What is, at this moment right now, JT, your favorite storyline in the NBA one week out from the start of the season?

Well, the biggest storyline is gonna be what happens with the Philadelphia 76ers, how they gel and all that type of stuff.

That's not my favorite storyline, 'cause I'm sick of, like, 24, 25 years of just making every single thing about LeBron James.

So if we remove that, 'cause I'm gonna be watching all these Sixers games, I'm just not gonna have much fun doing it.

Uh, I think the two most interesting ones probably come from the two most prestigious organizations in the history of the sport.

That's the Lakers and the Celtics.

So what is Luka gonna look like now that they've redone this team around him? He looks to be in tremendous shape.

If it's not the Lakers, and I agree that it's not, if there is a team in the West that can upend the apple cart, and it's not OKC or San Antonio representing the West in the NBA Finals, who is it and why?

You're kind of making it sound like, hey, maybe running it back isn't such a bad thing after all.

Well, no, I disagree with that, too, because if your goal is to win the championship, this team's not capable of winning the championship, especially as, like, what, a second apron team? Why would they do that? That would make no sense, and then you hurt your ability to, like, have these frozen draft picks in the future.

So I wouldn't run this team back.

I think you do need to make some moves.

You're good enough to, like, again, it depends on what your goal is.

Are you fine with, like, being a really good second-round team, maybe making the conference finals and hopefully doing a little bit better than you did this past year, okay, then run it back.

But if you're hoping to win an NBA championship, then maybe you do have to take a risk.

My whole contention is, well, if you guys don't want Donovan Mitchell, why would Boston want Donovan Mitchell? I mean, aren't the stats, aren't the metrics kind of similar there? Tone isn't a player for player, but you're saying Boston would love to have Donovan Mitchell instead of Jalen Brown? He's become that much of a problem for that organization?

It's just it's a bad take.

Yeah, and he's always claiming how smart he is as well.

Well, somebody that's really intelligent would know that comments like that would get blown out of proportion.

It's the wrong thing to say, right? There are certain opinions that I probably have.

Maybe I hold them back.

Maybe I taper them down a little bit.

Maybe I save them for a different time.

Is it all of those things? Like, what do you think the main reason they'd be looking to move him is?

I wouldn't

... that San Antonio had more talent on the floor.

But the, the thing I look at is maybe three different finals, let's say in the last, uh, 15, 16 years.

2011, right? Miami's going up against, uh, against Dallas.

Dallas is the team that's got the, the grizzled veterans, right? Meaning the guys that have been like, "This is maybe our last chance.

Like, if we don't win now..." And we've been through the gauntlet.

Jason Kidd, Dirk Nowitzki, all have been criticized at a high level.

Or am I, like, going crazy about this?

What do you think the Cavs' chances are? Are they closer? Are they further away? How far away are they?

I mean, I think they're stuck in that little weird spot where you keep hitting, and I'm not saying they're as good as, say, the 90s Blazers or the early 2000 Sacramento Kings, which kept banging on the door and they just couldn't get through.

I think those teams are actually a lot better than Cleveland is right now.

Heck, you dealt with that with Cleveland, right, with the Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, Larry Nancy.

They were like really good teams.

They just couldn't get over the hump, and I think you're kind of stuck in that weird spot again.

And, you know, the Giannis thing is going to tell you a lot here in the next couple of days as well, wherever he ends up, because, you know, he could go to Boston, where I'm located, and if he goes there, that's a massive upgrade for them.

He's just a little young.

What do you think the Cavs' chances are? Are they closer? Are they further away? How far away are they?

I mean, I think they're stuck in that little weird spot where you keep hitting it.

And I'm not saying they're as good as, say, the 90s Blazers or the early 2000 Sacramento Kings, which kept banging on the door and they just couldn't get through.

I think those teams are actually a lot better than Cleveland is right now.

Heck, you dealt with that with Cleveland, right, with the Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, Larry Nancy.

They were like really good teams.

They just couldn't get over the hump, and I think you're kind of stuck in that weird spot again.

He's just a little young.

And it was just a really slow process, but at the same time felt really quick.

Yeah, I mean, three is 17 from three in the second half.

It's almost like they were like, all right, well, we were red hot in the first half, 14 to 26, which I think was an NBA record.

And like, well, they're just going to continue to take those shots.

They're going to fall.

You're not going to stay hot throughout the course of an entire game.

It just never happens.

He has a good pulse on the team, too.

Right

... four games of evidence that De'Aaron Fox right now just can't play, and I, I'm sure some of it has to do with the ankle, and he doesn't have that explosion, but also they're leaving him open on the perimeter.

He can't knock down open shots.

You gotta be able to knock down open shots, and I always say this about a number two to the all-time great.

You have a great responsibility because if, you know, Jordan's not Jordan without Scottie Pippen.

Bird's not Bird without Kevin McHale.

Kareem and Magic aren't Kareem and Magic without each other.

How big a, a deal is this injury? How big is that to the Knicks as a whole?

You're right.

You're concerned about, like, Tobias Harris is the number two option.

Let's be clear.

Tobias Harris would maybe be the fourth option on the Knicks.

If Mikael Bridges has it going, then he's the fifth option.

So you're facing a much better offense than you just got done facing.

And even Toronto.

I think Donovan could actually have his best series of the playoffs so far against the Knicks because I think they can match up Hunt in a way that they really couldn't against Toronto and to a little bit more of an extent in that last series.

right.

You're concerned about, like, Tobias Harris is the number two option.

Let's be clear.

Tobias Harris would maybe be the fourth option on the Knicks.

If Mikael Bridges has it going, then he's the fifth option.

So you're facing a much better offense than you just got done facing.

And even Toronto.

I think Donovan could actually have his best series of the playoffs so far against the Knicks because I think they can match up Hunt in a way that they really couldn't against Toronto and to a little bit more of an extent in that last series.

Yep

... uh, Warriors.

Nobody's criticizing him for losing to the 2007, uh, you know, Spurs in the NBA finals.

Like, nobody's doing that.

What they're criticizing him for is the Heat failures, uh, like, things like that.

Uh, what they're, uh...

You know, and the other thing is he played in the Eastern Conference, right? So you have to look at the...

Yeah.

Yeah

... is, I think Murray's their second best player.

Aaron Gordon's their second most important player, just because of the, the defense, one and for all, 'cause nobody else can defend outside of him and Peyton Watson and maybe a little bit of Bruce Brown.

But Brown's not playing a huge role.

So defensively, and then just his chemistry.

As good as the chemistry is with, uh, with Jamal Murray, I think the chemistry with Aaron Gordon is even better offensively.

But you can't build around him, because you can never count...

That, that's my number one takeaway from this.

Yeah

...

Murray is, I think Murray's their second best player.

Aaron Gordon's their second most important player, just because of the, the defense, one and for all, 'cause nobody else can defend outside of him and Peyton Watson and maybe a little bit of Bruce Brown.

But Brown's not playing a huge role.

So defensively, and then just his chemistry.

As good as the chemistry is with, uh, with Jamal Murray, I think the chemistry with Aaron Gordon is even better offensively.

That, that's my number one takeaway from this.

Where do you view this Raptors team in the Eastern Conference pecking order?

Yeah, I mean, listen, I got as good a shot as anybody because the conference is so weak.

I mean, Detroit really, I think, is the best team in the conference.

But outside of that, I mean, like, look at the holes of the Knicks, for example.

Everybody thought the Knicks and the Cavs were going to run away with this thing.

The Cavs are clearly a mess.

And we've known that most of the season.

I know it's kind of calmed down a little bit as far as the trade rumors surrounding Giannis, but do you think somebody could be a kingmaker in acquiring Giannis at the deadline?

Or if you're not gonna pay him.

Yeah, or if you're not gonna pay him, and then, like, the, the flip side with Wiggins though is, uh, I wouldn't want Andrew Wiggins if I gotta pay him $30 million this year, I gotta pay him 30 next year, I gotta pay him 30 after, after that if he picks up the option. Like, I'm not crazy about Andrew Wiggins, 'cause to me he just, like, f- you know, it's the same reputation he had, uh, you know, when he came into the league. He just floats in and out of games outside of the 2022, uh, title run. I mean, Steph doesn't have a number two. And that's the other thing is, I, like, I don't agree with what's going on, Bill, in Phoenix, but at least, like, I don't think it's gonna work. At least they picked a direction. Like, at least they know what they wanna do. Golden State's like, "All right, well, we wanna be in with Kuminga for the future, but we wanna be, you know, we wanna compete right now with Steph." Like, either go all in or just blow the thing up and, and start the rebuild. I don't agree with, like, trying to chop it down.

Yeah.

So it's improved a little bit, but yeah, rebounding is an issue. I mean, they're one of the five-worst defensive teams in the NBA. And I, too, agree, like, that it's fixable. Again, 'cause I don't have much confidence in the teams at the top of the Western Conference, outside of Oklahoma City. I'm the moron that picked them to go to the finals this year. Eddie picked them to win the title, like, three straight years. Then he didn't pick them this year, I picked them to go to the finals and lose. So, uh, I think it's fixable this year, but the issue I have is long term. You don't win this year, like say, get Jimmy Butler and rectify it, it's not gonna get better next year, it's not gonna get the better the year after that, and you're stuck with what you have. So, I think, like, this year they could still make a pretty decent run. But after that, moving forward, they might be the biggest mess in the NBA. And why did they make that trade for three different picks if they didn't have something lined up? Like, they turned a 2031 pick that's gonna be valuable. I thought when they made that deal, okay, well, they know they're gonna turn it into Jimmy Butler or some other big piece. They've done that, they don't have anything lined up to me, that's malpractice.