NBA Today | Perkins reacts to Klay Thompson drops warning to the NBA on Mavericks introduced day

NBA Today | Perkins reacts to Klay Thompson drops warning to the NBA on Mavericks introduced day

a brief holiday Hiatus welcome into NBA today there is so much for us to get into beaming in from home it is the one and only zacho the Sanford sister they gotta coordinate Ramona shelburn I’m Malika Andrews let’s get right to it there’s so much to get to Klay Thompson he was introduced with the Dallas Mavericks this morning officially turning the page from the fortime Champs in his storied career with golden state with number 11 currently taken by Kyrie Irving what do we think of number 31 here for Klay Thompson something that maybe just going to take a little bit of getting used to just like the logo on the front take a listen to Clay on why he ultimately decided to leave the Warriors there was times last year it was tough where it wasn’t as joyful had been in the past and um it’s nice to kind of shed that and have a whole new Fresh Start whole new group of guys get to know and um co-workers so a whole new city it’s uh it’s really cool and I’m going to embrace the heck out of this opportunity sometimes you know breakups are necessary to uh do what’s right and I’m not the first athlete in the NBA to go through this I’m very grateful for my time at uh Golden State but um I just felt like you know moving on could just re-energize me and uh do something special for the rest of my career and Dallas was so attracted because of the young players they have the style of play when I was watching the playoff and I’m watching the mass you know make a run for the championship uh I just saw myself fitting in really well with this team and the personnel and um they look like they have fun playing with each other and they play for each other and that was very attractive for me and um that’s really all I needed to see and there’s mutual interest there and that’s why I’m here I mean clay seems excited right to try something a little new try and help Luca Kyrie company get over the hump after losing in the finals last month so Mr low let’s get the low down here how much better does Thompson actually make the Dallas Mavericks I think the MS are probably a little bit better with Tim Hardaway Josh Green Jerick Jones Jr out clay in Quinton Grimes in Naji Marshall in I think they’re probably a little bit better and their upside is higher because their shooting is going to be so much better with Clay on the floor he is going to Feast on open looks from Luca and Kyrie offensively it’s going to be a great fit I do think there are some questions defensively about they lost their best point of attack Defender the guy they would put on point guards Derek Jones Jr who’s going to replace that role on the team you can’t ask Kyrie to do that game in and game out can you close games defensively with Clay Luca and Kyrie all on the floor together I think it’s fair to ask those questions so I think they’re better a little bit better not a ton better yeah I was actually thinking as you were talking Zach a little a lot of T I’m right in the middle per usual I think they got a lot better but so did the rest of the NBA there we go thank you a little a lot a ton I think they got a lot better because the reason why they struggled in the NBA Finals was the lack of catch and Shooters out there and he fits that seamlessly but there are other issues that they have to deal with like their defense and also another issue overall is that their lack of offensive versatility down the stretch when they went heavy ISO ball between Luca and Kyrie they just didn’t have many options once going up against the Boston Celtics defense so they need to find more versatility amongst their star players but fixing that problem that got you to the NBA finals and you fell short Klay Thompson fixes a lot of that I’m excited to see what this team does to grow because one thing I like is Luca the maturation of Luca donic a lot of people point to the influence of Kyrie Irving right now you’re adding another person with four championships on the perimeter to add to that experience that you can only imagine that luuka is going to continue to be better and he was already Sensational last year so I talked to Nico Harrison who’s the general manager of the Mavericks he said flat out we got clay for June we need him in June yeah how many games did the Mavericks have at in the in those finals were they just just a play here a play there a wide open shot that they couldn’t hit there I mean you need Championship experience and T you’re talking about that how important Kyrie was for Luca and how he calmed him down when we when I asked Luca what did Kyrie do for you he said he gave me a sense of calm which is look at Klay to you know what Klay Thompson is like he’s Captain clay out on the boat I don’t know where he’s going to poke that park park the boat Tris like Travis you know Texas Texas knows um but but that’s Clay’s been there he’s been to the finals so many times like they needed that professionalism they needed that experience I think that’s why Clay is such a good I like that peace notion because playing also for June doesn’t mean that you have to play for October November January like play was a lot of pressure was on him over the last year this is a place where the pressure is taken off especially with his options potentially being the where the Limelight would still be on him he’s looking for that piece and I think lastly when it comes to Styles this style is going to be great for clay because in Golden State they were the track meat Boys not just the slash Brothers they were the track meat boys they had to run around to get their shots he won’t have to do that that is probably more peaceful mentally especially as he’s trying to get his game all the way back well and Clay sort of mentioned the space that Kyrie and Luca will give him so his off ball movement being able to thrive with his three-point shooting the amount of attention that the other stars will get it’ll kind of allow him to find himself a little bit we’ve only been gone for a couple of days and everyone’s putting on new jerseys they wasn’t the only player introduced to a new team this morning let’s just bounce around with the rest of the league shall we a little Coast to Coast new faces or rather familiar faces in new places we’re going to start with Mel Bridges who will wear the number one with the Knicks CH New York’s title odds they catapulted to Fourth after Bridges creaded to New York do you think there are only three teams better in the entire NBA than the Knicks no but that doesn’t hurt the Nova Knicks because I do think that if you’re going to try to put the in the Celtics in category are you saying that they’re better than two or three teams that are the top of the West whether it’s the Timberwolves the Nuggets obviously we know OKC is coming in Dallas was just there so I’m not going to say no but that doesn’t mean the Nova Knicks won’t ball from the Texas gal to Texas because Chris Paul was officially introduced as the newest member of the San Antonio Spurs and Zach we know that every team sees their win total go up when they acquire the point God are Victor in the Spurs ready to make the playoffs this season don’t be surprised I think they’re going to hang around the playoff race here’s a stat plus n per 100 possessions with wemi dein Vel and Trey Jones on the floor last season you put competent players around that dude and they’re going to win some games I think they’re going to be around 500 watch out Spurs are coming go Spurs go all right time for some California love the Kings they landed Demar D Ro in three years $74 million contract in a sign in trade that’s according to our W and Tim bonam so Ramona is derozen enough to help Sacramento win their first playoff series since 2004 you know I love this for Sacramento because they traded they traded for more offense they they had they obviously had issues with injuries last year but they got smaller and that’s difficult in the Western Conference where everyone else is getting bigger losing Harrison Barnes in this trade is a difficult P to swallow it’s also still a little difficult to look at those inseason tournament courts but now that it appears like the dust maybe is settling at least a little bit this summer I’m just checking my phone for any more woe bombs before I say that out loud uh who improves Zach the most this off season knowing that you know some things can still happen here and there it won’t get reflected in their win total because they already won a lot of games but I think the Oklahoma City Thunder are indisputably the biggest winner of the off season again they won a ton of games that were the number one seed last year I’ll bet they’re going to be the favorites to be the number one seed again but their versatility in the playoffs went up a level swapping out Josh Giddy and bringing in Alex Caruso who shot 41% on threes last year and is an all defense player and Isaiah hartenstein just brings a completely new dimension to their team helps him on the glass he can play next to Chad hren he’s a great passer and that fits with Chad it just gives them different looks different styles they didn’t have last year I think their ceiling got higher their playoff ceiling got higher the Thunder are here now to try to win the whole damn thing well when you said Undisputed Zach write down that word that Zach said real quick because did they acquire All Stars per se not necessarily I believe the OKC Thunder and the Philadelphia 76ers are neck and neck and I give the edge to Philly because they brought in All Stars yes the Thunder they solve their needs at the center position and also getting someone that is a competitive player in Alex cruso but the bigger needs for a championship team potentially is adding Paul George who fits seamlessly if you look at the way the offense and defense can go longside Joel embiid and Tyrese Maxi that big three you got the center you’ve got the wing and you’ve got the point guard and then on top of it the one that I think people are sleeping on Andre Drummond a lot of people are talking about oh D beid has not been able to stay healthy throughout the postseason well guess what getting a guy who is one of the leaders and rebounds over the course of his career is going to help withstand that storm so I get it Undisputed indisputable whatever word you use Zach I feel like got dispute Philly has the same needs but they added all stars and they are really going all to win just as well Ramona tiebreaker the Sixers what are we talking about they added the biggest star out there and how many times have we heard oh we got all this cap space and nobody does anything with it they used every single penny of their cap space to add stars and role players don’t forget Caleb Martin don’t forget they I like even Adon who they drafted finally Joel me has two backup big men now yeah two backups there so I I mean I love what the Sixers did here they finally paid it off and congratulations to Tyrese Maxi who I mean can you that that’s a big thing for a young guy to do to to defer the big contract to defer that big extension so your team can have the cap space he bet on himself it paid off for the team and it paid off for him the one two Zachs point to Z Point Z point the one reason Zach that I I actually I might be scooting a little bit towards all the way over on come on over here girl is that when I look at what the Oklahoma City Thunder did already the number one seed in the Western Conference I believe they can and there’s a good chance they will be back there I don’t know that the acquisition of Paul George Zack makes me feel that all of a sudden Philadelphia leapfrogged the the Celtics certainly or even some of those other teams at the top of the Eastern Conference can we can we just hold up for one second on the Philly thing Ramon and Chan you’re right Philly was a huge winner in the off Phil Philly had Philly had a great off seon but CH did the thing where she was like well people talk about how Joel embiid is injured in the playoffs all the time and then just went on to the next thing no no no people don’t talk about how Joel embiid is injured in the playoffs all the time Joel embiid is injured in the playoffs all the time the Sixers still have not got out of the second round they got him two back so he doesn’t have to play through injuries fantastic they have Andre Drummond if Joel’s beat beats her in the playoffs they’re completely fine come on number two look at look at Paul George’s look at Paul George’s playoff numbers from his two of his three seasons with the Clippers like I’m just saying I love the Sixers they still have to fill out the last third of their team I think they’re neck and neck with the Knicks behind the Celtics but it is absolutely time to do two things number one the one and only priority for their regular season should be making sure Joel and be is healthy in the playoffs if that means no 65 games no MVP fine whatever that stuff is over number two if you get to the playoffs and you’re healthy it’s put up or shut up time for this core right now this is the best chance embid has had and I feel like we’ve said that about three or four different Philly teams to get out of the second round so if we’re going to Crown this to success we got to at least acknowledge like it’s time to actually take the step that we’ve been waiting for both foree spee fore fore fore foree fore fore speee speee fore spee fore foree fore spee spee fore fore foree fore spee foree speee speee for

NBA Today | Perkins reacts to Klay Thompson drops warning to the NBA on Mavericks introduced day