🏀 Predicting All-NBA candidates & dissecting the 65-game rule for awards 🏆 | The Lowe Post

🏀 Predicting All-NBA candidates & dissecting the 65-game rule for awards 🏆 | The Lowe Post

And now the low post welcome to the low post podcast on a Friday morning it’s beautiful on the East Coast the NBA regular season is churning to a close Bobby marks is here to talk all NBA with us and Bobby I think it’s fitting that on kind of a blah night Thursday night

Is usually such a great night for NBA games not so much last night the Marquee game was Celtics Sons a dispiriting blowout for Phoenix uh who has all their big three back and kind of needs to get their asses in gear because they’re seventh right now and I keep saying this I know

They’ve kind of fallen off the national radar because everyone’s like well we just got to wait and see wait and see what the team looks like with the big three healthy like that’s cool this team has as much at stake in this single particular season as pretty much any

Team in the NBA they traded everything to build this team they tore down a finals team which is fine whatever that was their decision to build this team they torched the second apron they have nothing left to trade and they’re seventh and last night seventh playing seventh Kevin Durant’s 35 years old this

Is like kind of a crisis that no one is really talking about as a crisis um and last night they just kind of looked a little outclassed and outsized on the road against Boston I know they beat Denver last week or a couple weeks ago that was a great win without Booker for

The Suns they just don’t have a lot of great wins and and also Bobby to to sort of lead into all NBA um kind of an interesting battle between two of the guys for we’re all NBA and I don’t have a ballot this year and boy this is like wild to have no

Positions you can just do whatever you want put players whever you want I know Bill Simmons just sort of rejected that he’s going to do it the oldfashioned way which is cool voters do whatever they want it’s so it’s wild but the lnba debate I assume for people

Really starts with the last first team spot I don’t know if that’s the case for you but I think joic Giannis SGA Luca as one to four in whatever order in the MVP race are just sharp Beed lock them in First Team all NBA and that leaves one

Spot and I have four guys as candidates for that one spot which means really I have eight of my 15 all NBA spots already done in some order I suspect we have the same four maybe not do you have four guys for that spot my of my four

Two of them faced off last night yeah I do I mean I have you know certainly the four that you mentioned here and then um you know I have Jason Tatum as five right now okay I mean I think you can make it can you make an argument his teammate

Could push him a little bit here because Jaylen Brown has has been he’s been as good in the last 15 20 games as as any any player right now he’s making the second Team all NBA and third team all-nba debate much more complicated and he actually you know as we digest this

Positionist reality he’s probably a little disadvantaged by The Disappearance of the forward spots um because forward is just for whatever reason always the thinnest group and guard is always the biggest group um but yeah I mean this is the best this is the best Jaylen Brown’s ever played I think

I mean you can go back to the finals in 2022 he played great in high stakes games outplayed Tatum the last two months there’s been just like a new level of focus calm calculated decision-making where he’s not overdoing anything in the half court and he’s overdoing in a good

Way everything in transition he’s finishing Lefty more Reggie Miller noted it on the broadcast last night he’s been Sensational but yeah so Tatum is one of my four candidates for the last spot did you who who else are you considering there well I mean listen I have a whole

Like menu I have like a like a like you know like the coaches like I’m going to pull this up for you like the coach’s menu when he’s on the sideline that that’s my my all MBA menu and like you I do not have a vote in this right that

Looks like the menu when I go to the restaurant and I’m like I can’t like I’m too hungry to read through all these options and the first thing the first like nice sounding pasta I see I’m like just that I can’t even look at the rest of this listen

I I wanted to put halberton up there but this is what I this is what I’ve noticed when just going through here and I know the injury since January 30th I’m gonna take my glasses off just to read this since that since he since he’s come back on

January 30th this is the injury right 15.8 points per game 30% from three assists are down to 93 shooting still at a high level prior 23 points 12.5 assists I I I wanted to give him more love first team but I think the injury is certainly

Hurt right like that and it it felt like him coming back was just to to get the game’s criteria right like just throwing him out there for 20 25 minutes hitting the mark and then there I think you have to make a case for um certainly Kawai

Um you know 526 42 on 24 points um he’s going to hit the criteria um Durant Durant’s numbers but here’s one thing just looking at it from our friends at cleaning the glass against top 10 defenses um 54% on twos um which is kind

Of on a you know somewhere in in the the middle area here but man 28 points 53% from the field 42% on threes I mean that’s that is a um that is a high number I mean I want to see more with with towns out with Anthony

Edwards um I think he’s going to get one of these uh you know one of these three spots um here 27% on threes um but I got a list of like you know certainly for the first team we talked about here but I got a list of guys I got like 15 16

Guys for basically like eight or nine spots yeah I got I got it get it’s get it gets tough second and third team the last two spots for me on second team and then the whole third team is going to be interesting particularly the last two spots on the second team so basically

Like here’s who I’m down here’s who if I had a ballot I would be down to for that Fifth and last first team spot Durant Kawai Tatum and Anthony Davis those are the those are the last four guys for me and if you look at the numbers like Durant is

28 a game six rebounds five assists 52% overall 42% on threes I saw some people you know I didn’t mention him in my all defense podcast with Kevin Pelton and some people have mentioned him for that and certainly in a lot of Phoenix games he feels like the the glue holding that

Defense together because of his combination of size and quickness I I haven’t seen all Defense level defense like one of the 10 best defenders in the league but it’s he’s not far from that and again 2865 on 52 53 42 57 from two Tatum is 27 about the same eight rebounds he

Has them there five assists even there 47% overall 37 a half% on three is 55% on two so his shooting efficiency isn’t the same I’ve been and and Kawai is gonna be Kawai it’s an impossible DEC I might just default to Kawai um because know he’s the best defensive player of

These three guys um minutes wise he’s going to be a little short of them but not that not that short but I’ll tell you Tatum seems to like this Durant matchup dating to the playoffs two years ago when the Celtics swept the Nets after the Nets had sort of traded hard

Traded hard in and the Ben Simmons drama was going on like is he gonna come back in the series is he not Tatum like badly outplayed Durant in that series to the point that I was like is Durant like hurt or something was like a bad performance by Durant he outplayed him

Again last night I just think that Dynamic is kind of interesting but those are my top eight all NBA guys um I don’t did you you didn’t mention Anthony Davis did you or did I I didn’t no I have him here I mean I mean I could definitely

Put him in that in that that next tier as far as if you’re if you’re fighting over that fifth spot on First Team all NBA I think certainly second Team all NBA fif in Blocks he’s on Pace to play the most games in in um in a long long

Long time here um and that’s the concerning point right with the Lakers both him and James they’re both on Pace to play the most games um together here and here here they are sitting in ninth so I did have this debate in my head Anthony Davis would definitely make

First or second team at worst for me the numbers all say LeBron should be an all NBA player second or third team I mean the numbers are there the plus minus is there they’re like massive better when LeBron’s on the court even their offense which has been which is

Still like 17th or 18th despite a pretty hot last month I think they’re top five in the last month their offense is 17th 18th but with him on the floor it’s good and it’s dog poo poo with him off the floor defensively I know he’s not the

Same guy but the numbers in terms of shooting efficiency is one of his best shooting seasons ever from three he’s not as consistently like Dynamic with the ball anymore particularly on the pick and roll he just sort of you know you saw him rev it up late in that Kings

Game the other night where he had a couple dunks right in a row and they were falling behind before that it was just kind of like kind of dribbling around shooting jumpers and he’s almost 40 like by the way how about the Kings just sweeping the Lakers I mean I had

Bookmarked those two remaining games they had is this is the Lakers shot I I’ve been saying for three months and you know this every day on NBA today we essentially have the same debate about like which of these two teams can can make a longer playoff run and every day

I I anointed myself director of reality because they called me director of grouchiness and they liked it when I said director of reality the production no like that was funny I’m like guys we keep saying this longer playoff run they’re ninth and 10th one of them is

Not running anywhere one of them is like the starting guns going to go off and they’re going to fall on their face and the race is going to be over in The Losers backet of the play in and now they’re both like a 70 to 80% bet according to the projections systems to

Be locked in that nine and 10 seed with Steph hurt the Kings swept um the Lakers I don’t like though the whole how we’ve boiled this down to domas versus ad like like Dom’s record against ad is nine and0 or whatever as if they’re just playing one-on-one I don’t really

Remember doing this for like a lot of matchups before and talking about poor ad just can’t anytime there’s like a way to frame things negatively for ad we find a way to do it no I mean listen I think we have to and that’s the ABC game

I think on on Saturday night is Lakers Wars I think we have to condition ourselves that that’s going to be the play I mean that’s going to be the 910 because eventually time is running out here like and they’re forun Doris Doris on the broadcast last night when they

Were priming that game was like can you imagine if LeBron and Steph were playing in the plan I’m like yeah I’ve been imagining it for four months I can imagine it they first of all it’s already happened second of all yes I can imagine it yeah I mean um I it’s funny

You know Dave um MC menman wrote a great d’el Russell article um during the week and then after the Kings game like um the his comments were like you know they asked him about because ruy ruy had a going in in the first half and then I

Think he only had a couple a couple touches and like two two attempts and you know they asked him about that in the post game and he’s like well that’s I don’t want to talk about it yeah that’s that’s not that I don’t want to

Talk about it right now so it’s like you know it feel it just feels like as great as ad and LeBron go it’s like as as Russell goes team goes here right like and it’s that’s it’s an interesting way to phrase it just because a guy who’s

Been on the on the the trade market basically feels like since they’ve acquired him here but the re yeah I mean the reality is that I think we’re going to get these two teams and they’re fortunate that you know Utah has you know they can’t kind of get out of their

Own way and they’re they’re shifting towards that you know that youth movement like we saw last year and then Houston you get the sangon injury Ken whitmore’s out for three weeks here you know they’ll they’ll play you know five 100 ball down the stretch here and

Probably win 37 games and go 37 and 45 but the those two teams I think um are pretty entrenched as far as nine and 10 especially where you know we we’ll see what Phoenix Phoenix is interesting rutle schedule 15 and 10 with big with the big three Not Great by the way like

That’s not they’re they’re PL they’re now plus 8.7 per 100 possessions with those guys on the floor which is good but you want what no matter what Duo or Trio you look at if you’re a title Contender you want that number to be like 12 or 11 and it was up there and

Then they got smashed last night 15 and 10 man that’s not it’s not great second hardest schedule remaining remaining yeah a lot of road games yep second hardest schedule and listen like last night good first half you know they’re in it right two-point game and then boom you know I

Mean 25 for 50 from the field for from three for Boston um you got nothing out of Royce O’Neal I’m watching the game and I don’t want to be mean against some players but some guy like you know b ball David Rody you know like if that’s what you

Know your your role player coming off your bench but at the end of the day your main guys’s got a pop you know Booker Durant two for nine from three right like you know they got outplayed they got smashed by Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum and I mean smashed like I

Love when the the Celtics last night had the right blend and I know I harp on this and I’m sorry of yeah you’re going to shoot a lot of Threes you’re amazing at it you should shoot a lot of Threes they had the right blend of that and

Tatum and brown combined had like eight just musly drives to the rim where they just went through people like they went through Booker on one they knocked Royce O’Neal sideways like four times I love when those guys play with that kind of power and they went at the Suns last

Night like you guys are too small for us we’re not we’re not you’re not standing in our way well I mean they’re they’re the the one of those few teams where you could be watching and it could be a six-point game and you can go put the

Garbage out and you come back and it’s a 20-point game like what just happened right like and that happened like I think um I think uh Phoenix had cut it to maybe 11 or 12 and you just never felt like they were coming back um and

Then and then Joe put basically all the guys back in right like all right finish it off right and then all of a sudden that gets back up to um back up to 20 and like I like what I mean you got a pford was terrific last night with no

Poringa I like what you get from Sam Hower Off the Bench who can kind of you know made about three threes last night and then you’re not expecting much you know except for them to play their role with holiday and Derek white right like when your two horses are going like that

Then basically white either from a defensive standpoint the ability to make a a corner three holiday to control the offense here but when you look at you know where this Eastern conference is like I didn’t like what I saw I watched Philly walk last night um while the

Other game was going on I wasn’t you know they’re just kind of biting through it right it’s problematic to you that the Bucks had to squeak out a win over the Sixers who can’t beat anybody without embiid yeah I mean yeah after getting absolutely mauled by the

Warriors on the road and then the Kings on the road and losing to the Lakers without LeBron at the buzzer like every time I keep waiting for the bucks like they had a nice run the Minnesota and Clipper wins were real wins so one of them came without the Clippers win those

Are like big statement wins the rest of their doc wins doc era wins are like not great wins like a lot of bad teams and yeah their defense has been better that’s great and I know Middleton we’re still waiting and that changes everything about their team everything

But like they just haven’t put together like I don’t even think it’s been like a five or six game stretcher like okay now the Bucks have it figured out and every time you think they’re inching toward that this last 10 days for the bucks disturbing might be too strong a word

But I’m like God the playoffs are like about to be here I know the East stinks from two to eight but it doesn’t stink as much with an and Obi healthy and like came right back roaring the Knicks to life the Cavs are going to get healthy

And Mitchell is back um and the Sixers we’ll see on embiid but like you kind of like can we get it going and and by the way I might as well say it now maybe it’s obvious but like Dame is not making an all NBA team I don’t I don’t think

And and everyone’s like oh Dame’s getting Dame’s finding his rhythm Dame I I wrote this today in Milwaukee’s last 16 games in his last 16 games because he missed a couple he has 18 or fewer points in seven of those 16 games he had 18 or fewer points three times all of

Last season and I understand it’s apples to oranges because he’s sharing shots now with a guy who’s better than him and takes a ton of shots he just hasn’t been good enough and that’s we could talk about Middleton they need that they need need their depth to be a little better

Pat bevas helped they are not beating Boston and maybe not even getting to Boston if Damen Lillard is giving you 18 points or fewer in every other game which has been the case for the last 16 games they’re just it’s not going to happen they need 25 every night against

The Celtics I mean listen on the list of 18 players I have on this sheet I don’t have them on here I mean that’s that’s that’s that’s the reality I mean and he’s been great in the clutch he won a bunch of early season he been very good

He just hasn’t been good enough he had a big shot down the down the stretch um when the game was tight Baseline jumper La uh Thursday night here yes he’s been really good down the stretch but um the one thing that bothers me and as you

Said the East is the East and and basically they’ll be at in two probably two or three unless New York really catches fire here and maybe they will um is that man when they let go of the Rope they let go of the Rope I mean there

Were some games at West you know I mean that you know Sacramento game like mean when they get blown out they get blown out like like you look up they’re down 25 30 points uh can we just go you you jogged my brain on the Suns Celtics um game a

Couple of notes I wanted to make you said the words Drew holiday he’s becoming a really interesting an even more interesting sort of flex point in a lot of these games you saw at the beginning of the second half the Suns put nurkic on him to say and we saw the

Nuggets have done this with joic in both the Denver Boston games and the point is obvious it’s we’re going to switch your screens with your shooting big man whether it’s Al last night porzingis in other games and we’re GNA put our Center on Drew holiday and if you want to rope

Our Center in the action you’re going to have to use the guy that we have concluded is the least dangerous offensive player on your starting five which is crazy that Drew holiday might actually be that player that the Celtics are that good and right away uh on the

First possession of the second half Al Horford got an offensive rebound because if you’re guarding holiday with nkit you’re guarding Horford with the small and he kicked it out to Jaylen Brown for a three about a minute or three minutes later they were like how about we just

Run a Tatum holiday pick and roll like we’ll we you’re going to put nurk on holiday cool we think he can make plays out of that they do that Swing Swing Derek white gets an open thre iser in rotation we saw holiday torched ner uh yic down the stretch of that Denver game

When Boston almost came back it’s interesting and then on the other end Joe moua is like oh you’re getting funky how about we put Drew holiday on Yousef nurkic how do you like that and then figure that one out and we’re gonna have him try to poke the ball away and by the

Way one of the reasons Boston does that is when they get a stop all your matchups are messed up going the other way Boston is just playing chess in a lot of these games um you know what’s gonna be interesting to with holiday real quick he’s got his date coming up

April 1st is his that’s right um where he can extend here um you know what you know listen ownership has committed paying a lot of money to this group um he’s got a a big number um how does that play into it here you know take less extend for more um it’s

Going to be uh it’s it’s it’s going to be interesting because the role of holiday is different than a little bit different than it was certainly in in Milwaukee and um and you know 38 $39 million um it’s hard for me to see you know I don’t think Boston will pay Max

Money for your you know as you said you’re probably your your fifth best player offensively but who has a tremendous role here but that’s going to be an interesting interesting negotiation or maybe it’s h happened already because you don’t I mean listen you don’t trade for him with the belief you’re just

Going to have him as a rental right but that day coming up you know April 1 so Circle that there I forgot about that thank you for reminding me and they traded a lot for him well the other guy too and W said this on um we’re speaking

Of Phoenix um the Phoenix Bost in the series and who was I think it was eight for n last night is Grayson Allen Grayson Allen’s got his date coming up which is March 27th where he can extend for four for 75 um 16 16 and change I mean if you’re

Phoenix like you don’t have many options here right like going into free agency like you’re basically like you got to pay these guys or you’re just going to go play the minimum game well and for Phoenix they’re going to be a second apron team and if there were a third and

A fourth apron they’d be one of those teams um but you know and obviously you know better than I do the rules about how hard it’s going to be for them to make trades it’s going to be basically dollar for dooll but any midsized contract like that becomes a way for

Them to at least put some trades in the ballpark of maybe being possible um and you mentioned Horford by the way I last night was a fun game for a number of reasons but Al is like this beloved vet in all over the league ultimate Pros Pro

Um he just has a couple of little goofy quirks to him that I like when they come out cuz people think of him as like boring old Al hor for the first remember when he used to Flinch at missed free throws like really dramatically all the

Time he hasn’t like like Duck for cover he has he hasn’t done that lately but last night uh after somebody hit a three in the second half or maybe it was a I don’t know at some point in the game uh he someone else hit a three for Boston

And he was jogging back on defense and Phoenix called a timeout and he did the thing I like when players is he turned to the turned right to the sun sideline and made the timeout Motion in their face like you all need a time I’m like Al you’re getting you’re getting feisty

All right back to all NBA um back to all NBA I brought up LeBron and the Lakers and somehow we ended up here because I I thought to myself again the numbers say he should be second or third Team all NBA ad is going to be one of my first

Eight guys whether it’s first or second team are we really given two spots of these 15 to the Lakers like I think that’s a fair question to ask um so I will ask it this way do you agree with me that these eight guys joic Giannis SGA Luca Durant kawhai

Tatum ad whether they’re your first eight or not will be on your all NBA team yes okay so that leaves us seven spots we’re already down to seven and I’ve got like 20 guys yeah that are I would characterize as like you could make a reasonable argument for all of

These guys 2021 guys by the way including Victor wanyama who I that’s the thing and I said that to you when we were texting like and I me and Kevin have we do the rookie rankings every month and that’s coming out on Monday here and and I’m writing Victor’s piece

And then our Andrew Lopez had a great article up on I think Thursday about it and I’m like should we be talking about like Victor like all NBA here as far as what he’s been doing and then but then and then I but then I start writing down

All these names and I’m like where the hell who am I taking off you know like that that’s the hard part so and I think and I didn’t listen to the podcast yet and now I’m always suspicious that everything is fake and AI but I I saw

Clips of Draymond Green on his podcast saying he thinks Victor wama is now one of the 20 best players in the NBA which get you in the ballpark of all NBA here’s my thing and I’ve I’ve had this debate about other all NBA candidates before I do

Think team record matters even if the team record record being so bad for the Spurs is like the opposite of Victor weay yama’s fault he’s the only reason in some of these games him and Demon Vel that they’re like in the game but I do think there’s something to the notion of

If I’m comparing a couple of guys who are statistically similar and even with Wen Bama’s statistical surge his his offense you know it come and go is too strong but he has he has inefficient shooting games more so than a lot of these other candidates do his games just

Don’t matter like he’s not playing in games that matter and other guys are and for me that’s a tiebreaker but he’s on my long list so my question is of all these guys on your long list medium list yeah below those eight who do you feel

Like give me two or three guys that you feel like most strongly about like they’ve just kind of gota I’ve got to put them on even if it’s at the expense of some other guys these are the guys that I just got to have on second and

Third team yeah now now now this is get this gets tough right um I think how Burton gets on I I I would put him on and I’m not saying either second or third one of the two I I just think what he’s done and I know I talked

About post the injury post um you know basically his assist his turnover numbers have come up a little bit here but leading the league and assist um you know was probably one of the better players prior to that injury and I know we got to take the whole body of work

Into into account here um but for me I would put um because I don’t think he’s I don’t think he’s 100% so he’s he hasn’t been the same guy and particularly as a scorer teams have taken him out of games but he’s on he’s so to answer my own

Question he’s one of my three or four guys where I’m like he achieved a level of specialness yeah that is really hard to reach in the NBA and kind of feels like he’s earned that spot but this is why this is such a yucky process because

He has he’s one of a few guys with an enormous amount of money at sake um well him you know and and and I mentioned him when we were talking about um you know first team guys and I wouldn’t you know I wouldn’t put him at first team but I

Not I mean and and but the other one would be Anthony Edwards certainly you know I think as far as who’s got a lot of money at stake an extra 40 million $41 million here who’s um know listen 27 points but it’s 27% on threes um you know that the the no 30

37% on threes said um um oh I’m sorry that’s 27% I think in the last 10 games um but no Carl Anthony towns here um I would put I would feel strongly about you know defending him for one of the final all NBA spots there yeah

So I have I my first stab at and again I to be clear I haven’t done the deep deep dive where I have my little spreadsheet up with all the fancy numbers but I have there’s a deeper dive I have to do looking at lineup data clutch data other

Trend lines and stuff like that but I took a first stab at like okay here’s my first stab at the last seven spots halberton was in it ant was in it and I just think Minnesota’s gonna get a guy yeah and he’s like the last man standing

I I can’t really get there with goar on as a third team guy I just don’t think he’s Dynamic enough offensively he’s been great he’s on my long list of guys I just can’t get there with him so I think a will be on it and the other guy

I feel like it’s just it’s getting undeniable at this point he scored 40 or something again last night yeah is Jaylen Brunson I think Jaylen Brunson is gonna make an all NBA team he’s played in a ton of minutes he’s had to carry this team without so many guys and they

Slumped they didn’t slump maybe quite as badly as Philly which I think is going to hurt Tyrese Maxi a little bit but he he’s just an Iron Man he he defends as hard as possible for his size he’s super efficient he shot threes really well I I just think it’s it’s the

His his numbers Merit it and it’s just going to be hard to I mean I’m going to bring up his numbers here here’s something to 27 a game six and a half assists 48% 40% on threes six and a half free throws a game which is a career high for

Him I just don’t see how he isn’t make an all NBA team may maybe I’m it it gets tight for everybody and again I don’t have a vote and like when we talk about guys who are going to get snubbed from our tentative very very very tentative

List you’re gonna be like wow that guy’s not on it but runson is hard to deny man against uh teams with a top 10 record overall in the league 25 points 47% from the field 38% on threes that’s against the top 10 best team in the League this year I that’s

That’s a that’s a that’s a pretty good track record and listen all these guys numbers have come down post Allstar break and I think you know he’s certainly battling through a bunch of thing things like everyone else here but man his overall body of work and you’re right I mean 40 40 plus

Against Portland um you know a Thursday night and is basically has is willing this team you know you get OG back and you know um and he looked like he tweaked his elbow a little bit last night it was a little scary yeah and um

But then he came back in the game for who SE came back in the game and he said he’s said he’s sore but fine um but he but Brunson has basically willed um willed this thing and now like here like this is the benefit of the position list

Voters right like we don’t have to worry about oh we got to find you know we only have six guard spots and we’ve got to figure out you know who’s going to be left out um you know there’s as you said like there’s the benefits and then

There’s kind of the downside you know the downside is that the center position probably is going to be impacted right like you could have made a case for um you certainly outside of yage but with um you know certainly ad and sabonis and Bam and Rudy and there’s there’s a

Gravior there’s a you know there’s a group of guys there that um that are not going to be on on this list here um you said something about Brunson that jogged my memory and now I don’t remember what I was going to say um just an unbelievable season for him and

They looked like a completely different team with Anon Obi oh I remember was like I did get a snarky text from a front office person on another team asking what is the meteor reaction GNA be when Tom Tibido gives bogy and Burks dnp CDs in the playoffs and I’m like are

We really GNA get there I mean Burks basically is almost there and bogie is not playing with it’s a very strange Dynamic and it’s not like they’re overloaded with guy like randle’s still out break it’s going to be like break glass in case of emergency feels like um especially for especially for

Burks I mean you’re going to you know now it’s you know I I I did some a podcast with our old friend um Ian Begley and you know the hot name is like you know hey can they afford to bring precious a chea back precious has been playing with a

Whole new bounce in his step in New York it’s like he and tibs somehow see eye to eye is off the drib game he’s got some dunks I’m like oh my God pre sua just Uncorked that thing yeah I mean the um the the trade to get um Boon and and

Burks was like kind of like an it was like a an Emergency needed based on where our roster was at the time with all these injuries now when the when if you know with OG back and if if Rano comes back and um you know certainly how

Hart has played and even chenzo har go ahead no I mean it’s like it the the the both guy I mean I think I think you’ll see Boon but I think you’ll see him if you’re in in the playoffs you might see him for 15 minutes there’s he’s not

Going to be out there for you know 20 plus minutes though I think the role for him is certainly going to be different but you know if you want to advance deep in the playoffs and I think the Knicks when they’re healthy and we’ll if Randall comes back they do need Randall

As much as Randall has been horrible in the playoffs and you know Nicks fans have a LoveHate relationship with him um just the raw shot creation they need if they Advance deep in the playoffs to to get to the Conference Finals you need games from everyone so

If they get to the Conference Finals which I think they can do although they need to get out of Boston’s half of the bracket uh which I don’t know if they can I mean they can’t really do that any more functionally well they got they got

I pulled up their their schedule here um they’re they’re three games out it’s going to be they two they got two more games against Brooklyn three against Chicago which is interesting um 11th easiest schedule I mean they still got Boston Denver OKC Milwaukee sacked twice Miami yeah they’re in a tough they’re in

A tough spot I’d almost rather fall to six than be in four and that’s what we did that’s what we did in in in Brooklyn in that Infamous 134 season we fell a six because we wanted those young Raptors and boy oh boy you you what no that’s over that’s overthinking it in

That’s overthinking it because I want homec Court in the first round I Cleveland is good and I know the Knicks are not obviously are not afraid of Cleveland after they just rolled them out of the playoffs and bullied them all over the floor last year but they’re

Good and if I’m the Knicks I’m like if I got to face the Celtics in second round who cares my point was like if you’re going to do real stuff in the playoffs you’re going to need a bogey game you’re gonna need multiple bogey games he’s too

Good for a break glass in case of emergency in their defense they did not trade much and Grimes has been horrible in Detroit just can’t make a shot um okay so Brunson how I’m I’m just going to read you my first stab at seven and this was like literally I just wrote

Down names I wrote I did not do much more than that initial research writing down names for the last seven spots Bruns so to be clear top eight yoka chanis SJ Luca Durant kawhai Tatum ad on next seven no order in particular haven’t done second versus third team

Yet just next seven Brunson halber ant already mentioned Devin Booker LeBron James now it gets a little dicey here were the initial names I wrote down Deus sabonis yeah and I’ll well and then the last one was Paul George who is is gonna be my candidate dour because um he’s just

Never that St not never but he’s not that statistically prolific compared to some of these other guys you know his PR is like 18.5 which is not very high um but he’s just a brilliant two-way basetball player yep now I’m not saying those choices are final and the two

Names that jump out among many that are not in that list of seven are Stephen Curry yep and Jaylen Brown who we already mentioned not to mention uh dearen Fox bamat bio many others and I I’ll just start you know well what did you think of that list how is your how

Is your tenative list different from that I would mean I would put Jaylen Brown in there I I really would I I just think you know the second half of the Season here um so good has been like really good like really I don’t disagree

With you he might he might get in over Paul George or sa bonus he might benefit from Booker Booker’s Booker only has two games to play with as far as falling off the 65 game criteria I also a name that to me just falls short even though every

Time I seem to watch them play he’s Sensational and scores 35 points and makes one turnaround jump shot fading fading way after another in crunch time is Jamal Murray who who’s ineligible well I think he can get there he he can’t get to 66 no because he had two

Games of playing less than 15 minutes okay so he comes off yeah he comes off the list there with um because of that no you could have like um you know you could have made thata you could make that case for him as far because yeah

You’re right I mean you watch him like man he had two shot oh is the Toronto is it the Toronto game they came back like I’m like oh my God yeah they decided to try in the second half he his shot making is just outrageous I mean outrageous so he’s out and Donovan

Mitchell is the one that like he definitely would have made an all NBA team and he’s going to come up short you know it’s funny when when um when you go through and like You’ thought like when all these guys falling off the board MB Jimmy Butler uh Donovan all like oh like

It’s going to be you know there’s going to be guys who will default into um into uh into the all NBA conversation it’s like no it’s actually harder right like I I said last night and I love people’s reaction because um demard de rozan hit 65 games I mean it’s remarkable what

He’s been able to do he how available he’s been right I I think 93% of the games he’s played in since coming into the league which is ridiculous and he’s been really really good this year so I said he’s been you know he hits the criteria he’s all NBA and now and then

People comment like well is that where we’re at right now we’re just good players or I’m like no no I didn’t say I’m voting for I would vote for him I’m just saying how reliable this guy has been and he’s been really really good you know

234 um 47 from the field 33% from three he’s he’s been good all NBA worthy it’s hard unless all of a sudden we get some injuries and some of these guys we’ve mentioned are not are not eligible there so I just mentioned those seven guys that I had plus Steph and jayen brown

Who were like the next guys not even mentioned yet but on my list and I think I think to your point I think dear’s season has been roughly equivalent to some of these guys roughly maybe not quite as good maybe a little better depending on your taste both the

Pelicans guys are going to fall short Brandon Ingram and Zion despite their Surge and of course as soon as everyone starts talking about the Pelicans they fall on their face in a good as soon as we talk about her Jones redefining his three-point shot he goes like One for n

Um uh Palo Carol isn’t going to get there I don’t think um and Bam look I’ve been driving the BAM wagon for seven years I love bam he’s on my short list for all NBA he was a no-brainer All-Star for me I I just don’t think offensively he’s been quite

Efficient enough to crack this but But the irony is and this is why sabonis is such a tough case for me and it could be over indexing on Kavon Looney just bullying him for every Rebound in the playoffs last year in my basketball Soul if I need to win one playoff game I

Think I’d rather have bam than sabonis in my basketball Soul if you ask me who the best player on the Sacramento Kings is when the competition gets really Elite think it’ss probably still dearon Fox who’s averaging 27 points a game this year torches the Lakers every time

He sees them he’s had that weirdly like inconsistent last couple of months where there are some games I’m like the dear like where is dearon fox and and sabonis for for all the warts defensively and like you know all all that and lack of a jump shot and the way

He sort of pigeon holes you into playing a certain Style on both ends of the floor and everything I just said about his playoff ceiling and fox might be better and all that the guy is just every single goddamn game a million rebounds a million assists now some of

Them are little hand off and you know whatever it’s not that hard but like he’s still a really good passer 20 plus points he works on defense like I know he’s got limitations but he works he’s smart he gets rebounds like that’s a part of being a good defensive player’s

Finishing possessions as a regular season player and this is a regular season award I just think his consistency and his ferocity really stand out it but I I am not wetted to him being on any of these teams particularly when you’re like there’s no like Jaylen Brown probably got to be on

It the Celtics probably need two guys if the Lakers are gonna get two the Celtics sure as hell need to get two Curry I I mean it’s Steph Curry he’s still shooting you know it doesn’t feel like he’s had a great year and he’s only played 57 or 59 games and he’s injured

27 points five assists 41% on threes his Advanced stats are really good because he’s Steph Curry it’s hard man did you have sabonis I did I mean first and rebounds Fifth and assists he has more triple doubles than yic I know that’s stupid but I’m like

Wait he’s more than yic how is that even possible it’s so you and he’s he’s already hit the criteria also I mean I I mean I think sometimes you do have to reward consistency you know I mean it’s um I’m T I’m taking him over his

Teammate um if I mean I don’t even have Fox I have him on my list but not it’s weird because it you look at his numbers and you’re like oh he’s still averaging 20 s a game it does not it has not felt like that 27% since the break from three

Thre yeah he’s down to 36% from three and that was a big part of his early season but here’s the thing like still sabonis is like a almost plus zero for the season plus 31 total Y and when he plays without Fox they’re minus five and a half per 100 possessions according

To cleaning of glass like fox has been I don’t know and like what I just said about bam I I really do believe if I had to win one playoff game I do want bam offensively he’s just not been as Dynamic and as efficient as they need

Him to be and that’s not I mean he’s just they’ve been so bereft I mean so hurt by injuries all year long but man I love that SPO shouted him out the other night after that Denver Miami game what and this is why I would I I

Just it’s hard for me to leave Bam off all NBA the work he did just making it hard for joic to catch the ball and the eagerness with which he was like oh we’re playing yic I want all of it I want every possession don’t throw I

Don’t want Zone don’t try to save me with Zone I want a front I want a three quarter I want to get around when the entry pass comes and bat at the ball he wanted every bit of that matchup and you can tell by what he says and how he

Plays that joic really respects him and respects the way he plays and like they lost the game bam did not have a great offensive game he has not had a great offensive season good not great yeah but you watch that game and you’re like this

Dude I mean not to go all NBA Twitter on you but like this guy is a dog like bam is someone I would go to battle with every single day I just can’t quite get there on all NBA and and like but sabonis his numbers are just it’s every

Night yeah no I mean listen Bam um on the court 111 points per 100 off the court 119 so you know certainly the off offense but as you said man think they have a negative a slightly negative Point differential with bam on the floor they do

Um it’s it’s you know he’s had an all-nba type season but you know I don’t even know if he’s going to hit the criteria I mean that’s the other thing he’s played 54 games you know he’s basically gonna have to you know play 11 out of and probably will I mean unless

He’s injured 11 out of the next 16 17 games here um but I would if you’re asking me you’re right I mean I like how you put you know hey I need to win a game who am I putting out there but I do think as I said I’m going to reward

Consistency with sabonis you you know you mentioned all these guys like Booker among them um who who need to play who need you know I mean Zion’s missed 11 games so he hasn’t hit it yet I don’t think he’s gonna I mean their their point differential is way better

Than by the way it’s not a knock on Zion they’re still plus two per 100% with Zion on the floor but they’re plus eight without him I don’t think that necessarily says anything it’s just real real quick on um real quick on Zion um and because I sent you guys some notes

On him because it it’ll probably will be discussed you know he’s on Pace to play the most games since he’s come into the league here he’s got that funky contract here um the games played this year does not impact his contract as far as guaranteeing the last um the three years

After three years starting next year um or four years starting next year the last three of th those years are are um you know are are non um are you know are non- guaranteed here basically he has to hit those games played criteria in the 24 25 season to trigger the last years

Here but he’s had a he’s been healthy he’s had a heck of a year um you know I mean that’s it’s all about availability right I mean that was always the big thing about him that the hard the the discouraging thing is that the game where he was basically on a national as

You we’ve talked about the platform game the Laker game in that playing um the inseason tournament was the stinker right and then all of a sudden that gets you know that’s like the headline here but he’s been he’s been available and he’s been really good I said it earlier

This week with Andrew Lopez the last month I think has been the best defensive month of Zion’s career Maybe by a lot maybe the best allaround month of his career although the scoring hasn’t been explosive every game and then of course after beating up on a

Bunch of bad teams which by the way you have to do and they really beat them up like they did what a great team would do against Bad teams which you just spank them right out of the gate and end the game in five minutes like we don’t even

Have time for you people Hawks without Trey young and sadique Bay and by the way what a horrible timed injury for poor sadique Bay who’s entering free agency this year uh restricted free agency didn’t come to an extension I hope he gets well um soon they just

Didn’t have time for the Hawks they’re like we don’t have time for this nonsense um then they come out against Cleveland at home and just get rolled and it’s like all right well they play the Clippers tonight like Clippers are on a back toback kawai’s back though

Hard and miss last night see kawai’s back that’s a great sign he walked out of that game at Halftime with back spasms and everyone’s like oh my God here we go again and it’s going to be we’re we’re going to get that feeling in our gut every time he leaves a game like

That and he came right back and lit up the Bulls last night Paul George was 11 for 12 from the field um the more I talk through this with you the more I do think I have the right nine guys for the last seven spots and again I have more

Digging to do but Brunson hbert and Booker Edward sabonis LeBron PG Steph Jaylen Brown It’s just Jaylen Brown’s gonna make it allba team I I have to I have to recalibrate he he’s he’s just been Sensational you know it’s a it’s a shame um and I think he would have had a

Chance um and I you know watching him last night against Milwaukee who basically trying to win Maxi thank you for bringing up Maxi I I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned him he’s on my list Philly fans don’t be mad at me Tyrese Maxi don’t be mad at me he’s on I

Mentioned these guys Zion bi all these guys he’s right his name’s right there and he doesn’t he have money at stake here too yeah well his is interesting because they didn’t do the the extension because um they wanted to keep his cap hold he’s got a really low Caple they

Want to basically use cap space first and then Circle back and resign him if he if he earns all NBA then he has the right to negotiate the language the the 30% it would have to be between both so he’s he would be locked in at that 205

Number and they can bump it up to two two4 245 246 um they would have it’s a little bit different than what Edwards and and halber have it in their contract but yeah I mean listen if he makes lnba I would think that certainly would be on the

Table Yeah I again he’s on he’s on my list and I didn’t watch that game last night I’ll probably watch the second half of his today um because I’m interested to see why it was as close as it was um Tyrese Maxi despite I mean it’s not

Just that embiid’s been hurt and he was in the concussion protocol Miss some games and that’s that’s a serious thing to come back from it’s they’re just I mean like DeAnthony Melton nobody talks about him being out it’s a huge deal that he’s out I mean they are a mash

Unit up and down the batum’s in and out of the lineup he’s still Tyrese Maxi at 20 6 points six assists 45% shooting down to 49.5% on twos which is a little low for this group but still at 38% on threes and man it’s not his fault but there are

Games like again they’re a mash unit it’s like oh my God Mo boma’s playing 23 minutes a game and starting where it just feels like their only offense is like hey man can you just like you’re really fast and you can shoot threes can you like do something because I mean

Look I wrote about it today this this Tobias Harris story in Philly is ending so badly yeah like for his scoring to go down without embiid yep look the whole just boiling a players game down to points is is always fasile but I can boil it down to points for the

For Tobias Harris in the last two months like he’s just not scoring enough points and he’s not like he’s doing anything else to really really helps you and I’ve like I have Clips I only included one in the column there are others I have in the bank that’s like he doesn’t even

Look like he wants the ball like I’ve seen him flash open in the paint not put his hands up not call for the ball and sort of moonwalk out of the play Touch Hot Potato it when he has like a a pick and roll coming toward him or a

Favorable match I’m like is this guy maybe it’s just that he’s heard all the noise about like I can’t wait till this contract expires we’re gonna have so much cap space and you couldn’t blame him for that but it’s it’s not it’s not going to end well in Philly yeah I mean

Last night in the Milwaukee game you felt like there were time especially when they needed baskets down a stretch um where he you didn’t like is he still is he on the court is he part of the five he made two big baskets down to cut

It to three and then he like he hit a he fell I I thought he broke his ankle I mean where he rolled his ankle and I’m like we’re not going to see him anymore right and he came back he stayed in the game down the stretches I give him

Credit there but you’re right I mean listen if he’s supposed to be your third best player here like without now your he’s your second best player with no embiid um everything has kind of taken a taken a uh taken a taken a dip here the guy who’s had the most fun without

Embiid is Kelly Kelly Brew Kelly Brew Jr is like give me all the shots oh you don’t want to shoot you don’t want to give me all the shots I’m ready for all the shots and that’s why it’s so hard to project Philly because we sit here and

They’re in the playin now they’re seventh they have officially fallen into the play Philly Miami playin oh my god well and then there’s a big gap between them and the Hawks bll show by the way credit to the Bulls I make fun of the Bulls a lot Bulls F Bulls fans make yeah

Bulls fans make more fun of the Bulls than I do bulls media makes more fun of the Bulls than I do everybody makes fun of the Bulls they’re 17 and 14 in their last 31 games they play really hard Vu has been mostly bad this whole season like offensively not efficient enough

Defensively you know what he is their guards compete like hell D roza competes like hell shout out to Kobe white who got caught on a chase down block a sensational play by Pascal seak the other night fell hard landed awkwardly I feared the worst he’s been one of the

Best Squad when he fell on him his leg bent backwards and he’s like questionable and clean the MRI came back clean I think according to W and he was questionable last night hopefully he’ll play soon he’s had a fantastic season one of the leading most improved candidates they play hard man and like

If they’re playing the Hawks in the 910 game the Hawks are a mess injury-wise like the the Bulls are G to they should anything can happen in one game there’ll be favorites in that game and then it’s like one game to get into the playoffs and here come the Bulls yeah it’s going

To be like last year right we could get Bulls Heat playing just to get into the uh into the E spot to get the uh the Boston Celtics here but I think Miami’s I think their schedule is really I looked at it last night they’ve got this third easiest schedule Miami once they

Got they got through Denver the other night and now it’s angel food they got Detroit twice Toronto twice you they got a bunch of teams on there so I think I think my just lose to Washington I know that was a bad one that’s a bad they

Have a knack Miami it’s like a running joke Cooper Morehead always tweets about it during their games about another clutch game for the heat they did have a knack for lck no matter who they play it’s like all right we three-point game in the last two minutes uh back to the

On on the Sixers if Maxi makes all NBA I wouldn’t have I wouldn’t really argue strenuously against it he’s not he wouldn’t make my ballot at least not now there’s 15 games left in the season none of this is final um he’s unbelievable for them but one of the reasons it’s so

Hard to project them is it’s not just embiid who obviously the whole team is different everyone’s role is different he snaps everything into place but it’s that everyone around the whole team is a mess like Tobias Harris is kind of falling apart Melton’s hurt um other

Guys have been hurt and it’s it’s just everything at once and it’s it’s they need more than just Joel embiid back at close to 100% they need these other things to flip too and it’s coming a lot of a lot of things yeah I mean listen

You went out and got buddy heel at the uh at the deadline and he’s been you know if you’re expecting him to be your second best player on the court I that’s a little bit of a a little bit of a stretch here but you you’ve seen a lot

Of Nick patum um you know in in these games here you’ve seen KJ Martin now um but you’re right it’s like you don’t know what you’re you know it’s basically has been a mass unit um with this uh with this group I feel bad for Maxi in some of these games it’s

Like okay I listen he last night when you watch it there were three plays he like it’s eventually like and I give him a lot of credit especially coming off a concussion like he went to the basket like he went like full force Vengeance here and two he didn’t get the call one

He made a layup um I mean but man he as I said like last night he was trying to will this team um in the fourth quarter uh let’s wrap it up I didn’t I don’t know if you had a final if you had a t tentative final tentative tentative

Final list of guys that you put on was LeBron on it he was he was on it yep I mean I it’s it’s hard to leave him off I mean it really is and I know it’s two guys on the Ninth Place team in the Western

Conference I get it like I I I get it look it’s going to be a really interesting couple of weeks not only for the playoff races is you know 4 to8 is a mess in the East we mentioned the playin in the west the battle for six in the

West is a four team Race right now unless the Lakers are the Warriors get into it that’s an important battle um really fascinating stretch on coming and it all of this all NBA stuff we’re doing is very preliminary there’s 15 16 18 games left for every team and to your

Other point like you’re going to have to kind of have two ballots going into the last day of the season to make sure some of these guys hit 65 games even luk like listen like Luca didn’t play last night and I and I don’t think it’s as serious

As I say but like you’re gonna probably if it’s you know you’re GNA want to manage that now I mean I mean as best as you can I mean they’re in a seven eight game right now with them and I think them and Phoenix are in in that spot

Here but Luca seven games away from hitting 65 games like I think he will but that’s something to to keep an eye on there’s another guy like you know that he’s got a lot riding on all NBA because he becomes supermax eligible and in the uh

Two can only sign it in 2025 Shay hit it last night Shay hit 65 games Thursday night so he’ll be you know he can he’ll be all NBA he’ll be supermax eligible um to sign next next year here but there’s yeah there’s like it’s not just the

Who’s playing who in the standings but um as you said with with all NBA you got to almost have two you know you have to have two separate um two separate ballots here because you know where guys are with games played I’m going to do a Dallas segment next week hopefully with

I’ll drag Tim McMahon on um I just think they’re a completely fascinating team that night in and night out you never quite know how they’re going to look who’s G to make shots who’s not going to make shots is Maxi kba gonna play at the five for extended periods of time o only

At the four not very much at all Dante exam’s in the picture Josh Green got hurt last night hopefully he’s all right uh but given how uh I I would I’ve heard that the Luca thing is is going to be okay soonish I mean we’ll see you never know

With a hamstring um he’ll hit 65 he’ll make sure he hits 65 if it’s even an issue um and then he’s you know an MVP candidate First Team all NBA all right Bobby marks we got a lot of season left to go um thank you for coming on um

Because not only are you watching all these games I can tell by how blle eyed you are every morning we do this here here’s what happened yesterday so I’m writing offseason articles um I’ve got one one done um 29 to go 10 the 10 Lottery teams I worked on um the

Brooklyn Nets yesterday and after I was done like there was a sense of like dehy sense of like dehydration slash I needed a nap after writing a thousand words on my former team in in Brooklyn I hope you took did you take a nap I didn’t I’m a I

I am good at very few things in life like like maybe four things can’t fix anything don’t know anything about cars yard work subpar um I can take a 15minute nap like nobody’s business I set the alarm I close my eyes I am asleep instantaneously and I often wake up with

30 seconds to go before the alarm I if they If This Were Somehow a competitive maybe there probably is competitive I mean there was one day I turned on ESPN eight and there was pillow fighting on so there probably is competitive napping um hey if they wanted to do a

Competitive nap uh competition you know you could do you could go down to that Orlando Magic new practice facility there because they got know what they got their nap rooms they got like four nap rooms look you know some of those airports particularly International Airport hubs have like nap areas where

You can get your a little private booth and nap and it’s just like insanely expensive there have been some layovers I was like I don’t know it’s like $200 an hour sounds sounds like a stretch but all right Bobby marks uh thank you sir read all Bobby’s stuff offseason guys

He’s got the Kevin Pelton uh rookie rankings coming out on Monday I suspect Victor will be a top those indispensable work you know all the salary machinations and implications of all this all NBA stuff so I appreciate you coming on thanks Bobby you got thank you okay the topic

Dour in NBA media for the last couple weeks the last month really has been the rather sudden decline in scoring after a whole bunch of 15040 games dudes scoring 50 60 even 70 points scoring since February 9th which is notably before the All-Star break according to our Ace Kevin Pelton who

Did all the the digging the trend started before All-Star scoring is down three points per game which is quite a lot from the period this season before that quite a lot considering offensive efficiency tends to Trend up during the season free throws which were already low to begin with and keep getting

Smaller and smaller and lower and lower as time goes on and flow of the game improves hit their lowest point in February according to Kevin Pelton lowest free throws per game the third lowest in any month in the entire history of the NBA and they’re even

Lower in March so that has resulted in a lot of talk of what’s going on here and a lot of wondering if at the League’s annual you know get together at Allstar I did not attend All-Star was there some sort of meeting of the powers that be I

Know a lot of League team people have been um belly aing behind the scenes about it’s too easy for offenses we need to help the defense this has been a subject at the competition committee not just now as Joe Dumar is one of our guests confirmed recently to Tim

Bontemps but it was brought up at the lottery last season and probably before for that at previous competition committee meetings so rather than speculate and wonder what happened was there some memo sent out was there a conversation to be had I said why don’t we bring on the actual proper people to

Talk about this so we have from Olympic Tower New York City I want to get your titles right Joe Dumars Executive Vice President and head of basketball operations and one of the villains of my childhood hello Joe Dumars hello Zach how are you man that’s a great

Introduction will not I will not hold it against you and you did not foul Kareem in the finals thank you thank you Zack and the senior vice president head of referee operations and training I think I have that right Monty McCutchen how are you I’m doing fine it’s good to see

You it’s good not to be one of the villains of your Youth and you know it’ll be fun today you’re a little too young I think to be one of the villains of my youth but now I’m gonna go back and dig through the archives and see if

There’s some call that I can really hold against you have create some emotional Grudge agree that there is some call and save you the time of of having that research well and Joe at least has this going for him he’s not lamb beer so you can never be the the level one villain

Of anybody’s childhood okay so so I just said the numbers um you guys have heard all of the speculation so I will just start off either of you can answer this question what if anything is going on and what if anything is driving what’s

Going on Joe please so I I I would say this first and foremost there was I will emphatically say not one one day of a meeting of the minds that we needed to um change what we were seeing with scoring like absolutely not Zach just I I mean

It’s it’s just I I don’t know when you hear stuff like that and you’re sitting in here or you walk into the office and you just kind of look around and you go we haven’t said a word to Monty and the ref and the referees about changing anything when the conversation has come

Up Zach I’ve said this in multiple multiple meetings here I don’t think people fans media really care what the score is it doesn’t matter what the score is people want to see great competition I’ve said this in in meetings internally several times I saw one of the best games I I I

I rode up to Boston month or two ago Denver at Boston I think it was 100 to 99 101 to 100 one of the best games of the year and it had nothing to do with the score it was just what was played or you can have 130 to

131 and from a league office standpoint we just want to see incredible competition on both sides of the ball offensive plays Incredible defensive plays that’s all Zach but there’s never been one second of hey we need to do something and we need to tell the referees to change like that has

Absolutely never happened so so okay so there doesn’t have to be like a formal gathering in Indiana for some sort of trend shift to take place there doesn’t have to be a zoom call with a 100 referees or 50 referees to say this there can just be hey Monty

Ran into GMX in the hallway and GMX said oh it’s too easy for the offense this and that and that conversation times 50 with 50 different participants and 50 Team level Executives and 50 referees and whatever just sort of trickles around and people start talking to each

Other and things sort of happen is is that a more accurate explanation or are you guys are is is what you are or you what you were actually saying is this is totally random we don’t have any explanation for this I can jump in here Zach I think that there’s a little

Predisposition to that question at least not intentionally I don’t think or maybe maybe or maybe or maybe that we’re just sitting here waiting to be influenced we have work to do every year as officials you know we we are constantly evaluating officials evaluating their work you know we have

Five developmental advisers coaches if you will Joey Crawford Mark wonderlick Bennett Salvatore we’re at a little over 22,000 interactions with our referees this year between those individuals that are coaching them obviously me overseeing it that’s a lot of interactions our work is to drive consistency and within any year there

Are points in which we are not as consistent as we would like to be could be traveling one year it could be flagrant fouls it could be transition take fouls it could be drives to the basket and in that work I most certainly and my role is to most certainly coach

Up what our rule book says one of the things that’s been in the rulebook for hundreds of years and we’ve only been here 75 but it feels like hundreds of years is that if a dribbler has a straight line path to the basket they cannot be crowded off that straight line

Pathway the same is true for a defensive player’s pathway now that’s different than Block charge Block charge is about beating someone to the spot but if you are both on Parallel Pathways neither party is allowed to take someone off their pathway and there most certainly has been some coaching

This year and teaching this year about making sure we remain consistant from Monday night to Tuesday night to Wednesday night and I do think that we had some work there that we had slipped in and so we most certainly have been teaching what our rule book currently

States is good basketball so that there is a balance for competition to Joe’s Point good competition isn’t score-based it is based in an equitable situation for both offensive and defensive players to reasonably expect to be able to compete so that neither party is placed at a disadvantage we most certainly have

Done that coaching this year as we have in other subject areas by the way that maybe haven’t garnered the same amount of of um political or media attention that is our work our work is to make sure that our rulebook is upheld every year and with 22,000 interactions with

Our staff we’re covering lots of subject matter in making sure that we drive consistent work when we do see areas of need we can’t allow outside noise to influence us in either direction meaning it’s not general managers grabbing Us in the hallway and sharing their case and

Making us change neither is it ignoring someone grabbing Us in the hallway if there’s Merit to a point of view or a perspective what I will say is that much before February we in within our work were already recognizing a need for consistency Y in this area we have

Absolutely worked on that consistency I think we’ve done a better job at it and I also think that it’s important to say that it’s easy for outside influences media fans wherever it may be even teams in some instances to focus on one area as the thing you know uh possessions are

Down right now which accounts for about 40% of that drop of three points that you’re talking about and I think that there is an all inclusiveness to an arc of a season teams start to reduce their rotations at this time of the year as they Garner up for playoff pushes there

Are lots of impacts to how teams start to focus differently we’ve been doing our work players get better at adjusting to the work and they make proper adjustments and we see what we see analytically in any given year this year so happens to be this subject matter so

Let me just ask the dumb simple question has a shift in officiating contributed to the recent month-long decline in scoring and free throws I don’t think it’s a shift in officiating the officiating has always been owning up to the rule book and so do I think

That that there has been I mean the stats are the stats there are less fouls being called there’s there’s I’m not going to sit here and argue what is factually true what I will say though is there’s hasn’t been a conscientious effort to shift towards Le lesser fouls

That’s not there there’s been no such meeting there’s been so no such dictum what we do is look at plays individual plays and say from game to game we can do better here this was not a foul this was a foul we’re we’re concentrating on what’s not a foul on this conversation

Out of those thousands of conversations we’ve had with players there’s been plenty of them that says we missed a foul right here this needed to be called and so there absolutely has been no you know outward attempt to lessen fouls we do need to be good at our work and the

Game itself informs what that work looks like when Joe played 90% of the game 95% of the game was below the free throw line even for guards I watched the game from 2008 recently you know what the three-pointers were like 16 to seven in the middle of the fourth quarter that

Each team had taken the game has absolutely changed and as a result what’s valued now are Corner threes free throws and layups the mid-range has has been discussed ad nauseum has disappeared except for a few very efficient players at it right and as such with the game spread out like that

You’re going to get more drives to the basket because that is what is valued by the analytics is layups and drive and kick to the corner three or to the wing three and when we see that analytically refereeing is always going to be a half a step below the Innovations of the game

If we’re four steps behind it we’re really bad at our work but players are going to always innovate the game and as such we have to catch up part of our good work is making sure plays according to the current rule book are being adjudicated properly do you think that

Is more the case today than it was six weeks ago for for maybe specific kind of plays like you’re talking about in terms of driving paths to the basket and Defenders who are in the spot first or whatever whatever terminology you want to use I think what it is is a

Culmination of a yearl Long’s worth of work to get to be consistency so I don’t think I think there’s a there’s a Delta line that you’re referencing is February 9th uh you know that you referenced there’s a Delta line to what consistent work looks like but it didn’t start six

Weeks ago where we started saying oh we’re gonna be better at this I think that that’s an important L line distinction make so you mentioned just how the game has changed and you know when when when this when the whole is it too easy for offenses or is there too

Much scoring thing kind of crescendoed around Luca 73 point point game and maybe the All-Star Game too which was a whole I mean it’s a whole it’s an exhibition it’s not the same as a regular game um I wrote something and I repeated this on this podcast where I just

Think most of the explanation for why this is is just that the league took a while to realize that three is greater than two the league I mean teams not the league office how much greater three is than two and once teams really figured that out and stocked their rosters with

Players who could shoot threes and and now kids are shooting threes from a young age so the roster stocking of those players is going to get bigger and bigger every year and not only did they realize that but more threes makes your twos easier because the paint is open I

Just think it’s more a math problem than a quote unquote officiating or we giving too much benefit of the doubt problem if you slice up the pie to me the offensive explosion is more just teams being smart about how they hunt shots than anything else um that said um there has been a

Lot of talk at the competition committee and I’m sure you guys hear it privately too about the pendulum did has maybe in the opinion of some swung too far rules wise with the rule I mean people have said it on the record obviously the rules are too friendly to offenses so I

Would ask Joe um as as someone who’s lived in the in the game and played in a different era and also run teams in a different era as it shifted into this era did you agree with with that conception that maybe the pendulum had swung too far and have you liked how the

Last whatever line of demarcation M you want to say but how the last six weeks of basketball has looked and felt compared to when it was really crescendoing in those high-scoring games I think I think the pendulum may have swung too far just like it may have

Swung too far for the defense back in the late 90s early 2000s and you wanted to open up the game a little bit more so I I don’t um deny that you know you look at the game and you try to keep your fingers on the pulse of the

Game but even if you think the pendulum has swung to the offensive side you don’t walk into Monty’s office and say hey Monty the pendulum may have swung too far you guys need to change how you call you have conversations about what you think is a fou and what’s not

Zack if you had a a video if you had a camera maybe two months ago three months ago Monty and I were in my office he was the offensive player I was a defensive player and we were walking through Monty was driving hard you know can’t stop that let’s be clear he can’t

Stop well he probably committed a flagrant first of all yeah yeah he he shot me in the elbow but we were we were literally in my office at he’s driving I’m sliding Mani if the offensive player pushes off that’s an off well you we went over a bunch of stuff like that

It’s that kind of conversation that goes on in the office act it’s not like this it’s not this conspiracy of like hey man you know we need to do this I will say this too Zach is that from the very let’s say at the beginning of this season Zach I’ll say

This and mty spoke to consistency early in the I think it was the first week of the season mty was walking by my office the door was open I said money money come see he came in and I showed him a play with a guy that got a tech and I said to

Money I don’t know about that tech let’s make sure that if we’re going to call a tech on a guy for this that is consistent across the Bo yeah that we call that Tech on every M you remember that I do absolutely so what what was

The what what was the nature of the tech sorry to interject but I think people would want to know like was it a arguing with ref’s tech was it a hanging on the rim Tech it might have been a a a respect for the game technical yeah it

Was like a slight wave like and I was saying the money okay if we’re gonna call that then you got to call it against everybody to be consistent but my point the bigger Point Zach is that’s what really happens in here it’s me and money up guarding each other it’s me

Talking hey money take take a look at this it’s money coming in my office Joe what do you think of this right here and so it’s a collaborative effort but I can assure you it’s not some conspiracy of here’s what we need to do it’s really

Trying to get the game to look the right way you don’t want the game to look the wrong way and that means great offensive plays and players great defensive some of the all-time best plays in this league are defensive plays the LeBron block taan Prince running down Reggie Miller blocking like

Just if there’s some incredible and we don’t want to take that out of the game either so I think it’s just it really is Zack a balance of all of this making sure that the game doesn’t swing too far one way or the other but I do think it’s

Important Zach to note that what Joe’s saying is is that this is us doing the work that we’re you know that we’ve been hired to do which is three months ago we’re having these discussion again about our current rule book making sure that we’re consistently giving the right

Interpretation to the rules that are already on the books and when we see things not living up to that consistency it’s both of our responsibilities to make sure we’re delivering to the franchises exactly what our rule book says they should expect from night to night now to to go back to the larger

Point of did the pendulum swing too far and how this has been brought up in competition committee and blah blah blah I would always challenge people okay if you if you think and not challenge like I disagree with them challenge just like let’s have the fun thought exercise if

You think the pendulum has swung too far what Concrete Solutions can you offer me to change it and you’re not allowed to say bring back hand checking I ban them from saying that because I don’t think anyone really wants a return to how that looked and so then you start to hear

People really sort of well you know they got to make it more friendly for the def I was say okay how do you make it more friendly for the defense part of it when people really drilled down on it is the kind of not bangang bang but who’s in

The spot first who initiates the contact did the offensive players just jump into a defensive player who is already there who gets that call you could zero in on it that way another area that I hear a lot I’d be interested in Monty and your

Take on this I heard this from a GM just last week in a in a meeting um landing spot stuff has the landing spot legislation gotten too friendly not friendly but has has that benefited offensive players too much and it’s not just the three free throws it’s I I hear

From from coaches and GMS our guys are like afraid to contest shots now so they contest from the side or they don’t contest at all is there any wiggle room there is that an area of study well I think we we heard that from a GM as well

Maybe on the competition committee and so so uh I think that one of the things that we have to remember is as the game has changed Closeouts are much different than they were again to use Joe as an example everything below the free throw line meant you were already up on your

Your opponent to you didn’t have to close out you were right there for the most part and so you didn’t get these wild contests and what we saw several years ago which was instigated this to coming in quite frankly Zach is the play in the Western Conference Finals in

Which Ka Leonard was injured on the play and as such you’re going to have a situation where when the game is played in space and you have these distance Closeouts these distance contests from Defenders you’ve got to be really careful one of the fundamental tenants of all refereeing at all levels anywhere

Is a safe environment for the players to actually play the game that they’ve spent so much time learning and growing into professional at at our level the professional skill set and we got to make sure that the competition is not one in which dangerous plays are possible I think that the closeout rules

Are correct right now the inverse could also be argued that if they are allowed to to take the landing space away and we have more ankles turned then the offensive player doesn’t feel safe in which they can con compete and so you know that that can swing or cut both

Ways I do think that it is important that players should be able to expect when they’re not doing a non-basketball move which we did to address a lot of this and we have addressed an enormous amount of what you’re talking about I was I was about to give you credit for

That and will once you’re done yeah and I think that that’s the right balance is taking away the non-basketball move where people are not abnormally launching themselves to a closeout Defender but we still have to allow them a normal shooting motion and the safety of coming back down to a normal playing

Position in which they can comfortably understand they’re not going to get hurt every time they go up to take a jump shot I I don’t do this to to Puff the league up or anything I just I just I do it because I don’t think a lot of the

Discussion of this subject um includes this and some of the plays that benefited the offense that you have more or less taken away are picking out your legs you know or or jumping into jumping sideways into people those are much more commonly offensive fouls now the Chris

Paul I call it the Chris Paul trick you may ascribe it to somebody else where you’re bringing the ball up the court and someone’s behind you and you just stop or turn sideways and stick your butt out and that that’s now an offensive foul the rip through move is

Now a non-sh shooting foul every single time if if and when it’s even called so those things have have been taken away I’m G can I now there are a couple um uh more dramatic ideas that people like to pitch or one that people like to pitch and one that I have

Thought about in my dumb brain can I run those by either one of you yeah I’ll let Joe jump in on this Joe Joe one you hear a lot and I don’t study the price of courtside seats and I’m not a geography major so I haven’t like done the spatial

Calculations but what is the League’s reaction when smart basketball people who work for teams say how about we just eliminate the corner three I’ve heard that before but anytime you hear something like that like like like you hear a lot of Zach you know

This man it’s a lot of you hear a lot of stuff man like a lot of incoming stuff you hear and I’ve heard that about the corner three and my question when I’ve heard it is okay what does that look like what what what does it do for the

Game what does it look like and has somebody tried it has some other league tried it like you know you hear that stuff and the first thing you’re going to do internally here is is you’re going to ask all of those questions right there right away what’s it look like you

Know why are we doing it how is it going to benefit the game like you you you go through a list of questions that you start asking when there’s any type of proposal and so until you can answer those questions it’s it’s just something that’s being proposed out there but if

Someone is going to suggest that uh seriously internally here we would have to go through all of that but that’s that’s not been on anybody radar here internally Zack I I can tell you that can can I pivot to something else real quick Zack because I don’t want but

I I have one more I have one more crazy idea for you but you can pivot and I can pivot back well no let me get your second crazy idea and then I’ll pivot to well I don’t think it’s crazy but I just in thinking of in in challenging myself

To just like okay come up with actual ideas to help the defense if you think that that’s necessary and I’m not saying that it is but if you think it is brain think of something that’s like actually reasonable that’s not hand checking and I thought you know is there a middle ground somewhere

Between our current defensive 3 second rule and the FEA rule where you just can plant your biggest guy in the paint forever and ever and I don’t think anybody wants that and I and I started well like what if it were like D4 or D5 and so because you see offensive players

They time it right so like I’m waiting to drive one two you got a clear now I’m going if that’s an extra beat extra two Beats does that matter does it screw up the game too much by eliminating those drives and highlight plays that we want

To see is there maybe this is for Monty too is is there is that is how crazy is that idea basically well I’ll jump in real quick Joe just in the sense that I get criticized for not being able to count to three now you want me to have

To count to four well this is but this is the claim that when I bounce this off teams teams will say well they don’t really call defens of three seconds anyway well we I disagree with that but teasing aside I’ll let I I’ll let Joe answer I

Do think it would have an impact on some of our best plays in that plays at The Rim are some of the best plays to referee I can speak from personal experience Joe I’ll let you speak to the players perspective but play at The Rim is man it’s what makes our game

Beautiful and it’s what make our game different I I I don’t think there’s another League that that doesn’t play that doesn’t allow you to play zone and that’s why you see the most incredible plays in the world I I with people all the time I tell them you can think that

You have a clear Lane to the to the rim you can think that you have a clear Lane to that rim and you see the space and you go and you’re dribbling Zach and you think oh my God the the the the lane is open that lane the the these players in

This league are so good man and as man said man the the incredible plays at The Rim you know look Steph changed the game with his shooting but most of the incredible plays are at that Rim in this league and I don’t think you want to take that away um so that that

That’s the only thing I would say about that is that that you don’t want to take that away that that that’s what’s made this league is is people show up and they see things that they’ve never seen before okay while I have you here I want to switch topics for just two minutes

Five minutes whatever it is um because I think this is a very important topic and I think it’s going to become a major major discussion point over the next three weeks as the season ends and awards thinking in season kicks in um what do you think of the 65 game

Limit for all three NBA teams the all defens teams MVP most improved six-man defensive player the basically everything but the all rookie teams I think in Rookie of the Year um we’re going to see a bunch of players fall just short including guys who may have had good candidacies for third Team all

NBA like Donovan Mitchell Jimmy Butler there are some other cases for even like most improved Jaylen Johnson is going to be very close he’s got to play I think every game going forward um uh we’ve seen Tyrese halberton kind of play through a minute’s restriction to the result of which was

That he remains eligible for all NBA and has not missed the the requisite 18 games or whatever it is is this working as intended um well I’ll just start there is this working as intended yes it’s working as intended because guys are on the floor a

Lot more we have the internal data here uh Zach players are playing more games now the second thing I would say is you know ask yourself why did we feel like we had to put a 65 game rule in like like we forget about that portion of it

That it had gotten to the point where we just weren’t seeing the star players on the floor anymore and so between the player participation policy and the 65 game rule we felt that we had to address this issue about the 65 game rule too Zach

And I want to address that head on with you this was collectively bargained with the Players Association to say yes we agree that we should have now the number you can debate the number what it could have been I it was a big debate on that but then when it came to

65 it was yes that’s a good number that’s 20% % of the Season that the guys can miss and still be eligible for all of these Awards these are our most important most important awards that we have and we’re saying if you play 80% of the Season you’re still eligible and so whatever

Number it would have landed at Zach I’m sure it would have affected someone you said you you you said the words you use was it’s a it’s going to affect a bunch of players I don’t know if it’s G affect a bunch of players I think it’s g i

Think it’s going to affect some and I agree with you on that and you feel bad for those guys if if if if it happens if it plays out that way but you you were going to select some number it was going to impact some people but your first

Question was is the rule working absolutely because all the data guys are playing more now than we’ve seen in in a while of just being on the court night in and night out was there there are a couple sort of Ripple effects of this Beyond just players participating more or or that are

Connected to that number one was there worry about a player playing hurt just to get the all NBA count up to the point if if there’s money at stake for this player like there is for Tyrese halber for instance is there any anxiety about that and is there direct dialogue in

Cases like that between the league office a team like the Pacers and whoever you know represents Tyrese halber just to make sure everyone understands the rule correctly what’s at stake here is this safe in that specific case was there any dialogue so Zach uh we’re not having dialogue about

That right now let me answer that first and foremost we’re not having dialogue about specifically what you’re talking about right there my conversations with teams and players before the season start when when I was talking to them about this 65 games and player participation participation policy I was very adamant to guys hey

Guys this is not the league trying to force you to play hurt this is not this is not us I I Zach I was with everybody I was with these teams now and all the teams I talked to I said look dude if you’re hurting you can’t go out there

And play trust me I know you you you you can’t go out there if you’re injured if you’re sore you’re banged up you yeah guys guys can play through that but if you’re injured you can’t go out there and so I want it to be very clear that

We’re not trying to force you to play hurt and if that means that you are below the 65 games then then you’re below the 65 games if you’re injured Zach you can’t play anyway you can’t play out there when you’re injured like when you’re injured and can’t go you

Can’t go and I was very cleared it to guys guys don’t go out there and try to play if you’re hurt if you’re injured and hurt don’t don’t try to go out there and play don’t do that and I wanted them to hear that from me from the league office

Well there’s $40 million telling a guy like Tyrese hbert and maybe a conflicting message but I understand like every case is going to be different and maybe the intent of the rule I think the league would argue is probably like there are going to be some sort of tough

It out instances and like that’s kind of part the deal I bring up halberton and I bring up thir I this is one of my pit issues I bring up third Team all NBA a lot and whether 65 games makes sense for all three all-nba teams and I bring that

Up because third Team all NBA for me as a voter has always been the place where it it often comes down to like on the one hand this guy that we that we all know is like one of the best guys but played 58 games Kevin Durant has been

This guy in the past LeBron we all know this guy’s like one of the best guy this other guy who’s played 75 games it’s like really good but we all kind of know that like he’s not as good as this other guy and because of the way the bonuses

And the supermax works that vote if you vote for the 75 games played guy may make that person eligible for a super max that like if we were all having a beer we’d be like that guy is like not a super max player this other guy we all

Know is that is that it is that sort of unintended consequence something that’s been talked about so you you whenever you put these rules in so so let’s let’s take your premise there Zack that there was 58 games and one of those guys you said Duran someone play 56

Games play 56 games would’ be sitting here having the same conversations like so so it’s so that’s that’s why I’m I’m saying I don’t want any games played for third Team all NBA just just for this specific that’s one of my just pretend that’s one of my petet because every

Voter is going to say there’s a threshold if like you’re if you don’t even get 50 you’re just not going to be considered anyway so I get your point that there’s always going to be a line whether it’s a bright line written in legislation or an informal line that we

All understand there’s always going to be a line somewhere yeah I that that’s my only point is that is that when you put these rules in that rarely can you look at a rule that you put in and go this is is going to be perfect for

Everyone no one is going to be unhappy with this Ru it just I mean the reality of life doesn’t work that way I had a g not a GM a head coach three minutes into this podcast text me while you and Monty were arguing about something you and Monty

Were going and I had a g a head coach text me while we three minutes into this he sent me a video M know who it is already he sent me a video said it’s not even his team it’s two other teams playing and he sent

A video said J D this is an obvious travel man we we can’t miss this call this is what th this is what happen I bet I could get I bet I could get the coach within three coaches I’m not gonna play The Guessing Game with you but I

Bet I’m giving my over under at two and a half before I get the coach when we get off of this podcast I want to hear your three coaches to say yes I might get it in one you might get it in one but but he hit me three minutes into

This podcast so anyway I’ll just let you know that all right look you guys have given me too much of your time Joe D Mar’s want mcut and I just it’s nice to have you come on and answer some questions because I just thought there’s just been so much speculation let’s

Actually sort of talk about it and I think we talked about it and some questions were answered and you guys are very busy you probably have to go I guess go go back to your office one-on-one game you know just TR just try and keep it safe I got I got to

Answer this call I mean I got to answer this text right here yeah you got to answer this text all right thank you guys and I will see you at an arena uh soon I hope So

🏀 Predicting All-NBA candidates & dissecting the 65-game rule for awards 🏆 | The Lowe Post

Zach Lowe and ESPN’s Bobby Marks run through their preliminary list of candidates for All-NBA. Then the NBA’s Head of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars and Senior VP of Referee Training and Development Monte McCutchen join to discuss why scoring has dipped since the All-Star Break, ideas to help defenders and the unintended consequences of the 65-game rule for awards.

0:00 Intro
15:48 Bucks still trying to figure it out
29:05 Jalen Brunson is going to make an All-NBA team and state of the Knicks
35:32 Rounding out All-NBA candidates
48:58 Sixers in disarray without Joel Embiid
1:01:27 Dumars and McCutchen
1:04:23 Scoring being down since the All-Star break
1:14:45 Ideas to help defenders
1:29:43 How the 65-game rule is working

#ESPN #NBA

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