Greetings my peeps and welcome to the all things basketball podcast with your boy GD.
In this episode it will be a two parter, it will be my mid-march recap so I'll be giving
you my players of the week for the past two weeks as well as we'll talk about the job
and the Ja Morant situation, also injury updates a lot of them so we'll talk about that, some
player signings and some milestones that were reached as well so we'll talk about all of
that on this side so just sit back relax and enjoy the show.
Okay guys so we are back with another episode of the all things basketball podcast with
your boy GD.
Lot has gone on in these past couple of weeks since I kind of took a little hiatus there
so what we'll do is we'll do a mid-march recap so it's a couple of weeks so that we're in
the books but a lot is going on so let's get into it shall we so.
Alright so we are going to start using how we start normally with the players of the
week but we actually have two weeks worth of players and these four players have something
in common they're playing for prominent teams right now that are zeroing in on the playoff
playoffs, they are very much playoff bound, very much among the top six in their respective
division conferences rather so let's talk about these guys.
And week 20 the players of the week was Devin Booker for the Phoenix Suns and then Julius
Randall for the New York Knicks so my Knicks got a person up there so Devin Booker he went
3-0 and coincidentally during that 3-0 they had these services of Kevin Durant I'll talk
about that a little further later but Devin Booker was able to capitalize on having a
guy like Kevin Durant next to him so they went 3-0 they beat Charlotte they beat they
went on the road to beat Chicago in the tough game against Dallas they were able to win
as well so he went for the week 36 points 7.7 assists 5.3 rebounds he shot it from the field
now this a guy with long range capability here 56% from the field 50% from 3 and then
37.8% from the free throw line so Devin Booker with such an offensive weapon as Kevin Durant
next to him he's able to get his with ease pretty much so Devin Booker receives player
of the week for the Western Conference and then you have Julius Randall the embattled
Julius Randall I say embattled because you got a wing of the fan base who still doesn't
believe in the man but he's all star two times as a Nick and he has put in the work he has
improved in his attitude he's improved in his game pretty much still dribbles a little
bit too much especially when a guy like Jaylin Brunson is around but he's still getting
it done guys so so for the week Randall and the Knicks went 4-0 they beat Boston twice
at home and then a double overtime game on the road they beat Brooklyn and they beat
Miami as well so and so in those games Randall goes 29.5 points 8.3 rebounds and nearly 5
assists he shoots it from the field 52.5% which you would like to see from him 46.5%
from 3 now he's launching more threes now pardon parcel because he's allowed to do so
number one and number two he has a foundation that with each each three he makes you know
they get a dollar amount so once say it's $1000 for each three so so he went 46.5% which
is pretty good from three very good and 72.7% from the free throw line so Julius Randall
helping these Knicks soar in the standings right now they're amongst the top five and
things are looking up for the Knicks which I'm happy to report so so that's your players
of the week for week 20 then you go to week 21 your players of the week the Montess Sabonis
and Joel Embiid Sabonis for the Kings the Kings have been such a great story this year
they go 3-0 for the week and during the week they beat the New Orleans Pelicans they beat
the New York Knicks the Surging Knicks they beat them and then they get a win at Phoenix
so and his average for the week 20 points 10.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists he shoots at
nearly 58% from the field and 71.4% from the free throw line so to Montess Sabonis
with tremendous all-around play helping that Kings team that's gonna be a problem in the
playoff got playoff guys that's for sure so and then you have Joel Embiid who's and a
lot of people's eyes including mine he is MVP caliber right now for the Philadelphia
76ers his team went 4-0 two road wins over Indiana and Minnesota and then two home wins
against Portland and Washington his is numbers for the week 38.5 points per game nearly 7
rebounds 3.7 assists 2.8 blocks and a steal and a half for Embiid shooting from the field
62% he only shot 10 threes in those 10 games I mean not the 10 games in the four games
and he made five so he hit half of his three point attempts which is very good and shooting
it nearly 88% from the free throw line so Joel Embiid continues to carry this sixer
team and I tell you what they're they're very much formidable amongst those top three in
the East so so those are your players of the week guys so what we'll do from here we'll
do these top stories and then we'll and then that's the way that will go so of course the
number one story in the NBA is the job moran situation I've heard a lot of people weigh
in on it from the likes of Stephen A Smith from the likes of Jay Williams Michael Wilbon
all all sorts of others as well I'll get to I'll get to that later so so here's what happened
with job moran March 4th again right after playing the Denver Nuggets and losing a tough
game to them he goes out out to a gentleman's club a aka a strip club called shotgun willies
is in Glendale Colorado while at the club he goes on Instagram live I tell you guys
social media man is a blessing in the curse guys I tell you but anyway he goes on Instagram
live and on there you know he's you know you know you know being a little extra as the
young folks would say and then he shows a gun on the on the IG live so and of course that's
going to raise alarms all over from the Colorado police the Glendale police to the NBA so you
got both entities investigating the situation now for the NBA this is their second invest
investigation of him the first being when his close friend Devonte pack he gets escorted
out of the Indiana Pacers Arena and he is therefore banned for a year for pointing a
red dot at the Indiana Pacer bench so so yeah so this is a situation here with one of jobs
boys gets called out for it and then also separately of course he and pack are part
of a civil lawsuit that was brought against him by a 17 year old who said there that they
both assaulted him but the case got dismissed because of insufficient evidence so so already
you got these few things that's happening in terms of job Marana hit situation there
so compound that on to what has taken place at this strip club so with that with all that
in the mix of course the endorsement deals are gonna the endorsers are gonna start questioning
themselves so someone like a power aide who just signed him are now pulling that deal
putting it to the side pretty much until the things you know investigations are done and
seen what the landscape is from there Nike though is still standing by him they they're
in a waiting pattern as well to see what's going on you know he has a shoe deal with
them so and in fact the shoe just came out was dropped recently so so with that said
first announcement by the Memphis Grizzlies organization said he was out for two games
then another announcement he's out for the next four games and then the latest news is
that he's in a counseling facility in Florida and is now out indefinitely and now I got
the latest word that it's gonna be a eight game suspension so so the NBA concluded along
with the Glendale police they couldn't determine if it was his gun or not so so their findings
were inconclusive and then the NBA as well once they got that report they said you know
what we won't go any further I've but what we will do is tackle an additional two games
to the six that he missed so so basically he's doing time served so it's the equivalent
of a game suspension so so so he's now eligible to return to the court on March 20th so and
now prior to this incident Taylor Jenkins said he had talks with Jha prior to this you
know to what went on and out there in Colorado so he's talked to him then then you had teammate
Steven Adams he had a players only meeting after the Denver game in fact after they lost
in Denver and still Jha went out and did this so then you got a faction of people who want
to blame T. Morant they his his his dad his what they say oh if he was better father to
him and not a fanboy or what have you maybe this wouldn't happen let's pump the brakes
on that because make no mistake about it he has two parents he has two parents but he's
a 23-year-old with a young daughter so this is a grown man pretty much I mean he's still
a kid at heart but he's a young man now with responsibilities so and who's to say T. Morant
isn't this strict father because all all the incidents that has happened with Jha Morant
if you take a closer look they could happen on the road they happen to have happened
on the road whereas the father is usually at the home game so who's to say you know
when his father is around he's active right when his father isn't around then he's kind
of you know doing his own thing so and then and then I actually saw a video of this and
I it came to my attention that what the NBA did right around a little after the guys were
drafted in the draft that he was in they had like this sit-down symposium with NBA father's
players new to the NBA as well as play players that's been in the league their father's they
had kind of a round table and T. Morant actually posed the question to I believe it was Chris
Paul's father of how how to be a dad to a now famous son you know who's now coming to
all these riches and there was a question from an honest place because that is a transition
for a parent to go to have now have this child who can you know who's got all this money
now so but what I thought Chris Paul's father said to him was poignant he basically advised
him regardless of the situation you know him coming into all these riches and so forth
you are still his dad I thought that was very striking for him to say that so with that
said I I grant T. Morant grace in that he's probably is being the father told me that
he needs to be I'm not gonna question that who am I to question that but again these
incidents happen on the road so you know that I equate it to John letting off steam
my parents ain't around so I can kind of do my thing so so I'm not gonna sit here and
criticize the man as a parent he loves his son he's at the games and so forth now here's
what I will say now do you want it it is funny this dichotomy here you now is T. Morant two
hands off I say no but you had a problem with Lebar ball being two hands on the father of
both Lonzo and Lamello ball and remember the Angelo got into that trouble when he went
overseas and so forth then you want to blame Levar for that so you what I'm saying guys
you can't have it both ways you can't on one hand say Levar ball who I'm not a lover of
Levar ball I think just think he's extra with stuff but that's my own hang up but but I will
defend him on this the man is hands-on outside of that little incident that happened overseas
that again this is a 18 year old young man who did that at the time outside of that you have
not heard a peep about Lonzo Lamello ball everything has been on the court so so get the man is
credit in that regard that these boys are come to play they're totally into what's happening on
the court and so forth so you can't on one hand say Levar ball is two hands on and then come around
and say T. Moran is two hands off you can't do it that way so so I'm not gonna cast any aspersions
on T. Moran I believe he's doing what he's doing as a father I believe this is just job Moran
going out there doing his thing without the parents around and so forth so
and now to the issue of the old heads giving them advice I've heard you know Channing Sharp
um called Stephen A Smith pointing to Alan Iverson as someone who's going down this road
he's one of the persons who took T. Moran to task Jalen Rose I love what Jalen Rose had to say
right after the incident Michael Wilbond and then the ridiculous notion of Paul Pierce who
should be the last person giving out advice with what he did going on Instagram live but
that's a story for another day but I like what Jalen Rose said so much so that I think
John is people liked it too so what happened was John Moran had to sit down with Jalen Rose so
Jalen Rose now reaches uncle status kind of like Channing Sharp there so since many people call
Channing Sharp uncle so he sits across from Jalen Rose and he you know he admits to what he's done
and so forth the counseling he got and so forth so so he seems very contrite about it he seems
willing to pick up and learn from those mistakes and so forth so so hey I'll take him at his word
I'll take him at his word now there's some people today saying that oh he was in the rehab center
for too short a time and so forth here's my question to them do you really think the counseling is
over for him who's to say he didn't get counseling set up for him back home in Memphis who's to say
he's not settled with a therapist to talk to them you know maybe on a daily basis who's to say that
so for those to say oh it was a rush process and so forth
and I heard um Channing Sharp say the best the best remedy for this I'm kind of paraphrasing
is change behavior now does Jaws job Moran's behavior change from here to now we'll see what
happens so will we get a more mature more focused job Moran coming out of this we'll see the juries
out but here's why I will say your boys I understand I understand trust me but I grew up in a time where
if you if your boy is doing the right thing and he's doing him and you still into your own foolishness
you kind of like you know what well I'm doing really doesn't resonate with what my man is doing here
he's out there in the NBA he's the face of it you know he's a prominent face in the NBA maybe I should
fall back and let him be him you know it doesn't change us as boys it's just we want your light to
shine and if what I'm doing is making that light dim I'll fall back that's the way I grew up so
so to say these guys will do that I don't know but that's kind of where I put the onus on and on
job himself he knows he has to do better he knows that so he's Steve's was at stake he's you know
he has a young daughter he's raising so I expect change behavior that's why I'm expecting so
so that guys is pretty much my take on the job moran situation so come uh March 20th we'll see
what happens from there will he take the court on that Monday we'll see so so that's my take on
the whole job situation so let's move on to the next news item next news item injury updates and
here's a few of them guys so I talked earlier about Kevin Durant he made his debut against the
charlie hornets back on was it March yeah it was March I want to say it was March first so he made
his debut in that debut game he had they played on 27 minutes he had 23 points six rebounds two
blocks and two assists so right away see the thing with with Kevin Durant you could plug him into
any situation the man's gonna find a way to score so in blending so so so with that said
he played ended up playing three games the three games I mentioned when I talked about
Devin Booker in those three games he averaged 32.7 points per game no no I'm sorry that's that's the
minutes 32.7 minutes 26.7 points he had a 3.7 assists and 7.3 rebounds he shot it he's ridiculous
nearly 70 from the field guys along with nearly 54 percent from three and over 88 percent from the
free throw line so you're talking numbers like this the guy is going to flourish in this offense
it that's just clear now here's the bad news guys we're talking about injuries he injures his ankle
in warm-ups right before his home debut against the Oklahoma City Thunder so now with that injury
the ankle injury he's gonna be out at least three weeks so tough blow for Phoenix who just got him
back so this definitely puts a hamper on their playoff aspirations will it totally derail it
that remains to be seen but they look good with him no I'm not gonna lie there they look good with
him so we'll see what happens but and then the Phoenix organization said you know if there was
playoff time he'd be out there playing so it seems like they're throwing car they're being cautious
in this situation so we'll see what happens but I am a believer in chemistry and all that being
in effect especially come playoff time so we'll see what happens with Phoenix so
I wouldn't exactly throw dirt on them in terms of title you know chances but this definitely
doesn't help so so let's move on Steph Curry he returns back from missing 11 games and he makes
his return versus the Lakers he does it on a Sunday and in that game he plays for 32 minutes
27.6 rebounds and six assist rabbit two rebounds but they do lose to LA but Steph is back so
all is right with the world for goat and sage so then you have Ken Kenridge Williams of the
Oklahoma City Thunder he's gonna be out the rest of the season with a wrist injury so so he's
so he's out for the season now for the Oklahoma City Thunder then you have Jonathan Isaacs such
a unfortunate situation Jonathan Isaac who just recently came back from missing two seasons with
a knee injury now he has a torn up duct abductor muscles so he's out for the rest of the season
he only played in 11 games guys so Jonathan Isaac what happens to him going forward I'm not sure of
his contract situation but um um willing to go out on limb here and say Orlando's probably gonna
you know kind of cut bait with him um because these are a lot of injuries to
overcome so um we'll see what happened with Jonathan Isaac I hope to see him back in the NBA
because he is a talent it's just a matter of him getting healthy so Brandon Clark for the
Memphis Grizzlies he's out for the rest of the season with a Achilles tear now you know you
couple that with what's going on with Jha and that's definitely not good news for the Memphis
Grizzlies and then more news on Stephen Adams who's been out for a few weeks himself now he's out
for more weeks because of that spring PCL that he suffered so so that puts him probably in line to
return for the playoffs so so you talk about two major pieces guys and of course Jha Morant not
being there so the team definitely needs to hold hold water until Jha gets back Jalen Brunson for
the New York Knicks he's been out for the last three games with a foot injury he suffered that in the
game versus want to say it was the first road game in Kinsacremental so uh so yeah so so he's
been out for the past three games he could be ready for the Denver game that's coming up
on March 18th so we'll see what happens there Knicks have held their own without him but of
course you want your floor general back um Emmanuel quickly's been playing out of his mind but of
course you want Jalen back and you want quickly uh fortifying that bench that's been playing pretty
well so especially with the addition of Josh Hart Zion Williamson for the New Orleans Peligans
he's going to be out at least two more weeks with that hamstring member he's been out for a while he
missed the all-star game so Zion Williamson um still two more weeks away and then we'll evaluate
and see what happens there Mo Bamba who the LA Lakers acquired at the trade deadline he's going
to be out for at least four weeks with a high ankle sprain so tough blow for them so come whether
they're in the play in or among the top six which is you know they got an outside chance at that
um Mo Bamba will probably be back for wherever they end up whether it's playing or playoffs so
Luca Darktage for the Dallas Mavericks he stayed a day with a thigh injury that he suffered in a
game against the New Orleans Peligans on March 8th and he's missed two games so far so that's
the situation it they kind of dodged the bullets so to speak uh the Mavericks did concern in this
injury so it's not as serious but this they're still taking it day by day so and then the last
bit of injury news call Anthony Towns he could come back before season's in he's been out with
that calf injury that he suffered early um back I want to say back in January so um there's a chance
of him coming back so we'll see what happens there so so that's all the injury news guys
let's move on to player signings uh player signings Goren Drogage he is now with the
uh Milwaukee Bucks so it's another guard added to the mix there along with Miles Leonard who was
signed to a 10-day contract then a second one and then now they're just going to keep him so Miles
Leonard uh joining the Milwaukee Bucks to fortify that bench there both Drogage and
Miles Leonard so and then in Utah Chris Dunn uh name that we haven't heard in a while uh I've
always equated Chris Dunn to kind of a poor man's Rajon Rondo I mean the man can pass he can uh put
you know definitely get steals but his issue has always been shooting so uh but he's he's now with
the Utah Jazz and he's really taken advantage of his opportunities there with the injuries to
Colin Sexton and to Jordan Clark so Chris Dunn with Utah and playing well for them
um fact guys if you have have like a one of those injury reserve listen you got guys like
Jarmaran out you got guys like Kyrie Irvin who's he's been injured as of late maybe you want to
grab a Chris Dunn if he's on the waiver wire because he you know at least you'll get the assist
you'll get the steals and rebounds of course so he so Chris Dunn someone to consider for fantasy
basketball and so that's your player signings guys let's move on to milestones and then I'll
probably cut it off from there because uh I got a few more issues on the table but um some of them
I want to talk at length about so let's talk about milestones right quick and then we'll cut it off
there Kevin Durant who talked about previously he passes Oscar Robinson for 13th among career
point scored so Kevin Durant still climbing up the charts in that regard next on the list
in his eyes sites Hakim Elijah on that 12 so so we'll see if uh Katie can pass degree Hakim Elijah
on Russell Westbrook he passes Isaiah Thomas for ninth on the career assist list so Russell
Russell Westbrook continuing to do Russell Westbrook type things when it comes to assists
next on the list for him to pass he's in the top 10 now so next on the list for him is Oscar
Robinson at at eight so um who he sat across from and you know they talked about triple
doubles and so forth so someone that Russell Westbrook really admires he can pass his idol um for eighth
eighth place uh if as he continues on Mike Brown joins Rick Adelman I couldn't believe this this uh
this one guys Mike Brown joins Rick Adelman as the only coaches for the Sacramento Kings
with at least 40 wins in a season ah that's that's amazing now Sacramento's
remember they moved from Kansas City previously before that they were in oh they're kind of in
Kansas City Omaha before that they were in Cincinnati so they've been in Sacramento for the
for the past uh 20 38 years now so yeah so um
so 38 years man and they've only had
uh this amazing they only had two coaches pass 40 wins in a season 40 wins guys is
nearly 500 that tells you the ineptitude of the Sacramento Kings franchise but
Mike Brown has them going in the right direction to me right now close all the books and everything
else I believe he is the coach of the year Mike Brown is so that's my money's on him so
and then the last bit of milestone news here Joel and Bede and James Harton are trying to
become the first duo since 1981 82 season with George Gerrit and Johnny Moore to be the first
duo to lead the league in scoring and assists so it's been done six times I believe in NBA history so
Joel and Bede and James Harton looking to add to that history so um they could do that if
and Bede continues to score at the radio scoring as well as Harton with his assists so
so all right guys so I'm going to cut it off here I still have more news to get to we'll talk about
some of the finds that's been levied we'll talk about Paul Gasol uh his jersey was retired so
we'll talk about that I want to circle back to an issue concerning Dame Lillard and his loyalty
to Portland because there's been an article written recently I want to address that we'll
talk about is there bias in the MVP voting we'll talk about that as well it's women's
months so they had a game dedicated to um all female crew there we'll talk about that a bit
and we are in March Madness guys so let's uh we'll briefly talk about that so all right guys so on
the other side we'll have all that discussion there so once again I thank you for listening and as
always you can write your reviews on my website allthingsbasketballwithgd.com I'm on Apple now
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all right guys so I'm going to cut it off there I'll talk to you on the other side all right take care
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