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- [00:00]
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- [01:43]
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- [02:32]
Seth Partnow
Hello.
- [02:32]
David Ford
And welcome to the Athletic MBA Show. It's Wednesday and I'm David Ford and that means it's nerder she wrote. Joining me as they do each and every week, Seth Part now and Moda Kill. What's up guys? The season is here. We had opening night last night. We got wimby miss tonight. Full slate of games. Are you guys excited or what?
- [02:55]
Seth Partnow
I'm I'M very excited. I'm overwhelmed with just a number of games, which is normal. But now it's just like there are so many games I want to watch, Dave. Like, so many different teams. And it's like, okay, I'm going to have to just watch some more games tomorrow morning. Like, it's just simply. It's just going to be that simple because I'm going to be locked in especially into Wemby Miss.
- [03:18]
David Ford
The only game I'm looking at the schedule right now. Okay. The only game that at a quick glance that is an automatic just. Oh, I can, I can skip that one. Is Atlanta and Charlotte. And it's not. I mean, honestly, I kind of want to see Atlanta, but I don't care to see Charlotte. So that's not going to be on my list. I mean, even like Sacramento, Utah, that's going to be a good game. Obviously we got Wimby and the Mavericks. It's like women Yama versus Luka Doncic.
- [03:49]
Seth Partnow
I just want to push back on the Atlanta Charlotte one. I mean, Lamelo ball healthy. He's always fun to watch. Let's see what Brandon Miller does. Like, I'm kind of into that. Like, it's just, you know, the Houston, Orlando, it's going to be hard to divide time. People try to hang out with me.
- [04:07]
David Ford
This is that game. Like two teams that are fascinating right now. I mean, we don't know what Houston's going to be. We know how awful they were last year. And then Orlando has some of the most exciting young guys in the league.
- [04:23]
Seth Partnow
I have a question. I'm going to start. Seth, I want your answer first. How many games do we go until Dylan Brooks gets ejected again for a potential low blow?
- [04:35]
Mo Dakil
Oh, boy. I think we'll. I think we get it make it to December.
- [04:41]
Seth Partnow
Oh, I'm taking the under. Dave, what are you doing?
- [04:44]
David Ford
I. Look, I. I will say this. I. I don't think Orlando has the, the star power at this point to, to get Dylan Brooks to kind of act up. So I don't expect him to do.
- [04:56]
Mo Dakil
Even do have Mo Vogner.
- [04:58]
Seth Partnow
Wait a minute. Indiana Pacers. Daniel Tice has this more star power. Like what are we talking about?
- [05:04]
David Ford
I mean, listen, I, I think Daniel Tice, there's. There's that World cup carryover. So. That's a good point, man. They do have Franz Wagner maybe, maybe.
- [05:13]
Seth Partnow
If he hurts Franz flying to Orlando and take or the game and use wherever he is. I'm coming.
- [05:19]
David Ford
It's in Orlando. But yeah, to your point, Mo all of these games. And normally, you know, the league past nights where you have 10 or 11 games. These are rough. And, you know, Mo, you and I have. We've been through a lot of daily ding nights after, you know, these, these Wednesday slates where it's like 10 or 11 games. Yeah, four, one out for the daily dig. And. And usually it's like, okay, well, we could skip this. We can skip this. We don't need this. But all of these teams are now pretty compelling. And I don't know, is that just that the general level of talent has gotten so high in the. In the league that there are just no bad players anymore and so every team kind of has some good guys, or is it that the talent has been distributed better throughout the league? I'm not sure which. I know that obviously the league is more talented than it's ever been. The. The 15th man, you know, on every single roster now would probably be like the eighth or ninth man 10 or 15 years ago. I mean, that's. We've gotten to that point. There are no bums, or at least they're relatively few bums. There's still a couple, but also, it just seems like there are. There are fewer teams that have an overwhelming amount of talent. Like, parody is sort of here.
- [06:46]
Seth Partnow
This is something that's been happening for a while, I think, with the NBA. Like, I think the past two seasons, it's felt like there have been more and more interesting teams to watch. Even the. The quote unquote bad teams have had stuff that you want to go see and see what's going on and what they're doing. So, I mean, I would say over the years, we've seen it where it's gotten. There are fewer games where you're like, I could just skip that and never.
- [07:10]
Mo Dakil
Think about it off the top of my head. There's one team in the league where I can't. Where I'm not like, oh, that guy's interesting. And that's Washington. I think everyone else.
- [07:23]
David Ford
I think Jordan Poole is going to be fascinating this year.
- [07:26]
Mo Dakil
I mean, we. We know that that player type is not my cup of tea. Honestly. The player who is. Is most likely to be compelling on them is Block Kubalali. Like, that's. That's a. He could be interesting that. I mean, he. He definitely has the profile of one of Seth's guys. But you think about it like, okay, Portland might be the worst team in the league this year, but Scoot's going to be interesting to watch. And you. Okay, the Pistons might Still be bad. But they have Cade. They've got, they've got a Sar. Thompson who is. Who. Who. I mean both Thompson twins are just electric. So at least the start of the year, like there's something compelling about everybody. And that's, that's often the case where it's, you know, everyone's, everyone's undefeated and hope springs eternal. But just at the interesting players around the league, like the second least interesting team to watch at least at the start of the season might be Memphis. If you think about that.
- [08:21]
David Ford
I mean the Stephen Adams news is. Is kind of a huge bummer for, for Memphis and obviously no John Morant for the first 25 games. But I still think that there's some stuff there like Desmond Bain is likely to get more reps. I mean he's going to be, I'm assuming the primary ball handler often for them on offense. So you know, the Desmond Bain all star push, I'm there for that. You know, that's one of my guys.
- [08:51]
Mo Dakil
It's low key. A big year for Jaren Jackson also. He won defensive player of the year last year. I think. I can't remember a player who, who has gotten like, whose stock has dropped more kind of from international play than, than, than him. He really struggled in the, in the World cup and he struggled a little bit in the playoffs last year. So this is a, this is a big season for Jaren Jackson. A big first couple months of the season with Morant. Morant out.
- [09:22]
Seth Partnow
I mean more, more importantly because he's going to have to play center. Like that's just. They're so thin up front and that was before losing Stephen Jackson. Brandon Clark's going to be out all year with the Achilles or at least not be ready to play till maybe April. I think that's one of those things. Like I'm with you, Seth. This is a huge year for him in all that. But Dave, like, let's just get to it, man. We're all watching San Antonio. We haven't watched San Antonio for the past three years and now it's time to watch the San Antonio spurs again.
- [09:55]
David Ford
That's right. Wemby miss is tonight. Seth came up with that in our little pre show. I like it. I think that this is. We don't get this very often in the NBA. It's just kind of like remember Zion? Remember that guy when, when he debuted and it was actually his first, wasn't it? Yeah, yeah, I think so.
- [10:15]
Seth Partnow
Yeah.
- [10:16]
David Ford
It was against the spurs and it's. It's been since then that we really felt this, this huge buzz. And I would even argue this is beyond that. I mean, of course, I mean, we.
- [10:26]
Mo Dakil
Were, we were all in Vegas where I think they played the third, third game. The spurs, for his opening game, they played the third game of the day. And by halftime of the first game, the gym was packed and buzzing.
- [10:39]
David Ford
Yeah, it's. I don't know, this is just something different. And, and obviously we've, we've all watched a lot of Wemby's preseason stuff. What are you guys expecting out of him? You know, first game, first week, you know, first month here, here in the season? Because he already has, to my eyes, improved every single game so far in the preseason.
- [11:04]
Mo Dakil
I think it's actually going to look a little bit like that first, that first summer league game where like the, the talent, the impact, especially defensively is going to be obvious. I think that the sort of the speed and physicality of the game, even moving from preseason to regular season, I think that'll probably impact him more on the offensive end. I don't, I, I frankly don't expect him to shoot super well tonight. Might have a couple turnovers, but it's going to be one of those nights where he's, he's up to stuff and you can see the building blocks of what everyone has, has seen in him. Even if his, Even if he might not have, you know, he might put up like a 5 of 15 or something like that.
- [11:47]
Seth Partnow
I mean, at. Seth is the no fun part of this podcast crew with all of that stuff.
- [11:53]
David Ford
Stuff.
- [11:53]
Seth Partnow
Seth, we need more excitement and more juice.
- [11:56]
Mo Dakil
I'm very excited. It's gonna be a great five of 15.
- [12:02]
Seth Partnow
No, I just think, and this is, this is kind of my experience watching Wemby every night. It's all right. What's the next amazing thing he's gonna do that I didn't know was possible? Like, I mean, is he gonna dig from half court? And I'm not kidding, we've seen him do it from the three point lines. He's just gonna dig from half court and steal the ball. Like there's all sorts of stuff with him. It's, I feel like it's just really kind of amazing sort of things. I am curious what his nerves are, you know, and I think being at home in San Antonio, I think there's going to be a little extra juice and, you know, I think there's going to be a strong spurt to start out and then let's see how he kind of maintains when the energy sort of settles in. And I think that's going to be the. The stuff that we're going to watch for in that. But I'm just going to throw this one out here because this is going to be a wild and reckless take here. I think Webanyama is going to be the first rookie to win defensive player of the year.
- [12:57]
David Ford
I. I'm on that. I'm on that train. I'm on that train as well.
- [13:02]
Seth Partnow
Mo.
- [13:02]
Mo Dakil
I hope.
- [13:03]
Seth Partnow
I hope people are watching this on YouTube because I hope you guys saw Seth's reaction. If not, rewind and just watch Seth.
- [13:10]
David Ford
Yeah, I am right there with you. I think his block numbers are going to be staggering.
- [13:17]
Mo Dakil
I went from one eyebrow to none, so that's how high that take was.
- [13:21]
David Ford
I mean, if you think about how awful that that spurs defense was last year, they're going to be better this year because their guys are going to play together more. They're also playing pretty big. I mean, Jeremy. Jeremy Sohan is going to be the starting point guard at least to start the season. That defense is going to be improved. And with Wemby as like the weak side help guy, man, he's. How many games is he gonna block? Five shots.
- [13:44]
Seth Partnow
It's not even. It's not even the counting stats. Right, Right when he, when he shows just in the middle of the paint and all that, like, watching how everybody has to kind of avoid those limbs to make the pass through him, it opens up opportunities for other guys. Like, it's a whole different deal. I think the, the. He's gonna. The counting stats are gonna be there. Dave. I think he's gonna walk into two or three blocks a night, just put his hand up and by accident he's gonna get some and he's gonna block some of these dudes shooting threes and. And whatnot. So there's going to be the highlights behind that, but it's really the other smaller stuff that I'm kind of interested in. You know, there's a clip from summer league or, excuse me, from preseason, where somebody was driving. I forget who. I'll try to find it and put it on Twitter. He just showed on the driving lane, you know, and, and really all he did was put his arms out and it wasn't anything spectacular, but it forced the offensive player to have to readjust when he throws a pass to the weak to kick it out to the weak side. And that hesitation and that adjustment allowed Sohan to jump in front, pick off the pass. And they had a fast break. I'm pretty sure Wemby even got a dunk out of that. But that kind of stuff, just the presence there is so big for their defense.
- [15:00]
Mo Dakil
And I don't it. And it will show up even more subtly than that, I think.
- [15:04]
David Ford
Mo.
- [15:04]
Mo Dakil
Like, there will be plays where, yeah, they get, they get turnovers, but. But just the fact that, like, oh, wow, look how big that is. Just slowing the offense down. Anything you can do to, you know, make a guy pump fake and then reverse the ball. Any, like, anything that disrupts the offensive rhythm, their timing, their. I'm. I'm. I know what I'm going to do. I wait. I'm surprised by this. Like, he has a, he has a potential to be an upper tier disruptive switch Defender Day 1. Not necessarily because he's going to stay in, in front of everybody, but just like, okay, I could go buy him. But then what?
- [15:38]
Seth Partnow
I mean, I mean, Jalen Williams knows all about that. In Oklahoma City, he. I mean, I did a. One more thing on his defensive range last week. It's. It's just that, that pace behind it. And just think about the number of shots that are not going to be taken because Wemby's right there.
- [15:53]
David Ford
I mean, look, we watched the warriors last week. He had those guys in hell. I mean, Andrew Wiggins for sure had nightmares about that afterwards. I mean, blocked a Klay Thompson 3. And when Clay caught the ball, Wemby was inside the free throw line. I mean, this is just uncharted territory. So between altering shots, getting guys to, to take quick shots and pull up short.
- [16:18]
Seth Partnow
Yeah, I think the Minister of no Fun is about.
- [16:21]
Mo Dakil
Yeah, no, I agree with all this. And there's no effing way he's winning defensive.
- [16:26]
David Ford
Listen, if he's in the mix for Defensive Player of the Year, he's gonna win Rookie of the Year, obviously, if he's at that level.
- [16:33]
Seth Partnow
1300 on BET. MGM.
- [16:35]
David Ford
What? How many wins do the spurs have to get for Wemby to get an MVP, like, top five vote?
- [16:42]
Seth Partnow
Oh, no. Now, now, now.
- [16:45]
Mo Dakil
Upper 30s, upper 30s. That's it. If they get in the upper 30s, he will, he will get MVP votes.
- [16:50]
Seth Partnow
Yeah, that ain't happening, though. Now we're, now we've gone a little too far.
- [16:54]
Mo Dakil
I don't think it'll happen, but I'm saying that's what it would take.
- [16:56]
David Ford
So far, they've played zero games, Mo. So anything is possible. And I, I'm at the point with Wimby where I just will believe it. Right? Like, I choose to believe. I want to believe this guy is something we've never seen before. I mean, his warm up videos are things we haven't seen before. So. I don't know, Mo. I mean, does it upper 30s in wins, like if they win 38 games? Seth, that's what you think that he'll get?
- [17:27]
Mo Dakil
He will get MVP votes, and I think rightly so.
- [17:30]
Seth Partnow
Yeah, I just, I just think that's.
- [17:32]
Mo Dakil
I, I don't think they will.
- [17:34]
Seth Partnow
I mean, I, I also think the MVP class is going to be very high. I think we're going to have a pretty exceptional year. I think the, the top five for MVP is going to be pretty, pretty competitive to even make the number five. But yeah, sure, I'll give it a couple.
- [17:51]
Mo Dakil
And can I get, can I get our MVP predictions?
- [17:54]
David Ford
Oh, okay.
- [17:55]
Seth Partnow
Mine's boring, but sure. Okay. Mine's not that. Not as boring. Okay.
- [18:01]
David Ford
Okay.
- [18:01]
Mo Dakil
Giannis is mine. That's. That's where I'm going. Where are you going, Mo?
- [18:06]
Seth Partnow
Jason Tatum.
- [18:08]
David Ford
Okay, yeah, I'm, I'm saying it's Nicola Jokic. I, I just think that, wow, we're so boring.
- [18:15]
Mo Dakil
I know all of us way out on limbs here.
- [18:19]
Seth Partnow
We all suck. I picked like the top three in the betting.
- [18:23]
David Ford
Yeah, well, Steph Curry. Look, Steph Curry would be my dark horse, right? But like, the warriors have some big problems I think that they've got to sort out first. Not big problems, but they've got some stuff they got to sort out. But I think Steph, I mean, you know, and we'll get to this in a minute, but I think Steph, if they're top three, Steph is going to be in the mix there because, you know, just how it works. But yeah, that's a, that's a boring four guys. Actually. Tatum at least would be a new guy, a little bit of new blood.
- [18:54]
Seth Partnow
I just think. I just think Boston's gonna have the best defense. I think they're gonna, to be honest, I think they're gonna run through the East. I think that he's gonna be the. I think they're gonna have the best record in the NBA. Think he's gonna be their best player. I think it's pretty. I think it's gonna be pretty obvious.
- [19:11]
Mo Dakil
As a. Seattle certainly has the narrative, you know, win behind his sales.
- [19:16]
Seth Partnow
I also think that you need. Tired of voting for the same guys over and over again.
- [19:20]
Mo Dakil
Yeah.
- [19:21]
David Ford
Yeah.
- [19:22]
Mo Dakil
Hey. And then people start, they'll hand in their votes and on the margin they'll type USA the explanation. Mark.
- [19:29]
Seth Partnow
Oh, damn. I didn't like that There, Seth. Come on now.
- [19:34]
David Ford
Okay, so we had our first two NBA regular season games for the 20, 23, 24 season last night. So we got to do this thing where we overreact. Guys. Any takeaways or just initial feelings watching the top four in the west, because that's who we got to see. We got to see the Nuggets play the Lakers and we got to see the warriors play the Suns. That's the consensus top four contenders to come out of the West. So just I, I think like a little bit of free form. How are you feeling, Seth?
- [20:12]
Mo Dakil
The.
- [20:13]
David Ford
The.
- [20:13]
Mo Dakil
My single biggest takeaway. I have a small takeaway which is the Lakers probably have Lakers have some rotation fat to trim in terms of just figuring out who plays. Who plays win. And they probably need one more guard off if we're being like, really nitpicky. I don't think I need to see a Sun's warriors playoff series because I think, you know, the, the expression is styles make fights and I kind of think two teams will bring out the sort of aesthetically worst in each other. I mean, that was a pretty ragged game last night, I thought. And I think that would be. Would be pretty ragged series if they. If they played in the playoffs. So that's my single biggest takeaway from night one. And also the Nuggets are freaking good.
- [20:58]
David Ford
Oh yeah. Yeah, we'll. We'll get to that.
- [21:00]
Seth Partnow
I. I love this. Day one of the. Our podcast on the NBA season and Seth and I already polar opposites. Give me seven games of Warrior Suns.
- [21:10]
David Ford
Just hopefully I. I just need the warriors to shoot better.
- [21:13]
Seth Partnow
The game will be. Listen first game of the season. Here's the thing about the Warriors. Clay starts the season slow every year. We'll check in in January and see how he's doing. Like him struggling to shoot. No shocker. No Draymond Green for the. The warriors. And we know how important he is defensively. Wiggins was terrible in this game yesterday. Maybe he'll shake it off. Maybe this is the Wiggins we're going to get this season from the Warriors. I thought. And they. And they're still trying to figure make this work with Chris, Paul and Steph and. And all that stuff. I still think Chris did pretty well for them. I know he struggled in the first half. I know we're focusing on his 0 for 6 from 3, but I think the fact he took 63 says a lot. And it's something that we've. We've. We talked about last week.
- [21:58]
David Ford
We worried that his hesitancy to shoot.
- [22:01]
Seth Partnow
And there were a couple of times last night where I was like yo, you got to shoot that one. But I think there's a adjustment period for them. I think for them it's going to be a slow climb up and they'll play better. I think for the Suns, you know, no Beal, I think they were kind of trying to figure out what they were going to do kind of on the fly and things like that. I thought they're bench guys. I thought Utah Watanabe was awesome. I thought Joshua Kogi was the hero of the game for the Suns. But I also felt like the drama between these two teams, man, you could feel rivalry building. And Seth I like let's get the tension and the animosity and things like that. I know aesthetically it wasn't great, but I think that's more attributed to day one of the NBA season versus this actually being the. What we would see if they had a playoff series.
- [22:50]
Mo Dakil
Well here, here's what I mean mean by this in terms of the style like the, the Suns are going to default to sort of a, a very one on one ISO heavy no matter what. And the warriors switching is just gonna, is going to, to to play into that. Whereas you know, the, the downfall of the warriors at many times is kind of being too loosey goosey. They're unstructured, but there's a pattern. But sometimes they get out of that pattern, get a little wild. And I think that the sun, the Suns playing in that equally unstructured way will just refract on them and I think would lead to some pretty, some pretty slop, some pretty sloppy games. I think independently these two teams could have compelling playoff series with a number of other opponents. I just think the matchup with the two of them is, is, is less than the sum of the parts.
- [23:43]
David Ford
Yeah.
- [23:44]
Mo Dakil
From a viewing standpoint, you guys worry.
- [23:46]
David Ford
About KD at all. I mean it just seems like he can't create the same amount of separation. And this is a continuing trend from last season when he came back, you know, from that injury. I expected him and I, I don't know what we expect out of these guys to be honest with you. As they get older we should see regression, but sometimes we do and sometimes we don't. But kd, it just doesn't seem like he's getting the same separation off the dribble. He's, he's already taking Seth and correct me if I'm wrong here, some of the toughest shots in the league when it can, when you Consider as far as like average distance from the defender. And he hits them at what should be an unsustainable rate, but he hits them. So am I just like, am I overthinking this? You know, I know it's one game and we're not gonna play this, but this is more of a trend to me.
- [24:34]
Mo Dakil
He's one of the two toughest players in the league to, to really, him and Steph are basically like, are they getting good shots? Right? Is that a good shot? I don't know. Because, yeah, like, when they don't go in, it looks like he's not creating separation, blah, blah, blah. When it, when they're going in, which for, you know, the entirety of his career, they have, I mean, shot the crap out of the ball last year. You know, it's, it's like, yeah, he's just, he's just dropping jumpers in your face and there's nothing you can do about it. And there's nothing you can do about it. And so it's, it's. I don't want to. If we go a month and he's, he's, he's, you know, his effective field goal percentage is down in the low 50s or something like that, then maybe. But I'm not going to be worried about him taking 20, you know, 22 tough shots in night one because he's going to take 15 tough shots a night because he's taken 15 to 20 tough shots a night every day of the week for the last, you know, 20, 15 years.
- [25:31]
Seth Partnow
My, my concern with Tim is he took a lot of bumps in this game one already. Like, you know, there were a lot of times where he would go down and I go like, damn, is, is Katie hurt like there? You know, like he, I kept seeing him hit the ground and I'm looking around, I go, like, that's actually concerning for me just because we've seen what we've seen from his health standpoint the past few years, you know, that I didn't like the shots he took. But like, as Seth was saying, this is also what KD's offense is and, and all that stuff. But I'm more concerned about him health wise. And just the movement on the floor, Dave, was the stuff where I was seeing him kind of, you know, he took a hard shot off of a Kavon Looney screen. The next play down, he goes up for a shot. He actually kicked Klay Thompson, but then he fell on his butt. And it's just, every time I kept looking, he was falling and Falling. And I thought there was a little bit more of like, some stuff where I'm like, I'm. Is he going to be able to survive this for 82 games? Because they need him to play a lot of minutes.
- [26:31]
Mo Dakil
And that's related to the thing I think we would be looking at is if his free throw, if he's not getting the line at all. His first career, he's been up around six and a half, seven free throws a game. Last night he took five. If he's down in the. He's down in the four or five per game range this year with the amount he's going to play and have the ball, that's, I think, an indication where, where he's not creating the kinds of advantages he needs to. And he's. And he's a little bit like DeMar DeRozan and like his advantages look different than other players in that way. I mean, that, that's a very kind comparison to demar, obviously, but you know what I'm saying, where it's like he gets fouled on some tough shots because he's gonna make it if you don't crowd him too much. So I think that would be the other thing that I would be paying attention to is if he's not creating enough of that separation of that, that. That panic in defender's mind that he's getting to the line six, seven, eight times a night.
- [27:24]
Seth Partnow
The thing I would say is this is also maybe the transition of him being your number one guy and transitioning to a number two spot. Because God damn, Devin Booker looked great yesterday. I mean, he was something else. Like, you know, he, he really picked up the slack. The, the thing that stood out to me was his passing down the stretch, which was making just plays after plays for the Suns over and over again. And it's like, that's your number one guy, and that's a guy we maybe one of us should have talked about as a potential MVP there.
- [27:55]
Mo Dakil
But I have him third on my preseason.
- [27:58]
Seth Partnow
Oh, look at you. Oh, what do you want?
- [28:00]
David Ford
He wound up with eight assists. And I actually think, I mean, he is. You know, there's been a lot of talk about Bradley Beal sort of being the point guard. Devin Booker is the point guard of this team. I mean, and he was last year. He has been for a couple years now. That's the point guard going forward for them. And he also, by the way, Joshua Kogi is their best defender, but Devin Booker is their second best defender. You know, KD is not the same KD that he was four or five years ago. Devin Booker puts in the work on that end too. So I mean I, I think that for the MVP conversation, like that's actually going to be a big part of it too is that he actually plays defense.
- [28:38]
Mo Dakil
And I think this, this ties it back a little bit to, not to go back to Wemby, but I think that Mo, you mentioned kind of the nerves and like Wemby wants to be great. Like, you know, you can see it in his warm ups and stuff like that. And I think that there's something we've seen like a lot of players talk about, you know, wanting to do these things, but I think we've seen just the growth of Devin Booker's game over the years from adding the playmaking, from going from. I think he was, I think he fairly maligned as a little bit empty calorie score on some pretty disastrous teams to someone who became a better playmaker, a quicker decision maker. And now in the last couple years adding that defensive responsibility and I think that that's really indicative of, of that, that desire not just to be like good but to be great. And I think that's, that's been really, it's really nice to see and players really raised himself in my estimation a tremendous amount over just over the time we've been doing the show even right.
- [29:41]
Seth Partnow
I. The other concern for me though with the Suns, the one concern really is Nurkic. He was awesome on the offensive end. I thought he was great. He did everything you want and everything we kind of expect from a healthy Nurkic.
- [29:53]
Mo Dakil
Good matchup for him.
- [29:55]
Seth Partnow
He was getting blown by defensively, I mean Chris Paul three or four times where it was like, yo, like that's the playoff problem. Like there are certain problems. You go like, ah, it's a regular season problem, whatever, we'll figure that out, whatnot. That's a playoff problem because teams are going to go at him over and over again and I just watched it and there were times where Curry blew right by him easily and just missed a shot. Like they're going to be time. That's the, that's the concern I have for them on the defensive end. Can what he brings, what he brings on the offensive end outweigh that? We'll see. But I think that's the thing to watch for through the course of the season with the Suns because it showed its face in this game. And if you, and if you're just going to sit there and talk about how great he was on offense, you got to look at what it was. On defense, he made a couple key blocks, but overall, when he was on the perimeter, he was barbecue chicken.
- [30:47]
Mo Dakil
And it's like I was saying, it's a, it is a good matchup for him to do well offensively because he's never, he's never been a particularly good finisher for, for a player of his size. And especially since the injuries and, you know, the warriors, especially without Draymond, don't have a lot of interior presence, so he was able to. To, you know, use his, his bulk. Does that work the same against Denver?
- [31:13]
David Ford
That's a good question. Speaking of Denver, the Lakers, you know, I, I saw a Lakers, a local Lakers show was talking about the game against the Nuggets as a must win, and people were kind of hitting this like, come on. Now, hold on. I want to make the argument here. I like the idea that games matter. Okay? I know, I know I'm on the. I'm kind of like in the minority there, but I don't like the one of 82 mindset, especially when it's against the team that just swept you out of the conference finals and that, you know, and the Lakers were talking about how they heard the trash talk all summer. So I actually appreciate coming in and saying, hey, you know what? This first game against the best team in the west is a must win, because theoretically, like, it should feel like a must win. Now, if you're the Lakers, you're not as good as the Nuggets, right? I mean, the Nuggets are in a tier by themselves in the west, in my opinion. Is there anything positive you guys would take away from the Lakers loss in, in opening night? I don't want to hammer them yet, but I want to say, what were the positives for the Lakers to you guys? Because they did lose a must win game.
- [32:25]
Seth Partnow
I want to push back on the must win stuff before we get to that. No, I get it. And we're making it so, like, we're building the stakes for the game and whatnot and everything that goes into it. Like, I think we get over.
- [32:37]
David Ford
We.
- [32:38]
Seth Partnow
We get too excited. These games matter, but for different reasons.
- [32:41]
Mo Dakil
Than performance, not result.
- [32:44]
Seth Partnow
Right? And that's what matters. And that's what the whole regular season matters about. For certain teams, other teams, the results matter because they need to make the playoffs. Right? Like, there's that, but the performance of it and things like that. I, I don't think we, I think when we go in and we start saying this is a must win, well, okay, so is the game against Phoenix that they play tomorrow, is that also a must win? Because it's another measuring stick game. So every game's a must win. They're all fucking must wins. That's going to be my only F bomb today. I'm trying to be better. They're, they're, they're, they're all must wins. And I think that's kind of the deal with that. But it's more how they looked. And when you say Dave, like, what were some of the positives? I don't have much.
- [33:30]
David Ford
That's, that's my worry.
- [33:31]
Seth Partnow
That's. That's my concern is I didn't come away from this game. Everybody's talking about them as being potential contenders, and yes, they're playing the best team in the NBA. I'm walking away going like, man, I. I just did my power rankings and I had them pretty high. I'm like, I think I might have overrated them to begin with.
- [33:54]
Mo Dakil
I think that's a. There is a tough curve there in that. I mean, I think that was. I think really it's less about the Lakers shortcomings and more about Denver. Like Denver, especially that run they put together kind of in the, the back half of the fourth quarter, it's just like, all right, we know how to do this. And it was just like, execution, layup, execution, open three, execution, KCP open mid range. It was, it was just. I thought that was like, it was very much a. We know how to. We are professional.
- [34:30]
Seth Partnow
Today's one more thing.
- [34:33]
Mo Dakil
We know how to play together. No, and it's. And that was just. I mean, it's, It's. That's a team that is just there and the Lakers aren't there yet and it's game one and they have time to get there. And so saying that, that a team that is basically like, right back at the level, they finished and they finished by winning the championship. They're not there on, on day one. That's credit to Denver for being at that level right out of the gate rather than a shortcoming. I think for the Lakers. If we are going to be negative on the Lakers, it's the goose egg of Anthony Davis in the second half.
- [35:07]
Seth Partnow
I mean, but the funny thing for me is, like, we've seen this again with the AD against Jokic over and over again, and Laker fans are furious with, with, with the AD sting also. It just goes back to. Jokic is a tough matchup for him and for everybody else in the NBA. Like, this is Jokic wearing guys down because Ed was phenomenal in the first half.
- [35:32]
David Ford
Phenomenal offensively. But defensively, there's just nothing you can do against Jokic.
- [35:37]
Seth Partnow
Well, nobody can, right?
- [35:38]
David Ford
Every single time he wanted to score on Anthony Davis, he just did. Every single time. I mean, there was. He's unstoppable offensively.
- [35:49]
Mo Dakil
I've got a. I've got a question. Is there an element of Jokic that's almost. Because of how well he uses his size? That's almost Shaq, like, in that you need a certain amount of, like, big body. Otherwise he's just gonna. He's gonna walk you down and do whatever he wants. And that's not like, okay, maybe you don't want to close games that way, but I think that feeding Anthony Davis to him for 30 minutes a game is just going to put you in that situation where he's just. He's just so big. And that bigness combined with his skill is just. It's. It's putting. It's. You know, it's. Guys who are playing up at 5, they just. They just don't. It's just not going to work.
- [36:32]
Seth Partnow
I mean, like, here's the thing that frustrates me with the Lakers, and really, other teams should take note of this, too. When the Lakers beat Denver in the bubble and we could talk about all this stuff, different team, all that, whatever stuff we want to go into, A.D. wasn't guarding him, right? Wasn't his primary defender. They had a series of other bigs. That's the game plan to go at Jokic, and that might not stop Jokic. You really just got to hope you could just somewhat slow him down, but that's what it is. That's why I look at all these teams, and I'm like, you guys don't have enough bigs. You simply don't have enough bigs. Dwight Howard's out there floating around.
- [37:12]
Mo Dakil
That's.
- [37:12]
Seth Partnow
I mean, we know all that stuff, but that's just a body you need, you know, and. And that allows AD to come over 80, coming over to double onto Jokic. Entirely. Different game for. For the Lakers, different game plan and whatnot, but changes things so much for them. And, yeah, Jokic is good enough to pick apart the doubles, but you can make things harder for them. But it sets that. You just feed him Jokic one on one. He doesn't have the size for it. I love Seth, what you said about it kind of being Shaq, like, you know, in that sense. And I think that's the thing, is there's just not enough teams loaded up on bigs. And I'm talking about all the teams they might face in the west who's really that big in the Western Conference.
- [37:55]
David Ford
The warriors are going to guard him with Kavon Looney, Draymond Green on Green, maybe Kuminga, you know what I mean?
- [38:03]
Seth Partnow
I mean, the Lakers thought Davis and, and Christian Wood. Like, what are we doing?
- [38:13]
David Ford
Yeah, I mean, I mean, that's. The Nuggets look as good as they did in the Finals. I thought in, in the opening game. The thing that surprised me for the Nuggets, I. We've all been sort of worried about their bench, and obviously this is one game I liked some of their bench units. I, I thought they, they ran a lineup with Zeke Najee, Peyton Watson, Christian Brown, and. And I think it was Murray and Reggie Jackson that was in the second quarter. It's a lot of athleticism, which, you know, one of the things that we've hit on some of the other contenders is like, like Milwaukee, for instance, a lack of athleticism off the bench is trouble. You're never going to have the same amount of skill, you know, for your eighth and ninth guy, but they can make up for some stuff through activity and defense. And man, Denver might have a nice bench.
- [39:01]
Mo Dakil
Christian Brown looks like he got stronger since last season.
- [39:04]
Seth Partnow
Oh, yeah, it definitely was in the weight room, for sure.
- [39:08]
Mo Dakil
Yeah, like there's, I mean, a couple. I mean, he. I mean, he kind of like went into 80s and, and LeBron's chest on a couple finish. Didn't. Didn't finish the one against LeBron, I don't think, but got the offensive rebound, if I remember correctly. But yeah, no, I think that they. And you know, Brown is like not being a rookie, I would like him being a, a competent role player at minimum this year. Shouldn't be a surprise given how much he contributed even as a rookie last year.
- [39:36]
Seth Partnow
I mean, the more impressive thing, Dave too, was when the bench came in. They had my favorite defensive possession in the SEC in the second quarter, I think it was. The Lakers were doing a great ball job, moving the ball, finding different pockets to, to pass and stuff. And all the Nuggets kept doing. This was mainly their bench on the floor. Rotate, rotate, rotate. Everybody kept covering for the guys this and that, and it ended with a Peyton Watson block. And I thought, you know, like, that was a play where I was like, wow, that's impressive because that's their bench unit, mostly young guys all making kind of plays. You know, Zeke Najee was on the floor, Brown was On the floor, all that stuff. But it also just makes you realize all that panic we had over Bruce Brown leaving might have been a bit overstated with all that. But again, also, it is game one. It is young guys.
- [40:23]
David Ford
Yeah.
- [40:23]
Seth Partnow
Which means we get a lot of up and downs with them, a lot of ebb and flows. So let's see how it kind of continues on. But it is. If you're a Nuggets fan and after watching how poor the bench was last season, this is a bit refreshing.
- [40:35]
David Ford
Yeah, I mean, look, man, I, I think showing up on opening night is, that's a good sign. You know, the lights are pretty bright, especially when you're playing the Lakers, so I, I thought they did pretty well. This feels like a pretty good place to wrap up. You guys got anything else you want to get off your chest?
- [40:52]
Seth Partnow
Yeah, I just think the, just kind of looking at the Lakers, I just think they're short two pieces, you know, I think they're short bigs and I think they're short a guard. I think they're, I, I like a, a big guard. They just.
- [41:06]
Mo Dakil
Combo guard.
- [41:07]
Seth Partnow
Yeah, they just feel small really, you know, and, and playing LeBron 29 minutes, you know, and Darvin Ham had told our guy Yovon Buha, you know, like this might be a trend for the regular season, that's not necessarily a good thing. They need him to play a lot more than that because they don't have the bodies to really make up for that. And these five minute stretches and whatnot, I think are going to be very difficult to maintain for him.
- [41:36]
Mo Dakil
I want to end the show. Just, you know, it's. I, I think at this point I've, I've shown that I can be critical when need be. I want to give a shout out to sort of my former co workers. With Giannis signing the extension, Milwaukee, just an absolutely tremendous off season for them coming to fruition. Somehow a team that was sort of, maybe it seemed like they were out of assets and coming to a close of a championship window, somehow getting better and extending that window. It's really just tremendous work by, by that front office. So I just wanted to, to get that in and say that. And, and it's part of the reason why I've, I'm thinking, you know, Giannis, mvp, Nuggets, Bucks, Finals, sort of what I'm expecting from this season.
- [42:22]
David Ford
Wow. Well, that's gonna do it for this week, folks. Thank you guys for listening. For Seth Partnow and Motakil, I'm Dave Defore and this has been nerder, she wrote on the athletic NBA show.
- [42:35]
Seth Partnow
Foreign.
- [42:48]
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Seth Partnow
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