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- [00:00]
Andrew Schlecht
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- [00:03]
Alex Spears
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- [00:30]
Andrew Schlecht
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- [00:43]
Mike Richmond
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- [00:44]
Andrew Schlecht
The refs that will be hard to accept.
- [00:46]
Mike Richmond
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- [00:49]
Andrew Schlecht
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- [00:59]
Mike Richmond
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- [01:02]
Andrew Schlecht
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- [02:28]
Alex Spears
Foreign.
- [02:43]
Andrew Schlecht
Welcome to the Saturday Slam and Jam here on the Athletic NBA Daily. On today's show, we are bringing you the moments of the week. The Slammies are here once again and Mike Richmond of Locked on Blazers joins us to talk about the Portland Trail Blazers. But to start Al, tell me about the top stories this week.
- [03:03]
Alex Spears
Well, Andrew, the top story this week was the Denver Nuggets, who made firing Taylor Jenkins with nine games left in the season look pretty reasonable because on Tuesday, with only three games left in the season, the Nuggets fired both head coach Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth. Now Malone ends his 10 season run with Denver as the franchise's winning as coach, leading them to the 2023 championship. Calvin Booth he traded for KCP. He drafted Christian Brown, two important moves for the Nuggets title run, but things had gotten rockier since then with Booth and Malone butting heads over team building philosophy and roster decisions. Things came to a head after the Nuggets lost four in a row and looked at risk to fall into the play in David Adelman has taken over as the Nuggets head coach for the rest of the season and got his first win as head coach against Sacramento on Wednesday night. Adelman started Jalen Pickett in the game and only played Russell Westbrook 16 minutes, his lowest minute total since early December. Reports suggest that Westbrook's playing time and preferential treatment have been one of the issues this season for the Nuggets. Now, after a rocky week, the good news for Nuggets fans is that Jamal Murray is likely to return on Friday night for a huge matchup with the Memphis Grizzlies. As of now, the Nuggets sit in fourth in the west, one game behind the Lakers, who also had an eventful week. On Sunday. The Lakers got a dominant 126 to 99 win over the number one seed Thunder in OKC, a game in which they made 15 three pointers in the first half, tying a franchise record for most threes in a half. Two days later it was Groundhog Day because the Lakers were once again playing the Thunder in OKC and once again hit 15 threes in the first half, tying a franchise record for most threes and a half. Now the game was much closer this time, however, with Luka hitting a shot with 7:42 left in the game to put the Lakers up by one. Unfortunately, while trying to shout a couple expletives at a fan after the made basket ref, J.T. orr was in his sight line and assumed that Luka was yelling at him. Luka was assessed a second technical of the game and ejected, leading to a 29:12 finish for OKC, who picked up their 65th win of the season. The Lakers next game was one of the more anticipated games of the season, with Luca returning to Dallas for the first time since Nico Harrison decided his Wikipedia entry needed an update. The Mavericks played a pre game tribute video for Luca, which left him visibly emotional as the game started. The tears didn't slow him down however as he dropped 45 in his return, leading the Lakers to the 11297 win. At the end of the game, Mavericks fans could be heard loudly chanting fire Nico with a courtside video showing former owner and guy who thought he would still get to run the team after selling it. Mark Cuban in significant distress as the chance continued. In an article this week on ESPN, Tim McMahon reported that Team sources told him the decision to trade Luka will probably cost the franchise nine figures over the next several years as they are projected to lose revenue due to dwindling crowds, plummeting merchandise sales and sponsors severing ties with the team.
- [06:10]
Andrew Schlecht
Oh my word.
- [06:11]
Alex Spears
Now I wanted to end this part with some good news, but I couldn't really find anything for the Mavs. However, I did google the NHL standings and the Dallas Stars are second in the west. Now. They are on a four game losing streak and they did get shut out by those damn Winnipeg jets in their last game. But when you've got Mo the Moose Ronin signed through 2033 and Wyatt Johnson at only 21. You gotta be feeling good now. Also this week we had several teams finishing their season strong. Three teams currently are on a six game winning streak in the East. The Pacers picked up their sixth straight win by beating a shorthanded Cavs team locking in a top four seed. The Bucks are also on a six game winning streak, picking up a very impressive win over the Wolves this week, a game in which they trailed by 24. Only 10 minutes left in the game. Milwaukee finished that game on a 398 run. The third team on a six game winning streak is the LA Clippers during a win over a shorthanded Rockets team on Wednesday. Avita Zubots had his first career triple double, capping off an impressive season. The Clippers finished their season at Sacramento and then at Golden State, a game that will have huge seeding implications. Golden State could have solidified their place in the west this week before this matchup with a couple of easy games, but instead they lost to San Antonio on a buzzer, beating three by former Dub Harrison Barnes. Yeah, the loss thrown the warriors seating into jeopardy and that Clippers game on Sunday may decide if they will fall into the plan or finish in the top six. Finally, we get another name added to this year's hall of Fame class. Dwight Howard has been elected as a first ballot hall of Famer. Howard was an eight time All Star, eight time All NBA player, led the Magic to a Finals appearance in 2009 and eventually got his own ring with the Lakers. During the bubble in 2020, Howard was known for his defensive prowess making five all defensive teams and winning Depoy three consecutive seasons from 09 to 2011. He finished his career as the Magic's all time franchise leader in points, rebounds, blocks, free throws and minutes played. So congrats to Dwight and those were the top stories this week.
- [08:20]
Andrew Schlecht
I can't believe that one of the Dallas Stars names is Mo.
- [08:24]
Alex Spears
Oh, that's true. I didn't even think about that.
- [08:28]
Andrew Schlecht
They cannot escape it.
- [08:30]
Alex Spears
It's just one of his nickname is Rants which I really like.
- [08:34]
Andrew Schlecht
Oh, Rants. I like that. Yeah, don't call him Mo. Al. It's time for the annual slammies, the season ending Slammies.
- [08:43]
Alex Spears
Season ending Slammies. How exciting. The Slammies. We do them roughly two to three times per year. I think I always say we're going to do them three times and then we all always do them two times. And our first award, we've got 10 of them I think is brought to you by BetMGM because it's the Stat of the Season award. Okay. This award goes to our favorite stat this season and my stat is about the Houston Rockets. And currently the Rockets who are the second seed by in this Western Conference a mile with all these teams bundled up, they have these seventh best odds in the west currently to win the west plus 2200.
- [09:20]
Andrew Schlecht
It's absurd.
- [09:21]
Alex Spears
It's absurd. And listen, I, I get it because I've been one of these people who have doubted the Houston Rockets all season. Oh yes, they're having a very nice season. But am I really going to take them seriously in the playoffs? I think depending on who they match up with, they could be an Underdog in their first round series. That 2, 7 matchup. And one of the things that people don't like about the Rockets or, or that gives them pause is their offense which you know for the season, 11th if you look at their offensive rating by month, 9th, 21st, 13th, 8th, 24th and then 7th. But what I think is really interesting and is my stat of the season is that against teams with a top 10 point differential, the Best teams in the league. The Rockets are fifth overall in offensive efficiency. Wow. So when they've played the best teams in the league, their offense has stepped up, and they've been one of these teams that has absolutely, like, played up to their competition. You know, sometimes when you see a team like this who goes on a nice run and kind of has a surprise. Oh, my gosh, it's a surprise. Two seed. Oftentimes it can be because they're just beating up on all the bad teams and they're just okay against the good teams. That's not really the case with. With Houston. They've actually been very good against the good teams in the league. In fact, they have the second best record in the west against teams that are.500 or better. So I think it's at least, you know, as we. As we get these matchups, at least worth considering. Are we underrating the Rockets a little bit at least in maybe these first two rounds? So that is my stat of the season award.
- [10:51]
Andrew Schlecht
Even just round one?
- [10:53]
Alex Spears
Yeah, just round one. Give them a chance.
- [10:56]
Andrew Schlecht
Everybody feels like they're loading up to beat the Rockets, but I'd be kind of. I. I'd be hesitant about that. Not that there's, like, some much better option out there in the Western Conference. It's just going to be tough. I think that they're just as tough. My stat of the season, The Thunder are 18 and 10 in games that they trail by 10 points or more. That's the best record when trailing by double digits for any team in the last 29 seasons. So no team this season is better than.500. Cleveland is next at 13 and 14 in games that they show by 10 points or more. I just thought that that was pretty wild. And it shows, like, the resiliency of this Thunder squad that they get down early or they're even down in the second half. We've seen them down in the. In the third quarter, 10 points, and they'll just have these avalanches of points where that, like, Suddenly they're down 10, now they're up 10. We. We've seen that many times, and this. This stat really bears that out. This one came from John Schuman from NBA.com But I just thought, like, if you're looking for a stat that kind of indicates, like, who the Thunder are in a lot of ways, it is like, these monster runs that they go on, and it starts on the defensive end for them. It's not just, you know, they're nailing a bunch of threes. A lot of it is that they're able to get out in transition. They're able to just shut teams down. We saw them do this to the Lakers the other day after Luca went out. Like they just went on this massive run after. It was a very close game. And you know, things. Things like that happen for the Thunder often. And this record indicates that, like, this is a. It's an unusual team in a lot of ways. The Thunder are, but this stat really, to me, kind of stamps that for them.
- [12:40]
Alex Spears
A free bonus stat, Andrew, because it's one I found this week that I thought was funny. We talked about how, you know, games that were decided by 3 points or less. OkC's only had 5 of those games.
- [12:49]
Andrew Schlecht
Yeah.
- [12:50]
Alex Spears
This entire season. So I went back and I expanded it to five points. Just a game that ended within five points.
- [12:56]
Andrew Schlecht
Yeah.
- [12:57]
Alex Spears
They've had six of those games. So you add one more game, like it's. It's just crazy how dominant they've been at the end of some of these games, where some of these games have been close, you know, with five minutes left and then by the end of the game, you know, it's a 10 point game.
- [13:12]
Andrew Schlecht
Yeah. I went back and looked. They have. They have 66 total clutch minutes.
- [13:17]
Alex Spears
Yeah.
- [13:18]
Andrew Schlecht
Which is the fewest amount of clutch minutes since the 98, 99 Cavs, who had 68. So they've got two more games. By the time you're listening to this, we'll know if they actually played crunch time minutes against the Jazz in a game that nobody really cares about. But they have two, basically two games to have like the lowest total clutch time minutes that I. That I can find, at least.
- [13:42]
Alex Spears
So that brings us to our second award, the quote of the year award. This award goes to our favorite quote this season. And my quote of the year award, it's a very recent quote. It's a quote from this week because I thought it perfectly summed up what was the biggest story of the year when Jason Kidd was asked to address Mavs fans who feel hopeless post Luca trade. Kid said, quote, this is a business. It happens. Right. Trades happen. This won't be the last trade. Someone compared it to Babe Ruth, which is kind of cool at every single opportunity. Post trade. Anyone who has spoken for the Mavs organization has somehow been able to conjure up the most out of touch response. It's kind of incredible. You know, Mavs fans are just looking for like a glimmer of competence or maybe some genuine empathy to make them feel that someone in this organization cares about the fans and instead they've gotten things like Jason Kidd referencing the comparison of a 100 year curse in a positive way. Oh, it's kind of cool. It's kind of cool. It feels like everyone in the Mavs organization still hasn't realized the gravity of that trade. And even when they do, for a brief moment, the response is that's kind of cool. This trade is the defining moment of this season and the Mav's obliviousness has been the defining feature of that organization post trade. So congrats to Jake Kidd winning my quote of the year award.
- [15:03]
Andrew Schlecht
Speaking of obliviousness, I just can't get away from any Matt Ishbia quote and I just have to bring some of these up again. From Tim McManus article on ESPN. It's surprising to me that other people, other fans, they actually like the rebuilding process. Like, oh, let's rebuild it. Are you crazy? You think I'm gonna go for seven years and try to get there? You enjoy the 2030 draft picks that were you enjoy the 2030 draft picks that we're holding. I want to try to see the game today. I want us to win today. And we're going to try. Although let's say that doesn't work. Well, guess what? Maybe next year we won't be as good, but we're not going to. But we're going to try again. The next opportunity we have, we're going to try to win and compete and it will work. We will win a championship here in Phoenix. Might not be this year, but I promise you we're going to do it. And that's what we're focused on. Al, this is a team that is going to be spending $366 million this year on their team. Close to $400 million. Their, their salaries at 240. They're paying 150 in luxury tax, which is just insane. More than any other team is paying by A. By $60 million. I mean it's, it's unbelievable. And this team was completely eliminated from the play in the other night by the Thunder without SGA Hartenstein, Door without Hartenstein without Dort. I mean like they, they were sitting resting guys for this game and felt confident about beating them. They beat them by double digits. Ishbia at the helm is. I would be terrified. I would be terrified. I think I said that whenever I read this quote earlier this season. I just don't think that sunsteam is going anywhere. I expect Kevin Durant, like everybody else is saying, to be traded. And this could End up being like one of the bad, bad teams in the Western Conference. Because like this, you look at the roster like they paid a lot of money for the roster. They have stars, but you can't even sniff the play in. I mean, that's, that's just awful. And like these quotes just like they need to keep him away from a microphone. Mattish Beer. Like he's just got, he's just gotta stop.
- [17:27]
Alex Spears
Two things. One, I thought it was really funny. Zach Lowe comes back. You know, he's doing his podcast. One of the first things he brings up was a Manishpear quote. How like, you know, 28 other teams or whatever would trade for our roster.
- [17:40]
Andrew Schlecht
Yeah, yeah, I know.
- [17:41]
Alex Spears
I just thought it was so funny that Zach's been gone for like a year and that's been the quote that's just, he's just been waiting to talk about. Yeah. And then the other thing, John Hollinger had a good article on the Athletic this week, kind of making the case that they, they have to consider a Devin Booker trade because it is like their one out where they could recoup a lot of value because the value that you would get from a Katie trade is, is questionable right now based on him being an expiring contract. I just don't know how much you would get back. So that brings us to our next award. I wasn't familiar with your game award. This award goes to the player who changed our opinion about them the most compared to how we felt coming into the season. And for me, listen, I was very wrong about the Clippers, Andrew. You were wrong, we were wrong. There are aspects of getting the Clippers wrong that I can look back on now and say, yeah, I should have seen that come. You know, James Harden playing a full season and being good after he'd done the same thing last year, I could have seen that coming. Like Norm Powell being able to pick up some of the scoring slack considering he was almost a 20 point per game scorer several years in Portland, I could have seen that coming. Chris Dunn being a really good pickup after being good in Utah the previous year. If I didn't have my OKC blinders on greedily wanting that Clippers pick to be valuable, I could have seen those things coming. But the thing I don't think I would have ever seen coming was the jump that Evita Zubots had this season. Now maybe I could have seen him becoming the anchor for a top three defense since that's been his calling card in the NBA. And this Clippers team has so many good defenders. But the jump he's made offensively has blown me away. And as I mentioned earlier, what a great week to be talking about him after he has his first career triple double, putting up 20, 11 and 10 against Houston. Offensively, after averaging only 1.3 post ups per game last season, he averaged over four per game this season, tied for second most per game.
- [19:30]
Andrew Schlecht
That's a lot.
- [19:31]
Alex Spears
Yeah, yeah, he's tied with Shin Goon and Giannis and scoring a very solid 1.06 points per possession on those post ups. He had a career high 35 this year. He scored almost 17 points per game, which for me is the definition of I wasn't familiar with your game because I did not know he could have that sort of consistent offensive impact night in, night out. So he gets the award for me.
- [19:56]
Andrew Schlecht
Yeah, that's a good one. He had a really great season for me. Denny Abdia. So when the Blazers traded Malcolm Brogdon, the 14th pick in the draft, that became Bub Carrington, a 29 first round pick and two second round picks. 1. Honestly, that's way more than I remembered the Blazers giving up. I didn't remember they gave up that much to get him. But when I initially made that deal, I really scoffed at it. Like I thought, oh my gosh, what is it? What are the Blazers doing? They're so far away. Why are they trading for players? And they could have. They're trading away a lottery pick to get a player in. Now this has, it's been a just a home run for the Blazers to get Denny. He's averaged 23, 9 and 5 in March with insane efficiency. He like initiates the offense for the blazers. And at 6 foot 9, over 200 pounds like he, he's giant and he has guard skills. And on top of all of that, he's got a ridiculous contract. He has a descending contract that'll pay him 11.8 million in 27, 28. That's going to be like rookie scale money by that time. And to get a guy who will be in his prime for that money is crazy. He's increased his VORP from.06 to 2.2. His blocks plus minus from negative 0.9 to 2. His win shares from 3.2 to 5.5. The Blazers are over 6 points better per 100 possessions on offense with him on the court. He's had a spectacular season. Like he, he had a stat line against the Bulls. 37, 11 and 5. I mean like this is a very, very good player. He had a 30 point triple double against Cleveland in an overtime game. And above all that, like, the Blazers have just been way more competitive than anybody thought they would be. And I think that a large part of the credit should go to Denny Abdia, who was a guy that could not drag the Wizards to anything. And that's kind of why I didn't think this was such a great trade for them. But Denny is clearly improving and was not familiar with the this part of his game.
- [22:01]
Alex Spears
Yeah, he's been great. I mean, honestly, the only negative thing you could say is that he's their best player. And like, how far can you get? Like, how are they going to get that next player? You know, how are they going to find a top 20 guy to pair with Denny?
- [22:13]
Andrew Schlecht
At least they have him.
- [22:14]
Alex Spears
They couldn't, but at least have him.
- [22:16]
Andrew Schlecht
Could just have bub, which I'm a bub guy. I'm a bub guy. I'm a bub guy.
- [22:20]
Alex Spears
Our next award, the Future is Now Old Man Award. This award goes to the player who we believe will be universally considered a top 20 player by the end of next season. Okay, top 20. It's a big jump. Big jump. My choice for this award is Franz Wagner. And I think if the Magic season had gone the way it was looking early on, we might already be thinking of Franz that way. But because of the injuries, because it's been so many months since the NBA community at large has even thought about the Magic, I was thinking about like listening to national NBA pods, how long it's been since I've heard a Magic segment. I think as a result of that, his season's gone under the radar a little bit and assuming they make some much needed moves this summer to bolster that offense next season. Andrew Year of the France. He put up career highs across the board. Year of the France. Put up career highs. As far as counting stats, he's right around 24, 6 and 5 per night. Got his free throw attempts up over 5 per game. Now the three point shooting obviously still an issue, but I really loved everything else we got from Franz this season as his usage skyrocketed. Did you know he was top 10 in usage this season? Over. He said 31% usage. I think he was like at 25 last season and that stretch he had early in the season when Paulo went out, it was incredible. And I'm just making a bet that as their offense and spacing hopefully improves, things are going to get easier for Franz, they're going to get easier for Paulo, and their ceilings are Going to start being fully realized. So that is my pick.
- [23:54]
Andrew Schlecht
Yeah, I don't hate that. I think Franz is. Is a great player. They just need more perimeter help. Like, it's great that his usage is that high, but like they need it.
- [24:02]
Alex Spears
But it shouldn't be.
- [24:03]
Andrew Schlecht
Yeah, that is not great. I'm another homer pick for me. I'm going with Chet. I think Chad Holmgren is going to be one of those guys. I think he can be dominant on both ends offensively since he's come back from injury, we haven't quite. We've seen it in spots. So he played great in Phoenix the other night. Got to the free throw line a ton. But I still think that that area of his game is coming along. But when you saw him at the beginning of this season, like the first game of the year, they. They just killed Denver. He had 25 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, two seals, four blocks in that game. Yeah, against Jokic, like, he was an absolute monster. Against Atlanta before the injury, 25, nine and four with six blocks. I mean this guy was just a absolute beast. And he was taking more threes. He just like the quick trigger threes, I think is really important. I think that's something that he's worked on too, that he's been doing a little bit more since he's got back as well. But to me it's. He can be an offensive star, but I think he's going to be absolutely. He already is a defensive star, but I think like getting a full season, I think that he'll be absolutely cemented as a top 20 player. Opponents are shooting 54% in the restricted area against Chet 54. So just like some context for that particular number. Victor Wembanyama. Teams are shooting 62% whenever he's the defender in their shifted area. Anthony Davis 66%, Gobert 63%, Evan Mobley 61%, Triple J 63% Chris Epps. Porzingis 59%. Daniel Gafford 58%. And teams are shooting 54% against Chad Holmgren. Whenever he's the defender at the rim, he's an elite from protector. He's a guy can space out and shoot it. His drive game is starting to improve. You know, he shot 13 free throws the other night against Phoenix. Like there, there's a lot there for Chad and if he's had two fluky injuries and some of that you can point to like his body, like, absolutely. Like, I think that he's got to continue to improve his body, but if he can stay Healthy like he did his rookie season and play. He doesn't play all 82, but play 75 games next year. I think that we will think of him as a top 20 player by the end of next season.
- [26:25]
Alex Spears
Andrew, I noticed that you left Luke Cornett off of your list. Why are you ignoring Luke Cornett?
- [26:33]
Andrew Schlecht
I'm talking about starting centers. That's why I am play significant minutes.
- [26:38]
Alex Spears
Are you future starting center Luke Cornette? Yeah.
- [26:41]
Andrew Schlecht
Why don't you just pick Luke Cornett for your. For your the future is now old man award?
- [26:45]
Alex Spears
Come on, that would be something. By the end of next season, Luke Cornett was considered top 20.
- [26:51]
Andrew Schlecht
I'd really respect that. I'd really respect that.
- [26:54]
Alex Spears
That would be my greatest call of all time. Okay, our next award. The time traveler from August 2025 award.
- [27:01]
Andrew Schlecht
Yeah.
- [27:01]
Alex Spears
A time traveler shows up from August 2025 and they only have time to tell you about what happened to one team. This upcoming off season. You get to learn about what happened in the draft, free agency, any trades, and this award goes to the team we would pick in that scenario. And for me it's an obvious one. It is the Houston Rockets. Just because they have the most stuff going on first, even if they don't jump up, they're likely going to have a top 10 pick in this draft. And I'm so interested to see how they handle drafting and potentially incorporating another high pick. Seeing how hard it's been for guys like Cam Whitmore or Reed shepherd to like really break into this rotation and have a big role. But maybe it's time for a big move and maybe that pick will be involved in a star trade. You know, they will be one of the few teams that can have cap space. With the rise of Amin Thompson this season, do they start reorganizing their team, building around him a little? You know, Houston has been incredibly patient to their credit, but it feels like this is the summer where they are primed for a big move. On the other hand, what if they make a run in the playoffs? What if they make a surprise run to the conference finals? How would they handle that? There's so many ways this summer can go for Houston and that's why they'd be my first choice when that time traver arrives.
- [28:20]
Andrew Schlecht
Yeah, I kind of want to know about Houston too. That would have been my pick as well. My second pick is Denver. They fired Calvin Booth, they fired Michael Malone this week. They could just kind of stand pat, keep the guys that they have in house, promote everybody from within, let go of Russell Westbrook and move forward. Like, it could be pretty boring. Yeah, but, like, what if they flame out in round one, and then ownership is like, hey, we need to cut payroll. Like, we need. We need to. To not be a team that's. That's paying this much. Like, we need some more flexibility. Like, we're. We're not going to pay the tax, you know, for a team that's going out in round one. Like, what. Like, what are they. What do we do here? You know, can you trade Michael Porter Jr. And what does that look like? Do they look at a Jamal Murray trade? Like, what? I think that there's. It's very volatile, clearly, in Denver right now, and I think, regardless, they need to do some work to their roster to bring in better players for Jokic. But I think that this. This should have been one. A very easy team to build around because, like, you have the best player in the world, and you have a guy that literally almost anybody can play with this guy. And I just think they've made so many missteps to get to this point, and now it's like, okay, how do we either undo some of these missteps and get this car back on the road, or do they continue to go in a bad direction? And then, like, not that they would trade Jokic this summer, but these are the kinds of decisions, and this is the kind of instability that would cause a star player like Jokic to say, you know what? Send me somewhere else. And so I just. I'm curious to see how this all plays out. Like, maybe they make a surprise conference finals run, and then everything feels fine and David Adelman is the guy, and everybody feels pretty good that could happen. But if they flame out in round one, I think that there's a. A lot on the table for Denver. So I would love to know what happens in Denver.
- [30:24]
Alex Spears
Yeah, I was encouraged by some of the things I read about David Adelman. It seems like the players really like him. Apparently, he was going to be a hot name on the coaching market. Like, Portland might have been interested in him if they moved on from Chauncey Billups. But, yeah, thinking about, like, building around Jokic, it kind of reminds me of, like, the old Harden teams, where it really did feel like you could just stumble into 50 to 55 wins every year. You know, if you just put just some regular NBA players around him, and it just feels like they still haven't, like, maximized it. You know, the. Houston had a couple seasons where they. I mean, they were in, like, the 60s you know, and the fact that this Jokic team, the most wins they have has been 57 last year. You know, it just feels like a Jokic team should be able to win 60 games. You should be able to put around a team around Nikola jokic that wins 60 games. But they have struggled to do that so far. So, yeah, I'm interested as well. Next award, the Pleasant surprise award. This award goes to the player or team we were most pleasantly surprised by. And for me, this story starts back in the 2021 season. The Thunder were in the midst of their first tanking season, and as fans of tanking teams know, it's very easy to start talking yourself into whatever random player your GM has added to the roster. Moses Brown, Teo Maladon, Darius Basley, Isaiah Roby. Each of these players had a moment where different factions of the Thunder fan base decided, hey, this is a real guy and Sam Pre is a genius. For me, that guy was Ty Jerome. Now, in his first season, he only played 33 games, but he was awesome. And I became very obsessed with a stupid small sample stat. In over three pick and roll possessions per game as a ball handler, Ty jerome was generating 1.19 points per possession. Now, for context, this season, SGA and Tyrese Halliburton lead the league in pick and roll ball handler efficiency, 1.1 points per possession. Ty Jerome was off the charts, Andrew. Now, Was it only 100 possessions total? Yes. And did it crater to 0.89 points per possession in his second season with OKC also? Yes, it did. I was still convinced that Ty Jerome was a guy. And when he went to Golden State, I thought, okay, this is his chance and he was solid, but he didn't stick. And then he barely played for the Cavs last season after getting injured in the second game of the season, which was actually against okc. And I kind of forgotten about him at that point. So when it all finally came together this season, I was just so pleasantly surprised to not just see him back on a roster, but the fact that he was doing it on one of the best teams in the league and making them better just made it really awesome. And now it just feels like locked in like Ty Jerome. I mean, people are talking about him as like. I saw some people putting him third in, like, like most improved player or talking about him as like a, you know, maybe not like a sixth man or seventh man of the year type of award type of thing. He's just been awesome. And it's just very fun to think back to those early tanking days and how obsessed we were with, I mean high Luke, you know, I was getting into all these guys. Hamadu Diallo and Ty Drome ends up being the best out of that bunch.
- [33:33]
Andrew Schlecht
It is pretty wild. That is pretty wild that he has become the best player of that bunch. Al I'm going with the Houston Rockets. I'm just pleasantly surprised by how good they've been and really how good they've been lately because it wasn't that long ago on March 4, they were 37, 25, looking like a team that was just more in like the middle of the pack of the west and like they could be a play in team. What's going to happen here? Since then, they've gone 15 and three in their last 18 games. Like this has been a very good basketball team. They've beaten a lot of good teams. I beat the Thunder most recently. Beat them like a drum, in fact. And I just think that Ime Udoka has done such a good job. I mean they, and they've, they're getting so much from so many guys. They have seven guys that are averaging double figures right now. And you think about some of the guys they have on their team, like Jabari Smith and Amin Thompson and Jalen Green, like all top picks, they're, they've meshed pretty well for guys that are selected in the top five of the draft like that. That probably should have a lot of ego and just being able to manage that I think has been super impressive. Sengun's emergence has been super impressive as an all star as well. And the defense has just been monstrous. Now they, they do need to like establish who like the star of the team is. But man, like you're feeling really good about this team and they've done it in short order as well. I think it wasn't that long ago that we're, that Raphael Stone was a punchline to a lot of people with what they were doing and, and now you like feel great about them and you, you feel like, okay, they're a move away. They have a lot of guys that they could trade away thinking about Reed shepherd if they need like the centerpiece of a deal. Like some teams could convince themselves that a guy who hasn't really played for them is the centerpiece of a deal and they have all these draft picks. You know, you, Cam Whitmore is another one that like you could throw in there and be like, oh, that's a great young prospect and you could keep all these guys and you could just add A star onto that team. And so, I mean, I know that they were saying like it was overstated the Kevin Durant interest, but with the little amount that you actually have to give up for Kevin and like, talent wise, if you just threw Kevin Durant on this team with the defense around them, I don't know. Like, this is a team that's going to be interesting really fast. And I think like we said earlier about their odds, I think even without a trade, this is a very interesting team. And so I was pleasantly surprised at how good this Rockets team has been, for sure.
- [36:12]
Alex Spears
Man. Shout out to the Rocket star of the slammies so far. They've taken up so much hardware tonight, Andrew.
- [36:18]
Andrew Schlecht
It's unfortunate.
- [36:20]
Alex Spears
All right, our next award, the at least you're not Nico Harrison award. Now, this award goes to the worst in season decision that does not involve Nico Harrison. So you can't pick the Luca trade, and I'm going with the Dear and Fox trade. Now, I think if you look at the value in a vacuum, it's not the worst trade I've ever seen. But why I hated that trade was that I felt it showed a complete lack of vision from the King's front office. They were the 10th seed when they made that trade. The odds of them getting better in the short term in any Darren Fox trade was always going to be low because he was going to be the best player in any deal. But instead of using that trade as an opportunity to pivot, they made treading water the priority in that deal. And they're a great example of how the playing has warped our view of where teams are at. They are seven and a half games back of the eighth seed. They are not a good team. They aren't close to being a good team in this Western Conference. In two seasons from now, the 26, 27 season, DeRozan's going to be 37. LaVine and Sabonis will be on the wrong side of 30, and the Kings will have just under 150 million committed to those three. Unless you think Zach Levine is going to turn down his $49 million player option. They've locked themselves into this older core that has no chance of competing in this Western Conference. And they could be fighting just to make the play in in future seasons as younger teams like San Antonio, New Orleans and Portland improve. So if you knew that swapping Fox or lavine wasn't going to make you better, which I think everyone would have agreed with at the time, why would you trade for him? It's not like they were trading for a contract that they could potentially flip for value later. The reporting for two seasons now was how cold the market was for Zach Levine and Chicago's return in that deal supports that idea. So what was the vision with that trade? They made themselves worse, which I think was inevitable. That's not a problem. But they also limited their future flexibility by trading for the Levine contract. And the upside is a couple picks, the best of which won't convey until 2031. I just think that trade was really bad and is only going to look worse in these next couple seasons.
- [38:31]
Andrew Schlecht
Yeah, they were. They put themselves in a really bad position and they did a very bad thing.
- [38:37]
Alex Spears
And they're fine.
- [38:40]
Andrew Schlecht
They're fine. I don't know if they're fine. I don't. Oh, man, I had a couple here. Honorable mention is the Brandon Ingram trade to the Raptors where the Raptors are just like trapping themselves in mediocrity. Yeah, I just, I don't, I don't like moves like that. Overall, Zach Kleiman at the trade deadline traded Marcus Martin a first round pick. And if you were to look out and say, hey, just say this out loud, hey, the Grizzlies are going to trade Marcus Martin a first round pick. What do you think they're going to get back? Oh, that's interesting. Oh, I bet you they could get somebody useful. They got back Marvin Bagley and Johnny Davis.
- [39:26]
Alex Spears
And Johnny Davis.
- [39:28]
Andrew Schlecht
That's what they got back.
- [39:29]
Alex Spears
Two seconds, Andrew and two seconds.
- [39:33]
Andrew Schlecht
That's what they got back for our first round pick. They also gave away Jake Laravia in this deal, which we know the cap restrictions, the fact that they declined his fourth year option, we all know that. But to trade away two guys that could play for you in Laravia and Smart in the one deal and a first round pick and a first round pick and you get back two guys that you know can't play for you. Like these are former lottery picks. Yeah, we all know the names. Johnny Davis, Marvin Bagley. But two guys that can't play for you and, and this wasn't within their control. But like Jalen Wells being out for the season is a bummer. Brandon Clark being out for the season is a bummer. They fired their coach, Taylor Jenkins and it's not gone well. I think they're 3 and 4 since they fired him like that. To me, like you strip the depth of your team and a lot of this is just about saving money at the end of the day. And so just a disaster in my opinion, to just Give away. And not only give away, but pay to give away to rotation players. That would be helping them a lot. I mean, what. Look at what's happened to the Wizards. Like, smarts. Smart's not that bad. Like, what are we doing here? Like that, to me, is just. Is just wild. And they clearly need somebody like Marcus Smart, especially now that Jalen Wells is out.
- [41:00]
Alex Spears
Yeah, Yeah.
- [41:01]
Andrew Schlecht
I. I think that, that, that is one that if. If the Nico, Harrison, Luca, all that didn't happen, I think we'd be talking a lot more about Zach Kleiman and the. In the Grizzlies and in a really terrible direction that they're going.
- [41:14]
Alex Spears
And hey, shout out to the Kings because I do think that Jake Laravia pickup was very nice considering they basically didn't have to give up that much at all.
- [41:22]
Andrew Schlecht
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
- [41:23]
Alex Spears
Yeah.
- [41:23]
Andrew Schlecht
He's a rotation player.
- [41:25]
Alex Spears
Next award. We got three left, Andrew. Best take of the year. Now this award goes to the take that we are most proud of.
- [41:33]
Andrew Schlecht
We for me.
- [41:35]
Alex Spears
We. For me, it was being out on the Grizzlies pretty early as a contender.
- [41:41]
Andrew Schlecht
I did a nice little setup for you right there, Al.
- [41:44]
Alex Spears
Yeah, you did. I was sniffing it out early, Andrew. I didn't like what I was seeing. I didn't understand why everyone was getting excited about the Grizzlies. They had the. By far the easiest schedule. And yes, they did beat the Celtics. And that's why I shut up about it after that. But I didn't. I didn't change my beliefs about that team. And as soon as that their schedule turned in the new year, it has just been. I mean, they're. I think they only have 14 wins against teams with a record of 500 or better. That is fewer than the Chicago Bulls. That's fewer than the Atlanta Hawks, just to give you some context. And. And more broadly, I just never understood the idea of considering a team a serious contender that was starting two rookies. Now, maybe there was some expectation at the beginning of the season that by the end of the season, you know, that might have changed with, you know, Vince Williams coming back or whatever. But yeah, I just never bought into this Grizzlies team. They're obviously still a good team and they still have a lot of talent, but I think going into this off season, like, there. There has to be something else added to this team to really help them get over the hump. I think they can be a good team. They can be one of these teams that finishes as like a two or three seed. But I'm still just not convinced that they are ready to be in that contender conversation yet. And, and some of that is jaw. Like jaw has to. I mean, he's been playing a lot better lately. He has to play like that over the course of an entire season for me to like really buy into them.
- [43:07]
Andrew Schlecht
Yeah, I think that's all very fair. I think it's all very fair. Mine is. And this actually didn't. Didn't end up working out like I would have hoped. But I still feel really good about picking the Hawks as my surprise team. And they have suffered a ton of injuries. Obviously, Jalen Johnson going out in January was a, was a really big deal. Like he was on his way to at least being considered for the all star team, I think, and was having just an incredible season, but losing him was a huge deal. But I think you just feel much better about the Hawks moving forward than you did before. And I don't think that you should really question about, you know, is Trey Young gonna be there? I, I think he absolutely should be there. I think that he, he's the kind of star that they need. And when you surround him with guys like Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels and Yako Kongwu's had a nice season. Zachary Ricochet has been really good for them, I think that you're kind of onto something. And so I like the Hawks. I think that they can have some growth and have a bounce back year if you get Jalen Johnson, you know, back. And I think this is a team that could surprise next year in the Eastern Conference. And like that, that to me is like the biggest message. Like they're in the Eastern Conference. I think that you have a lot of these young guys. You know, Jalen Johnson's only 23. Dyson Daniels, is it true that he's only 22 years old? Like he just turned 22? Yeah, I mean there, there's a lot of growth to be had still in Atlanta. And I think this could be a team that if they can make the right kind of trade or bring in the right kind of guy, you know, to just kind of complement this group. Like this could be a team that is fighting for home court advantage in the Eastern Conference. Like, I think that that still is in there somewhere. They could be in like the class of Indiana, you know, like, it would have, would have surprised you if they were, you know, where the Indiana Pacers are. Like, I would be shocked by that. So I'm going with the, with my take on, on the Hawks. I think that they're Set up pretty well moving forward.
- [45:07]
Alex Spears
Yeah, I didn't mention it, but recesse, career high, 38 points this week.
- [45:12]
Andrew Schlecht
Yeah.
- [45:12]
Alex Spears
Very impressive.
- [45:13]
Andrew Schlecht
Yeah.
- [45:13]
Alex Spears
Yeah. And I think going in the season, I'm sure Spurs fans were feeling good. They were thinking, ooh, we're. We might get a juicy pick. And they still might end up getting a lottery pick if Atlanta doesn't get out of playing. But, you know, right now that's a. The 15th pick in the draft. And I think going in the season, you probably were expecting, oh, that might be closer to like a top 10 pick. So. Credit to the Hawks. Now, Andrew. It's our worst take of the year award. The award goes to the take that we are most embarrassed by.
- [45:41]
Andrew Schlecht
Yeah.
- [45:41]
Alex Spears
And this didn't happen on this podcast, but it was on down to dunk. We do over unders every year. And I took the Cleveland Cavaliers under, which was such a bad take at the time, and I should have. There were so many signs not pointing them to be this great of a team, but there were so many signs pointing them to be better. You know, the whole idea with Darius Garland having this jaw injury, coming back, having a new coach that everyone kind of universally agrees is. Was a good coach, you know, based on what he had done in Brooklyn with Kenny Atkinson. And I think what happened with me is I liked some of these other east teams more. For instance, like the Philadelphia 76ers, who I took the over. And as a result, I was like, well, I gotta take someone under. I was just focused on the wrong teams, and I didn't take the Cavs as seriously as I should have. Which. Which is. Which makes me feel bad because when we started this podcast, they were the first team I picked for surprise team. And that was when they had drafted Evan Mobley. They came out and they were the surprise team that year. And I felt like I banded them this year. And so I. I am embarrassed by that. And it was so wrong.
- [46:53]
Andrew Schlecht
Yeah, mine. I have. I mean, I have a lot that I could choose from, I think. I didn't like the Jimmy Butler trade for the warriors. And that still may. That still may not go, like, great for them. Like, if they lose in round one, are they still feeling good about doing that extension, bringing them around? I mean, Steve Kerr last or today on the radio even said that the lineup with Draymond, Jimmy and Jonathan Kaminga just doesn't work. He's saying that on the record, you know, like, that's. That's pretty rough. It's a rough. A rough position to be in but obviously they look much better with Jimmy, so I feel like that was the wrong take. I also said that I thought that Jamal Murray and Mikhail Bridges would be on the All Star team, that they would make their first allar all star teams this year. I don't feel good about that. I'm sure that I could come up with a hundred other ones, but those are the ones that keep me awake at night.
- [47:48]
Alex Spears
So that brings us to our final award. It's not really award, it's the Bold prediction for the NBA Playoffs award. I'm just realizing the sequence of these and what I'm about to say. So first of all, making a bold prediction, I feel like it has to be something that you are uncomfortable saying, that you feel dumb when the words come out of your mouth.
- [48:12]
Andrew Schlecht
For sure.
- [48:12]
Alex Spears
I feel like it's kind of hard to do that in the Western Conference because you could kind of make a case for any of these teams. Unless you're saying like the Kings are going to win the first round series or the Mavs are going to, you know, outside of that, like you can kind of believe anything. So I was trying to think of something that would be bold, but is like kind of believable. So what I settled on coming off of the very last award. The Pacers are going to make their second consecutive Eastern Conference finals. Now here's the case. Since December 13th, that's 54 games. They have the fourth best record overall in the NBA, not, not just the fourth best record. They've won 70% over 70% of their games in that 54 game span. That's kind of incredible because I don't think people are thinking of them in that way. But that's a, that's a huge chunk of the season. They were just so bad at the start then now you just look at them and it's like, oh yeah, they're a four seed. They beat Cleveland this week. I don't really care about that because Cleveland was shorthanded. But there are, there is at least something we can look back on which is that they beat Cleveland at home when Cleveland was at their absolute peak. They ended a Cavs 12 game winning streak at that point in the season. So they've at least shown that they match up decently with the Cavaliers. Now the Cavaliers are going to be the overwhelming favorites if that ends up being the matchup in round two. But if I'm trying to think of a potential upset, something that would be surprising, that would be bold, I think the Pacers are about the best. I Can do. You know, they're the one that, like, it wouldn't, I mean, I don't know if I should say. It wouldn't shock me. It would be very surprising. But I think we look back on it as like, well, look what they've been in, like, the second two thirds of this season. Like, they've been a really good team. They've matched up well against Cleveland this season, so why not? So that is going to be my bold prediction for the NBA playoffs.
- [50:08]
Andrew Schlecht
Wow, that is bold. As bold and spicy. That's guaranteed bold.
- [50:14]
Alex Spears
Can't say it's not bold.
- [50:17]
Andrew Schlecht
I'm going to have the Detroit Pistons moving on to round two. Is that bold?
- [50:24]
Alex Spears
I think that will be the popular upset pick in round one.
- [50:30]
Andrew Schlecht
Okay. Not bold enough.
- [50:32]
Alex Spears
Can you. Okay, how about this? How many games? Here we go. I'll give you bold if you say five or less.
- [50:40]
Andrew Schlecht
I was gonna say gentlemen sweep.
- [50:43]
Alex Spears
Okay. Okay. There we go. That's bold.
- [50:46]
Andrew Schlecht
There's my bold and spicy take right there. Is that they will gentlemen sweep the New York Knicks. Actually, I, I, it feels bold because I'm having a very hard time saying it and believing it.
- [50:57]
Alex Spears
That's the point. You have to feel really weird when I film out of your mouth.
- [51:01]
Andrew Schlecht
So weird about saying it. But here, you know, it's bold. I want to. I like the Pistons. I like a lot of people that cover the Pistons. And Yeah, you're.
- [51:12]
Alex Spears
Wait, you're picking the Pistons because you like their media members?
- [51:15]
Andrew Schlecht
Andrew, that's when I think about them. I can't, I can't separate them. So. Sure, sure. For Bryce Simon. Sure.
- [51:24]
Alex Spears
You're making your playoff picks and you're just thinking, I like James Edwards. He's such a nice guy.
- [51:28]
Andrew Schlecht
I do like James a lot, but this is me picking against James, so.
- [51:32]
Alex Spears
Oh, yeah, that's true. I forgot. Oh, my gosh. I, I feel like we'll always associate James with the Pistons, even though he is literally on the opposite team now.
- [51:42]
Andrew Schlecht
Oh, no. Oh, no. Well, those are slammies. Let us know what you agree with, disagree with. Let us know. You can comment on. Spotify is a place you can comment. You can also comment if you're listening, on the Athletic app and then also on YouTube. So if you're on YouTube right now watching, let us know what you agree with, disagree with in the comments. We would appreciate that. We'll be right back. We're gonna talk about the Blazers on the other side of this break. This message is brought to you by Apple Card.
- [52:11]
Alex Spears
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Andrew Schlecht
Subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch terms and more at applecard.com as we head into the playoffs, it's safe to assume there.
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Mike Richmond
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Andrew Schlecht
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Mike Richmond
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Andrew Schlecht
Spring is in full bloom at the Home Depot. So what are you working on? If you're digging into your garden, come into the Home Depot's Garden center where we can help you pick out the best plants for your space. Then make sure you give your plants.
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Mike Richmond
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Andrew Schlecht
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Mike Richmond
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Alex Spears
Home Depot this episode is brought to you by Chevy Silverado. When it's time for you to ditch the blacktop and head off road, do it in a truck that says no to nothing. The Chevy Silverado Trail Boss get the rugged capability of its Z71 suspension and 2 inch factory lift plus impressive torque and towing capacity thanks to an available Duramax 3 liter turbo diesel engine. Where other trucks call it quits, you'll just be getting started. Visit chevy.com to learn more. 24 chefs 24 culinary showdowns for 24.
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Andrew Schlecht
Hours straight.
- [55:39]
Alex Spears
Which Chef will out cook, outpace, outlast the competition? No chef escapes the clock. Season premiere 24 and 24 Last Chef Standing Sunday, April 27th at 8. See you first on Food Network Stream next day on Max. All right Andrew, it is time for the Wheel of Fandom, the weekly segment where we spin a wheel, lands on a team and we become fans of that team for the next week. Last week the Wheel landed on the Portland Trail Blazers. Now the Blazers, playing dreams, were officially eliminated this week after their second half push during which they had an above.500 records, they had a positive net rating. The Blazers are now though waiting for the draft lottery where they will likely have the 9th or 10th best odds per cleaning the glass. For the season the blazers had the 23rd ranked offense, 17th ranked defense. Andrew, if the Blazers are favorite team, who is our guest?
- [56:35]
Andrew Schlecht
We've got Mike Richmond, host of the Locked on Blazers podcast. Mike, thanks for joining us.
- [56:42]
Mike Richmond
Thanks for having me. I'm happy to be here to make my debut.
- [56:47]
Andrew Schlecht
Yes, beautiful. The Blazers this week announced a multi year extension for GM Joe Cronin. He's had the job for three and a half years now and has overseen an almost complete makeover of the Blazers roster. What do you think about Cronin's performance as GM so far and do you think the extension was well deserved.
- [57:10]
Mike Richmond
It's so mixed his overall performance, right. Like I think he did a pretty good job of getting out from under the Damian Lillard mess that he also created. I, I think that the recent trades to acquire Denny Avdia and also to Moni Kamara who was part of a larger trade which maybe didn't have the best headliner that you could imagine and deandre Ayton but I, you know, I think to money and Denny have been good enough as wings and young wings that you're like, yeah, that's a part of something that could be a good basketball team. And I think for the first time this year, particularly second half of this season, his lottery picks in Shane Sharp and Donovan Klingon and Scoot Henderson have all shown enough promise that you're like, okay, I start to see the vision. And yet he still has Anthony Simons on the roster. Rob Williams never got traded, not when he first arrived, not after he stuck around after an injury and not before he got injured another time DeAndre is probably untradable. Every Simon's, you know, still there and Jeremy Grant who he gave a massive contract to, even though both him and Jeremy knew Damian Lord was out the door, they still gave him 160 million bucks. So it's like you kind of see where they're headed and why they're headed there. But I think the overall the vision from like pretty decent, competent team which they've turned into to like actually competitive basketball team remains like a bit mystifying. Is it deserving? I don't know. No one deserves anything in this world and we all deserve everything at the same time. So I'm not surprised he got, I'm not surprised he got a new contract by any means.
- [58:40]
Andrew Schlecht
Do you expect Chauncey to stick around?
- [58:44]
Mike Richmond
I do not expect Chauncey Billups to be the coach of the Blazers next year in part because when they announced the future of the franchise and the multi year contract, multi year contract for the GM who's going to lead the vision into the future, they didn't mention Chauncey Billups and they also didn't announce a contracts extension for Chauncey Billups. He is has a team option for next season. He's coached four years here. I think it is misleading to judge Chauncey Billups by his win loss record which is horrendous because the Blazers lost on purpose for a good chunk of that. But and undoubtedly the best stretch of of Billups's career has been the last three months. Like he's been that he's been pretty good. Although I do think often we say coach win good, coach lose bad, which is maybe a little too simple. But I, if the Blazers were going to keep Billups have had a lot, a lot of opportunities to do so. And I believe he will probably be a coach in the NBA next season, but I would doubt it would be for the Portland trailblazers.
- [59:40]
Alex Spears
So. Scoot Henderson, his rookie season was a little bit worrying, but he seemed to find his footing this season. Proved his efficiency. Shot 38 from 3 on, good volume in his final 46 games. So now that Blazers fans can kind of breathe a little easier knowing that he's probably not a bust, what parts of his game does he need to develop for him to take that next step?
- [59:59]
Mike Richmond
He's got to make layups. It's a pretty, pretty simple one for him. He's got to make lapses. The finishing is just not quite there for him yet. His. They, you know, people used to say when he, when he couldn't shoot and couldn't make shots, like, well, at least he gets to his spots. What does that mean? He doesn't have spots. But, but he like he's, he's, he's shooting well enough from the outside now. And it, and a lot of it is teams going under screens, they say shoot it and he's kind of cut out the step back out of his diet and instead of just said he doesn't have to step back, he can just wait till you, you go under and he can shoot a three because he doesn't have to go anywhere. So I think he's taken, he's taking smarter shots and hopefully at some point that three point shooting translates to the respect that allows you to drive a little bit more. But he just is still a below average finisher. And if he's going to be a really good player, the scoot that is a really good player makes layups at a pretty high level.
- [60:51]
Alex Spears
What do you think that is? Because, you know, at least last year he shot, you know, over 80% from the line. He seems to be developing his touch from the outside. Like is it a touch issue around the rim or a footwork issue?
- [61:03]
Mike Richmond
It's feet. A lot of it. He is, he plays a little bit small when he has, when he jumps off two feet. So like if he has Runway and he can spring off of one foot, he's, he's pretty athletic, but he's not maybe the athlete that he was billed as. Like, he's not quite, he's probably not John Wall. And he's not. He's certainly not Russell Westbrook. Right. Like, he's not one of. He's not that tier of athlete.
- [61:27]
Alex Spears
He's a.
- [61:28]
Mike Richmond
He's an athletic point guard to be. To be sure, but he's. He's probably not in that, you know, whatever that Percentile is, the 98th and above percentile. So sometimes he plays a little small when he jumps, when he has to jump off two feet. So he gets caught and gets kind of can get in a crowd. And he was really bad with his left hand early in his career. He's really improved his left hand finishing. That's like a thing he can do a little bit, but I think a lot of it is getting his footwork and his balance when he gets around the rim becomes a problem for him.
- [61:55]
Andrew Schlecht
Yeah, he's shooting 55% in the restricted area, which is. Which is not. Not great for a star. It's a little better than Jeremy Grant's 46%, but we don't have to talk about that. Let's Talk about Don McClingan. He's the Blazers big name rookie this year. 7th overall pick in last year's draft. He's already shown some significant defensive upside this year. What's something about his game that stands out to you that might not be obvious to someone who doesn't watch the Blazers every night?
- [62:30]
Mike Richmond
He is a real mfer like he is. Donovan Klingen is down to brawl. And I don't know that you always see that with rookie big men trying to find the way. Sometimes you see like, you know, there are some. Stephen Adams is out there, right? Like, Stephen Adams kind of came into the league and was like, I will fight. Like, I'm down to fight. I'll fight everybody. But a lot of young big guys are like, I gotta figure out where. Maybe they commit hard fouls, but they don't like beef. And I think Clingan's competitiveness, particularly not backing down when guys go right at him and draw kind of silly fouls on him. I think that is an appealing part of his game because just that just the willingness to like to mix it up speaks well for what they're going to need him to be because, like, his future is being gigantic and physical and he's already willing to do that.
- [63:20]
Alex Spears
Before I ask you about the draft lottery, I. I did want to ask about Shaden Sharp because he seems to have taken like a kind of nice post All Star break jump. You know, he's playing a little better post All Star break How much of that do you feel is real or, or is there anything that he's done post all star break that you can really point to and feel like, okay, this can defin carry over to next season?
- [63:40]
Mike Richmond
You know what I think is a myth? I think Mickey Mouse March is a myth. There are times, there are times when it is very obvious that you are racking up stats against nonsense teams. There was a game, Shane Sharp's rookie year where he had 30, 70, 37 boards, seven assists. 37 and seven. And the, and the, and the team kept pointing to it all the time. One of the only rookies to have 35, five before his ninth. They lost by 42 to the Kings that night. That's Mickey Mouse. Okay, that, that is Mickey Mouse. But sometimes you are playing, you are expanding your role and playing in competitive minutes that you otherwise would not. Certainly the like Washington Wizards pulling Alex Sar from the game can lead to some Mickey Mouse nonsense. But I do think there are just competitive games. Like the Blazers have played some good teams who play their guys and you like, see, okay, an expanded role. You can do some other stuff. I think maybe the box score. If you just watch the box score, the Mickey Mouse stuff is real. But if you watch the games, the minutia of it, and I am blessed and cursed to watch every minute of the trailblazers, I, I think you could see real things. That said, all of this Shane Star Sharp stuff in March is bull. No, no, it's all Disney magic. No, he's, he's been good. Like he's, he's the big difference for him. And I think this is the challenge that they will have going forward is that they've had a lot less and free Simons and a lot less Scoot consistently, which has meant more on ball reps for, for Sharp. And he just looks better with the ball in his hands. When he's an off ball guy, he can get lost a little bit and his maybe aggression wanes a little bit or he, or he's like, I gotta shoot because I'm supposed to score. And he takes like stupid shots. But I think he's had the ball in his hands more and he's just, he just has. He can build a comfort if he knows he's gonna have on ball reps. Like he just looks better that way. Which is something they're gonn figure out going forward because Denny's gonna have the ball and Scoot's gonna have the ball. And probably not Amphre Simons, but another guard will have the Ball too. And they'll, and they'll, they'll have to figure out sort of the balance with that.
- [65:49]
Alex Spears
Okay, so thinking now about the draft, outside of the obvious names, obviously, it'd be wonderful to jump up and get Cooper Flack. That would be an amazing fit. But is there anyone in the mid lottery that you're already thinking about someone you like that you think might fit with this current Blazers roster?
- [66:05]
Mike Richmond
You know, they need shooting. So it's like, is Con Canipple that guy? Maybe. I'm not super excited about Con Canymple's overall upside as an NBA player, but I bet he'll play in the league for 10 years because he's the right size, he's got good physicality, and he can shoot like that's, that's an NBA player. Like, I don't know if it's a really good NBA player, but when I watch him, I'm like, yeah, that dude's gonna play in the league. So he's, he's a name that's probably in that range. That makes some sense. I think Rasheer Fleming is a name that kind of makes some sense if the shooting is real, because they could use like a stretchy big. I, I think that's the skill set. Maybe Liam McNeely, but I don't, I'm kind of, I've kind of soured on him a little bit. But those are the names because I think they need shooting, but I don't know that they're in a spot. I don't know anyone who's going to be drafting a lotteries in a spot where they should draft for a skill set. But just like thinking about the Blazers needs, those are their needs. You know, I think one of the most interesting scenarios for the Blazers, if they do jump up and it's like Vijay Edgecombe and Dylan Harper are choices where they land, it's like, what do you do? What do you do? Do you, what do you believe in your guys or do you bring in the talent? I think that'll be, that would be a really fascinating scenario. And for the content purposes, I am obviously rooting for it.
- [67:12]
Andrew Schlecht
Yeah, no kidding.
- [67:13]
Alex Spears
I would really love VJ for them. Like, if not in that scenario where they're choosing between Dylan Harper and bj, but vj just having like a defensive guy in that back court to go along with Shaden Sharp and, and Scoot Henderson, I just think that would be really cool.
- [67:29]
Mike Richmond
Yeah, I mean, they've got, they, they, they have a bunch of dudes who can defend but if Shane Sharp and Scoot are their future in the backcourt, they. I don't know that you can have enough defenders.
- [67:39]
Andrew Schlecht
Right.
- [67:40]
Mike Richmond
Like. Right. I think Scoot has improved a lot on defense, but he's. He's six two. What are you gonna do? There's not that many guys who are really good on. Consistently on defense of that size, and Shane Sharp's pretty bad on defense, so I think that is a question mark for him.
- [67:53]
Andrew Schlecht
Mm. So I think the Blazers have a lot of options in front of them. And I'm just curious what your hopes are for the Blazers and then what do you expect them to do this summer?
- [68:07]
Mike Richmond
Oh, man. My hope is that they make the big structural changes that they have resisted making for several cycles now. I don't know that you can trade. As I mentioned earlier in the show, I don't know that you can trade deandre Aiden. Like, I don't. I don't know that that's an option. I don't know that you can trade Jeremy Grant because he forgot how to make two pointers, but at some point you could. He was tradable. I think every Simons is tradable to some extent. I don't know that he has this. He's. That is not the type of player that has a lot of value in the trade market, but movable, without a doubt. Movable, depending on what your asking price is. But I think it's time to really clear the decks to let the youngsters play. But there is a weird world, and I think this goes to. What I think they will do is where they. They took a step forward this year. Are they willing to take a step back? Are they willing to trade those guys and get a little bit worse in the immediate term. Or are they.
- [69:02]
Andrew Schlecht
Or.
- [69:02]
Mike Richmond
Or do they say, we. We won 37 games. We sure as hell don't want to win 31 or 28 or something. You know, like, they. They are where they're resistant to make necessary moves because they're worried about the sort of outward appearance of the rebuild heading being non. Being non linear all of a sudden.
- [69:24]
Alex Spears
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wonder if that has been eased up at all with this Cronin extension where he's not, like, under the gun and it might feel like he has to make a move. But I can certainly understand it from, like, a Blazers fan position because it has now been, you know, it would be like four or five years at that point where you kind of go into the season if they do make those kind of big moves, kind of Knowing that they're not going to be in the playoffs again. But I don't know, I feel like there was so much improvement from the young guys. And then the combo of Denny and Tumani is just like such a fun combo to watch. And so I don't know, as, As a neutral observer, living importantly, who gets to go to a lot of Blazers games, Like, I would enjoy it. I would, like, I would enjoy not having to see some of the older guys on the roster play and just play the young guys. But I could understand why Blaze some Blazers fans would be frustrated.
- [70:12]
Mike Richmond
Yeah, I mean, I think it would. It just would be really, really, really bizarre if year three Scoot Henderson is not your starting point guard.
- [70:19]
Alex Spears
Yeah, yeah, totally.
- [70:20]
Mike Richmond
Like, it's just that. It's just good, bad, whatever. It's weird. It'd be weird. You draft him third overall and he goes into his third season and it's like, well, yeah, he's going to be a backup. It's like, okay, well, you drafted a backup as at 3. You know, like, that's. I think that is one of the things that they need to. They need to look in the mirror and decide what, what the deal is. I think the way that would be palatable is, I guess, if Dylan Harper was your starting point guard or what know, like, I don't think I, you know, I, I don't think there's. If Deandre Aiden and Amh Simons are back, that means that you have two recent lottery picks who have at least shown some promise in Scoot and Donovan clinging, who have been coming off the bench again. And that's just weird. That's weird. That's a weird way to run a basketball team.
- [71:01]
Alex Spears
Yeah. Well, Mike, thank you for answering all of our Blazers questions. It is now time to play Andrew versus the Beat, our weekly trivia show where Andrew goes head to head against an NBA beat writer this week. Mike Richmond from the Locked on Blazers podcast. Now, Mike, how this works. I've come up with eight questions about the Blazers. You're gonna give me a number between 1 and 8. It will correspond to a question. If you get it right, you'll get at least two points. If you get it wrong, Andrew will have a chance to steal for one and then we'll go back and forth until all the questions have been asked and answered. So to start us off, I just need a number between one and eight.
- [71:36]
Mike Richmond
We'll go eight. Like Bonzi Wells was Bonzi eight. Am I right about that?
- [71:41]
Alex Spears
I hope he was eight. Otherwise there's Gonna be Blazers fans already yelling at you.
- [71:45]
Mike Richmond
They're so mad. He was six. We'll go six wells and we'll be embarrassed.
- [71:53]
Alex Spears
Okay. Anthony Simons, you know, honestly didn't have a. A great season. I didn't think. But he did hit a career high. 215 three pointers a season, moving him into third place all time for most three pointers made blazers franchise history. We're going to name the other nine players in the top 10 for most threes in Blazers franchise history. How this works, you'll give me a name and then Andrew will give me a name and we'll go back and forth until one of you stumbles. So who would you like to start with?
- [72:22]
Mike Richmond
I'll go with Damian Lamont. Ali Lillard Sr. Let me scroll here.
- [72:28]
Alex Spears
And he is on the list. Number one. Correct. Andrew.
- [72:34]
Andrew Schlecht
Oh, boy. C.J.
- [72:36]
Alex Spears
Mccollum, number two on the list. Back to Mike. Wesley Matthews, number four on the list. Recently supplanted by Anthony Simons.
- [72:49]
Andrew Schlecht
Wow.
- [72:49]
Alex Spears
So Andrew, back to you.
- [72:52]
Andrew Schlecht
What about. What about Damon Stoudemire?
- [72:57]
Alex Spears
Damon Stoudemire. He was number seven on the list. That's correct. Back to Mike.
- [73:05]
Mike Richmond
Terry Porter.
- [73:06]
Alex Spears
Terry Porter was number five.
- [73:09]
Andrew Schlecht
Terry on the list.
- [73:12]
Alex Spears
Back to Andrew. Four names left. You guys are doing great.
- [73:16]
Andrew Schlecht
Already halfway there. What about Batum?
- [73:21]
Alex Spears
Nicholas Batum, number six. Andrew. So you guys are doing great. Only all you got left. 8, 9 and 10. You do a clean sweep here. So back to Mike.
- [73:30]
Andrew Schlecht
Nine and ten.
- [73:33]
Mike Richmond
Okay.
- [73:33]
Andrew Schlecht
It's.
- [73:33]
Mike Richmond
It's got to be someone modern who was around. Batum was a good one because he was. Had another contract. I'm gonna go. This is a bad choice. I'm gonna go. Cliff Robinson.
- [73:50]
Alex Spears
Cliff Robinson. Is he on the list? Yes, he is number nine on the list. Back to Andrew. Andrew, there's only two names left. Can you get one of them?
- [74:05]
Andrew Schlecht
I don't know if this is right just because this is not the three point era, but the dude was just a ridiculous bucket. What about Drexler?
- [74:16]
Alex Spears
Clyde Drexler. Andrew. He is number 10 on the list. That means we've gotten to the final name. It is number eight on the list. Eighth in Blazers franchise history. Most made threes and is up to Mike to get it. Can you name number eight?
- [74:39]
Mike Richmond
Number eight? Oh, man.
- [74:43]
Alex Spears
Andrew, do you have any names left or was that your. Your last hope?
- [74:47]
Andrew Schlecht
I mean, I. I mean, I have some Blazers names floating around my head, but I don't have any clue who it is.
- [74:56]
Mike Richmond
Yeah, I'm trying to think of just longevity because Clyde was my Last guest. I was hoping you wouldn't go, Clyde. I don't. I, I don't know. I, I can see it. Andrew, throw your last name out.
- [75:18]
Andrew Schlecht
I mean, I, I mean I don't, I don't think Rasheed took enough threes, but I just think about Rasheed, but I don't think he took enough threes. As a Blazer.
- [75:27]
Alex Spears
It's kind of a surprising name because he didn't play in Portland for all that long and it wasn't really the three point era. It was Steve Blake.
- [75:37]
Mike Richmond
Oh, he came. He was at three. Three stints. You know, that's a good guess. Three stints.
- [75:41]
Andrew Schlecht
Yeah.
- [75:41]
Mike Richmond
So Steve Blake, he kept coming back and he played and he played at least in the, you know, post Curry era.
- [75:49]
Alex Spears
So he kept coming back.
- [75:52]
Andrew Schlecht
That is just a name I haven't thought about in a while. Steve Blake. Double dream.
- [75:58]
Alex Spears
Congrats. You guys got nine to ten. That's pretty good. Board is yours, Andrew.
- [76:03]
Andrew Schlecht
I'll go number one.
- [76:05]
Alex Spears
Question number one. Denny Avdia is averaging 7.3 rebounds per game. At six nine. Who was the last Blazer who was six nine or shorter to average more rebounds per game than Denny?
- [76:22]
Andrew Schlecht
The last blazer that was 6:9 or.
- [76:27]
Alex Spears
Shorter to average more than 7.3. Basically just a short guy. Andrew. Okay, you don't have to make it too complicated. A short guy who got a lot of bounds. More bounds than Denny.
- [76:39]
Andrew Schlecht
Is it Bonzi Wells? The aforementioned?
- [76:43]
Alex Spears
Incorrect. Andrew. Okay, Mike, Any guesses?
- [76:48]
Mike Richmond
Is it Scotty?
- [76:50]
Alex Spears
It is not. It is actually very recent. He only played 50, I think 51 games that season because he was traded to the New York Knicks. It is Josh Hart.
- [77:01]
Mike Richmond
Josh Hart. Oh my gosh.
- [77:04]
Alex Spears
Averaged over because Danny is.
- [77:05]
Mike Richmond
It is. Yeah. Turbo. Josh Hart. There you go.
- [77:08]
Andrew Schlecht
Wow.
- [77:09]
Alex Spears
Okay, Mike, board is yours.
- [77:11]
Mike Richmond
I'll go eight for Martel Webster. That's a number I do know.
- [77:15]
Alex Spears
Martell Webster. Okay, here we go. Portland has had 113 clutch minutes this season. Okay, that's minutes where the game is within five points with five or fewer minutes left. There are only two NBA teams with fewer clutch minutes. Who are the. Who are they?
- [77:37]
Andrew Schlecht
Who are the.
- [77:39]
Alex Spears
Who are they? And as a hint kind of a hint, these two teams have significantly fewer clutch minutes than Portland. That helps you at all. So Portland's at 113. These two teams significantly less.
- [77:53]
Mike Richmond
I'm up first.
- [77:54]
Alex Spears
Yes.
- [77:55]
Mike Richmond
I'll guess our beloved Washington Wizards.
- [77:58]
Alex Spears
That is correct for one point. Can you get the other team.
- [78:04]
Mike Richmond
Again? Yeah, I'll go the other end of the spec. I'LL go the other end of the spectrum and guess okc.
- [78:10]
Alex Spears
Wow, Mike.
- [78:11]
Andrew Schlecht
Yeah. That's got it.
- [78:12]
Alex Spears
Both of them. Boom. Two points.
- [78:14]
Andrew Schlecht
Nice.
- [78:15]
Alex Spears
All right, Andrew, board is yours.
- [78:19]
Andrew Schlecht
Number two.
- [78:20]
Alex Spears
Thank you. Okay. Seven is still available. I just accidentally marked it out. Two. When this player's on the court, Andrew, The Blazers are 6.4 points per 100 possessions better on offense. The best mark on the team according to cleaning the glass. Who is it?
- [78:41]
Andrew Schlecht
Wow.
- [78:44]
Alex Spears
When this guy's on the court, the offense is humming.
- [78:49]
Andrew Schlecht
Huh. What about Time Lord Rob Williams?
- [79:00]
Alex Spears
Good guess, Andrew, but that is incorrect. Mike, you have a chance to steal for one point.
- [79:06]
Mike Richmond
Okay, I. I think it could be one of two obscure guys, but I'm just gonna guess. Sterling Scoot Henderson.
- [79:13]
Alex Spears
It is Scoot Henderson.
- [79:16]
Andrew Schlecht
Wow. Wow.
- [79:17]
Alex Spears
Isn't that kind of.
- [79:18]
Mike Richmond
Yeah, I know. His on off numbers suggest that he's good. I. I think that. That that's.
- [79:24]
Andrew Schlecht
He's good.
- [79:25]
Mike Richmond
Well, it's like the Blazers vets. Like, if you look at the on off numbers, DeAndre sucks. Jeremy Grant, unplayable, normal, bad. But I don't want to spoil some potential ones. Maybe that'll be coming up in this. In this trivia. But like, Jabari Walker and Do Op Wreath are kind of on off legends. But I. So it's like, I don't. Is that meaningful? Do we. Do we think that means anything? But I know that Scoot's on off numbers suggests that they're. They're just straight up better when he plays, which I think is a good sign, which is why they need to make him the starting point guard.
- [79:54]
Alex Spears
That is true. I'm looking at all of the guys who the defense swings the most, and it's all the bench guys. It's like Jabari Walker, T. Stibel, Chris Murray, Robert Williams. That makes sense. Okay, Mike, you've controlled the board. You also have a commanding lead, three to one.
- [80:13]
Mike Richmond
I'll go three.
- [80:15]
Alex Spears
Question number three. Donovan Clingan has already racked up 105 blocks in his rookie season. Who was the last Blazers rookie to have that many blocks in their rookie season?
- [80:32]
Mike Richmond
Joe Prisbilla.
- [80:34]
Alex Spears
Joel Prisbilla. That is incorrect. Andrew, you have a chance to steal last Blazers rookie to have at least 105 blocks in their rookie season.
- [80:48]
Andrew Schlecht
Joel Prisbilla is a great.
- [80:50]
Alex Spears
I love Joel Prisbilla.
- [80:52]
Andrew Schlecht
He was good boy. Who would this be? I don't know if this guy did that, though. This feels. That feels wrong. Shoot.
- [81:22]
Alex Spears
Andrew.
- [81:23]
Andrew Schlecht
I do. I have guesses.
- [81:25]
Alex Spears
Okay, that's good. That's a good start.
- [81:27]
Andrew Schlecht
I Don't think Zach Collins did, but that's the name that just, like, keeps punching me in the head.
- [81:32]
Alex Spears
Okay. Is that your final answer?
- [81:34]
Andrew Schlecht
Sure. Whatever. Yeah.
- [81:36]
Alex Spears
Andrew, that is also incorrect. The correct answer. You have to go all the way back. Keep. No, let's go all the way Back to the 84, 85 season. Sam Bowie. That's pretty nice. Yeah.
- [81:55]
Andrew Schlecht
Wow.
- [81:55]
Alex Spears
All right, Andrew, board is yours. Three questions remain. You got to get some points, Andrew.
- [82:01]
Andrew Schlecht
Yeah, it's not going well. Number four.
- [82:04]
Alex Spears
Number four. Shaden Sharp has 65 dunks so far this season. Now, I wrote this question before the Utah Jazz game. I don't even actually know if Shane Sharp's playing in that game. Oh, he is. Okay, so he may have more. He may have 75 minute 10 dunks in the game, Andrew. But he had 65 when I made this question at only six.
- [82:24]
Andrew Schlecht
Six.
- [82:24]
Alex Spears
He's one of only seven players in the league who are six, six or shorter and have that many dunks this season. Can you name two of the other short dunkers? Okay, so there's six other short dunkers out there. You get one point per correct answer. And I'm going by their basketball reference listed height. So they have to be 6, 6 or shorter.
- [82:47]
Andrew Schlecht
6, 6 or shorter.
- [82:50]
Alex Spears
A lot of dunks. Yeah. Short dunkers.
- [82:55]
Andrew Schlecht
And what's the number of dunks?
- [82:57]
Alex Spears
165. 65.
- [83:00]
Andrew Schlecht
65. You started 100. I was like, oh, my.
- [83:05]
Alex Spears
Yeah.
- [83:05]
Andrew Schlecht
Just more than 65. Who would this be? Six. Six, you say?
- [83:13]
Alex Spears
I do say.
- [83:15]
Andrew Schlecht
Six. Six you say?
- [83:19]
Alex Spears
What about J Dub Jdub is one of the answers. Andrew, correct for one point.
- [83:32]
Andrew Schlecht
Boy, can you.
- [83:35]
Alex Spears
Another one.
- [83:36]
Andrew Schlecht
Who else would have that many dunks and be short?
- [83:42]
Alex Spears
And be short.
- [83:43]
Andrew Schlecht
Short.
- [83:44]
Alex Spears
Relatively speaking.
- [83:45]
Andrew Schlecht
Relative. Relatively short. Kings. Bo, this is a tough question.
- [84:00]
Alex Spears
Any other guesses you could tie the game up? Andrew got this.
- [84:04]
Andrew Schlecht
I would like to do that.
- [84:05]
Alex Spears
I'd like to be nice for you.
- [84:07]
Andrew Schlecht
I think the Thompson twins are 6 7, so I don't think they qualify.
- [84:12]
Alex Spears
Okay.
- [84:13]
Andrew Schlecht
I'm trying to go through my Rolodex in my head of teams and players. This is challenging.
- [84:25]
Alex Spears
Dude.
- [84:26]
Andrew Schlecht
I. Oh, what about. What about Christian Brown?
- [84:36]
Alex Spears
That is correct. Andrew, you got both points. Good job. Mike, when you were sitting there, were you thinking of any names? Any names?
- [84:43]
Mike Richmond
Anthony Edwards.
- [84:45]
Alex Spears
Surprisingly, no. He would qualify, but he does not have that many dunks. Yeah, I thought he would be there, too.
- [84:51]
Andrew Schlecht
Doesn't like dunking.
- [84:53]
Mike Richmond
Yeah. And like. And jaw. But he swore off dunking for whatever. Like a. A game and a half.
- [84:58]
Alex Spears
I think he does because he missed so many games. Yeah.
- [85:00]
Mike Richmond
Yeah.
- [85:01]
Andrew Schlecht
It is sad that both those. It's sad that both those guys don't dunk more. Honestly. Yeah.
- [85:06]
Alex Spears
Don't talk more. Yeah.
- [85:07]
Andrew Schlecht
Great.
- [85:07]
Alex Spears
Steph Castle as a rookie is doing it. Zach Levine, who I just always forget about as a dunker. But yes, he's. He's a big dunker. He's a dunker below Cool Bali, who I thought was taller than 6. 6.
- [85:19]
Andrew Schlecht
Wait, what? He's listed at 6.
- [85:21]
Alex Spears
6 on basketball reference.
- [85:23]
Mike Richmond
A big six six.
- [85:25]
Alex Spears
Wow. I know. Again, I just had to go buy something. And then Derek Jones Jr. Again thought he was taller than six. Six. He's apparently six. Well, he's six five on basketball reference. That was the other name. Okay, so that brings us to a tie game with only two questions remaining. Mike, would you like five or seven?
- [85:50]
Mike Richmond
I'll go five.
- [85:52]
Alex Spears
Question number five, Robert Williams made his first career three pointer this season. How many career three point attempts does Time Lord have? Now, before you answer, you get to choose who answers first. So you can make Andrew answer and then you just have to go higher, lower or you can answer and Andrew goes higher, lower. Now, the risk is that if you make Andrew answer and he it exactly correct, he would get a bonus point. So what would you like to do?
- [86:22]
Mike Richmond
I'm just going to throw out a number.
- [86:24]
Alex Spears
I'm not going to.
- [86:24]
Mike Richmond
I'm not going to shy away from this. I'm going to throw out a number. I'm going to say that Time has attempted seven three pointers in his career.
- [86:36]
Alex Spears
Okay. Andrew, Mike has set the over under at 7. Would you like to go under higher or lower?
- [86:44]
Andrew Schlecht
I'll go higher.
- [86:48]
Alex Spears
Higher. Well, in a slam and jam first, Mike has just won the week even though there's one question remaining because he got it exactly correct, which means he gets a bonus point, which means he has six points now to three. He has won the week. Now he's still got one question left left, but that was amazing. You nailed it. Seven three point attempts.
- [87:13]
Andrew Schlecht
Seven three point attempts. Wow.
- [87:15]
Alex Spears
Now, I'm very sad that this last question won't end up mattering, but I do love this question. I'm glad you can make it count.
- [87:23]
Andrew Schlecht
You can make it count for three points if you wanted.
- [87:25]
Alex Spears
Two or four points. It counts for two. Andrew, you can get within one. You can lose by one if you get this right. Okay. The blazer's original mascot was Bigfoot. Okay. Actually, Bigfoot was played by a former Blazer. It was a former Blazer in the costume of Bigfoot.
- [87:42]
Andrew Schlecht
Wow.
- [87:43]
Alex Spears
He only lasted from 1987 to 1989. Bigfoot's time as a mascot came to a premature end after an in game skit caused the opposing coach to complain to the media. What was the offending skit? Now I'm going to give you four possible answers and you're going to tell me which of those Bigfoot did that got him ultimately fired. Okay. And you'll see that there's a pattern to these. Okay?
- [88:09]
Andrew Schlecht
Okay.
- [88:10]
Alex Spears
Was it that Bigfoot crushed a leprechaun under his foot while Sweet Caroline by Neil diamond played? Was it that Bigfoot crushed a model of the Golden Gate Bridge while I Left My Heart in San Francisco by Tony Bennett played. Was it Bigfoot crushed a model of the Hollywood sign while LA Woman by the Doors played? Or was it Bigfoot crushed multiple models of several American made cars while Detroit Rock City by Kiss played? Which one got Bigfoot fired? Andrew?
- [88:47]
Andrew Schlecht
I'll go with the leprechaun.
- [88:50]
Alex Spears
The leprechaun crushed under his foot. Andrew, that is incorrect.
- [88:55]
Andrew Schlecht
Mike, do you happen to know this.
- [88:56]
Alex Spears
Piece of Blazer's lore? I don't.
- [88:59]
Mike Richmond
I knew that he got axed and now they brought him back and I have a two year old and we've been to some games this year and she loves Dougie. They brought Dougie. They got Dougie fur. Who's the new mascot? The new Sasquatch mascot. And she loves Dougie. So we talk a lot about, we talk a lot about the new age mascot in my home.
- [89:17]
Alex Spears
Mike, before you answer, can I ask you a mascot question? Because was the original plan with Dougie to phase out Blaze the trail cat or was it always to have two?
- [89:28]
Mike Richmond
So I, I, I believe the plans is to have two. But it does feel like they're murdering Blaze. It feels like he is just gonna end up and you know, just he's not gonna show up to work next year. And I, I feel, honestly I feel.
- [89:43]
Alex Spears
I thought he was doing a great job and I, and then Dougie comes out of nowhere, got a big old smile on his face. Well, people seem to like them.
- [89:51]
Mike Richmond
The last game we were at, I was at Sunday, Sunday afternoons game. We go to the matinees and Blaze did a stunt off the ladder and I'm like, Dougie's not doing that baby.
- [89:59]
Alex Spears
Long live Blaze.
- [90:02]
Mike Richmond
But my, my guest of this question is the cars. Smashing the cars.
- [90:06]
Alex Spears
Well, the opposing coach was Don Nelson who was coaching the Golden State warriors at the time Bigfoot crushed a model of the Golden Gate Bridge.
- [90:16]
Andrew Schlecht
So offensive. My heart, it's extremely offensive. Extremely.
- [90:20]
Mike Richmond
Yeah. I thought the Cars was the easiest thing to replicate. That was my guess. It was easiest.
- [90:24]
Alex Spears
I don't know why this was so offensive to Don Nelson, but. And why the Blazers, like, took his criticisms so seriously and fired Bigfoot as a result. I would love to know more about this story, but unfortunately that's all I have for you. That was all that was on Wikipedia, so.
- [90:44]
Andrew Schlecht
Wow. Well, what a performance. What a performance that was. I'm. I'm still just in shock that Mike answered that question absolutely correct. Mike, thanks so much for coming on. Go listen to Lockdown Blazers. We appreciate you, man.
- [91:00]
Mike Richmond
Yeah, thanks. Thanks for having me, guys. The Blazers haven't played a really meaningful game in a while, but I do still do daily podcasts, so check it out if you, if you enjoyed my oeuvre.
- [91:10]
Alex Spears
Hey, draft coming up.
- [91:11]
Andrew Schlecht
That's right.
- [91:12]
Alex Spears
Draft season.
- [91:13]
Mike Richmond
Yeah, we're listen, this is a hard, this is a little inside baseball, but the season's about to end on Sunday and then there's like a month until the the draft lottery and that is the hardest time of the year for the have nots to podcast a daily podcast about. Nothing about, but I will still do a great job. So come check it out.
- [91:30]
Andrew Schlecht
Please come check it out. Check it out. Thanks, Mike.
- [91:33]
Mike Richmond
Thanks for having me, guys.
- [91:35]
Andrew Schlecht
Okay, Al, it's time to put the Wheel of fandom to bed for the year because we are not spinning the wheel anymore because we have the playoffs to talk about. So we'll be getting guests specifically about teams. You know, we don't want the wheel screwing this up. We don't want to be in the middle of April and somehow hit the jazz and be like, what are we supposed to do now? No, we'll be talking about these playoff teams and so we'll pick interesting teams from week to week. We'll preview the playoffs next week. So the playoffs start next Saturday and so we'll be dropping a preview for you guys to listen to that morning and all day that day as we try to preview as many games as possible. But you can still leave us a five star review on Apple Podcasts for you on the show. Just like this one from Arcane Jackalope says, Slam a Jam has been my favorite NBA show for years. You guys are the best. Thanks for a great show. P.S. bring back ghost points. Bring back ghost points. Al Sticky Wizard 00 says Slamming Jam has become the most unique and fun podcast covering the NBA, all while still educating listeners and making them smarter NBA fans. Andrew and Alex's chemistry is obvious and I hope this podcast lives on until I am dead. Thank you Sticky wizard for that one. And then our final one is is from the Gill Man. Gil Sir. Five stars. Love the slammin jam. They said two goats couldn't coexist and they were wrong. Thank you so much for leaving that review. Again, leave us a five star review and we'll read it on the show. Hope you guys have a great weekend. Enjoy the real intense basketball because the west race is just intense. It's just going to be so exciting. So enjoy the basketball. We'll talk to you guys again next week.