Moore: Timberwolves Are Dangerous In The West

Hey Matt, how are you? Doing well, man. How are you? I'm excellent.

Thank you for taking the time to join us. We saw what took place last night for Nikola Jokic. Just kind of shrugged it off like he shrugs off everything. When you take a look at the team in the hole, he puts up these amazing performances, whether a Murray or Porter is or is not playing. What is the height that this team can reach besides just making the playoffs? Is that pretty much the expectation this year? No, I mean, they've got championship expectations. I think they're going to probably fall short because of the defense. But, you know, they still believe that they've got the core of a championship team, given that they've still got Aaron Gordon, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr., and of course Jokic. So they are, you know, very much in the belief that, like, look, they've had stretches where they can defend, they've had games, they've had quarters, and if they can get to just a little bit longer, a level higher in the playoffs, they'll be able to compete for a championship. Now, their defense has not been good enough, but there is kind of the argument, like, look, one of the edges in playoff basketball is the team of the best player wins, and they're going to have the best player, just not any series. And that gives them some confidence that they can pull this off and go for a second title. Without a shot of a doubt, that could certainly be their expectation, and I don't think too many people would argue that Jokic is the best player in the game. What is your expectation? My expectation is probably a second round exit, and they didn't get past the first round.

Depends on whose matchup it is. It's the Minnesota Timberwolves, they're going home in the first round, because that team has their number and matches up perfectly against them. But if it's not the Wolves, they've got a good chance of getting out of the first round, but their defense just isn't good enough this season. They need some tactical adjustments, they need some personnel adjustments, they don't have what it takes to be able to play the level of defense that they're going to need.

And without that, there's no way for them to really be able to go four rounds and win a championship. Would not surprise me if they made the conference finals, and also wouldn't surprise me much if they made the finals because of how good Jokic is if they get the right matchups. But there's no way they get past any of the teams that come out of the East, Cleveland, or Boston with the defense that they have.

Matt Morris here with us covers the Denver Nuggets for the Action Network. You talk about the teams, some of the teams that they'd have to go through if they wanted to advance. You had mentioned the Minnesota Timberwolves who beat them last night in very dramatic fashion.

We know the Oklahoma City Thunder are expected to kind of have a waltz to the NBA Finals representing the West. A lot has been said about Nikola Jokic and Shay Gilgus-Alexander. I think it's pretty much a given, just based on how past history has been served when it comes to the MVP award, that Shay Gilgus is going to win outright when it comes to MVP. Do you think Jokic has a chance or is there too much bias against him? I think there's probably a chance of it.

It's kind of surprising to me. The straw poll came out today and it did kind of indicate that it's still Shay Gilgus-Alexander to win. But I do think when we get down to actually passing the ballot, it's probably going to be some discrepancy because of the fact that Shay Gilgus-Alexander has not had a deep playoff run. Made second round last year. Was probably great in both rounds last year, but without a deep playoff run, there has kind of been a history of resistance to him. We've got Jokic having won a championship and having won his best season. It's going to be a hard one, I think, for voters to get around to the fact of, okay, he's given this guy three MVP awards. This is his best season. How does he not win MVP if this is the best season with the other one three? I think Shay's very deserving and absolutely incredible, but I do think that this might wind up being a lot closer maybe than it looks right now.

Without a shadow of a doubt. You take a look at what might move forward for these nuggets. We've seen some of their key players that helped win the championship. They're gone.

KCP down in Orlando. What can this squad do to maximize a superstar? One of the best ever in his age 30 season going into the future. What can they do? It's going to take some very difficult decisions. They built this roster in the previous CBA and the limitations of the new CBA have really put the clamps on them. So I think you can expect to see at least one starter, Michael Porter Jr. or Jamal Murray traded this summer in order to provide them with more options. And then from there, they're going to need to put better defensive personnel around Jokic. They elevated Christian Brown and Brown's been incredible this year. He's been terrific for them offensively, but defensively hasn't been able to make the kind of impact that KCP did alongside those other guys.

Their best team was when they had Bruce Brown, KCP and Aaron Gordon as a great defensive trio to be able to give them always a number of plus defenders on the floor. Without them able to do that, they're having a hard time next to Jokic. So they're going to need to go and revamp the team to add some more defense and shooting this summer. Because they're one of the teams that is always facing an uphill battle, even with an elite offense, because of the fact that they don't take enough threes. Matt Morris here with us covers all things NBA, not just nuggets for the action network. You think about a team that did make an adjustment.

They did it in season. It's the Golden State Warriors. Steph Curry putting up 52 points last night. Jimmy Butler has certainly had a positive impact on that team. Where do you think they're going to go?

Are they too small? Are they still going to have a shot? What are your thoughts on the Warriors?

They're interesting. I'm trying to get a kind of feel for where they're at in terms of the hierarchy of the NBA. I think when you look at, they've beaten a lot of teams, but they haven't necessarily faced off against top level teams at full strength. So the question is going to be, when they get into a playoff series, are they kind of solvable? Curry is playing some of the best basketball he has since the championship season. Draymond's been playing great defense, and Jimmy's obviously reengaged. But, if you have a lot of holes, and they're relying on a lot of unproven guys to give them major minutes, and I wonder what that looks like in a playoff series.

I think they're likely to have issues against both small and big lineups, so I'm a little skeptical of how far the Warriors can go. When you think about the Oklahoma City Thunder, obviously they're now 60 plus wins. They're sitting at the top of the West. A full expectation that they represent the West.

Do you hold that to be true? I mean, they've got to be the, they have to be the favorite by a wide margin. They've been so incredible this season. One of the best points of, they're on pace with the best points of ritual in NBA history.

This is wild, but that's really incredible. There are questions, I've talked to people around the league who have asked, like, okay, but, you know, don't have guys that I consider to be lockdown shooters. What does that look like when they get into a playoff series?

Questions about things like, alright, you know, Lou Dortch at Holmgren in particular, J-Dub as another kind of option. Is he good enough to be a second option in the playoff series? That unproven experience factor, it's hard to figure out whether that's overrated or underrated as far as whether that's going to be a limitation on them. I think that they are absolutely talented enough, well coached enough, and Shea is good enough. But I do think that they're going to face adversity and they haven't had that happen all season. We'll see what happens when things get difficult for them in a playoff setting when the playoffs come.

Matt, we got one scene that had big expectations and they just suck. The injuries and trade requests and declines and they're just bad for the Phoenix Suns. We heard and learned that Kevin Durant, he had a lot of inquiries into where he might end up just in this season. He declined, obviously, going out to Golden State. What do you think Kevin Durant is most likely to end up this summer? You know, there's kind of some talk now about maybe he's going to stay. I think no one really knows what Durant wants.

And that's been hard to figure out the entire time as far as what he's looking for. From Brooklyn to the Suns and then this situation here. There's a lot of conversation that Mike Boudinhalter might be let go this summer. That would be their fourth coach. The third coach let go in three years.

It would be absolutely wild. I think there's probably big questions that happen if he answers with the Suns. And no one really knows what Durant wants. If he does leave, I think you have to expect him to go to either Golden State, the Lakers, the Clippers. One of those teams in a major market because that does seem to be the type of city that he wants to play in.

Oh my goodness. Matt Morris joining us from the Action Network. The Los Angeles Lakers, could they bring him on given his salary? I would say depending on what happens this summer, given where the Lakers can get under the second apron. If the Suns can get under the second apron, if they can find some salary relief, there are mechanisms to make it happen. Now I think everyone's kind of skeptical. Everyone assumes LeBron saying he made it clear he wants to stay in L.A. to finish his career.

But if that changes for whatever reason, then you do kind of start to wonder what the next steps are going to be. So all I know is that the Lakers, after trading for Luka Doncic, you can't ever really rule them out. Wow. The Los Angeles Lakers always out there hunting for stars. We've done a lot of talk about the West.

I know you're out in Colorado. When it comes down to the East, it's kind of one big shrug. It's like, is Cleveland going to be able to match the Celtics? And if the Celtics are healthy, it's a tough answer there. I think I'm going with the Celtics all the way. What are your thoughts on who's going to represent the East? Yeah, I'm with the Celtics. I'm with you on the Celtics. I just think that you have to be able to show that you can slow down the amount of threes that Boston shoots. There really is a secret to them.

It's not something complicated. Jason Tatum is awesome. He's incredible. He's on my MVP list this year for top five.

Had him in the straw bowl this week. But their real answer is just they don't let you shoot threes. They take a lot of threes.

And if you can get past that, then you're live. But no one's really been able to prove they can do that. Now, the Cavaliers did it in the second half of their final match of the season. They flipped that season series 2-2.

And the reason the Cavs were able to come back in that game and win was because they held the Celtics to 13 three-point attempts in the second half. If they're able to do that in the series, they're going to be live. They actually win this thing. They can do this. But that's what is kind of that's what's required of them is they're going to have to figure out ways to take away the biggest advantage the Celtics have, which is their three-point barrage and how they beat you with the math game.

We'll see about that. I'm certainly looking at the NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Celtics. And we just got to get through the rest of these other teams to see who's going to go ahead and fall off. Is there a team that you look at and go, hey, nobody talks about them, but they have an opportunity? The Minnesota Timberwolves are dangerous. They've given the Thunder problems. They've got the size. You saw what they can do on the road, even against the 60-point triple-double last night. Anthony Edwards is obviously one of those guys who can step up in the playoffs and have huge performances.

I saw that last year. They've got a lot of things going for them. They've figured out how to make the combination until this random work. They have figured out how to get the best out of their lineup. They've got everybody playing well, and they are extremely well coached.

So I think the Minnesota Timberwolves are actually a team that it would not shock me if they returned to the West End Conference Finals and made a real run at the NBA title. Okay. Joining us here is Matt Moore from the Action Network.

Matt, I want to thank you for the time and for your insights. Where can people follow you and all of your work, whether it be with the Nuggets, the NBA and hole? Fill us in. Yeah, you can catch me on Twitter at HP Basketball. I've got a substack. I'm at the Action Network.

You can also catch me on the locked-on NBA podcast every day and on locked-on Nuggets every night. Well, thank you, Matt. All the best the rest of the way. We're at the end of the season. Let's see who comes out on top, okay? All right. Thanks, man.