Denver Live Show: Tim Hardaway Jr. Plus Zach’s All-NBA Picks.

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Coming up on the Zack Glow show, it's me in my hotel room.

I promise you I am not in a bathroom.

This is just what the background of my hotel work area looks like.

I'm not trapped in a bathroom.

I am trapped in a hotel room with bad Wi-Fi though, which stinks.

However, I am about to go over to the Film World Auditorium in Denver

to do a loaded live show about the Western Conference

and a bunch of other stuff.

And before that, I wanted to come on,

make my final awards picks, very dicey awards season.

A lot, I labored over for a long time, flipped and flopped

and flipped and flopped.

Made my final picks.

Gonna talk quickly about the Bucks and Doc Rivers.

Mark Stein and Jake Fisher just reported James Barago

will be a candidate for New Orleans head coaching

position, but was not just given the job after doing a pretty

solid job in the interim.

Doug Christie, Kang's just Kang's in a round.

So we'll do some awards.

We'll do some coaching talk.

And then the live show, it's not just Denver stuff.

We're going to talk about entertainment value rankings

of all the first round series.

We're going to pick play in games.

We're going to talk MVP and legacies and things that are at stake

in the playoffs.

And then we'll talk some Denver stuff to Tim Hardaway juniors

coming on at the end.

That's all coming up on a funky edition of the Zach Lo Show.

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All right, it's time.

No more dilly dallying, no more delaying.

Regular season is over.

All the games are in the books.

It's time to give out some awards.

One of the hardest award seasons, top to bottom,

I've ever had since I've been doing this 15-16.

However many years it has been.

We'll start with the big kahuna,

most valuable player of the NBA.

And for the second straight year,

I think it should be Shayk Gilz-Dazalegzander.

By a little bit over Nicole Yokat,

you I have second, Wembee third,

Jalen Brown fourth, Donovan Mitchell fifth.

If Luca Donovan just wins his appeal,

and I hope that he does, but I don't know that he will,

in fact, I would probably bet against him winning it

just because I think the NBA is really going to try

to draw a line in the sample.

We'll see.

I would have him fourth, not Jalen fifth,

not Donovan off the ballot.

I probably would have found a spot for Anthony Edwards

that he been eligible.

He's a few games short.

This was Yokic's award as of Christmas.

A couple of masterpiece games,

including that crazy Minnesota game on Christmas.

He had vaulted past Shay.

He was having a historically unbelievable season,

even by his standards, one of the greatest seasons

in the history of the NBA.

And then he got hurt, and he missed some time.

And Denver survived without him.

I don't hold that against him at all.

In fact, all of these teams survived

without their best players to varying degrees.

Very impressive.

Cade Cunningham would have been probably,

probably actually would have made my ballot

over Anthony Edwards, actually,

if he and Jalen Brown have he had qualified.

I should have mentioned him.

Piston survived without him.

I don't hold that against anybody.

But he wasn't this quite the same guy

for the first 15 to 20 games after he came back.

Defense had slipped a little bit.

Turnovers ratcheted up and just bizarre,

like non-Yokic kind of turnovers.

And I just think Shay, like a freaking metronome,

just every game, 30 points,

efficient shooting, very good defense for his position.

He's not just like along for the ride being tugged

by all the elite defensive players

that Oklahoma City has.

He's part of the machine.

One of the best rim protecting guards in the league

has great hands.

You can't really hunt them down.

He's big and rangel and he tries really hard.

He's a plus on that end.

I don't really buy Stan Van Gundy's argument.

He made the case for Yokic, very convincing case.

He could, like this should be a close vote.

Yokic has done that much in the last three weeks

of the season to like reinvigorate his case.

I don't buy the argument that Stan made,

that they're equivalent as defenders.

Even though Yokic's size means he's an incredible reenbounder,

one of the best defensive rebounders in the league

and those defensive rebounds translate right into offense,

right into Denver's absolutely unstoppable,

number one in the league with the bullet offense.

I just don't think they're the same level defensively

and Shay, 55% from the field for a guard at 30 plus the game

is ridiculous.

Thought his playmaking went up this year,

leveled up a little bit this year.

And you know, just like he's absolutely incredible.

Like I don't know what else to say about the guy.

I think it also has to be mentioned,

AJ Mitchell 57 games,

Alex Caruso 56 games,

Isaiah Hartonstein 47 games,

and Jailung Williams 33 games.

So like the team was generally not there.

And with Shay on the floor,

121 offensive rating, 105 defensive rating,

that's plus 16 and a half boom elite without him 110107.

So plus three net difference about plus 13.

That one 10 numbers interesting.

That's like way below average at the team level on offense.

And here we are all these years later.

We just don't have any evidence if AJ Mitchell and Caruso

had played more they didn't.

We don't have any evidence that the thunder

have like a functional high level, medium level,

whatever NBA offense without Shay's ability to score

and play make and not turn the ball over,

which is a huge part of his skill set.

It's just like their offense just isn't close to good enough

when he's not on the floor.

Obviously the nuggets as usual are like plus a lot.

I think it's a plus 11 with the old coach on the floor

and minus a little bit with him off the floor.

Spurs are plus 17 ish I think.

So about the same that rating as Shay with Wembee on the floor

and dead even without him.

So all of these guys have airtight cases.

We know about Wembee's defense.

I just think Shay start to finish

who's been by a little bit the MVP.

If you wanted to award it to Yokecatch,

when are you against you?

Anyone else I'd kind of argue against you considering Wembee played

so many fewer minutes, about 400 fewer minutes than these guys.

So Shay back to back MVP's for me

and the wins have to matter too.

Like it's not as big of a gap as it was last year

but the thunder had been the best team all season

and they've been wildly better with him on the floor

and they finished with 10 more wins in the nuggets.

It's not 18 like it was last year

so it's not dispositive on its own.

But I'm going Shay MVP.

All right, let's dispense with some easy ones.

Defensive player of the year, Wembee,

it should be unanimous, Chet Hombren

and Assar Thompson would be my ballot.

Most improved player, Nikiya Alexander Walker,

Jalen Duren, Ryan Rollins would be my ballot.

Nikiya Alexander Walker, one of the absolute best stories

of not just this season but the past three, four,

or five years in the NBA.

This is, he is the embodiment of what this award should be.

This is the most wishy watchy award.

You can give it to a million different players every year.

You guys, guys like Dennis Jenkins

that barely even played that.

I think he played 23 minutes last year.

Now he's a six minute year candidate.

He's almost more like a rookie than an improved player.

Nikiya Alexander Walker is like mid career

astonishingly leveling up.

In a way that you just don't see guys average

nine points a game, 10 points a game,

go to a team to be a backup to an All Star guard

like Trey Young and then suddenly,

oh, he's just a 21 a game score shooting 40%

on a crazy number of threes

and he's one of the better,

if not one of the best defensive guards in the entire league.

He embodies the spirit in that he's not like a second

or third year guy making like the expected

age appropriate jump or even a big jump by those standards.

He's even a fourth year guy like Duren.

He's like middle of the road career dumped by New Orleans,

dumped by Utah dumped by Portland.

I wouldn't quite say dumped by Minnesota.

They had a money choice to make between Nikiya and Naze Reed.

They chose Naze Reed for reasons that frankly,

still makes sense to me.

He's a very good player, six man to the year candidate.

They had these young guards notably,

dealing him kind of in line to take the Nikiya role.

They were not able to take it.

And so the wolves had to go through a whole rig

and were all to get Iodosumniu in there.

And he's a six man to the year candidate too.

And then Nikiya goes to Atlanta and just absolutely explodes.

It's such an awesome story.

He's a hard worker.

But I was at a hawk shoot around in Brooklyn.

I want to say it was like eight to 10 games into the season,

like super early.

And the hawks were kind of scuffling,

just calling their way around.

They were probably around 500 a game under.

They're playing the nets who stink.

And shoot rounds getting done.

I'm talking to some of the coaches

and I walk back to the media area.

And it kills like 10 paces in front of me, walking by himself.

And just muttering out loud like it's a big game, man.

We've got to win this game.

We've got to take care of these games.

So big game.

We can't let these games go to waste.

Just walking back to the hawks locker room,

talking to nobody but himself about what an important game,

like the 10th game of the season against a Krapo Brooklyn

nets team was.

And I had to always stuck with me.

This guy cares about the right stuff.

He's the most improved player.

There's a million different candidates,

but that's my ballot.

Coach of the year, Joe Mizzula, JB Bickerstaff, Mitch Johnson.

I think Mizzula and Bickerstaff are a clear one, two,

in whatever order you want to put him in.

I think Mizzula is fast approaching,

if not equal to somebody like Spowe

as the most tactically sophisticated coach in the entire NBA.

And obviously his relentlessness, his demand for perfect execution,

for unrelenting effort has radiated

throughout the entire Celtic team.

And this is a staff award, too.

This honors the player development staff of the Celtics

who has turned all of these role players, like Baylor Shireman,

Jordan Walsh, Hugo Gonzalez, Luca Garza, Ananon,

into better players than anybody thought

that they could be in an opportunity

that they had never gotten before.

To the point that the Celtics just dusted the Orlando Magic

who needed to win the game,

even though they treated the game as a formality

by sending Desmond Bay and back over to the bench

to just chill out after getting 82 games.

They're like, oh my God, Desmond, we need you.

The backup Celtics are beating us.

What a farce that was by the Orlando Magic,

congrats on finishing eighth in the East, by the way.

Bickerstaff instills that same culture.

I thought his lineup combinations were largely on point.

J.J. Red squeeze 50 plus wins at Lakeers,

and at Lakeers fans, remember,

who is the only one who took the Lakers over?

This guy, Lakers, Lakers.

Who else?

Certainly Darko Rack of It's Charles Lee,

Quincy Knight or Mark Dagdoll.

I think I've picked him the last two years.

Same coach, like I don't,

should be still just pick him.

They have the best team.

They do crazy creative stuff all the time.

David Adelman, Thiago Splitter,

those are some of the names I put.

But Mitch Johnson,

60 whatever wins that the Spurs got,

that's pretty crazy.

They have a sort of unwieldy roster of young guys,

veterans, young guards learning on the fly,

and he is deserves credit, I think,

for helping make that all work.

So he gets my third spot.

Okay.

Let's go to the hardest ones.

Six man of the year.

There are a lot of candidates.

And the leading two, I think,

Hi, my Hock is Jr. and Keldin Johnson.

Are leaving pundits a little bit cold?

Like there's this general feeling

that there's not a slam dunk.

Six man of the year, like there is in a lot of seasons.

And I kind of understand that.

Hock has who put up 16, 5 and 5 off the bench.

You know, 30 ish percent on threes.

I thought his defense dropped off a little bit

as his role on offense increased.

You know, just he or kind of a mediocrity.

Keldin Johnson, outstanding shooting,

but dipped down to 36% on threes by the end of the season.

Very well rounded player for the Spurs attacks.

Clothes out can defend up and down,

but particularly up the positional spectrum.

We've seen defend.

Yo, could you?

But there's also the feeling that the Spurs have like three

legit six man of the year candidates in him

until in Harper and Luke Cornet.

So is he is like valuable?

The valuable quotient is something we don't often put into this

discussion, but I think it belongs in this one.

So I've seen people pick guys like Isaiah Stewart

or put Isaiah Stewart on the ballot.

Alex Caruso, Dennis Jenkins, Luke Cornet,

Scott and some love.

To me, a bunch like AJ Mitchell,

I heard a couple of people pick him to win it.

I just don't think those guys have played enough minutes

and we're talking five, 600 minutes less

than the two leading candidates.

And I get that you could just go with who's been

the best player off the bench.

And for portions of the season,

that could have been AJ Mitchell who's been outstanding.

It could have been Dennis Jenkins when Kate was hurt,

but it's just a lot of minutes to make up.

So here's how I ordered my ballot.

I went, Hi, my Hakka's Jr. 1, Keldin Johnson 2,

and I always assumed new 3.

And I was a weird case to put over all the guys I mentioned,

plus Nas Reed and Reed Shepard and Tim Hardaway Jr.

Quentin Grimes, and there's a million guys.

He's a weird case.

He's got traded mid season and his net,

the team's net ratings with him on the floor

are about the same, but like that guy just pops.

He was mid 40s on 3s the entire year.

He completely transformed parts of Minnesota's offense

the moment he got there with his speed, his ability

to attack an open space, helped them win some games

when Ant was hurt and McDaniels was hurt.

And they were trying to figure out who to play

and how to play him.

I think he had an awesome season.

And Hakka's over Keldin Johnson is a really tough call.

Keldin Johnson's like a heart and soul guy on that team.

I talked about his defense already.

I talked about the sort of like, I don't want to say holes

in Hi, my Hakka's Jr.s game, but the parts of it

that leave you a little cold.

He's still shot, I think 50.

Let me just check it out to make sure.

I think like 55% 52% on twos, like a pretty solid number

on twos, five dimes of game.

And the value quotient tipped it for me.

Like Tyler, here are a Mr. Bunch of games.

Like half the season almost made me more.

Norm Powell, Mr. Bunch of games.

Dave were just without like Terry Rozier,

just obviously we know what happened with Terry Rozier

was a non-entity.

They were just without a lot of guys all the time.

And he played more minutes per game than Keldin Johnson.

He's almost 30 minutes a game.

And he felt integral to how they played.

They're hard driving one on one, fast break,

ISO heavy style.

He just felt so integral to their team

that I think without him, they lose a little bit more

than the spurs would lose without Keldin Johnson.

Although they don't have a player quite exactly

like his archetype, heres and barns is kind of close.

So I went with Hi, my Hakka's Jr.

By the way, the great myth of the Miami Heat Off offense,

please people stop telling me that because they average

a million points a game, this is the greatest offense

in the history of the heat.

I've heard that a few times before,

what an incredible offensive year.

But they're like 15th in offensive efficiency.

How are we still doing this, where we don't understand pace

and points per possession?

All right, now the hardest one.

Rookie of the year.

I flip flopped on this one 10 times during the season.

I was ready to tilt Cooper Flag in the winter

when he had the 49 point game, which I think was against

Charlotte and a couple other big games after that.

I thought he passed Khan.

Then he got hurt.

Khan ended up playing 10, 12 more games,

a couple hundred more minutes, something like that.

This comes down to this for me.

Khan Canipple is better than Cooper Flag at one thing.

It just so happens that the one thing

is like the most important thing in basketball,

which is shooting the basketball.

He's not just a good three point shooter.

He's an A plus three point shooter,

led the league in three point shooting.

And it's three point shooting is like, it's the meta skill.

It's the skill that unlocks all of your other skills.

You're a better driver because guys have to close out anymore.

Because you're a better driver,

you have more passes that you have access to.

So you're a better passer.

And all of those things lift up your teammates

because they are the recipients of those drives

and passes.

You're a better screener.

And boy, have they leaned into guard guard screens

that all sort off the ball on the ball, whatever,

in Charlotte, under Charles Lee.

You're a better screener because guys have to stick to you.

And it's panic time when you screen and flare out

and screen and cut to the rim

and Khan can make plays short rolling to the rim.

And that's why all the advanced stats love him.

It's not close between him and Cooper Flag.

Every warp and snorke, I've got him all charted.

They all are like pretty adamant.

Khan Canipple is the rookie of the year.

You can say Cooper Flag fattened up at the end of the season

and tanky games against bad teams

or when Dallas was not competitive, fine.

Like he did it pretty efficiently for the most part.

But again, all the advanced stats point Khan.

And this is very unlike me because I think normally

I would just sort of end the analysis there.

Like when all the advanced stats are screaming

pretty loudly that it's the same guy,

I usually go with that guy.

And I'm not going with that guy.

I'm going to pick Cooper Flag in the end.

And I think, first of all,

the advanced stats get narrowed toward the end of the season.

Still, it's still sizeable, but Cooper caught up a little bit.

And I can hear the Hornets fan saying,

the Hornets are better with Khan on the floor

than they are off the floor by a bit.

Now, they're not good when Khan plays with Alamello,

we'll get there.

The maps are about the same with Flag on or off the floor.

The shooting efficiency is not close on two or three.

It's actually kind of close on two.

I think he got to, let's see, flag finished,

51% on two is Khan 55% on two.

The true shooting is obviously not close

because of the three is Khan 42 and 1 1 1 2

and 1 1 1 2, Cooper Flag 29 1 1 1 2,

which I'm going to round up to 30 just because I'm nice.

I guess this for me is like a shooting can't be the whole thing.

Cooper Flag putting up 21, 7 and 5 on semi-respectable,

47% from the floor, semi-respectable shooting numbers.

On this team, I think people that weren't watching the Mavericks

just don't have any idea how busted this roster was.

Like, sometimes there was a point guard, sometimes there wasn't.

Sometimes there was a point guard who's a Glee

or sometimes there was no point guard.

Sometimes there was a representative starting center

in Daniel Gafford, sometimes it was Dwight Powell,

sometimes it was no center at all.

Derek Lively didn't play the entire season.

PJ Washington played here and there.

It was just a complete mess of a roster

and it's completely distinct from what Khan enjoyed in Charlotte

where he got to play with Lamello Ball

who's a borderline all NBA candidate and was healthy.

Brandon Miller, who had a breakout season and was healthy.

Musadee Abate rounded out their starting five.

Miles Bridges had a good season.

They're benched with Kobe White and Grant Williams

and Cogbrenner and Cian James.

It's like a well-willed machine of a team.

He is at the forefront of it with Lamello and Miller,

but it's very much a three-man machine that is well coached

and Khan defensively Cooper Flag is better.

I should mention that the size and the rebounding

and the defense and I just think what he managed to do

in that team context in Dallas,

to me, the advance that's in the shooting can't be everything.

The all-around play, the defense,

the team context has to matter a little bit.

I think Cooper Flag will be a better player than Khan Canippal.

I'm fine with either choice to be clear.

Here's what you can miss me with and I've seen this

from analysts.

I've heard it privately from people lobbying

for either player.

To me, even though I don't have a ballot,

being like, oh, it's absurd if you pick that guy.

Come on, it's obvious.

Zach, you got to pick our guy.

Come on, Zach, it's absurd.

It's not absurd and it's not obvious.

To me, it's a close race.

The context of the teams are so wildly different

that it's hard to compare.

And I'm just going with the guy that I think

is going to be a better player in the end and did a lot

with little functionality around him by the

slimis of Slimis of margins, which is very unlikely.

I put VJ Edgecomb third because of the minute's issues.

OK, those are the people who play like a thousand more

minutes in Dylan Harper, who I think per minute has

probably been better than VJ Edgecomb,

but the minutes are the minutes.

OK, all NBA, I'll rookie all the defenses

and then we're out here.

All NBA, again, no look up, no kid, no aunt, first team,

Shay, Wembee, Yokech, Jalen Brown, Donovan Mitchell,

my MVP ballot.

Second team, Kawai Leonard.

I can see the argument for him making first team.

He's been better per minute than Jalen Brown,

Donovan Mitchell.

I'm putting him second team.

Jalen Brunson, Jamal Murray, congratulations, Jamal Murray.

All these years, when is Yokech going to play

other than All Star?

When is Yokech going to play with an all NBA guy?

And you kind of thought like, I'm Jamal Murray,

might squeak into the All Star game,

maybe make a third team all NBA, no, second team all NBA.

And he's all NBA, even if the other guys all qualified.

He's all NBA one way or another.

So Kawai, Jalen Brunson, Jamal Murray,

Kevin Durant, unassailable numbers.

And I put Tyrese Maxie on the second team.

He'd be bumped to third team

of all the guys who are healthy, but they're not.

And he just played an enormous amount of minutes

for a team that you did every second.

Third team, Jalen Durin, he's a must, Jalen Johnson.

I think he's a must.

Shed Holmgren, second best defender in the league,

offensively not whatever one dreams of him being,

but still pretty damn good.

Shot it super efficiently from two.

And my last two spots came down to a whole bunch of guys.

Kat, Scottie Barnes, Evan Bobley, Shengoon, James Harden,

Lamello Ball, Danny Abdia, who kind of,

I won't say he struggled because Portland's surgeon

to the eighth seed, but his shooting dropped off

a little bit, his defense dropped off a little bit.

I ultimately won with Carl Anthony Towns

and Scottie Barnes as the last two guys on third team

all NBA.

Obviously they'd get booted if we had a fully healthy

or even semi-fully healthy roster of candidates,

but they are there as all NBA players.

Kat, I think, had kind of underrated seasonously

in a really nice last two months.

Scottie, you're getting nitpicked to three point shooting,

you're gonna take him really anymore.

You just have to consider him more of a four slash five

on offense and you put in his playmaking,

his defense, his finishing at the basket,

his transition play.

I think there's enough there over a bunch of frankly

kind of flawed candidates.

And the advanced stats, really, by the way, if you care,

they also lean Kat among this group.

Lamello's advanced stats are off the charts,

but they kind of protected his minutes

and he's pretty far behind in the minutes category.

So that's all NBA.

What do we got next?

All rookie, this was fun and I flipped flop a bunch of times.

What I did not flip flop on was the big four

or on first team, flag, Kinniple, Edgecomb, Harper.

And I kept Maxine Reno as my fifth first team guy.

Bad team, tanky team, I get it.

He played against starters, he started 56 games,

60% on twos.

And when you watch them, it was functional,

real NBA basketball defensively, he's gonna struggle.

That's fine, he's a rookie, all the rookie struggle

on defense for the most part, not a VJ Edgecomb,

but a lot of them do.

I just think he did a little bit more in a little bit more minutes,

almost 2000 than the guys on my second team,

who are without further ado,

Cedric Coward, who I think is a first team level player,

but kind of didn't play enough after the first half

of the season.

Jeremiah fears some big scoring games late in the season,

big time silly season, but again, not inefficient.

Guys got some zip, some vision, Derek Queen,

tapered off a little bit, he was first team halfway

through the season, his second team now, Ace Bailey.

And then my last spot, first I had Ryan Colkbrenner

halfway through the season.

Then two weeks ago, a week ago, I had Will Riley.

A week ago, I had Will Riley.

And in the end, I'm going with Colin Murray-Boyles.

I just look, this is the 10th spot on second team, Allroki.

He's behind both of those other guys, Colkbrenner and Riley,

in minutes.

And I just don't really care.

For the 10th spot, I'm gonna go with the guy

who is impacting winning on a real team.

And since he came back from his thumb injury,

particularly the last 10 games of the season,

that guy has been a freaking force on both ends of the floor.

He makes winning plays all game-long,

tipped out rebounds, offensive putbacks,

good extra passes.

I'd like to see him shoot more.

He has a little bit of layup phobia sometimes

that I think is probably linked to his thumb injury.

He's an Ace defender.

He's just more of an impact player for a good team right now.

Then Will Riley, who put up awesome numbers,

did clean up in garbage time in some games,

and we all know Wizard games have a lot of garbage time.

And Colkbrenner is a rock solid choice.

He protects the rim really well.

And he finishes around the rim really well.

I'm just going with CMB.

Then all defense, last but not least,

first team, Wembee, Sartonson, Bam out of bio,

and Scotty Barnes.

I flipped him onto first team.

Second team, OGN and OB, Case and Wallace,

Rudy Gobert, Derek White.

And Dyson Daniels, who I don't think has got enough credit

for a really good season on both ends of the ball

of the day, and his three-point shooting.

A lot of other candidates, but those are my final awards picks.

Apologies to Bill Simmons and the Bill Simmons Taxi Uber Service.

I might get fired, who knows?

Stock out in Milwaukee, not a shocker.

See what happens.

Janis, with yet more ambiguous comments on Trash Bag Day,

saying he doesn't control, he's not totally in control

of his future.

True to a degree, the bucks have to actually offer an extension.

And if they do, and you sign it,

you do see some level of control over your future.

They can now after a certain amount of time

trade you against your wishes to anywhere you want to go.

But just stop with the like, it's not in my control.

I don't know what they're doing.

Now, for the playing time thing, that's their decision.

I think it was a fair decision, but that is their decision.

That was not in his control.

He's right about that.

The general like, my future in Milwaukee is not up to me.

Yeah, it is.

You hold a lot of the cards.

You're going into an extension eligible summer.

You will signal to them whether you're likely or unlikely

to sign it at some point.

And when you do that, you will determine

their course of action.

James Braco, I think he did a really good job in New Orleans.

I hope they actually give him a fair shake.

I hope this isn't one of those things

where they have the candidates already secretly in mind,

but we're going to give you a token interview.

He committed full boards of that team.

They got much more competitive when

he took over for Willie Green.

He deserves a real shot at it.

If he doesn't get this job, James Braco

deserves another shot somewhere in the NBA.

And the Kings are keeping Doug Christie as their head coach.

Whoo.

You would have thought that the intentional foul

on Seth Curry in the bonus in a close game

would have been maybe the last straw.

No, in fact, we're going to proactively come out

and leak to our favorite reporters sources

say we're keeping Doug Christie.

I mean, OK, I guess it doesn't matter who coaches

the Kings next year.

I guess it just they don't care.

I have not seen or heard of anything

on the court from around the team that

would suggest that the Kings, if they wanted to,

could not find a better coach for next season.

Did Doug Christie?

Now you can say the Kings were competitive

to the end of the year and they were finished like whatever,

9 and 10 in the last 19 games, whatever BS record they got.

Congratulations, they'd be a bunch of tankers.

Levine missed the whole end of the season.

Don't miss most of the season.

Keegan Murray missed a lot of the same.

I mean, we can go on and on.

It was a lost year.

He finally, Doug Christie finally remembered

that Devon Carter and Nick Clifford were like on the team

and our first round picks.

And maybe we should try to play them more and played Reynault quite a lot

as well.

Like Nick Clifford, by the way, he's got a little herky jerky

to his game.

I think he's going to be decent.

And next year, yeah, you get all the guys

healthy, you get a top whatever pick.

You might be rare on the go.

The only way that the only way this makes sense

is there are only two ways this makes sense.

Number one, Vivek loves Doug Christie.

Check the vek love.

If you played for the Kings in the early 2000s,

you're in forever.

And if you ever go out like Vade Devon,

you can always come back in.

The vek might be embarrassed to pay yet another coach to go away.

Probably check.

And Scott Perry, the GM, gets to kick the,

I fired my coach card down the line,

another transaction cycle or two.

Because once you do that once or twice, you're next up.

So I'm shocked.

I thought for sure they'd turn to another coach.

They did not, but the Kings are going to Kang.

And that's it for my awards.

You hate them, love them.

I agonized over them.

I looked at all the stats.

I watched all the games, et cetera, et cetera.

Those are my picks.

Take them or leave them.

And now onto the live show in Denver.

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The playoffs are almost here.

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Every quarter, every half has a new adjustment

that you got to really be dialed in to track.

Oh, that guy's guarding that guy now.

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What a big day for Denver Nuggets fans.

They get the three seed and the hardest possible road

to the finals.

Their superstar player is probably going to come second

in MVP voting and the Zach Lo Show is in town

for one night only with the one and only,

the MVP of the ringer, the MVP of Grandland,

Chris Ryan in the house.

Denver, it's great to meet you.

Joelle does not know what he's missing.

No, it's awesome to be here, thanks Zach.

He will be anointed the official Joelle and beat

aologist, we will make him do that later.

So Denver, by the way, awesome city.

Always love coming here, the weather is unbelievable.

By way of intro, I had never been to Denver before

the fall of 2017 and I came because Nikoli Okach was

in his third season, the Nuggets had just signed

Paul Milsaap, remember Paul Milsaap?

Yeah!

Total badass player and kind of a landmark signing

for the Nuggets member, he spurned other teams

to come play for the Denver Nuggets, that didn't happen.

And I was like, I gotta go meet this guy,

I gotta go see this up close because he was clearly special.

I think Joelle Okach was only 22 years old that year

and he averaged 18, 11 and seven.

Last time he didn't make the All Star team was 2017, 2018.

And the Nuggets had such a weird 20 years, like 90s.

I mean, you guys are, was anyone here alive

and aware of the 90s?

So those people, those people other than De Kenbe,

Matambo, hugging a basketball, lived a very dark time.

Like, Ray Fluff friends was heavily involved.

Nicholas, I can never pronounce Skiida's name.

I think we just go Skiida.

Skiida, like just a very dark time.

And then Mellow got drafted.

Is it how it's, do we like Mellow now?

And it was like, it was a good time.

Yeah.

There are a lot of first round losses, let's just be honest.

There's 2009 when you guys are like two Trevor Risa steels

away from making the NBA finals.

Sorry.

Lakers.

Yeah.

And then the Mellow thing goes sideways,

traded to New York and you have this brief like,

hey, this is a crazy fun team with George Carlin,

Denilla Calinari and Thai Lawson's running around.

And Kenneth Fried is like, dunking stuff.

And then Iqoodala.

We're going to get to Iqoodala.

We're going to get, we're going to get to Iqoodala.

If Andre were here, he would be like, that's not enough boost.

I want more, I want more boost.

And then there was like this, that period kind of ended with that

warrior series that they lose in the first round.

Gallo got hurt right before that series.

We'll never know how far that's here.

That was, that was, we both love that team.

The George Carlin, not just.

I adore that.

The Ray Felt and Thai Lawson team.

Is that right then, right?

They're around that era of a Reed, Galenari, Javeil McGee.

George Carlin, pioneered the strategy or maybe Javeil McGee

did by accident of standing out of bounds during the game.

As a way of spacing the floor, Javeil McGee would literally stand

out of bounds.

The NBA had to change the rules to clarify.

You are actually not allowed Javeil McGee to just stand in like the

third row of the audience.

And then it petered out.

And then they get this fat guy from Serbia in the second round

during a Taco Bell commercial.

And as soon as they let him play as a rookie, it was like, whoa,

what is this guy?

And I had to come see him and I met him up close and we talked

and I watched a bunch of games.

That year is the year they missed the playoffs on the last day of

the season.

But they had, remember, they had to fight and win like seven of

their last day just to get down to that game.

That proved like some toughness to me.

The next year they make the playoffs, beat San Antonio in seven,

lose the Portland in seven.

Kind of unremarkable, right?

Like that was not a great Portland team.

It was not like a great showing.

It was fine.

And then the bubble comes and they're getting waxed in the bubble.

Three one, Utah, giving up a million points.

And I remember thinking at that exact moment when they're down

three one, I had like a column ready to go like wrapping up the first

round. And part of the column was like, maybe this just doesn't work.

Maybe like the defense will never be good enough with Yokech and

Murray and whatever else is surrounding them.

And they storm back to win that series.

They storm back to beat the Clippers and then they lose to the Lakers

whatever.

We'll just sift that over here.

And then there's a Jamal Murray injury and all that.

But think about everything that's happened since then.

A championship in 2023.

Three MVP's for Nicole Yokech.

Maybe he should have four.

Maybe he should have four.

Maybe one thing, you know.

And now and now all these years like, is he ever going to play with another

All Star Jamal Murray doesn't just make the All Star team.

He has an incredible year.

He's going to make second team all NBA.

And here we are.

The Denver nuggets are the third seed.

And now this is where I have to allow you to take the floor.

You are representing the entire city of Philadelphia.

The 76ers organization.

Yeah.

I know that you have prepared some remarks about Joel M.

Bied who has not been in Denver.

I mean, I may have been in 2017.

I don't know if he's been here since 2017.

I believe the last time is 19, right?

He hasn't been here in like six years and he does well against Denver in Philly.

I would just like to say I'm sorry.

You know, we've been robbed of like a truly amazing big man rivalry.

I can't explain it.

Rivalry.

Yeah.

I mean, like it could have been.

We've been robbed of it.

And I also think that like I'd like to reach out across the aisle here.

Do you guys and just say, I hope you're happy.

You know, I didn't think that I would be adding to the list of

bells palsy and orbital fracture caused by Mark L. Foltz or

tearing his meniscus up three one against the wizards on a dunk that didn't need to happen

or disfiguring his finger.

But now here we are with a nearly burst appendicitis appendix.

I got I got to see the next episode of the pit to see how that works out.

But yeah, we aren't hell.

This has been going on for years.

Edge cones the only reason I watch basketball edge coming back.

But I hope you guys are happy.

I think you're going to kick ass in the playoffs.

All right.

Well, let's get to it then.

We're going to have some fun.

We got some guests coming after Chris.

We're going to do a little around the NBA stuff now.

Starting with the last day of the season.

Spurs nuggets.

I see a spurs spurs shirt right in the front row.

What are you doing here?

What's happening?

Um, and I thought.

There's mutual interest between the spurs and the nuggets and having the spurs win this game.

The nuggets go down to the foreseed.

They get an easier first round opponent.

The spurs could have manipulated the brackets so that the nuggets and the thunder

would have to play each other.

And they kind of tried to win, except they didn't play their best player.

The nuggets played a bunch of backups.

They win.

They seem like totally okay with it.

And that makes me stand like the spurs.

I don't know what they were thinking.

They should have absolutely gone out to win that game.

They have set themselves up for a really hard road.

And I think the nuggets were like, you know what?

We're going to have to beat the thunder in the spurs in some order, no matter what.

Let's just have some fun and let's win.

And I'm here to tell you the basketball gods see that.

There's no, there's no shenanigans.

There's no duck in any smoke.

Minnesota.

This is the third time in four years.

It's been a tough matchup.

Who cares?

We're going to we're going for Minnesota.

If we have to go Minnesota, spurs, thunder, so be it.

I like the attitude.

The basketball gods should reward it.

And I just I loved that they did it on behalf of everyone watching the NBA.

The season thank you Denver for doing that because in a year of aspiration,

burner gate, tanking discussions,

John C. Billup, local legend, John C. Billup.

Of everything that happened this NBA season, the fact that we get two weeks of nuggets,

timber wolves and hopefully nuggets spurs is unbelievable.

It could be it could be absolutely unbelievable.

And I just I just thought it was cool that they did it.

And I was out to dinner with a couple of my friends from Denver, one of whom Scott is here

as a lifelong nuggets fan.

We're out to dinner the other night.

Where there you go.

We were out to dinner the other night.

And one of his buddies made Aaron made a great point.

He said, you know, you know what I'm tired.

He wanted the nuggets to get the third seed and have this route to the finals.

Because he said, you know what?

I'm tired of hearing this shit about how the nuggets had an easy road to the championship.

How we had we're supposed to apologize for playing the Lakers, the heat, play in teams and all this.

All we can do is play the teams in front of us.

And this guy was like, you know what?

I give me the gauntlet.

I want the gauntlet because if we win, no one can ever say anything about us again.

And it will be like a super championship.

I love the whole attitude.

Let's go.

Let's have all of it.

Because you shoot the one thing to quote Brian Winhorse.

You never apologize for a championship.

You never apologize for how you get there.

You need a lot of luck to get there.

The nuggets championship was awesome.

No apologies necessary.

I think it's the right move.

I think you're right.

The basketball guides are going to smile down on it.

It would just be, it would just be like kind of like amazing to get a bunch of

one thirty one twenty eight games like over the next couple of weeks.

And that's what this has a recipe to be.

Yo, kitchen and yeah, yo, catch going at go bear.

Go bear maybe stumbling around a little bit.

Little bit.

Yeah.

Could be fun.

Okay, we're going to go around the NBA.

We're going to go rapid fire.

We're going to pick the play in games because this is not just a nugget show.

We got to do everything.

So we're going to pick the play in games or land.

Oh, Philly Philly, but for a very specific reason.

It's not hubris.

It's because we deserve to lose to Boston.

It's going to, it's because I'm trapped in an episode of Black Mirror where every

18 months, people in green baptize me in fire and I cry.

And I say, well, maybe next year, were you going to beat and PG healthy at the same

time, but it's not going to happen.

But I, I have a feeling that the sixers will beat the magic and then get smoked by Boston.

Did you all see what Orlando did on the last season?

What a disaster.

Baylor Shreman's very good.

You know, who else is very good?

His Desmond Bain who played six minutes and then I think they forgot he was on the team.

We're like, we actually might need you to beat the JV Celtics.

Can you come back?

There were a lot of shenanigans yesterday because it was like Bain played.

McElbridge just played for 18 seconds in order to get his like Iron Man thing.

Iron man.

And then was when me wearing a headband, but with street clothes yesterday on the bench.

Like I was just like, you guys just play or don't play.

But a lot of this like, my point is against all

evidence to the contrary, I'm going to pick Orlando to actually get their shit together for one game on the road

and beat the sixers without Joil and beat not a tall order.

Charlotte Miami.

Charlotte.

I believe and it's also again, we need this.

We need Lamello and Conn and buddy branded in the in the playoffs.

I'm a little worried about this match up for Charlotte.

I'm a little worried about it.

Miami has a little something on them.

God damn it.

There were one on one offense is like Charlotte doesn't have great one on one defenders.

Miami just like the play and infuses them with some annoying heat, energy,

hashtag heat culture.

I'm picking Charlotte anyway.

Charlotte's at home.

They're better.

All right.

Let's go to the conference of choice here.

The Western conference.

Clippers warriors, the most depressing possible matchup between these two franchises in the last 15 years.

Do you even care who wins?

I don't.

I don't think the warriors do either.

I think Clippers win this one.

I'm going to pick the Clippers.

Because the warriors could get into the lottery if they lose this, right?

Of course.

It's in their best interest, maybe not to go into playoffs.

You know who can't get into the lottery?

The Los Angeles Clippers.

Exactly.

Because the Oklahoma City Thunder will gladly take that pick and everything else at the end.

Yeah, that's right.

I'm sorry.

Everybody hates the Thunder.

It's just it's just a continued delight.

Yeah.

And then Portland Phoenix.

I got Portland here.

I also am picking the Blazers.

I think the Blazers are kind of fun and kind of interesting.

This is going to be a rock fight.

It'll be good for the playoffs if like a young frisky Blazers team.

So we agree on that.

Okay.

Before we get to the actual playoffs, Chris and I, this is your idea.

We're going to play a fun game of nuggets.

We wish we could have seen play with Nicole the Oakish.

This is his idea.

I made a list.

You made a list.

Would you like to go?

Yeah.

So I have slotted in.

It's kind of cheating, but I put them on the 1011 team.

And I have him moving in to the five instead of Kufo's and Mazgov.

So he winds up playing with Melvin Eli, Kenyam Martin, Aaron Aflalo, J.R.

Gallo, Al Harrington.

We're just just slotting him straight on in there.

Like, like, let's just move, go back in time, time machine.

Okay.

I have, um, I have, there's a surprising amount of like old nuggets.

Who could have been their versions of Aaron Gordon to Nicole the Oakish.

First of all, how awesome is Aaron Gordon?

I honestly think I honestly think Mr. Nugget is one of like the five best basketball

stories of the last 10 years.

Wayward, Sol and Orlando trying to be like LeBron and Paul George.

And the nuggets are like, I can see what you're going to be.

And you're going to love it.

And you're going to thrive.

And you're going to make more money and be more famous.

Just doing the Aaron Gordon stuff.

And he comes here and he accepts his destiny.

They immediately become a juggernaut.

I think the nuggets probably have one more title.

If Jamal Murray is in Michael Porter Jr.

and I injured in those two years, 21 and 22.

But I just love Aaron Gordon so much.

But Kenyam Martin would have been a great Aaron Gordon.

Marcus Canby could have been a good Aaron Gordon.

Antonio McDice could have been a good Aaron Gordon.

Um, what am I?

This is an old time.

You know, I always love LaFonzo Ellis.

LaFonzo Ellis.

Oh, man.

Ty Lawson running the running fast breaks with the Cole Yokech.

What have been amazing?

You want to, you want to pick a couple?

I would love to have seen Yokech drop off an alley to Birdman.

Every once in a while.

Birdman.

Birdman on that 0809 housing crisis team.

With was that Chauncey?

Yeah, yeah, that was just incredible.

Like so yeah, Birdman run in the baseline.

That's what makes this team.

Maybe not a popular pick.

Maybe Carmelo Anthony.

We could have had T. M. U. S. A.

Carmelo Anthony before T.

M. U. S. A. Carmelo Anthony on T.

M. U. S. A. That's what it would have been playing with Yokech.

Super high IQ.

Could shoot.

Everything would have been perfect.

I would like to have seen Joker play with double agent Andre Aguidala.

Yeah.

Smart basketball player I think would have been really effective.

So he, he, Chris just unknowingly stole my thunder.

My number one pass nugget that I would wish to see to play with Nicole Yokech is Andre Aguidala.

Do we still consider him a double agent, a trader?

Is that a thing that Andre, Andre is,

Andre actually could rival Yokech for basketball genius.

And to see the two of them together would have been,

they'll stop it.

Get over it.

You guys want a title?

You did.

It's been 10 years since then.

Andre's a genius.

Yokech is a genius.

They would have been doing stuff on the floor that the other teams would have been like,

I don't even know what's happening right now.

I think that like it's good to have villains on your team,

but you got to let it go.

You guys want to ring.

I mean, it's just like, yeah.

Who did you guys, what was that?

That was all part of the Dwight Howard trade, right?

Aaron Fowler, that's right.

Also a very good player.

Okay, the playoffs are here.

Now it's time.

Real season is here.

We have four first round series that are set

and we rank them all in entertainment value.

Yeah.

I'm going to do my list and we'll compare it as the least entertaining first round series.

I have Rockets Lakers, an unlikely choice,

but given the fact that Luca is injured and Reeves is injured and the Rockets are not,

the Rockets are like the anti-nuggets.

Yeah.

The Nuggets are super fun to watch.

Like I love waking up and watching a Nuggets game.

The Rockets are like, God, this is so bad.

The basketball is bad and they hate each other.

Can you just, it's just not cool.

Well, look, I mean, the anytime you have a,

it's not even a burner scandal.

It's like a text thread.

It's fully like a leaked text message thread.

Yeah.

It's not great for team chemistry

when someone allegedly was like, so and so sucks, so and so can't shoot,

so and so is F thing.

And like three of those guys follow him around like,

you're my mentor, right?

And he's just like, sure.

Brody J, just one second.

Third on my entertaining list.

So second least entertaining.

I don't think NBA TV is doing any first round series,

but that was always the saddest thing is when your team got like the unofficial NBA TV.

No one cares about your playoff series series like, oh, the hawks and whoever.

So welcome to NBA TV Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors.

Despite the fact that if Cleveland actually lost this series and James Harden

grabbed the bed in Cleveland losing a series,

it would be massively entertaining on a lot of levels and have huge ramifications

for the calves, but I cannot say I'm excited to watch that series.

There's a, just speaking of NBA TV,

there's like a whole genre of YouTube,

which is these like NBA TV highlights of like anything you want to see over the last 20 years.

All scored by music that would make Ikea music sound like the strokes.

And it's a guy I've been like,

Joel and B goes up for a dunk.

That is going to leave a mark and it's like a B,

Thor's knee muscle fully.

Is the strangest bit of internet of femura is NBA TV highlight reels?

RIP NBA TV first round series.

It was always the hawks graveyard like hawks,

Pacers was just every year.

Yes, they're going to be on NBA TV.

Second most entertaining first round series,

I cannot wait for Nick's hawks.

I'm all in on Nick's hawks.

The hawks are super weird.

I still don't really understand what's happening and how they became awesome,

but they're completely random.

They play a random style in the nicks.

Look, people ask me like, who's your team?

Who do you root for?

I'll let you on a secret.

I root for my own convenience.

So the nicks getting far in the playoffs is so many who live just outside of New York is good for me.

Also, a nicks disaster in the playoffs is very good for content.

And this is like a very fraught, fraught year for the nicks.

There's a cat.

There's like a cat existential crisis.

It's been going on for years.

Every 10 days like clockwork, there's like a cat.

Is this working? Why is this not working?

Why does he not seem to have any control over his extremities?

Why is he falling all the time?

What's happening?

Is Mikhail Bridges ever going to get 10 points in a game again?

There's just a lot going on.

I do think if you like blind taste tests,

like the hawks are playing better than the nicks right now,

but I really, for your sake, want the nicks to make it to the second round.

I don't even care.

I just, I'm a here for the entertainment.

And then the number one most anticipated,

most entertaining first round series,

the Denver Nuggets, C-3rd.

Denver, Minnesota, Roman, numeral 3,

the rubber match, the third time they played in the last four years.

And to help us break it down, you guys all know him.

You should follow him from DNVR Sports, Adam Marez is in the house.

There he is.

There he is.

Good message.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hey, so who's the MVP this year?

And don't start with me.

It's Yo-Kish.

It is now.

It's Yo-Kish now.

I changed my mind in the last 30 minutes.

OK.

Denver, Minnesota, 2023, 4-1 Nuggets.

They called it the toughest series.

They played the entire championship run.

Mildly insulting to the other three teams they came after them was the first round series.

I think that was intentional, by the way.

What do you mean?

I think there was an enjoyment for saying Laker series wasn't that tough.

Sun series wasn't that tough.

This is the reverse asterix.

Like, oh, you say we had an easy round?

No, they did.

Yeah.

The Lakers series, that's the golden broom, right?

Like the most competitive sweep of all time.

Congratulations to the Lakers.

If I remember correctly, that was a sweep.

Yeah.

Yeah, great job.

But they were close games.

That's the one where Yo-Kish makes the crazy jump shot in Anthony Davis' face at the end

of game four, right?

He had two of them.

So he had three or actually three or four of them.

But in game one, he had two of them.

One at the end of the third quarter, if you might recall.

And then he had another one in the fourth quarter.

I remember the fourth quarter.

And then in game four was the one that kind of ended the series.

It was close game, like a minute left, and he's on the left side over the head like that

from about 40 feet.

Absolutely insane.

Purely insane.

One of the guys, Yo-Kish, one of like the 900th reason I love him is he would always take

heaves at the end of quarters, didn't care about his fuel goal percentage.

He's like, no, there's a 1% chance they're going to make this.

I'm going to take it.

And all now the cowards have been awarded.

But in fact, did their shot stone count now?

Cowards.

I think he just enjoyed doing it though.

Because did you ever see the one where he had him throw it high?

Because there was like half a second and he couldn't grab it.

So he, why in the next one?

I could squat it.

From 90 feet, he just did that, trying to make any game close.

Four, one nuggets, they go onto in the title.

I always thought that series was kind of a turning point for Cat.

Actually, he like stabilized in that series.

The wolves would remind you, no J.D. McDaniels, no Nazareed if I'm remembering correctly.

The next year, Epic Seven Game Series ends in Denver.

The nuggets exhausted, worn down from defending the title.

Still no one has repeated since the Warriors.

Blow a 20 point lead at home in game seven.

After a Yokeh in game five of that series in Minnesota,

it was him, no, is that in Denver?

Game, which one?

One of those five or six Yokeh has one of the greatest games I've ever seen.

Game five and all time, right?

It's like an unbelievable, and they lose that game.

And now here we are two years later.

The wolves think they have a little something on the nuggets.

It hasn't carried over this year.

It's three one nuggets for whatever that's worth.

This is going to be an awesome series.

The star powers off the charts.

These are two teams who I think could plausibly actually get to the finals.

The West is loaded.

The top two teams are incredible.

I think Minnesota has that kind of upside.

And look, Denver, everyone is nitpicking your defense.

I think you're 21st in defense.

I'm just here to tell you.

Aaron Gordon is a monster.

Peyton Watson, I think they need in this series.

We'll see if he gets healthy.

He's guarded a lot in the prior matchups.

And if they ever get their defense a little bit in order,

this offense is so absolutely ridiculous.

It's like so easy for them to score.

I've said on my pod a bunch of times.

It's like shooting fish in a barrel.

Like it's boring for them to get easy shots.

Their offense is that good.

All right, so give me, how are you feeling about the series?

So I'm feeling great.

And the way you're setting the table here, yeah, I'm feeling great.

Actually, I'm actually pretty.

I'm only nervous about how confident I am in this series.

That's always the weirdest place to be.

Yeah, yeah.

I want to extend it just to not feel too excited.

But I think the defensive part is obviously huge.

Aaron Gordon played 36 games this year.

It feels like he played 55 or something like that.

36?

36 games this year.

So if you were in the half.

And the way you set the stage was that you'll make it sound

like a continuation from 2023 to 24 to 26.

Well, just let me have it cinematicly, please.

Which I love from a narrative standpoint.

But I'm stepping in to say that I actually think both teams

are meaningfully different.

Just as I think both teams were meaningfully different

in 24 than they were in 23, they're different again this year.

And the biggest difference to me, one,

is that Jamal Murray is just having an all time all NBA sees it.

I mean, if he's not one of the all NBA teams

then actually, I think I did the list.

I think he's second team all NBA.

I have him second.

I don't have a ballot, but I have him second team all NBA.

And on this podcast, you will hear tomorrow,

I have like a 20 minute award thing before I shout

from the rooftops that Jamal Murray has to be second team

all NBA.

Oh, thanks.

Jamal Murray averaged 18 points per game in 2024

against the Minnesota, September woes.

18.

He had one game over 24 points.

It was the game 7, 35.

I think he had 33 in the first half.

That series, part of why he got slowed down,

one, he was coming off of an injury.

He didn't really get in playoff shape,

heading into that playoffs.

But to Nikhil Alexander Walker is one of the single best players

in the NBA, in my opinion, at evading the screen.

And everything with Denver is the two-man game.

It begins with a ball screen.

And he was so good at getting away from it

that Jamal Murray just could not get free.

And the two-man game became a one-man game.

They have great defenders.

Devin Chenzoe, they've got DeSoon Moo, who

might be interesting.

But they don't have a guy that I think Jamal cannot shake free

of.

And he's better than ever, especially

at getting free from defenders.

So I think it's a huge difference between 24 and 26.

Well, they'll try Jayden on him.

Jayden McDaniels, who former nugget Jayden McDaniels,

how would you grade that out for Jamal Murray?

It requires an important resource for Minnesota

to put him on Jamal Murray.

And some of this is you're taking some rim protection

and athleticism away from the basket

and putting on a sole job.

Good point.

And the two-man game is versatile enough

that you can always take advantage of that.

It's not we just have to run pick and roll.

You can say, OK, let's take him out of the equation

and attack elsewhere.

So I don't think that's a viable strategy

for like four quarters for Minnesota.

It might be something that they go to a little bit here

and there.

But they had him in 24.

That was an option to them.

And it worked.

And parts, they still have that option.

They just have one fewer option in Nikhil Alexander Walker,

who's been unbelievable.

And it landed there.

He's a superstar, most improved player, for sure.

I just think this is so interesting,

because Minnesota fancies itself

an elite defensive team.

I think they're only eighth defensively,

but they have Go Bear who's always

in the defensive player of the year conversation.

I actually put him second team all defensively.

I thought he slipped a little bit.

And now they have this immense challenge of like,

this is the best offense in the NBA.

By a lot, it's not close.

They're one of the best offenses in the history of the NBA.

By any measure, they're one of the 15, 16

best offensive teams ever, these Denver Nuggets.

How do we slow them down?

And I think it's so interesting.

If you watch, none of you will be surprised.

I spent today in my hotel room watching clips of Wolves Nuggets,

because that's just how much of a loser I am.

They're going to try so many different strategies

against that two-man game.

Sometimes they'll just let you all marry Drive.

And be like, we're not leaving Yoke at all.

You don't have the option to even pass this dude the ball,

because he's too good.

And every floater, he shoots, just sits on the rim.

Like the ball is made of molasses or something

and drips through.

We're not even letting you get it.

And then, Jamal Murray goes to the rim.

And all of a sudden, they're swarming him

and making Christian Brown shoot or Aaron Gordon shoot.

I think the Nuggets are equipped to counter that strategy

in a lot of different ways.

And what the Wolves used to do, as you all probably remember,

is not put go bear on Yoke.

They would put go bear on Aaron Gordon

and just say, roam around the rim and block shots.

And Kat, you're pretty damn big and bulky.

You're going to guard Yoke.

Kat's not here anymore.

I don't think Randall can guard Yoke at all.

I definitely don't think Nazari can guard Yoke at all.

And so they've mostly stuck go bear on him.

And I think that just generally favors the Nuggets.

Just that it gives them a little bit more optionality.

Mika Lee Yoke at figures people out.

This is one of the most fun things about watching him

and watching his arc.

I don't know if there's a single player he has played

or matched up against more in the NBA than Rudy Gobert.

I would bet that's the number one player he's got against.

Yeah, just through Utah and Minnesota.

And then all the playoff series.

I just think he has him figured out to the degree

that it's not that Gobert doesn't make his life hard.

It's just that Yoke knows exactly what kind of hard shot

he's going to be able to get off of him every time.

So you are right that Gobert's biggest impact

in my opinion in a series against Denver

is actually not on Yoke.

But it's in the staggered minutes

to try to put pressure on Denver's backup centers.

And then as a romer, but Aaron Gordon,

over the last two years, has made himself into

and not just a good, but a consistently elite three point

of either.

Like it's absolutely unbelievable.

I cannot imagine the Timberwolves making the decision

to put Gobert on Aaron Gordon in 2026.

If you go back, remember the Christmas game?

Did Yoke atcha 50 in the Christmas game?

Who has something crazy?

I don't know what the number of 56 says.

26 and 14 and 11.

If you go back, 18 and 9 times, you're undersold it.

You can't even make up Yoke at staff.

No, you can't.

In that game, if you go back and watch that game,

at the end of the game and at overtime,

the wolves did something weird, which is they were like,

we're going to put Jaden McDaniels on Yoke and put Gobert

somewhere else so he can block shots.

And we're just going to have Jaden McDaniels fight

for his fucking life against this guy and elbow him

and get up into his body and front him.

And like, you have remarked about this a lot.

More and more teams are doing this with Yoke.

It's just putting smaller guys on him

and basically being like, just beat the hell out of him

and see what the reps will do.

And we'll keep our shop locker back there.

I just don't think, I think Yoke is figures that out in it.

Remember the Rui Hachimura adjustment?

The Rui adjustment.

Well, the linkers really found something.

Rui Hachimura on Yoke, I wonder if Yoke

could deliver me able to figure that one out.

Can I put you on the spot and ask you to basically,

for, you know, switch sides of the courtroom,

make the case for Minnesota in this series.

I think the case is largely, you know,

I always say that to win a championship,

a team has to check three boxes.

One of them is talent.

You just have to be talented enough.

Another one is you have to become connected.

Basketball is a game of connection.

Denver is really good at this.

And when they get to the playoffs and they make runs,

they're just playing like a hive mind team.

But the third box, and you can sink

if you're deficient in this category

in my opinion is toughness, just raw toughness.

And I think Denver even in 2024 was more talented

and probably as or more connected than Minnesota.

But they were so tough.

They were physical with Jamal.

They knew they could wear him down.

They were physical with Yoke,

and they knew that it could just disrupt him

and make him frustrated.

And we're just gonna muck up the game.

And I thought Denver wasn't able to handle that.

I mean, they were close.

It went to game seven.

They had a lead.

But that's why they won.

They out-tough Denver.

I think Denver has grown from that experience.

And I just think that gap is smaller.

It might be that Denver's up for the challenge

from a toughness standpoint.

But I don't think Jamal in this state

can be physically bullied the way

that they tried to bully them in that series.

And then you add the depth, I think, part of this also.

If you remember in that game seven in 2024,

Denver didn't sub out.

They played their guys through the last 18 minutes

just to get hold on.

Just try to get this and it warmed down.

And part of the reason was they didn't have the depth

that they have this year.

I think the case for Minnesota is just,

if Anthony Edwards is neck and neck

with Yoke, which is the best player in the series,

Minnesota will be a problem.

Anthony Edwards has been dealing with some knee stuff.

He's been ill.

But you know that he's gonna test their pick and roll coverage,

right?

Like Yoke, he'll blitz him sometimes

and they'll test Minnesota.

Like, can you pass the ball around?

He'll, I mean, he'll hunt some smaller guards on Denver,

which we might not someone to ask about that

and try to get mismatches that way.

And Denver, it's been the weirdest thing with Denver.

They're first 20 games this year.

I couldn't believe how good they were defensively

and they were good in zone.

They were good in man.

They were good in different kinds of man coverage.

Like they walked into the season

like the playoffs can start right now.

We're ready.

And then I think the injuries, malaise, whatever,

they kind of let go on the rope,

undefense a little bit.

If that defense is still in there somewhere,

this is a 60 plus win team

and they can absolutely go through

Minnesota, San Antonio and Oklahoma City.

Like they are that good offensively

that now they'll have to do it in the last two rounds

if they beat Minnesota without home court,

find toughness, right?

Like this is a tough experience team.

But if that defense is still in here somewhere,

like I bet that would have netted out

as like they're 11th or 12th in the league defensively, right?

If they had kept playing with that level

of focus and intensity,

11th on defense and first by a lot in offense,

you can win a championship for sure.

Well, I think this is an interesting point in this one way.

I think the reason Denver is not good

in this Yokeh chair and the regular season defensively

is that it takes an enormous amount of energy

to defend in today's NBA.

And the Nikolay Yokeh is not athletic enough

and doesn't have the energy reserves

even as offensive responsibility to play at that level.

But they've traditionally been very good defensively

in the clutch.

As if you say, okay, we know we have eight good minutes

of defense in us in the regular season

and in the playoffs, that number goes up.

I still think that's going to happen this year.

I think that Denver will be able to defend,

but in previous years, Denver just loves playing

seven game series.

They love to do it.

Like two, pencil them in for two a year.

I don't think teams are going to win championships

in this era until something changes physically.

If you have multiple seven game series,

it's actually back to back.

This is the darkest timeline of the route

of the bracket that they chose, right?

You have to find a way.

In my opinion, you have to find a way to get at least one

or two series wrapped up in five games.

Because if you're going six, seven, six, seven,

every single time, six, seven, every single time.

Sorry.

It's out now, by the way.

My daughter, who's 11, was that uncool?

Well, you're definitely uncool.

That is a uncool.

It's out now.

Six, seven, seven.

What do we move on?

You're not.

But you know what you are?

You're cringed.

My daughter would say, you are cringed.

Oh, no.

You're being cringed.

I thought I slayed.

No.

And I told my daughter, I'm 48 years old,

and you're going to middle school next year.

It's only getting worse.

I'm leaning in more and more to the dad jokes

and the whole thing.

Anyway, you were talking about something.

I just said, you can't go seven, seven or six games

over and over again.

Denver's going to have to get it done in five.

I can't keep going.

I guess if I was the wolves,

I would probably say nobody saw our best team this year.

And that...

Including them, though.

And it's difficult to say, you know what?

We are the team.

We might not just not have that best team.

But...

Divybe there has gone like this so many times,

like every four game winning streak is like,

wolves are back.

This is the wolves, and then something happens,

and there's like a coach player thing or a player.

And if that happens enough, it's like,

maybe it's just not going to happen this year,

and then you throw in some health issues

that they've had recently.

It's starting to feel like maybe it's just not going to happen,

and they're sixth, and they're...

They have a brutal route.

Do you have any reason I really want the wolves to advance?

Not only past Denver, but San Antonio's.

I want to see Chris Finch versus Shay

in the Western Conference files.

Chris Finch...

Has Adam and had a, okay, see moment yet this year?

I don't think he has.

I'm trying to think if he's had a moment.

If there was no one...

You guys were talking about where a coach every two weeks

would get it.

Finch just like lost his mind.

But yeah.

I don't know if he's had one

like to that degree, where he just called it out.

But he has had a couple meltdowns, I would say.

Okay.

Do you want to make picks?

Are you comfortable yet making a pick?

Let's do it.

I am going to pick Nuggets and Six.

Woo!

So Nuggets and Six, just real quick, why?

Like, you think the offense is not going to be slowed down?

Well, I just said what I said about Minnesota, right?

Sometimes it's like, it's not going to all click together.

The aunt and the line-up stuff makes me nervous.

And I just think this offense is unstoppable.

If Aaron Gordon has to play and play well,

and as you pointed out, he's an unbelievable three-point shooter now.

Cam Johnson's last six weeks have been incredibly encouraging.

And between him and Tim Hardaway Jr.

And Bruce Brown has shot it well from three.

I think they just have enough tools

to put out the right kind of lives.

So the one thing I was going to ask you about those,

what if anything do we know about Peyton Watson?

Because he's a really important part of their team.

He's become a good corner three-point shooter,

which is massive for them.

He's guarded Aunt a lot.

And I can tell you, like, the Nuggets people

I know are being a little non-communicative

about Peyton Watson's potential for playing in this series.

It's been the same.

I've heard the same.

And I think my read on it is that I'm not sure they know

for certain that he is going to be able to go or not.

So we'll have to wait and see.

Him and Spencer Jones, both by Spencer Jones,

a heck of a defender, man.

He's a plays hard.

And now, that's the bigest thing.

For Spencer Jones.

For Spencer Jones.

And if you look at the matchups, Anthony Edwards

is a big-bodied guy.

You kind of need some strength to battle him.

Julius Randall, Spencer Jones,

might draw that assignment as well.

So I think both of those guys are important.

Let me answer your question, though,

the pick with this anecdote.

When Bruce Brown was in Denver in 2023,

he talked about the LA series.

I think he actually came on our show and talked about this.

He said, I don't know why, but everybody

was so locked in for that series.

There's something going on.

And of course, the guys that had been on the team

remember the bubble, 2020.

And it felt like Denver let that one go.

And I think Denver was dialed in for that Laker series

in a way that they were not for other series.

Because there was history, there was some bad blood,

and they knew that there were a lot of stakes.

Denver, I know that game seven from 2024,

is still in their memory.

And I think that this will be a series that

has Denver's attention.

I'm actually glad, in many ways, that they drew this route

and drew Minnesota first, because although it might be tough,

I think we'll get the best version of Denver

in a round one that we've gotten recently.

And so I'm going to go with nuggets and five.

Five!

Yeah!

Denver and six.

Wolves and four?

I'm not that crazy, no.

I want to get out of here tonight.

OK.

We're going to do three fun Denver topics,

two of which are your idea, one of which is my idea.

I was on Bill's pod last night, and I talked about Yokehitch.

And how Yokehitch is a three time MVP.

And if you look at all the players who have won three or more

MVPs, the only one with one or fewer rings

is Moses Malone who has won.

And what would it mean for Yokehitch in his legacy,

everyone's favorite word, to go through this gauntlet

and get a second ring on top of three MVPs, a second finals

MVP?

Because here's the thing.

Like, Yokehitch is already in the argument

for best offensive player of all time, period.

Like, that's how good he is.

He's a great guy.

We're good.

I actually saw it doing it.

I know it.

That's fun.

And I think this is going to sound

heretical for somebody my age.

I think at the end of his career, if not already,

he's going to be statistically and just like I test,

like better than Larry Bird, better than Magic Johnson.

But fans and the pundits who yell on TV

will just not be able to get there

if he has won championship.

And I said that, and I, a couple of front office people

from other teams who really like Yokehitch,

and our Eastern Conference teams,

so they don't have to face them very often.

Texted me and said, I get what you're saying.

But Jerry West had one ring, KG had one ring,

Dirk had one ring.

I think Yokehitch is already a tear above all of those guys.

But his point was like, one ring in Denver in a mid-market,

like, it's not a glamour market team

that steals free agents.

And is worth, you know what I mean?

It's not the Lakers.

You're not clearing 3 max cap slots

and getting LeBron into weight weight in Chris Boss.

That's not how it works.

Is Worth, is, is this kind of lovely city?

Just chill.

Is Worth more than like a Lakers ring or whatever.

I thought that's interesting.

And I do, I really do believe 2021 is the Bucks.

2022 is the Warriors.

I think one of those rings belongs to either the nuggets

or the clippers, if they're healthy.

But we are where we are.

And I do think like Yokehitch should be in those conversations

probably already.

And it's just like, you know the talk shows are just not

going to accept that if he has one championship, I don't think.

Don't you think also like his legacy quote unquote

should have all the more weight given his trajectory to the league?

I mean, you broke it down coming out here

about this second round pick who was kind of like this

anomaly when we first came into the league.

And then you essentially build an offensive,

like an entire NBA ecosystem around his skill level.

I mean, his achievement here in some ways

is singular in a way that a lot of like lottery guys who

are always nailed on from high school,

we're always going to be all NBA talents.

Like to me, it's like almost more impressive

that he even has one ring.

It's certainly part of the storytelling, I think, about him.

I think he's probably a top three or four most influential

player of the last 25 years.

I think Steph Curry is probably number one.

James Hardin's up there.

But when you look at to your point, he's reinvented

the way we think about basketball.

Andre Drummond was doing dribble handoffs, you know,

in the years after like he changed the way

of what you thought was possible.

If to answer your question though about his legacy,

I do think you have to win.

And I actually think it's fair to say that you have to win.

And it is different to your point in Los Angeles

or one of these markets that it is in Denver.

It's harder to go here.

But I still think that at the end of the day,

there's great players that have these great skills.

And the entire point of the sport is,

can you be great in the right moments?

And Nikola is great all the time.

I mean, he really is.

You can count his bad games on your fingers,

especially playoff games.

He really plays all the time when he's healthy.

He got injured and everyone was like,

I don't even know what this is like.

Nikola Okaj is injured.

Yeah.

And he did this happen.

And he plays well and hard.

I think he's one of the best pastors of all time.

Full stop.

You know, one of the best pastors.

He might beat, no, no.

He might be the best pastor of all time.

And what's funny is, I think he's probably more dominant

as a floater zone shooter than he is as a pastor.

I think he's by far the best floater zone shooter of all time.

It's not statistically even close.

I don't understand.

Are they doctoring the ball here?

But it travels on the road too.

It just hits the rim and it sits up there like,

this is cool.

Now I'm going to fall.

I mean, it's unbelievable.

And then he gets off of his feet as fast as he can.

And he tips the ball into a rebound as well as I know.

And he has like four or five skills

that he's probably top three or four all time in the NBA at.

But still, it comes down to what you do in the few moments

where you're the only thing that matters.

It's a team game.

And in the playoffs, there's just these high leverage

moments where you have to deliver.

And he consistently has, I believe the team is good enough

to put him in position to deliver those moments for us.

This playoffs.

And I do think you have to land a couple more for him

to get there.

And I hope and believe he will.

It's also amazing that, I mean, Joker

has never held the team hostage and be like,

well, if things don't change around here,

I'm going to have to go look elsewhere for stuff.

And it's like, that is also what a lot of the players that were.

And while people were screaming like,

is he ever going to play within all stars?

Is it ever going to happen?

The Denver, like the nuggets failed to build around him.

Calvin Booth took all these kids who aren't ready.

Well, now the kids are ready.

Like the kids are playing well.

And Michael Malone, ironically coaching kids now.

Yeah.

Congrats to Michael Malone.

You guys might have heard it did not end well here.

But I told Michael this, like, you want a championship.

No one can ever take that away from you.

A championship NBA coach.

Like no matter what people think of whatever it is,

like, you want a title.

Disperses?

The nuggets are what, three and one against the spurs this year?

The wolves?

Or the spurs?

Yes, three and one.

They're one and three in a row.

I'm just saying to wrap up to put a ball on this.

They can actually do it.

They could beat these three teams in a row.

They almost beat the thunder last year with Michael Porton.

Now it's last year's thunder first time

through nerves and experience all that.

But Michael Porton here at one arm in Aaron Gordon

had one leg and a wet to seven games.

Like they actually can do it.

The playoffs haven't even started yet.

I'm just saying the path is there.

And the historical impact would be huge.

This was your idea.

Team of the decade for the 2020s is still in play.

And you pointed out 80s is Lakers, Celtic,

sorry, Bill, second place.

90s is Bulls.

2000s is between the Lakers and the Spurs.

I think it's the Lakers.

The Lakers are like two teams.

The Lakers won four titles.