Antonio Daniels, New Orleans Pelicans/NBA Analyst

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Additional terms apply. Antonio Daniels, how you been? I'm blessed, blessed. Zach, how are you doing, brother?

Well, I'm doing fantastic, and it's great to get you back on. I did not like what I saw from the Suns in the first round to the playoffs. I picked Denver heading into this series.

Denver last night goes up 2-0. How concerned are you with the Suns, because they just have not been the team that I thought they could be before the postseason started? You know what this series kind of shows, and I think it's taught a lesson to many of us, how we can overrate talent.

And I mean that respectfully. The Phoenix Suns can't expedite chemistry. That's the part that's difficult about this league. In an era of super teams, what we automatically assume is if you put good players together, it's automatically going to work, regardless of the amount of time that they're given.

Right? We saw what happened with Kyrie Irving and Luca. We saw that, right? They missed the playoffs. They missed the play-in. And now we're seeing with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker that they only played together, what, six, seven games in the regular season. And then the last two or three games, they chose Mondy Williams and his Phoenix coaching staff chose not to play those guys. What we're seeing is what I call on our Sirius XM show, a mirroring of what the Brooklyn Nets looked like last year versus the Boston Celtics. It's Kyrie's turn, then it's KD's turn. It's Kyrie's turn, then it's KD's turn. And you're seeing that now, except you're replacing Kyrie Irving with Devin Booker.

That's all. There's no fluidity to their offense. There's no chemistry, offensively. They won that first round back on pure talent. They beat the Clippers on pure talent.

And I said it would be really interesting to see how that series would have looked with a healthy Paul George and with a healthy Kawhi Leonard. But what you have in Denver is something you can't teach. That's camaraderie.

That's chemistry on both sides of the basketball. And that is visible in these first two games so far in Denver. I said Denver in seven going in. I'm ready to now move that to Denver in five. But where are you at at this series?

I know you're picking Denver, but how many games? Yeah, but the thing is now, I think a lot of it depends on Chris Paul, which sucks because it seems like we're constantly and continuing to have the same conversation every time of the year. You know what's interesting that teams all year long are so big on low management, right? Everybody's low manages their players for one reason, so they can be healthy during the postseason. How did that help Kawhi Leonard or Paul George or Giannis Andrzej Kumple or Tyler Herro or Chris Paul?

You know, I mean, you can go down the different list of stars that have been injured postseason, even though they were low managed during the regular season. I do think Phoenix will get one in Phoenix because guys will play better. Cameron Payne will play better. Damian Lee will play better.

DeAndre Ayton will play better. Role players tend to play better at home. So I do think the Phoenix Suns will get one in Phoenix, maybe two.

Maybe two of them in Phoenix because being at home is just a different comfort level regardless as to who's on the floor. So I'll say Denver in six. And I love this story of the Denver Nuggets. We know what the Joker's done the last two years when in back to back MVPs.

It seems like everyone tries to take away from his game this year just because of how toxic that MVP conversation has been. But I think people forget in 2021, this team was really thriving. And they went in that long win streak and then unfortunately they lose two games and Murray then tears his ACL. Murray's now back and Murray has just been phenomenal.

And we talked about him beating a hard and played well last night. But we need Harden to step up if you're a Sixers fan. And if you're a Nuggets fan, it's like you have your closer in Jamal Murray and he's been so fun to watch and this has been great to see. Well the thing is Jamal Murray wasn't great yesterday. But for the most part he's been fantastic. And it's not just Jamal Murray, it's great to have him back.

But not having Porter back. Having Aaron Gordon. Having guys that understand and embrace their roles. Guys like Contavious Caldwell Pope. Guys like Bruce Brown. Guys like Christian Brown. Those kind of guys that embrace their roles which helps them excel in their roles. That is the key to championship teams.

Zach I'm not telling you something you don't know. There are about 20, 30 stars in this league. You know what that means? That means there's 430 or 420 role players. The league is full of role players. For teams to be successful this time of the year, stars are going to be stars. Right? We saw what Devin Booker and Kevin Durant did last night. But what about everybody else?

Right? Stars are going to be stars. To be successful this time of the year, you need role players to step up and to outplay their expectations. Antonio Daniels, the Celtics, I didn't love what I saw from them in the first round. I still think that they should be in the NBA Finals, especially if you take Milwaukee out of the picture. But last night, Noam Bead, I know Harden's not played great in the postseason, but last night he was sensational. I'm kind of stunned that the Sixers ended up winning the game last night. Well, it's always different, man, because you don't really know what to expect from James Harden. His playoff disappointments, I think we remember more of those than we do games like he had last night.

And I think that's where the surprising piece comes from. Not the fact that they won, it's the fact that James Harden truly did turn back the clock about eight years. Not to a postseason James Harden, but to a regular season James Harden. So if that James Harden showed up, I think that surprised many people. I didn't expect that. I am not going to lie to you. I will be a fool to sit here and say, I didn't think Philly could win the game. Because I know how difficult it is sometimes for your opponent to prepare when you are down your star down the star. I know, especially for one game.

I know how difficult that is to do. But if you were to tell me that Philadelphia is going to win this game, there's somebody that's going to go off that the Boston Celtics can't stop. I would assume it would have been Maxey. I would assume it would be Maxey and not James Harden. And James Harden turned back the clock yesterday in a time when it was needed for the Philadelphia 76ers. And the crazy part about it, Antonio Daniels, no one beat in the game. Jason Tatum scores 39 points. Jalen Brown was 8-10 from the field.

You get 20 off the bench from Brogdon. Like if I would have told you those numbers before the game, I would have said how many points did the Celtics win by? Right. Right.

And that's the thing. That's why I get frustrated when people don't watch the game and they watch highlights and box scores. Because a lot of times the numbers don't tell the story.

They don't tell the story. It's small things that happen inside the game. Like in watching that game last night, I'll tell you something that drove me crazy. Even on the final possession where James Harden hit a huge shot over Al Horford. Understand that this is a resource driven league.

Right? If he misses that shot, people were all over Doc Rivers the same exact way that people were over Mike Boonhoser but not calling time out. But now that shot goes in, now it's a moot topic. But what drives me crazy watching these games is how you have a guy in Marcus Smart that's an excellent defender. Defensive player of the year last year. You have a guy in Jalen Brown, excellent defender. And how easy they are giving guys the matchup that they want. So if I'm James Harden, I am searching for Al Horford.

I'm searching for him. And what guys are doing is they're just acquiescing to the switch. A lot of times it's not even a screen.

It's a brush screen. But they're just switching just for the sake of switching. And what that's doing is giving these guys that are extremely skilled and talented the matchup that they want. That's what James Harden wanted. He wanted Al Horford on him because he knew that he could get the shot against Al Horford that he wanted because Al Horford would give him a step.

Just acquiescing to the switch that easy in these games is driving me crazy, Zach. Antonio Daniels, so the Sixers are up 1-0. You have Game 2 coming up tomorrow night. Would you play him beat or would you arrest him just to get back at home for that third game already knowing that you have one in your back pocket? If Joel Embiid is well enough to play, I will play him.

Because the thing you don't want to do if you're the Philadelphia 76ers is have that organizational arrogance. Say, all right, you know what? We got what we came for. We got what we came for.

This is enough. And you see this tonight with the Miami Heat and Jimmy Butler, right? Jimmy Butler saying I'm going to try and play because he's being greedy, which is exactly the mentality you should have this time of the year. Don't be okay, right? Don't be okay with just getting one win on the road.

If you can get two wins on the road and now go back home up 2-0, that's the mentality you need to have. So if Joel Embiid is healthy enough to get out there and contribute and play, I am 100% playing him. I would anticipate that the Knicks are going to win tonight, especially without Jimmy Butler, but I did think the Celtics were going to win last night and we know how that didn't go and Joel Embiid didn't play. Do you anticipate the Knicks to win tonight against the Heat?

I didn't see. Is Jimmy Butler out? He's out, yep.

Okay, yeah, so that's surprising to me because from the reports we received earlier, if he was moving well during shoot around and, you know, that he was going to give it a go, I would assume, yes, I would definitely assume, especially after getting one in New York. I'm not saying that the Miami Heat will just completely take their foot off the gas because that's not in their culture, but to win without two of your best, probably your two best playmakers and shot makers and Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro on the road against New York, when New York is down a game understanding the significance if they lose this one, yeah, I'm with you Zach. I would expect New York to win today. What do you expect with LeBron and Steph Curry in this series that gets underway tonight Lakers and Warriors? You know, I picked the Lakers in seven and I'm not comfortable with that, but I wouldn't be comfortable picking Golden State either. You know, this is one where I have played tennis with this in my head for quite some time, just constantly going back and forth. And it's a toughie, man.

It is a toughie. The one thing I think that makes the Lakers extremely dangerous as opposed to in years past is LeBron James doesn't have to be great for them to win. Steph Curry does know LeBron James can go out and give you 20 and give you 20 and can and six and they can win. He doesn't even have to be Batman. Right? Anthony Davis can be Batman. LeBron now trusts guys like Austin Reeves. He trusts guys like D'Angelo Russell, guys like Malik Beasley, guys like Jared Vanderbilt to do their job.

Right? So LeBron does not have to be great like he had to be in years past. And we saw that in round one. Think about Steph Curry. He's in a completely different position, though.

Completely different position. Because if Steph Curry's not great, if Steph Curry's good and Klay Thompson's OK, and Andrew Wiggins is OK, they're not winning. Steph Curry actually has to be great to propel the Golden State Warriors to victory. You think about what he had to do to win that first round series versus Sacramento. And you had 360 percent of Sacramento's 35 didn't really show up.

And it still went seven games. So if I'm the Golden State Warriors or a Golden State Warriors fan, that is problematic for me. That's a cause for concern. Not knowing what you're going to get from Jordan Poole after the way he played in the first round. You know, not knowing which Klay Thompson is going to show up versus the Lakers.

That's a cause for concern. So, yeah, I picked the Lakers in seven, but I can't say I'm 100 percent kind of confident in that choice. Antonio Daniels, it's kind of funny to me the conversation.

Let me preface this. I love Steph Curry. He's one of my favorite players in the game.

He's so fun to watch. But for the last 10 years, all people want to talk about is who's the greatest player of all time. Is it LeBron James or Michael Jordan? And now you have people today saying that Steph, you could argue, has had a better career than LeBron. And this conversation's all over the place. Listen, this this is a prisoner of the moment culture.

That's what we do. So you think about how impactful Steph Curry's game seven was, Zach? Because it started conversations after that game and the next morning that wouldn't be had that wouldn't be had otherwise.

And I'm sorry, I can't change my whole thought process around the player for one game. Steph was great against the Sacramento Kings in game seven. But understand, that was the first round. That was the first round. We're not talking about game seven of the NBA Finals that you're putting another ring on the finger.

That was the first round. And for that first round game seven performance, now people are saying he's the greatest point guard ever. So the question that I would ask is hypothetically say Steph Curry didn't go for 50 and he went for 30 and they won. Will we still be having that conversation? No.

We live in such a prisoner of the moment culture where it's almost like after every big game there's a quick overreaction. And I am a huge Steph Curry fan. Huge Steph Curry fan. It's going to take a lot more than him performing in a game seven of the first round of the playoffs for me to change and say, okay, now I put Steph here even though I had him here 24 hours ago. So you still have Magic as the greatest point guard of all time?

Yes. Wrap it up with Antonio Daniels. I want to ask you two more things before we let you run. What's been your view on this entire Dylan Brooks situation? Oh, my gosh.

Where do we start? I call him Bum Brooks, by the way, because he bit off more than he could chew. No question. And here's my thing about them. There's two things with this. First and foremost, Dylan Brooks all year played a character.

Right. He played a character. So it was like, okay, this is the guy that I want to be. And then he said some things. And then when his foot got put to the fire, he backed down.

And by backed down, I mean, avoiding the media, gutless, not talking to the media and then blaming the media. No, no, no, no. You can't do that. Right.

If you make your bed, go ahead and lay it. Because here's the thing. You can say all these different things about the media. There's an immediate that no people are responding to things that you have done in between the four lines. Right.

Different situations that you have put yourself into. I found it ironic. Two things I found ironic. One is that in that Laker series, after he said, I want to poke the bear. I don't respect anyone unless they give me 40 that LeBron goes out and has a 2020 game. Right.

40. And then in the final game, game six, they lose by 40. But with all that being said, that I felt like what the Memphis Grizzlies did today was 100 percent wrong. Here's the thing. If you don't want Dylan Brooks to come back, just don't resign.

That's all. Just don't resign. But don't don't make it public that no matter what, you don't want to bring this young man back. Because now, basically, you're pushing him out the door with baggage that he doesn't deserve. And here's the thing about this league that when your baggage baggage outweighs your production teams are stopped rocking with you. And you saw that with Dylan Brooks, because the Dylan Brooks that we saw this playoffs was the same Dylan Brooks we saw last playoffs.

I said last playoffs, he was more productive. They was rocking with him then. Because his impact outweighed his baggage. Now his baggage outweighs his impact.

And they they severed ties with him. What else does Memphis need to change? Because just getting rid of Dylan Brooks, and I've been as critical as you can be on him, isn't going to solve their problems. Like they're a good team.

I don't view them as a championship team. What do they have to do to change this direction that they're headed in? Man, that's a great question. That's a great question. And I don't think this is simply a Dylan Brooks conversation.

So when Taylor Jenkins comes out and says, you know what, we have to mature, you know, we have to mature more than what we are now. It's two guys that he was talking to. The difference is one of them can be replaced and the other one can't.

Right? You can replace Dylan Brooks. You cannot replace Ja Morant.

Because for people to think that he was simply talking about Dylan Brooks, you're fooling yourself. After all Ja Morant went through this year in Memphis, he was talking to both of them. But that's the difference between being a max player and a role player. I don't know what the Memphis Grizzlies need. I would say they need some more veteran presence in that locker room.

But that's easier said than done. Because the NBA is getting younger and younger and younger. And a lot of these vets on teams don't want to go to teams and just be a voice.

They actually want an opportunity to contribute. So I don't know what actually makes sense for the Memphis Grizzlies right now moving forward. Before we let you run Antonio Daniels, I know you do the Pelicans games. I know you're very close to Zion Williamson.

Last year you gave us awesome stuff on that. Where are you at with Zion now? Because this has just been such an unfortunate story with him not being able to get on a basketball court. Some things have to change.

That's all. You know when you are four years in and it's the same, we're having the same conversation year after year after year. As far as the if conversation and what if.

I'm sitting here watching these playoffs against some of these teams and thinking how a healthy New Orleans Pelicans roster would stack up against some of these teams. And I'm confident. But the thing is you have to be available to see this come to. So whatever has been being done in the past, as far as conditioning is concerned, work ethic is concerned. Some things need to happen in the summer to change.

And that's life. That's like when you're trying something and it's temporary and it's not working. You need to ramp up or change what it is that you're trying so you can come back a different person than you were a year ago. And when this particular case, a different athlete than you were a year ago, an athlete that is prepared for a 82 game grueling season. Hey, a 60, 65 game grueling season because you have to be available. There's nothing more important than the NBA than your availability.

You hear it all the time. Your best ability is your availability. And I tell you what, when you have a guy like Zion, the amount of electricity and confidence that he infuses in his team and that fan base is unparalleled, unparalleled.

Because there's a time throughout the course of this season that how easy we forget that he had the Pelicans without Brandon Ingram in first place in the Western Conference. I see how it works. Yeah, well, hey, we appreciate the time. Thanks so much. You are really my favorite voice when it comes to NBA and especially this time of the year. So I appreciate you carving out some time for us. For sure. Thanks for having me, brother.