It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody tuned in and locked in all over North America. I hope you're safe. I hope you're well. I hope you are amazing. I'll be hanging out with you for the next three hours. This show gets started every weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific.
I'm in Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to our producer holding things down in New York, Chris Persianin. Thank you for listening on the free Odyssey app, your local Infinity Sports Network affiliate, Sirius XM Channel 375.
And if you got a smart speaker, ask the speaker to play the Infinity Sports Network. We've already talked about a lot here in the first hour of the show. You missed it. Where you been? At work?
Relaxing? I don't know. We're wild on the free Odyssey app. We talked about Michael Jordan on his way to NBC as a special guest. OK, we don't know how often we'll see Michael Jordan.
We don't. I assume we'll see him in the studio. If he's talking crap, it's going to be amazing. We learned that Giannis Atteracumpo is potentially open to leaving Milwaukee. We talked about Trey Hendrickson of the Cincinnati Bengals. He says in a statement to ESPN, he's like the Bengals. They haven't spoken to me or my representatives since the NFL draft.
Wow. OK, they're going to try to stick this guy with a bad deal or trade him. Derek Carr decided to hang it up. Terrible arms situation. Had to retire at thirty four years old, had to leave a thirty million dollars on the table. Derek Carr has made enough money, more than two hundred mil in his career.
And there's so much more that we're going to get into, because how about this? I'd say the way ESPN goes in about twenty five ish minutes, we're going to find out who has the number one overall pick in this year's NBA draft. Everybody's trying to figure out where Cooper Flag is going to land. The three teams that have the best odds at grabbing him number one, the Utah Jazz, the Washington Wizards and the Hornets, they all have a 14 percent chance at landing the number one overall pick, which would presumably be Cooper Flag. This isn't the crap situation we had last year where Atlanta ended up with the number one overall pick and it sucked for them.
They got Zachary Risache. He's not bad. This guy was a contender for Rookie of the Year. But ultimately, nobody looks at him or Steph Castle or any of those dudes as being complete game or world changers. If you saw Cooper Flag play at Duke, if you watched him in a tournament, there's no doubt coming out of college, this dude is a bad man. We even heard the stories about how he participated in those those open runs with Team USA basketball last year as they were getting ready to prepare.
And there was a couple of stretches where he just he had his hand on the game playing against guys like LeBron and Steph Curry and Kevin Durant. So huge expectations for Cooper Flag. And before this hour is up, we're going to find out exactly where he is going to go. A matter of fact, in 40 minutes from now, we're going to be joined by Joe Vardon from the Athletic.
Joe Vardon is going to come through and join us to break down what team is probably well at that point, we'll know who's going to get Cooper Flag. And then what impact is this going to have on the rest of the NBA? We know that Giannis Atetokounmpo, we learned is now open to leaving Milwaukee. If Cooper Flag ends up on New Orleans, are they now saying, hey, we got to get Zion to help on out of here. And so we got some major news that that came through today with Giannis.
And there's gonna be a trickle down as well with what takes place with the lottery. We'll keep you up to date on the NBA draft lottery as things continue on. If you want to talk to me, you can 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN.
You can go ahead and find me online as well. I am everywhere at JR Sportbrief. How about this? After the draft lottery concludes, we got some more basketball. We got the New York Knicks trying to hold off the Boston Celtics. The Knicks are trying to go up 3-1 in their series and the Celtics are like, screw all that.
Let's just make this 2-2. But let's talk to Danny. Danny is calling from Baltimore. Danny, you're on the JR Sportbrief show. What's up?
Hey, man, I appreciate you taking my call. Yeah, just listening to the conversation about teams tanking. Two interesting teams. You guys did mention the Colts. I definitely think if the Colts get a few weeks into the season and Anthony Richardson doesn't show any improvements, or I mean even slight improvement, he's just, it's been such a train wreck there. I think they're definitely, I mean do Colts fans have anything to be excited about at all? I really can't think of anything. I think a couple weeks into the season.
Yeah, go ahead. I think at this point it is hoping that they can get anything out of Anthony Richardson who unfortunately has just been kicked around by the injury bug. And to think that Daniel Jones is going to be the savior.
Daniel Jones is playing for, he's playing for a long-term contract somewhere himself. So yeah, if it's early, I don't know how early it's going to be because they may go back and forth with these two dudes for about a month just to try to keep the ship afloat. But after that, yeah, I give them five weeks before they say let's pull the plug. 100% agree. And then the second team I'm thinking of is the Steelers.
I'm wondering what's your opinion? Do you think there's any possibility, any world out there that the Steelers get a couple weeks into the season and they think we got to pull the plug on everything? It's difficult to look at the Steelers. A, it's tough to look at the Steelers that way, flat and period, to say that we're just going to blow the whole season. And then second of all, it's even tougher to evaluate the Steelers until we really know who their quarterback is. And I presumably it would be Aaron Rodgers. So I'm not thinking that far ahead. Give it a couple of weeks, give it a couple of months and let's see if Aaron Rodgers is going to suit up.
I think he will. Yeah, I agree. I definitely agree.
But then, you know, his age, let's just say there's a universe where they are, they resort to Mason Rudolph, a quarterback. I think at that point, dealer fans would be would be rooting for that, you know, get over the get over the 500 record. Let's just get this, you know, let's just start the process.
Of course. You know, everybody at some point in time and thank you, Danny, for calling from Baltimore. Everybody at a certain point in time, especially in sports, you could be a victim of your own success.
Like it depends on what market, what city, where you live, what you're willing to tolerate. And the Steelers aren't one of these teams that are just like, oh, we just gonna be bad. They've been so good. And when I say so good, obviously not championship good, but they've been so good for so long.
Mediocre average, good enough to get into the playoffs, not good enough to win the big one. Ultimately, at some point in time, the leagues are structured in such a way where we have something like the draft lottery, where you are so bad that you can dip into the next talent pool, the incoming, you know, students, international pool, wherever the hell you're getting players from college, you can get the best guy that can help you go out there and build for the future. And everybody knows you need a quarterback in the NFL. Unfortunately for the Pittsburgh Steelers, since Ben Roethlisberger left, man, they didn't have a succession plan for him.
Even at that point in time, this guy was running around hurt. And then they were throwing the ball and they're like, all right, it's done. It's over. And then what do you have after that?
Nothing. I mean, you think about a team like the New England Patriots, how many years has it taken them to find their quarterback post Tom Brady at this point in time? What, five or six years to actually have a quarterback that they can believe in? Tom Brady is gone. Bill Belichick is gone. And the Patriots are in a brand new era. Pittsburgh Steelers is going to be tough to ever look at them and just say, oh, they're going to, they're going to tank. You got to see if Aaron Rodgers goes down and last year for the New York Jets, all things considered relatively healthy versus what we got the year before that, where he ran out with the American flag and four plays into the season, he's out there just holding onto his foot. Yeah, New York, a tough place to go ahead and, and just start a rebuild. That's one of the reasons why they decided to go out there and bring in Aaron Rodgers in the first place, even though he was a, he's a crazy guy who likes a lot of attention.
Was he worth the risk? It didn't work out for the New York Jets. Now they got Justin Fields and they hoping that he's the guy. And if Justin Fields isn't the guy, then I mean, damn it, they're going to start over even though they got a brand new GM and have a brand new head coach.
New York is tough to rebuild. Mets got Steve Cohen. He's throwing money around. That's the expectation. Think about the New York Yankees. They got money, throw it around.
That's the expectation. The Knicks come on now. The Knicks have sucked, but that's just bad, bad management. And now they don't suck. They've actually put together a good team.
Unfortunately, they have mortgaged a lot to put this team together. Trading for Karl-Anthony Towns right before the season starts. Giving up multiple first round picks to bring in Mikel Bridges. And yeah, it worked in the first two games, the Knicks versus the Celtics.
Mikel Bridges is all over Tatum. The team is shooting. The Celtics were 25 out of 100 in the first two games when it came from shooting at three point land. But unfortunately for the New York Knicks, like every single game you're going to go down 20.
The talent discrepancy on the roster is pretty obvious. And so once we figure out what happens with this NBA draft lottery, the New York Knicks will be taking on the Boston Celtics. And the Celtics, based on what we just saw in game three on Saturday, yeah, the threes were falling. They shot 50% from three.
Yeah, the Celtics are going to live by the three or they're going to die by the three. They shot 20 or 40. Peyton Pritchard gave you 23 points off the bench. There's your sixth man of the year in action. He knocked down five threes. He got Jalen Brown who gave you 19 points. He was two of six. Jason Tatum decided to wake up.
He was actually five of nine from deep. He finished with 22 points. The New York Knicks, not to say that their backs are up against the wall, but damn it, you're in the garden again. You have a two one series lead. Go up three one and try your best to go end it in Boston.
Come on. If the Knicks lose today, I don't want to say it's curtains, but come on. Boston is just going to run them out of the gym. They're going to end the series.
I'm saying it. It's over tonight. I thought Boston was going to win in the first place. I've seen enough Knicks in my life. I don't care who's on this roster or another. This roster is just, they're not deep enough.
It'd be a massive upset if they hold on to beat the Celtics. Mikael Bridges, the guy the Knicks acquired for a million first round picks. He says, listen, man, we got to work very hard and not waste time. I think we might have let human nature get to us a little bit, but I think they just came out more early, you know, knowing that they're down, but you know, we try, he's got to be better.
You know, he's got to come out and I'm worried. So no matter, you know, what the series is, you're going to treat everything like a zero zero. Like a zero, just win today, bro. Win today. The New York Knicks.
They're just not, they're not deep enough in jail and Brown. He made it clear after winning on Saturday afternoon back at it this Monday. It's like in order to win the series, it's not about the Knicks winning that first game coming back. It's not about them winning the second game.
It's not about them getting smoked. And now the next jail and Brown says, man, it's a four game series. You got to get the four wins out of seven. Listen, you got to beat us four times. I mean, that's what it comes down to.
I'm not twice, not once, not three. You got to win four games. So, um, just a lot of basketball to be played.
Yeah. The Celtics are going to be taking on the Knicks and Madison square garden. Once we find out who has the number one selection in this year's NBA draft, the NBA draft lottery, waiting on who has that number one overall pick. Let's ask Chris, Chris, you're in New York going into this series. Who did you think is going to win? I had the Celtics in six.
Has your thoughts changed? Do you think the Knicks only get those first two? My thoughts have changed because you know, the, the great rat Pylee once said a playoff series doesn't start until the road team wins a game.
Right? So the Knicks going and stealing one and two in TD garden makes me think if they win tonight, they can win in five. But if Boston wins tonight, I think they just go out and win a fourth straight or they go out and win four straight. Okay. Wow.
It's certainly a possibility. Carl Anthony towns was at some point in time looking like he was favoring his hand. I like how you, uh, you got at Pat Riley, even though you've been gone for about almost 30 years now, what did Pat Riley do to you? We were talking about holding grudges today, Jr. Okay. All right. Okay. I'm just saying that was a long time ago at this point. I wasn't born yet. Yeah. I was about to say that. Were you even alive when he left? No, man.
I was born in 2002. Okay. And so you even, even post, you still can't stand Pat Riley. How about that? Just generational. Just, it's been handed down to me. Okay.
I think he's a good, good executive, great coach, hall of Famer. Is he calling him a rat? Is, uh, it's going down.
I just switched the first and last letters of his name, the first letter of his first and last name. If you interpreted that some different way, that's, that's not on me. Oh, okay.
Sure. Well, I think, uh, Jimmy Butler might agree with you at the same time. Also Jimmy Butler will be in action later on tonight as the Minnesota Timberwolves are trying to go up one more game on these golden state warriors who are trying to hold things down.
Obviously without Steph Curry, I think it's not looking good for them. Not looking good for the calves. Apparently Donovan Mitchell is a game time decision for tomorrow's game. As an ankle issue, we saw what took place yesterday. The calves going out there, losing to the Pacers, one 29 to one Oh nine, the Pacers led by 41 points early in that game.
That was an ugly one. Even mr. Overrated himself, a Tyrese Halliburton. It looks like he's dealing with a wrist injury, only 11 points in 26 minutes in the victory. Thank God they didn't need him. And then we got Jokic. Jokic is dealing, man, they just, they're defending the hell out of him in Oklahoma city.
So we got some teams that are in some, uh, let's just say compromising positions right now. It's the JR sport re-show here with you coast to coast on the infinity sports network. You want to call me? You can 8 8 8 7 10 4 ISN.
That's 8 8 8 7 10 4 ISN. We are awaiting to see, we're waiting to see who has the number one overall pick in this year's NBA draft. Armando is calling from Las Vegas. Armando, you're on the JR sport re-show coast to coast. What's up? Armando, you're live on the radio. Hello, this is Armando from Armando's taco standing graveyard.
Yesterday's brief was definitely the cows. Who do you think is my beef tonight? Celtics or Knicks? Well, I think one thing that we'll see, I think at home and thank you for calling from the, uh, the taco standing cemetery, as we just said, the New York Knicks, I'm going with the Celtics tonight Armando. Okay. I don't know what type of television setup you have in Las Vegas. I got the Celtics winning that one.
Okay. Call me back Armando in Vegas gets an NBA team. It'll be a few years. It's the JR sport re-show here with you coast to coast on the infinity sports network.
We're going to take a break. When we come back on the other side, we're going to wait and see who has the number one overall pick where the hell is Cooper flag going to end up. And then we'll have a conversation with Joe Vardon from the athletic.
We have so much more to do. It's the JR sport re-show coast to coast on the infinity sports network. We are minutes away from finding out who has the number one overall selection in this year's NBA draft. We know what takes place in June. Who's going to end up with Cooper flag on their team. We'll find out in minutes. How about this in 15 minutes from now, we're going to have a chat with Joe Vardon from the athletic. We'll get his thoughts on what took place with this NBA draft lottery. We'll get into what's going on with Giannis, who is now out and open to leaving Milwaukee. So we got a lot to do and wait on. Chris Percy Vianen is staring right at ESPN in the New York studios.
And as it stands right now, Chris, I understand there and break. Who are the top four teams that have a crack at the number one selection? JR, it is an absolutely hilarious list of teams. You've got the San Antonio Spurs because the Aaron Fox and when Benyama wasn't enough for them. You've got the Philadelphia 76ers because three star players wasn't enough for them. You've got the Charlotte Hornets, who are the Charlotte Hornets. And you got the Mavericks moving up for the first time in franchise history. How about that for Nico Harrison?
And look at this. Mark Tatum says Hornets get the number four pick. Hornets are at number four overall here. We're waiting to see what happens at three. So the final three teams, the Sixers, Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks, one of these teams is going to end up with the number one overall pick.
One of these teams, Sixers, Spurs or Mavs is going to end up with Cooper Flagg, which is official. We know who it is. You want me to say it? It's not bad.
Yeah. Just give us the numbers. The Hornets at number four. Give us the countdown.
Go ahead. We got the Hornets at number four. We have at number three, the 76ers at number two, the San Antonio Spurs. And at number one, Nico Harrison gets rewarded for trading Luka Doncic. He gets the draft Cooper Flagg.
What a story this is. The Dallas Mavericks end up with the number one overall pick. The Dallas Mavericks had a two percent chance.
Let me say this again. The Dallas Mavericks had a two percent chance to end up with the number one overall pick. And the Dallas Mavericks end up at number one overall. The Charlotte Hornets will draft at number four and number three. You have the 76ers and number two, which is also equally crazy. You have the San Antonio Spurs. They're drafting number two overall.
And the number one, you have the Dallas Mavericks. Now, Nico Harrison, as Chris just pointed out, what the hell type of lifeline did this man just get in the NBA? Nico Harrison just got the biggest phone a friend in history. Who wants to be a millionaire?
He got the biggest lifeline. You can't make this stuff up. I mean, for years, for years, people have talked about it. LeBron James joked about it a couple of weeks ago. People have been saying the NBA draft lottery is rigged. Patrick Ewing to the New York Knicks, Tim Duncan to the San Antonio Spurs. How come the Spurs always end up on top? And this time, Nico Harrison, who has just been eviscerated, annihilated and with good reason for the Dallas Mavericks moving Luka Doncic from the Mavs to the Los Angeles Lakers.
This man ends up with the number one overall. Like, you cannot make this up. People online are going nuts.
There's all types of side eyes and memes. And I'm looking at the tweets now. The league really had this rigged. Nico traded Luka for Cooper flag. OK. NBA is gifting Nico Harrison for sending Luka to L.A. The NBA is just entertainment. This is not an actual sport. Well, that's rigged.
Everything here. Every message is pretty much saying that this this process is rigged. The final results are in for the draft lottery. The Spurs have two selections in the top 14. The Spurs select at 14. The Hawks are at 13. The Bulls 12. The Trailblazers 11. The Rockets at number 10. I don't know if they're gonna be keeping that pick.
We'll talk about that later. You may want to get rid of that one for part of a Giannis deal. The Raptors at nine. The Nets.
They had some big hopes to end up with Cooper flag. The Nets at eight. Pelicans seven. The Wizards at six.
That sucks for them. At least there's a lot of talent here in this draft. The Jazz at five. Hornets four. Sixers three. The Spurs two. And the Dallas Mavericks select at number one overall.
Let me say this again. The three teams that had the best chance at drafting number one. The Jazz, Wizards and Hornets.
They had the best odds of ending up with the number one overall pick. The Jazz ended up selecting at fifth. The Wizards. They're at six. The Hornets. Well, the Hornets at four.
I guess they were the closest of that got there. Yeah, we're gonna talk more about this. We got Joe Vardin from The Athletic who's gonna come through and have a chat with us in about 10 minutes to talk about what we just heard. The Dallas Mavericks have the number one overall pick in this year's draft where everybody knows who's going number one. Cooper flags start looking for a house in Dallas. That is going to be your new home. You can't make this stuff up.
You really can't. It's the JR Sportbree show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Dallas Mavericks selecting at number one overall. So we're going to take this break. When we come back, we'll talk to Joe Vardin about the Dallas Mavericks, about the draft lottery, about Giannis Atetokounmpo, about the Nixon Celtics who actually gonna get underway in a few minutes from now. There's just so much going on in the NBA.
Yeah, I can understand how a lot of people would go. There's a script. This is rigged.
And sometimes it's just, well, it's the luck of the draw. It's the JR Sportbree show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. This portion of the show is brought to you by Ethos Life, the easy way to get life insurance in 10 minutes, up to $2 million in coverage with no medical exam.
Just a few health questions. You can get your free quote at checkethos.com. Not available in all states. We're going to take our break. We'll talk to Joe Vardin from the athletic on the other side to just put all this together. The NBA, just always something wild and wacky happening. To get an update on the draft lottery and everything else going on in the world of sports, it's time for a newsflash. Here he is. It's Rich Ackerman. It is the JR Sportbree show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. The NBA draft lottery, the results are in. What a crazy world. The Dallas Mavericks.
Yeah, conspiracy theorists rejoice, I guess. The Dallas Mavericks have the number one overall pick in this year's draft. Yeah, the NBA team that a lot of people looked upon as being a joke. The NBA team that got rid of a transcendent star, a guy who just took them to an NBA finals. The Dallas Mavericks send Luka Doncic out to Los Angeles, but they're able to import in and draft a Cooper flag next month. You cannot make this up. The Dallas Mavericks had a 2% chance here at ending up with the number one overall pick.
Hey, I guess you got to believe in miracles. Joining us right now to talk about the draft lottery, the Mavericks, news with Giannis. There's a lot going on. Joining us right now is national basketball writer for the athletic.
It is Joe Vardin. Joe, how are you, man? I'm doing well. It's good to be back. How are you? All the time.
Always a pleasure to have a chat with you. I didn't expect the Mavs. I don't think anybody did.
But is this the biggest move? What would you say to the conspiracy theorists out there? Well, I have never been in the room.
I haven't gotten a chance to do that. But I know enough people who have to say that that really this this isn't rigged or if it is, they do the best job to hide it. But yeah, I mean, you know, the whole thing with Luka went down in my hometown in Cleveland. And so I was around the Mavericks when it happened.
And then I was there in Dallas for Lucas return with the Lakers. And it was it's a shaken franchise. And I mean, you know, I'm not saying that the players are like shocked out of their normal routine or you know, Jason Kidd or whatever, but just collectively, there was like a cloud or a pall over them. Yeah. And you just wonder and then like to get this, I mean, such an immediate injection of new life and a new direction. And they still have, you know, they have some pretty good players too already.
So yeah, it's a I mean, you shake your head. I mean, how these things work out, you know, and then, you know, you think about Washington and Utah, the two worst teams in the league, and they're drafting five and six. So I don't know if the lesson there is tanking is overrated. But But yeah, I mean, what an exciting night in Dallas.
Absolutely. You think about all the fans out there have to be breathing some type of sigh of relief. Joe Vardner is joining us from the athletic. We know about Anthony Davis in his injury history. We know Kyrie Irving with the knee injury.
What do we expect? I guess this might be best case scenario for Cooper flag. He gets to, I guess, handle the ball a little bit more in his rookie year.
Maybe. I just love I love this for for Dallas because they I mean, they sort of prioritize size. And so now you've got Cooper flag alongside Anthony Davis, lively. You know, PJ Washington, you know, on down the Gafford is there. You know, Klay Thompson's there. You know, Kyrie is going to be out a while for sure. So you don't know, like how the offense is going to look.
But you just love the size right away. And you know that Cooper isn't going to really be exposed on the wing like some rookies can be just because of who he's going to be on the floor with. So, you know, I don't know if this is the best case scenario for him. I like I'm not saying it's a bad case.
I'm just I don't know. I hadn't spent enough time really thinking about the Mavericks getting the flag. But I will say right away, like, I mean, I've seen a number of rookies, high, you know, high draft pick rookies who get exposed for one reason or another because they're drafted onto bad teams. And the Mavericks are not a bad team. They're not a great team anymore. Or at least they weren't.
But they're not a bad team. Joe Vardin joining us from the athletic. There's no happier person, I guess, in the United States of America right now.
The Nico Nico Harrison. We'll see how this works out for Cooper flag. We already got a star. This guy's a future Hall of Famer. Top 75 MVP is this MVP is that we learned earlier today that Giannis Atteracumpo was open to leaving Milwaukee.
When you heard that, of course, this was all a possibility, given how their season ended and the team's current construction. Where do you think the best place for him to go is? And do you think you're really end up leaving Milwaukee?
I mean, the second part first, I'm still I'm still just not sure. I think he is entirely comfortable in the city in greater Milwaukee, entrenched in the community. Obviously, you know, unmatched, or certainly like, I mean, no one has more power in their organization than he has in his. And and he's, I think Giannis values like sort of loyalty and long standing relationships. So those would all be reasons to stay.
But he has stated that that he wants to win another title. And the Bucks need to reset. And and so it's, it's hard, it's hard to imagine, you know, how to make those those things align, you know, my colleague, Eric name, who covers the bucks for the athletic wrote something today, just sort of laying out the bucks make a pitch for him to stay, just sort of explaining that, that he can build his personal legacy this year, while they work to sort of let some contracts expire and reset some of their assets to be really good again, in maybe a year or two. That might be appealing to him.
I'm not sure. But you know, to your point about like, where is is the best fit? I mean, you know, what, what if, I mean, the Oklahoma, the Oklahoma City Thunder, I was gonna say, Well, what if what if the Thunder like fall short this year, and they just decide, you know, the heck with it, we're gonna trade our assets and go get him. They could they could do that, even if they win. They could pull they could, you know, or get to the finals, they could be a warriors and, and, and wind up with a Durant level player after having been to two consecutive finals. So, you know, I mean, you could see Janus and Shay, together, you could see, you know, what about Janus in Houston, you know, as a leader of that team, that already has like some really good young pieces. You know, there's there are four cap space teams and the team that you keep hearing about, because it is a big market is Brooklyn.
You know, I just it went so poorly. The last time that they did this as far as going after stars and putting them together and then what happened after that Janus is a totally different player than those three guys. But I just I'll believe that when I see it as far as who the next star is that goes there and and and how that it works. But yeah, you know, I mean, there's always like a team that might surprise you like to jump up there and get into it. But, you know, as far when you look at the landscape, I mean, if the Thunder decides that now's the time whoa. Oh, my God, listen, it looks like we're in for a crazy off season and we're still in season. We haven't even crowned a champion.
Joe Vardon is joining us from the athletic. We got one team that one game that just got underway between the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks. The Knicks don't know how to play a game without going into a 20 point hole.
They weren't able to overcome that on Saturday. What do you think is going to happen here with the rest of the series of the Celtics now just going to bludgeon them out the door? You know, I mean, I said that at the top, at the beginning of the playoffs, I was doing something and and by sort of prioritizing like what the best series will be.
And I had that one is the worst one. And of course, like at minimum, it's going to be a four to series at minimum. So, you know, I, I, I'm still like not enamored with the Knicks at all, like in terms of like their ability to win the series. If you look at it, the Celtics have dominated, dominated what like there's been there's been three games, that's 12 quarters. And I think they've dominated like 10 of them. So, you know, I am in the boat that I expect that to continue. But if the Celtics clown around, you know, if they're turning it over, if they leave it in Jason Tatum's hands, with the game getting tighter, and he turns it over and Jalen Brown, same thing, you know, Jalen Brunson is is not someone you can mess around with.
And he has proven that. So, so the Celtics, I guess, like to turn it a little bit from your question, I would say the Celtics need to bludgeon them. Because if not, the Knicks are going to have that confidence. Yeah, already off to a fast start 13 to four, the Celtics lead the New York game is just underway here in the first this is going to as per plan as the past couple of games. I know you're based in Cleveland, Joe, we see that Donovan Mitchell is now dealing with that ankle and now they getting blown out. What is the ultimate feeling in Cleveland right now, given how great they were in the regular season and what looks like might be an end right now? Well, I, you know, I can't, I, I've been around this team a lot since the All Star break, and I've been covering them in the playoffs.
And I don't think I could tell you what the feeling is, as far as like the bigger picture. Their bigger picture is this, they are about to go into the second, the second apron, which is NBA language for basically handcuffed by by the salary, the salaries that they're already paying. And they're about to be a second apron team like to put it in a little bit, you know, maybe better English, they're about to have the third most expensive roster in the NBA when when Evan Mobley's extensions kick in as defensive player of the year. The third highest payroll in a small market when you don't get out of the second round two years in a row.
That's, that's bad. If Donovan can't play tomorrow night, which I think he will play, but if he doesn't play tomorrow night, and they lose the next two years in a row that their season ends in the second round with Donovan and street clothes. And I, I have just been blown away by how good Donovan has been this year. And really all three of his years in Cleveland.
I think he is a superstar. So I'm not saying that was a mistake. But it's a problem for the franchise. If he's not healthy when they need him most mate, they couldn't have managed him better this year. You know, they had, I mean, you know, Darrius Garland has just had repeated injuries. And you also have to talk about how effective Can you be with two small guards?
You know, Darrius is listed at six one, he's closer to my height, on five, on 510. And Donovan is listed at six three, he's closer to six one, there's only a couple teams in NBA history that have won that way. And the Cavs look like they were going to be another one all year, you know that all the sudden they get to this round, and they've got three or four players that are unplayable in the series. And they won 64 games with those guys.
So there's a lot going on. You know, when you when you have the same result with the same players two years in a row, you probably asked some harder questions of your roster. And and if there's a move that can bet that is palatable for you.
Maybe you move on from a guy, but they're not going to do it just to do it. And in the current NBA salary structure, you know, if you decide to go all in on a roster like they did, then you kind of have to live with it. So you know, the answer is frustrating as this may be for Clevelanders, you might have to run it back with these guys and just hope that the lessons over the last two years are taken to heart that that's it.
Joe Vartney here with us from the athletic Joe as we're up against the break, I want to ask you this question and finality. And we got the Oklahoma City Thunder. We see what they're doing with the thunder right now. You want to talk about a team with a big old, you know, budget, a big old salary, a lot to pay out the Boston Celtics.
Who do you think is ultimately going to win? It's it's pretty wide open right now, I think. And I really think we need to just think about the Pacers for a minute. They they were 40 and 15 to close the regular season. They're a really tough matchup for the Cavs. They are a five out team. They have a competent bench and they have a bunch of different ways they can hurt you in a year where the Celtics appear vulnerable, where the Thunder are struggling with their experience issues, where the Nuggets fired their coach five days before the season was over. And then you've got the Timberwolves who struggled to score and the Warriors who were hurt and old. So so this is a year for that where, you know, maybe a team like the Pacers could really surprise you. OK, well, listen, I'm here for all of this. I mean, we were surprised this evening with Cooper Flagg basically going to Dallas.
You can never expect these things. Hey, Joe, tell everybody where we can follow all of you and your work with the athletic. Yeah, I mean, I have the social medias.
It's just my name. But, you know, I'm really I'm just excited about the product, the athletic, the athletic dot com. And a lot of our stuff you can find on The New York Times homepage, which is really exciting. We've that's been a couple of years now. So just go there. You know, I mean, read me, read all my colleagues and we just appreciate the support. Hey, that Joe Bond is the J.R. Sportbree show, the Infinity Sports Network.
