NBA Draft 2024 No. 1 pick chatter for Atlanta Hawks and NBA Finals preview

NBA Draft 2024 No. 1 pick chatter for Atlanta Hawks and NBA Finals preview

on today’s show we talk about the top of the NBA draft as you might imagine with some recent Buzz chatter about the Hawks at number one overall and then we preview the NBA Finals with Bill defilippo joining me from uprs and dime and all that is coming up you are locked on Hawks your daily Atlanta Hawks podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team everyday Hello friends welcome to episode 1732 of the L on Hawks podcast I your host Brad Roland coming to you on a Wednesday afternoon evening at today’s podcast brought by the folks at the game time app download the game time app right now create an account use promo code L on NBA for $20 off your first purchase with game time terms apply also want to encourage you at the top of the podcast as I always would to make us your first listen each and every day here at Lon Hawks please subscribe to the show on Apple or Spotify or overcast or also on the video side over on YouTube where you can certainly please feel free to like And subscribe to the podcast Today’s show will be joined in a second by B defilippo of dime and upro sports talking about the NBA Finals before we get to that some NBA draft stuff at the top of the show I should just at least plug this now I’ve been doing lots and lots of draft coverage for the last several weeks both pre- Lottery and post Lottery Brian schwers brought on the podcast Bryce Simon ryce Hendricks to Jones Richard samon Etc it’s been a very long list of people that have already come on the podcast and a much longer list coming up in the near future as we are now three weeks or so from the NBA draft I’m recording this podcast but um as a PSA some of the bad aggregation and kind of Roundup stuff on social media is starting to happen with regard to what’s been reported what actually has not been reported I won’t name names but for example someone framed it as if Jonathan gon ESPN was reporting the Hawks and Spurs have been discussing a swap for number one and sort of for four and eight coming back to Atlanta that was not actually what was reported from gon he kind of casually referenced the Spurs as a potential train-up candidate on a podcast with no specifics and it was clearly clearly clearly if you listen to the podcast not reporting that they were actually talking or aiming to do that anyway so basically I would say my advice right now is to be careful out there um that’s always true especially right now as the Hawks are going to be in a lot of chatter as the nature of the beast at number one overall in a wide open draft is that there’s lots of rumor stuff that’s gonna be flying around and by the way even stuff that’s reported by real credible reporters should also be taken with sort of a grain of salt right now I would say because it’s definitely Silly Season and teams are trying to spin stuff um there’s lots and lots of uncertainty at the top of this draft that’s not breaking news to anybody that’s listen to this podcast for a while but even if for instance some people are like married to alexar or zachar or even Donovan kingan in the fan base I think as soon as the Hawks won the lottery there was a lot of people that just like all right Alex star moving on um let’s just say in reality that’s not what’s happening around the league there’s lots of chatter about different guys and I would just keep your guard up a little bit about what is being reported out there at this point but anyway I got some questions in the last couple days about what’s been kind of been reported out there some layest Intel so let’s do that a little bit here at the top of the podcast one of those things I was asked about was that Kevin oconor of the ringer wrote this week that the Hawks have had some trouble getting the top players to come and work out for them first of all I haven’t really heard that as a talking point doesn’t mean it’s wrong just means that I haven’t heard it second even if that was true you might want to consider some logic stuff here because the Hawks only have one pick in this draft which is number one overall and that basically eliminates I don’t know 90% of the possible draft picks in this class from consideration um then if you were an agent for like Rob Dillingham or Reed Shepard or one of the small guards Devin Carter would you want the Hawks to work your work your guy out because they’re not gonna draft your guy basically um I I would be pretty shocked I won’t say it’s a Zer percent chance but it would surprise me greatly if the Hawks took a small guard at number one overall so that was that’s part of this year also Stefan Castle is a more interesting case it’s been out there kind of reported a lot of different places that he does not want to work out for teams that have point guards already I would personally advise against that if I was him but um realistically I’ve not heard him in the mix with the Hawks at number one overall and you know so all all that said like I wouldn’t worry about this necessarily what I would say right now by the way the reality is we’re three weeks away still and that’s still fairly early I know it feels like it’s been an attorney since the Hawks won the loty but this is still a long way to go before they actually make a choice number one overall and by the way one of the guys at the top of the class in ree just finished playing hasn’t even been to America yet so just like keep that in mind workouts Haw not reporting workouts at least they’re sorry they’re not announcing workouts this year it’s a little bit different of course this time around at the top and nothing else so keep that in mind by the way R CH did a bunch of media on Tuesday as part of the NBA’s overseas combine he is flying to the US shortly if not already for team workouts which should include Atlanta at some point if I had to guess he said his best skill is his shooting which is interesting for him to say out loud um also just he talks about working on his dribbling Game and his on sort of off the bounce game I would agree that’s a big step in his development and one of the big questions about re in the future but we he kind of knows that at this stage uh Jonathan glone speaking of which on ESPN did say on a podcast that he’s heard that the Hawks and notably head coach Quinn Snyder do like Donovan kingan now earlier this week on this same podcast I talked about gavone seemingly keeping Clingan in the mix on his reporting about the Hawks every time he talks about them that isn’t a coincidence I think he’s certainly doing it on purpose doesn’t mean this is necessarily going to be gospel at this point in time but it shouldn’t be a huge surprise the Hawks might like Donan kingan and also Quint Snider would like him as well not only for the defense which is certainly his calling card still kingan’s defense is very impressive he is a mountain of a player great numbers defensively on the glass Etc at the college level he’s also very skilled as a big guy especially at that size with his passing and his feel overall which definitely applies to Snyder from what I know about Quinn but worth just saying out loud Quinn is not the GM so him liking a player would certainly be notable to the front office or ownership but he’s not the guy who’s making the pick at the end of the day keep that in mind always last thing here before we get to Bill a few different mock drafts have come out in the last couple days as talked about a littleit a little bit on Monday ESPN has not changed their projection which is still rishe at the top and gavone has been kind of the guy waving the flag for ruche for a long time he’s been number one on his board for a long time as well keep that in mind but the ringer I think as well as Yahoo both changed to re of the top of the draft does that mean anything necessarily no but it’s just worth noting there the other most prominent NBA draft kind of Intel person is s Vini the athletic and he kept Alex sawar in his top spot actually when he released a mock on Wednesday morning he shared that what I’ve actually been saying quite a bit on the show and even most recently on the show on Monday that the consensus around the Hawks is that no one knows what’s gonna happen around the Hawks no one including the Hawks themselves Zack L said the same on his podcast recently as the gavon this week Vini wrote The Following the Hawks are quote still earlier in their process than many of the other teams at the top of the lottery end quote and that also quote this selection is still seen as being fluid end quote it’s still early I know it feels like it’s not but it really still is they don’t have to choose anything for quite some time now so still pretty muddled as of Wednesday June 5th when I’m recording this podcast also Sam wrote SAR ret and kinging are kind of the guys that he mentioned at the top of the draft it seems like most people around the league that I talk to and that I read Etc on record off record are zeroing in on that Trio being the most likely Trio to be in the mix and number one overall I would not go as far as to say that it is 100% going to be one of those three guys would I say 90 plus percent probably at this point in time this what I know but someone asked that just plainly today like is there any chance at all that it’s not one of the three guys and I would say yes it’s still too early for me to say that there’s no chance of that medical stuff all that stuff so we’ll see but I do think that if I had to guess or I would say strongly project right now the Hawks picking one of the guys at the top it would be either SAR ruche or kingan in that spot but certainly TBD on whether that will change in the near future obviously we’ll have more on the draft stuff coming up in the future but I want to at least touch on a little bit of that stuff midweek here because I’ve been got getting questions Etc and the and the chatter is picking up a little bit across the league with the NBA Finals about to start on Thursday it’s basically finals and draft right now across the league and the Hawks are in the driver seat when it comes to the draft itself all right that’s all I have on this segment after a break to hear from our partners on today’s podcast we’ll talk about Bill and when it comes to the NBA finals lots of angles here on the Celtics the Mavs the betting angles at FanDuel Etc but first they wor from our partners on today’s podcast and the first of which is the folks at game time today show is brought to you by the folks at game time the game is off us ticket Marketplace of the NBA which makes getting playoff tickets even faster and easier than it was before it’s the case with the NBA Finals as well they’re coming up very very soon as you listen to this podcast I know I love to be there as well and the co to last minut deals all in prices vi from receipts and the lowest price guarantee you’re all in the mix at game time the mix fantastic option to make things easy for you when it comes 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for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account with game time we’re gting that promo code lost on NBA for $20 off your first purchase download the game time app today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed he is is my friend he is my editor he is the only person on this podcast that likes Seth Lundy more than I do hello Bill how are you I’m doing great Brad how are you man I’m well uh I appreciate you jumping on to do a little uh little final talk you are preceded by the real headline stuff when it comes to the Hawks which is number one pick talk uh you don’t have to have an opinion but have you decided who you’re who You’ like the Hawks to take in number one overall I didn’t pray you for this at all uh no I haven’t I haven’t really gotten a chance to really dive into draft stuff with um with you know every with the finals going on and whatnot but they are interesting just because like it’s very rare that a team that has some level of expectation to compete is picking number one so I’m very interested in like how the Hawks end up approaching it be because a lot of the teams that draft number one you can draft a ball of clay and like I don’t know do you think the Hawks have that luxury or no I mean may maybe they will and we just don’t know it yet maybe they’re going to go into this rebuild that I I don’t necessarily foresee but you’re right I mean it’s I’ve talked about it a little bit but it’s it’s like you know most teams you might have one guy that you like you know you you win the lottery you might have like maybe you have your guy or someone like like let’s just say if Detroit have won the lottery right they they have Kate yeah they have a guy they like um but you might have one the Hawks have you could argue as many as three um feel about T and deante and they’ll probably him up all that stuff but like Jaylen Johnson’s the guy they love like they think jayl Johnson GNA be a star so like they don’t have the luxury of just like all right best player available no matter what the context is because if that player was I don’t know Rob Dillingham or Reed Shepard are you gonna pray that guy with t with Tre young I kind of think not so um yeah it’s you’re right it’s a very interesting situation and also um given this class there’s like a very strong possibility that who whoever they draft is not one of their best five players next year like if they draft Alex Saar especially Alex saw isn’t going to be a starting level player for them on in October so like it’s just this really interesting thing where like most I mean how often does a one overall pick not start their first game yeah I mean if my my read on the draft again having admitted I haven’t done nearly enough homework yet is that like if they want to draft a guy who they who you know can step in and be like you mentioned one of their five best players right away like they should take Dalton connect number one and he will never be better than their fifth best player well yeah the the other guy would be I mean I think kingan might be able to be yeah might be able to be a starting level player pretty quickly but yeah you’re right I mean and we I will not do any more draft with you I just uh I felt it necessary to at least ask the question because obviously you are not in draft mode yet because look I said this actually before I brought you in right now it’s finals and draft right that the whole league is doing the split if you’re covering the finals you’re covering the finals and if you’re not you’re kind of in draft mode um when the finals in everyone kind of pivots to draft mode and that’s kind of when the real lights come along like when you get the you start getting the W bombs on the draft it’s usually post finals it’s not usually until that’s actually over or until the Lakers hire a coach which I guess they kind of already have done that but they won’t say it yeah listen J JJ reic cannot wait for the NBA Finals to end to talk about um his candidacy to be for being the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers he cannot wait that happen NBA final I hope I hope mik asked him about it in the open to game one oh I hope Mike Breen just calls him Coach and I’m joined today by Doris Burkin coach JJ rck of the Los Angeles Lakers uh anyway okay we’ll move on to the to the actual task at hand which is the finals look I don’t cover the these teams every day but you and I cover the NBA together at times um interesting finals I think it’s not maybe an alltime pre-finals matchup but it’s certainly a pretty appetizing one you got the team and I wonder if you agree with this framing or not you have the team that while not not everybody trusts Boston they have the numbers of an all-time great team when it comes to yeah net rating and wins all those things then you have Dallas is playing really well and they have um they have two stars one of which is consensus top fiveish player in the league in Luca so that’s that’s a pretty interesting Clash on its own uh what do you make of this and we’ll kind of dive in for like where’s your head out with the series right now as we as it begins in what 28 hours as we’re recording this podcast it it’s fascinating to me because you you mentioned the big thing to me which is that the 1996 Chicago Bulls the 1997 Chicago Bulls are the only two teams to have a better net rating in a season than this Celtics team this Celtics team’s net rating was the same as the 2017 Warriors which is that you know the first year that they had Uh Kevin Durant in town so like by all account we should be sitting here going we are watching an historically great team in the NBA finals and yet Boston just like I don’t want to say they haven’t earned that respect they haven’t earned that trust from the public but like they’ve gotten here so many times that I think they’re not going to be able to kind of Silence the people who will hear that stuff and roll their eyes unless they actually win a ring and it’s be the most fascinating subplot of this entire series which is that we are watching a team that we should be considering one of the by the numbers one of the three five 10 best basketball teams we’ve ever seen and the only thing standing in between them is a team that up until February nobody really took seriously because they didn’t have much of a reason to take this team seriously so yeah it’s it seemed like I feel like and and may you can tell me if I’m wrong here Brad I feel like there’s a bit of over complicating this going on and just looking at this series for what it is there should be a lot of you know ju there should be so much more faith in Boston being able to take care of business but like you mentioned the best player in the series is on Dallas and Boston has built up a reputation and reputations can be hard to shake so like I the whole thing is fascinating this is a legitimately fascinating NBA Finals to me for about a million different reasons yeah like the point you’re making is right it’s it’s kind of funny because of the two of us as we often joke I’m more of the numbers guy than you are right uh generally speaking and the I like the the true numbers guys I can’t I could probably name names but are still like in the you know no Boston’s a massive favorite in the series look at what they’ve done yeah and I get it and that’s a very appealing point to me I had you you can’t see my notes but I had I had the point about the Warriors like no one no no one’s even been close to them as far as their Reger season profile since that team in 2017 that’s seven years ago no one’s been close to them um since then as far as this is concerned and the in the playoffs while they haven’t played anybody that’s fair to say by playoff standards they do have a plus what 10 or 11 net rating in the playoffs you can’t fck that either you still you still got to win the games so that’s on one hand on the other it’s like okay I do kind of just implicitly understand not believing in this Celtics team on the biggest stage because it’s you we’ve we’ve kind of seen it now it’s important to note and many have said this but it’s supp just it’s not the same team they got Drew this time around and we think they’re gonna have porzingis by all accounts he’s gonna supposed be playing game one he might not be himself but he’s gonna be out there um and he while he’s not always he’s not proven at this level either he’s still a really good player and if nothing else this is very uh skeptical of him and I’m not he’s had a great year you could just argue like he’s a lot better than Xavier Tolman and Luke cornette like they they’ve been playing out hor for 34 minutes a game for like two weeks um so anyway I get it and I I honestly kind of w how do I say this if this team had not failed in the way they have failed previously I think everyone would pick Boston agree like everyone but because we’ve seen it with at least we’ve seen it with Tatum and brown it’s really just Tatum and brown that have actually been there the whole time everybody else is kind of changed out at this point in time on this coach Supporting Cast but we’ve just kind of seen it with those guys and until they break through and and you mentioned it briefly I think I did too like there’s the old the old adage which is still kind of true best player in the series is on the other side all those things get thrown in there and like as we’ll get into in a second FanDuel our friends over there make Boston a pretty big favorite minus 225 right now but by the Numbers they should be like minus 400 500 like they should be a very very very big favorite with homec court and disadvantage and they’re not right now Today Show is brought to you by priz pi price you turn $10 into $1,000 in a single game when watching your favorite sports this summer you make a price lineup and just as little as 60 seconds and that makes it huge if you are as busy as I am at times all you have to do is pick more or 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get there for first time deposit match up to $100 pick more pick less it’s that easy with priz picks one reason that we like sports generally is that we can lay out all these numbers we could lay out all the objective reasons why and then the first game tips off and Dallas goes on Dallas opens the game on a uh 18 to3 run and that crowd in Boston gets really antsy and Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum after walking around with such like a confidence about them for the first three rounds of the playoffs start to hang their heads a little bit and Lucas starts to kind of put some things together and he just spends the rest of the series taking it to like the reasons we like sports are because teams like the Boston Celtics don’t win every single time that’s true having said that teams like the Boston Celtics tend to win when they do win a good point yes so so it’s fun and I’m I’m glad you mentioned porzingis because I think that is that is to me and I don’t know about you to me the big thing in this series is that if you promise me Kristoff’s porzingis by you know by game three is he’s got the rust off and he’s playing like himself I really struggle to find a path for Dallas to win this series that is not Luca just puts up a top three NBA Finals performance of all time which having he could do that which he could but but you’re right did you have you read her did you see the quotes in recent days from our pal Tim bontemps over ESP ESPN uh from christops porzingis about basically his status his health all these sorts of things I did uh shouts to Tim by the way he’s not listening to this spast but maybe I’ll text him after this and tell him we talked about him yeah I mean a couple of quotes porzingis was asked if he’s 100% after a pause says I don’t know we’ll see he says plan to play in game one every day gives me a bit more time to get better when asked if he was running painfree christops porzingis had a very long pause then said yes uh conditioning he said it’s open as to how like porzingis is kind of the guy that makes this Celtics team to like for how great Jason Tatum is for how great Jaylen Brown is for how nasty that back court is for how great of a professional Al Horford is and how like if not for LeBron James and being LeBron James we would Marvel at the fact that Al Horford is still as good as he is at this age we should Marvel at how good Al Horford is but porzingis to me is the guy who when he’s in there and he is playing at his best he’s the guy that takes the Celtics from a really good basketball team to a potentially all-time great basketball team so seeing him maybe not be 100% maybe struggle to get some of the rust off all these sorts of things that’s that’s hanging over this series in such a big way like do would you agree with that porzingis is kind of if there’s one player that you’re watching in all of this that can swing this wildly in one way or another it’s him yeah it kind of has to be and you know like on one hand there’s a lot of room in the series like between games and between series like it’s not a every other dead situation um which in theory would help him because he takes longer it might also help Luca because he’s kind of dragging that knee around it seems like and he just had a week off and I don’t know what that’s going to mean but you’re right I mean I kind of flippantly made it kind of a joke about you know going from cornette or whoever Tillman to porzingis being a huge thing but I don’t think we’re gonna see porzingis playing the kind of workload that you would normally see a starter play um at least not right away it’s gonna it’s I mean I think he’s GNA play in game one by all accounts but you’re right there’s it’s kind of an eybrow Rising set of quotes and he unlocks their style like all these guys come together to do what they do but having a center who is legitimately 7273 who can bomb and also post up so you can’t switch on him that is kind of the piece that swings their their offense defensively he’s huge which helps they’re kind of similar defensively as long as Horford’s in there with the Five Guys they have but you know offensively I feel like they’re very switchable unless they have porzingis and that means and for what Dallas can do with especially with Lively out there who who can switch is really athletic boss just a lot easier to like don’t get me wrong they’re not easy to guard they’re still really hard to guard they are easier to guard if it’s Horford at Center versus porz at Center they just are yeah and a a big part of this series I think on off when Boston’s on offense and um Dallas is on defense is just where those centers are going to be where are Daniel Gafford where is Derek Lively where what guy are they going to be guarding because if Al Horford is out there for how good Al Horford is you can put Daniel Gafford on him and have him cheat off of Al Horford and basically say all right if Al’s going to go eight for 12 from three you know you tip your cap and you move on if porzingis is in there like that becomes a little bit more difficult because if you leave porzingis open from three because and basically say we want Derek Lively we want Daniel gaffer to be kind of floating protecting the rim doing all these sorts of things they’re going to kill you and then you have to have the conversation about do you want them on Derrik white do you want them on Drew holiday like the the the matchup like they’re just a matchup nightmare when you have to worry about porzingis in there but then if it turns into 30 minutes of Al Horford if it turns into 10 minutes of Luke cornette 10 minutes of Xavier Tillman whatever that is the entire complexion of how Boston is going to try to attack and how Dallas is going to try and defend them completely changes and all of a sudden yeah BEC suddenly it’s a lot easier to see how this Boston offense could end up getting stuck in the mud and kind some of those old demons end up popping up uh popping up against the Dallas team that has been battle tested particularly on the defensive end of the floor throughout this run and have had an answer seemingly every single time yeah I think that it’s going to be he’s a very very important piece there you of course we could go all day on this but you know it’s not as simple as Luca being the best play in the series but is there a pathway for Dallas to win the series if Luca is not the best part M the series it comes down to basically two guys and this isn’t like breaking news or anything but if PJ Washington and Derrick Jones Jr and you know maybe a little bit of Maxi C maybe a little bit of Josh Green maybe Tim Hardaway uh ends up coming back into the rotation but but primarily yeah primarily Washington and Jones you’re going to get open looks as the guys who stand in the quarter when Luca dones and Kyrie Irving are on the floor and we saw during the uh we saw during the Oklahoma City series that when one of those guys in this case PJ Washington is able to hit the open looks that get generated by donic and Irving 29 Points and a nine-point win uh in game two 27 points and a four-point win in game three Dallas isn’t here if PJ Washington doesn’t take doesn’t suddenly catch an alltime heater by his standards from behind the three-point line so if if that path is going to emerge for them Kyrie has to be you what what did LeBron James call him this week the most talented player to ever live something like that yeah it was in that vein I would disagree with that in large part because I think the guy who said that is probably the most talented player to ever live but Kyrie Kyrie has to be that kind of guy Kyrie has to be the kind of guy who can basically say Luca I’ll take it from here I’ll be a guy who averages 27 28 points per game in this series and then PJ Washington and then Derek Jones they’re able to keep Dallas honest uh from behind the three-point line Gafford and Lively they eat on the offensive glass and get those extra possessions that can be so crucial in a five-point NBAA Finals game it basically requires everyone but Luca playing at their best and I think that I think that’s why I have such a hard time seeing Dallas winning the series Brad it’s because either Luca has to play it his Absolut best and everyone else has to benefit from that or like eight other guys have to have the best playoff series that they’ve ever had to compensate for the fact that Luca isn’t in you know in their respective roles like I’m not saying Daniel Gafford suddenly has to average 25 and 12 but like in their respective roles to offset the fact that Luca is you know his knee is bugging him a little bit more his shot isn’t falling all these sorts of things I I think that uh I think if Boston plays I’m not gonna say they’re best if Boston plays an A minus B+ series they’re going to win yeah I think now you know this is not the betting markets are not are not your expertise necessarily but I mentioned the number before that Boston’s a decent Siz favorite basically the the median outcome projected outcome is you know Boston’s minus one and a half games in the series so like the most that’s kind of like the bet that’s actually a coin flip versus the actual spread um I I wonder what happens if Dallas steals game one so we’re recording this podcast again it’s tomorrow as we’re recording this podcast you got maybe maybe some Russ for Boston could be Russ for Dallas too but like what’s the so we’ll fast forward what’s the re I’m not I’m not saying it’s going to happen what’s the reaction if Dallas wins game one in Boston um exactly boy yeah I mean that’s that’s when like it’s also I guess it also matters how it happens I should at least acknowledge that like if Luka has 50 in game one and they win that’s a different reaction than if Boston just like shoots four for 45 from three and loses you know what I mean it’s kind of it’s a different thing yeah for sure like and that’s but that’s also when like those kind of ghosts that we talked about earlier and like the weight of history start coming in and like for everything that this Boston team has kind of done this year having to deal with that level of adversity is like I I I just want to see that as a fan of basketball above everything else I think it would be like I think it would be fascinating to watch how this Boston team deals with we’re down 01 in this series and all of a sudden like all hell is breaking loose even though we all you know even though we’re only 1 down in in a playoff series well we we know what moula would say he would just he would just it would be the flattest press conference of all time he would not panic at all he talk about the town at least three times in the presser uh what what did he say today something else he said something today that was very funny about just like him just being himself he’s just he just says nothing I I I have right here I just found it Joe Missoula on preparing for the quote unquote Bright Lights of the NBA Finals unless they change the bulbs in the arena there won’t be any bright like brighter than the last series that’s just Peak Missoula right there and look that’s right it might work and honestly you could argue that if you lose game one you might want the like no Panic guy at the helm exactly and they’re kind of a laid-back team I don’t mean that in a negative way but like they don’t have you know Tatum’s pretty chill Jaylen Brown could be fiery sometimes but like Drew’s pretty chill Derek White’s pretty chill like they don’t really have like that like Marcus Smart’s not walk through the door if that makes sense they don’t have that guy that’s like the raw raw guy right now um I’m not I’m not sure that’s if that’s good or bad but I uh oh I can I can guarantee one more thing before we get out of here boss is gonna have a game where they shoot five for 40 from three and the hashtag discourse after that game will be a lot will be just a lot to witness because it’ll be all about how they should stop shooting threes and all those things and that that’s what makes your question about what happens if Dallas loses game one so like so fun there’s a very boring answer to that which is everything that they did in game one that like happened in a loss they’re just going to do that again in game two it’ll be the exact same team it just withl different variants you would think the there there are basically two kinds of coaches there is the coach who has plan a and then he has plan B and then he has plan C and D and blah blah blah blah blah and then there are the coaches who has plan a and then their plan B is that you do plan a better and that’s Joe Missoula like Joe Missoula and I would say to his credit I mean it’s very easy to knock him for this but like to his credit when your plan a is as good as Boston’s plan a has been this year when you’ve been able to rely on what has gotten you here and when you continue to rely on what has gotten you here like that’s so much smarter than all of a sudden saying all right we need something new we’re going to dump it down to Jason in the low post and he’s going to you know try and do God knows what on the low block for 10 possessions a game like when the going gets tough Boston we know that they are going to just try and Shake themselves off go out there and do what they do which is admirable which is commendable which lends itself to like what you’re mentioning a game where they lose because that’s not working and suddenly it becomes this whole thing but it’s also the reason why I am picking them to win this series like because I just think if Boston does what they do they’re going to be NBA champions yeah I think just we get out of here I think that they are the better team I think that if you said pick the winner of the series I would pick Boston I I do something in my brain tells me that I I think Dallas is a a live Underdog in the series I think Dallas can win it um I think I’m probably think that they have a better chance than you do based on this conversation yeah but I I still I still I still pick Boston um and again I think the rational side of my brain is like Boston pretty easily and then the the less rational eyes and heart side tells tells a different story but even then even that side I think I still take because I don’t think Dallas is an all-time great team they’re just like they’re playing really well right now Luca’s great Kyrie’s great and what he especially as the number two guy is great but you got a lot of it’s a lot of uncertainty after that I mean Derrik lively man we don’t we don’t time for it but Derrik Lively has been unbelievable for a rookie for a rookie for a rookie bill I mean I mean he’s basically he’s basically a Penn State guy at this point we should we could talk about that um uh oh before Lamar Stevens ring ceremony in Boston do you do you go to Boston for it do you fly to Boston for Lamar Stevens ring ceremony I I strongly consider it there there you go uh Bill thank you for being here you’re picking Boston you’re on the record do you want to give games I don’t care if you give games or not if you want to give a game prediction you can uh I’ll say six games I think Boston Boston loses one because they just have an have a game where their shots don’t fall they things yeah and out of respect to Luca I think luuka has one game where he just like where there’s just absolutely nothing Boston could do against him but six games I know that means that I’m picking Boston to win on Dallas’s home for and that’s fine which some people get terrified of that whatever I’ve actually seen a lot of people that are leaning toward Dallas picking Dallas in seven which is not what you would normally see but I’ve heard this explanation multiple times now it’s like well if you get to game seven who do you like more Luca or the it’s like well I get it but it’s also a game would be Bost I I think it’s because Luc has been so good in those game sevens but like on the road like the one in Phoenix and then the one they just had in Minnesota and then Boston’s Boston and it’s that same fear so if you’re if you’re picking Dallas you kind of already think that Boston might just be Boston you know what I mean anyway there’s there’s nothing that Boston could throw at Luca in a game seven that will intimidate him more than like you know a Euroleague game in an Eastern European gym you know I thought you were G to go more than like playing playing at the scatter way on a Tuesday there’s listen he’s never shown that he could do that objectively he has never shown that he could do that 100% accurate Bill anything to plug for you out here we should plug plug the website that you ride for full time job yeah over over at Dime over on Upp Rock Sports where just you know finals are happening it’s cool like this is to to quote Zack low this is the reason why we do this so is true fun time uh dime got a lot of shine today for Megan’s piece about Cameron Brink that that that that went like semi viral today that’s cool we like we like uh we like people checking out mag.com great place to read about basketball content and then other sports things when we feel like writing about other sports things Robbie had great access to the college football video game stuff that’s right broke a lot of news about that so anyway thanks for being here bill I appreciate you my friend I appreciate you as for everybody else please subscribe to this podcast I’ll be back again soon I’m not exactly sure when about the draft but uh lots of draft coverage the next three weeks I promise you that so stay tuned for that subscribe I’ll see you next time

Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) hosts episode No. 1732 of the Locked on Hawks podcast. The show begins with the latest chatter and intel around the Atlanta Hawks and the No. 1 pick. Then, Bill DiFilippo of DIME and UPROXX Sports joins the program to preview the 2024 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks.

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