It is the JR Sport Brief Show 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're amazing. Thank you to our producer in New York City, Ryan Botcher. Thank you to you for being here. People at home, at work, on the road, the highways, the byways, people waiting on the NBA draft. Cause we just had another trade that we announced right before we went to break. Chris Staps Porzingis is no longer a member of the Celtics. Porzingis has been traded here to where I live. The Atlanta Hawks. Oh yeah. Celtics are saving money.
They're out of the tax. Congratulations. They moved on from Drew Holiday last night and now they have gotten rid of Chris Staps Porzingis. I'm going to tell you the other team involved in the trade. Yes, it's a three team trade.
How about this? In another 20 minutes or so, we're going to have a chat with Matt Powers from Swish Theory. He's an NBA draft analyst. I'm going to get his thoughts on some of the players that we will see going number one tomorrow. Well, I guess everybody after Cooper Flagg, we know he's going number one. And then next hour, we got a lot to discuss with Noah Dalzell, who covers all things Boston Celtics for SB Nation.
If you want to be a part of the show, you can do that. 888-710-4ISN is the phone number. That's 888-710-4ISN. You can find me online at JR Sport Brief. Man, Chris Staps Porzingis is now a member of the Atlanta Hawks. Let me give you the details here on the trade as an overall. The Brooklyn Nets are the other team involved. Chris Staps Porzingis and a second round pick go to the Atlanta Hawks. Terrence Mann leaves the Hawks along with a 22 pick, the number 22 pick in tomorrow's draft, that goes to the Nets. And George Niang, he goes from Atlanta to the Celtics in addition to a second round pick.
And so listen, man, you could throw the second round is all out the window. Who the hell cares? OK. It's just an accumulation of wealth and riches at this point. Porzingis goes to the Hawks. The Celtics save money. Terrence Mann goes to the Nets. The Nets get Terrence Mann and a pick. The Nets are trying to rearrange their lives. And George Niang, well, who cares what the hell he does?
All right. They were calling this guy Big Body Benz or whatever the hell he is here. He's one of the fluffiest NBA players that we have out right now. Doesn't look like he can play worth a damn. He can knock down a shot. And so Boston is saving themselves some cash.
And we talked about this just last hour. They got rid of Drew Holiday last night, sending him out to Portland. And then just minutes ago, Kristaps Porzingis is no longer a member of the Boston Celtics.
He gone. Kristaps Porzingis is making his way here to Atlanta, Georgia. Kristaps Porzingis just signed a two year contract extension with this.
The excuse me with the Celtics. And he has one year remaining on his deal. So by the time things all said and done, he's going to be gone. And the Atlanta Hawks will be out here saving some cash as well. We just heard this from Shams. He said this a couple of weeks on Pat McAfee's show, June 11th. He basically said the Celtics, they're trying to save money.
Listen to this. The other big ticket item I think is off season is the Celtics. And what are they going to do? And the primary focus from my understanding with the Celtics off season has been Drew Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, Sam Houser. They're trade markets.
Houser? Now, our team's making big offers and calling about Jalen Brown and Derek White 100%. The Celtics prefer not to trade them from my understanding. But listen, if they get a big offer, they have to look at everything. And I think they're going to get offers on the three guys that they're focused on. They're going to get offers potentially on Derek White and Jalen Brown. And I think between now and the draft and free agency, they're going to evaluate what makes sense from a value perspective.
And that's where they're going to move. Everybody but Tatum? Essentially. Bingo. Like what what what does this Celtics team look like right now? We have no idea. None. Okay, Anthony Simons, George Niang and just mentioned Sam Houser. There's still more to do here. There's still more to do.
Now, Batcher, you're a fan of the I don't want to even call them a throw in here. They're a facilitator. What do you want? What is your expectation from the Nets with all of these picks? What do you think they're going to do with all these guys? Originally, I would say they're just going to try to trade up maybe from eight to like four to try to get Ace Bailey, because it seems that Ace Bailey and the Nets have a connection a little bit. And then but now we have already five other first round picks and a very early second. I could see them trying to trade up for number nine or 10, maybe take on R.J. Barrett salary for the from the Raptors. Maybe the Suns need some extra first.
So you toss them there. Brooklyn Nets are just going to bring on some veteran young veteran guy. This is what they do every year, right? Every couple of years. Yeah, they take they take on bad salary and take on first and then they eventually go star hunting and then they get injured and they restart. Oh, boy. All right. So the Brooklyn Nets still exist.
It's good to know that they exist. I think they're the only real winner of this trade, to be fair. Boston, you can't really say they win when they have to shed salary. Atlanta picked up Porzingis, but they basically traded everything they got from the trade deadline and they lost a first. For a guy who barely plays in the Nets just took on salary.
I don't I don't agree. It's difficult to look at the Boston Celtics who won a championship 12 months ago and go. Yeah, I don't know if they won this trade. You know, shedding salary is it's a part of the game. I mean, the way that the league is situated right now, if you go through seven years and you have seven different champs and the only thing that stopped the Boston Celtics were injuries.
I don't think I can look at anything that's as an L as a loss. Brad Stevens has done an excellent job with this team from sitting on a bench and being elevated to the front office. You're you now have a new owner who's coming in.
I don't think anybody in Boston. I'm I'm not sweating like this was this was inevitable. This is actually a good thing if you're the Boston Celtics, because what you needed was flexibility. Moving into all the uncertainties of this season. I mean, I highly doubt that they were going to get anything better or different from Drew Holliday and or Chris Staps Porzingis.
There's still plenty of things to shake out. And so I would look at any of this involving the Celtics as an incomplete because they are they're pretty much a hamstrung with the injuries from last year. Now, the Hawks, they are a lost cause. Porzingis, who cares what they did at the trade deadline? They fired the guy that made the trades.
And now you got a guy who's come on. And ultimately, Chris Staps Porzingis will be here. And if he is healthy, they will flip him. If he is not healthy, his contract will simply expire. And even if he's not healthy, there still might be a schmuck team that wakes up and says, oh, my God, you know what we could do?
We could use Chris Staps Porzingis as we go on our championship run. And so the Hawks and this is something unfortunately here that isn't widely acknowledged or recognized. Like they're in a rebuild. They have been in a rebuild, which makes it even I don't want to say funny, but they just fired Landry Fields. They didn't make the postseason the past two years. You look at the roster. Every time the Hawks have a GM that has a plan, they had Travis Schlank here who came over from the Golden State Warriors, had a plan, had a team that had the most depth that they've had. I mean, they were doing pretty damn good.
Looked like they were on the up and up and they pretty much just just tank that team. And Schlank is like, you know, let me run the team. I'll leave. Nick fans may not want to hear this. Hawks fans may not want to hear this.
There's some similarities between the ownership groups. I'm not going to put anybody in the space of Dolan, but when it comes to interfering with the letting basketball people actually do their jobs and hiring the right folks, the Hawks are failing in that regard. They are as mediocre as mediocre can be.
And so Bacha, I will agree with you on that one. You want to talk about a trade winner, a trade loser. The Hawks are just, they're always losers.
They're as mediocre as they come. So Porzingis will play 15 games and be hurt and then somebody will trade for him and Porzingis will be the missing piece to play five minutes a game to help whatever team go out there and win a championship. Wild, wild stuff. The Boston Celtics saving money last night, moving Drew Holliday to the Portland Trail Blazers. And now we learn that Kristaps Porzingis and ultimately a salary dump, a hilarious one here to Atlanta, George Niang, Terrence Mann, Bacha, there's guys in the league.
They just exist to get moved around. Like, how many teams has George Niang been on so far in his career? Jazz Sixers, Cavs, Hawks, six is not six. He's just he's just that this is utilized as a derogatory term in sports circles. He's just a guy.
And Terrence Mann at this stage of history, he's he's just a guy. OK, and Porzingis, I'm not going to say he's just a guy. When he's healthy, he can get you 20 points, seven rebounds, knock down a three, block a couple of shots. And he happens to be seven foot three and have unique skills and makes them valuable in that regard. But the amount of games that he plays, he's just a guy. These these numbers are just horrific from Kristaps Porzingis.
Oh, to be seven foot three, making 30 million dollars a year. This past season for the Celtics, he had that respiratory issue, amongst other things. He only played 42 regular season games the year that they won the championship last season. Last year, he played 56 games. OK, his his last full year in Washington, he played 65 games, which is almost a career high. He's just and it's not going to get better as he gets older. Kristaps Porzingis is going to turn 30 years old on August 2nd.
To be honest, I'm I'm a little surprised he's lasted this long. But given all his injuries, when has he ever played his rookie season with the Knicks? This guy was young, flying all over the place with the putback dunks.
And now he can't even do that. He played 72. The second season, he played 66 with the Knicks. The next year he became an All-Star, blew out his knee, played 48 games, was traded to Dallas, played 57 in the return.
Forty three games, 34 games. It's just. He's he's a sad case. OK. I hope you be careful here. If you're in Atlanta. Be careful of the the Porzingis jerseys, OK?
They might be might be a collector's item sooner than later. I'd be surprised if he's here past the February trade deadline. Not feel bad for Hawk fans because they're entering into another season where there is. Let's just say there's no hope. OK. Trae Young, Dyson Daniels, Zachary, we saw Shay moving into his second year, Jalen Johnson, a guy's never really ever been healthy since high school. They don't have a big man.
And yet Kong will Clint Capella will eventually, you know, any done so. What a world that we live in. Who else is there? Anybody else? Batcher? That's about to be traitor.
We are. Jalen Brown, question mark. Oh, my God.
Jalen from the Celtics. I don't know. Maybe they're doing a whole rebuild. Maybe a complete flip. I don't know about that.
I'd be who? What team is acquiring him in his three hundred thirty million dollar contract? That's a great question. Maybe Mavericks. Could they possibly make a move?
Because he doesn't. Jalen brought the biggest cap it. So it's like, well, you know, let's let's make it make sense. Who are they moving from Dallas to the Celtics?
And there's so many restrictions now about being able to match salary and now. But now they are. Who are they moving?
The lively a bunch of maybe Klay Thompson will be in there. Oh, yeah. It's bad. No. Yeah. No. This is not what game is it? What game can you make a trade to get? It's not 2K.
Yeah, this is not 2K. I think Brown will be there. So will Tatum. Everybody else is pretty much up for grabs. The Boston Celtics pretty busy. It'll be very interesting to see what their starting lineup looks like come October.
And that's obviously taken into account injury. They got some holes to fill. And let's see what they do with the team. Chris Staps Porzingis, now a member of the Atlanta Hawks.
Drew Holliday, now a member of the Portland Trailblazers. We're going to have a chat next hour with Noah Dalzell. She covers all things Celtics for SB Nation. So we will certainly get her thoughts and her opinions on which direction the Celtics are going. We're going to take a break when we come back on the other side.
We're going to take a quick detour straight to tomorrow or straight to tomorrow. As the NBA draft is going to take place at the Barclays Center, home of the Brooklyn Nets, in Brooklyn, New York. We know who's expected to go number one overall. That happens to be Cooper Flagg.
But what happens after that? Well, we're going to have that chat with Matt Powers of Swish Theory. NBA draft analysts on the other side of the break.
We'll talk about Ace Bailey and Harper and some of these international players. It's the J.R. Sport Brief Show Coast to Coast on the Infinity Sports Network. You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief.
It is the J.R. Sport Brief Show here with you. Coast to Coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Man, we are about 24 hours away from the 2025 NBA draft. It's been a foregone conclusion that Cooper Flagg is going to be selected at number one overall. We have such a wide pool right now when it comes to the draft. Not just college prospects, international players. There's a lot of great talent that comes into the league. This draft expected to be better than what we got last year.
To talk about what we can expect, not just tomorrow but the day after as well, is someone who covers the draft extensively where he founded Swish Theory. It is Matt Powers. Matt, how are you, man? Hey, doing great. Thanks for having me. Absolute.
I'm boiling hot in New York City without an AC unit right now. So happy to be distracted to talk some drafts with you. I certainly understand. You may want to try the subway. I heard it may be a little cooler.
It might be better, yes. Thank you, Matt. Well, all things considered, we know the draft is going to take place in New York tomorrow. Cooper Flagg expected to be drafted at number one overall.
But what are some of the other storylines and individuals that we should pay attention to tomorrow? Yeah, I think a big one is Ace Bailey's draft range. I think that's really highly uncertain right now. It was kind of a foregone conclusion through most of the season that he would be number three pick. Like, really hyped prospect. Crazy shot maker at 6'8". But his kind of refusal to do workouts with some teams and just kind of seems like he is insistent on having an on-ball role versus more of an off-ball role, which would make more sense for him as a shot maker. So it seems like he has a really wide range of outcomes. Could go anywhere from three to, who knows, towards the end of the lottery. Depending on, you know, could see some team want to trade up for him if he starts to fall. So I'm really curious to see where he ends up, for sure. Well, Matt, when you take a look at the teams that are selecting past the Mavericks, the Spurs are at two, the Sixers are right there at three, the Hornets at four. What do you think the deal is with Ace Bailey? Is there a team, A, why would you want to, you know, forego money? Is he just trying to go to a team where he can just jack up shots?
Yeah, that's a good question. I think he kind of views himself as that on-ball threat. I kind of, I compare him more to Jabari Smith type skill set, but he kind of plays, or wants to play more like a Brandon Ingram on-ball, bringing the ball up. So I could see, actually I could see a really good fit in Utah at number five, because they have more of kind of like a quick hitter system where he won't have that much pressure on-ball.
But yeah, I'm not really sure exactly where he is angling so specifically. And draft analyst Matt Powers is joining us here on the JR Sport Brief Show. Ultimately, when you take a look at a lot of the trades that have already taken place between established players, we see picks that are getting moved around as a result. What team do you think is most likely to trade out and down from their current spot?
Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, I think the Memphis Grizzlies could. They're kind of later, but they just trade for that pick on the Desmond Vane deal with Orlando.
So I could see them moving that. Again, Chicago's kind of in an awkward spot at 12, where they could just see who falls to them, or if they kind of want to target a more established player. Because I think there is a lot of real talent on towards the end of the lotto in particular. It's kind of like a big eye of the beholder draft where there's guys that have very clear, defined skills and but also some kind of glaring weaknesses. So I could see some teams kind of, you know, trading up for some player that they're really named by.
And so that late lottery area. Well, Matt, we know that outside of Cooper flag, there's there's a lot of names, whether it's Harper or Bailey. What name and what individual is capturing your attention the most?
Who are you paying attention to to see where they may land? Yeah, I'm a huge fan of Colin Murray Boyle from South Carolina. He's even though he's a sophomore, he's still freshman age, just like super highly productive. The issue is he's 6'7 and can't shoot three. So there's going to be some hesitancy from some teams thinking that he might hurt their spacing. But he's a smart passer, can drive the ball. Really has like a really big, like strong frame and can defend all like multiple positions.
Just a good playmaker on defense. I could see like an analytically mighty front office kind of moving up around. Again, like maybe OKC would be interested there in the middle of the first.
But yeah, I think he's someone who could really surprise people. Well, Matt, you talk about OKC. We know about their three picks here early on in the first round also going into the second.
Man, they just won the championship. What could they possibly be looking to do? Who could they possibly be aiming for?
Yeah, that's a good question. I think, again, Colin Murray Boyle's, I think could be a really like defensive force for them. I mean, there's a lot of targets. They have such flexibility of a roster that they could trade up for, come on, Malawatch and go kind of another spacing big. They could go Noah Singay, I think, on the wing as somebody who's still only 18 years old but can kind of contribute now. He was in the German League playoffs and one of the best teams there.
So I think they could go that direction. Cedric Cowards, another interesting guy who has a 7.3 wingstand, a really good shooting touch. More kind of like a mystery man because he was out most of the year. So there's some very intriguing prospects that feel like kind of thunder guys that they could maybe even move up a little bit for since they have so many assets. Well, you talk about the young man, a Singay, playing in Germany. Is he the best prospect from outside of the United States? We've seen so many players dominate the league that have been from other countries. Who do you expect to be the best prospect from outside the United States?
Yeah, I mean, come on, Malawatch, who's from South Sudan originally, who played at Duke this year. He's my top international prospect. I have him at number 5 on my board. Just like an incredible lob threat, can maybe space the floor a little bit even because he has such good shooting touch. Potentially a really good drop, big defender.
But yeah, Noah Singay definitely second best for me. Basically also a safe pick, but one that also has some kind of upside as a really good transition score. Draws a ton of fouls and like best in class ground coverage while blocking some shots. Kind of a do it all type player. Matt Powers is joining us from Switch Theory.
It's the JR sport reshow coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. The Philadelphia 76ers just had just about every human being on a team imaginable injured last year. And so here they end up with the number 3 overall pick. Do you see them going for broke and maybe moving that pick around? Or do you see them saying, and we were hurt last year, this might be our best and only chance to bring on a guy for the future? Yeah, I would not be surprised to see them move down and take kind of a more sure thing.
But if they stay there, I expect them to take Vijay Edgecombe. I think he's a really productive player. Another like analytically friendly guy that Mori would like. There were some rumors that he was like nervous in his workout and like not hitting shots. So I think that might terrify some Sixers fans that, you know, have the Markelle Fultz history there. Like just worried about him losing his confidence.
So that was freaking out some people. But I really like him. He's a really good player.
Really good. You can kind of slot him in defensively immediately. We saw in the playoffs how important defensive playmaking is.
He would be one of the top in the league pretty quickly. So I would be more uncomfortable taking him to the Sixers. Matt, it was less than an hour ago that we learned of Kristaps Porzingis and his trade being moved to Atlanta and draft picks going out to the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets select the number eight overall. I feel like they're housing nothing but draft picks and young players.
What do you think their deal is? Yeah, they now have one sixth of the first round picks. I really expect them to move up, honestly. They have that number, was it eight, nine pick? Eight.
Eight pick. But it sounds like they're, I would not be surprised if they're very in on Jeremiah Fiers from Oklahoma. Another young freshman who had like a really high usage rate and one of the best college conferences of all time in the SEC this year. Just somebody that could take on a lot of usage pretty quickly for the Nets.
And you kind of have some chance to be that on-ball creator that they lack right now. When you take a look at just a couple of months ago, I can't believe Tom flies this much. But we just had the NCAA tournament and we saw Florida walk away the champs and we saw the explosion of Clayton Junior.
He's going on a heater. You got Queen as well. Who are some of the guys who really emerged in a tournament? Where do you think some of them are going to end up?
Yeah, I love Walter Clayton. I think he is a pretty wide range of outcomes, too. I would not be surprised if Oklahoma City took a swing on him also, just because he's such an elite shot maker.
And if they could add one more thing that they're missing, it would be more shot making from three-point as a guard there. But Con Canipple from the tournament was, I think, just viewed as a really safe piece in the middle of the lottery, maybe early lottery even. Just a really reliable player who might have some underrated upside just as a passer and an incredible three-point shooter. Yeah, I mean, who else in the tournament? Those are the big ones.
The Queen? Yeah, how do you think he'll fit? I mean, he doesn't necessarily have the athleticism, but I mean, damn it. One of the best guys in the whole league is not a freak athlete and he dominates the game and that's Jokic.
Yeah, my guy Nick Kalinsky on Twitter has a score to measure someone's combine performance. And he was in the bottom fifth percentile all the time. So it's really an uphill battle for him. But he plays at his own pace. He can decelerate through the paint. He's an incredible driving prospect. He can create a shot in the mid-range some. I kind of buy the passing. I think he's super creative there.
Just kind of older for a freshman at age 20 already. But I think the potential is still incredibly high for him to be kind of somebody to take a lot of offensive usage. And Matt, as we start to wrap things up, when you take a look at the draft now spread out, not just over over one night. How is that going to affect any potential movement and trades that we have? Yeah, I mean it sounds like we're going to be in for a pretty crazy two days just to have any additional time to process what's happening, what's going on and see who falls. But yeah, I'm excited for the two-day event.
I don't know how necessary it was to switch to two days, but more draft content is always welcome. When you take a look at Ed Cooper flag from what you've seen at Duke and how his game has evolved from high school up until now competing at Team USA and what have you, what do you expect from him? He's heading into an interesting situation with a lot of well-known vets who have their own health issues with the Mavericks. How do you think his usage is going to fit in in Dallas? Yeah, I think you can kind of throw him into the fire a little bit pretty quickly just because we saw how adept he was, you know, as National Player of the Year level talent already at the young freshman age. So I think he can really handle some on-ball pressure pretty quickly because he's got so adept at running, picking roles at Duke, you know, not really a role he was used to playing before. You know, even if he ramps down that usage a little bit, he's an incredible defender, kind of even a better defender that we saw at Duke. You know, if you look back as performance with Team USA, where he's more kind of as a role player where he was, I think he had like eight blocks in the championship game or something like that. So I think he even has more to his game than he showed at Duke somehow. Well, we certainly hope so. I know Mavericks fans hope so.
I mean, they're probably happy what they've seen already. Well, Matt, thank you so much for the time. Please tell everybody where they can keep up with you, your work, and everything you do with Swish Theory. Yeah, thanks so much for having me. You can find me at theswishtheory.com, all my work there and our big board, check it out.
And on Twitter, you can find me at draftpal. Again, thanks so much. No doubt about it. Enjoy the next two days, man. And stay cool. Try your best. Will do. Appreciate it.
No doubt. It's the JR Sportbreeze Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Matt is in New York City and where I've apparently seen people frying eggs on the sidewalk. Batra, by the time you get out, the sun will probably have set already. You want to try frying an egg on the sidewalk tomorrow?
Maybe you could do it tonight. It's still 80 plus degrees at 10 o'clock. No.
You think you're going to fry an egg with the sun down and 80 something degrees outside? The floor is toxic in New York. You just got to wait. Maybe it's like a chemical reaction. Oh, you're right. Will this be like a Ninja Turtle or something is going to happen? Yeah. There's the pizza cheese all over the floor. Okay.
Quite possible. Okay. If you see a Ninja Turtle tonight, you know what? If you see a Ninja Turtle tonight, just don't tell me tomorrow. I don't want to know.
I'll see Splinter. Okay. A giant rat. Well, there's a lot of those in New York City. So if he's talking and I know you're tripping. Okay. I haven't seen a talking rat yet.
A lot of giant ones, not ones that speak. Hey, thank you to Matt Powers. And by the way, Matt, just stay cool, please. 888-710-4ISN is the number.
That's 888-710-4ISN. Amongst all the guys who've been traded and the trades that took place last night, Tyrese Halliburton put out a message. He put out a long message on social media to fill you in on what he said on the other side of the break. We just got a lot of dudes going down with a lot of just game changing injuries. It's a lot of Boston Celtics. I mean, if they didn't have all these injuries, would they be making all these trades?
Maybe, maybe not with the new ownership group, but it certainly makes it easier to go out and do. We'll talk about all these crazy injuries. We'll get into Halliburton. There's a lot going on.
More trades. It's Tom Ford News Flash. Here he is. It's Gordon Dahmer. You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief.
It is the J.R. Sport Brief show here on the Infinity Sports Network. Thank you so much to Matt Powers from Swish Theory. He came through in the last break to break down the NBA draft. It's going to take place tomorrow. We got Cooper Flagg going at number one overall.
And after that, man, this it's almost a toss up. You know, which teams are going to keep their picks? We heard about Kristaps Borzingis now on his way to the Atlanta Hawks and the Brooklyn Nets have more picks and the Celtics are now shedding salary.
We have no idea what's going to take place tomorrow. Last year's draft was was pretty understated. A big shout outs to Zachary Rishashe as he went number one overall last year to the Atlanta Hawks.
It was just all rather underwhelming. I don't think that's going to be the case this year at all. 8 8 8 7 10 for ISN is the number that's 8 8 8 7 10 for ISN. I need to let you know about the defensive player of the week brought to you by the Navy Federal Credit Union. Our members are the mission and the defensive player of the week this time around is Trevor Rogers. He pitches for the Baltimore Orioles, this big old lefty, his third start of the season, eight scoreless innings, only gave up three hits. The Orioles beat the Rangers, blanked them six to nothing. They try to fight back here into contention in the American League, in the American League East 8 8 8 7 10 for ISN, 8 8 8 7 10 for ISN. Freddie D calling from North Carolina. You're on the Gerald Sport Reshow.
What's up, doctor? Hello there, JR. Yeah, I was just about to rebut here of the review of the championship game, and it was another sorry game in the NBA. That's for sure.
Of course, I know Halliburton went down, but, you know, the thing is they still had a chance. But you don't have a chance anyway until these players understand that you have to play away from the ball, too. You have to move away from the ball. You have to spread the court. These players, how does somebody turn the ball over 23 times? Because it's standing in the same area on the court trying to force everything, trying to dribble the air out of the ball and then force the ball in.
And, you know, they just don't have the movement of people getting open. Now, who's the guy, who are they going to pass the ball to if nobody's open? Indiana can pass the ball pretty good, huh?
Hold on a second. You didn't make clear who you were referring to. You're talking about the Pacers? Well, actually, Oklahoma's a young team, but actually those guys must be somewhat coachable, because actually they played better team ball than the other guys did. They played away from the ball better than Indiana. That's the reason they won.
Well, it was difficult. I would think it was difficult for Indiana to do that without their star player and their point guard. He's the one who's moving the ball around. And I would venture to say that there's probably, especially given probably since January, when the Pacers all got healthy, you could probably say there's not a better team that moves the ball around than them. Yeah, but they can move the ball around good sometimes when people are open, but actually when they put the defense on. Look, the NBA is predicated on star players. And I don't care what team it is, if you're missing your star player, of which the Pacers were, if you're missing the linchpin to your entire offense, there's not another guy on that team, let alone a guy in the league.
And we got plenty of great players. Tyrese Halliburton is unique. It's one of the reasons why people looked at him heading into the postseason and said, oh my God, Tyrese Halliburton is overrated, because he's not out there launching shots. He's not out there jacking up shots.
He makes the right play. I mean, we can go back 15 years ago before LeBron James ever won his first championship. LeBron James was criticized out the wazoo for not being a killer, for not being Kobe, for passing the ball to the open guy instead of being aggressive and going out there and getting the shot. So Tyrese Halliburton is no different.
Obviously, he's not a LeBron James. But if you're missing the key guy in the middle of the court, it's going to be tough. It's going to be tough. But here's a better question for you, Freddie. Hold on. Hold on, Freddie. Thank you. What the heck are you a doctor of?
A doctor of observation. And that's the reason I'm observing what's going on, because I go all the way back to Red All, back to Bill Russell, Cowans, and have a check the whole group. And I go all the way back in basketball, press, Maravich, and everybody else. But the bottom line is, look, I like Halliburton.
He's good. And Halliburton is not the problem. The problem is the coach, the way they play now. They don't know how to play a motion offense, and they don't know how to play away from the damn basketball. Thank you very much. And just ask them to look up the definition of motion basketball. Thank you, doctor.
I appreciate you. I'm not disputing what he's saying. That's more of a league issue. That's why some of the best players that we currently have in the game move the basketball. Watching somebody like Nikola Jokic play with the Denver Nuggets is like poetry in motion. He's a one man band. He's an orchestra all to himself.
Everything revolves and moves around him. There's a reason why Steph Curry has had so much success. There's a reason why we got guys like Jordan Poole, who are just like I said, these are just these are just guys. And so the last two teams that I'm going to look at and go, well, they don't know how to play or they don't know how to move the basketball or they're not moving a basketball around like I don't know, like it's 1960.
It's going to be the two teams that we just saw. Like if your top guy goes down, you're left to figure it out. It was basically Ben Mather in time to think that all of a sudden the Indiana Pacers were just going to, you know, just switch the ball movement. And now it was going to go ahead and save the ass.
Yeah, it could. You are correct. This NBA, though, is a star driven league and the star goes down. You're cooked. It's simple as that. I would not.
There's a lot of bad basketball being played all across the league. Maybe a doctor. What's his name?
Batra. Dr. Eddie. No, it was Dr. Frederick. No, it wasn't Frederick. Dr. Freddy. Oh, Dr. Freddy.
OK. Hey, Dr. Freddy. Look at some of these other terrible ass teams and see what they do. I wouldn't use the two teams that we saw as an example. I mean, you can look at Shea Gilgus Alexander and go, oh, man, he dominates the ball too much.
He's taken too many shots. You can say that. But have you seen some of these loser ass teams?
I mean, here's the facts. The majority of people sitting around watching ball, they're watching the good teams play. Are you watching Washington? You looking at whatever the hell is left of the Pelicans?
Are you checking in? And they don't play a look at defense. Are you checking in on the Sacramento Kings? I mean, for all two teams to criticize the champs and the runner up.
I didn't look at the NBA finals and say, oh, well, let me now make a paint a brush, a broad brush here about the state of the NBA and ball movement. Not today. Eight, eight, eight, seven, ten for ISN. I never heard of a doctor of observation either. An eye doctor?
No, botcher. Come on, man. I don't know. Some people need their eyes checked. And I don't know.
I don't know. Watching that game seven, that was enough movement for me. It's just I don't think he likes the fact that nobody moves into the paint. They move around the around the perimeter, but they don't move into the paint.
And that's what I'm like. No, that's not that's that's that's not his point. He's talking about ball watching.
One guy has it's it's no different. It's isolation basketball. It's not so much about going into the paint. It's what you see at the YMCA. It's what you see at an AAU game.
And you go to an AAU game. And typically the game is taking place to highlight a select few players, which is why he's he is right. There are a lot of players who grow up and do not understand how to move without the basketball. A Steph Curry for as great of a dribbler as he is. This man is coming around screens. He's running baseline.
He knows how to move and operate on the basketball court where the other team is just flummoxed because he can come off of a screen, get the ball, knock down the shot. Like there's a beauty to moving without the basketball and having dudes cut and move around. It's a completely different animal when you got one guy who's telling everybody, hey, clear out. Go to the corners.
They stand over there. And I'm just I'm I'm going ISO like that's the guy at the YMCA. That's the dude at the gym who's just jacking up shots, dribbling between his legs for 20 minutes. Just to go ahead and and pull up a brick.
OK, you can make some fancy shots, but can can you actually make it go in? That's that's that's the part of the game that is missing. I will agree with him on that. I just think a poor example. I wouldn't use these two teams. 8 8 8 7 10 for ISN.
That's 8 8 8 7 10 for ISN. We have so much more to do as the show continues on. Coming up in the next hour, we are going to have a chat with Noah Dalzell. She covers all things Celtics for SB Nation. I'm definitely going to get her thoughts, not just on what took place last night with Drew Holliday, but what took place about an hour ago with Chris Staps Porzingis as he is now a member of the Atlanta Hawks and the Boston Celtics. They saved themselves a little bit of money.
A lot of money. OK, we'll also talk about Aaron Rodgers on the other side of the break. He had some news that he wanted to share about his future and how much more time he has left here in the NFL.
I'll leave it up to you whether or not you want to believe Aaron Rodgers. You're locked in. It's the J.R. Support Brief Show. The Infinity Sports Network.
