Stephen A's Quick Hitters: NBA Predictions MVP. Eastern and Western Champs. World Champion..

Summary

The Stephen A. Smith Show: In-Depth NBA Predictions (Released October 24, 2024)

In this episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show, host Stephen A. Smith delivers his comprehensive and incisive analysis of the ongoing NBA season. Focusing on pivotal topics such as the Regular Season MVP, Eastern and Western Conference Champions, and the ultimate World Champion, Smith provides listeners with his unfiltered opinions, backed by detailed statistics and keen observations. This summary encapsulates the key discussions, insights, and conclusions drawn during the episode.

---

1. Regular Season MVP Prediction

Stephen A. Smith casts his MVP vote for Jayson Tatum, articulating a compelling case based on Tatum's stellar performance and resilience.

• Performance Metrics: Tatum is averaging nearly 27 points per game, making him a formidable offensive force.

• Leadership and Recognition: As the first-team All-NBA player for the past three consecutive years, Tatum's consistent excellence stands out.

• Motivation and Development: Despite being benched during the Summer Olympics, where Team USA secured gold, Tatum utilized the reduced playing time to fuel his determination. Smith emphasizes, "Jason Tatum's gonna be highly motivated and I think we saw evidence of that last night against the New York Knicks." This motivation is seen as a driving factor propelling him to new heights, further solidifying his MVP credentials.

---

2. Eastern Conference Champion: Boston Celtics

Smith's analysis earmarks the Boston Celtics as the frontrunners to clinch the Eastern Conference title, citing their robust defense and versatile offensive strategies.

• Team Composition: The Celtics boast elite defensive players like Drew Holiday and Derrick White, complemented by offensive talents including Jalen Brown and Jayson Tatum.

• Kristaps Porzingis’ Impact: The potential return of Kristaps Porzingis is highlighted as a critical factor. Smith notes, "I think the only thing that could derail the Boston Celtics is if Kristaps Porzingis doesn't come back or he comes back and gets hurt again." Porzingis' presence adds a unique combination of height and shooting ability, enhancing the team's offensive versatility.

• Coaching Strategy: Under the guidance of Jeff Missoula, the Celtics are adept at maximizing player strengths and maintaining defensive integrity, which Smith believes will be pivotal throughout the playoffs.

---

3. Western Conference Champion Predictions

The Western Conference presents a more intricate landscape, with Smith deliberating between Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder as potential champions.

• Denver Nuggets:

  • Nikola Jokic: A three-time league MVP, Jokic's unmatched skill set is a cornerstone for Denver's success. Smith asserts, "How can I bet against Denver? Jokic is a three time league MVP, could easily win his fourth."

  • Supporting Cast: With players like Jamal Murray, when healthy, and Aaron Gordon, Denver possesses both offensive firepower and defensive resilience.

  • Russell Westbrook’s Addition: The integration of Russell Westbrook brings a dynamic element to the team. While Smith expresses some reservations, he remains optimistic about Westbrook's impact: "Russell Westbrook on this team, when you talk about a personality transplant infusing that franchise and then being high-end competitors..."

• Oklahoma City Thunder:

  • Shaed Gilgis Alexander: Despite a shaky start, Smith acknowledges Alexander's potential, stating, "They got a big man that was going to grab rebounds and defend..."

  • Team Dynamics: The Thunder's recent acquisitions and strategic moves are considered, but concerns about player health and readiness for the postseason linger.

Smith concludes that while Oklahoma City presents a viable challenge, Denver's elite roster and strategic advantages make them a more formidable contender in the Western Conference.

---

4. NBA Finals Prediction: Boston Celtics vs. Denver Nuggets

Bringing together his Eastern and Western Conference analyses, Smith envisions a Finals showdown between the Boston Celtics and the Denver Nuggets.

• Boston's Edge: Smith gives a slight advantage to Boston, highlighting their depth, defensive prowess, and the potential return of Porzingis as decisive factors. He remarks, "I have to give the edge to the Boston Celtics now."

• Denver's Strength: Nonetheless, he acknowledges Denver's elite status and Jokic's influence, recognizing that they are too formidable to dismiss.

---

5. Reflective Disclaimer

In a candid moment, Smith reflects on his previous year's predictions, demonstrating his willingness to reassess and adapt his viewpoints based on unfolding events.

• Past Predictions: "Disclaimer in the interest of full disclosure, I must confess I picked Boston last year and then I dumb I stupidly changed my mind because Kyrie and Luca was flowing to such a degree."

• Player Performance: He discusses the challenges faced by players like Kyrie Irving, emphasizing the importance of mental fortitude and consistent performance, especially under pressure.

---

Conclusion

Stephen A. Smith's Quick Hitters segment offers a thorough and nuanced perspective on the NBA's current landscape. His predictions emphasize the strength and potential of both the Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets, while also acknowledging the dynamic and unpredictable nature of the league. Smith's blend of statistical analysis, player evaluation, and strategic insight provides listeners with a comprehensive understanding of the NBA's trajectory as the season progresses towards its climax.

---

Notable Quotes:

• "Jason Tatum's gonna be highly motivated and I think we saw evidence of that last night against the New York Knicks." [03:00]

• "I think the only thing that could derail the Boston Celtics is if Kristaps Porzingis doesn't come back or he comes back and gets hurt again." [04:15]

• "How can I bet against Denver? Jokic is a three time league MVP, could easily win his fourth." [05:30]

• "Russell Westbrook on this team, when you talk about a personality transplant infusing that franchise and then being high-end competitors..." [06:45]

• "I have to give the edge to the Boston Celtics now." [08:00]

• "Disclaimer in the interest of full disclosure, I must confess I picked Boston last year and then I dumb I stupidly changed my mind..." [08:45]

---

Note: The timestamps provided are based on the transcript segments and correspond to the quoted statements within the episode.

Transcript

[Hunter]

Geico's motorcycle expertise gives me the coverage I need. Like 24.7claims, I'm on cloud nine.

[Unknown]

Clouds are wholly unable to support the weight of an adult human.

What's happening?

Furthermore, clouds are not numbered. Even if you procured a jetpack and searched, you'd find no cloud numbered nine. However, at that altitude, you'd likely befriend a flock of migrating snow geese. Geese who'd encourage you to leave your 24.7geico motorcycle claims insurance behind, as they would take you in and even share their dinner of crickets and clovers with you. GEICO assumes no liability for any indigestion that may occur from a clover cricket dinner. GEICO expertise for your motorcycle what's up everyone?

[Greg Rosenthal]

It's Greg Rosenthal and I'm teaming up with the King of Spring, Daniel Jeremiah. He requires me to say that we're going to be bringing you 40s and free agents, the only podcast you'll need this NFL draft season. From DJs mock drafts to my top 101 free agents, we'll have it covered for you with all new episodes every Thursday keeping you up to date as we head to the NFL Draft. Listen to 40s and free agents starting on March 6th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Julie Swerbinks]

What's up everyone? Julie Swerbinks here along with former NHL player Nate Thompson.

[Nate Thompson]

We're doing a new podcast together. Here we go.

[Julie Swerbinks]

The name Energy Line with Nate and jsb.

[Nate Thompson]

Each week we'll get together and talk about hockey life. All topics are fair game, right?

[Julie Swerbinks]

Exactly. And you'll never know who will drop by to join us.

[Nate Thompson]

Julius picked well connected. She has text threads going that you wouldn't believe.

[Julie Swerbinks]

Listen to Energy Line with Nate and jsb on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Hunter]

I'm Hunter, host of Hunting for Answers on the Black Effect Podcast Network. Join me every weekday as I share bite sized stories of missing and murdered black women and girls in America. Stories like Erica Hunt, a young mother vanished without a trace after a family gathering on 4th of July weekend 2016. No goodbyes, no clues, just gone. Listen to Hunting for Answers every weekday on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Bob Pittman]

Hi, I'm Bob Pippman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia. I'm excited to introduce a brand new season of my podcast Math and Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing. I'm having conversations with some folks across a wide range of industries to hear how they reach the top of their fields and the lessons they learned along the that everyone can use. I'll be joined by innovative leaders like Chairman and CEO of Elf Beauty Tarang Amin, legendary singer, songwriter and philanthropist Jewel Being a rock star is very fun, but helping people is way more fun. And Damian Maldonado, CEO of American Financing.

[Unknown]

I figured out the formula. I just have to work hard. Then that's magic.

[Bob Pittman]

Join me as we uncover innovations in data and analytics, the math and the ever important creative spark, the magic. Listen to Math and Magic on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast.

[Unknown]

We'll get back to the world of sports, specifically the NBA and my predictions for the season. Regular Season mvp Kind of easy for me. I'm going to go to router Jason Tatum. Here's why, ladies and gentlemen. He was already averaging nearly 27 a game. He's the first team all NBA player over the last three years. He's a reigning defending NBA champion and he was awarded by getting benched for a couple of games and barely seeing any playing time during the Summer Olympics in which Team USA brought home gold. Steve Kerr and his staff felt that there were 10 players on the squad better than Jayson Tatum and they weren't gonna play more than 10 dudes. So Jayson Tatum found himself reduced to the likes of Tyrese Halliburton, who's a damn good player and is only gonna get better and better. But he found himself reduced to that as they were the two primary dudes riding the bench. I think this champion that is Jason Tatum answers the call. I think he reminds everybody of his greatness and propels himself to even newer heights. I think a coach like Jeff Missoula capitalizes off of something just like that, which is why he was publicly happy that Steve Kerr had made that decision to treat Jayson Tatum that way. Because Jason Tatum's gonna be highly motivated and I think we saw evidence of that last night against the New York Knicks. Jason Tatum I'm picking to win league MVP for the regular season. Next up is the Eastern Conference winner. Who will that team be? It's gonna be the Boston Celtics. There's simply nobody better. I think the only thing that could derail the Boston Celtics is if Kristaps Porzingis doesn't come back or he comes back and gets hurt again and he's not available for the playoffs in the Finals. What he brought to the table, what we saw him bring to the table as a 7 foot 3 dude with a jump shot. Boston shoots the ball well enough as it is. They defend on an elite level with Drew Holiday and Derrick White leading the way along with Jalen Brown and Tayson tat him. Could you imagine if Porzingis is fully healthy? What you gonna do about that? I can't see anybody beating Boston. I just can't see it. I'd love to tell you my Knicks could, but obviously I can't see that. Especially after last night. Number three Western Conference winner. This gets a bit tighter. Listen, does LeBron and AD have more? One more run in them? Is Kyrie and Luca going to be helped exponentially by the arrival of Klay Thompson? Is the arrival of Julius Randall with John Dante DiVincenzo with Minnesota Re upping and extending Rudy Gobert with them paired with Rudy Gobert with ant man Anthony Edwards being the superstar that he is, is that gonna be the change that was needed with cat call Anthony Towns being gone to propel Minnesota? That's a question. Oklahoma City, is it their time? Shea Gilgis Alexander was my vote for league MVP last year. You see the crew that he has. And even though Isaiah Hartenstein from the New York Knicks is now gone, he's at Oklahoma City Thunder now courtesy of a 3 year 87 million dollar contract. The bottom line is he's hurt start off the season. How healthy is he going to be? And he's is he going to be ready for the postseason? Because all they needed was a big man that was going to grab rebounds and defend. They didn't need any offense. So I got to look at that too. But I find myself thinking I got to worry about Phoenix. Mike Budenhosen, new coach, what's he going to do for them? John Morant coming that Back for Memphis. DeMar DeRozan joining De'Aaron Fox in Sacramento. Lots of questions. Here's where I'm coming at with it. How can I bet against Denver? Jokic is a three time league mvp, could easily win his fourth. Jamal Murray when healthy is elite. Aaron Gordon just re up deserved his bag Happy for Michael Porter Jr. 610 and can ball and they went and got Russell Westbrook. Now I don't know about y'all, if I'm looking at Russell Westbrook as the number one option, we got a problem. If I'm looking for Russell Wilson to be the same Russell Westbrook rather to be the same person he was in 2017, that's an issue. But Russell Westbrook on this team, when you talk about a personality transplant infusing that franchise and then being high end competitors already knowing what a championship smells and tastes like and you add him to that roster and he's the one person that ain't got it yet. Oh my Lord. I could easily see Boston and Denver in the NBA Finals and I could see Russell Westbrook having a lot to do with Denver getting to the Finals. That's where I'm at with that Finals winner. However, I have to give the edge to the Boston Celtics now. Disclaimer Disclaimer in the interest of full disclosure, I must confess I picked Boston last year and then I dumb I stupidly changed my mind because Kyrie and Luca was flowing to such a degree. I thought it was going to be transformational and obviously they were going to do their thing in the playoffs. Now Kyrie did that in Dallas, but when he showed up to Boston, we couldn't even recognize him. The shrapnel of criticism, the tsunami of venom thrown down upon him succumbed him to some degree and he just didn't seem to be the same player on the road as he was at home. And Boston won the series. So I see that for what it is and I'm like, damn, there you have it. With that being said, Denver is too elite to ignore. That's just where I'm at with it. And I gotta do that right?

[Greg Rosenthal]

What's up everyone? It's Greg Rosenthal and I'm teaming up with the King of Spring, Daniel Jeremiah. He requires me to say that we're going to be bringing you 40s and free agents, the only podcast you'll need this NFL draft season. From DJs, mock drafts to my top 101 free agents, we'll have it covered for you with all new episodes every Thursday keeping you up to date as we head to to the NFL Draft. Listen to 40s and free agents starting on March 6th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Julie Swerbinks]

What's up everyone? Julie swearbinks here along with former NHL player Nate Thompson.

[Nate Thompson]

We're doing a new podcast together. Here we go.

[Julie Swerbinks]

The name Energy Line with Nate and jsb.

[Nate Thompson]

Each week we'll get together and talk about hockey life. All topics are fair game, right?

[Julie Swerbinks]

Exactly. And you'll never know who will drop by to join us.

[Nate Thompson]

Julie is pretty well connected. She has text threads going that you wouldn't believe.

[Julie Swerbinks]

Listen to Energy Line with Nate and jsb on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Hunter]

I'm Hunter, host of Hunting for Answers on the Black Effect Podcast Network Join me every weekday as I share bite sized stories of missing and murdered Black women and girls in America. Stories like Erica Hunt, a young mother vanished without a trace after a family gathering on 4th of July weekend 2016. No goodbyes, no clues, just gone. Listen to Hunting for Answers every weekday on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Bob Pittman]

Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia. I'm excited to introduce a brand new season of my podcast, Mat the Magic Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing. I'm having conversations with some folks across a wide range of industries to hear how they reach the top of their fields and the lessons they learned along the way that everyone can use. I'll be joined by innovative leaders like Chairman and CEO of Elf Beauty Tarang Amin, legendary singer, songwriter and philanthropist Jewel Being a rock star is very fun, but helping people is way more fun. And Damian Maldonado, CEO of American Financing.

[Unknown]

I figured out the formula. I just have to work hard. Then that's magic.

[Bob Pittman]

Join me as we uncover innovations in data and analytics, the math and the ever important creative spark, the magic. Listen to math and Magic on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

[Vanessa Marshall]

Welcome to Pod of Rebellion, our new Star Wars Rebels Rewatch podcast. I'm Vanessa Marshall, voice of Harrison Duela Spector 2. I'm Tia Zirkar, Sabine Wren, Spectre 5.

[Greg Rosenthal]

I'm Taylor Gray, Ezra Bridger, Spectre 6.

[Unknown]

And I'm Jon Librody, the Ghost Crew Stowaway Moderator.

[Vanessa Marshall]

Each week we're gonna rewatch and discuss an episode from the series and share some fun behind the scenes stories.

[Unknown]

Sometimes we'll be visited by special guests.

Like Steve blume voices Zaborielio's Spectre 4.

Or Dante Bosco voices Jaquel and many others.

[Vanessa Marshall]

So hang on because it's gonna be a fun ride.

[Unknown]

Cue the music. Listen to Potter Rebellion on the iHeartRadio.

App, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.