FIRST TAKE | “Klay Thompson opens a new dynasty at Mavericks in West” – Shannon tells Stephen A.

FIRST TAKE | “Klay Thompson opens a new dynasty at Mavericks in West” – Shannon tells Stephen A.

season for Klay Thompson ended with his scoreless 0 for 10 showing and a loss to Sacramento in the playing tournament Klay suspected that it might be the end of his time with the team that drafted him 11th overall in 2011 Thompson chose to play for the Dallas Mavericks in free agency over his dad Michael’s former team the Lakers clay and MAV is at the mic coming here is just such a fresh start and feeling just wanted again and like I bring Great Value uh it just gets me EXC decided to go out there and even work out after this press conference and get shots up and uh so yeah there was times last year 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 uh 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 you want to be where you wanted right you want to be where you’re valued coach it’s good to see him getting this opportunity the Mavs made it to the finals as past season coach now adding clay so where does this signing put them in the west I think puts him third I look I love the signing and I I really like what clay said about a fresh start and being wanted and having being energized and being healthy and all those things I think they’re third I think they’re behind the two teams that won 57 games one of them we never talk about we never talk about Oklahoma City they’re not going anywhere they’re only going to continue to get better and then Denver those two teams aren’t going anywhere people would say well are they ahead of Minnesota I do think this signing puts them ahead of Minnesota but we need to spend more time you talk about additions how about Caruso and hartstein with Oklahoma City two perfect fits that actually separate them from the field as opposed to Klay Thompson who is also going to be a huge piece because Kyrie Irving Luca obviously are going to create double teams double teams create ball movement ball movement creates open threes I think it’s a perfect fit for him but I do think we should talk about Oklahoma City more because those dudes they ain’t going anywhere yeah I so you coach has them three I’ve got Dallas four so my Western Conference standings as of right now Oklahoma City the Timberwolves Denver and then the Mavs we don’t talk about Oklahoma City enough and we should be talking about the fact that they won the off season with all the additions that they made Isaiah hartenstein is huge what were some of their biggest issues in the series against Dallas defense and rebounding they were able to remedy a lot of those things and then some Alex Caruso swapping him out for Josh swapping Josh giddy out for him this is a team that has a future MVP an sgaa A young core that is only going to get better at time so I’ve got them ahead of where the Mavs are to me the pause I have with Dallas right now I think that clay brings a sort of shooting that was not there in the NBA finals and outside of Luca and Kyrie you have somebody who is going to be great on those catch and shoot threes the corner threes defensively though swapping out Derek Jones Jr for Klay Thompson at 34 years old we know the injuries have been an issue in the past that’s the only thing that kind of holds me up on this but the top four in the western conference right now are pretty top heav it’s funny that we still don’t talk about the Denver Nuggets doing anything because they’ve been frustratingly stagnant here how they try to replace kcb is probably their biggest issue but I think the Timberwolves got better as well all four of these teams got better in free agency I’m going to go with second I have a Dallas Maverick second behind the Oklahoma City Thunder and I love everything that y’all said about OKC now you bringing a hardenstein cck homer can play that four position can and be more you know elusive in his natural role but also Al Alex Caruso what he brings to the table when I look at that series versus Dallas games three and six those two games could have went either way and you know OKC could have won them Dallas ended up winning them they won that series went on to the Western Conference Finals in the NBA finals when I look at Dallas and they make a trade right for PJ Washington and also Gafford I think having an offseason with all these guys being together you’re adding to Klay Thompson who averaged what 17.9 points per game 18 points uh per game last season you have a Luca and you have a Kyrie who’s going to have the basketball in their hands majority of the time they’re going to demand those double teams they’re going to demand the attention so Klay Thompson is going to get a lot of wide open shots something they could have desperately used in the NBA Finals versus the Boston Celtics so I really like what this basketball team is now and I think also having that full off season with the entire team being there you if you’re Jason kid you have to address the defense right especially what happened in the NBA Finals that has to be at the Forefront of everything in my opinion because we know what this team could be offensively so I think you know training camp and this entire offseason they have to focus defensively and how they can be uh be better how can they protect Luca he can be better I don’t think it’s going to be anything drastic that we see but right now I have them second I’m kind of concerned about Denver because them losing Bruce Brown last year played a pivotal role uh in them in their success that they did not have in 2023 now losing kcp a guy that you can count on defensively and hit timely three-pointers that’s a major loss that I don’t think a lot of people are talking about enough for for the Denver Nuggets yeah Harry I agree with you on on Denver having a little bit of an if but I’ll tell you one thing we’re talking about the best teams in the west and we spend all our time talking about the Lakers and the Clippers and you know what we’re not talking about the Lakers and the Clippers and I think the biggest shock of the off season so far is the Lakers striking out I think you think about the Los Angeles Lakers and everyone says well don’t the Lakers you know it’s Los Angeles it’s a premare you know franchise they’re going to attract free agents well you know what the Lakers haven’t attracted free agents I think that’s been the biggest shock of the free agency thus far H go I would also add let’s not forget right Memphis is going to get JN Morant back we look at what the Sacramento Kings were able to do and bring it in um God I can’t think of his name d rozan right and and Keegan mgan uh Murray the way he stepped up for that team sabonis is a triple double machine you you also look at their point guard and how he’s able to play Malik monk coming off the bench do not slip on Sacramento I think Mike Brown and this team they have to you know get over this hump that they’ve been trying to get over the last real quick I I have 15 seconds coach with the Lakers as presently constructed how far can they go not very far they’re barely a a playoff team they’ll make the playoffs but that’s about it they’re not a winning team I don’t like the construction of the roster they’ve gotten older I think there’s issues output for Team USA they had been together that long there were some good defense that led to some pretty decent offense at least early on yeah they were terrific defensively offensively only four practices they didn’t have great flow but defensively you’re talking about 21 points off turnovers 20 blocks in steals and did a great job with Jamal Murray and SGA holding those two guys to five to 18 from the field I thought defense was well ahead of the offense which created a lot of transition offense for Team USA one of three Celtics on the roster more and them and minute Jason Tatum sweet take Team USA leads 4133 at the half third quarter again it was just about some of the ways these guys are trying to find out who’s going to work well with each other Steph there with the bucket and the foul and then we see in transition Steph and LeBron working well there’s the young selfish basketball 25 assists of 37 field goals most of those in transition did a great job of converting those steals loose balls deflections block shots at the easy scoring back opportunity we heard Anthony Edwards say earlier in the week he believes he should be team USA’s number one option led the team in points last night off the bench USA wins 86 to 72 but postgame the players are realistic it’s early we haven’t worked a lot with each other we’re trying to build this thing one game at a time we know we’re a lot better but we only been together four days so all over all the miscues offensive with the turnover the things we’ll get better than that with that but it starts on the defensive end as long as we defend we going to give our a good chance to win every night we just want to win gold I mean whatever that takes so we always talk about no matter what your stats are don’t matter how many minutes you play like everybody on the floor commit to just doing what you has to do we’ll be good see I’m not going to sit up here and hit a p button after one exhibition game so just big picture give me the biggest takeaway from last night this USA team is going to be dominant defensively that’s going to be their DNA that’s going to be their identity they’re going to improve offensively they only had four practices so you don’t expect them to be running prison’s offense but defensively they can dominate you they can turn you over they can protect the rim they they create offense out of that defense the athleticism and the length enable them to dominate people by pressuring pushing people out and disrupting the flow of their opponent’s offense and that’s who they’re going to be they’ll improve def offensively but it’s defensive end like [Music] LeBron fore 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FIRST TAKE | “Klay Thompson opens a new dynasty at Mavericks in West” – Shannon tells Stephen A.