The Dan Patrick ShowDP reacts to the Clippers' game 7 loss to the Nuggets. With another disappointing Game 7 performance from James Harden, how will history look back on his career? NBA insider Tim MacMahon debates James Harden vs. Russell Westbook and breaks down where Dirk Nowitzki ranks among the greatest shooting big men ever. And hoops analyst Jim Jackson predicts the first $100 million per year player, and shares why today's stars might be testing fans' patience with load management.
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox Sports Radio.
A gift that keeps on giving is James Harden. And you know, when you look at the regular season, regular season James Harden, I think twenty two points eight assist. We like the Clippers. People thought, oh you got a healthy Kawhi Leonard. Okay, they can do some damage. They can knock off Denver, they could give Oklahoma City a real tussle. But last night they were blown It was a no show. They were blown out or over the week id of should say, and then you have you know what happened. So the Nuggets end up winning, Golden State ends up winning. Now you got some pretty interesting matchups, but we tend to focus on the team that just lost. So with what happened with the Clippers, and once again James Harden in a game seven is a no show. Here is his head coach, Ty Lou on the Clippers losing.
You know, it's tough loss, and.
I said, not playing our best game in a situation like this, and you know, a lot of emotions, and so just tell the guys bring it in, you know, one last hug and you know we'll we'll talk tomorrow. But you know, they came out I thought we came out with a with a decent mindset. They went to that zone and kind of made a stacking offensively because the way we were attacking them. And then I thought, you know, when they went to that zone, its kind of slowed us down offensively and then defensively didn't We didn't really you know, get into them, get closer to the guys and have that pressure, and so they were able to pick us apart.
Okay, and this isn't all on James Harden, but there is a pattern here. It is last thirteen elimination games, James Harden's teams are two and eleven, and the numbers are even worse after that. By the way, he was a no show after their losses. He didn't meet with the media. But James, now, he did have twenty six, twenty eight points I think game six, So I thought, okay, maybe this is going to be different for him. Thirteen elimination games, he shot thirty nine percent from the floor. Team is two and eleven. Uh, He's averaged fourteen points on thirty eight percent shooting. And then you look at some of the other numbers here. Steph Curry fourteen career elimination games, he has scored I think one time under twenty points once in sixteen career elimination games. Kevin Durant under twenty points Lebron James twenty nine career elimination games has never been held under twenty points. Meanwhile, Hardin has scored less than twenty points in twelve of twenty six career elimination games, including seven of his last thirteen.
Stell of a day stand a.
Day, Stata Day, Stanta Day.
This is the Stele of the Day, brought to you by Panini America. Even more emphatic and embarrassed James Harden's last three game sevens. He scored seven points, he scored nine points, he scored twenty two points. He went two for eight, he went three for eleven that was in a loss to Boston, and five of seventeen in a lost to Milwaukee back in twenty twenty one. I can't have one of my best scores, one of the great scores in the history of the league, get eight shots. Now, he did have double digit assist Okay, but I want him to score. I need him to score, I need him to shoot. I mean, I'd rather that he was two for eighteen than two for eight I gotta have him getting shots up. But once again he no showed the Clippers bow out dramatic fashion. And you know, we're left to wonder, how many more years, how many more postseasons will you get with Kawhi Leonard where he's healthy and playing well. And then you got Harden who had a good regular season, but trying to match them up in the season and get maybe some magic here. And you start to look and you go, okay, where do you kind of fit in here? It looks like the Rockets are going to be here to stay now. They might add I know we've talked about Kevin Durant, but you know, if I'm them, I do what Oklahoma City did. Stay the course, keep your nucleus. I don't want to bring in a thirty five, thirty six year old Kevin Durant. I'm not trying to catch magic in one year. I'm going to try to do this, you know, make this sustainable, make this just like Okasee and okayc is going to be here for a while. Now you have to look and go if you're the Clippers, where are we We're kind of in the middle. You know, Denver's got in depth, they got bench is really contributed. You still got Joker playing at a high level for a few more years. Can Jamal Murray stay healthy? You know, so that could be sustainable for a few more years to be a contender there Golden State. I mean, you're kind of looking at the last go round. It feels like or at least maybe one more go round. What about the Lakers with Lebron You know, you start to look at where you are in your division, in your conference, and that's what I start to wonder about the Clippers. They're kind of a no man's land good team, potentially a really good team. The problem is is age, injuries, and you're always going to have James Harden not showing up in big games. But now we sometimes look at these teams as they exit and go, okay, what is the future here? As I said with Detroit, I think they got a bright future. Don't go crazy. And I do think depth is really the important thing to keep an eye on in the playoffs. Denver showed depth. You gotta have more than six seven guys. OKC has depth, Cleveland has depth. Indiana has depth. That's sort of the new thing. I don't need three stars, I need two stars and depth. Celtics they got a lot of depth. They got two big stars, a lot of depth. That's what I would be concentrating on if I'm trying to build my team or continue to build my team. Depth. Don't go out there and get a big ticket item. If you have a young nucleus and you're sold on them, let them grow together. Hopefully you get a star or two. I mean, OKC has one star, he's going to be the MVP. But you have a couple other guys who are at least in the conversation of being a star, and that's really important. But Boston, Boston is so deep. Cleveland deep, Indiana deep. Just feels like that's the new wave with luxury taxes, the apron as they like to call that. So just some things to keep an eye on in the off season with these teams. Speaking of Denver Russell Westbrook Junior the third, this might be as honest of an answer as you're going to get from an athlete who is assessing his talents.
You know, my ability to be able to be a force of nature on the floor is what I pride myself phone. So whatever that looks.
Like it may be a turnover, it may be a misshot, but it may be a steal, maybe a dunk, maybe a mystery, maybe a may three.
It's gonna be all of that. It's gonna be everything. So you just take it, take it.
But how it comes and whatever happens, you go with it.
Okay, he's gonna help somebody win. I don't know if it's his team or your team, but he's gonna help.
Uh.
But he's and you know, he gives you that jolt of energy coming off the bench. And this used to be so important. You know, we came up with sixth Man of the Year that award John Habilcheck. I think they invented the award for him with the Celtics. You come off the bench and you give that blast of energy. Kevin McHale was a sixth man. Yet guys man who genobily. They came in and they gave you that boost. That's why I'd love to see Austin Reeves be that sixth man for the Lakers. You come in and all of a sudden, you're better than everybody else in that second unit for the other team, and you're able to put up some offense. Russell Westbrook brings you energy and he had to accept coming off the bench as well. But he's fun. He's fun to watch. Buddy Healed went off last night. He was nine of eleven from three point range. And that's one of those where if you're Houston and you go we're still trailing and Steph Curry hasn't done much, you know you're in trouble because Buddy Healed went off and then Steph had like fourteen points in the fourth quarter. But that was Golden State showing Houston, hey, nice, try get experience and then try it again next year. That was the feeling I got with Houston. Thought they were going to be a team to contend with this year. Maybe not a contender, but to contend with. And that proved to be true. And I thought that this was a fact finding mission, just like with Detroit. You go into the season, let's kind of figure out what do you need. And you saw a team, you saw a coach, they knew what they were doing in that game. It was just experience. Now you do have Steph. You didn't think Buddy Heal was going to go off, but with Golden State it's fun, fun to see them out there, you know, in the latter stages of careers.
Seeton.
What's poll question today?
For the first hour, it feels like we're kind of kicking one around about James Harden's legacy. Maybe maybe we're going to stumble onto one of those.
But can you think of a first Ballance Hall of Famer who is this flawed?
Yeah?
See right?
While also he's an absolute Hall of Famer, he's one of the greatest scoring players of all time probably right. He's revolutionized the game in how you draw fouls, how you do certain things. He's had a massive impact on the game. Well maybe not always getting the credit for that, and then unfortunately doesn't have the success to show for it other than.
For the most part, extremely great play. Yeah, I don't know if there's another NBA comp for this where that guy was so great then he didn't show up in the postseason. And he's done this with all the teams he's been with. It's not just the Clippers, but to have the highest of highs where you're averaging thirty five a game, you change the game at least with one move that you make. But you kind of look at him you go, yeah, but yeah pulling.
James Harden led the league in scoring three years in a row. He's led the league and assist two times. Really, the only modern day Camp might be Russell Westbrook. Russell led the league in scoring twice, He's led the league and assist three times. And Russell had the bonus of he had four different seasons where he averaged ten or more rebounds.
Is nuts, Yeah, but it's weird. I never look at Russell Westbrook as that's the guy I gotta stop. Like I was always curious about him. You know, he wasn't a good shooter. He scored. But Harden, I think you look at and you go, nobody can stop him. Like when he gets on a run, nobody's gonna stop him. Russ didn't shoot well enough. Where you go, man, you got to stop that. Now his jumper looks pretty good. He hit a couple of big shots, a couple of threes, and I go, the form looks really good. Now I know he's hit the side of the backboard and done. You know he'll miss him when he misses, like, he'll miss really bad. But I don't. I think I expect Harden to win more, to be to be the guy in these big moments. I think with Russ, I just thought that, Okay, he's still that curiosity, he's going to give you a triple double, but he's also gonna help the other team. I never felt that way with Harden until you look at these Game sevens, you look at his postseasons. I mean, I don't know if there's another comp here, Marvin, you got one, anybody who comes to mind.
It's crazy because I don't. In the Game sevens is really what separates him from other guys where that's a glaring omission because he's had so many no shows in big time Game sevens. He was a part of that Game seven where the Rockets missed twenty seven straight three pointers. Yeah, they almost took out the seventy three wins Warriors.
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Tim McMahon ESPN, NBA Reporter Band McMahon podcast on The Hoop Collective and also the author of the new book The Wonder Boy, Luka Doncic and The Curse of greatness as Tim Joynes is from OKC Before we get to that series, few other topics. Whose career would you rather have? James Harden or Russell Westbrook?
Howdy Dan uh kind of look at the career earnings, They're both way up there.
I feel like.
Harden probably when you when you rank them in terms of the echelons of NBA great AND's. I mean, they're both first ballot Hall of Famers and all that. I feel like Harden lands higher on that list, but has more scrutiny. And you know, for the reasons you guys said, his playoff failure failures have been spectacular, where it feels like most of Russ's playoff failures you kind of left them well, you know, they just didn't have the better team and and he didn't get the same sort of burden on his shoulders. It's crazy how they've both become journeyman type of guys late in their career. Now, Harden's still doing it at a high price point and Hardens still the one decided when he wants to leave where he wants to go, whereas that's not the case with the Russ. Russ has been traded twice to the Utah Jazz over the last few years, and I played a second, not played a second for that franchise, that kind of you know, and and seriously, like with Russ, you keep on feeling is this his last chance? Is this his last chance? And then you know, then he'll get another one. Harden's had a much better year this year, but Russ is still playing. And you know, Russ had a much better game seven. And right now, that's all that really matters.
Whose future mediate future do you like better? The Clippers or the Lakers?
Oh, I mean the Lakers just because they have a generational talent to build around, and they've got to They've got to build, you know, they they've got to figure that out. Obviously, depth was a major problem for the Lakers. I mean, they played five guys for an entire half of a playoff game. You know, something that we've never seen before. But one the Lakers traditionally have not had a whole lot of problems, uh, convincing guys. Hey, you know, do you like the sunshine? Do you like the glitz and glamour, do you like the spotlight? You might want to come here? And and you know, Luca is not somebody who everybody maybe will want to play with, but they've got the other guys who are going to have the ball in their hands. They need to fill out with the role players like the Mavericks. Did you know the year before they went to the finals, and you know the primary thing they need is that lobcatch and rim protect and big man and those type of guys will absolutely be lining up to try to play with Luca in La.
I did wonder when JJ Reddick said we got to get in championship shape, and I did think of you because you wrote the book on Luca. How do you think this was received by him where it's not being called out by name, but everybody knows he's saying you need to get in championship shape.
Probably about the same as when Jason Kidd would do it at end of seasons and even Rick Carlisle at end of seasons. I mean, this has been something that has been an issue for Luca throughout his entire career, even going back to the pre draft process. It was one of the knocks.
But this is back up what the Mavericks did. Nico Harrison, his knock on him partly was well he went in shape and he knew he couldn't play defense.
Well, what I have consistently said is the condition concerns are absolutely legitimate and still an insane reason to trade a generational talent munths removed from him leading your franchise to the NBA Finals when he fully intended to stay in Dallas for his entire career. So the Lakers' first round exit does not justify the trade that was made or the condition concerns legitimate. Of course they are, and like you don't need you didn't need this to know that? Did people like has there been some kind of like optometrius revolution suddenly? Like did you not have eyeballs? Were they not working? Of course, conditioning has been a concern with him throughout his career. He's still been a five time first team All NBA player. The defense, and here's the thing where I those two things are directly related. Right, Lucas obviously at his worst defensively when he's gassed, and well, you know, when you play him the entire second half, that doesn't help matters. But you can build a good defense that protects Luca, that includes Luca. And I'm not saying like hypothetically, I'm saying It's happened on multiple occasions. The Mavericks did it the year they went to the conference finals. They we ranked seventh in the league in defense. They did it last year when they went to the finals. They were the number one defense for the final quarter of the season, and then that continued into the playoffs. Even the Celtics series. Luke had some terrible defensive moments. They lost that series because they couldn't score, because the guys around them couldn't hit shots, and you know, and his defensive issues didn't help. But I'm saying, so, yeah, the flaws are the flaws, but no, it doesn't justify the trade. And I absolutely you know, like the Lakers are ecstatic to be able to have the opportunity to try to build around this dude for the next decade. But they've got a lot of work to do in that regard.
Can you see a scenario where Luca doesn't stay in La.
You know, I mean sure, I could come up with scenarios. I would be shocked if there's not some sort of extension this summer, you know, and what that looks like. There's a lot of factors. I don't want to bog you down with CPA, Minutia and all that kind of stuff.
But I.
With what I know of Luca, and I haven't talked to him directly about this, but you know, talking to people who know Luca, well, I think he absolutely wants to give the Lakers like he's fully committed La. Now, his heart was broken, but he's fully committed to the Lakers, and you know his goal now is to win championships with that franchise.
Tim McMahon he spn NBA Report, band of McMahon podcast, On the Hook Collective, and of course the new book The Wonder Boy, Luka, Doncic and The Curse of Greatness. Who has a better chance of going further? The Warriors or the Nuggets?
Well, I would say the Warriors because they don't have to play Oklahoma City this round. You know, listen, man, Okay see. The one doubt about Okay see is well, they haven't done it before. That's really the one flow. This is a team that set the NBA record for point differential in the season. I mean, they've been absolutely dominant. So now, if the Nuggets were playing the Wolves, well, actually I'm sorry, if the Nuggets playing the Warriors, I probably would pick the Nuggets in that series, but that's not the way the brackets broke. Yeah, you know, so I think the Warriors have a better chance to beat the Wolves than Nuggets do beating the Thunder. I'm not sure the Warriors have a great chance of beating the Wolves.
I'm wondering if. And I'm just looking at the playoff rosters. So it's recency bias that you know, it used to be it you were trying to get three big names, three stars. Now it feels like two is great, but you really need to have depth. Cleveland, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Indiana, Oka, see Boston like they have, you know, two really good players or one great player and then you have depth. There is that kind of the model now moving forward that Okac is put in front of us.
Well, and I just think that to have a big three, especially if they're three max guys, it's gonna be tough to build your roster out from there with all the handcuffs that are in the new CBA. And you know, the Sons are kind of an extreme example of well, they had their big three, and you know, there wasn't a whole lot around that. Plus those three guys didn't necessarily fit very well together, and really it was a big two and then a huge third South. But yeah, depth matters and role players matter. There's only one basketball, right, so you're not going to have three guys scoring thirty a game, you know, but you do. It's still a superstars league. Just be clear, Like, the Houston Rockets are deep, they're athletic, they're tough, they're relentless. They don't have a superstar. If they get a superstar, which you know will be an interesting summer, the Houston Rockets have a chance to be right in the thicke of things as soon as next season. But if you don't have and like the Thunder, the Thunder have one superstar, two all star caliber guys, I would say, and by the way, we could argue if that Shay Jaylen Williams, chet holmewun three, chet Holme win thing will be a big three soon. But then they played ten guys by the first second of the second quarter every game, and it's like a tough decision. Well, which good player is not going to get in there? You know, we got like twelve or thirteen guys with rotation cowber dudes that matters.
Can the next beat the Celtics.
I mean can I guess it's hard for me to kind of figure out the pathway. The Celtics have a clean injury report now, which is huge obviously with Drew Holiday missing time last series and Jaylen Brown's been banged up. Porzingis, you know, the next need Jalden Brunson to be an absolute superhero and he's dealing with Drew Holliday and Derek White and a little bit of Jaylen Brown and then you know Porzingis and Horford and the paint. I don't know. Maybe call Anthony Towns has a series of his life, but this would be a massive upset.
Karl Anthony Townes, you mean the greatest shooting big men of all time?
Spiks promote self proclaimed greatest shooting big man of all time.
Who is the greatest shooting big man of all time?
I mean, you know, I'm based in Dallas. There's a German seven foot fellow by the name of Dirt Novitski who probably would stay claim of that title. I mean, I guess you could tell me, well, he was a power forward, not a big man, but that's the guy who revolutionized the league as a seven footer who was bombing away. And that's the dude who's six all time on the score and the list gave him the.
Nod best shooting center of all time.
Now Cat has a claim there, He has a real claim there.
Now you know the knock there would be.
Yeah, but he's had his most playoff success when they had to pair him with another big man because he's not a defensive anchor. And nobody ever accused Dirk of being a defensive anchor either.
He was an anchor. He was being weighed down. He had an anchor on his back there. But you know, we were talking about this when you talk about players who had a signature move that changed the game or a style like Dirk changed the game for all big men. Steph with his ability to shoot threes, Harden to a certain degree, with his.
To one hundred percent degree. Okay, well now that step back, that step back changed the game for sure. And what Luca has done with that that started with Harden one hundred percent, Like Harden was launching more step back threes than like the rest of the league combined. Early on during that that Houston run and the step back three became a common weapon because of Harden, just like that one legged fadeaway became a common weapon because of Dirk, so Harden absolutely gets credit for the step back revolution.
Now does Sharunus Marshall onas or who gets credit for the euro step?
I would say is most commonly associated with Genobili, and Genoba's the guy who took it to the next level, which is always fun to me. I know he played in Europe, but he's not European, so but no, Genobli is the one who that became a move that's in everybody's bag because Genobili had so much success with it.
But it's okay, out of all those moves, what move is used more by more players more often? Is it the eurostep?
Yeah, it's probably got to beat the eurostep. I think every every ballhandler has the eurostep. And you know, it's become a thing where there's so many different variations of it now and now there's the deceleration where these guys, I mean, it's really some of the balance is amazing, where these guys are like balancing on one foot and just letting traffic pass by, or you know, I mean, so it just it gets added on more and more and more and more every year. But yeah, the Eurostep. I will go Eurostep probably the one lager after that, because it's not just the big man, like I mean, Durant has it, Lebron has it. You know a bunch of these, you know, bigger wings and guards had that as well as the big man. And then you know the step back three And I would say you could argue the step back three is maybe the most abused move of those because there are definitely people who are taking step back threees. You're like, yeah, maybe maybe we should just move the ball there.
Have fun. We appreciate you joining us, Tim, Thank you all right, appreciate you having me, Tim McMahon.
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
NBA College Basketball Analyst played fourteen seasons in the NBA. He was there for the call the Clippers and the Nuggets and Jim Joints is on the program. First big concert you ever went to.
Oh Man back in the day was from Toledo, so I thinkured it was a place we used to go to called the Sports Arena and it was ll Cuja run dmc okay, yeah, yeah, that was it.
Did you ever meet those guys once you became famous?
Yes, okay, L L run dmc jed message when I was old. Yeah, when I got to the league, I got a chance to run across his back.
You know. The funny part is Dan back in the nineties.
Now, I came in the league in ninety two. That's when hip hop was just turning the corner from the late eighties to nineties. So and I used to be in New York and LA a lot, so we would run into We would all be kind of at the same kind of places, whether that's restaurants or nightclubs or event or whatever. So it was it was funny because back then it was just they were big. They were big, don't get me wrong, but you know, you didn't have the social media and everything like that, and hip hop was just starting to take off. So I got a chance to meet a lot of the early hip hop artists, actresses, actors, uh uh, things like that back in the day that we see now that are older, of course, but during that time and it was it was a different time period.
Did you ever flirt during a game?
Of course, to who I'm not telling you that.
Why not?
Because some limitations is all.
I'm old.
I forgot like Hallie Barry, did you I've never.
Seen Hollie at a game. I went to a Janet show.
Did you flirt with Janet Jackson?
She never was at it? Well, no, she was at a game.
Hey.
Actually, I tell you the truth. One year her concerts concert tour. Uh it was? It was it velvet rope. I figure it was. I saw it three times Dallas, Detroit, and I was at the close out show in New York.
If Janet Jackson said, would you get fifty for me? Jimmy, what points would would?
You wouldn't try to get no.
No, no, Wait for Janet Jackson, you wouldn't.
No, no, no, no no. I would try to get fifty for myself. Oh and then she could witness it. But no, not for her. That three that'll throw your game. O, Dan, you're trying too hard.
I try to you get your teammates looking at you like you're crazy. Man.
All right, you saw up close and personal Clippers vow out and the James Harden question. What happens to him in these big games?
Man?
It's it's a tough one because I'm really close to.
The situation because I covered the Clippers all year.
And this this year, Jane, I just thought this was with everything coming together, Kawhi coming back, James basically manning the ship the entire year until I mean, you know to the games where Kawahi came back along with you feature Zuba to improve. He mentally was up for you know, most Improved Player of the Year, then Norman Norman Pole, who was up for six Men of the Year. And going into this series, I knew Denver was gonna be tough just because and despite firing Michael Malone, they were just connected a little bit different.
They've been playing not.
As well go down the stretch of the season, but they just it was just something about him. And James was up and down in this series. When he was good, he was good. When he wasn't, He wasn't when he was engaged early, like in Game six he was a difference maker. In Game seven, that same engagement just wasn't there. And a lot of what happens with the Clippers is based around the temperament of James and when I mean his body language, when he's really aggressive offensively, the team tends to follow that. I thought the first quarter was great. I thought, okay, I said, okay, we got something here Game seven in Denver, but too many mental errors and mistakes limited to that and James never found his rhythm. And I thought, this year, Dan, if any, this is when he could have quieted a lot of that noise about lack of playoff success, especially in game seven, because with Dan, James didn't have to go score twenty five to thirty points. But if he gives you eighteen with tennis sists, twelve assistant he's controlling temple and he's getting guys the ball, and he's actively being defensive minded, then a lot of that narrative and out of that noise, a lot of that chirping.
A lot of people now.
Say, well, James has done a great job leading the Clippers, but that didn't happen, and as a result, a team that I thought could get to the Western Conference finals, you know, lost to a great team with the Nuggets.
Would you rather have James Harden's career? Russell westbrooks.
Oh oh. I think both are gonna be Hall of famers.
First balance, both are.
Going to have asterisk by it.
Russ still has a chance right now because whatever Denver does, it's going to be on his record, you know. So if they do something special, I say, that's a great question, Dan, because both have accomplished so much.
Where there's MVPs, where there's.
Scoring titles with James, you know, triple double crowns for Russell.
Man.
I don't know, that's it. That's a good one right there, Dan, I don't know. I would really have to dig into it, but off hand I would say, I would say, James.
Watching the Nuggets and I was curious how they respond, you know, firing Michael Malone. Yeah, but you're saying you see a different team now then maybe we saw at the end of the year or you know when he got fired. What kind of chance do you give them against OKC?
So I'll give them a great chance now. But here's the difference.
It's okay, see, I mean they're coming off a tough turnaround.
You just played Saturday and.
Now you gotta go to an Okay, see who's been sitting for It's not it feels like two weeks now like they's been sitting out.
But that's a tough turnaround, Okay.
The thing about it is leadership, a voice when things go left Yoki's just stepped up in that manner, and I saw a lot of that in our series. Despite Adamman not having the experience on the bench, you got it on the court where Aaron Gordon, Christian Brown has been there, h Jamal Murray and Jokis. Of course they've been there. They've been in those dog fights, so you lean into that a little bit more. They're gonna have to lean in that, into that and the tough Okac team defensively, Who're gonna take a lot away because the thing about beating Denver is this Jokis beat you and he gets forty points, Okay, but he beats you when he's spraying the ball around and you're helping and Christal Brown is going back door and he's throwing the lot to Aaron Gordon. I think okay See is disciplined enough that they can play one on one with Jokic, stay at home with the other players, and just force Jokis to have to beat them one on one. And I think that's the key advantage that Denver has. I mean the Nuggets have because they get throw so many bodies at those other guys.
Talking to Jim Jackson, Fox Turner, NBA college basketball analyst. He was on the call for the Clippers and the Nuggets. If you look at top five players in the NBA right now, who would you say they are? I was going to ask you, I'm the host.
Uh, I'll try to put it back on you dead. I wanted to see what what you gonna say?
I'm the captain now, okay, all right, all right? So who's your top five?
Top five?
Steph Jokic, Steph Jokich, Giannis s g A, s g A because those sort of m VP. I think SGA ends up winning it this year.
So you think Steph's a top five player?
Yeah, I still think he is.
You would take him over Anthony Edwards.
Now put Anthony Edwards right, I mean right now? Yeah, if I'm picking my five, I'm picking those five right there.
Okay, So Joker, s g A, Steph Jannis and Anthony Edwards, Anthony Edwards, Jason Tatum doesn't make it in Huh.
He's right, he's right there. I mean again, it's not a slight on anybody.
But that he's like.
Jason.
I think Jason is like Steth, like all of those guys. I think have something that they do great. Jason doesn't have anything he does great, but he's a great player. He does so many things well. He can shoot it, he can post up, he can defend, he can rebound. Steph has something, you know what I mean, that's different. Jokis has something that's different. Sga has something that's different, and so does Anthony Edwards. But you look at Jason the totality in which he plays. I love to have him on my team. That would be because he can do a little bit of everything. It's not that he has one quality that stands out amongst above everything else, but he's so good at what he does. I think a lot of people take it for granted. I really do, because you look at the face of the league and things of that nature, Jason Tatum name comes up.
But if you're talking about actually.
Winning and playing the game, he does it as well as anybody. So that's not a slight to me on Jason Tatum of not being in the top five.
But Luca's not in your top five, No, what happened? He never was. Luca was never a top final players fan.
No, No, I think Luca and I give Steph this and that.
Teeter with that fifth one, because you got Steph, you got Luca, you got Jason Tatum.
You can flip fop those three all day long and I wouldn't be mad. And I love.
Luca, but I went back and looked at some film of Luca when he first got in the league, and how slim Luca was, and how quick his first step was, how dedicated he was to getting well. But he's a dedicated player, but his defensive level has dropped off, and that hurts because he compromises. And I'm not saying nothing. Steve Nash wasn't a great defensive player. Steph is not a great defensive player. But they did give the effort. They did give the effort. Now you can have you can go through examples of every player and pull out film of them getting beat defensively. Okay, especially when you're Steph or Luca, Steve Nash, guys like that.
You can always do that.
But the latter two gave the effort a lot more and a lot of times. That's the deterrent with Luca is that if you saw that series in Minnesota, they went after, they made sure they put him in actions. They did that with Steph, they did it with Steve. But at least they gave that consistent effort to try to play, to try to get over a pick and roll, to try to get back in front of their guy.
A lot of times. Luca, I don't know.
Maybe he's preserving a lot of that energy for the offensive end and not being in tip top shape because if he does that, Dan, it's unbelievable. If he gets back to if he drops ten to fifteen pounds and gets back to that and dedicates himself with a little bit more at a little bit more on the defensive end, I mean, it's unbelievable what he can do in the court.
How long before we have a guy making one hundred million in a season.
Well, part of that, I mean, part of the decision with I think the Mavericks dead was that three hundred and fifty million by five years they weren't willing to pay, you know, to Luca, we're getting close. Wimby maybe that guy, because Wemby goes through his rookie deal, signs a extension and then plays a couple of years of that and then boom, if he's Winby, like we think, I think he'll be that guy that gets a hundred million, because where he's tracking right now, if he gets to that point.
How do you think crowds are going to react when somebody's making a hundred million and they're in street clothes?
It will be flat out anarchy. I mean, now, how how is he in street cloths? Is he always in street clothes?
Well, load management, Let's just say it's loading management, you know, because used to be you guys took great pride in trying to play it.
Every game we did, you did and guys wanted to play. And I'm not saying guys, listen, I'll tell you what we're talking about. James Harden, right, this dude want to who No matter what you want to say about James Harden, he wants to play a lot of guys in the league want to put it now, you again, you're talking about the top one percent of the league that we're talking about here that are in street clothes that people are going to be upset about. They're not going to be upset if Rudy Gobert is in the street clothes, or you know, if it's Kristan Brown.
I mean, seriously, but we're talking about the lead of the league. Now.
The NBA just signed this big TV deal. You got now Amazon coming on board, you got NBC, maybe Netflix, you got still the ESPNS. So the product is dependent upon the superstars playing. But how do you enforce that because to the detriment of the league in some aspects, with the analytics and the teams, they dictate more than anything who plays, how and when, and how many games and minutes and sits out. So a coach a lot of times and or a player doesn't have full control of that situation. And that's the troubling part of it because the product is dependent upon the superstars playing. At the end of the day, as you know, I don't care what sport it is. And the beauty about football is you got sixteen eighteen games. Each one matters, right, those superstars are out there playing, so you got a finite time period to watch them play, and they got to play in order to get to a super Bowl. They got to be out there. And if they're injured, they can play. If they're hurt, they're not. That's the difference, and it's hurt the product. I think in a lot of aspects. Know where you're going with that question, and it would be somebody out there now a guy like Wenby. I think like Giannis, who loves to play. I don't think fits in that category because they just want to get out there and play.
I can't imagine pat Riley saying the magic I'm gonna have you sit, or Phil Jackson saying to Michael, Hey, I'm gonna have you sit, or you know, Tommy Heinzen telling Larry Murdy, You're gonna have to sit. I just I can't envision.
Phil Jackson telling that to Kobe Yeah, are you kidding me? But just what I try to understand.
But it's part of Pop's legacy that Papovich had no problem telling his stars I'm gonna rest you.
But it wasn't but it was see at the time, it felt bad because it was new, but it wasn't as much as it was strategical when he did it, especially when it got later in the year getting ready for the playoffs.
He knew his position.
He knew that, okay, maybe we were not the number one seed, but we're good enough that in that first round series, we get the game on the road, we got home court advantage. That's what he used it for in my viewpoint, my opinion, But at the time that he did it. It was so new and he was so honest, but why he was doing it just shocked everybody. But you think about this, Dan, it's and and my son is thirty two and I grew up you know, AAU side and social media with him. You got to meet these young men and women where they're at. What they know is what they know that's in front of them, how I played eighty two games in the nineties and rough and they understand it, they saw it, but they don't have a reality of it because their reality is what they see now. So I got to meet them where they're at and talk to them in that bas and my expectations are not limited, but I can't expect them what they're seeing when see. The problem is it's okay for a lot of guys that when they say you don't have to play, they're fine with it. They're fine with it. And that is a problem. And how do you change that with a generation that has grown up seeing that and knowing.
That it's okay to miss games.
When I was coming in, it wasn't okay one because you're worried about one losing that position in that spot, you know, and the perception wise that you I think we took At that time it was a pride thing to see how many, how close you could get to play an eighty two games.
That was a badge of honor.
But a lot of the participants today don't look at it like that.
It's how good I can be in what number of games?
And that's it now and that But that's not all Anthony Edwards wants to play. I mean you can't. You got to rip him off the court. So you know, it goes both ways. And it'll be interesting to see with this new crop of young players that are going to lead the league. She Alexander he loves to play, okay, that they want to be out there on the court, and if it adjusts a little bit more. And I hate the conversation too about why should we have to peel back and shorten the season. I mean, you can't do it anyway because the TV is too much money. Those eighty two games matter. You take off ten, that's that's money lost, millions and millions of dollars lost. That's not gonna happen. Well, you don't think they get rid of All Star Game and all of that is money. It's tied into your TV contract. Why you think they're adding into you know the play ad and you know the postseason because it's part of TV, so you can't.
You're not going to shorten the season.
Always great to connect with you have fun in the offseason. Thanks for joining us. You got a captain that is Jim Jackson.
