NBA Game 7 Previews: Nuggets vs. Timberwolves, Pacers vs. Knicks | OKC's Playoff Analysis

[00:00:00] Saturday and you know what time it is, it's time for Front Runner Podcast Collective.

[00:00:17] I am your humble host Vince and welcome to the podcast and before we get into a couple

[00:00:24] tasty game 7s that are coming up tomorrow and also look back at what just happened

[00:00:31] today with Dallas and OKC let's get into the socials.

[00:00:36] First and foremost let me thank everybody who has been on the YouTube channel.

[00:00:43] We've had a lot of great success there but please remember to subscribe, like, comment,

[00:00:52] I'm getting to the comments as quickly as possible so you know that you're getting

[00:00:58] me to go ahead and comment to you and that's our promise right is that we are trying to

[00:01:06] connect with you and give you quality entertainment with us.

[00:01:12] The other thing is go ahead and follow us on X which is at Front Runner PC also hit

[00:01:20] our producer which is B Funch FRPC alright he's doing a good job, a bunch of funches

[00:01:31] help me with all this and then we're gonna get into the show.

[00:01:36] The one thing I will say about today's game is OKC is a phenomenal team.

[00:01:46] OKC with Thunder played exceptionally well in this game and basically what it came down

[00:01:55] to was the Bigs of Dallas right.

[00:01:59] Derek Lively who is a rookie who has come out and he scored 12 points he had 15 rebounds

[00:02:08] in his game I mean it was impressive showing also the other big which is Daniel Gafford

[00:02:18] he also chipped in with 10 points and 7 rebounds as well and there is a point to this at the

[00:02:24] end of it.

[00:02:26] The other thing that we can talk about is this Presti now knows what he needs on this

[00:02:32] team one thing that we have been saying on these podcasts when the playoffs have

[00:02:38] started is that the playoffs give you the undeniable truth about your team and

[00:02:45] what we've seen is that Josh Giddy has served his purpose with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

[00:02:55] He was tentative shooting they ignored him outside completely so they packed the paint

[00:03:03] which allowed well it didn't stop SGA and we'll get to that in a second as far as

[00:03:10] that's concerned but it did slow down the others it slowed down the Jalen Williams

[00:03:17] of the world it slowed down Chet Holmgrens of the world and also you know to a lesser

[00:03:23] extent the other bigs and people who need the ball and the paint.

[00:03:27] Josh Giddy is a connector the one thing a lot of people might miscast him as is

[00:03:35] and I was talking to a scout friend and he kind of just told me about Josh Giddy is

[00:03:44] a connector but as far as how he sees the game he doesn't see the game like a point

[00:03:49] guard in the way where you have to see it two steps ahead like Gilgit would like

[00:03:56] LeBron would like some are real inquisitive ball handlers that we have out there like

[00:04:05] the Jalen Brunson's of the world and things of that nature those guys can see the game

[00:04:09] two three steps ahead and then can make the proper passes to go along with those

[00:04:15] and what the scout said was that he usually is someone who will keep his head down mostly

[00:04:24] especially when you're on a break as far as that's concerned he's just more concerned

[00:04:31] with getting the ball up the court and then make the proper pass to get it to whomever

[00:04:36] it's more of a connecting tool but it's not an actual point guard tool which is

[00:04:41] interesting because Giddy usually is one of those guys who is a decent assist guy low

[00:04:49] turnover guy but I never thought about it as intentionality of passing and that's what he

[00:04:57] brought me to is the level of just an intentionality is this path is this pass gonna lead to a score

[00:05:03] or to a better look at a basket and when you start looking at the tape it's clear that it

[00:05:10] doesn't I think Presti now knows that that's the spot that he can go ahead and start to see

[00:05:17] what he wants to do as far as upgrades are concerned I would actually tell you that I

[00:05:22] think they would need somebody on the bigger side now I'm not saying necessarily you have

[00:05:29] to go out and get a center but I think it would be prudent to go out and get somebody

[00:05:34] who is of you know 610 611 range you know at least 6-9 you know if they have ball handling

[00:05:44] ability I know that's a big thing with OKC they want to keep they want to be able to keep that

[00:05:49] kind of creation and kind of drive and kick style out to the open shooters with every

[00:05:56] position on the court but I think at this point if you can get a big that's number one

[00:06:03] because when we get to the end of this situation with the OKC and Dallas Mavericks

[00:06:09] it's a stark difference now the other guy that I want to get to Derek Jones his effort on D for

[00:06:18] Dallas was amazing it was amazing the whole series now now his challenge was to guard SGA

[00:06:24] now that was a very tall ask now SGA got his points but he had to work for him you know

[00:06:33] there weren't a lot of games where was super efficient where he was shooting you know 12 of

[00:06:39] 18 and still in scoring like 36 points it was a lot of 25 shots 30 points and also in this

[00:06:49] particular game where Dallas won it ended up winning the series he put it up like what 20

[00:06:56] points he actually shot four or six from three so in a closeout game played spectacular the whole

[00:07:05] series great energy loose balls deflections he was there Derek Jones was an undrafted player

[00:07:14] and the reason why I bring out Derek Jones and his effort and what went on to it is because

[00:07:20] we've been talking about this draft and how you know you'll hear words that this is a bad

[00:07:26] draft or you'll hear words that there's not a lot of talent in this draft and I have made

[00:07:32] the comment before that I don't necessarily agree with that I don't agree with the whole it's

[00:07:40] not very talented what I would tell you is that if you're looking for a star and we are

[00:07:47] going to talk about some players that are exciting coming into this drought at the towards

[00:07:54] the end of the show what if you're looking for a star you probably won't find it but if

[00:07:59] you cash your net correctly you can possibly feel some needs in this draft because there

[00:08:07] are a lot of guys out here that can rebound or can play defense and shoot the three or create

[00:08:16] for others there's a lot of guys who can do these type of things and can fill roles in

[00:08:21] your roster for inexpensive cost instead of going out and spending 16 17 million dollars on

[00:08:29] somebody so shots out to Derek Jones in his effort today and also throughout the series

[00:08:36] SGA's brilliance in this series lets us know that the future is here SGA is gonna be one

[00:08:48] of these guys that we're gonna have to deal with for a long time to come he scored 30 plus

[00:08:55] points in five of the six games yes he had to shoot more but he still shot for a very good

[00:09:05] percentage in the series he did what he needed to do for his team now we'll talk about Chet

[00:09:14] and j-dub in one second but the whole series where maybe Chet and and Jalen Williams weren't

[00:09:23] ready for the moment you know and there's nothing to be ashamed of with that you're

[00:09:30] looking at what two second year players and in Chet basically we're looking at a first

[00:09:35] year player because last year he didn't play at all so this was incredible experience for OKC I

[00:09:43] know it's a completely disappointing way to end your season especially as a number one seed

[00:09:50] but you learned a lot you got the experience that you needed maybe the record was kind of

[00:09:58] played with your head a little bit but you're you're ahead of schedule and with 17 picks still

[00:10:05] left to go over six years as I'm talking about first rounders I don't even include the second

[00:10:12] rounders because I think it's something like 39 picks total over six years so pressy still

[00:10:23] has a lot of ammunition to go out and help this team grow and develop and mature because I still

[00:10:30] believe and this is where we'll get to j-dub and Chet I still believe you have a big three

[00:10:36] now they kind of disappeared in the middle part of the series but at the end when she needed

[00:10:42] some help j-dub and Chet they combined for 43 points 12 12 rebounds 9 assists and 4 steals

[00:10:51] pretty good production for young players pretty good production for guys who didn't show up in

[00:11:01] a couple games and we started to think hey man maybe the lights are a little too bright for them

[00:11:07] right now but good way to bounce back get yourself back in the mix even though it was

[00:11:15] on a losing effort you acquitted yourself great so I think the Thunder the Thunder fans have a

[00:11:23] lot to be excited about I don't look at this as a disappointment at all yes it stings a little

[00:11:30] bit that you're out of playoffs but again I talk about windows and we were talking about

[00:11:38] Orlando about four weeks ago just having that experience it doesn't matter whether they won

[00:11:46] lost whatever being able to see Paulo in that experience was tremendous for Orlando the franchise

[00:11:54] it was tremendous for the NBA to see that this guy can carry the load and it's the same thing

[00:12:02] for SGA and also now on a lower level Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren. Crew for Concept is

[00:12:11] working for Mark Dagnall and it's working for Sam Kresty so kudos to the OKC Thunder who do

[00:12:18] not give us any information whatsoever so now there's a couple things that we want to get

[00:12:25] to especially towards the end of the game I will say one of the key things to this game is

[00:12:30] the big swing within 27 seconds of this game now PJ Washington struggled with foul trouble the

[00:12:39] whole game he didn't score his first points until I think early in the second half or what

[00:12:44] have you and he had a dead ball foul with 27 seconds left to go he fouled was it Shay?

[00:12:57] He fouled Shay trying to get through a screen now at this point this gives OKC who was down by

[00:13:09] two gives them a free throw okay so Shay knocks that down and then they go ahead and score the

[00:13:18] next bucket man oh man I'm looking at this and I'm writing up this to go for you know the

[00:13:27] podcast tonight you know sitting there going man this is gonna this is gonna be bad you know

[00:13:32] like what what a way to lose right and to have him come down and have a scrum go go on balls

[00:13:41] flying all over the place PJ Washington is standing in left in the left corner I think

[00:13:48] the south corner he shoots he shoots a three-point shot and Shay Gildes Alexander fouls him now

[00:13:57] the foul you know I don't know maybe Shay doesn't get that foul next year but this year

[00:14:08] he got this foul and PJ Washington went up and knocked down the first two free throws and he

[00:14:17] just knocked him in it was great you know just knocked him in he missed the third one on

[00:14:22] purpose so that OKC didn't have really enough time to get a real good shot off and the

[00:14:28] Mavericks won but man it was a tumultuous 27 seconds for our guy PJ Washington so I'm glad

[00:14:37] it worked out for him and then here's the other thing with Dallas their sloppiness almost lost it

[00:14:44] lost in this game now they had 17 turnovers and if you look at the stats okay she okay see shot

[00:14:53] the wall more than Dallas did okay so they have more shots they have more opportunities

[00:15:02] they didn't shoot as well as Dallas but here was the biggest stat and this is the biggest

[00:15:07] problem Dallas out rebounded okay see 47 to 31 total rebounds and then offensive rebounds they

[00:15:18] doubled up on the on the Thunder 14 to 7 and this was going to be the concern the whole time

[00:15:27] every time that okay see stepped on the court with everybody else it was great in a regular

[00:15:35] season that you were trying harder than everybody else but in the postseason everybody tries hard

[00:15:43] and then everybody is bigger and that's what happened they just ran into a bigger team who

[00:15:52] had two assassins in Luka Donchich and Kyrie Irving Kyrie in the first half he was non-existent

[00:16:03] in the second half scored all his points 22 and was instrumental in staving off little

[00:16:11] okay see runs and also hitting corner threes at like the most critical times of the game

[00:16:19] to keep his team in it and what have you so shots out to Kyrie shots out to Luka who played a

[00:16:27] really good series and you know he was going through it he has a knee injury that he's going

[00:16:34] through he battled through and now Dallas is on to the next series which the next series

[00:16:43] right and it comes up tomorrow let's talk about it game seven Denver in the Minnesota T-wolves

[00:16:54] they get it on tomorrow Jokic versus Ant I can't wait now we picked here at front running

[00:17:04] podcast collector we pick different nuggets to win this series as you know as this series

[00:17:11] has gone on there's been momentum swings back and forth Minnesota won the first two games I

[00:17:19] said wait wait a minute this looks bad right this looks this doesn't look good and then

[00:17:27] Denver goes to Minnesota wins two games you know we didn't know what to do at this point

[00:17:36] we're like what's going on you know champions pulling themselves off the mat Anthony Edwards

[00:17:45] becoming a absolute megastar in front of our eyes I mean there's so much going on in this

[00:17:51] series so let's break this down real quick okay both teams so hell serve right so we got

[00:17:59] game five Denver blew them out game six Minnesota blew them out so they both held serve

[00:18:07] at home so after Minnesota winning on the road twice and Denver winning on the road

[00:18:14] twice they both held serve at home the two home teams finally won some games so that's great

[00:18:21] now what this series is gonna come down to to me it's gonna be Jamal Murray's aggression with

[00:18:31] coming off pick and roll action with Nikola Jokic now he has had some moments in this series but

[00:18:39] it hasn't been consistent whatsoever and my thing is that I know that he had the knee injury

[00:18:45] that bothered him he had a couple games where he looked really good in this series but it

[00:18:51] hasn't really been consistent with Jamal Murray so his aggression coming off the pick

[00:18:57] and roll that's really what sparks the rest of the action with the Diver Nuggets because

[00:19:02] the other the other critical piece with the Diver Nuggets in this game this game seven is

[00:19:10] they need something from Michael Porter jr. they don't get anything from Michael Porter jr.

[00:19:17] they might be going home and the defending champs will no longer be the defending champ so

[00:19:25] it's gonna come down to those two guys now obviously the reason why it comes down to

[00:19:34] those two guys is because Jaden McDaniels is putting absolute clamps on Jamal Murray

[00:19:43] now like I said there's been a couple games that Jamal got loose but for the most part

[00:19:51] Jaden McDaniels has been great he's been he's hit timely threes with just the effort to get

[00:20:00] over screens to ever to get over Jokic and to chase Jamal Murray and then get help from

[00:20:08] Anthony Edwards or whoever else is in that vicinity has been instrumental to what the actual

[00:20:18] defense is trying to do to Jokic because at the end of the day they're trying to make Jokic

[00:20:23] somebody who is a prolific scorer now he can do that but his his comfort zone is playmaking

[00:20:34] Nikola Jokic feels far more comfortable when he can throw some lobs to Aaron Gordon he can

[00:20:45] kick it out to Michael Porter Jr. or Cantavious Caldwell Pope he likes to play that little

[00:20:52] two-man game with Jamal when Reggie Jackson's in the game he can do it with him and you know

[00:20:59] get Reggie to cut or what have you so these are the type of things that Jokic wants to do

[00:21:05] what the T-Wheels have said no what we're doing to you is we're gonna make you a volume

[00:21:12] shooter now we know that you're still going to get your points but we're gonna try to take

[00:21:19] out your other guys and so far we're at 3-3 so there's been sometimes when they've been able

[00:21:27] to do it and sometimes when they haven't been able to do it but I will say this about the

[00:21:35] entire series Anthony Edwards has absolutely proven to me that I don't I don't care about the stats

[00:21:44] I don't care about the efficiency I don't care about oh he hasn't you know his turnover ratio

[00:21:52] is still not where it's supposed to be I don't care about any of that we got an old school

[00:21:58] guy Anthony Edwards this dude is like I'm gonna get buckets I'm gonna talk trash I'm gonna play

[00:22:08] some defense and I'm gonna try to kick your ass that's it this real plain and simple so

[00:22:18] T-Wheels and Denver tomorrow I still have Denver winning I always have said throughout

[00:22:25] the whole series it's going to be continuity right continuity Denver's been here they've

[00:22:30] been in this situation they got a couple more scars to them but I will tell you that x factor

[00:22:38] is Anthony Edwards because the one thing that we cannot count on is the superhero

[00:22:49] and every once in a while there's an honest unsuspected superhero just sitting out there

[00:22:57] and you know we could have poo-pooed it and said hey you know Anthony Edwards is 22 years old

[00:23:05] you know this is not his time but you can't tell Anthony Edwards that because the confidence

[00:23:13] is supreme and he has every thought in his head that he is just as good as Jokic

[00:23:22] good as Jokic and there is nothing you can do to tell him any different when it comes to that

[00:23:30] now a couple other things that we need to talk about with this

[00:23:34] different nuggets are not getting anything with their bench whatsoever I'm surprised by this

[00:23:41] there was a conversation that we had I think early in the season or if it was in the off

[00:23:48] season of last year actually no it was early in the season we talked about Calvin Booth

[00:23:54] who is the president of player personnel for the nuggets now mind you he took over

[00:24:02] for Tim Connelly Tim Connelly is now the president of player personnel of the Minnesota

[00:24:09] Timberwolves so Calvin takes silver and he makes a really bold decision

[00:24:16] in the off season this past Bruce Brown who is a

[00:24:24] awesome utility player who comes off the bench gives energy he plays a connective role he can

[00:24:31] play a pseudo point guard for you which you don't need on Denver but he's a cutter he's a

[00:24:38] rebounder he could play in the darker spot at 6-4 which is ridiculous they had him last year

[00:24:47] and he was critical to their championship run this year they do not have him they let him go

[00:24:54] he went into free agency he signed a deal with Indiana and the rest is history now

[00:25:02] I think I've said on a couple podcasts leading up to the trade deadline oh well

[00:25:08] surely Denver will add to their you know to their bench because that was the thing that

[00:25:15] everybody was worried about with Denver going into the postseason Calvin Booth said

[00:25:24] we are sticking with our young guys we have a plan we like Christian Brown we like

[00:25:31] Strother that we drafted and we want to see our guys develop and we want to see what we have

[00:25:38] we're not going to go ahead and chase veterans at this present time okay so that's the backdrop

[00:25:47] now we fast forward to these playoffs and I will tell you that you can you'll hear a lot of people

[00:25:58] talk about Christian Brown's energy you'll talk they'll talk about his defense they will even

[00:26:04] talk about how savvy he is we're gonna need you to put some points on the board my man

[00:26:11] on the board my man like it's great that you're hounding uh Anthony Edwards when you're in there

[00:26:21] by the way every time Christian Brown is on Anthony Edwards Anthony Edwards thinks it's a

[00:26:28] personal affront to him as a human being that Christian Brown is on him he looks at

[00:26:37] that man and just looks at him with such disdain like why does this do on me I don't even

[00:26:42] understand this okay I'm just gonna I'm gonna post him up stick my shoulder into him and

[00:26:50] knock down his 17 footer and just look at his bench and just go next because this clearly is

[00:26:59] not working but they're gonna need some production and this move or this non-move

[00:27:08] might come back to bite Calvin Booth if they end up losing game seven now there's two other

[00:27:15] things that we need to talk about when it comes to this series is Carl Anthony Towns

[00:27:21] which one will show up um Carl has played very um hard this series but in games when

[00:27:34] Anthony Edwards has needed him which he will need him in this game you need a 24

[00:27:45] point performance from Carl Anthony Towns to have any shot against the Denver Nuggets at home

[00:27:53] in a game seven situation and Carl Anthony Towns can't have silly fouls

[00:28:00] he had a foul I want to say it was with like 6 39 and third quarter and it was just the silliest

[00:28:10] foul and these are the things that we're talking about he's so maddening as a basketball player

[00:28:16] extremely talented just one of the great just one of the best big man shooters I've ever seen

[00:28:25] he even though it doesn't look awesome he gets to the basket scores his defense has leveled up

[00:28:35] I can't kill him on it he's kind of he's lowering the tag of being somebody we can

[00:28:47] not count on I'm trying to soften that but it will it will come in game seven and

[00:29:00] what I mean by that they'll they'll come a time where Anthony Edwards has either scored a bunch

[00:29:07] he went on a blitz and scored a bunch he's a little bit tired he's gonna need Carl Anthony

[00:29:12] Towns to carry the mail for like two minutes so he can get a blow and what Carl Anthony Towns

[00:29:22] does in that time or preceding that time to get himself in foul trouble or keep himself out of

[00:29:30] foul trouble will be critical to what the hell is going to go on in this game all right

[00:29:38] the other thing is is that Nas Reed is a real one I love that dude sixth man of the

[00:29:43] year congrats to Nas Reed but also congrats to the way he's playing in this series because

[00:29:50] here's the other thing if Carl Anthony Towns does uh kind of go Chernobyl on us during this

[00:29:59] game seven the whispers will get louder about whether Carl Anthony Towns will be in Minnesota

[00:30:07] next year mark my words on that let's get to our other game seven this is the one

[00:30:13] that all the Hollywood producers are talking about this is the series that people are going

[00:30:19] to make movies off of this is probably the series that Disney's probably have something

[00:30:24] written already for uh Jalen Brunson but the Pacers and the Knicks are gonna get it on

[00:30:31] and they're gonna get it on in the game seven so as we continue to go forward and talk about

[00:30:38] this series which has been we use the terminology like war and all that and everything

[00:30:45] I will say that this has been a battle of attrition and there has been a lot of attrition

[00:30:53] on the New York Knicks side to say the least but we are here we've gotten to this game seven

[00:31:02] and I remember talking about in game five I don't think the Knicks have enough I don't

[00:31:08] think they have no bodies to do this and I said the only way that the Knicks win game five

[00:31:14] is that Madison Square Garden comes alive I talked with a couple people who was in that building

[00:31:24] that night and they said you couldn't hear yourself think there it was just a wall of sound

[00:31:34] of sound it was amazing people were into it and they blew out

[00:31:42] Indiana so what does Indiana do in turn take them back to Indiana

[00:31:50] run them around Pascal Siakam had a hell of a game oh by the way we need to talk about TJ

[00:31:57] McConnell for the Indiana Pacers the last two games I mean this dude it seems like

[00:32:04] Rick Highwyle just said go on the floor and run as fast as you can with the basketball

[00:32:13] anytime you're making a cut run as fast as you can when you make that cut

[00:32:19] and then just be an absolute pest to Jalen Brunson TJ McConnell has played this role to

[00:32:28] an absolute tee he gets an A plus in my book for the role that he has played he has provided

[00:32:35] energy he's provided defense and just been getting under the skin of Jalen Brunson and

[00:32:43] he also because just the lack of legs that the Knicks have there's a screen that they set up on

[00:32:52] the it's on the north side of the court and Miles Turner comes out I want to say it's about

[00:33:02] 22 feet away from the basket and what you'll see happen is that TJ McConnell will be coming

[00:33:09] across half court he'll see Miles set up for the pick and as soon as he sets TJ takes off

[00:33:19] he just shoots out of a cannon and he goes running dead towards Miles Turner right so

[00:33:27] his defender gets clipped off now the big is transferring to TJ and now TJ is at full sprint

[00:33:37] coming downhill at an angle towards the basket right now all year TJ is gonna he's not a real

[00:33:48] he's not a scorer he's a connector he's like hey let's ball gets energy I'm gonna run around

[00:33:54] I'm gonna get you the ball and we're gonna find open shooters that's what his deal is but

[00:34:00] in this particular series when he gets to the basket he's been throwing up layups

[00:34:06] uh he scored like 15 points one game I think the other game scored 17 this is

[00:34:13] unfamiliar production that you this is just foul money that the Indiana Pacers just

[00:34:20] are getting he's getting this and they needed it because here's the question to have

[00:34:28] it's game seven we'll get to a couple other things in one second which I find amazing but

[00:34:38] is Halliburton gonna show any aggression in game seven because the reason why TJ McConnell

[00:34:47] was so important is because the lack of aggression that Tyrese Halliburton has had

[00:34:56] has had he's had a couple good games do not get me wrong but when you're scoring 13 points

[00:35:05] in a closeout game and you're taking what like 10 shots that's not good

[00:35:14] you're the guy they paid you so whether it's five of 18 or 12 of 18 you need to take your

[00:35:26] prerequisite allotment of shots my guy and if you don't in Madison Square Garden the Pacers

[00:35:36] will go home okay they will go home because here's the other thing that we got news on

[00:35:45] ESPN's Adrian Wojnowski has reported that there is a chance that OG and Inogi with

[00:35:55] the hamstring pull will play in game seven changes everything changes gang just letting you know

[00:36:10] okay it changes everything for me also Josh Hart who has some sort of abdominal

[00:36:20] strain now here's the thing with Josh Hart we've been talking about Tibbs and his rotations and

[00:36:33] we even said on last pot how what is Tibbs gonna do I mean everybody said well you know maybe

[00:36:43] Alex Burks should have got more minutes than this person we said it when you got OG playing

[00:36:49] you had Mitchell Robinson playing and you had Boyan by Donovan plan he had these other guys

[00:36:54] playing how was how were these people gonna get minutes ahead of them and you know with Tibbs if

[00:37:02] you don't play defense you can't play but at this point you're just running out of bodies

[00:37:10] but Josh Hart pulled an abdominal muscle in game six he was laboring terribly hope like

[00:37:20] pretty much from what second third quarter on no say it was third quarter on early third quarter

[00:37:30] on he was just just hurting laboring the whole game and he asked out a couple times and then

[00:37:38] tis put him right back in um he's gonna play I don't know what to say about this anymore I

[00:37:48] have no clue what to say about this I can't believe it it's incredible it's just it's a

[00:37:55] mind-boggling story and then here's the best part we spent all this time on the Pacers and

[00:38:03] Knicks and I really haven't talked about Jalen Brunson at all Jalen Brunson is putting

[00:38:09] 40 points on the regular in this series and they know that he don't have any help

[00:38:19] it's all on him my man is taking like 28 27 shots a game because he has to

[00:38:30] for them to have a chance but now if OG and Inobi is going to come back now I have

[00:38:39] no way to know what to expect from a

[00:38:46] guy who pulled his hamstring like what two weeks ago two two three weeks ago two weeks ago whatever

[00:38:55] so game seven is going to be electric we got surprises we got pump we got circumstance

[00:39:04] so everybody grab your favorite beverage

[00:39:12] if OG is gonna play Knicks are gonna win so that's my call Knicks win in seven

[00:39:22] I'm really worried about Tyrese Halliburton that mean it's really what it comes down to

[00:39:27] I'm just really worried about which one am I going to get

[00:39:32] and uh I just it's real hard to to go against that crowd it's really hard to go against what

[00:39:39] Jalen Brunson is doing right now and here's the other thing Dante DiVincenzo

[00:39:46] did not have his regular game in game six so expect a very big Dante DiVincenzo game as

[00:39:55] well so I look forward to it it's gonna be great now who is waiting around for this the

[00:40:03] Boston Celtics because they annihilated Cleveland and um the best part about it is is that they

[00:40:11] did exactly what they were supposed to do now the funny part about all of it is

[00:40:17] is that and we're not going to spend a lot of time on that Cleveland Boston deal

[00:40:22] but I really think it's funny that Boston needed and when I say needed they needed

[00:40:32] a damn near 38 year old Al Horford to save them in game five now Al had an incredible game

[00:40:48] he scored over 20 he grabbed 15 boards I mean he did it all but again

[00:40:57] you know uh the YouTube clip is up there um we had put up uh stats in the YouTube clip about

[00:41:07] Jason Tatum's uh clutch numbers you be the judge I I don't have to say anything

[00:41:14] I let the clip say what it needs to say um and it's at front runner podcast collective channel

[00:41:20] on YouTube so go check it out um we're really proud of the of the channel we're really proud

[00:41:27] of that particular clip in general um but Boston wins that series they're waiting on

[00:41:35] the winner of the Pacers and Knicks and now we're gonna get that answer tomorrow

[00:41:40] and I can't wait it is going to be awesome but if OG and Inobi can give them any sort of real

[00:41:50] additive production just one extra body is gonna help them tremendously all right a couple

[00:41:58] things that we need to get to and then we can pull up out of here um let's talk a little

[00:42:07] draft now last year the first overall pick was Victor Wimbanyama now when we came out last year

[00:42:19] and then his his teammate actually came out Bilal Kulubale he got drafted by the Washington

[00:42:25] Wizards last year as well now are the French about to take over that's my question to

[00:42:36] all my draft people out there because Alexander Saar and Zachary Rissachet look like they are the

[00:42:47] one two overall selections of this draft now I'm gonna tell you my favorite of the two in a

[00:42:54] second but um this is really this is getting real crazy now I mean thank god for Anthony

[00:43:05] Edwards and what he's doing in that in that series but Jokic won the MVP this year Joel

[00:43:14] in B won it last year we know Jokic won it you know a couple years there was a Janis year

[00:43:20] and there um we need some Americans to start doing some stuff okay uh and now

[00:43:30] Alexander Saar who's a seven foot one guy he can um the shot it's the shot the defense is there

[00:43:41] he's he's not I don't even think he's 220 pounds yet so there's gonna be some weight that

[00:43:47] needs to be gained there but he does have good defensive instincts he seems to be able to track

[00:43:55] the ball very well he seems to be able to play off coverage and I think as he gets stronger

[00:44:03] he'll be able to be a more of an on-ball presence but right now he's going to be more

[00:44:07] of a four and actually he sounds a little like AD just as an FYI sounds a little like AD

[00:44:16] talks about how he doesn't want to play the five just as an FYI but there it is um now

[00:44:25] Zachary Rissachet is a really intriguing uh Zachary Rissachet is an intriguing prospect to me

[00:44:36] and the reason why I say that is because he's 6'9 he might be 6'10 he's about 215 220 pounds

[00:44:48] he shoots the wall beautifully and he does play some defense as well

[00:44:56] now people kind of comp them to Paul George I don't want to do that to him yet

[00:45:04] Paul George has a little more on-ball creativity than I've ever seen with Zachary Rissachet but

[00:45:12] here's what I've been told about him he has it in his game but because the French team that he

[00:45:19] plays for is uh in the playoffs right now and their competitive team they asked him to be a

[00:45:27] 3D guy like listen all that like bad work that you worked on no no no put that aside

[00:45:34] we need you to shoot this wall from three and we need you to guard and lo and behold that's

[00:45:41] what he's done and so there's a couple things that we're we're not really seeing out of

[00:45:48] Rissachet as of yet but as he starts to do the individual workouts and what have you and

[00:45:56] we start getting notes on those type of things we can give you a better indication of where that

[00:46:01] on-ball creation lies I've heard that there's a lot more than what we're actually seeing right

[00:46:08] now and if that's the case then to me he is the odds on number one overall pick

[00:46:17] and I think he has the best upside of anybody in this draft um now

[00:46:24] with draft picks it's a crap shoot anybody who gets on here and tells you I know for a fact

[00:46:31] this guy's gonna be great blah blah blah we all don't know man we all don't know okay

[00:46:39] we're giving you our hours of watching tape we're looking at certain movements

[00:46:47] we're looking at athleticism we're looking at mentality we're looking at determination

[00:46:54] um or or what we perceive is determination on the court well we don't know but we try to give

[00:47:03] you the best analysis that we possibly give now we were right on Dezen Bane out of um

[00:47:11] who plays for Memphis out of TCU we've been right on um who else were we right on

[00:47:21] we were right on uh Keonte George that was our guy you know now we didn't hit on scoop

[00:47:30] we did not hit on scoop we did hit in on um Ken Whitmore though 100 we hit on our guy

[00:47:38] Ken Whitmore Jaime Hockett Jr. I screamed to the high heavens now obviously there's some bias

[00:47:47] there but I thought he was a a Miami Heat from day one and lo and behold he ended up

[00:47:53] with the Miami Heat I will still still to this day ask the question of why Rob Palinka did not

[00:48:02] draft Jaime Hockett Jr. I will ask that question forever and I probably won't get an answer

[00:48:13] but anyways all right but I'm gonna tell you right now I think Richie Shay has a chance to

[00:48:19] be really good I think he can be really additive even early on as a bench player providing effort

[00:48:28] and providing space in what he's shooting so I look forward to seeing how this all plays out

[00:48:34] and as it gets closer and closer to the draft we will have a better indication of what he is

[00:48:39] really about when it comes to on-ball creation now the last little piece of news that we want

[00:48:46] to get to is this we had we put out a a clip on YouTube please go to front runner podcast

[00:48:57] collective and check out the latest clip it's about JJ Reddick maybe being a front runner

[00:49:03] to the Lakers head coaching position there is more information coming out about Darwin Ham

[00:49:11] now Sam Amick of the athletic who is excellent at what he does he was on the Rich Isen show

[00:49:21] and he said that Anthony Davis was not on board with Darwin Ham and I say to everyone involved

[00:49:34] to everyone involved really we're surprised that Anthony Davis was not on board with Darwin Ham

[00:49:46] where did Darwin Ham put Anthony Davis most of the time this this year

[00:49:54] he played center what has me Anthony Davis been telling us

[00:50:00] since he got here he does not want to play center so Darwin Ham

[00:50:10] with his charisma and his deep voice and if he wants to just completely lead the NBA

[00:50:18] and get a job as a late night DJ he can because he has an incredible voice

[00:50:24] um I just find it weird that your your second your 1b how do you want to call Anthony Davis

[00:50:37] has been telling you for years this is something that he said in New Orleans

[00:50:43] and this is something that he's been saying since he's been in LA I do not want to play

[00:50:48] center now here is the problem with Anthony Davis not wanting to play center big boy

[00:50:59] you got to shoot way better from three or attempt like 20 foot jump shots and hit them

[00:51:08] with some sort of regularity for us to go out and get a center all right so I understand

[00:51:17] your concern I understand that you don't like to get beat up and embarrassed by Jokic I get that

[00:51:24] but don't feel bad about getting embarrassed by Jokic he embarrasses everyone you know so I

[00:51:31] wouldn't worry about it personally um the other thing with that is is that is this the

[00:51:38] changing of the guard that we've been kind of talking about over this last year now

[00:51:44] for the longest time LeBron James has been talking you know we will go as far as AD will take us and

[00:51:50] AD needs to be the leader of this team and AD needs to do these things and every time LeBron takes

[00:51:59] the mantle right and he continues to do these things now I think also in the last pot

[00:52:07] I think also in the last pot I talked about you know whoever the Lakers bring in and we talked

[00:52:15] about Donovan Mitchell if the Lakers were to get Donovan now I will tell you that the

[00:52:23] reports coming out from Jake Fisher and others are saying that Donovan Mitchell is happy in

[00:52:32] Cleveland well of course he's happy in Cleveland because the extension of five years is coming

[00:52:45] and the max dollars that are coming that man could be happy on the moon with that kind of money

[00:52:55] right but we all know the game now because KD has given us the playbook

[00:53:03] so you get your contract and then you ask out so he can sit there and say I can leave right now

[00:53:11] or I can leave in eight months but I'm gonna get my money either way

[00:53:19] so Cleveland has some decisions to make when it comes to Donovan Mitchell the other reports

[00:53:27] that we want to get to real quick is this is that it looks like we're gonna have a lot of

[00:53:33] bigs on the market because Cleveland is shopping Jared Allen it seems apparent that they're gonna

[00:53:43] break up the Evan Mobley Jared Allen double big situation now it is also reported that Evan

[00:53:53] Mobley will likely get like the max working extension as well so he's gonna be in that high

[00:54:02] 30 range or maybe even low 40s when it comes to that so it looks like Cleveland is starting

[00:54:09] to make moves we'll see what goes on with Donovan Mitchell with bringing it back to the

[00:54:13] Lakers if Donovan Mitchell is not out there right we talked about it in the pod last one

[00:54:22] it doesn't matter what the Lakers do LeBron needs to take a step back and the whole

[00:54:30] Anthony Davis in it coming out that Anthony Davis said hey this is not working for me

[00:54:38] I don't know if I should take that as a step of him saying this is my team and

[00:54:46] I kind of don't want this and as a Laker fan now I'll take my analyst hat off for a second

[00:54:53] this would make me really enthusiastic personally if Anthony Davis is really saying all right bump

[00:55:01] this all right listen oh dude you 39 I'm gonna need you to pass the ball to me a lot

[00:55:09] okay I'm gonna score a lot of points you're gonna get a lot of assists and then you're

[00:55:13] gonna help me with the rebounding and then like in clutch situations we'll pull you out

[00:55:18] on rock balls and have you do stuff now if that is the version of Anthony Davis that is

[00:55:25] coming sign me up I'm all aboard for that Anthony Davis matter of fact you can go ahead and give me

[00:55:35] like whatever the the most expensive package of that is I will sign up for that all right

[00:55:42] but yeah Anthony Davis looks like he pulled the trigger on the Darwin Ham thing we will

[00:55:48] continue to monitor the head coaching situation I will tell you that James Borrego of Charlotte

[00:55:56] is also kind of inching closer and closer but my sources are still telling me that JJ is in

[00:56:05] the lead there's something about him that intrigues the Lakers organization all right

[00:56:12] one last thing we talked about Jared Allen might be on the move a couple more bigs to think about

[00:56:19] now with Atlanta having the number one overall pick now I don't know if they will select it

[00:56:25] but they've been telling everybody they will and if that's the case you got Clint Capella

[00:56:33] who's on the 22 million dollar contract you have our guy Aneka Akangu who we've been singing

[00:56:45] the praises here on front runner podcast collective for the last two years and now

[00:56:52] you're gonna have this and it looks like Alexander star would be the number one overall

[00:56:57] pick even though I think Richelieu could also be the number one overall pick now if they're

[00:57:04] keeping the pick and they're keeping those guys they might be trying to pair up Jalen Johnson

[00:57:10] with Zachary Richelieu and if that's what they're gonna do that's gonna be fire I

[00:57:19] will love that I think this is that would be excellent if they did that but if they do

[00:57:26] the Alexander star pick these bigs are going to be available that they have on their team

[00:57:34] and then the other big that we need to throw out there is Jonas Valanchunas of the New

[00:57:40] Orleans Pelicans it looks like he will be on the market as well so hey our guy Sam Presti who

[00:57:47] probably needs some bigs or big talent there you are there's your list buddy

[00:57:54] I did it for you you don't have to worry you can you just use the list that I've given you

[00:58:02] all right okay so we got two game sevens tomorrow I want everybody to enjoy those

[00:58:09] two game sevens you know enjoy your Sunday and as always again download the podcast

[00:58:22] okay I would love for people to rate and review the podcast as well but right now what we want

[00:58:30] in order of importance we need followers to the podcast and to the

[00:58:39] YouTube channel so subscribers however you want to call it and then downloads for the podcast

[00:58:45] views on the YouTube channel likes and comments will 100 likes on YouTube

[00:58:54] are great because they help hit the algorithm a little bit harder so other people get to get to

[00:59:01] experience the YouTube channel so the more it gets liked the more other people get to see it

[00:59:08] then they can experience the podcast you know how it goes so as we always like to say be a

[00:59:15] friend tell a friend and as always the best part of you and the coolest part of you is you

[00:59:24] don't let anybody extinguish your light go out there and have yourself a good Sunday

[00:59:31] and we'll see you back on this feed Monday y'all keep it easy and we are out deuce