Welcome in to the newest edition of the Justin Time Sports Podcast.
I am your owner and host, Justin Jackson.
And in this special Game 1 Reaction episode, we'll be reacting to Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
We'll also be touching on some other NBA news and we'll have our Jax Hot Take.
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As always, sit back and get ready to learn something.
A0빊TvʔA 0B as the crew
should watch
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His opinion from the heart, he can never show you fake
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This is just a time sports, come and get your weekly takes
His opinion from the heart, he gon' tell it to you straight
Welcome into the show
First of all I want to thank all you guys who listen and were talking about my echo
issue
We got it fixed, had some production issues, had to save some stuff
But that issue is now fixed, the echo is fine, it is gone
We know I have to worry about that, it was something to do with the production team
But we definitely got that fixed
So again this is just a time sports episode 11 coming to you about the game 1 reaction
show, it is one of the rare situations where it is the summer time
I love doing what I call the instant release shows
I am recording this at 10.09 am, you guys are having it for 12th
It is one of those things where my instant reaction shows, if anything pops off, if anything
happens you guys will hear it directly from me as soon as it happens
There is a thing where my watch vibrates, I am checking it to make sure nothing is being
told
That is not information coming out that you guys may want to hear about before the show
releases or before I finish recording
But again this is the show built around game 1 last night
We will touch on some other NBA news like the Lakers coaching search
What is happening there, the battle between Shams and Wolves
What is boiling out, of course we will talk about Jack's hot take
Which I will discuss when we get to that point
Anyway again follow all social media if you didn't hear in the intro
And again thank you guys for writing with me through my echo issues
Now you should be able to hear me 10,000% and not have to worry about the fact that
there is an echo and it is weird and it is kind of hard to manage through the echo
And I feel like some great stuff was happening in those episodes through the echo
But anyway again the issue should be fixed
We went through with our production team and we got it fixed
So therefore that is taken care of Hopefully we don't have that issue again
But if so I do and we know how to fix it now
So that is something that we are going to take care of from there
But anyway welcome into the show officially
Welcome to the show we got all the back channel production stuff out the way
Again love the intro by B-Roy he is dropping new music regularly
Make sure you do that
And of course as always we will link the YouTube show
Because that should be coming back out in the next 24 to 48 hours
Again my production team has been fixing one issue after another
So the next 24 to 48 hours we will be doing that
The YouTube show will be out it has already been recorded
And they are trying to fix a bunch of issues we have been having
But they have taken care of it
Anyway enough of the back channel business into the game last night
Hello Chris Stats Porzingis
Hey welcome to the NBA finals I guess
Game 1 was a clinic from the Boston Celtics
It was the Boston Celtics at their best and probably the Mavericks at their worst
The Boston Celtics rolled an incredibly crazy 3 point shooting outing
They shot 16 of 42 from 3
38% it felt bigger than that
I think they went cold in the 4th
And that's what brought their percentage down
I'm going to try to get first half numbers really quickly
But I know that they were scorching in the first half for sure
Dallas' defense tightened down in the second half
They even cut the 29 point lead down to 8 at one point
But it's hard when you give that big of a lead to a really good team
That's because Boston is in the finals for a reason
They had an easy walk through the East
But Boston is in the finals for a reason
They're a really good basketball team
You saw it last night
They had a lineup
It was Brown Tatum, Derek White, Drew and Porzingis
All 5 could dribble
All 5 could play defense for their position
All 5 can shoot
All 5 can drive the lane
All 5 were total basketball players
That were not any weakness on the floor
And they can do the same thing with Al Horford instead of Porzingis
They can do the same thing with Sam Houser instead of Derek White
They're a really good basketball team
They're a really deep basketball team
Brad Stevens, the general manager and president of operations
May be better than Brad Stevens, the coach
Which is saying something because Brad Stevens, the coach
Was routinely in East Conference Finals
With a much younger version of this team
So kudos to them for building such a good team
But anyway they shot 16 of 42 from 3, 38%
Nobody made more than 3
It was a stat came out last night
They were the first team in NBA Finals history
To have 7 different players hit at least 2 3s
Like it was spread to bombs away
It was spread to bombs
They were raining from everywhere
Porzingis shooting 30 footers
They rotate, rotate
They do a slow double team
Easy pass over top
Rotated again
Bomb a 3 again
It was insane to watch the Boston Celtics shoot the ball last night
The Celtics shoot the most 3s in the league
They make the most 3s in the league
They're coming to shoot the 3
It was one time they got like 3 or 4 offensive rounds
In the same possession in the 4th quarter
And every shot they shot was a 3
Nobody took anything but a 3
So they're going to get a 3 up
That's something that Dallas has to be prepared for in game 2
They have these 3 day breaks between every game
Besides game 3 and 4
Not 3 days
They play on like yesterday
Which was Thursday
They're not going to play again until Sunday
Oh, Saturday
You're off Friday
You're off Saturday
You play again Sunday
And that's kind of the break
All the games except between game 3 and 4
A little bit more spread out schedule
Than what it used to be
The old schedule used to be
The only time you got the extra day
Was if the cities changed
So between 1 and 2
It was just one day off
Between 2 and 3 was the 2 days
However, because the old system was
Games 3, 4, and 5 were on the lower C
Or the other team
You had to be every other day
And then you would get the 2 days again
For games between game 5 and 6
And it would be the 1 day break for game 7
Even when they switched to
The new style
The making the final like all the other series
2-2-1-1
Again, between game 1 and 2
Between games 3 and 4
It was only one day
And then the 2-day breaks
Were between the city changes
This series regardless of location
It's 2 days with breaks
Except for games 3 and 4
So it's a little bit more spread out
So Dallas has a little bit more time
To recover and get their brains under them
Dallas was brick city
They were kind of the new lobby city
Entering the game
They were brick city
First of all, I only recall one lobby
Happening successfully
The Boston Celtics had a great
Game plan for staying in the lobby
And I kind of
It was kind of cool watching them play
And LeBron spoke about how smart
Joe Mazzulli is on his podcast
You could see it
When a lot of times
Dallas came around that pick
They were coming in lively
Or Washington or Jones
With Skar Gafford
Would kind of just sneak away
From the dunker spot right to the block
Floater dunk
Well, when they were doing the sneak
Even they were screen away
Somebody was tagging
That sneaker for like a better time
So you weren't getting
Just a two on one with Luca
You're going to stop the lob
And let me into the layup
Or you can stop my layup
And let me get the lob
It was 2 v 2
And then the person who got screened
Was rotating to the shooter
In the short corner
Or they were just giving that shot up
Boston seemed very comfortable
Letting
Dallas shoot non-corner threes
In basketball it's called above the break
Because the arc curves perfectly
And then it kind of breaks the curve
And goes straight for the sideline
Dallas was
Sorry, Boston was very comfortable
Allowing Dallas to shoot
Above the break threes
Whether it was PJ Washington
Hell, Luca shot him
However he wanted to shoot him
Kyrie shot him
I don't know what the analytical breakdown is
Boston or Dallas in the regular season
Even in the playoffs
But they guarded the corner
Way harder than they guarded
Above the break
And even like I said
The wing to the corner
Is not that much of a harder shot
In terms of distance or even angle
But they were letting them shoot
Above the break
Closing out in the corners
So it had to be an analytical thing
That had to be something Joe Masula saw
That he wanted to take advantage of
In this series
And wanted to force Dallas to shoot shots
That clearly
They're not all that comfortable shooting
Because
They
Were not making them
And it wasn't like
The sense of urgency from the Boston Celtics
Was any faster
It was just
Oh they're going to shoot that
Above the break three
Go for it
Do you want that wing shot?
Shoot it
You want top of the key?
Go for it
Whether I said
Whether it was Kleba
Washington
Kyrie
Tim Hardaway Jr. came in
They let him shoot him like
You want to shoot him?
Go for it
I'm going to say in the math
Shot seven or 27
26%
So if you're looking at the percentages
First of all, 12% difference
That's big
Boston got up 15 more
Dallas made nine less
So the game was a what?
19 point final
It's 27 point difference in the three point line
Every other stat was about the same
In terms of just raw box score numbers
Every other stat was about the same
You just got out shot
By 27 points
From the three point line
Even looking at the box score
Quarter for quarter
It was the first quarter
Boston won the first quarter
By 17
Second quarter
Boston wins by four
Dallas won the second half by three
You lost it in the first quarter
But I'm going to get to that
I'm going to get to that
Why that's important later
But just looking at the full stats
Boston shot a little better from the field
Way better from three
Boston had three more turnovers
They had four more total rebounds
Points in the paint went to Dallas, of course
Because Boston reigned in everything
And then the free throw line was even
12-19 to 13-19
It was the three point line
Seven to 27 versus 16 to 42
Like I said, you got out shot
By 27 points from the three point line
You lost the game by 18
18
Lost the game by 18 points
And lost three point line by 27
There's your ball game
Now, do I expect the Dallas Mavericks
To be able to keep up with Boston from three?
No
Do I expect them to keep it close?
Er?
Yes
Um
Boston came out absolutely raining
In the first quarter
It was insane
It was like whatever film study they had
On, um
Whatever film study they had
On Dallas's defense
They were prepared
And they picked it apart in the first quarter
Raining from everywhere
Porzingis couldn't miss
I mean, he was catching the ball high block
Just turning
Little elbow
Little shoulder
Um, taller than you
Shoot the mirror and jump for cash
It was insane
Dallas has to find a way
And I'm talking about what I need to do later
But Dallas has to find a way
To either slow the Celtics down from three
Or to up their three point percentage
But let's get into the individual gameplay
I said this won't be a long episode at all, guys
Um, maybe 25-30 minutes
Oh, but this
Let's get into the individual gameplay
Brown and Porzingis combined for 42 points
12 rebounds, six blocks
On 60% shooting between the two of them
Um, and
It was one of the situations where
It was pretty evenly split
I think
Brown might have had a couple more points
Porzingis had a couple more rebounds
And they both had three blocks
And they both had highlight blocks
Porzingis had his first game back
Running with the point guard
Blocking it clean at the rim on a dunk attempt
Running with Jayden Hardy
Um,
Brown meeting
Somebody at the rim on a dunk attempt
Blocking them
Brown had a big block on Kyrie
Porzingis blocked the Kyrie shot
You know, absolutely wild, right?
Now, they had 42-12 on 60%
Luka had 32 and 10, sorry, 38 and 10
On 12 and 26, about 42% give or take
I did math quickly in my head just now
Um, about 45ish percent somewhere in there
Um, so he basically canceled the production of Brown and Porzingis
Not as efficiently
But he canceled the production of Brown and Porzingis
Kyrie, everyone's gotta give you more
It's just
It's just the truth
Por-
Um,
Doncic, Luka
Couldn't think of his name for a second
Luka did something that hasn't been done besides
David Robb, though, with Shaq
David Robinson?
One of them
Um,
Tim Duncan, I'm sorry, neither one of those people
Tim Duncan is the only player in history
Besides Luka Doncic to have 30 and 10 in their NBA Finals debut
The only one
Ever
Not Jordan
Not LeBron
Not Magic
Not Kareem
Tim Duncan and Luka Doncic are the only ones in NBA Finals
History
To have 30 and 10 in their Finals game debut
Ever
Not even Wilt
And if you did something Wilt ain't do
When it comes to scoring and rebounding, you're doing something
Luka Doncic and Tim Duncan are the only ones
Luka had 32 and 38 and 10
The stat that jumped out to me last night
I watched the whole game
I watched until the-
Okay, I don't watch the whole game
I watched it until the Mavericks pulled their starters
I can admit that
I watched until the Mavericks pulled their starters
At that point you throw it in the towel
This doesn't matter anyway, right?
So I watched until the Mavericks pulled their starters
It was about 4-45ish left
Jason Kidd throws in the towel
This game
The stat that I looked at
I looked at two stats and I said, okay, this is gonna be
The situation
This is why it happened
This is the reason it happened, right?
Luka Doncic had one assist
As much as Luka Doncic has the ball
Luka Doncic had one assist
Just the one
And to be honest, I think it was the only lob that they got
I think that was the only assist Luka got
He didn't get none of his signature drive
Pass out assists
And he didn't get any of his
His typical stuff he normally gets
I mean, he usually gets three or four lob assists a game
Two, five or six kick corner threes a game
And he kind of looks up into
Not looks up, but in the flow of the game
Gets another couple of assists
None of that happened
He had one assist
The other assisted Kyrie Irving
Kyrie Irving played an unvary Kyrie Irving-like game
I think, and Kyrie said after the game
He expected the fans to be louder
And I think that he went into the game
Thinking of the crowd
And I think thinking of the crowd
And what they would be like
And then they weren't that
They weren't nearly as loud as I thought
They were going to be when he got the ball
Um
And I think it may have affected him mentally
I think he prepared to go in as ultimate villain
And he was just disliked
Like, he wouldn't even hate it
He was just disliked
And he shot horrible
Six of 19
Did not get to the free throw line
He finished with 12 points
Three bounce, two assists
It was bad
And it wasn't even like
They were playing amazing defense to him the whole game
It was game
It was two or three wide open shots
I can recall vividly
That he missed
Especially the big open three
Mavs had charged from 29
I think I could have eaten either eight or 10
But they were like within
Very well within striking distance
Of what they wanted to do
I think they were even
I think they might have been eight points down
Ball swings around
Tips out, Kyrie rebounds
Something of that nature
He gets an open three
And it's one of those
Boston had called a timeout when they were
They were like 15
He hits that shot
Mavs are down five
Lucas already rolling like
Let's go
He's already jumping
He's probably head up and down like
Let's do this
Lucas coming back
Lucas got the energy back
The bigs are flying around
Lively throwing people out of the way
Like you can see
You can keep feeling it
I'm sitting watching it at home going
My God
Dallas might come back in this game
People are starting to tweet out
If Dallas wins this game
Like
Right
And Kyrie has a wing three
Again, that above the break three
Nobody really closed out on it
Shot it
Planked it
Bang bang
You're down 14
And all the energy's back in the building
You can just see the Mavs fans like
Oh, that was our shot
Like even I was at home going
That was the shot
Like that was your
That was your comeback swing
You had to hit that shot
You're down five
Boston calls him the time out
Kyrie feels like I got my shot back
Lucas thinks he has his partner back
Like it's just so much
Was there in that one shot
He missed it
And then bang bang
Boston threes
Or Boston
This was a Boston three
And then a Boston and one
Or something like that
Bro, Brown hits a three
And I think it a
And one
Or those are back to back big plays
Dallas instead
Dallas calls the time out
The crowd's going crazy
And you're never closer than that again
And that's the kind of stuff
That
You have to take advantage of
When you have the chance
And then they didn't, right?
And so Kyrie even shot horribly
I don't expect Kyrie to play that bad again
Ever
Supermion especially on a big stage like this
He knows that stage
He knows what he has to do
In order to be the
One B to Lucas one A
Because Lucas is going to come and give you 35
They guarded Lucas about as well
As you could guard him
And he had 38 and 10
Like so
What they did was they made him a scorer
You're not going to be a scorer and a passer
You're going to get your points
We understand that
We're going to do whatever we can
To not have you
To have your assists be ineffective
So they kept Lucas assists down
They kept Kyrie Irving down in general
As in he missed some opportunities
He normally makes
Because it wasn't for defense
Like they asked you how they
Like how do you slow down
Or start Kyrie Irving
He said pray
So clearly it wasn't for defensive acumen
It was one of those off nights
Dallas had an off night
But we spoke about it going to the series
I figured Boston would win two games
I said
Tatum and Brown is going to get you one
Probably
In perfect honesty
I think the series is going seven
I'd have Dallas to win it
Dallas is six still very much alive
I think Dallas is going to win it still
But
You have a situation where I said
Brown and Tatum will get you a game
Where they'll just go get
You know 27, 28 a piece
They'll go get you a game
I said the shooters will get you a game
And then Dallas being completely inept
Will get you a game
Oh and I said Boston
Fourth way of winning is a bench game
They kind of got two of the games
In one
Three of the games in one
I said Boston has 16, 17, and three
And he's going to win the game
You kind of got three in the games
Mixed in one
Bench for Zengis went crazy
He carried the bench
The shooters made 16 threes
And
Dallas shot horribly from three
Because if Dallas makes
Other than Dallas makes five
Dallas goes 12 for 27 from three
Especially meaningful early in the game threes
Dallas may win the game
Because he's still charged
And I still look at it
I still look at the situation of
If you take the first quarter out
With a loss by 17
Dallas loses by two
It's dead even though the three quarters
And if not like the old Boston packed it in
Dallas charged
And Boston pushed it back out
But Dallas charged
So if you take away the first quarter
Dallas loses the game by two
A lot of different stuff
And I'm going to shift a little bit
But a lot of different stuff
What does Dallas do?
So now I guess the question is
What does Dallas do?
In the rest of the series
How
What is your plan for game two?
One you gotta guard
However you guard a three point line
In quarters two through four
Do that
Because your coverage in quarter one
Got torched
So whatever your coverage design is
Whatever your coverage ideas is
For quarters two through four
Do a whole bunch of that
Make sure that if you're going to double
You double aggressively
They're going to pick at Luka
That much was incredibly obvious
They're going to try to get Luka in switches
They're going to try to pick at Luka
And get Luka moving his feet
Play defense
It's classic
Whenever there's a good score
Whenever there's a great score
Your first goal as an offense
Tire his big so and so out
He's being honest
Tire him out
That's the number one strategy
For everybody when you're playing a great score
Tire him out
Wear him out
Wear him down
Like
Because if you get him in picks
You get him in switches
You make him move his feet
He should in theory have left off energy
To kill you on offense
And so that's going to be the strategy for Boston
Dallas has to stay out of bad switches
As much as possible
And they're going to have to just defend their position
Because they're rotating off of people
They don't have to rotate off
So like I said
That line up where it's Drew, Derek White, Tatum, Brown and Porzingis
There's nobody to rotate off
So if you got in a bad switch
You just have to play defense
Because there's no rotating person
Like you can't say
Oh, when it's 5-0 in the game
We're going to rotate off Horford
Because Horford hits you for two big ones early
You know what I'm saying
So you're going to have to
Find a way to
Guard your position
If you get switched
Guard that man as you get switched on
Or don't get switched
Do whatever you can
Fight and scrap
And don't get switched off
So easily
Second thing you need to do
Is get Kyra Irving shot
You know
6-19, if he's 10 of 19
Who knows what kind of space it opens up
Especially like I said
Certain shots
Like that three he missed
Wide open above the break
When they were thinking of down 8
He cuts to the 5
Who knows what happens
You know
That's a big one
The one
It was another one
Two in the comeback
He missed
And kind of
Dallin's is overcoming it
But I think they were like
Down 15 or so
And they cut it down real real fast
And then Kyra Irving misses an open one
And it's like
God like
He kind of hurt the momentum
And then Dallin's built it back up
But again you don't know
He hits that shot
Time out
Like we don't know what happens
In these games if Kyra Irving makes these shots
He has to be better
And the third thing is
Your shooters got to come to play
Boston is one of the best home teams
In the history of the NBA
There's no way around it
There's no conjecture
There's no innuendo
It's just a fact
They lost four home games all season
You play 41
They lost four home games all season
That's why I picked them as in six
I said because they'll get one
In the garden
And then they got a whole serve
Boston's actually
They're above average road team
Because usually your road record for an average team
Is usually a little bit below 500
Because you typically
Go a little bit above 500 at home
If you're a 41 or 41 team
But they were
You know 23 and 18 on the road
So they're above 500 road team
Or 20
No they lost 18 games all year
So they lost 14 at home
I lost 14 on the road
So 27 and 14 on the road
Yeah they're a pretty legit road team too
But you have a much higher chance of getting them
Because Dallas is such a good home team
In terms of their shooting
So they're going to have to make their shots in game two
They're going to have to defend the three point line in game two
Because you can't lose the three point line by 27 points
And expect to win
It's just not going to happen
Right
That's what makes the NBA so interesting
Is that
A good team can play a bad team
And that good team
Oh sorry that bad team makes 17, 18 threes
And beat the good team
Because they outshot the good team by 30 points for three point line
So it makes up for some stuff
Dallas is already not considered the better team
Now you have to identify who got outshot by 27 points for three point line
You're not going to win
Um
I guarantee you that
So they're going to have to close that gap
On both the offense side and the defensive side
They have any hope of winning game two
I do have them average winning game two
They showed me a lot in quarters two and three
In terms of how they can compete with the Boston Celtics
I think they win game two close
And they go back to Dallas tied to 1-1
And my Mavs in six is still very much alive
If they were to lose game two
My Mavs in six is all but dead
Um
And game three becomes the biggest game of Luke Adonis' career
Um
Because he has to win that game where he's getting swept out of the finals
Or Boston five
You know what I'm saying like
So he has to win that game
He has to win game two or three
To have any shot in this series
But quick hit
Um so there's a little bit of reporter drama?
Beef?
Scandal?
Controversy?
Uh
But between Shams Sharanya
And Adrian Wojnowski
So couple of days ago
Shams tweets
JJ Reddick's the coach
Basically
He's the front runner
They've been arguing
They've been talking to him the whole time
They interview other people
JJ Reddick's
Because Shams has been on the reporting
Thinking about JJ Reddick
Like he's already calling around his staff
Like he's putting Rajon Arundel on his staff
He's getting his staff together
Um
And he is
He's getting his staff together
He's doing different stuff
Him and LeBron have been on the same page
Having him on the podcast
Then like I said a couple days ago
He reports
JJ's basically all but the coach
They can't hire him until after
The finals
Because he's on finals coverage
But he basically is all but the coach
Brian Windhorse
On his podcast
The Hoof Collective
Pretty much echoed those sentiments
Like it's JJ Reddick
Because he didn't flat out say
JJ Reddick's the coach
Because he didn't want to get aggregated
But um
Pretty much like yeah
That's the coach
He didn't say it
But he did a lot of insinuating
That that was the coach
He was saying stuff like
Oh um
Oh man
He was like oh
You know he can't hire him
Until after the finals
And him and LeBron
Hired relationship
He kept saying something
Insinuating it's JJ Reddick
So that's an athletic source
And a big experience reporter
Who knows a lot about LeBron
That said JJ Reddick
So I felt comfortable enough
I heard two big guys say it
My own people were saying
It's JJ
I went JJ
Yesterday
At like four in the morning
Western, West Coast time
I woke up to it
I woke up about seven central
It was already on my phone
For like an hour
Woz brah
Boom
It's Dan Hurley
Is the is the target
That they have been negotiating
And preliminary discussions
With Dan with UConn
Coach Dan Hurley
Back to back
National Championship coach
Dan Hurley
They're expected to offer him
A long term lucrative contract
To come be the next head coach
Of the Lakers
It's been Hurley the whole time
Like basically
Taking
Shams' story
Putting it in the toilet
And taking a dump on it
With all of his research
And all of his stuff
That he had
That it was Dan Hurley
So
Now it's like people are saying
Shams got played
That you know
That you, Shams
I've been told that
JJ Reddick had a interview
With the Lakers
It did go well
But it was LeBron centric
How do we maximize
LeBron's two years
How do we get people to respond
To how LeBron likes to play
How do we do this about LeBron
What do we do with Bronnie
Like it was pretty LeBron centric
Now
That's what I've been told
I'm not reporting this
That's what I've been told
That the interview JJ Reddick had
Basically it was about
Maximizing the LeBron James career
Not so much of
How do I coach the Lakers
But how to maximize LeBron
And then they even went to his staff
That's when you start hearing about Rondo
And about Borrego
The people that LeBron likes
He loves Rondo
He loves Jamie Borrego
He's on Team USA
He looks like the shot doctor on Team USA
You know
So it was LeBron centric
JJ Reddick
Interviewed what his approach was
So the Lakers then reported
Then from what I was told
Pivoted to Dan Hurley
To prioritizing Dan Hurley
Now that's how guaranteed
Dan Hurley leaves
We've seen John Calipari
Flirt with the NBA a couple of times
To get contract
Raises at Kentucky
Maybe Dan Hurley is doing that
For UConn
Because he is
Very sought out now
He's won back to back
National champions
He's won back to back
National championships
He does have a buyout
With
UConn of about $2 million
It's not going to sound a lot for the Lakers
But Dan Hurley did recently sign a 6 year
$32 million deal
To continue to be the head man
At UConn
Again a $2 million buyout to go to the NBA
Well a $1.8 million buyout to go to the NBA
Nothing for Jeannie Buss
She'll probably use that on Jet Fuel
And so if he is the coach
It's supposed to be a long term lucrative contract
In which case UConn will be looking for a new
Heads men's basketball coach
After winning back to back national champions
Which means the football championship head coach
Jim Harbaugh
And the men's basketball head coach
Dan Hurley
Will both leave the collegiate ranks
To go to the pros right after winning their championships
Interesting collegiate sports dynamic
But that's a topic for another day
Just sticking to JJ Radigan and Dan Hurley
If
The Mind the Game pod
Was
A ploy
Like we used to get a long range public interview
For JJ Radigan
And that was the plan
And then you hire Dan Hurley
Does LeBron and say I'm out
LeBron can be a free agent this year
I talked about it in my last pod
Rich Paul called LeBron a free agent
AKA he's opting out and he's going to free agency
If that's
If the Mind the Game pod
If all of this was done
To try and get JJ Radigan
As the head coach of the Lakers
And like I said a long term public interview
As head coach of the Lakers
And then because JJ Radigan basically voiced that in his interview
You go with Dan Hurley
Who's never coached in the NBA
Whose style doesn't look NBA like
He's yelling a lot more
He's very very animated
Um
Stuff like that like
He's going to have a justice style in the NBA
If you end up going with Dan Hurley
And all this stuff LeBron did with the media company and stuff
Was to get JJ as the head coach
You may have a LeBron role
You may jet
And then all this for not Dan Hurley's out in two years anyway
It's all for not right
Um so that is the risk you're taking here at the Lakers
If indeed
What I've been told was true
That JJ who had a very LeBron centered interview
Um
And that LeBron really wants him in there
And that the Mind the Game pod was again like a long range interview
Long term interview publicly
You're going to have a LeBron problem
He opts out and it probably increases his chances
He's not a Laker next season
If I am Jeannie Buss
I go with JJ Rettig
Not because it helps with LeBron
Uh although that is
Probably your only hope of prosperity right now
Because the Lakers are in the most juicy franchise ever
Um and plus with the way the money is set up now
It's hard to go pure free agency
To a place
There's no
There's not even anybody on the market
I can think of
That's okay it is there
But there's nobody on the market I can think of right now
Like okay you make this trade
With what little assets the Lakers have
To net
Who
And like there's nobody
They're like you're not going to bring Trey Young into LA
And it's Trey Young, Austin Reese
You know what I'm saying that's that
You don't bring down you can bring down Donovan Mitchell
He's a bucket
He'd be an exciting scorer
Him and AD probably rip stuff apart
But then at that point
What are you competing for
So I'm saying so
I go JJ Rettig not because of LeBron
I go JJ Rettig because he's been in the NBA
I hear him talk about it as an analyst
I hear him on the mind of the game pod
I see his basketball brain
And I don't trust long term
College style coaches who go like that
They ain't heard of how that loud
In your face
Whatever publicly on the court stuff
I don't trust that in the NBA it doesn't work
Like yeah he's going to come there
He's going to make 10 million dollars a year
LeBron makes 40
50 he makes 45
You know what I'm saying so it's like
You're not going to
You're not the power structure here
I can get you up out of here
Like it's just different in the NBA
I would go with JJ Rettig
Although I would understand if
The Lakers went with Dan Hurley
But up next we're going to have our Jax Hot Take
Which is going to be a discussion
About the rookie of the year
In the WNBA
Oh but before I go
Just want to let you know
Jason Tatum shot 16 and had 16, 11 and 5
And won a finals game by 19
But yeah he's valuable
But anyway we're going to jump to the WNBA
And talk about what's going on there
Welcome back into the show
And now we're going to jump into Jax Hot Take
Which is that Caitlin Clark is not your rookie of the year in the WNBA
I know I know
I've kind of earned a reputation at this point
Of being a Caitlin Clark hater
I prefer to call myself a Caitlin Clark truther
But in case you don't believe me
ESPN releases their WNBA rankings
Rookie rankings every week or so
Angela Reese had been number one for the past few weeks
The ranking is based on a lot of things
But advanced statistics, efficiency, your counting numbers of course
And kind of your impact on your team
So Angela Reese had been number one for most for a couple of weeks
But their recently released rankings
Actually they came out yesterday
Cameron Brink
Who I think is going to be the league defensive player of the year
Or has a hell of a shot at it
She's like female WNBA
I think that she has a chance at DPOY
She's number one now
Followed by Angela Reese is number two
Followed by Kate Martin at number three
Who was the second round draft pick of the Los Angeles Aces
She's had a actually pretty big impact on that team
And now she's like the first guard off the bench right now
Especially Chester Gray still being out
She's like first guard off the bench
And in the event like Jackie Young can't go
Kate Martin starting
So she is number three
Her story is insane
Like I said she only goes to draft night
She doesn't hire an agent clearly
She only goes draft night to cheer on Kate Lynn Clark
And while she's still sitting in the crowd
She gets drafted
Like she had no anticipation of being drafted
She gets drafted out of the crowd
So she has her moment of walking on the stage and everything
Because she's there
So they bring her on the stage
And she gets her photo on the stage
Like you know like it was first round draft pick
Because Kathy I think
I think Kathy Engelberg reads out of her pick
But she gets her big moment on the stage
Just like all the other draft picks in front of the crowd
Everybody's cheering it's crazy right
Then that was where she might not even make the team
And then she makes the team
She makes it over the Syracuse Guard Dynastia Fair
Dynastia Fair isn't making it
But she's got release
She's making over Dynastia Fair
And now she's a very key part of the team or the culture
Like they love her
Because she's you know how she plays the game
But she's number three
Rekia Jackson who's the other Sparks rookie
Is number four
Julie Van Loo is number five
Kate Lynn Clark is number six
And then Aliah Edwards is number seven
Although she had a damn good game against the sky and Angel Reese
So that might help her case out a little bit
Next week she had a damn good game against Angel Reese
Now people are going to go
Man how is Angel Reese number two
If this list is about efficiency and analytics
And it's actually a great question
Not a lot of you
But Angel Reese's impact defensively
And what she does for her team in terms of rebounding
And they defensively she's a monster even in W
She's got her first block
But she's routinely getting steals all over the place
She only averages.1 blocks again
She just got her first block
But she's averaging 1.5 steals a game
She's averaging near a double double
And she's not even playing 29 minutes
She's averaging 28.8 minutes 11 and 9
It's how she's averaging 11 and 9 with 1.5 steals
Again she's shooting 33%
Which considering she only shoots layups
That's insane
But I think she's used to getting certain file calls
Right
I'm coming out
She's used to getting certain file calls
She's not getting right now
And so it's messing with her
And so that's her numbers
Look at the camera bring
She's averaging eight points five rebounds 2.1 assists
But she's averaging a full steal per game and 2.6 blocks per game
And she's only playing 24 minutes a night
Mainly because of I think her file trovers
She's averaging four and a half files a game
Right
But she's shooting about 45% 35 from three
Now everybody's favorite player Kaylen Clark
She's averaging 15 points five rebounds six assists
1.3 steals and one block again
But she's shooting 35.7% 30% from three
She's averaging also 5.4 turnovers
So everybody was talking about how that list was about efficiency
And was about your impact on team winning
Her team's like two and nine
Not necessarily all her fault
But her team is like two and nine
She's a turnover machine
She's a hella inefficient
And so it's dropping her low and low in this ranking
Counting numbers in the Rookie of the Year
Aren't everything
Because there's been years with certain rookies
Outscored others and that person's been on the Rookie of the Year
Do I think Kaylen Clark may end up being voted as Rookie of the Year anyway?
Yes
Do I think she's the Rookie of the Year?
No
I think the Rookie of the Year right now is either Andrew or Lisa Cameron Brink
Because I'm looking at Cameron Brink
She's gonna she has a legitimate shot at Defensive Player of the Year
I think it's to me either her or Asia Wilson
Are battling for Defensive Player of the Year
Andrew Reese is fighting for the damn rebound crown
She's gonna win the Office of Rebound Crown
She's in the running for the Steel's crown
And she's in the battle for like her efficiency on winning
And on their total defensive net rating
And on the advanced analytics
Andrew Reese having a much bigger impact on her team
Cameron Brinks having a much bigger impact on her team
Than Kaylen Clark is right now
So the Rookie of the Year in my opinion is either Brink or Reese
I think it'll end up being either Brink or Reese
I think it'll end up being pushed as Kaylen Clark
But I think it's legitimate either Brink or Reese
As the Rookie of the Year right now the WNBA
It's Friday night
There's no NBA on
There's two WNBA games on
They have their ION Showcase
Where they play on ION every single Friday night
They usually do two games on ION every single night
Let me pull up those games for you guys
So you guys will know what games are on tonight
It is Indiana Kaylen Clark versus Ali Edwards another Rookie
And the Washington Mystics who they just played last night
So that's going to be a tough one
And then the Seattle Storm with their big three Skylar Diggins
Nekogumike, Jewel Lloyd
And everyone's low-key favorite rookie Nick O'Mule
Versus the two-time defending champs
And the best player in the world Asia Wilson
And the Las Vegas Aces
So if you want to see a show
Asia Wilson plays basketball tonight
Just pointing that out
But thank you guys for rocking with me
Thank you guys again for rocking through the audio issues
That we've been having
We fixed them
So hopefully this sounds way better to you guys
And this is of course have a great rest of your day
This is your host, Justin Jackson signing out
We have