Rick Kamla, SiriusXM NBA Radio Host

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Oh I certainly don't think they're boring. It takes me back to you know covering the San Antonio Spurs during their heyday when they won five rings in 15 seasons and people thought they were boring, people thought they were bad for ratings, people didn't like watching them. You know that narrative was big on the Spurs and I'm starting to hear it more. You know I don't really understand it because Nikola Jokic is not boring you know what I mean?

He's like Magic Johnson meets a center. If you want to say those Spurs I mean look they were methodical right? Tim Duncan not an it factor guy. I mean clearly he's number six all time in NBA history on my list.

You know David Robinson for a few of those years, Manu, Parker, Bruce Bowen, just all the Robert Horry, all the great role players that they brought through there. To me that wasn't boring okay and to watch them change and more throughout the years and all the different iterations to keep winning to me it was fascinating. But you know you compare Duncan and Jokic, Duncan is more boring than Nikola Jokic. Jamal Murray is not boring.

I mean he is one of the, when he enters that zone you could put a blindfold on him and that ball is still going in. But I do hear that. Look it's probably casual fans, it's probably not the hardcores. I don't know too many like absolute hoopers that don't miss a game that aren't really excited about this series. Zach are you excited about this series? I'm thrilled for this series because I love this Denver story. I've been someone that has followed this Denver story and believed that they could win a championship since 2020. Now clearly that took a different path when you had Jamal Murray get hurt. But last year Rick I was like shocked the overreaction about the Nuggets and people saying they couldn't win a title. Like no crap they didn't have Jamal Murray now he's back and they're four wins away from that championship. Yeah, and they've got all the bases covered, they really do. Jokic and Murray, you know, look, they're probably the second best duo at operating together behind Draymond Green and Steph Curry.

Just like being in lockstep like the surgeon and the nurse right in the operating room like everything is just precision and Swiss timed and they complete each other's sentences and dot I's and cross T's and the whole thing. You've got Aaron Gordon, the, the very versatile guy that can guard multiple positions he can guard your point guard he can guard all the way up to your center guarded Anthony Davis guarded Carl Anthony towns guarded Booker guarded Durant. Now he's going to guard Jimmy Butler primarily, you've got a wetter in Michael Porter Jr. 42% career on threes 42% this year on threes contiguous Caldwell Pope the perfect grimy. You know glue guy other three and the guy that's just going to bang threes he's 41% from three in the playoffs champion with the LA Lakers and a big part of that championship, by the way, and then off the bench or hit me with Bruce Brown, who I love.

A little bit of everything he's like, like pocket Hercules out there man and it brings a ton of energy. Um, and, you know, Jeff Green and Christian Brown that completes the red man rotation but they really check all the boxes they're not a great defensive team to defend, and there are, they're literally one of the best offensive teams in NBA history so they're a formidable challenge. I think what's likely is that they win, but Zach I don't work with what's likely I work with what I believe is going to happen and what I believe is going to happen is the Miami Heat beat the Denver Nuggets in seven games.

Wow. How about that so that you've been on an island with that take because I hear most people and I'm taking Denver as well. Can you explain to me why you're going with the Miami Heat to win this series in seven games. That's road team in the playoffs six and four three you know when road game ones winning those by an average of nine per game. Jimmy Butler has out willed. And this is where we go into the intangibles right the aura, the forest the vibe the swagger the competence. It's been Jordan esque it's been Kobe esque and it's been better way better than Yanis is Brunson gave it the best shot he could and it was way better than Tatum's in the East Finals, and I think it's going to be better than yo catches yo which is not a will guy he's not a sort of guy, he's phenomenal. He just goes out there and plays like Tim Duncan, right, Jimmy Butler there's more to it. There's more points and rebounds and assists and steals, and then all that extra all that order stuff all that stuff you can't really see the magic the fairy dust of Jimmy and so I think that's going to play out again. Miami is a grimy defensive team, you know, against a very very good offensive team. I like defense in a playoff scenario, and exact bottom line here. Okay, Milwaukee had more talent than Miami, it didn't matter, New York had more talent than Miami, it didn't matter Boston had more talent than Miami.

It didn't matter. And now Denver has more talent than them, and I don't think it's going to matter. Oh, by the way, Tyler here is going to parachute into the series probably game three. I believe Zach that if Miami loses game one, Tyler here we'll play in game two, and I think if Miami wins game one, then we'll see him in game three I think Miami is playing the scoreboard a little bit here, and when they bring your back but he will be back and I think that's not going to be like checkmate, but I think it's going to be a big advantage for Miami to get him back. My only thing with Miami, and don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing them in terms of it's unbelievable how they got here and it's crazy that they're still playing and I love the story of the Miami Heat but I know Joker Murray going to show up and play well night in and night out. When I look at Miami, Caleb Martin outplayed Jimmy Butler towards the end of those conference finals. I think Butler is going to be a stud in this series, but I just got to see where Bam is because Bam had a really good two months and when he's on, he's great and they could beat anybody, but when he's not on, it's a concern for me.

Look, you're hitting it on the head here, Zach. They can have 13-14 points from Bam on a buyout. They need 20, especially against the Nuggets. If you were playing like the Lakers who aren't like a phenomenal offensive team.

Okay, all right, you know, maybe 12-13-15. No, this is the Nuggets. This is an elite historic all-time offense. No, they're going to need 20 from Bam and they're going to need him not to fall into foul trouble guarding Jokic. And oh, by the way, they're going to need him to, can you possibly single cover Nicole Jokic so we don't have to double him?

I believe that they are going to have to double him more than Spoe is probably going to be comfortable with because I got to try to get Jokic uncomfortable. I mean, if he's single covered by Bam, he's got a huge height advantage over him, got a huge rebounding advantage over him. You know, the big chipper they call him, all those little tap-ins on the offensive rebounds. Bam can't do anything about that other than look up at 7-1 and the fingertips over his head batting that ball up off the glass into the hoop. Bam out of bio is huge in this series, but what I know about Bam is he's a badass and he is a dig deep guy. He's a heat culture guy. So I think Bam out of bio is going to find a way, but it is, it's the greatest challenge he's ever faced.

There's no doubt about that. Rick Kamla, if Nicole Jokic wins the NBA Finals and he gets these next four games, but how do we start to talk about his legacy? If Jokic, look, right now, Zach, I just reconstructed my top 10 because Jokic and what Butler's been doing and, you know, we've seen obviously Giannis took a little bit of a hit, right? Durant, to me, took a little bit of a hit. Hell, Booker going out meekly this year and last year in the final games. Tatum took a little bit of a hit.

John Moran has taken several hits, right? Luca Doncic didn't make the playoffs. So a lot of like that, the anointed top 10 guys who I most, I still do have in my top 10, like I had to drop him down a little bit.

So I recalculated it. I got Butler at eight right now and I'd Jokic at number one. Now, if Jokic does not win these finals and Butler does, I'm probably going to bump up Jimmy a spot or two, maybe even over like a Booker. But with Jokic, he's number one in the world for me right now with a little asterisk.

If he can complete this, I'll take that asterisk off. If he cannot complete this, and depending on how the series goes, I may flip and put Joel and beat in the top spot for best player in the world. So that's what's kind of, also Zach, and you know this validation, a lot of people, you know, I want to MVP is like they didn't even watch, right?

10 o'clock Eastern time is when Denver plays. They didn't even watch, right? And so it's all kind of mystifying to them. And if you watch it, you're like, yeah, I totally get it.

This guy's phenomenal. But some people don't get that. So it would be validating to those kind of doubters and naysayers and it'd be like, okay, two MVPs and a ring shut up, right? Wait, so you would potentially put Embiid number one if Jokic loses the finals, but Embiid's never got to the conference finals. Explain that one for me.

It's a good question. We still have a ways to go for him in terms of, you know, developing this legacy. I'm not going to bang on him playoff-wise like James Harden, his teammate who always comes up lame. And Joel Embiid was super disappointing to me in Game 7 with the blowout loss at Boston to let go of the rope.

Frankly, they quit. Not a good look. But Joel Embiid is a phenomenal talent. He's led the league in scoring back-to-back years. He's arguably the best two-way player in the entire world when you combine offense and defense. He can score from all three levels. He's super, super clutch. Makes his free throws, assists.

He's a phenomenal player. And I would rather, Zach, this is how I base it. Who would I rather have in my uniform if I owned a team? Who would I rather have in my uniform to make a championship run? And I'm taking Joel Embiid over Steph Curry, who you can double and blitz and you can kind of eradicate him to a degree.

He's still going to get his and pop up, but you can put a bit of a blanket on him. Kevin Durant wasn't even the best player on his team this year. That was Devin Booker.

You think about some of the other guys. Giannis, right? Can't make free throws. Can't make mid-range. Can't make threes. That continues to rear its ugly head. He got over that hump for a year, but will he ever get over that hump again?

I don't know. So, Embiid just doesn't have these deficiencies. There's no hole in his game.

And you say, oh, availability. Well, under Brett Brown, availability was an issue, but under Doc Rivers, it was not. He was in fantastic shape and played enough games to be two, two, and then one in the MVP voting.

So, it's a great point. He's got a lot to prove here, Zach. But in terms of, I would rather hitch my wagon to Joel Embiid going into next year than Kevin Durant or Steph Curry or LeBron James because I think he's more, he can kind of put a franchise on his back for 16 more than I believe those other guys can at this point, especially when you consider the age accumulating on Curry, LeBron, and Durant.

Rick Campbell here with us. We all know that Jimmy Butler for a while was a really good player. Now he's getting that tag the last few years of being a great player ever since going to Miami. Is that just because he's finally the alpha? Because for years, right, you heard about him being maybe a bad teammate. You know how demanding he was in practices. He was never the number one on that roster. Is Miami just making him the alpha why he's able to take this game to the next level?

It's an interesting question. You mentioned bad teammate. I think he had bad teammates. I don't think he was the bad teammate.

Well, let me just clarify. I thought he was right in Minnesota because Carl Anthony Towns and Wiggins probably needed to hear what Jimmy Butler was saying. Exactly right, Zach. And guess who else needed to hear what Jimmy Butler was saying? Ben Simmons in Philadelphia, right? You're not wrong.

Stop with this wussy stuff. I mean, I'm serious. Like, no, Jimmy Butler's a football player. And he's not just a football player. He's Ray frickin' Lewis, man, right?

He's the middle linebacker. Like, he's that guy. And so if you don't want to get with that and get with that tough love and get with that boot in the butt and get with that box hole mentality, then bye. And so I'm with Jimmy. He's the kind of guy I would roll with. He's the kind of guy I would love to play with. You know you're going to get 10,000% from him in the playoffs, not the regular season.

Maybe that's a different conversation we can have, Zach. His motor in the regular season versus the playoffs is too much of a dichotomy for me. I'd like to see him rev it up a little more in the regular season. It's Kawhi-like. It's very Kawhi-like.

No doubt about that. And, you know, we don't get the other shoe dropping with Jimmy, thank God, like we do with Kawhi. I mean, just around every other corner is another devastating injury.

Poor guy. But, you know, Zach, it's interesting because coming into these playoffs and it was a narrative that, you know, I'm not a guy that likes to push narratives. It's just how I feel, and I have a microphone and a great platform on NBA radio, but I've been talking with Antonio Daniels the last couple years about, I perceive Jimmy Butler as a championship Robin, not a Batman. You know, like, he's great. Like, Damian Lillard in Portland to me is a championship Robin.

He's a regular season Batman and a postseason Robin. Like, if you get a LeBron in his prime or like, you know, one of those type of dudes with Lillard, bam, you can win this whole thing. Or, like, if Lillard went to Boston, right, with Tatum, okay, Tatum the Batman, Lillard, you know, kind of the co-Batman Robin guy, boom, you know, you could do some big things with that. But with Jimmy, he proved to me, Zach, after big-boying Giannis Antetokounmpo and beating him 4-1 and winning two games in Milwaukee and going off for 56 frickin' points in that series, I was like, yo, this guy's a championship Batman, and all he needs is the planets to align just right for him to get that ring.

And Zach, you know how hard it is, right? AI didn't do it, Barkley didn't do it, Ewing didn't do it, and these are phenomenal players, okay? Better players than Jimmy Butler. Maybe, just maybe, this is the year that those planets align for JB and he gets his ring.

That's how I view it. If Jimmy Butler wins his championship, is it more impressive than what Dirk did winning that championship in Dallas and then also what Kawhi did winning that championship in Toronto? I may steal that one for NBA radio. Go ahead.

I'll take 5%. No, that's a really good one right there, it is, because you think about, God bless, you know, the Kawhi championship, right? I mean, they did have a stacked team, Van Blee and Lowry and Gasol and Norman Powell and, I mean, Siakam, I mean, that's a hell of a team, man. It really is, but Toronto won the ring, right? It's weird.

It doesn't seem right. And then the Dirk thing, right? Had one of the greatest individual playoff runs ever, okay? But, dang it, man, Jimmy Butler had to lose a playing tournament game and then barely beat Chicago just to get to 8 and into a series, Zach, where I promise you and I both, I had Milwaukee, I think, in 5, right?

So, I believe that if Jimmy Butler can win this ring, it would be more impressive than what Kawhi or Dirk did, and that is saying a lot. Last thing I'll ask you, just when we get to some of these coaches, Monte Williams gets paid a ridiculous amount of money to go to the Pistons. I like the hire of Nick Nurse to the Sixers, but they gotta figure out what the heck that roster's gonna look like. What has stood out to you so far in the coaching carousel with also Adrian Griffin going to the Bucks? Yeah, Giannis picking Adrian Griffin stands out.

That was a player empowerment thing. Did Giannis pick it right? Well, I would have rather gone with Nick Nurse, but he wanted a former ball player to be the head coach.

We'll see how that works out. God bless Adrian Griffin, but I would have gone with Nick Nurse. I thought he was sort of the belle of the ball here in the coaching carousel.

Huge win for Philadelphia. You get an adjusting mastermind after Doc Rivers, who I like and appreciate, Zach, but he's not a great adjuster. He's not a great X's and O's coach.

That's just fact. He's an all-time great coach, but ironically, he's not great in that area. Nick Nurse is, and so he's gonna right a lot of the wrongs. Now, the problem with Nick Nurse and Philly is he's still got James Harden there, okay? The greatest choke artist in NBA history, and that will probably befall my guy, Joel Embiid.

And then you think of Phoenix right now. They're probably gonna downshift to Doc Rivers, which I'm fine with, okay? Matt Ishbia, you whack Monty Williams. I didn't think he should have done that. Okay, you're probably gonna make a big splash and move and go get a guy like Doc. And then Monty going to Detroit. I mean, look, I love it for Monty. It's the biggest contract for a head coach ever. That's pretty good.

When you're smoking cigars at the golf course, you can kind of talk some junk about that. And it's what Detroit needs. They need a professional.

They need an adult. They need a great coach, right? For these young fellas to shepherd them, eventually, Zach, to the playing tournament and to the playoffs. So, you know, that's how I view it right now.

But I think Billy's a big, big winner getting Nick Nurse. Rick Campbell, I appreciate the time as always. Make sure you listen to it Monday through Friday on SiriusXM NBA Radio, 1 to 4 p.m. Eastern. Rick, thank you. Appreciate it, Zach.