OKC Thunder ALREADY championship contenders? + Suns’ Big 3 & KD’s legacy | The Lowe Post

OKC Thunder ALREADY championship contenders? + Suns’ Big 3 & KD’s legacy | The Lowe Post

Welcome to the low post podcast it’s Tuesday afternoon Kevin Pelton and I bounced around the Eastern Conference yesterday talking OG and Obi Raptors Nicks time to move west and hit some of the bigger story lines going on out there live from okahoma City Oklahoma Tim McMahon how are you sir howdy

Partner how you doing it’s pleasure to be here I am okay I’m not as good as you because you are attending what to date may be the game of the year in the NBA Oklahoma City hosting Boston Celtics the 26 and6 Boston Celtics tonight in Oklahoma City the previous game of the

Year was supposedly Oklahoma City Denver and Oklahoma City just destroyed the nuggets on the road over the weekend this is a game between uh the number two seed in the west the number one seed in the East two of the top three teams in net rating for

The season uh I given that it’s already Tuesday afternoon I don’t want to preview it or anything like that but you just returned from Oklahoma City shoot around any anything of note any any interesting tidbits from the Thunder well Zach I tell you what we we’ll see

How this goes my previous trip to Oklahoma City this year was to see uh the Thunder against the nuggets for the first time and the Nuggets won that game by approximately 73 points so if it doesn’t go well for the Thunder I might be banned from another NBA arena but I

You know the Thunder are obviously feeling good about the way things going but this is such a Sam presty uh programmed team such a a bunch of guys who were just just focused on the work you know stacking good days blah blah every cliche you can think of you know I asked

Chad hongren hey what do you think you’ve proved this year he says I haven’t proved bleep I’ve played 30 Games still got a lot of work to do and I think that kind of it’s quotee unquote the right thing to say but I also think

That kind of sums up uh the way that the Thunder are looking at themselves you know they they can see the standings they they know where they are they they understand hey they’ve gotten some really nice winds recently they’ve they’ve beaten uh the the Minnesota timber wolves you know they’ve beaten

The Nuggets actually a couple of times recently in Denver they’re sitting their second place in the Western Conference standings but they know that it’s not even half with through the season they know that they’ve got a long way to go and this is a a team that’s really going

Through a bunch of Firsts as a group like you look at this core it’s not like this is a bunch of of guys who have been through playoff series together I mean l dortz played a playoff series in his life Shay gildas Alexander played in a couple um then I

Think you got to go down toward the end of the bench and find Davis bons to find any other playoff experience so a bunch of young guys who are already really good have a chance to be great have a chance to open up a window that’s going

To last for a while but you’re not going to get a whole lot of big picture talk out of that group well you w wrote the story at the beginning of the Season about the Thunder and their patient approach to the season and S presty before the season saying you know what

What do you say we have to finish our breakfast yeah can can we finish our breakfast first when because they’ve got all these picks everybody’s trying to you know the trade machines hopping with thunder ideas and prey’s basically like we’re just getting started let us finish our breakfast and he’s he’s preaching

Patience he’s preaching evaluation and Discovery is the word that he uses and uh again it’s not even halfway through the year but we have discovered the Thunder already pretty damn good I was going to say so here are my four stages of Thunder uh mental gymnast FC stage

One was oh at some point they’re going to trade for a superstar they have too many guys too many draft picks Josh Gideon six picks for a superstar stage two which follows stage one immediately is maybe they won’t make any trades because it’s the ve the very thundery

Thing to do is to keep all our assets forever in perpetuity and in fact if they do make a trade maybe it’ll be the antithesis of a star trade maybe it’ll be like at some point we just have to get rid of one of these good young

Players cuz too expensive so we’ll cycle Josh giddy or whoever it ends up being for more picks more sustainability more infinite bites at the proverbial Apple that’s stage two stage three is no this team is way ahead of schedule this team’s unbelievable they’re whatever they are maybe they’ll make a trade for

Like one more guy doesn’t have to be a star it that we we’ve been misconstruing the the trade sort of uh framework the whole time they just need one more rotation guy and I threw out a bunch of theoretical names with Andrew schle on the PO a few weeks ago Kellin

Johnson PJ Washington Royce O’Neal ogn and Obi was to at at the high end he’s gone uh just just a guy who could be like our sixth or seventh guy they’re that good and now I’m at stage four where I don’t know what stage I’m at now

But stage four is maybe they’re just so goddamn good they don’t have to make any trades they could win the championship right now as is keep everything do nothing Tim this team is 22-9 going into tonight 18 home games 13 Road games fourth hardest schedule in the league so they’ve got some road

Games to make up okay fine whatever six in offense very quietly sneaking sneaking up second in defense behind only Minnesota third in net rating behind Boston who’s first Philly is second having fattened up on the drgs of the league and beating Washington Detroit by nine million

Points and you know I don’t want to spend too long on the Thunder because they have this big game tonight very big test obviously against Boston my pick to win the title but to me why they’re better they the the most fundamental reason why they’re ahead of schedule is

That Chet holgren blew away any reasonable projection for he is a rookie a sec one of these seconde rookies on both ends of the Flor red shirt rookie red shirt rookie he’s one of six Thunder rotation players six shooting 40% or better from three and that does not include the aforementioned

Davis Bend Chad holgren Jay dub lud Dort kenri Williams Cas Wallace Isaiah Joe all at 40% are better from three this team is first in three-point shooting second in mid-range shooting you find some people around the league who are like well when that when that regresses to the norm okay we have

31 games in when’s the norm going to come I don’t know their mid-range their mid-range shooting is named Shay Gil just Alexander and this is his nor um and the other so that’s Chad on both ends of the floor just Dynamic and really in the last

Month I I think maybe it was their win at Denver where it kind of smacked onto the national one one of their wins at Denver the first one maybe the buzzer beater the Shay Gill Alexander buzzer maybe it wasn’t that one it was one of their big wins recently I can’t remember

Which one it was where Jaylen Williams just absolutely took over down the stretch and like scored all these physical stepb bully ball baskets he’s up to 18 a game on 50s something perc shooting 40% something some from three they look like a big it was the Knicks producer St said

It was the Knicks and it was the next I remember it now um they look like a a sort of like classic big three kind of right now it might be a little early to say that but perimeter option number one Shay perimeter option number two on the

Wing Jaylen do it all big guy Chad those two guys ascending to where they’re in that conversation I don’t know man like no one has any sense what these guys are going to do they operate in stealth um they can Zig when you expect him to zag

Like oh we’s go get Paul George how about that like like those years ago where not a lot of people expected that although that was a trade that Kevin and AR arnovitz and I called on this podcast before happened weeks before it happened but it was still I even when I called it

I was like yeah they’ll never do that this is Oklahoma City Thunder they don’t make big swings like that I don’t know what the hell they’re going to do maybe they just don’t do anything but I think to your point about Discovery man the only Discovery I got

Left is like is the thing you mentioned about the playoffs is that we just haven’t seen these guys in a playoff environment and number two and you’re seeing it more dramatically every game and I bet you’re going to see it tonight in person the Celtics are going to put

Porzingis on Giddy and say shoot all you want we’re going to put a wing on chett holgren try to shut off his three-point shooting bother his handle switch everything with him and see how you deal with that but man I don’t know I don’t know how long you I don’t look they ate

Their breakfast they stayed at the same restaurant for lunch and they got a reservation for dinner at the nicest at the corner table at the nicest restaurant down the street man breakfast is done I don’t know how much more you got to discover no I mean I I don’t know

How big Sam prey’s appetite is but the discovery is they are really damn good they knew going into this season that they had a superstar Shay gildas Alexander was first team all NBA last year he’s having that same type of season even a little bit better this

Year I think they they were probably optimistic that jayen Williams Jay dub could be a a number two type of guy as you said what’s really taking this thing to another level is Chad hongren has been such a phenomenal fit on both ends and the people around the league I

Talked to about him this Summer thought he could be this type of impact player on the defensive end I didn’t talk to anybody who thought he was going to be an efficient 18 point per game score where now it’s they’ve got 2 a and 2 B

And and and like you said you add it all up and it’s looking like a young big three in the making and then you know you get back to all your stages I out which stage this was they package up a bunch of picks and assets and go get a a

Star stage but let’s that was stage one before the season I pass I don’t there is that trade doesn’t exist right now I don’t think well I call it the Lowry Market in hypothetical where it’s going to take a massive Hall um I think the odds of it happening are awfully slim um

Because one I don’t think Utah is eager to give up marketing by any stretch I think you’re going to have to pay a Danny a ransom type of price and I don’t think think that the Thunder are in a spot where they want to do that and the

Reason to do that to me is because dude you are in that Contender range right now you the one thing the Thunder lack is size outside of Chet you add a SF footer who is a a finisher but not a Creator finisher no pun intended but you

Know not a guy who needs the ball in his hands a lot I think he would fit awfully well now the problem there is if you’re bumping Chad and and jdub down in the pecking order a little bit you know do you affect chemistry there do you affect

Just kind of not even like a pouting type of thing but just the the the vibe around here um and then financially SJ is going to be on a supermax contract his next deal Chad very well might be uh I would say defense play of the year is certainly

Within his reach over these next next couple of Seasons he he has a he has a case now I I don’t think he wins it now I don’t know who I would vote for now I think there’s a few guys who have cases he he has a I I’m going to do my

Allstars later this week probably my tenative All-Star picks he’s got a case for that and he’s got a case for defensive player the guy is just an absolute stud yeah and and so he’s going to be minimum a Max guy potentially a super max guy I think Jay dub you

Probably have to figure he’s going to be you know as Wendy calls it quote unquote fun Max and then so do you want to bring in another guy who’s going to have another huge deal you know you start figuring the finances so I think your stage three was role player I call that

The Dorian finy Smith hypothetical yeah he was on my list of like the the Nets are not that I want to spend much time with them but the Nets if you had to ask me like who are two or three of my Wild Card teams and not a lot of people are

Talking about at the trade deadline the Nets are one of them because they’re just kind of Treading Water they’re on a losing streak lately they have a million Wings they have some extra picks from other teams but they don’t control their own picks they’re just in this kind of

Nether world where I think it’s clear like Mel bridg is a very good player but he’s not the guy on a great team which is no shame that’s there’s not a lot of guys and like you may not be able to ever get one I just think there’s a lot

Of different directions they can go the simplest of which is all right we’re not that good everybody wants big wings who can play the four what do you want for what could we get for Dori infiny Smith Andor Royce O’Neal right um you know and I think there’s an argument to be made

For getting a bigger three and D type of wing in here uh in Oklahoma City um but honestly if you if you told me to try to predict what prusty is going to do I don’t think I I would go with with the last stage that he’s just going to let

This group play this season you know continue to uh evolve continue to kind of see how they mesh together how they fit together let them get the test of the playoffs this year see how it goes and then figure going into to next season

Okay what do we want to do at this point he’s he’s definitely not in any kind of in any kind of rush there’s no Ur I don’t want to say there’s not urgency there’s not urgency to to add to the mix I would say I’m not saying he won’t do

Something if it’s a smart move that makes sense but he Sam pre is not sitting there those picks aren’t burning a hole in his pocket I can promise you that yeah I mean their top three guys if it’s too early to call them like a proven big three that’s fine I get that

Like Chad’s played 30 Games whatever in the NBA that makes a lot of sense I think I think you know look before over the summer we were all kind of already talking mapping out the future of this team thinking giddy feels like the piece that’s kind of least certain among their

Top five or six guys and like dart’s good but how good is he the answer is if this dude choose 40% from three like this it’s ridiculous how good he could be in terms 38% I mean 38% for his defense as the fifth offensive option you’ll take that in a heartbeat but I

Think it was like five six weeks ago I don’t remember who I had on and I and I said this was before any of this Buzz got out I said you know the one name and I said I’m not saying Utah’s taking calls making calls I’m not saying the

Phone is is they’re even answering the phone I’m saying rival Executives Executives from other teams they’re asking me about they’re starting to ask around about like could Lowry marinin be maybe get like what is Utah kind of doing like they don’t seem very good like should we start calling then all

This reporting came out later well the Jazz are getting calls on low Markin yeah yeah but what’s happened in Utah since then is they’re winning now the Jazz are like eight3 in their last 11 games and uh Lowry’s back and a lot of their Los was without him they have kind

Of settled is on a new starting lineup with fonio and John Collins is now the starting five next to Markin and seon and Chris Dunn are starting at the guard spots like I don’t know if that matters but they’re no longer like in the bottom feeder group in the NBA they’re a

Competitive team and they just blew the snot out of your Tim McMahon your hometown Dallas Mavericks in Utah last night so that was the biggest swing in like one game against a couple opponents versus other in other words is an 87o swing the Mavs beat the Jazz by 50 last time they saw

Him which was last month this was a 37o blowout the other way that’s the biggest swing according to our spat stats and info folks uh I think they said NBA history but to your point on Markin in though the reason why I focused my RO get a bet overpay for role player

Thunder trades on like PJ Washington Kell Johnson was I look everyone knows they like oh if they get yok at your embiid like Chad holr is dead are they going to play Big Jay Williams yeah yeah you can always go get it I guess you get another Center I’m more interested in in

Wings fours that kind of player and marinin is just like as a shooter who fills it up and can beat mismatches up like you you fit him right in there this team becomes real scary but like you said I don’t know where the hell Utah is

Is on that and and if they’re winning um that complicates it what I would say about Utah is number one Utah is not motivated to shop low Markin oh no no that’s never no one ever even mentioned that right just to be clear you know

Just to be clear um and it would take a again A Danny a type of Ransom so look at a Donovan Mitchell return look at a Rudy go bear return like that kind of package I think to really get them to listen uh but I don’t think winning five out of six

Games yeah yeah they’re not that’s not GNA change their long-term thing no that doesn’t that doesn’t alter the way Danny a is thinking about uh the Jazz that are still very early in a rebuild I do have an important JZ related question for you

To MCM you and I are now older than the average NBA fan older than certainly the average NBA social media user people sometimes uh construe age conflate age with having old school traditional views on things I don’t view myself that way but I want to ask you

Tim big man did you have any strong feelings about Jordan Clarkson with the assistance of Will Hardy last night chasing the first triple double in Utah Jazz franchise history since 2008 I think it was since Carlos Boozer was on the team chasing it in a Blow chasing

The 10th Rebound in a blowout against the Mavericks did you did you feel like it violated it broke a code oh my God first of all I’m an NBA reporter based in Dallas chasing triple doubles does not bother me okay I’m an NBA reporter I’m an NBA reporter sitting in Oklahoma City right

Now okay there have been some triple doubles that have been chased in Oklahoma City chasing a triple double does not bother me no no ESP it had been 5800 days asterisk rookie Rubio had won in a playoff game 5800 days between regular season triple doubles for the

Utah Jazz I did not mind Jordan Clarkson chasing that one iota I love you know the last time they played I mentioned that that’s the night that Luca had a 25o triple double by halftime in in the first half I know I loved it it it was fun chasing the

Rebound is the most is the least defensive of the three categories to hunt like like like unless you do the Ricky Davis which is a whole different thing but if it’s it’s like you’re over hustling that’s fine like you’re over you maybe you’re rooting for your teammates to miss so you can get

Offensive rebound that’s a little that’s a and then there’s also the teammates boxing out for you you know the the you know the old stepen Adams and you know what you know what really won me over end of the third quarter Jordan Clarkson gets the ball 75 ft from the basket with

One second left and you know what he did he heaved it he heaved it ahead of the clock he didn’t keep it and say oh oh no the clock ran out now I’ll heave it to preserve my field goal percentage he went for the one-handed slingshot heave

And the basketball Gods saw that and they said you know what Jordan Clarkson go get a triple double we don’t care uh all right let’s change topics from a an ESPN programming perspective the biggest story in the Western Conference currently is that the Los Los Angeles Lakers are a 500 team

Through 34 games they have slumped after winning the inseason tournament and boy Tim as I joked on today’s episode of low poost podcast it really I mean the inseason tournament it just I I don’t know when the expiration date comes on when the Lakers can stop referring to

The hardship of playing in the inseason tournament as an explanation for their slump but it’s it it passed for the Pacers it passed like two weeks ago they stopped talking about it and just started winning some basketball games but the Lakers are 17 and 17 change their starting lineup Jared

Vanderbilt in the Angelo Russell out ruy haimura strained his calf against New Orleans on New Year’s Eve injury timetable as I checked MCT Ten’s uh Twitter today nothing new there um I I’ve been saying it all year it’s a bad offensive team I I like every time we talk about the Lakers

On TV which is every day I tell the producers I’m sorry I don’t have that much more to say the Lakers are 23rd in offense they’re not going to do anything serious if they’re 23rd in offense and here’s what what has happened to them um their defense has slid a little bit from

Elite to just good which if you’re 23rd in offense just the margins get a little smaller and smaller and some of the thing we know they’re a bad shooting team they don’t take threes they don’t make threes they got no lasers they had no lasers last year they didn’t get any

Lasers this year no sharks with lasers on their heads no lasers at all they now are just ninth in free throw rate which you know if for them is they were first or second last year below average turnover rate for them that’s not very good 28th in offensive

Rebounding 17 and 17 despite the fact that LeBron’s played almost the whole season ads played almost the whole season I will submit to you I’m not sure how many 10 games stretches Anthony Davis has ever had that are better than he’s playing right now his all-around game right now he’s

Averaging 30 a game over his last 10 or 12 games but just the rebounding the shot blocking the defense the ball movement like he he is playing sensationally well and yet they’re 17 and 17 what do you make of this what’s wrong with this team well one one recommendation I would have is

To put your third best player in the starting line up um the point to me of of getting Austin Reeds out of the starting lineup and putting him in that six-man role was to separate him from d’angel Russell if you’ve benched d’angel or are bringing d’angel Russell

Off the Bench then get Austin Rees back in the starting lineup and uh then you then you’ve got your you know three best players who I I do think he fits with LeBron and AD and you got your three best players playing together with a couple of role players in that case

Um but you know what though I think that Rob pinka made a massive mistake last year just before the trade deadline and he got a lot of credit for reshuffling the roster and certainly it paid dividends because they went from a pretty blah team to a team that was able

To make a run to the Western Conference Finals but the trade that they made the the Russell Westbrook dump that brought D’Angelo Russell to uh um that brought d’angel Russell to La brought him home never should have included d’angel Russell never should have included the Minnesota Timberwolves if you put Mike

Conley on the LA Lakers number one the Timberwolves are nowhere near right now the number one seed in the Western Conference number two the Lakers would be a ton better off the only reason Danel Russell made sense in that deal was if you wanted to create salary cap space Last Summer

They opted not to do it and don’t and it’s not like they opted not to do it because d’angel Russell is so awesome because I was there for the most competitive sweep in NBA history and d’angel Russell did get benched in that series they still signed him so they

Didn’t create salary cap space and they got a a player who’s a much worse fit than Mike connley would have been connley all the things he’s doing for the Timberwolves that are helping the Timberwolves sit in first place in the western conference right now he absolutely could have done those same

Things in uh in La okay two big thoughts number one thank you I have been beating the I just maybe start Austin Reeves drum like the entire time that he’s been coming off the bench I don’t really get it on the other hand if you want to defend

Darham LeBron Davis Reeves your three best players together 110 offense def rating 114 defensive rating minus 22 in 382 minutes so so far not a solution out last year they were obviously Dynamic so if you add all the numbers up they’re still well into the positive their their

New starting f with Vanderbilt is plus two I’m sorry plus six in 29 minutes LeBron ad Vanderbilt those three together are plus two in 82 minutes I just the idea I guess is size defense get stops and run our halfcourt offense is not good so how about we just don’t

Play any of it we just get stops and run I have to say I hate this lineup adjustment I just like we just saw Jared Vanderbilt get played out of the playoffs we just we it just happened yeah so we already know when games matter against good teams we can’t play

Him with our best players because his guy is just going to be sitting in the paint the entire game and we can only make up for that so much with defense and transition game and he’s D Jared vandero actually is like a grabb and go guy is is much more under control and

Adept with the ball in his hands that you think in transition but still um I just think they need to go all in on their three best guys I I honestly think their their four best guys their their best quartet of players is Reeds LeBron Davis haimura which was their you know

Combined with schruder that was their best and only answer against Denver in the playoffs last year haimura is now injured we’ll see how long he’s going to be out for if at all those four guys have only played 62 minutes together the entire season and I know there have been

Injuries and rotation changes ruy missed a bunch of games early for those four to have played 62 minutes across nine games that’s it I just don’t understand how that’s possible I hate the lineup change I don’t think it will work and I will just keep saying this they are not going

Anywhere with a bottom their offense is the same as the Wizards offense the W the Wizards of Washington same offensive rating same offensive rating you’re not going anywhere Ser you can’t you can win a playoff series you could by the way we keep doing this on NBA NBA today are the

Lakers contenders how about are the Lakers gonna make the playoffs I hat the only thing I say I it’s like I’m yelling at the Bruce is like guys do have you seen the standings I know the one thing I will say is I chuckled at the same com

Ation last year um I believe there was even a I think you were part of the you maybe maybe you weren’t part of the panel but no you weren’t you weren’t but there was the Denver the Denver one are they better than Denver yeah and and the

Whole panel would would have said they’d take uh the Lakers over the nuggets in playoff series that was about this time that was the day they called me and said can you come on the show and explain why that’s crazy and I said unfortunately I

Have a meeting in the city I can’t come on the show they they literally were like we need an e Mercy Denver person to come on and just say something hey give or take give or take uh you know a 40 sweep it was close um but having said

All that I thought the conversation was crazy at this point last year and they did go to the Western Conference Finals when you have LeBron and you have ad if those two guys are healthy come playoff time it’s not like you’re GNA have teams lining up eager to see those uh those

Dudes in the playoffs but look yes they’re they’re you know they were a playing team last year that made a run and honestly that looks like what the Hope might be again this year and and look I had them in my second tier of contenders this year they’ve been worse

Than I expected like I was wrong about them be relative to my preseason expectations if you had told me Lebron and AD we’re going to play at allar all NBA levels almost the entire season through 34 games and they’d be 500 I would have said oo that’s kind of alarming like I I

Would expect them to be you know 21 and 13 or or something like that um look their defense can reach a ceiling where you can win a play you can get through the play in and win a playoff series with a with a bottom seven eight offense

You’re not getting through this West two three four rounds whatever it is with an offensive spad and it’s just it’s just if it continues like this it’s just it’s going to the the pressure for them to make a trade is going to build if we Flash Forward three weeks and

They’re still 500 and they’ve got a bunch of home games coming up they’ve played way more Road games in home games but it’s not like their home games are easy they have Miami Memphis Clippers Raptors Suns then they have bulls and Blazers after a little road road jaunt

But then Dallas Oklahoma City it’s not like these are easy home games they’re home but they’re not easy I mean Toronto maybe we’ll see um like I don’t don’t I’ve never gotten the sense like their whole thing has been you know dating to last summer and

All the Kyrie stuff like no we want we want to build it from within we want flexibility we want midsize salaries we don’t want three gigantic salaries I know this like that that and that’s the sense I’ve continued to get this year tepidly like like it’s it’s more we want to see our

Team give us time before the trade deadline before we before we dive off any diving boards but um like I’ve never sensed an eagerness to go get a Zack LaVine for instance now that’s a massive contract on a guy who’s injured right now but look I know

This like you don’t got many seasons left with LeBron James like I there will be pressure in a month to cash in something with this season if they conclude this team just isn’t good enough and unless the offense perks up like they’re just not they’re not good

Enough right now yeah LeBron put a ton of pressure on them last year and they did do things to make the roster better they didn’t make the trade that he wanted I mean he was clear as could be that he wanted Kyrie Irving um I was surprised that they made

No not even a halfast effort to uh to test the waters on Kyrie Irving this summer and look I don’t know they wouldn’t have been able to get to the number that the Mavericks put on the table I don’t know if Kyrie at a lesser number uh that was somewhat in

The ballpark would have even listen we we’ll never know um and then you can get into your the whole conversation about the risks of relying on Kyrie from durability standpoint etc etc um I can tell you this they’re not going to be one of the worst offenses in the NBA if

He was on that roster and I want to also give you props for this I was over over I was having a conversation a few days ago just shooting shooting the you know what with a front office guy from another team unrelated to any of these teams about

Trades and this and that and he said to me I got a question for you it’s been out of my mind I said what he said how come nobody talks about like why isn’t Mike Conley just on the Lakers and I and I said seriously I said what do you mean

He said well like they didn’t need the Timberwolves to be in that trade that could have been a two- team trade and I said you know it’s funny you mention that because I’ve been think a lot about that trade from the Minnesota angle at the time we thought about it from the

Russ what does this mean for Russ oh my God they divested themselves of the rust disaster that trade is an absolute not under the radar but not discuss enough at the time Master stroke from Tim Connelly like that changed the entire Timberwolves team as you said they are

Not having this season with Mike with with D’Angelo Russell as their point guard they’re not number one in the west like and and to like actually my biggest I don’t not that I’m anxious but like the biggest question I have about the Wolves now as a as a playoff like a real

Playoff team because the pressure is gonna be on now like you ain’t the eighth seed coming through the playin tournament Pat Bev standing on the scores table like all that stuff is over you’re gonna be no parades for the playin win no sir you’re you’re going to

Be the number one or two seed like there’s going to be expectations though Carl DS you foul out of the first two playoff games it’s going to be a hell storm of pressure it’s not going to be like he you we underdogs anyway and my biggest question is not goar and small

Ball and defense and all that stuff it’s Anthony Edwards and Carl towns with the ball in their hands what percentage of time are they making the correct decisions now an that’s just about like do you overshoot and sometimes that’s going to be okay because he’s so God damn good with towns

That’s like he’s been wild and turnover prone in a lot of playoff games and that’s when I keep coming back to Conley boy thank God he’s there to settle them down and make the right decision every single time and if he weren’t there that question would be louder and their

Record would be worse that trade totally changed the Timberwolves and to your point I I think M Conley could just be on the Lakers and they’d be better like if they if they tried to swap point guards right now the timber rols would even consider it for one second no

Absolutely not the timber roles were EX static about that trade um and you know the when you’re around the Wolves now the word you hear the most is maturity and like this this team’s grown up this team is matured etc etc uh that’s a short way of saying

We’ve got Mike Conley now at point guard instead of d’angel Russell and Conley is absolutely the big brother in that locker room but this is about more than being the big brother like you said this is about out a guy who when things are going haywire can get them organized can get

The ball and get them organized but he doesn’t need the ball in his hands he’s more than fine playing off of Ant you know spotting up he’s a great catch and shoot guy it’s about a guy who has experience playing with gobear you know there in Utah and again in Minnesota

Their numbers is a tandem are phenomenal he’s a guy who knows how to run pick and roll with goar where you know when he wants when he needs the ball just to kind of you know here here’s a here’s a treat big fella keep on hustling keep on

Protecting the rim keep you watch you watch their games you mentioned out of whack or whatever anytime it gets a little tight and maybe ant has taken like one midr or too many or Carl Town’s just threw a hook pass to nobody you watch the next possession is called scripted or Mike

Calls it a Mike connley Rudy goar empty side pick and roll either side of the floor because Mike is ambidextrous basically and we’ll and we’ll play out of that every time um so it’s a very I just don’t like this new Lakers starting five I don’t like it it’s not the change

I would have made and I just don’t I also don’t believe even subtracting a ball handler around LeBron James and putting so much onus on him to handle the ball like there’s just too much there’s like they’re calling like pick and rolles for cam reddish to initiate

Sets now I don’t want any of that Bring me Austin Reeds and starting five okay next Big’s only 39 just turned 39 happy birthday uh he’s he’s old he’s getting old by NBA standards I don’t know if you’ve heard him but everything he does is unprecedented for a player of his age it

Really is incredible I don’t mean to I don’t mean to snark at it it’s just it’s incredible um 25 seven and seven just shooting 59% on twos 38% on threes cooled off a little bit but still the he is still he’s still an all NBA player like oh no

Question he he’s steps ahead of 95% of the players in the league and in just processing what’s going on on the floor and mapping out an offensive possession from six steps ahead is I mean we all know he’s also he’s also more athletic than the vast majority of the guys in

The league still and I’ll tell you what he’s still a six foot N 200 whatever 70 PB freight train when he gets the ball in transition and he he does the flex I’m gonna incorporate that into my into my pickup routine the flex I don’t think

I don’t think it would have the same effect no it would in fact be mocked and that’s fine but like he can do it all he wants I he’s 39 years old he’s running dudes over okay the next big story in the west Bradley Beal Kevin Durant and

Devin Booker played some games together and that streak ended already last night against the Portland Trailer basers but the Suns have won four in a row they’re 18 and 15 they have played five more home games in Road games in the 30th uh the easiest schedule in the entire

League um but throw the numbers out what have you seen the the big three now has played 65 minutes together total they are plus 31 in 65 minutes with an offensive rating approaching 130 so those are insane numbers I don’t know how much of them you’ve seen but what

Have you noticed what have you liked what have you not liked what are your general Phenix son’s thoughts you know my my one take that I have is I do think Devin Booker as the lead guard as they call it nobody says point guard anymore as the lead guard has been a successful

Transition like what’s he averaging 27 and eight uh good efficiency um I I think he is a good decision maker but it was getting to the point where it’s like there’s too much of a load on him and on KD well hey there’s a $50 million player sitting over there recovering

From yet another injury getting Bradley Beal back more than anything I think just reduces the stress the burden the workload on their main two guys and and now you know forcing the ball out of their hands is not as appealing um I still you know you those numbers out

Very impressive small sample size you know blah blah blah they they’ll be an awesome offensive team if those if those three guys are healthy which is a big if given the injury histories of all of them if those three guys are healthy these suns are going to be one of the

Best offenses in NBA history which sounds like some Grand overstatement Until you realize six teams this year are on Pace to break the NBA uh offensive efficiency record they’ll they’ll be in that class I don’t know that this team’s going to be good enough defensively to to make a

Deep Run um I still have nerkish specific concerns um in terms of finishing and you know Rim protection um but they have two of I’m going to say the top 12 players in the league and then Bradley Beal is what a top 30-ish player so when you have that of star

Power if big if they’re healthy they’re they’ll be dangerous I think they have looked I mean look granted 65 minutes their last two games with the big three were against Charlotte who stinks and has lost I think 10 game Charlotte just like we can lose 10 games in a row no one’s

Even GNA notice do you guys know us Detroit just lost 28 in a row anyone notice that the Spurs have five wins or six wins Spurs lost 18 and it was like an afterthought we lost 10 in a row who cares we can get to 15 before anyone

Will even say the word Charlotte on a tell 11 in a row producer even I’ve lost track producer Dan corrects me they lost again last night Terry roier sat out was was ill I think and they’re down they all their so many of their players are

Injured they’ve lost 11 in a row who cares nobody even talks about them um by the way I why as never mind the spur the Spurs just shouldn’t be this bad I don’t understand how the Spurs are this bad I I don’t get it that that’s a whole

Another conversation and we’ve got to decide if we want to rough legendary feathers there we we let’s let’s save that for day the Suns a competition aside Charlotte and Orlando were their last two games Orlando’s solid um I think they’ve looked awesome the three of them together and I think to your

Point about Booker and Durant being overloaded and Booker particularly as initiator as the initiator to the team Beal has just been a sea change in terms of just spreading out the creation responsibilities among those three guys and if you look at their surface level shooting numbers you’ll see as you’d

Expect with the three of them together tons of mid-range jumpers not a lot of Threes which is a concern of mine like I no matter how amazing you are how Dynamic you are there’s just a requisite number of Threes you’ve got to get up to win three four playoff series The

Offenses are just too good around you um a decent number of shots at The Rim almost average restricted area volume with those three guys on the floor and tons of free throws and what I’ve liked about them are two things number one they’re running when they get

A chance when you have ball handlers like that and Shooters like that you should run number two they are for the most part not just doing your turn my turn okay here’s a mid-range pick and roll jumper over a drop back defense Okay Kevin you do that now Brad you do

That now they’re leveraging their sort of collective skills like you’ll see there was a possession against Charlotte I’m gon to put it in my 10 things column this week where Booker brought it up on the left wing Beal just across half court improv total improv sets a screen

On the ball so Bradley Beal who’s being guarded by Charlotte’s point guard which is which is gonna happen a lot the smallest guy’s going to be on Brad screens for Booker switch Booker who’s an underrated post player has Bryce McGowan on him beats the hell out of Bryce mcgallen spins drives Baseline is

At the basket swing and there’s the first swing pass to the corner I think to Grayson Allen who’s played quite well might have been Eric Gordon I can’t remember and The Possession just kept going everybody drove kick Durant got it at the top of the arc he had a choice

Open three or drive it he drives it in and I think he dropped it off to nurkic for an and one dunk like the combination of let’s play mismatch Ball by using Beal either as a ball handler or a screener by the way you can do the same

Thing with Grayson Allen you want to hide your small guy on him he’s a capable ball handler and screener too and is a very good shooter who can screen and flare out but let’s not just like stop the offense in mud doing that let’s not settle for mid-rangers let’s

Work it around get to the rim attack Closeouts like I think their process has been really good defensively they’re 14th right now if they hang at 14th they can win the championship they hang 12th 13th 14th averages defense they’re good enough to win the champ I won’t pick them Denver’s

Might pick to win the West until further notice but they’re good enough because I think their offense is going to be is going to be that good but to your point about their defense I watch the minutes Durant is on the bench real carefully because they

Get smaller and they just I said this last week with Michael Schwarz or two weeks ago our buddy Mike Schwarz there’s just something like they just lack a little like power and oomph and like do you feel them in your way and with Durant on the bench you really feel

That although I will say chimi metu is giving him really good minutes at the four and five and he kept them in the Christmas game and as auk it’s like the Revenge of the failed Dennis lindsy Lindsay lottery picks from Utah Dante exom and Dallas and udoka as auk in in

Phoenix is all of a sudden like giving him some you want oom like that dude will come knock dudes over and in uh in uh alaz auk’s defense he wasn’t a lottery pick but he was a oh yeah no he’s 27th or 29th okay failed first round pick sorry Dennis Lindsay failed

First round picks not failed anymore I was gonna say more in Dennis Lindsay’s defense he was three picks before uh Desmond Bane and one pick before uh Jaden McDaniels yeah the list of almost Desmond Bane Malachi Flynn just got traed to the Knicks was one pick above Desmond Bane

I like the way the Suns have been playing it’s just you know their next they play a stretch from January 8th which is next week through February 4th so almost a month where 11 of their 14 games are on the road and a lot of them are tough games so we’re

Going to learn more about them but I’ve liked the way they’ve looked I don’t know if you have and I like you know nerk in his look I was skeptical on the eight and nerk swap I would say nurk has quieted that skepticism and so far I am wrong to have

Said that’s a talent downgrade for them Aon has not been good or really healthy in Portland and nkit has been given him just regularly like 16 and 12 kind of games yes he’s going to miss layups around the rim now and then one of the things I like about the way they’re

Playing is he’s a better finisher when you can just give him the ball on these like drive and drop passes in the lane than he is give him the ball in the pick and roll at the foul line he’s got to take a dribble and make a layup I think

He’s been pretty good for them I I I think I I don’t know if I have to take an L on that because I wasn’t that passionate about it but he’s been better than I expected so I think he is a below average starting center but I don’t I’m

Not critical of that trade because they had to DeAndre Aton needed to move on they needed to move on from him it was not a good it was it was poisonous by so like there’s that so and everybody in the league knew that they had to move on

From him um there wasn’t a huge market for him you know because of contract and and you know other concerns uh and they did get Grayson Allen who is a very important player for them like if they’re going to make a deep playoff run Grayson Allen’s going to be

Playing a lot of minutes and spacing the floor and knocking down threes and attacking Closeouts and you know is at least a decent size Wing player um you know when I saw the Suns on Christmas night uh kind of the buzzword there was cohesion and lack thereof um and you

Know I asked Frank vogle like what do you mean by that like how do you see that and he talked a lot about you know they the extra pass wasn’t being made right he talked a lot about like poor communication like transition defense there’s no communication or or there’s

Poor communication you know those those being kind of the the two primary examples but you mentioned it 65 minutes total now and and this basically almost all of those coming after Christmas of their big three together hopefully Katie’s back on the floor soon he he’s uh dealing with right hamstring soreness

Hopefully that’s just a day-to-day thing and and they can get some time together but essentially they’re going through the process now that you would expect them to be going through late in preseason early in the season of those three guys together and I think the least of the

Concern is how those three stars fit together it’s how does everything fit around them you know what what’s the rotation I mean he’s very much kind of you mentioned chimi metu he was a guy who wasn’t playing at all same with I think he’s good I’m I’m I’m ready to

Just pencil him into the rot I know Josh a kogi’s coming back so there’s going to be more competition for minutes and look if they get into the playoffs which is believe it or not still an if for a team that’s talented they got to continue to

Go up the standings the reality for them as you mentioned Grayson Allen very important to their team great shooter underrated ball mover there are going to be series that are tough for him defensively we’ve seen that against the Celtics when he was with Milwaukee now the Celtics play in the East and have

Incredible Wings across the board tayor made to make Grayson Allen’s life miserable but the bottom line is they’re going to run into a series that’s a little tough for him and to get through the playf this is like this is what the playoffs are for most teams they’re

Going to need to just Cobble together like okay we got a ner little game we got a kab Bates deop game we got a Grayson little a Grayson Allen series we got the game where Josh aogi randomly made five Corner threes and we needed all of them like they’re just that’s

Just when you’re taken from UDA Wan ABI gets Unearthed from from the deep bench and makes two Corner three they’re just that’s they’re just gonna need B bow baby b bow last night come I don’t know what the I don’t know what the hell happened there but B bow got in and like

Drew Eubanks will have a moment at some point he’s been out of the rotation lately um I did on Christmas the big report on countdown was W uh saying um frustration within the Suns about The Supporting Cast and and mentioning Durant in particular I believe um not

That he’s on The Supporting Cast but the frustration level of The Supporting Cast okay look I don’t know I don’t know Durant’s frustration level with they’re not frustrated anymore they’ve won a lot of games at Brad Beal’s healthy since then I I just I do want to say I don’t like he picked

Phoenix Right Kevin Durant picked Phoenix knowing what they had to give up to get him and and like the trade was the trade so you you traded Mel Bridges cam Johnson a million picks and swaps like that’s kind of the team you signed up for is like this team and they

Did well to upgrade from Chris Paul to Bradley Beal um you you can’t look around and be like well where are all these other draft picks and young players are supposed to have well you know you traded Mel Bridges and cam Johnson and before that the Phoenix Suns

Draft pick history fre those guys other than Booker is filled with some some drag and Benders and Maris Chris’s and Josh Jackson’s and people forget tough goes they traded a first round pick um for Landry shamut too uh they traded like the I think it became Dron

Sharp and like this is the team man and for I heard Simmons say on his podcast Bill Simmons that Durant he had this whole thing Durant just has to make it work in Phoenix and as much as I want to say that that’s that there’s something a little

Bit like we’re projecting our wishes right for what a Superstar’s career is quote unquote supposed to look like on to Kevin Durant I do feel like man I I just think it would be interesting to reverse engineer his career post 2016 like 10 more times and see what

Decisions he would make because he goes to the Warriors and everything works out I’ve done this I’ve talked about this before two championships two finals MVPs he’s unassailable but he realizes I think within a year or two like it’s just I’m never going to get the credit

Like it’s it’s it’s going to be Steph’s team always there’s a certain amount of fans who are going to always laugh at me for making this choice to join a 73 win team I I got to figure it out I got to figure it out now I’m not saying you

Should have chosen anybody but Golden State cuz imagine if he had reached this point of his career without winning a championship what the noise would be like around him he’s minted now he’s minted because of the finals MVPs but then he goes to Brooklyn it doesn’t work out he goes to Phoenix and

It is what it is so far it would just be interesting like I I I do find going back to that Hampton’s decision-making process of Miami and well he didn’t even meet with Washington but you know Boston um Oklahoma City obviously like was there what else could he have done

But I I do agree like frustrated or not there there’s a very good team in here I guess I guess what people are getting at with Durant is it’s time to be a galvanizer it’s time to like this is the situation let’s make it work and not and I’m not saying

This is happening or not but not this is the situation here are all the things I don’t love about it I I want like I think people just want to see all right man it’s not per like let’s just make this thing work and to his credit he’s

Averaging 30 a game on he leads a league at 3point he’s doing everything I just let’s have them be a galvanizer because they’re this team is good enough I think if they can stay healthy yeah they’ve still got a chance and listen KD gave Oklahoma City nine years

Oh there’s no no one is suggesting no one is suggesting that he owed them anything or he was wrong to leave he wanted to leave he was going to leave and he left and that’s totally and he had the opportunity to join a readymade contender a a team that had won a title

And was coming off a 73 win season I can’t imagine he has any regrets about that obviously it sucks the way it ended with him tearing his Achilles in in the third finals but like you said two finals two MVPs and then he wanted to

You know be able to go do it somewhere else I would I’m sure he has plenty of regrets about Brooklyn that thing ended up being a disaster um but like when we talk about Legacy and all that kind of stuff I don’t know man no matter what happens Kevin Durant’s GNA end up

Scoring 30 some odd thousand points he’s going to have two finals MVPs minimum um you know his legacy is going to be is he a top 15 alltime player top 10 you know wait you think it’s in closer to 20 like I mean give me a break you know it’s a

It’s a whatever it is I think he’s currently underrated in that discussion like I heard Bill say I think he someone said forgive me Bill if it wasn’t you someone said he’s 16th on his current whatever 15th I think he’s closer to 10th and like I don’t want to do it now

I just think he’s being I the whole the whole 22 finals when the Warriors won and Steph vaulted up these rankings deservedly so I think since that pivot point Durant has been his I just don’t think people realize what we’re going to plink and he’s going to be like the third leading

Scorer of all time with 50 40 90 shooting numbers essentially for his career like I I think he’s being if you have him 16 17 15 I just think that’s going to be too low yeah and then you know he is one of the poster dudes for

The super team era him and LeBron I would say the are the two guys you know but that’s that’s just the the league that they play in these days and they’ve helped shaped it that way um but I don’t know you can’t complain about The Supporting Cast in Phoenix

Knowing what they had to give up to get you I certainly assume that he co-signed on the Bradley Beal deal honestly the the one thing that’s really hurting them and it sounds silly but in in the eighton trade no nobody if you talk to people in Phoenix none of them are are

Upset that DeAndre aton’s gone but they really people are I wish we did not have to give up to Monte Kamura you know this guy who’s a rookie who’s a number 52 overall pick they loved him in Phoenix and they hated to give him up in that

Deal and he’s the type of player who you talk about young talent and he’s a young ready-made role player um they miss him they they really could have used him so here’s what would happen if tman Kamar were still on the Suns and I like what

Tar tman Kamar has done for the Blazers he starts and then he plays 16 minutes because he can’t shoot he’s shooting 29% I can’t shoot people say this obviously he can shoot if he walked into your college be the best shooter on the freaking floor he’s shooting 29% from

Three 41% overall and nobody guards him and so for as much tamman yeah Kamara regret as there might be he would be falling in and out of the rotation where he’s still on the Phoenix Suns it is interesting you mentioned DeAndre and I just went through all the

Draft you know ups and downs of the Phoenix Suns that so much has happened with their franchise good and bad in the last five years that as you list out all these like the last 10 years of their drafts and this and trades and this and

Oh they get Chris Paul to make the finals you almost forget they picked DeAndre Aton over lukp not only that right after hiring eigor kosov I always botch his name eigor k koskov koskov there you go eigor as their head coach eigor who was pretty fresh off of coaching Slovenia with a

17-year-old Luca donic to the freaking Euro basket championship and I can tell you this eigor had less than zero say that was made very clear to him very early on but he did say hey just to get it off my chest I really wish we’d pick this guy

And throw a big uh offer sheet at restricted free agent Clint capella and if you’re remember he ended up going to the staying in Houston on five years 85 million at the time anyways we’re going down a a rabbit hole that’s it it is one of the great what ifs meanwhile all

These years later Dallas has chased Clint I know on and again off again had tra chased his strong had trade had thoughts about would this guy be a good fit with LCA now they have Derek Lively that book is closed Dereck Lively is legit really good Derek Lively is the is the Mavs

Best hope to Luca’s long-term happiness we’ll talk Mavs another day we won’t we’ll talk Mavs another day when they haven’t just lost at Utah by points and given up the first triple double listen New Year’s Eve in Salt Lake City hash nightlife baby I think it bit them

I think it bit them they’re probably too many 2% beers or whatever whatever it is Hey listen if you get if you get draft beers they’re they’re no more than 5% but you can get those Five Percenters there these days pin McMahon uh enjoy the game tonight I’m jealous

Hopefully you get a classic um two great teams full of all just really interesting players across the board uh thank you for your time you’ll be on the hoop Collective uh Friday is the next hoop Collective for you or tomorrow my my phone is buzzing right now of Wendy

Trying to uh to schedule but I do believe we’ll come out on Friday all right well I listen I a regular hoop Collective listener and uh look out for everything Tim rites thank you sir I appreciate you brother and Audios Amigos

Zach Lowe and Tim MacMahon discuss the OKC Thunder’s chances to thrive in the playoffs and possible moves they can make before the trade deadline, the Los Angeles Lakers struggling offensively, the surging Phoenix Suns, Kevin Durant’s legacy, and more.

0:00 Welcome to The Lowe Post Podcast!
4:00 Four stages of Thunder thoughts
20:47 What’s wrong with the Lakers?
38:40 Reaction to the Suns’ Big Three
54:00 Durant’s interesting career and legacy

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