:22] It was 1 on 1

[00:13:25] There were a couple switches here and there

[00:13:28] When they did the switch

[00:13:31] Everybody knew their assignment

[00:13:34] They got to their man they knew where we all needed to be

[00:13:37] And just kind of went from there

[00:13:42] It worked out well

[00:13:45] We saw a heavy load of minutes for the two stars

[00:13:48] For Boston, Tatum and Jalen Brown

[00:13:52] Which is not surprising

[00:13:55] Because we know one thing

[00:13:58] As we get further and further into the postseason

[00:14:01] In the NBA, coaches trust players less

[00:14:05] So rotations get tighter

[00:14:08] And you know we might be at a point

[00:14:12] Where we're looking at

[00:14:15] If we're being generous, 8 man rotations

[00:14:18] For the Celtics probably

[00:14:21] If these games get close

[00:14:24] And probably 7 to 8 man rotations

[00:14:27] For Dallas as well

[00:14:30] You'll know that the big boys

[00:14:33] Will play heavy heavy minutes

[00:14:36] And the big players

[00:14:39] Will play heavy heavy minutes

[00:14:44] On a need basis only

[00:14:47] A couple things that I think can actually help Dallas

[00:14:50] One, we talked about Kyrie's aggressiveness

[00:14:53] And getting into the paint and seeing what he can do there

[00:14:56] The other thing is that P.J. Washington

[00:14:59] Is not the greatest bag man on the face of the planet

[00:15:02] He doesn't have this incredible

[00:15:05] Juggle package but as a straight line driver

[00:15:08] And his ability to

[00:15:11] Pass the ball, this might be something

[00:15:16] To look at. Also Lively is another

[00:15:19] Guy that if given the ball

[00:15:22] And holds it for a beat

[00:15:25] Maybe it draws the attention

[00:15:28] Of the Boston Celtics

[00:15:31] And then you can start moving the ball around

[00:15:34] And see if we can get them in an advantageous position

[00:15:37] To go ahead and get easier shots

[00:15:40] Because that's the other thing that happened in this game

[00:15:43] But Mavericks had no easy shots in this game whatsoever

[00:15:46] And it looked like target practice

[00:15:49] For Boston which is kind of what I thought

[00:15:52] It was going to be

[00:15:55] Now here's the real question

[00:15:58] The other guy is Jaden Hardy but I don't think you can trust

[00:16:01] Jaden Hardy because he does house self creation

[00:16:05] The problem with Jaden Hardy is that

[00:16:08] He hasn't seen a shot ever

[00:16:11] That he has not liked

[00:16:14] So he is a chucker mostly

[00:16:17] And so if he wouldn't be initiating

[00:16:20] Offense for others it would basically be

[00:16:23] Initiating offense for himself but P.J. Washington

[00:16:26] On the other hand and Derrick Lively

[00:16:29] Do have a little feel and touch for the game

[00:16:32] How to use them as some sort of

[00:16:35] Kind of like secondary ball handler

[00:16:38] Get Kyrie and Luca off the ball a little bit

[00:16:41] Like in pick and roll action

[00:16:44] I'm not talking about P.J. bringing the ball up the court

[00:16:47] I'm talking about pick and roll action

[00:16:50] Get the ball to P.J.

[00:16:53] Have Donchick go to a corner or

[00:16:56] Go to the hole or whatever

[00:17:00] So then maybe at that point

[00:17:03] You can get Boston out of position

[00:17:06] To make some easy shots for yourself

[00:17:09] The real question with that is

[00:17:12] Luca is so ball dominant

[00:17:15] Now he trusts Kyrie

[00:17:18] Because he believes that Kyrie is on his level

[00:17:21] Now will Donchick

[00:17:24] Adhere or

[00:17:27] Trust his teammates enough to

[00:17:30] Make straight line drives

[00:17:33] And just subtle passes here

[00:17:36] We're not talking about making

[00:17:39] Behind the back passes anything with a

[00:17:42] Crazy degree of difficulty

[00:17:45] We're looking for hey if they collapse on you

[00:17:48] Hit the open man

[00:17:51] You done your job

[00:17:55] And then if you're going to

[00:17:58] Have a lot of pressure

[00:18:01] For the Boston Celtics defense

[00:18:04] To respect him

[00:18:07] I don't know these are all things that

[00:18:10] I thought about as we were going on

[00:18:13] The other thing is Luca is going to have to be

[00:18:16] A little more kind of

[00:18:19] Bullheaded about getting to the paint

[00:18:24] We have a lot going on

[00:18:27] With the Dallas Mavericks and some of the

[00:18:30] Adjustments that need to be made we look forward to game

[00:18:33] Two that happens on Sunday that means they do

[00:18:36] Have three days off so both teams will be

[00:18:39] Refreshed and ready to go

[00:18:42] And here's the thing that we kind of need to talk about

[00:18:45] And one of the reasons why I took Boston

[00:18:48] In this series to begin with

[00:18:52] For 16 points he had a

[00:18:55] He had a good game in one respect because he did a lot of

[00:18:58] Things he

[00:19:01] Initiated the offense he provided

[00:19:04] Rebounding which he ended up with 11

[00:19:07] Jaylen Brown was probably

[00:19:10] The most impactful Boston Celtic

[00:19:13] Other than Porzingis

[00:19:16] Porzingis gave Boston just a

[00:19:19] Jolt of lightning

[00:19:22] It was absolutely ridiculous that crowd was

[00:19:25] Spectacular in the first half I know a lot of people

[00:19:28] Probably already talked about that

[00:19:31] But Jason Tatum did not have a great game

[00:19:34] And really to tell you truth Jaylen Brown

[00:19:37] Who probably carried the Celtics

[00:19:40] He really didn't have a great game either

[00:19:43] So here's a team that scored 107 points

[00:19:46] Looked completely dominant

[00:19:49] Had that stretch where the offense went stale

[00:19:52] They didn't move the ball quite

[00:19:55] As they were doing efficiently as they were doing

[00:19:58] In the first couple quarters

[00:20:01] Fell into this offensive stagnation

[00:20:04] And then Drew Holliday with his experience

[00:20:07] Al Horford with his experience

[00:20:10] And Jason Tatum with his experience

[00:20:14] Probably was being sick of people talking about

[00:20:17] Well can you win the big one

[00:20:20] You know really buckled up that team

[00:20:23] And made sure that they were going to go ahead

[00:20:26] And close that game out

[00:20:29] There's no way you could sit there and tell me that

[00:20:32] Luca as talented as he is

[00:20:35] Has no shot in a series I won't entertain

[00:20:38] That thought whatsoever

[00:20:41] They do have a long road to go

[00:20:44] Because if Boston is insistent

[00:20:47] On Luca and Kyrie beating them individually

[00:20:50] I think that's a harder road to hold

[00:20:53] Because on the defense event

[00:20:56] Luca and Kyrie are definitely being put

[00:20:59] In situations where they have to exert energy

[00:21:05] They called Luca up on the pick and roll

[00:21:09] And they did that a couple times in that first half

[00:21:12] It didn't matter they were not worried about

[00:21:15] Whether he was going to be stout on defense or not

[00:21:18] It was for the sole purpose of wearing him down

[00:21:21] It was like well we understand

[00:21:24] That you are a great offensive player

[00:21:27] And we know that you're going to get your points

[00:21:30] But the one thing we're not going to have you do

[00:21:33] Is feel super fresh

[00:21:36] You're going into the last five minutes of the fourth quarter

[00:21:39] That's not going to happen

[00:21:42] You got to earn your keep on defense which you did

[00:21:45] But I think it does

[00:21:48] Take away from his offense

[00:21:51] Minnesota didn't have enough weapons

[00:21:54] To allow Luca to have to work on defense

[00:21:57] We had talked about it in a previous podcast

[00:22:00] About Minnesota needs one more offensive creator

[00:22:04] Well with Boston everyone

[00:22:07] Is an offensive creator

[00:22:10] KP even at the nail is an offensive creator

[00:22:13] You got Drew Holliday

[00:22:16] We talked about him

[00:22:19] Derek White we talked about how steady he is

[00:22:22] He has a box plus or minus of 6.3

[00:22:25] And how crazy that is for somebody who is

[00:22:28] Basically like the fourth guy and mind you

[00:22:31] That's what he was

[00:22:34] When we looked at this game last night

[00:22:37] The Stars did what they were supposed to do

[00:22:40] Take their shots, KP came back

[00:22:43] And assumed his role

[00:22:46] And then Derek White calmly and very seamlessly

[00:22:49] Fell right back into his fourth

[00:22:52] You know fourth guy role

[00:22:55] And played beautiful basketball

[00:22:59] Incredible defense, helped Drew Holliday

[00:23:02] And the Boston Celtics looked great

[00:23:05] So there's a lot of games left

[00:23:08] I do understand we're not going to over react

[00:23:11] I definitely want to see game 2

[00:23:14] But my first reactions are Kyrie needs to be more aggressive

[00:23:17] And get pain touches

[00:23:20] Hopefully that allows that defense not to stay home

[00:23:23] And then the ball can move and we can get better shots

[00:23:26] And maybe get some lobs

[00:23:35] Keep it locked here

[00:23:40] We will be doing reactions on

[00:23:43] Game 2 on Monday

[00:23:46] Also as news trickles out

[00:23:49] And see what we can drum up for stories

[00:23:52] And stuff like that

[00:23:56] We will also keep you aggressive on anything

[00:23:59] That we hear throughout the weekend as well

[00:24:02] Now we do have to hit a couple more things

[00:24:05] Before we get up out of here

[00:24:08] Actually let me ask this question

[00:24:13] Before I move on to this next story

[00:24:16] Dallas fans, how

[00:24:19] Weird was it to see your guy look

[00:24:22] Really flummoxed in game 1

[00:24:25] And for Boston fans

[00:24:28] Who might be still a little perturbed at me

[00:24:31] About the clip I put up

[00:24:34] Because I put up a clip about how

[00:24:37] I thought that Boston was going to win the series

[00:24:40] But not just on Tatum

[00:24:43] It was the Tatum buffer insurance

[00:24:46] That Brad Stevens picked up

[00:24:49] If you haven't seen the video go to YouTube

[00:24:52] And get on that clip

[00:24:55] Because it talks a lot about what we saw in this game 1

[00:24:58] I looked like Nostradamus in that clip

[00:25:01] Honestly

[00:25:04] Maybe in more ways than one

[00:25:07] But in the way of telling you what we thought

[00:25:10] About the corner 3s and how important it was

[00:25:13] And now that has come to fruition

[00:25:16] So we are excited about that

[00:25:20] I want to see how Boston fans feel

[00:25:23] About what I said in that video

[00:25:26] On the last podcast on Wednesday

[00:25:29] Doing the previews and predictions

[00:25:32] Of this finals

[00:25:35] Because I did say

[00:25:38] I still think that Jason Tatum

[00:25:41] Yes he is a star

[00:25:44] He hasn't gotten to that level yet

[00:25:47] Last night with him as well

[00:25:50] Now I'm not saying all games are going to be this way

[00:25:53] Not in the least

[00:25:56] But at the end of the day

[00:26:01] There is still the question of

[00:26:04] Is he the guy or does collectively

[00:26:07] Boston have so much talent

[00:26:10] That it doesn't make a difference anyway

[00:26:13] Because here's the thing

[00:26:16] It doesn't matter what happens

[00:26:19] That team is a really good team

[00:26:22] They play together on defense

[00:26:25] And they play together on offense

[00:26:28] It's beautiful to watch

[00:26:31] I don't care if Jason Tatum ever becomes

[00:26:34] A top 3 player in the league

[00:26:37] If he keeps winning chips

[00:26:40] And this team sticks together

[00:26:44] We know nothing lasts forever

[00:26:48] But if they continue to find pieces

[00:26:51] That fit these roles so succinctly

[00:26:54] Which Brad Stevens has seemed able to do

[00:26:57] This looks very promising

[00:27:02] Because again

[00:27:05] Jason Tatum is 27 years of age

[00:27:08] Jason Tatum is 26

[00:27:11] So a long run ahead

[00:27:15] Unfortunately for me as a Lakers fan

[00:27:18] But we digress and we segue

[00:27:21] To the Lakers

[00:27:24] The Lakers have at this moment

[00:27:27] At this hour are meeting

[00:27:30] With UConn head coach Dan Hurley

[00:27:33] It looks like he is a very

[00:27:36] Serious candidate

[00:27:39] For the Lakers job

[00:27:42] I have reported on this podcast

[00:27:45] That this is been JJ Reddick's job

[00:27:48] To lose basically

[00:27:51] That he is the front runner for the position

[00:27:54] I do not back down from that statement whatsoever

[00:27:57] However what I will say is this

[00:28:00] Nobody knew that Dan Hurley

[00:28:03] Had interest in the Lakers

[00:28:06] So the Lakers broke him off a phone call

[00:28:09] Had interest, laid out a pretty

[00:28:14] Competitive compensation plan

[00:28:17] And now we have an extensive interview

[00:28:20] That is going on at this hour right now

[00:28:26] So for the people who are like

[00:28:29] Could they really been serious well

[00:28:32] JJ I still think that JJ

[00:28:35] Is a serious candidate

[00:28:38] For the Lakers position

[00:28:41] So to wrap it up

[00:28:44] I think he has been doing a really good job

[00:28:47] Underneath the circumstances

[00:28:50] I think that his ability to either

[00:28:53] Quell or be able to absolutely just say no

[00:28:56] To LeBron in regards to

[00:28:59] Trades, giving up all the picks

[00:29:02] Especially after the Westbrook thing

[00:29:05] Because you know we will sit here and say

[00:29:09] Pelinka made that deal

[00:29:12] Now was it LeBron influence? Yes it was

[00:29:15] And for anybody who thinks

[00:29:18] That is some sort of travesty or whatever

[00:29:21] Welcome to the NBA, this is how it works

[00:29:24] When you got a guy with enough juice

[00:29:27] Usually you gotta be like a top 5 doing the league

[00:29:30] For this to work

[00:29:33] If you have some words

[00:29:36] That may be unsatisfactory

[00:29:39] Towards certain people or certain

[00:29:42] Certain situations sometimes

[00:29:45] They get removed and that is how it works

[00:29:48] It is what it is

[00:29:51] But this has been going on for a long period of time

[00:29:54] I mean Magic Johnson got a coach fired

[00:29:57] Michael Jordan got a coach fired

[00:30:00] So it goes on

[00:30:03] The Dan Hurley, just the interview

[00:30:06] First of all for me

[00:30:09] Personally it makes me think that the Lakers

[00:30:12] And I said this wow so long ago

[00:30:15] But I think the Lakers have been

[00:30:18] Rebuilding underneath LeBron James' nose

[00:30:21] Honestly

[00:30:24] Going back to

[00:30:27] After they made the Westbrook trade

[00:30:31] And we saw how catastrophic

[00:30:34] Of an era that was

[00:30:37] I look at the

[00:30:40] Non-fixing of the Westbrook situation

[00:30:43] A couple seasons ago

[00:30:46] When there was a rumor out there

[00:30:49] About Eric Gordon and Christian Wood

[00:30:52] At the time

[00:30:55] And the Lakers giving up two first round draft picks

[00:30:58] Eric Gordon came to the Lakers

[00:31:01] He was on a veteran minimum

[00:31:04] We didn't have to give up anything to get him

[00:31:07] So I had great whatever

[00:31:10] Eric Gordon ended up on Phoenix

[00:31:15] Getting back to what I was talking about with the Lakers

[00:31:18] This is one of those things where

[00:31:21] As you move along you got that trade that didn't go down

[00:31:24] We talked in LA

[00:31:27] That dude has a podcast

[00:31:30] Who else talked about this trade?

[00:31:33] Locked On, Lakers talked about this

[00:31:36] ESPN 710 Los Angeles talked about this

[00:31:39] The vaunted Miles Turner

[00:31:42] Buddy Hill trade

[00:31:45] Was a staple in Los Angeles for a year

[00:31:48] And I mean a year

[00:31:51] 365 days

[00:31:55] Inescapable Miles Turner talk

[00:31:58] Could you imagine?

[00:32:01] And that didn't happen

[00:32:04] Because the Lakers weren't going to give up

[00:32:07] What they considered valuable draft picks

[00:32:10] For a non-all star

[00:32:13] That was the verge

[00:32:16] That was the rhetoric that was put out

[00:32:19] Now they made some moves around the edges

[00:32:22] They made some adjustments

[00:32:25] They moved into the off season

[00:32:28] This last off season

[00:32:31] They get Tornado Prince, they re-signed D'Angelo Russell

[00:32:34] Which however I feel about D'Angelo

[00:32:37] As a point guard

[00:32:40] The one thing that I have to say is that he put up a really good season

[00:32:43] He shot the basketball extremely well

[00:32:46] And then

[00:32:50] He did tone down some of the turnovers

[00:32:53] But the defensive lapses

[00:32:56] And those critical

[00:32:59] He can't get those

[00:33:02] Those 30 foot 3 point

[00:33:05] With 19 seconds on the shot clock

[00:33:08] He can't get them out of his system

[00:33:11] He just cannot do it

[00:33:14] But all in all if you look at how the team is being crafted

[00:33:17] We're still wondering about Max Christie

[00:33:20] We got

[00:33:25] We didn't get anything out of Gabe Davis

[00:33:28] Right?

[00:33:31] Last year, a lot of people were probably soured on him

[00:33:34] We don't know if he'll still be a Laker at the end of this off season

[00:33:37] Or whatever

[00:33:40] But if he stays on the team

[00:33:43] You've still got Jalen Hood's Shafino

[00:33:46] You can in a trade

[00:33:51] But they have young pieces

[00:33:54] Now they need a couple more

[00:33:57] But with what they had to work with

[00:34:00] I like what the Lakers have done

[00:34:03] They kept themselves

[00:34:06] Basically somewhat competitive

[00:34:10] Draw on the interest of the fans

[00:34:13] Keep the fan base engaged

[00:34:17] Now you're looking at Dan Hurley

[00:34:20] And the reason why I did all of that is because

[00:34:23] Palinka has steered this ship

[00:34:26] There's been times where I've been critical of Rock Palinka

[00:34:29] But the times that we need to give him his flowers

[00:34:32] I want to make sure to do that

[00:34:35] And just thinking to pick up the phone

[00:34:38] To call Dan Hurley at UConn

[00:34:41] Was a out of the box move

[00:34:44] But hey, we need to be schematically better

[00:34:47] We need to have a plan

[00:34:50] Offensively

[00:34:53] To attack these modern defenses

[00:34:56] And I'm going to tell you right now

[00:34:59] Whoever gets this job

[00:35:02] Whether it's Dan Hurley

[00:35:05] Which I don't know if he will leave UConn

[00:35:08] Because he has a really good situation there

[00:35:11] I don't know the lore of the Lakers

[00:35:14] You know, it really depends on how you look at it

[00:35:17] Because I'll put it just like this

[00:35:20] The college game might not be so different

[00:35:23] Than the pro game

[00:35:26] Especially now with the NIL money

[00:35:29] And these university collectives

[00:35:32] And we're paying players and stuff like that

[00:35:35] The difference now between

[00:35:39] College and pro is

[00:35:42] Do you want to deal with grown professional athletes?

[00:35:45] Or would you like to be

[00:35:48] Content dealing with the 17-18 year old

[00:35:51] Who's telling you coach

[00:35:54] It's going to take 1.35 to get me here

[00:35:57] Then I'm also dealing with

[00:36:00] The parent of the 17-18 year old

[00:36:03] Or if I'm not dealing with the parent

[00:36:06] I'm dealing with

[00:36:09] Whoever his

[00:36:12] Marketing, branding

[00:36:15] Management firm

[00:36:18] And they're talking about

[00:36:21] How much playing time he's going to get

[00:36:24] And then I have a 17 or 18 year old

[00:36:27] Look me in the eye and talk about

[00:36:30] Hey, so I'm also going to start

[00:36:34] And I'm also the get down

[00:36:37] If I come here I'm going to start

[00:36:40] Well my comment to that now is

[00:36:43] Y'all paid right?

[00:36:46] The college kids, y'all paid?

[00:36:49] Well welcome to real life

[00:36:52] Where you don't get treated special anymore

[00:36:55] And we really start to evaluate you as you are

[00:36:58] And guess what?

[00:37:01] Yeah, you can go into the transfer portal

[00:37:04] You can do that, that is your prerogative to do

[00:37:07] The NCAA has seen fit for you to have that

[00:37:10] Why'd you go to the school in the first place?

[00:37:13] Y'all saying?

[00:37:16] Like I don't think the coaches should

[00:37:19] Have to guarantee these kids starting positions or nothing like that

[00:37:22] I mean I understand that it's part of

[00:37:25] The pitch

[00:37:29] When the kid comes on campus

[00:37:32] It's part of the recruiting pitch and all that

[00:37:35] But at the end of the day, like you an employee now dog

[00:37:38] You got to earn it, earn your position

[00:37:42] Earn your minutes and then you can do that

[00:37:45] Right? So Dan Hurley

[00:37:48] Could be looking at a situation where

[00:37:51] Just like a lot of really great

[00:37:54] College basketball coaches have done over

[00:37:57] As the landscape with college basketball has changed

[00:38:00] You know, Mike Shyshevsky, the dude coach

[00:38:03] Gone, Rory Williams

[00:38:06] Gone, you know

[00:38:09] Who else broke out?

[00:38:12] There was a couple others who broke out

[00:38:15] Who said yeah, I'm cool with this

[00:38:18] I don't want to do this anymore

[00:38:21] Even the college football guys, Saban left

[00:38:25] So there's a lot of greats

[00:38:28] That are leaving the college landscape

[00:38:31] And Dan Hurley could be the next one

[00:38:34] If the money is right

[00:38:37] And if he feels comfortable with the

[00:38:40] Direction that the organization is going in

[00:38:43] Because here's the other thing

[00:38:48] No offense to Storrs Connecticut

[00:38:51] Been through that area, lived in Boston for

[00:38:54] So been through Connecticut quite a few times

[00:38:59] I'll ask a simple question though

[00:39:02] Storrs Connecticut

[00:39:05] Manhattan Beach, California

[00:39:09] Y'all decide what you want to do

[00:39:12] We'll see how it all goes

[00:39:15] I still think that J.J. Reddick still has his foot

[00:39:18] In the door but the

[00:39:21] Out of nowhere offer to Dan Hurley

[00:39:25] I'm excited to Rob Polinka and his staff

[00:39:28] On seeing maybe a market inefficiency

[00:39:31] And deciding like we did not like

[00:39:34] The pool of head coaches in the NBA ranks

[00:39:37] Let's go get a bright mind

[00:39:40] Out of college basketball

[00:39:43] So I am enthused by either way

[00:39:46] They go, I think they have a lot to do

[00:39:49] On the roster side though

[00:39:52] Alright, the last thing that we're going to do

[00:39:55] Before we get up out of here

[00:39:58] We're going to talk about the Detroit Pistons

[00:40:01] And we're going to talk about them in a way

[00:40:04] Where we're going to put them under the front runner focus

[00:40:07] And we've done this with a couple teams

[00:40:10] We've done this with Atlanta and Washington

[00:40:13] And I wanted to get Detroit in here

[00:40:16] Because they've had some changes

[00:40:20] The biggest thing about this is that

[00:40:23] Detroit ended last year 14-68

[00:40:26] Absolutely terrible

[00:40:29] Which is, you know, they had that

[00:40:32] Long losing streak, they had

[00:40:35] The head coach situation which we'll get to

[00:40:38] In a second, I wanted to see

[00:40:41] An update to see if there was any

[00:40:44] News on this before I made any statements

[00:40:47] No

[00:40:53] So Trajan Langdon which we talked about

[00:40:56] In the last couple podcasts has come over from

[00:40:59] The New Orleans Pelicans, he is now in charge

[00:41:02] He is the president of player personnel

[00:41:05] His first order of business was to get

[00:41:08] G.M. Troy Weaver out of the building

[00:41:11] I said listen, you see what you've assembled here?

[00:41:14] You see the mess I have to clean up

[00:41:18] I am terrible with knots

[00:41:21] And my wife is great with them

[00:41:24] Any time I get a knot

[00:41:27] I don't even look at it, I just give it to my wife

[00:41:30] You know?

[00:41:33] I'm not going to

[00:41:36] Get myself all riled up

[00:41:39] But Trajan Langdon has decided no

[00:41:42] I'm going to untie this knot that you have created

[00:41:45] You know?

[00:41:47] So you got that, and now there are reports

[00:41:50] That Monty Williams might not make it

[00:41:55] Now

[00:41:57] We said in previous podcasts that

[00:42:00] Trajan Langdon had full autonomy to get rid of

[00:42:03] Troy Weaver and or Monty Williams

[00:42:06] No word on

[00:42:09] What is going on there yet

[00:42:13] In regards to have they made a decision

[00:42:16] But there are reports that they are re-evaluating

[00:42:19] The coaching situation in Detroit

[00:42:22] Now, that leads us to

[00:42:25] What do they have in the cover

[00:42:30] Okay, they have Capspace

[00:42:33] Which if you listen to this podcast

[00:42:36] Long enough, and if you haven't

[00:42:39] If this is your first time, welcome

[00:42:42] To the Frontrunner Podcast Collective

[00:42:45] Thank you for being here

[00:42:48] We enjoy you being new

[00:42:51] And finding out that we're awesome

[00:42:54] The other thing is this, when I talk about Capspace

[00:42:57] I look at Capspace like this

[00:43:00] I've had front office people tell me this

[00:43:03] I've had scouts tell me this

[00:43:06] I've had people who used to be in the game

[00:43:10] Capspace is useless

[00:43:13] Because you gotta have somebody

[00:43:16] Willing to fill that Capspace

[00:43:19] With what Detroit is right now

[00:43:22] It's gonna be a hard sell for somebody

[00:43:25] Unless you are going to completely overpay them

[00:43:28] Now, you can trade

[00:43:31] Your Capspace

[00:43:34] You can utilize your Capspace that way

[00:43:37] And now you are cooking with gas

[00:43:40] So the reason why I put Capspace up there first

[00:43:43] Is because $64.4 million dollars

[00:43:48] That's a lot of Capspace

[00:43:51] And for a team that is looking for identity

[00:43:54] We don't know if the coaching situation

[00:43:57] Is gonna be in flux

[00:44:00] Or if Monty Williams will continue to stay

[00:44:03] If they go heavy veteran

[00:44:07] Layden, you can probably expect Monty to stay

[00:44:10] Now, here's the other thing

[00:44:13] That the Detroit Pistons have in the cupboard

[00:44:16] And I put it this way just

[00:44:19] So succinctly

[00:44:23] You also have the PTSD

[00:44:26] Of Cade Cunningham and Jay Divy

[00:44:29] These poor guys

[00:44:32] I mean, I have no idea

[00:44:36] They are going to get through year 3

[00:44:39] With the Detroit Pistons

[00:44:42] Can be super happy

[00:44:45] So he goes there the first year

[00:44:48] He knows it's gonna be tough

[00:44:51] Has an injury that really short circuits

[00:44:54] The second year, shin splints

[00:44:57] They go in for surgery

[00:45:00] They weren't expecting to do much

[00:45:03] Now, in Detroit, I can tell you right now

[00:45:06] I have a couple people I know

[00:45:09] That they were really excited

[00:45:12] Going into this year

[00:45:15] The year that just passed

[00:45:18] I was like, where's your shooting

[00:45:21] You got too many bigs

[00:45:24] Who's gonna put the ball in the basket

[00:45:27] And they were like, well, you know

[00:45:31] I was like, Jay Divy is gonna improve

[00:45:34] And this is gonna happen

[00:45:37] And it all never happened

[00:45:40] So now, you got Cade Cunningham

[00:45:43] Finishes year 3

[00:45:46] On a 14-68 team

[00:45:50] He looked for help

[00:45:53] All over the place with that team

[00:45:56] Couldn't find it

[00:45:59] Early in the season, whether he was

[00:46:02] In the starting lineup, out of the starting lineup

[00:46:05] I made a comment early in the season

[00:46:08] That Jayden Ivy wasn't a Monty Williams guy

[00:46:11] I meant that at the time

[00:46:14] And basically what it meant was that he was not doing

[00:46:17] What Monty wanted him to do

[00:46:20] Now, there was pressure put on Monty

[00:46:23] To start playing the young guys

[00:46:27] And Monty caved in, I would say around

[00:46:30] The middle of January, basically

[00:46:33] And Jayden Ivy really never left

[00:46:36] The rotation after that

[00:46:39] But if you're the Detroit Pistons

[00:46:42] And now you have Trangely and Langdon in here

[00:46:45] I do have a question for Detroit Pistons fans

[00:46:48] And this is not, I'm not trying to be

[00:46:51] Disrespectful at all

[00:46:57] Circumstances were terrible

[00:47:00] I will grant you all of that

[00:47:03] But what do we know clearly about Kay Cunningham

[00:47:06] And or Jayden Ivy at this point

[00:47:09] Do we know they can be number 1, number 2, number 3 options

[00:47:12] I don't think we have any clue

[00:47:15] On what these guys are

[00:47:18] Now Kay, you might have a better clue

[00:47:21] Because we got to three years in

[00:47:24] Because the team was so awful last year

[00:47:27] To really take any stock into

[00:47:30] Because you can't say, oh this will

[00:47:33] At least for me

[00:47:36] I can't look at Kay and go

[00:47:39] This translates into winning

[00:47:42] I'm not saying that he's not a winning player

[00:47:45] I'm just saying with the status of the team

[00:47:48] And what he had to work with

[00:47:52] And he had to work with a bunch of winning players

[00:47:55] Or whatever Kay Cunningham beat

[00:47:58] Because he's one guy

[00:48:01] Now could he shoot better, yes

[00:48:04] Right, they all could shoot better

[00:48:07] Jayden, Jayden Ivy could shoot better

[00:48:10] By the way if you want to talk to me

[00:48:13] About Arthur Thompson

[00:48:16] Part of your foundation or pillars or whatever

[00:48:19] Michael, Maxwell Jacob Freeman

[00:48:22] Is back in AEW which is awesome

[00:48:25] But Arthur Thompson shot 18%

[00:48:28] From 3 point land last year

[00:48:31] Now again

[00:48:34] It was a lost season for the Detroit Pistons

[00:48:37] And maybe with under this organization

[00:48:40] And I know that Trajan Langdon

[00:48:43] Is big on development

[00:48:47] And I know that Arthur

[00:48:49] Strives to be made from a sewer

[00:48:52] If Jayden Ivy stays

[00:48:55] If Kay Cunningham stays

[00:48:58] Which I have no indication

[00:49:01] That they're not going to stay

[00:49:04] So please don't get it twisted

[00:49:07] I'm not reporting anything

[00:49:10] But the question that I have

[00:49:13] Is knowing that these two kids

[00:49:16] When it comes to Kay and two years

[00:49:19] When it comes to Jayden Ivy

[00:49:22] Do you believe that these are

[00:49:25] Pieces that you can move with maybe

[00:49:28] A larger piece and get

[00:49:31] A second draft type of player

[00:49:34] Somebody that was either miscast

[00:49:37] As a number one or a number two

[00:49:40] And they were clearly a number two

[00:49:43] You were miscast there

[00:49:46] And you're clearly a number two

[00:49:49] Do you do something like that

[00:49:52] Or take a number two that's shaky

[00:49:55] And put him in a more comfortable

[00:49:58] Number three position

[00:50:01] Because if you think about it

[00:50:04] When you look at the Pistons last year

[00:50:07] Kay was your guy

[00:50:11] If he's a real guy or not

[00:50:14] I don't know

[00:50:17] Hit me up on X at frontrunner.pc

[00:50:20] Let me know about that

[00:50:23] Then we get to the big log jam

[00:50:26] That the T-Troy Pistons seem to

[00:50:29] Continuously to have which makes no sense to me

[00:50:32] So we have Jaylen Duren who is

[00:50:35] The most talented out of the group

[00:50:38] Clearly to me most athletic

[00:50:41] He was doing things in summer league where there was

[00:50:44] Dribble hesitation moves, step back

[00:50:47] 18 footers I saw a couple threes

[00:50:50] I don't know but I hope that

[00:50:53] Whatever Trajan Langdon does

[00:50:56] That developing this guy

[00:50:59] Into whatever he's going to ultimately end up being

[00:51:02] Is one of the first things

[00:51:06] That is on the agenda

[00:51:09] The other guys are James Wiseman

[00:51:12] He's a toolsy guy

[00:51:15] A lot of things to look at and go damn

[00:51:18] He should be really better at basketball

[00:51:21] But his feel for the game is still lacking

[00:51:24] I don't know if that ever catches up

[00:51:27] His just knowing where to be

[00:51:30] Or not knowing where to be

[00:51:33] He had a lot to do with that

[00:51:36] He was with Kerr

[00:51:39] Couldn't make that work

[00:51:42] Monty Williams was supposed to be an easy going guy

[00:51:45] Don't ask DeAndre Aten that

[00:51:48] Maybe he just has the disdain for bigs

[00:51:51] I don't know

[00:51:54] I don't know what to do with Wiseman

[00:51:57] I never understood the trade when they got it

[00:52:01] Then you have poor Isaiah Stewart

[00:52:04] Who is the tough guy on the team

[00:52:07] But also has really improved his game dramatically

[00:52:10] That corner three is a real weapon for him

[00:52:13] He doesn't shoot it a lot

[00:52:16] Just his willingness to grow as a basketball player

[00:52:19] Excellent

[00:52:22] He's easily the most physical

[00:52:25] Of the bigs that they have

[00:52:28] Now Jaylen Doren another offseason

[00:52:31] Who knows but Isaiah Stewart is a tank

[00:52:34] He has a mean streak

[00:52:37] He goes for every rebound

[00:52:40] He's a hustle player

[00:52:43] It's all the things you like in a basketball player

[00:52:46] But if you can get something for him right now

[00:52:49] Because at the end of the day

[00:52:52] Every Detroit Piston fan will agree with this

[00:52:55] You can't have a lot of talent

[00:52:58] And no spacing whatsoever

[00:53:01] And then have three bigs

[00:53:04] That you have to basically

[00:53:07] They're log threats

[00:53:10] They're not offense initiating dudes

[00:53:13] Unless you develop Jaylen Doren into that

[00:53:16] There's a lot to do

[00:53:19] With the Pistons

[00:53:23] That's what I has come up with

[00:53:26] Find a coach or

[00:53:29] Monty Williams buys into

[00:53:32] Trajan Langdon's POV

[00:53:35] First and foremost

[00:53:38] Decide on Ivy and Kade

[00:53:41] See if these are do you have enough information

[00:53:44] To see if you can put pieces around them

[00:53:47] To make this a lot better product

[00:53:50] And then you get maybe a little

[00:53:53] Same type of dude

[00:53:56] But maybe somebody that Trajan liked on New Orleans

[00:53:59] Maybe there's a little incestuous trade

[00:54:02] Things that can go on there

[00:54:05] Maybe there are Trajan guys

[00:54:08] On New Orleans

[00:54:11] And maybe he can

[00:54:14] Kind of seduce them with a

[00:54:18] Or whatever the case may be

[00:54:21] Or even the other young guys

[00:54:24] So this is not just a

[00:54:27] Ivy being traded type of thing

[00:54:30] So I'm thinking this out loud

[00:54:33] So for my Pistons fans out there

[00:54:36] I'm trying not to get rid of your dudes

[00:54:39] It has nothing to do with that

[00:54:42] I'm just trying to think about

[00:54:45] And more offensive creation

[00:54:48] Would be awesome

[00:54:51] Now

[00:54:54] What you got

[00:54:57] You have

[00:55:00] You have

[00:55:05] A couple things here

[00:55:08] You have the 5th overall pick

[00:55:11] Which in this draft not awesome

[00:55:15] Obviously right

[00:55:18] You also have

[00:55:21] Like a late second round pick not great

[00:55:24] If there's any way for Detroit can trade

[00:55:27] Could you see like a Jayden Ivy

[00:55:30] And the 5th overall pick

[00:55:33] To Atlanta

[00:55:37] Or Kate

[00:55:40] Kade to Atlanta

[00:55:43] So now you start the clock all over again

[00:55:46] Right

[00:55:49] Which would take pressure off of Sore

[00:55:52] And give Jayden Ivy a run of me

[00:55:55] If you just made that decision

[00:55:58] You know that's a

[00:56:01] Relatively easy thing that you can possibly do

[00:56:04] These are just things that I'm thinking about

[00:56:07] But I think what they need to do is

[00:56:11] Play around with this roster anymore

[00:56:14] Trade you won't

[00:56:17] I think you need to find

[00:56:20] A direction and start rowing

[00:56:23] In that direction

[00:56:26] Stop playing Press Your Luck

[00:56:29] That old television game show

[00:56:32] Where the dude was like the whammy

[00:56:35] They say no whammies no whammies

[00:56:38] Stop playing games stop getting

[00:56:41] James Weissman's of the world stop doing all that

[00:56:44] Draft your people

[00:56:47] Make astute trades

[00:56:50] Try to unearth some

[00:56:53] Developmental gems that you can possibly work in

[00:56:56] Into cheap labor at this point

[00:56:59] And then the one thing that you definitely need to do

[00:57:02] Playboy is go out

[00:57:06] And get into a bonafide bucket getter

[00:57:09] Okay don't leave the off season

[00:57:12] Without a bonafide bucket getter

[00:57:15] For your squad

[00:57:18] There will be a ton available trust me

[00:57:21] Alright

[00:57:24] So Detroit fans

[00:57:27] Hit me up at Frontrunner PC

[00:57:30] Or hit my producer up because he's the one

[00:57:33] Who's gonna come up with this segment

[00:57:36] At B Funch

[00:57:39] FRPC

[00:57:42] He caped it up for his guy he did it late night

[00:57:45] It was awesome last night

[00:57:48] And that is basically about it

[00:57:51] For this podcast the one thing that I want to tell you

[00:57:54] Is we got three pods in this week

[00:57:57] Congratulations to you guys and congratulations to me

[00:58:01] For hitting the three pods situation

[00:58:04] The other thing that I want to say is this

[00:58:07] The best part of you is you

[00:58:10] Please have people in your life

[00:58:13] That only brighten your light and do not extinguish your light

[00:58:16] Do good for the world this week

[00:58:19] We'll see you back on this feed Monday

[00:58:22] With some game 2 observations

[00:58:25] And let's see if Dallas can get it going in game 2

[00:58:28] You guys have a good weekend

[00:58:31] See you on Monday, Peace