Nuggets are the 2023 Champions, in Game 5!

We are out of the NBA season.

I can't believe it. We'll have to make something up going forward, but let's let's coronate Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets for maybe not playing a great offensive game last night because I thought that was a hard watch at times, but they did what they had to do. Jokic is ridiculous and they got just enough. Finally, Michael Porter Jr. showed up. Yeah, made a made a clutch three. I mean, look, I think the reality, A.G. is that Jokic is the first player to be drafted outside of the top 15 to get to both the regular season MVP and the finals MVP.

Never been done before. So the style in which he plays, the additions on this team between Bruce Brown and Aaron Gordon and what he's meant to squad Jamal Murray, they're just. At the end of the day, you felt like Miami was trying to punch above their weight.

Yeah. And it's Jimmy Butler. That's a whole other conversation. But when you when you when you start looking at what Denver had there, they were the best team.

They were pound for pound. The better team and the better team has ran through this Western Conference playoffs and ran through the NBA finals. And now we're having conversations about could they potentially.

I think they are for the next four to five years. I understand we're going to have to do that, but but I'd rather just spend a little time digesting what we just saw, for instance. And look, I know it's not easy being Jimmy Butler because he's a different kind of NBA star. But man, if Jimmy had played and I'm not talking about scoring 13 points in a row like you did in the fourth.

But if Jimmy had been a little bit more aggressive and assertive to score early rather than, you know, getting other people involved, maybe Miami would have been in a better position because I thought that they lost the game in the first half when they had the lead because that lead should have been bigger. So thank you for saying that. I mean, you were joking with me saying you were just seeing me on get up. That's the first thing I said on get up. I said, hey, look, people can say something can't look right for Jimmy Butler.

And I understand that. But in addition to maybe something not physically being right for him, but that's the ink when he asked to get surgery in the postseason. There was a mentality shift that I needed to personally see because Jimmy Butler just gets everybody touches in the first place. That's not the Jimmy Butler that needs to be presented when it's a game five on the road in a closeout scenario, Adam.

Like when Denver is in vouchable with multiple players, and when they're shooting 7% from the three point line in the first half, you need your star player to say get on my back, gave them and get on my back, Max truce. And I'm going to help you guys become more comfortable with the game. As you watch me put my best foot forward and be aggressive. I'm going to start finding you later in the game after I've set the tone that I'm going to be dominant here offensively.

And guess what? If you don't have it, Adam, you don't have it. But I'm not going to leave a game in which bam takes more shot attempts than I do it. This is I am the reason why we got here. I need to own that and take that opportunity to get on my back.

I need to own that and take that to another level. And I agree with you, say it, but we run the risk of this becoming Miami losing the series. You know, when when we when we look at it that way, because I agree, Denver was better, and played with the same level of desperation. That was always the worst case scenario for the heat, where the other team plays with the same level of desperation, as Miami does, because the other team had been better. Oh, I see.

I don't get into. I don't think we're even coming close to the narrative that Miami has lost the series. I think if you're looking at it through the prism of a fan, you want to see a team that is literally scratching and clawing and doing everything they can do. You want to see your best player who's led you to the promised land.

Try to be as aggressive as possible, and you'll live with that at the end of the day. So is there, you know, is there room for that? Miami Heat fans, you're going to feel positive. You're going to feel happy, but you're going to be disappointed. Like your team had a legit chance to win with Jimmy Butler and air explosive, but like a legit chance to win. But we all also do know in the same breath that Denver has put an end to small ball to a degree, moving forward. Like, and I said this off the top of our show, Adam, I think the sides with your cage and Aaron, you know, I think we're going to have a chance to win. moving forward, like and I said this off the top of our show, Adam, like the size with your cage and Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter junior, and the length that they have on the defensive end.

moving forward, like and I said this off the top of our show, Adam, like the size with your cage and Aaron, you know, I think we're all ready to full up. gun, maybe we need to add Dwight Howard back to our lineup. We need to pull the back a wee from playing over in Taiwan, and bringing back.

because we need that sides. like it's changed the dynamic of how teams are gonna be built because you can't just space the floor now it's about…. of how teams are gonna be built because you can't just space the floor.

Now it's about like can you actually combat them on the boards. By the way, Dwight Howard's hitting threes over in Taiwan. Think about that. It is absolutely amazing. You mentioned Aaron Gordon.

In a way, he might have been the most important player in this entire series. When the whole family comes together to watch the game, nobody wants to miss a second of the action to run to the grocery store. With Instacart, you can get all your weekly groceries in as fast as an hour. Less time shopping means more game time.

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There are only a certain few individuals that it doesn't matter where you put them, they can stand on their own, right? And I think for Aaron Gordon, the expectations from being drafted so highly and being a guy that's supposed to carry a franchise, it's not really built that way. You know, and I give Tim Conley a lot of credit for having getting a guy like that. Even though he's no longer, you know, was a GM of the Denver Nuggets and now, you know, the president and GM of the Utah Jazz and, you know, got paid $15, $20 million more to do that. But I think the pieces and the job he's done defensively on the likes of Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, defensively and the likes he did with LeBron James, now to end it with Jimmy Butler. And he had Anthony Edwards and people like that beforehand with Minnesota. Those are the key cogs in the will that you need to win championships. Everybody focuses on Jokic and the scoring ability that they had guys that were willing to do it in the trenches as well.

And the six volumes about the culture that Denver has and maybe as much because it's not known as well as Miami's culture. J Will J Will key Sean and Max here on the Adam Gold show. So where do we rank? Jokic now is an all time great. Is he top three? Is he top two? Is he higher than LeBron?

I don't know how we do this now that he's finally won one champion. Do we have a list? We have a definitive list.

I mean, everybody likes to have list. I here's my marker is there is no doubt that we have probably just experienced one of the best all time runs by center in NBA history. There's no doubt about that.

Adam, would you agree quickly? Oh, there's no question. No question about it. I mean, it's a small sample size.

Yeah, I mean, yeah. Who's putting up these numbers? Well, so this is the next step that I need to see that all greats do. Like when you're winning MVPs, but your team is, you know, going out early, there is a little bit of a market on your back individually. But now that they're NBA champions, like when we start talking about some of the best duos from the best players to ever do it, who are you when now you are the center of attention 24 seven, when the expectation is that you should always be there. You are no longer the underdog, even if you weren't really this year, see wise, right? Now that you're the hunted each and every year. So, you know, they've been the hunter. You know, Michael Malone has talked about it a lot of people really hot tomorrow.

It's figured it out. Like now you need to sustain that greatness right now. I think we get a chance to see where your kids will factor into all time great list if he can continue to prove it being the hunted instead of just being the hunter. Here's what's what's interesting to me about the rush to make lists is that we make lists before we have really enough evidence to put anybody anywhere unless your cake is basically already baked.

So Jokic has got what? Another 567 years of high level basketball still to play. I mean, why would we?

Why would we say now? I mean, I don't think you can legitimate legitimately put him even in the top 20 right now. So unless we're doing a list, who's your best 50?

I don't know. Maybe he's on there somewhere, but I think it's too soon to put him on any list. So I agree. I mean, look, a lot of the job is forecasting, though, and you can say, though, um, you know, certain players like when I watch Derrick Rose, I'm like, Oh, my goodness, the athleticism combined with the dexterity jumps off the page. Now, is that athleticism sustainable long term in the league in which guys get hurt and injuries can happen anybody. But the probability is probably higher for Garrett Rose because he spends so much of his career above the rim high flying. So you can factor into styles of play and equate that to longevity doesn't mean that you're always gonna be right.

But when you look at your kitchen like his game is it high flying, right? Like it's about angles of attack, which he's a master of leverage of angles of attack. And it's about feel the game and passing ability. And those aren't traits that you could see that could be affected through time. So if you're going to forecast it, you're saying that these numbers can't stop somebody from being a brilliant passer. You can't stop somebody from knocking the fat off. You know, you just have incredible touch.

So if you're forecasting all these attributes and you're factoring that into time and longevity, the numbers at the end of the day, if he is able to remain durable, are gonna be one of the best of all time. Oh, there's no question. But we would. My point is that we're just not anywhere close to being there just yet. You mentioned that we could be looking at this string Denver for an extended period of time, and we absolutely can. They will continue. I'm sure if they're good at their jobs, find players who can help them even late in draft, even in second rounds.

We see it all the time. Miami for crying out loud. It's got four undrafted players in their rotation. I'm not.

It's amazing. And a lot of that is coaching. A lot of that is just finding the right guys. But let me ask you about Miami going forward. Jimmy's getting older. Um, if I if I were looking down the road, I'd say we need to get the heat to a point where Jimmy Butler is not the best player, but the second best player.

So how do they go about the business of doing that? Because they have a lot of really good pieces who are still young. Well, you're seeing that Tyler Heroes set to make $27 million. So I mean, you find that big deal. I think you can use them as a trade asset because, frankly, I'm not sure I know what he provides them offensively, but I'm not sure he fits directly into that culture. I take assets and I go get dame.

Yeah, I really do. I really think BAM is better as your third best player. Yes, I think Jimmy can still be a clutch player. But the one thing that this team is truly missing was another dynamic creator off the dribble.

Yeah, it's and Gabe Vincent was trying to do it. God bless him. He's going to make 9 to $10 million a year.

He deserves it. But outside of Jimmy Butler, there was really nobody else that could create their own shot off the dribble. So if you add dame to this team that I truly think it epitomizes heat culture, I think him and Jimmy, they might clash from time to time, but that would be a competitive, healthy environment that him and Eric's poster already live and breathe in daily.

And that's a player that gives you the extra boost and the extra punch. They've already shown you the ability to find jewels in the draft or jewels and free agency that as it relates to pieces of the puzzle. If you can find those pieces with Dame Jimmy and back to be contending for the next couple of years.

J. Will next week we'll talk about the draft. We'll talk to a little victor win bunyama, but I'm gonna give you my top 10 all time NBA player list. You don't have to give me yours in my time. I have LeBron one. I have Michael to I have Magic three. Magic was always one for me.

But Magic three Kareem Russell Wilt Steph KD Bird and Dirk. Those are my 10. Wow. I have not written them down. I need time to assess it. I feel like I might have a couple of problems with. That's fine. That's fair. That's uh, you know, it's it is what it is.

That's just leave it there. It's a solid list, though. It's a solid list. And I'm not mad about stuff cracking your top 10.

I'm with you on that. I thought about moving him ahead of Wilt. But Wilt was the original game changer when it came to athletic big man. So he deserves. And the only reason I have Wilt behind Russell is because he could never beat Russell.

So very true. At some point we go scoreboard because Russell just kept winning. And I think the rest of that team, while great, wasn't necessarily that great. Russell Russell made them great. Are you saying that KD with all said and done is top 10? Or you have KD top 10 right now? Right now, K. D. Top career.

This is said is a seven foot guard. I'm not. I didn't say anything. I just took a breath.

I took a path. You have to get defensive. I'm not getting defensive.

Plus, when you throw in his twitter beefs, come on. So wait, I didn't. Did I hear Kobe Bryant? No, you did not. I have him 11.

I didn't go beyond. I have Kobe 11 check. Shaq 12 Hakeem 13. I might have to have Kobe over KD.

We might have to go back and do that. I mean, I still think there's some work left to do for Kevin Durant. That's fair. That's fair.

His race is not completely run either. Uh, J I'll talk. I'll talk to you next week. We'll talk draft and we could have a KD versus Kobe debate. Oh, that's a hell of a debate.

All right, Angie. So just so people know when my son heard the ranking, my top 10, he went, How do you possibly have Kobe behind Kevin Durant? Yeah. And I said, because I do. Yeah, I'm not knocking Kobe. I think I had Kobe 11.

So it's not like he was far back. So I texted a friend. I'll just leave his name out of it, who has made his own list. And I said, Am I crazy? He goes, Nope, I 100% agree. Oh, okay.

And it's from a valid source. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. So look, we're, uh, it does at some point come down to personal taste for a lot of people. I know how players today view Kobe, right? The today's players look at Kobe as a top five all time player for sure. But that's just that's their era.

They grew up watching him and idolizing him. To me, the reason I put Kobe behind some of these others is because, for the most part, every single one of these other players was a unicorn. Yeah, and Kobe isn't. Kobe is is a slightly lesser version of Jordan. Basically the same player. Jordan light. Yeah, but I mean, I don't want to disparage Kobe's career. He was the closest thing that we had to playing the way Jordan played the the attitude, the confidence, the being difficult on teammates type of thing.

I mean, Kobe was Jordan, and I'm not in no way knocking it. I could see it being a generational thing, because even my generation, like every time you shoot, you know, garbage into a garbage can, you're like, Oh, cool. So it's a thing.

It's a thing that was. So that was my list. And my list could be wrong in your eyes, but your list could be wrong in my eyes. So we'll get J's list.

Maybe J will give give us his list next week. When the whole family comes together to watch the game. Nobody wants to miss a second of the action to run to the grocery store with instacart. You can get all your weekly groceries in as fast as an hour. Less time shopping means more game time.

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