NBA Tiers | Ranking All 30 Teams After All-Star Weekend
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Start building your collection today. I met 50 Cent this one time and he gave me a handmade sweater. I was like, gee, you knit? Good morning, sweet world! And welcome to the No Dunks podcast on The Athletic Network. It's Wednesday, February 19th, 2025. I'm Jay Skeets, here in the Classic Factory and alongside me, as always, Tass Mellis. Basketball lovers. This one's for you. Next to him, it's the birthday birthday!

Trey Kirby. Heyo. Heyo. Happy birthday, TK. And over yonder, making the magic happen, super producer JD. Hello. There he is. Here we are. You gotta drop a like for the birthday boy. Shout out to the stream teamers. Hit the like button, subscribe. Podcast listeners, five star ratings and reviews.

Big four one? Dirk Nowitzki, baby! Oh, it's your Dirk year. Big Dirk year, growing my hair out long. Gonna do a walkabout. Let me tell you, this stretch that you've just entered, these are the worst ones. Yeah, that sucks, man. You know, 40, cool. Very cool. 41, 42, 43, I guess 44 sounds sort of cool.

Nine years of boring birthdays, but 90 minutes of classic podcasting coming up right here. That's right. If you're looking for any and all of our All-Star Weekend thoughts, go check out our Saturday and Sunday podcast. We're moving on from All-Star Weekend. I'm done. I got some fixes. I can't listen or read anything more about this. Today, though, we are once again going to rank...

All 30 NBA teams. Our guy, John Schumann, I don't know if he's in the live stream right now. He says that 66% of the regular season is complete. So the home stretch begins now. We do have one basketball game on tonight.

Really? Yeah, Lakers-Hornets. I didn't know that. Rescheduled game. The Mark Williams Bowl. Exactly. Exciting. That's where we're at. Two-thirds of the regular season done. So just to remind everyone, when we do our rankings here, we use the tier maker, and we have it as such. Five tiers, obviously, at the top. The S tier.

It's the title contenders. Look at Tass Mellis just looking at that LOB. Yep, one-third of the way left. That's right. So title contenders is our top tier. Then we have the final four flirts. And we've got the playoff locks. And we've got the play-in hopefuls. And at the bottom, that's our flag seekers. You're in the pooper for Cooper. Whatever you want to call it, it's the tankers that are leaning into the tank and playing the ping-pong balls when it comes to the lottery.

We did this in the preseason. Yeah. And here is how we ranked all 30 teams. Again, back in October before we had played a single game. I'll say we did pretty good at the time.

Feeling pretty good about our title contenders going Boston, OKC, and Denver. I know they've turned it on as of late. And then we had six teams in the final four flirts category. We had the Wolves, the Knicks, the Mavs, the Sixers, the Bucks, the Suns. So, you know, some good, some bad. And, you know, obviously a bunch of other teams that have either really surprised us positively or negatively. But anyway, that's what the 2024-25 preseason tiers were. A

I say we jump right into it, though. We got 30 teams to sort of talk about. Like you said, this could be a big boy. Chunky. So let's do the Eastern Conference. We usually do. Who's our first team? Yeah, and try a fun challenge for everybody listening out there. Try to remember all 30 teams.

You'll probably get 29, no problem. They'll be like, wait, what is the last one? For me, it was the Clippers today. It's because they changed their logo. Threw me off. For me, when I saw that graphic just before we went live, I'm like looking at my notes. I'm like, oh, crap. I forgot the Bulls. Well, I think we know where they're going to end up. Some teams are not going to take a long time to talk about. No, I don't think so. No.

But yeah, we'll go alphabetical east and then west because that's how it was already organized. So we'll start with the hometown Atlanta Hawks. Currently eighth in the Eastern Conference, 26 and 29. They're 21st in offense, 15th in defense, 21st in net rating. All these numbers come into you via basketball reference.

The Atlanta Hawks, they feel like they're a play-in hopeful to me. Have been for years. It's hard not to be if you're a mediocre team in the Eastern Conference, to not be a play-in hopeful. Atlanta's a mediocre team. That's what they are. They're fun to watch right now. Listen to these guys that they start around, Trey Young now.

with Dyson Daniels, Zachary Risache. They're putting Mo Gay out there and Anyeka Kong. Listen to all that length. I think every game is going to be fun for this team. Easy, Bobby Webster. Masayu Jiri. You like all that length, do you? You got to. Let's give a little respect to Landry Fields. He likes length, too, leading the Hawks front office. I think...

These first two games are actually kind of important for them. Orlando, the first one here, that team that's just a half game ahead of them, and Detroit coming up, who's a little more ahead of them in that sixth spot. And at home, they're 12-12 these next two games. That sounds about right. Exactly. But this team is crazy. That lineup that I just said was against the Knicks, where they went to overtime. They had five players score 20 or more. They got scores. They got length, and that's why it's kind of fun to watch.

But the plan is where they're going to be. I mean, that's just where they're going to be. I don't think it's any question about that, really, especially with Jalen Johnson out. That's the other thing. They can't reach their peak right now. Right. The Hawks are 3-1 since trading DeAndre Hunter and Bogey, you know, so since the deadline. The one loss was in overtime to the Knicks, that crazy, crazy game. That's a weird one. That we, I guess I drafted when we did that last week. So, yeah, pretty good record. 10 of the Hawks' first 12 post-break games are at home.

So this is like, they need to like pick up a lot of these. And you said those really important ones against those teams ahead of them. But yeah, I'll be, I'll literally be shocked if they are not in the play-in. Like they're going to be there. I just don't know what number they'll be at from seven to 10, but more likely than not, it will be one of the nine or 10 games. Yeah. Somehow they're going to run back Bulls versus Hawks for the nine, 10 game. I think when I make this template for next year, I'm just going to put the Bulls and Hawks. Just put them right there. Part of the template. Okay. So they stay there. Oh,

up next though, the Boston Celtics currently second in the Eastern conference, 39 and 16. They're fourth in offense, fifth in defense, third in net rating. And of course they are the defending NBA champions.

Had a bit of a swoon in January, but picked it up with some really nice wins here in February before the All-Star break. Yep, they've won seven of their last eight and a couple victories against Cleveland and New York. Some of the better teams in the Eastern Conference. They're the only team currently that ranks top five on both ends of the floor after a few other ones sort of slipped out. But it's weird, right? They're like five and a half games still behind the Cleveland Cavaliers.

But now that they've sort of got it going again here, it's like they're the team to beat. So when we showed you the preseason rankings, I'm just interested to see where they rank in the title contenders tier because they're obviously going there.

It's just like, are they still number one? Because we sort of rank them within the tiers too. Are they behind OKC? Are you convinced that the Cavs are better? But they're obviously in that tier, that top tier. Absolutely. My question would be when they're in that Eastern Conference Finals, if they were to get there against Cleveland Cavaliers.

Is there any chance that the Cavs would be the favorite? I don't think so. Definitely not in betting. Not even a 12-court advantage. I don't think so. But either way, we get to see them play each other again one more time this month. Later on, yeah, they look like the Celtics again after that game.

That's Swoon, no doubt. But then they started shooting the three again, and they shot it pretty well. And there's a new wrinkle they're doing. I saw it going around on Twitter. I forget the guy's name, so apologies. But a good breakdown of Joey Maz leaning into playing a lot more two big lineups. Joey Maz. Yeah, sure, why not? Joey Maz. Forget about it. So a lot of

bigs like putting like a poor who's ingus and a horford like out there together like a lot more than they did at the earlier start of the season and it's like had really good results uh recently so something to watch yeah um a wrinkle they'll probably need because obviously the calves play too big so it could come in handy there how many games did the the celtics lost one game in the eastern conference playoffs last year is that right that's right will they lose more than one game in the eastern conference playoffs this season oh yeah yes i believe so

Yeah. Because they don't pay as much attention in the first round? No, I think you're literally saying they're going to sweep the Cavs. No respect for the Cavies. I think the Cavs could take one off them. I think it would be a good series. They could take a couple off them. I think they'll lose more than once in the Eastern Conference playoffs. But you still have them. I'll definitely have them ahead of the Cavs, for sure. Okay. For sure.

But the Brooklyn Nets are our next candidate. They're 12th in the Eastern Conference right now. 20-34, same record as the Philadelphia 76ers. Brooklyn is 27th in offense, 19th in defense, 27th in net rating. I mean, they're probably flag seekers, but they're knocking on the door of playing hopefuls here. I wrote in my notes, this is to me, without a doubt, the most where the hell did you come from team in the league when you're just looking at like, wow, they've won six of their last seven and they're suddenly...

sniffing a playing spot and it's like sort of insane and a big reason is their defense Schumann had in his power rankings the Nets were ranked 25th defensively through their first 43 games and over the last little stretch here where they're winning a lot they're their number one defense in the league by a wide margin and

So Dorian Finney-Smith and Dennis Schroeder, they were the problem. I guess so. The players the contenders wanted. Yeah, over the last four weeks, the Nets defense is just elite. And that's why they've got a lot of Ws and they're within striking distance. Like they're 12th place right now, but there are the Bulls, there are the Sixers and 10th and 11th. They could, in theory, catch one of those teams. They could easily catch both those teams.

They could. Do they want to? That's the question. Well, it seems like they want to. They play for Geordie. That's for sure. They play hard. They beat the Rockets twice this month. They beat the Heat this month. They play good teams, and they beat them. So I think we need a new category for this team. This is a playoff spoiler the rest of the way.

I think teams should be scared when they play them. In the sense you mean during the regular season, playing teams that are jockeying for position? Yeah, the old spoiler. Oh, the old spoiler. I didn't know if you meant they're going to get in and suddenly upset somebody. I was like, whoa. I know you like the Nets. Oh, no. Okay. No.

You don't want to see them on the schedule is what you're saying. You've got to bring it. Not an easy win in March. No, not at all. They've beaten the Rockets twice this month, beaten the Heat. They've beaten the Sixers, who aren't good. Nor are the Heat. Both of those teams are under .500, but so are the Nets. And they're surprising. Where are we putting them, though? So you said, I mean, are they a flag seeker or are they a play-in potential? They're right on the cusp. They're either at the top of the flag seekers, at least in the Eastern Conference, or at the bottom of the play-in hopefuls.

My guess is that we should put them in the flag seekers because they'll probably pull some levers here in the last one third of the season because they made trades so that they could be bad. Yeah, they weren't supposed to be this good this year.

Yeah. Okay, for now I'm fine putting them. Obviously they'll be their only team there right now at the front of the flag seekers in the bottom tier. But, like, you know, we're going to get to the Bulls. We're going to get to the Sixers. Like, I don't know. I sort of have more faith in the Nets. Again, maybe, maybe getting into a playing spot than those teams. Yeah, that's possible.

It's possible. All right. Put them there. Well, they're going to be getting some company there in the basement of the Eastern Conference. Our next candidate for tier ranking, the Charlotte Hornets. They're 14th in the East, 13th and 39th, 28th on offense, 13th on defense. I don't think I would have guessed that if you gave me 29 guesses. And then 24th in net rating, the Charlotte Hornets. They're flag seekers. Yes. Yes.

Yes, with a bullet, unfortunately. Weird stat from Schumann. They have more wins and a better record against the 16 teams currently above .500.

The record is 7-18, mind you. Then they do against the other 13 teams currently below 500. They're 6-21 against the bad teams in the league. That 100% makes sense to me. The bad teams in the league see the Hornets on the schedule and think, we can get a win tonight. The good teams see the Hornets on the schedule and say, we are going to win tonight. We don't even need to try. But guess what? They're in the NBA too. Yeah, in the NBA.

You got to try a little bit. Yeah. A hundred percent makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. I guess maybe Charles Lee gets them excited. I mean, they probably get excited in there for the good teams to a little bit more than the bad teams.

I just put way too much faith in Charles Lee and this top of their roster at the beginning of the season, I thought. Yeah, they're going to do some things. Lomelo's ankles are going to be entirely different, but they're the same. He's injured all the time, so it's difficult to even think about a play-in spot for this team because you never know when Lomelo's going to play. Yeah, Lomelo out for a lot of time, Brandon Miller out for a lot of time. I guess, like, coming into the season, you would probably say Mark Williams is their third biggest...

biggest name players outside of the man that we never talk about uh and mark williams that guy's obviously been out of the lineup as well they tried to trade him he comes back they said no we're still trying to trade you but he's still around and he's playing tonight against the play tonight baby connect versus him they should just let them play one-on-one hell yeah yeah get out of the way matched up a little sit down luca the hornets you could use a they could use a good draft pick here

They picked maybe the worst first round guy. Well, I don't know. There's some bad guys in the top 10. But Tijon Salon. Have you seen a minute of him? Wow. Brutal. Is he worse than Cody Williams? I don't know. Let me know. Those guys are both bad. All right. Here we go. This team's in the play-in. It's the Chicago Bulls. They're 22 and 23. What? 20th on offense, 26th on defense, 23rd in net rating. Their best player for the last third of the season is Nikola Vucevic.

Bulls fever, baby. Catch it. 22 and 23. You have hope for them to be a 500 team. That can't be. No, 22 and 33. 22 and 33. I was like, that can't be right. You just chopped off 10 losses? Well, yeah, because we all hope that. Even in my dream, they're still under 500. That's depressing. That's crazy, bro. 23, 2, and 33. Yeah. I looked into it to see if they're the worst team ever to make the play in tournament because right now,

They're on the pace to be the worst. But the 2022 Spurs were 34-48 and made it. Whoa. That stinks. That was a Kelden Johnson, Devin Vassell, DeJounte Murray, Yakka Pirtle, Joshua Primo starting team. Lonnie Walker came off the bench. He's back. He's back, baby. He's back for the Philadelphia 76ers. Had that NBA buyout with his Lithuanian team, and he's back squeezing it in. Sixers will try until the end. They'll sign anybody. Anybody. Come on. Bye.

Where do you have the Bulls? Are they playing hopeful or not even that? They're playing hopefuls. They hope they're in the play every single year. Is it smart? No. Are they going to hit the lottery because it's rigged? Hopefully. You can't take them out. That's the only...

There's two games left on the Bulls calendar as far as I'm concerned. The 9-10 playoff game and the draft lottery. That's it. Those are the only two games they are left to play this season. I hope they go one and one. That's fair. You can't take them up because the Sixers, Nets, and Raptors are behind them. So unless you somehow have faith in the basketball world,

body gods to say, oh, Joel Embiid's going to be healthy. Yeah, sure. He's going to be back to that guy who won MVP. I mean, how can you pick the Sixers or the Nets or the Raptors to steal that spot from the Bulls?

The Raptors could. We'll get to the Raptors later. If you're giving me the field over the Bulls, I'd like taking the field that you gave me of those three teams that one of them can put it together enough down the homestretch to maybe pass the Bulls. But it will be so Chicago Bulls like that where they finally do trade some guys on the deadline. They maybe pick a direction, so to speak, of like, let's be bad. They'll probably put together a nice slick little four-game win streak here. Yeah.

They don't need a four-game win streak. The teams behind them are terrible. They've been losing for a month and a half straight. And nobody's catching them. The Sixers beat the Bulls and still can't catch them. It doesn't make sense. It's because they're tanking. They're trying to keep their pick. Nobody knows it. Cleveland Cavaliers, they're first in the Eastern Conference, 44-10, first in offense, eighth in defense, second in net rating. These fellas, they're title contenders. Absolutely. Most surprising team in the league, do you think?

Like, when you compare them to what we thought in the—like, nobody thought the Cavs were going to be a 60-plus win team. We had them as playoff locks, right? Yeah. That's two categories down. Yeah, sure. Yeah. I mean, yeah, there's levels to it, because I think the next team we'll talk about, the Pistons, are definitely a surprise team. Yes. But, yeah, I don't think anybody tabbed the Cavs as, like, the surprise title contender coming into this season. No.

They are going to try a bunch of different defenses the rest of the way. They're trying to take that eighth-ranked defense up. Players are talking about it. Got to get it to five. Got to get to five. So that's what's going to happen throughout these games. Kenny Atkinson is going to try different stuff. As he said, you work on a playoff adjustment a day. He said he stole that from Ty Lue. Ty Lue used to say that. And maybe it's fitting that –

The Cavs here at the eighth-ranked defense, and Ty Lue was the guy who used to say that, the Cavs took a 10th-ranked defense to the NBA Finals and won the championship in 2016 behind Ty Lue. So, you know, maybe that's a...

A good sign for these Cavs going into the future here. But yeah, when they play the Celtics later on, they're going to try something different here later on this month when they play them once more time. One more time, I should say. And there's a reason why they obviously went and got Hunter at the trade deadline. Yeah. You know, for some wing defense and obviously hoping he can still shoot for them. That makes sense. Their offense has been elite this year. Only team in the league that ranks in the top five from all three spots on the floor.

That's wild. They shoot over 61% in the paint. That's second in the NBA. They shoot about 44% from the mid-range. That ranks fifth. And then they're the best three-point shooting team in the league still at 39.3%. So to do it across inside, mid-range, and three-pointer, that's pretty damn impressive. They have an awesome assist-to-turnover ratio. They're just damn good offensively. Can that defense tick-tick up? And then it's really just like, can they beat the Celtics?

Can they beat the Celtics? Maybe they match up with the Knicks too. I don't think it's a given that they steamroll a good Knicks team and maybe some of these other teams, but it's like, are we on a path to just get Celtics versus Cavs in a conference finals? Let's say. It sure feels that way. I don't know if somebody can play spoiler, but I just don't know if they can beat the Celtics four to seven times.

Yeah, exactly right. That's the question for me. I think the Cavs are more likely to get knocked off before a matchup with the Celtics in the conference finals than the Celtics would be. I just need to see it from the Cleveland Cavaliers first. We saw them get bounced in the first round against the Knicks. The lights were too bright. They barely survived against the Magic in a seven-game series. Last year went to game seven, and the Magic were not a very good team, but obviously the Cavs have leveled up some this year. They got the continuity and, you know.

Lose, then win, then lose, and then maybe you just keep winning. Yeah, we'll see. But I got them personally behind the Celtics as title contenders. I like how these quotes you're saying to us and you hear from the guys on the TNT. I do love, I like their mindset. It sure feels like they believe they can go very far and win this championship, but without jumping steps and needing to get better and knowing that championship you've got to go through Boston still in the East at least. I like all that.

They're not that type of team that's like puffing out their chest and like we're already the best and stuff like that. They're not like that at all. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All they talk about is communicating. That's needed in the playoffs. Yeah, talk. It's good to talk about talking. Toughest thing to teach a bunch of kids playing basketball. Talk to each other.

You got to talk. You got to talk out there. Yeah. It's so weird. Everyone's just dead silent. Talk on defense. Talk on offense. Say you're open. Screen left. Yeah, man. Exactly. We're talkers. We talk all the time, TK, when we play. Talk too much, some would say. Probably. Yeah, we definitely do. Better to talk than not talk at all. That's exactly right. You want to make some noise out there. Another team making noise in the Eastern Conference. Let's talk about them. Number six.

in the East. The Detroit Pistons, 29 and 26. They are, I think that's 15th in offense. It might be an 18. I think it's a 15. 11th in defense and 15th in net rating. I like that you're like an old-timey reporter. You like this? Pretty cool. Oh, look at this. Athletic. It's like a basketball.

- Basketball, texture. - He's got a notepad for you podcast listeners. - Yeah, it's pretty sweet. Look, I turned 41, I'm going back to basics. - Yeah, is the reason because we're using your computer for the tier making? - Yeah. - Yeah, okay. - Yeah, I don't wanna be switching back and forth between windows here. - I was wondering why you had these notes.

No, that's just a great little notebook to have the pebbled covers. Yeah. So I don't drop it accidentally. Yeah. It's very, very nice. Grips. Got grips. Yeah. I think I misplaced mine. I was disappointed. I don't know where mine is either after seeing yours. Well, I got three somehow, so. Oh, no wonder. There, you got them. What?

Where the hell is mine? I never got one. Yeah, I don't know how he got this, man. Sorry, sorry, sorry, guys. I don't know. Check the copyright. That's surprising. It's because once you turn 40, you get one. Yeah, JD. I missed it. Too early. Yeah, too early. Yeah, yours is just a big old rock, JD. And you use another rock to carve into it. Chisel it around. Okay, the pistones. Where are we putting the pistones? Playing hopeful or...

A level above. Is that crazy? No. What do you think, Tess? No. Playoff lock? I would throw them in there. I know. It's a bit of a reach at this point, but they are sixth here. And it's going to be tough to hold it the rest of the way. But I've got faith. It's just simple as that. The schedule isn't extremely easy for them, but I think they want to do it. I think they've got an internal –

in that locker room that keeps them going. I think they've got the energy. Turtle flame. Yeah, yes. Within it, I think it's Isaiah Stewart. He's their flame. He's their guy. He's their energy. And that's a good thing. I love that guy, even though you look at him and you say, whoa, he's a little off.

off when you look at him at times but that's what you need right that's what you need you need the one crazy guy on your team for sure helpful yeah uh they're on a four game win streak and all four of those wins were by double digits as they headed into the all-star break so finding their groove a little bit already have twice as many wins as they had all last season is amazing like they have like you said 29 already they were 14 and 68 they have not made the playoffs since 2018-19

Can you tell me a little trivia here? The starting lineup for the 18-19 Pistons in Game 1 against the Bucs. Now, I'm going to tell you right now, there was no Blake Griffin, if you remember. He missed a couple of games. But just give me the starting lineup for the Pistons in the 2019 playoffs. Reggie Jackson was one of their guards. Tobias Harris? No, he would have been a sixer at that point.

Andre Drummond. Andre Drummond, the big man, yeah. There's another skinnier big man, which I was like, what? Obviously was taking, I think, the spot of Blake Griffin in the starting lineup. Blake Griffin started for Blake Griffin. Saku Dumbuya. No. Henry Ellenson. No. He's not starting. No. This guy's got a very, like a unique name. Austin Day. No.

Wow. Besides the one and five, I don't know who's playing beside these guys. I don't know what two, I don't know what three. This guy's a seven-footer from South Sudan. I'm going to give you that. There you go. Started game one of the playoffs. Started, dude. Stanley Johnson? No, good guess. There's a guy with the golden arm. Oh, no way. Wayne Ellington. Wayne Ellington and one more you'll never get, so I'll just tell you. What a great name. Bruce Brown. Listen to that starting lineup.

Reggie Jackson, Bruce Brown, Thon Maker, Wayne Ellington, and Andre Drummond. Were they over 500? They were 41 and 41 that year. I mean, Blake was all NBA, I think, that season, right? Yeah, it was. And he came back in that series, but he was hurt. They got swept by the Bucs. He came back to eat pizza.

Because it was the Little Caesars Arena that he came back for. He did come back for home. That's the eternal flame they have burning. It's the pilot light for the pizza. Exciting. Will the Pistons finish 500? They're 29 and 26 right now, so they got three games to play with in the last 30-ish here.

It seems reasonable they will. I'm actually thinking they're a playoff lock because they've got a two and a half game lead on the Orlando Magic, who are currently in seventh. They've been very disappointing since the calendar turned to 25, basically. Behind them are the Hawks. Who knows if they're going to ever be able to string together enough games to catch...

The Pistons, they're three games behind them. The Heat, I don't think it looked great since the trade deadline either. Detroit, for me, the end of the playoff locks. Great season for them. Great season for Cade Cunningham. I got to eat some crow on this one. This guy's been incredible this season. I'd say he's even been better than Paulo Banqueiro has been. Fair. Wow. Schumann says the Pistons have nine rest advantage games left on their schedule, too. Seems good. That's good.

Because all these games are going to matter. So, okay. I'm with you guys. Playoff locks. I love it. Wow. Leveling up. They've got the 18th hardest schedule the rest of the way. Does that matter? Well, I think 18th just seems like, okay, middle of the pack. I think they've got a nice couple games against the Wizards. Two victories. Nice couple games against the Pelicans. Two victories. So, there you got 33 wins. If they're winning all four of those games, they're on their way. They're on their way to be a 500 team. Good for them.

them incredible season so far i love it'd be fun just for them to get in there as a six seed and i guess would be taken on probably looking at the knicks in that potential series yeah it's going to be three six going to be next pistons they want that week off that you get if you do make a playoff team instead of a playing team so you can go hard into new york lit by the flame that is isaiah stewart uh to go steal a game to go steal one game in in new york great article on isaiah stewart and the uh

program that he's making happen in Detroit because he's a cool dude. He's a cool dude. Love this guy. Hunter Patterson wrote it for the Athletic. Great stuff. Our next competitor in the ranking list, the number four seed currently, Indiana Pacers, 30-23, their ninth in offense, 21st in defense, 14th in net rating, and apparently

And I've had a nice little streak here. They've been playing pretty well since, I don't know, they kind of fell by the wayside, I think, at the beginning of the season. Halliburton wasn't playing all that well. They seemed to kind of not figure out how their offense is supposed to be functioning. They've really, really turned it around.

Top five team in the league, I think, since we've turned to 2025. 14-5 since January 1st, after you said a very slow start to the season. They rank 8th in offensive rating, 9th in defensive rating, over that same stretch. So they've unlocked something here, playing more like we saw from last year's Pacers. They're a playoff lock. They're ahead of the Pistons. I think we're just debating whether you think they have another conference finals run in them. Did they get lucky? But could they be a nightmare matchup for some teams? Yeah.

I'm pretty confident with just putting them at probably near the top-ish of the playoff locked here. Yeah, I think they do have another level. I think they're going to have a home series in the playoffs. I think they're going to finish fourth. I think the fact that Aaron Neesmith has come back... No, he's been back for a bit, but they have figured out what their defense is now, so...

They're top six of Halber and Siakam, Matherin, Turner and Nembhard and Neesmith. Nembhard's important to them too. Totally. He's one of these players that's like, your team is just way better when he's out there. That's part of the reason they were struggling early in the season is Neesmith and Nembhard were out. And I don't know, you'd have to check the numbers on this, but it seems to me like...

The Pacers are probably like the 18th best defense through three quarters, and then they're awesome in the fourth quarter. They basically just start pressuring the ball like crazy with Nembhard and Neesmith, and have been able to flip a lot of games in fourth quarters recently. Yeah, so the question is, are they a Final Four? So I guess in the Eastern Conference, obviously it's the Celtics and Cavs are going to be there.

The Knicks are included in the Final Four. You kind of have to have four Final Fours, sort of. Not really. I'm happy keeping them here at the top of the playoff blocks for now. Though they did go to the Conference Finals last year. Yeah.

Was it injuries? Was it fortunate matchups? I mean, they benefited, no doubt, from injuries. And they had the Bucs number last year. I think they're still beating the Bucs this season. Yeah. Yeah. Shoe notes that the Pacers play six of their first seven post-break games here at home. Okay. So they have a little home stretch here. But three...

three of the teams visiting are some of the best teams in the West. They have the Grizzlies, they have the Clippers, and they have the Nuggets. So some good teams coming into their barn, but again, they have a nice little stretch here. So maybe you can put a little more separation, those teams chasing them. But you think they'll have home court advantage? Yeah? Four or five? Yeah.

I think still playoff lock, though. Yeah, they've played 22 home games versus 29 road games. Here we go. Yeah. That'll even out here after this post-All-Star. Indiana, one of the best arenas to call a barn, I think. Hell yeah. Fieldhouse seems barnish. I mean, it's already a barn. Yeah. Great stuff.

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No Barnes in Miami. No. They're ninth in the Eastern Conference, 25 and 28. They're 22nd in offense, 10th in defense, 17th in net rating. They obviously sent Jimmy Butler to the Warriors. Got Andrew Wiggins and Kyle Henderson, who I saw playing center for this team. Turns out he's sticking with the Miami Heat. Where do we got these fellas?

A play-in team right now. Yeah, I think that's where they have to stay as a play-in hopeful. I mean, look, they had the whole Jimmy Butler saga. It sort of had an impact, I believe, on their season. But then they make the deal, and they sort of hit a little rough patch there right before the All-Star break. I think they lost four straight. And in doing that, they slipped from sixth in the Eastern Conference to ninth. So down into the play-in. Yeah, I have to keep them there. This is one of like...

It was one of their worst seasons in the last 10 years. I mean, it's almost a compliment in a way. It's like they've been really good for a long time, but this is not it when you're talking about win percentage and point differential and all that. Yeah, they'll probably be in the play-in, right? I don't see them like they're not going to lean into tanking or anything like that. I mean, they're too far ahead of those other teams anyway. Not in Miami. No. Not Miami. Not after all that fighting between Pat and Jimmy. You can't just say, hey.

We want to lose now after all that. It's an interesting, it's like a direct flop of the Indiana Pacers. Pacers, depending on when you're taking notes or what website you're taking notes from, Trey, for the rankings, whether it's basketball reference or NBA.com, the Pacers are ninth in offense, 22nd in defense throughout the season, but they're getting better defensively. There's no doubt. They're getting way better because their guys are getting healthier.

The Heat are 22nd in offense, 11th in defense, but the offense is getting worse without Jimmy Butler. And the question is if Wiggins can become a consistent third scorer because the defense is going to be good, but they just need somebody outside of Ty.

And I don't know why I called Tyler Ty. That's just a weird call. That's a real Joey Maz of you. Ty hero. Outside of Tyler and Bam, they need a third guy. And Wiggins just has to be that guy. I can't stop thinking of that Wiggins clip of when they introduced him to the team. And they had some heat gala. Did you guys see this clip? And they're all playing sort of instruments and they're all on stage. And it's just Andrew Wiggins. Yeah.

Just sort of not really knowing what to do, and he's sort of hitting the drums. I can't get it out of my mind where he just feels so out of place for whatever reason. I don't think anybody knew what they were doing. No, no. Everybody was just kind of like, why are all the players up there playing instruments? Not like us in our first photo shoot for NBA TV. We all had to play fake instruments.

We should post that clip again. Yeah, we were rocking, man. We looked like we knew what we were doing. Oh, yeah, yeah. What were you? Was he on the recorder? Yeah. I was playing a guitar. I was on the drums. You were on the drums. Lee also had a guitar. Maybe you were on trumpet or something like that. I don't remember, actually. I think he had a recorder. I think we took turns. No, we didn't. We didn't. I'm pretty sure you were. It sounds hilarious. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The drums. I was like. I'm just saying.

Jazz music. Great stuff. This is a team I do not like to watch. I'm sorry. I just don't. They play slow. You got them above or below the Hawks? I put them above right now. Though they are below currently in the standings by one game. Wow.

Yeah, sure. Leave them there. I got better health, I think, at least, than the Hawks. But if you're wearing red and black, you are a play-in team right now. The Milwaukee Bucks, they're fifth in the Eastern Conference, 29-24 on the season. They go 12-12-1 offense, defense, net ratings per basketball reference. I'm a brand ambassador. I'm a brand ambassador for them, but not for NBA.com, so that's where you're getting my stats from. The Milwaukee Bucks.

you want to call him a final four flirt do you have faith that yana santa tacumpo can make it happen yeah they went three and three without yannis there in their final six before the all-star break that's good yeah and i said back healthy it'll be good but they're relying so much on their third guy whoever that is it's supposed to be kyle kuzma now it might be kyle kuzma sometimes yeah i mean that ain't good i think he just got engaged he did yes he did yeah so congratulations yeah yeah

Winnie Harlow said she's always wanted to live in Milwaukee. So that's why they can finally get married. Yeah, they have a good offense, a good defense. But it just seems like there's such a drop-off after Giannis and Lillard. And there is. They might get to the playoffs.

They will get to the playoffs, but it's just what kind of series are those two guys having? Because it's kind of like the team that wins the NBA Cup, as we've seen before. That has a drop-off in the playoffs. That's what's going to happen here. I would put them below the Indiana Pacers in the playoff locks because I do consider them a playoff lock, but I'm taking the Pacers in that series. Because it does feel like it's going to be a 4-5, those two teams.

Indy's my squad. I think they're getting better while the Bucs, I don't see how they get better. Yeah, I mean, you get into, like, did they really improve their lineup and their roster by swapping Chris Middleton for Kyle Kuzma? You know, we're going to get a couple months here to see how that works. I just, like, if the Bucs are, like, hitting from deep...

You like their chances, but if they have one of those nights that they're cold, they have no chance to win. They're like, and I know you can, you can say that about a lot of teams in the NBA, like on any given night, Oh, you hit your threes. You're more likely to win. But them, I feel more than any other team shoe has a stat to back it up when they're sub league average from deep in a game. Like, so 36%, let's call it. They're three and 14. Like they just almost never win those games where their three pointers, not at least hitting at a, an above average sort of rate. Um, so,

So this is a team I'm torn on. Of course you could see Giannis taking a team to a conference finals run or whatever, maybe even another finals run, but you don't have all that much faith in it compared to these other teams that feel like they have just a better roster and can beat you in different ways at the top of the East. So yeah, they're a playoff lock, but I like where you put them, slotting them behind the Pacers. It's funny that they're 12th offense, 12th defense, which is good.

They're good. They're good. But they don't inspire you. Especially with Kuzma as their third option. He hasn't been good this season. He hasn't been good with Milwaukee. Shooting 22% from three. Does he get the engagement bump? Ooh. Something to watch. Something to watch. He's been playing with concern in his heart. Why doesn't she say yes? Now let it rip.

Yeah, exactly right. You got your girl. Let her rip. That's good. That could be a short. Keep your eye on that. Catch his fire here. We're doing it. That would be very funny. Yeah, he flew across the country with an engagement ring in his pocket. That's the rumor. He had it on him. He was nervous. Am I going to lose it?

Why would he be nervous? He makes a bajillion dollars a season. Another one. All right, I like it. Behind the Pacers in the playoff locks. Our next candidate for ranking, the New York Knicks. They're third in the East, 36-18. They're awesome on offense. Second in the league. 20th in defense.

averages out to fifth in net rating, though apparently they can't beat the top of the Eastern Conference. I've brought that up before. They're 0-5 against the top three teams in the league. But they visit two of them, the Cavs and the Celtics, I believe this weekend. So a couple more tests here for the Knicks. But they spent their entire offseason upgrading their roster to really compete with the Celtics, if we're being honest, getting Mikael Bridges, trading all of that draft capital offseason.

potentially overpaying to keep OG Ananobi and then making the trade for Carl Anthony Towns. To me, that is like, yeah, that is to beat the Boston Celtics and maybe win a championship. But, you know, they've had two ugly blowout losses to Boston so far. But they're going to get another crack at it. They're a Final Four flirt to me. I cannot put them as a title contender until I see them beat these best teams. Oh, no. Yeah, they haven't played Cleveland yet, so they play them three more times here at the end of the season.

So maybe that's the time that they find a different defense. It's kind of hard to say that, though. They play him this week on Friday, and maybe Mitchell Robinson will be back to help out, but he's probably just going to be coming off the bench to start. He's not going to start on this team with Carlton Towns, I don't think.

I doubt it. Two big lineups are very, very popular right now. They're hot right now. Yes, they're hot right now. Let's see if they try it. It seems weird. It seems extremely weird. That would be a weird two big lineup. I'm with you guys. Final four of Flirts because I do think the Knicks are a team that, like, if matchups end up right for them, they could go to the conference finals for sure. Yeah. That's a team that could be...

on fire for a month straight, I do believe. And you've brought this up before, TK. I think you had Brunson as your favorite to win clutch player of the year. Yep. Good stat from Shu here. He leads the league in clutch usage rate at nearly 47%. Highest rate for any player in the last six seasons. And he's one of two players, Jokic is the other one, who shot better than 50% on at least 50 clutch shots. That's pretty good. So he, I mean, you're in a close game.

You like your chances with Brunson. Running point, obviously, is just amazing in the clutch this year and has been for a while. But, yeah, you know, I just got to see them beat the Celtics mainly, and we'll see how they do against the Cavs. They got to beat some of these best teams because they didn't beat the Thunder as well. Right? Yeah.

We'll see if it's a paper, rock, scissors thing where the Celtics can beat the Knicks. I'm with you. The Celtics have the Knicks number a little bit, but maybe the Knicks can beat the Cavs. We shall see if that turns out to be the case. The Orlando Magic. Ooh, they're 7th in the Eastern Conference after a real tough stretch here. 27 and 29. They're 29th in offense, 2nd in defense, 18th in net rating. And man, 29th in offense, 2nd in defense. That sounds exactly like the Orlando Magic to me. Yeah. Because every game this team plays is 99 to 97, it feels like. Who do you think is their best...

Guy that plays three-point shooter. Best guy that plays three-point shooter? Tristan Da Silva. Bingo, my man. NBA sicko. That was a tough question and you nailed it. Here's how he's shooting. 33%. Whoa. He's 63 for 190. He's at 33%. He's the best shooter on the Magic that plays any significant minutes. Wow. That's crazy.

it's just so they're so bad and they were bad last year and they somehow got even worse in terms of shooting the three-pointers so like the defense is elite we we love Suggs we love Paolo and Franz and these guys and what they were building there and they're well coached but

In today's NBA, you've got to hit threes. You have to hit some. 33%. And they just can't. So they need a Paolo sort of where he catches fire or Franz. And maybe it happens, but what you've seen so far this season, there's no indication that they can even be an average three-point shooting. Yeah, 30.6 on NBA.com. 30.6 as a team? Yeah. And when I did the flyback...

through the last 20 years, I think they would be the worst three-point shooting team since like 0405. Period. That's before teams knew about three-pointers. Yeah. If that still holds, I think it is. I think they would be the worst team. Literally. It's that era. It's 0405 or 0506. I mean, they need a ball handler desperately just to be better. They need Jalen Suggs back. They

They haven't won two in a row in almost two months when they were awesome. That's a long time ago. It was around Christmas, and it's highly unlikely he's playing tomorrow. He's still limited in practice. I did that search. I said, is Jalen Suggs coming back? Because they have been so bad without him. It's really, really bad. Even though he's a worse three-point shooter than Tristan Da Silva, they just need a ball handler, period. So where are we putting them?

Just are they still just a play in hopeful? They're in the mix there. I mean, he might be back soon. So they're not locked to me. No, they're not for me either. Exactly. Play in lock.

I mean, playoff hopeful, I think, is probably what the Magic would call themselves here. Hoping that when Suggs comes back and they can get a little bit of ball movement, and it's not Apollo and Franz having to create for everybody. Because Apollo, he's like a last-second creator. If he gets cut off, he's going to make the dish. Franz is more of an actual playmaker, I think. But having those two as your main guys has not been pretty. So I would go play in hopeful. Okay, where are within that tier?

Just after the Heat, ahead of the Heat. Okay. I mean, the Magic, of those four teams, the Heat, Magic, Hawks, and Bulls, they're the only one that have an elite anything. Yeah. They've got an elite defense at the very least. So they'll be in games. It's just a matter of can they actually score enough to win them. Okay. I'm fine with that position right now in the playing hopefuls. Okay, now Philadelphia 76ers, they're 11th in the East, 20 and 34, 23rd in offense, 23rd in defense, 22nd in net rating. Yeah.

They just get Lonnie Walker, though. Oh, yeah. Two years, $3 million. They're calling him the Alex Len of the Eastern Conference. Oh, wow. God, that's a diss right there. They've lost five straight, including three in which they had their three big guys. So, you know, even though those guys are sort of back from time to time, I'm talking Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey, it doesn't really matter right now. It's not good. This is going to be a weird tangent, but...

back in university we wrote um we wrote a show it was basically we went for broadcast television right and we had to write a show and it was basically a knockoff of the office but it was on like a resident floor in college it was called the floor and i bring all this up because there was one line in that show that always made us laugh or always made me laugh one of my favorite lines there was like a party going on and it got shut down jd i don't know if you remember this and

And the main guy, the guy that was like the resident RA, he turns to the DJ, which was played by our friend Paul, and he just goes, shut her down, Raj. And that's the Philadelphia 76ers at this point in the season. Shut her down, Raj.

Because they should shut down and beat. They should lean into tanking because this is just a lost season. So shut her down, Roger. By the way, Paul, he killed it. He had no lines, but just dejected. Okay.

It's one of the best parts of the entire thing. It's actually legit funny. So funny. That's them. That's the Sixers, man. Well, we don't have a shut her down category, unfortunately. Make one. Yeah, that is the category. The day they decide to shut it down. I don't know what day it's going to be, but it's got to be one of the next two months here. It's going to be in the regular season. It's not going to look good, but they have gone the other direction this

Getting Lonnie Walker. They think he can turn it on for a quarter. I mean, he had a, what was it? A 14 point quarter for the 14 point fourth quarter for the Los Angeles Lakers in the playoffs. And I remember that in 23, I guess it was when they went to the conference finals and

Yeah, they're hoping. They are hoping. So what are we saying, though? Would they be a play in hopeful? Because I mean, they're trying to get into the 10th seed or are they legitimately going to be tanking away at the end of the season here? They're losing a ton right now. I don't know if it's on purpose, but they're losing. Right now, it's hard to figure out. But their pick is top six protected. So it's good for them to be bad.

I would put them in the flag seekers. All right. I love it. I think that's the direction they should take. I think they, whether they're guys play or not, it doesn't even matter. You just said it. They can't win anyway. They're not good. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. They should have been folding for weeks. The funny part is they're going the absolute different direction, the opposite direction. They're going to keep trying.

They might not even sit their guys this season. They might just go for it all the way. They're losing anyway. They're losing anyways. They're going to be passed by the Toronto Raptors looking at the standings. They're going to be passed. Okay. They stink so bad. That's the case, and they need to be in that tier, the bottom tier. Let's get into it then. The 13th-seeded Toronto Raptors are 17-38. By my math, that's three and a half games shy of...

The Sixers in 11th. Raptors are 25th in offense, 25th in defense, 26th in net rating. Been bad. Tass, you're thinking playoff line. Tass, Skeets, where do you want to put them? I mean, I think I would have them still in the flag seekers. Flag boys? Yeah. They had a solid stretch there in January. Okay, they did.

But, you know, they've now been playing the better teams in the league and they lost 5-6. Though I think they have the easiest schedule remaining. Oh, they absolutely do. So there's that. You know, when you're looking at the cumulative opponent winning percentage, they play a lot of bad teams. Only five of their 27 games are against teams currently above 500.

They have 22 games against teams that are sub-500. Yeah, listen to this, baby. They play the Wizards thrice. Three more times. They play the Jazz twice. The Hornets twice. The Nets twice. The Sixers twice. And the Bulls twice. Wow, that's a favorable schedule. This category is to play in hopeful. They're hoping. And they're going to play their better players at some point. Brandon Ingram is going to show up.

Unless they want to go the other direction. I think this team literally could make the play and finish with the NBA's 10th worst record. And you could still win the first pick. You could, maybe, perhaps. But it is one of those weird things. Hawks did it last year. Yeah, exactly. They've had quickly R.J. Barrett and Scotty Barnes all in the lineup for seven of their games this season.

That said, they weren't even good in those seven games. They were one and six. One and six in those games. And they were outscored by a ridiculous amount in those games. So that was an issue. But yeah, will we CBI? Will they get more reps? I guess play in hopeful. Let's go. But I would not hold my breath. Welcome to the party, boys. I just want to correct myself. Hawks, Bulls, and Raptors must always be connected. Yeah, they have to. All right. What were you going to say? I just want to correct myself. Magic shooting 30.6% from three. That would be the worst thing.

Three-point shooting since 12-13. It's 12-13. It ain't 20 years, but it's solid. A solid 13 years. Who was that? Sixers? They were process mode at that point, I think, right? I don't know. I can... Well, my guess is it's a bad team, and as is this. The 15-seeded Washington Wizards, 9-45, our only single-digit win team in the Eastern Conference.

They are 30th in every rating. Oh, gosh. Offense, defense, and net rating. They lost a lot of games by like 15 points this year. Yeah. They get destroyed. Schumann says they're in position to be the first team in the 29 seasons for which we have play-by-play data to rank in the bottom 10 in each of the four factors on offense and on defense.

Field goal percentage, turnover percentages, rebounding percentages, both offensively and defensively, and then the free throw to field goal attempted. So like whether you're getting the line and how much you're fouling. Bottom 10 in every single category. No one's done that in the 29 years that we have the data for it. That's something else. That's like a happy Gilmore. I'm the only guy to take off my skate and try to stab somebody. Yes. Not good. Yes.

They're dumb, young, and full of losses. But they are...

They're a bad team, but they are very young. 45% of their minutes from rookies are second-year players. Yeah, but now they got Chris Middleton and Marcus Smart. Well, yeah, they got some vets in there. Are they going to play? You know what? Middleton will play, I think. Smart, he's basically been out for two straight years. And we're clowning on them, but they did show a little bit of promise before the All-Star break. They got a bit better. They had some victories, but they're a Cooper flagster. They're a flagster. Without a doubt. Will they catch the Hornets?

The Hornets have four more wins than the Wizards at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Nine wins for the Hornets, 13 wins. Or sorry, 13 wins for the Hornets, nine wins for the Wizards. Honestly, I don't think so.

I don't think anybody... Nobody catches the Wizards for the worst record. You think they'll finish worst? I bet you're probably right, but I think they'll win more games than the Hornets over this last stretch here. Okay. Cool. But it won't be... They'll run out of time. Yeah, don't worry. They'll still finish bottom four and get those great odds. Let's switch to the Western Conference. Okay. It was the Timberwolves that were the worst shooting team in 12-13. Who was their best three-point shooter? Kevin Love?

He was injured, unfortunately. But no, actually, surprisingly, he was 21% from three in his 18 games that he played. 18 games, that's still a lot. He was a bad shooter. This is hard. Who was their best? Yeah, it's hard to remember that he played for the Timberwolves. He's an NBA champion, though, not with the Timberwolves. But then he went, because he won an NBA championship, went to the Timberwolves and signed a juicy deal. J.J. Barea. That's it.

Good hints. Really good hints. All right. And a great player to mention because we're starting with the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference. They are 8th in the West, 30th and 26th. They are 7th in offense, 14th in defense, 10th in net rating, though obviously most of those statistics are from the first half of the season when they had Luka Doncic playing 22 games recently.

rather than Anthony Davis and Max Christie. They've got a ton of injuries right now. Oh, my God. So, yeah, I mean, if you're over 6'9", you're hurt on the Mavericks. Sorry. I will say, they're not letting go of the rope. No? Despite all those injuries, all their bigs, Anthony Davis obviously just coming to the team, Gafford, Lively, P.J. Washington.

And they somehow won four of their last five games before the All-Star break. And these are, like, in the Western Conference, all these are important. They're two games back of the Clippers for the sixth spot, but they've got to pass Minnesota to advance directly to the playoffs, so there's teams obviously on their way to get in there. It's a tough one to have to figure out because they're just a new makeup of the team, and their main guy that they got back for Luka is...

He's out for a little bit here. Oh, yeah, this is tough because they have won four or five. They beat Boston in Boston. They look like a team that you could squint and say, final four flirt, but you could also say playing hopeful because the West is so tough. Big gamut here. The West is so tough. We could literally have the largest number of final four flirts depending where you cut it off in the standings because the Mavs are eighth. A lot of these teams...

I mean, some of these teams are going to miss. So you kind of have to... I guess we have to kind of pick one. Because I could squint and see the 2C, the Grizzlies, the Nuggets, Rockets, Lakers, Clippers, Wolves, Mavs, all in the Final Four. Maybe. Perhaps. That's where I cut it off. I could see the Mavs. I could see the Mavs if they're playing that hard. But who knows when these guys are coming back, really. That's part of it. But anyway, are they a playoff lock? I mean, I would say no. But...

Could I see them as a final floor player? I would say maybe. They don't feel like a lock right now with all the injuries because who's their center that's even coming back first? Lively's been out the longest. He might be out long. He might be out until April. Anthony Davis is obviously the best of the three. Gafford is most recent. They said, what, six weeks for him? So it would be like playoff time almost when he comes back. So P.J. probably. P.J. Washington, he's also out. He is a big for them. I guess that heals faster. Yeah.

I would be happy putting him at the top of the play in hopefuls. Yeah. It looked great that one half that Anthony Davis was dominating. It looked awesome. It looked awesome. Kyrie's had some really nice games since the trade as well.

It's weird team defense wins championships. Uh, yeah. Well, it's weird to put them there, isn't it? Playing hopefuls. What a weird season, weird season. Uh, up next, the Denver nuggets. They're currently third in the Western conference, 36 and 19. They're on a win streak right now. Third in the league and offense 17th and defense and sixth in net rating for the Denver nuggets. Yeah. Longest, uh, active winning streak in the league right now. Eight, eight straight. I think all against losing teams. If I'm not mistaken, took care of business. Uh,

I think they're still, to me, a championship contender. We had them there in the preseason. If we had done this six weeks into the start of the regular season, I don't know if we would have kept them there. It would have been interesting then. But what they've shown recently, the way Michael Porter Jr. had an awesome stretch, Jamal Murray, he's the ultimate. If Jamal Murray's cooking, you know what Jokic is giving you, you've got a chance to maybe do the whole thing again and win it all. So I would keep them in the title contenders, but probably near the back end of it.

If there's one team in the Western Conference to throw in there with OKC, it's got to be this team. Even though, you know, I'll jump in the Houston Rockets wagon when they were hot, but it's this team. But don't the Nuggets experience alone put them ahead of Grizzlies, ahead of Rockets?

as great as they've been as solid as they've been as deep as they are I think I think it sort of does like even like and then they have like an advantage over the LA teams that sort of have new makeups obviously the Lakers with Luka Clippers a newer team than what they've had before like the Denver Nuggets do have at least in their main guys have that continuity so that's where I sort of have more faith in them I guess than a lot of those teams I just listed yeah

Yeah. They're the biggest threat, I think, to the Thunder in the Western Conference. So we'll see. I mean, like a big part of the Nuggets offense this year, third in the league, is that they're the best fast break team in the league. Usually fast break basketball goes away come playoff time. But not every team has Nikola Jokic and Russell Westbrook, which are two huge fast breakers. So we shall see. But, yeah, I still got a lot of confidence in the Nuggets as well. Also, happy birthday, Nikola.

Oh, yes. You share a birthday. Him, Dave Stewart. Yep. The former athletics pitcher. And Mike Miller. And Mike Miller and his monkey. That's right. I've stolen something from all of those guys for my game.

Go on. From Dave Stewart? Let's hear them all three. Yeah, well, the monkey from Mike Miller, of course. I just am a fan of having unusual pets. From Nikola Jokic, I've stolen his entire game. And from Dave Stewart, the intensity. The will to win. Wow. Wow. He had quite a stare on the mound, didn't he? Imposing. Yeah. Scary pitcher. There's talks about him bringing a baseball team to Nashville. Maybe every single Nashville nickname, whatever they call them, will stare at the other team.

Hardcore on the field. They'll have the Dave Stewart stare. Nashville may be getting a baseball team. I learned a baseball fact last night. It's sort of tied to what you're saying. If they put a team in Nashville, you name the closest MLB team by proximity to Atlanta, to the Braves. It's got to be Tampa. It's not. Hmm.

It's tough. So it's not Tampa, Miami? No. Is that closer? No. The Washington Nationals? Nope. What?

Go to your neck of the woods-ish, TK. Cincinnati. Cincinnati, apparently. The Reds. I'm going off what somebody told me while we were having a beer last night after basketball. I didn't trust that man with no license. Isn't that crazy? Seems legit to me. Yeah. It's so far to Florida. That's the thing. It's deceiving. It is deceiving. Really hangs down there. Oh, yeah. Really dangles down off the United States. So anyway, that trivia wouldn't work if they put a team in Nashville. Yeah, I'd have to completely rewrite the books.

But look, you can change the name of anything if you want to. So the distance, no big deal. The Golden State Warriors are 10th in the Western Conference, 28 and 27. They just traded for Jimmy Butler. Had some good success with him so far. 17th in offense, 9th in defense, 16th in net rating. How high do you want to go for the Golden State Warriors? Well, Draymond Green says title contenders. That's right.

During All-Star weekend, Draymond Green had a lot to say about a lot of things. He said, quote, since Jimmy's been here with the Warriors, we've walked into every game thinking and believing that we're going to win that game. And that goes a long way in this league. And then he went on to make a very bold statement. Draymond said, we are going to win a championship. That's what's going to happen.

Yeah. Okay. Even corrected himself the first time he said, I think we're going to win the championship. That's right. Ten seconds later, he said, let me correct myself. We're going to win the championship. I don't think it. You sound like Dave Stewart. Tenth place team in the Western Conference.

Can you throw them into the title contenders category? No! No, no, no. He said it. Draymond said it. Yeah, he said it. He's in the Bay Area. He's in front of all of his own fans. He got to play to the crowd. I get that. Yeah, like I said, I think we could have a huge amount of teams in the Final Four flirt category. And I went down as far as the eighth place Dallas Mavericks thinking that. But the Warriors drop into 10th.

Yeah, yeah. They're three and a half games out of the sixth seed, which is currently the Clippers, and that's the last guaranteed playoff spot. Right. So I don't know. I mean, they feel like a better team to me than a play in hopeful, but... Oh, yeah. Yeah. Ooh, yeah. But are they a lock? It's tough to say. Look, they have two huge games after this break is over, which is obviously this weekend or this Thursday or Friday. They visit the ninth place Kings on Friday. Yeah.

And then they host the eighth place Mavericks two days later. So, okay. Huge games for them to obviously start leapfrogging some of these teams. They're three and one with Jimmy predictably, as we all thought he's helped them at getting easy points. Cause he gets to the damn free throw line where, you know, through the first 50 games, they averaged like as a team, like 20 free throw attempts per game. He's already bumped that up to like 25, 26. So that's good.

They do have a little more life to them. And again, that was why we were like, yeah, trade for Jimmy Butler. This season's just like, ugh, it's like a slog. You've got to shake it up and get a guy like Jimmy in your locker room. And so Draymond believes it's working. I know they asked Steph about it too, about Draymond's comments. He didn't double down saying we're going to win the championship, but there's no doubt there's more belief there.

that they can go up the Western Conference standings and beat anybody, they think, in a four-game series or in a best-of-seven series. Playoff lock? I like it. Yeah? Because I'm looking at the tiers, and I'm like, I would take the Warriors over the Pistons. No offense. None take it. Yeah, right, right, right. You know, that's why it's weird. Yeah, you're right. That's why it's weird. But, yeah, I hear you. I would also maybe take the Mavs over the Pistons. Who knows? The play-in is different in the West. Well, yeah. You know? Yeah. So I'm happy to put the Warriors as a playoff lock.

Do we one day, do we, we do? Yeah, I'm fine putting them there. One day, maybe we should do an Easter conference and a Western conference. Splitsville? Splitsville? Yeah, but either way. Could probably split up the podcast too, get more content out of it. Nah, people like the long streams. Oh, yeah. This is an Austin Powers long stream. Okay, that's fine. That's fine. I have faith more in the Warriors than a lot of the teams, like, in that vicinity right now.

Houston Rockets are currently fourth in the Western Conference, 34-21. They're 14th in offense, fourth in defense, and seventh in net rating. Houston Rockets, great season already for these fellas. When Fred VanVleet's hitting, when Dylan Brooks is hitting, they can beat anybody. Yeah. They slumped their way into the All-Star break. Yes. They lost seven of their past nine games. A lot of those losses without Fred VanVleet. Their offensive rating just plummets without Steady Freddy there. Oh, they need him. Yeah. And it's not like...

It's not like Fred VanVleet is Jalen Brunson. He's not that good. He's not that clutch, but he's one of those players. Just super important to run your team and get you better shots at least. And he does have a little clutch gene in him too, but I don't know where to put this team. As great as they've been, I don't feel like they're a Final Four flirt. I think they're more of a playoff lock. That I'm confident about.

Yeah. I squint and I could see them getting to that final four. That's for sure. But yeah, playoff lock is fine. Especially Fred VanVleet is really important. Jalen Green ain't running the offense. Fred is coming back most likely Friday against Minnesota. And that makes a whole new team. They did get to the break at a good time here. So yeah, I'm fine locking them. So I do think they just aren't that same team that really slumped into the All-Star game. Okay.

They're really bad. But I think if Fred comes back, they're a totally different team. Why is Jabari coming back? They're totally different. Because to me, a lot of the Rockets, even when they're at full strength, full health, it comes down to can Fred VanVleet make these moonball three-pointers? He's shooting the same shot. So him not being there was definitely bad for the Rockets, but it still comes down to so much on VanVleet's shoulders to be hitting that that's a tough way to live. And like I said earlier, like...

defense, offensive rebounding teams in the playoffs, that gets a lot harder. So I think they would have a tough time. Like if it ended up being Houston and the Clippers right now is the four or five matchup. I bet a lot of people are picking the Clippers myself included. You throw in the experience and just, you got to have an offense when it comes to playoff time and their offense is,

not always the most efficient. Yeah, I guess Yudoka said recently that Jabari Smith Jr., who is out with a hand injury, may be cleared for contact work during the All-Star break. So I don't know if that happened, but he could maybe potentially be coming back too. He's a shooter. He's helpful. Very important to their team, no doubt. Schumann has a crazy stat about the Rockets. They're tied with the Wolves for the best record in games played between the top eight teams in the West. So they've done really well against the better teams. They're 12-6.

just like Minnesota. And you said they're playing? Friday. Yeah, yeah. Playoff lock? Playoff lock and near the top of that because I, you know, 34-21. What a, I mean, great season. Ahead of the Warriors. Yeah, I think we almost have to, right? Yeah, right now, yeah. They're like six games up. Ahead of the Bucs. Yes, yes. Ahead of the Pacers. Yes, yes.

I don't know. Tass, you agree? You like them ahead of those other teams? I know. We're doing conference to conference, but we've still got to put them in order. Yeah, that's why I think this is okay. We can rank them within their tiers as well. Yeah, okay. That's good. All right, nice. Nice.

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Get that Angel Reef Special at McDonald's now. Let's break it down. My favorite barbecue sauce, American cheese, crispy bacon, pickles, onions, and a sesame seed bun, of course. And don't forget the fries and a drink. Sound good? Ba-da-ba-ba-ba. I'm participating in restaurants for a limited time. Hey, it's Noah Chestnut from The Athletic. If you're into games and sports, pay attention. I'm going to give you four sports terms. You tell me the common thread. Ready? Axel. Lube.

That's axle, loop, lutz, sow cow. This one's like medium hard. The answer is figure skating jumps. Now, what if I gave you 16 different terms and you figure out how they come together into four different groups?

If you're up for the challenge, you'll want to check out Connections Sports Edition. It's a new daily game for sports fans. There'll be some that are going to stump you, some that make you laugh, and some that remind you when you were a kid watching sports for the first time. Connections Sports Edition. To play today's puzzle, go to theathletic.com slash connections. Here's the team that I forgot when I first did this. The Los Angeles Clippers. They're currently sixth in... Wait, what am I... Oh, yeah.

LAC. Okay, sorry. I'm going to look at my notes. The Clippers are sixth in the Western Conference. They're 31-23, 19th on offense, third in defense, ninth in net rating. Good team. Good team. I think they're 10-5 when Kawhi's in the lineup too. Yep. They've been playing more. Yep. And they've honestly dominated when Kawhi's playing with Harden, Norman Powell, and Zuboff. When those guys are on the floor together, they've been really, really good in whatever 250-plus minutes that they've played together.

But the Clips. I mean, you think they have a Final Four run in them? I think they... If they're all healthy, yeah. You think they're better than the Lakers? Yes. If they're playing every single one of their guys, yeah, 100%. I do. And you think they're better than the youthful Grizzlies and Rockets, let's say, or lack of experience in those teams? It would be a good series. But, yeah, I think they have the make-up.

Of a team that can make the run. Yeah. If Kawhi is Kawhi, I mean, that's a big, huge, ginormous part of it. And he's playing with Derek Jones Jr., who went to the NBA Finals last year beside him, and Zubas. Their defense is incredible. Yeah. And Kawhi is playing like that secondary point guard as well, just in case James Harden is not there for whatever reason. He's looking good, but who knows if he's going to play basketball.

That's the biggest question. They are the Orlando Magic with an actually offense that you have a lot more faith in because you have Kawhi and you have James Harden and Norman Powell can't miss a three-pointer. And my point is the defense is elite, like both of them. I think you need to decide here, though, because I'm a Clippers hater. You're, I think, more leaned towards being a Clippers believer. Yeah, I'm fine. I think you should decide where they go.

Well, I'm looking at the ranker here, and we don't have enough teams in the final four flirts. I don't know. This is the time to buy into the Clippers, man. Everybody's healthy. Everybody's playing right now. We've done this before. Yeah. Oh, boy, Alberto. Oh, boy, Alberto. All right. It is a strange thing with them. You're going to the playoff locks for right now. So, I mean, okay, what we're getting at here, it does sound like –

Clippers, let's say they're a fifth or sixth seed. Let's say they don't have home court advantage. Right. So they don't have the wall. They're six right now. They're starting against the Denver Nuggets. Yeah, right, right, right. So my point was, that's a no, but if they match up against the Rockets, if they match up against the Grizzlies, I guess even the Lakers, like, you sound like you believe that they could beat them. Some of those teams, yeah, but some I don't. That's the biggest unknown team. That's a big unknown, yeah.

Are you getting the 40-point playoff game James Harden, which we saw last year in the playoffs? Or are you getting the 12-point James Harden playoff game? Are you getting top five player in the world, Kawhi? Or are you not getting him? Yeah. What a mystery. Yeah. What a mystery box.

Okay, but we got them. Final four flirts. All right. Wow. The Clippers will be up three to zero in the NBA finals. I'll be like, I don't know if I buy it. Yeah. I don't know if I can trust them right now. Up 25 in the fourth of a game deciding championship game. Los Angeles Lakers, their fifth in the West, 32 and 20, 10th on offense, 16th in defense, 12th in net rating. Their team is 100% changed. They got Luka Doncic now. He's on the Lakers. Yeah.

Doesn't still seem real, right? Because we saw them play one game. Two games? Two games. They split against the Jazz. We watched and talked about the one where they looked great and we didn't talk about it at all when they got smoked by the Jazz in the bounce back game.

But, you know, they had that winning streak despite all the big trade with the AD Luka. They were putting together a bunch of victories there, and they were on fire from three in that winning streak. They couldn't miss, and the other team couldn't hit. So is that going to come back to earth a little bit? But, I mean, they have Luka Doncic now, and they still have LeBron, and they got the pieces. I mean, I think they're better than the Clippers, personally. In a matchup, I should say. If they played each other, I would be definitely taking the Lakers over the Clippers.

Yeah, you don't believe in the Clippers, I understand. No.

Because they get injured, that's for sure. I guess with the Lakers, you look at it and you say, yeah, well, they got Luka. Well, they got LeBron. Why can't they get into a Final Four? That's reasonable. Yeah. That's reasonable. But don't have him as a title contender. No. No. I don't. No, definitely not. The weird thing, though, with the Lakers is, like, I think they could win any game. I think they could win almost any series, but I don't think they can win enough games in enough series to actually go to the championship. Like, I don't think they could beat the Nuggets. They still don't have...

I mean, most teams in the Western Conference don't. So that's why I have them rated so highly. But you can see the Lakers absolutely dissecting any defense that gets thrown at them. They got like two of the smartest ball handlers making decisions for 48 minutes. And Austin Reeves ain't no slouch either. Final four flirts. Are we drinking too much Lakers juice? Probably. Oh, yeah. I mean, what you said about how they can...

dissect two different teams. I don't think that's crazy at all. We saw it two years ago. It was LeBron and Anthony Davis was a different team that got to the conference finals, but. And their defense has been good. And Lakers fans will point out that they've had their great defensive run here with Anthony Davis missing time as well. It's basically been a Dorian Finney-Smith getting a lot more minutes. Yeah. Yeah. They have a lot of back-to-backs left on their schedule. Schumann noted in his power rankings.

So I don't know if that hurts them here. It's good they put together that little win streak, I think, because I think there's still going to be a lot of growing pains like with the Luka edition in terms of figuring out sort of how they're going to run this offense with him and LeBron. They'll figure it out, but it might take a little bit of time.

Man, I don't know, though. Final four flirt. So we put the Clippers in the playoff lock in the end. We don't have many flirters right now. Yeah, that's the thing. That's the thing. They can go both ways. They can flirt, but they can also be declined. Yeah, shut it down. Shut it down. Get out of here. I'm fine with putting them there. That's fine. In the playoff lock. I don't care.

Interesting one here. The Memphis Grizzlies, they're second in the West, 36 and 18. They're sixth in offense, seventh in defense and fourth in net rating. But apparently John Morant might be on the table this summer. Yeah. Interesting news. Interesting news for this Memphis Grizzlies team. Do you believe in the Grizzlies? Skeets keep calling them young. Ain't that young.

They've had their big three together for years at this point. Yeah, I guess more inexperienced. I don't find them inexperienced either. Those squads have played in the playoffs multiple times together. Bain, Jackson, and John Morant. And they keep coming up short. Yeah, that's why they're going to trade John Morant apparently. Maybe. They're barely holding on to second place here in the West.

They dominate the bad teams. Yes. That's the one thing they do. 23-3 against teams currently below 500. So they just kick ass against those teams. So 13-15 against teams that are over 500. Yeah. So more of an average team there. Yep.

They will play mostly winning teams in the playoffs, I believe. You always bring up the transition points with them. That's how they win a lot of regular season games. It tends to go away or at least gets diminished in the postseason. They have like... Shu says they score like 34 transition points per game. It's like the largest we've seen since Synergy tracked this thing. So that's awesome.

But does their just grisly depth and all that play better over the course of a regular season than it does a little bit in the postseason? Seems it has been that way. I don't know. I don't know where to put them. They're playoff lock, but I don't have a ton of confidence. Yeah, it's interesting when you think of the end-of-game team with Morant and Triple J and Desmond Bain. Those are your guys. That's who you have to rely on and then hope that Jalen Wells...

Or whether it's Brandon Clark or whether it's Gigi Jackson, those guys are just good enough to support those other guys. But it is hard to buy in. It's hard to buy in. But at one point, I guess they'll do it in the playoffs. Maybe. I don't know. Break right for them. Yeah, maybe. Or do you want to put them? I would have them ahead of the Houston. Would I have them? I would have them ahead of the Houston Rockets. Barely. Even though the Rockets have beat the Grizzlies mostly this season.

Close games. Close games for sure. Yep. All right. Playoff lock. I mean, could they go to a conference finals? Have they been? They've been to a conference finals once, right? Lost to the Lakers. Yeah. Poking bears. Yeah, way back. Yeah. The Minnesota Timberwolves are 7th in the West. They're 31-25, 13th in offense, 6th in defense, 8th in net rating. Did make a conference final last year. Are they a Final Four flirt? Do you believe? Oh, man. This team is...

And you're like, damn, they're good. They're going back to the conference finals. And then they're down. Like they have done that all season long. Three game win streak, three game lose streak, three game win streak, three game lose streak. They had a nice win against the Thunder before the all-star break. One of the like only teams to beat the Thunder by double digit points. That was good. Conley's getting it going again here. That's really good for them. Finch was sort of almost, I don't know if he was forced to, but he started playing some of his younger guys a little bit.

Dillingham, Jalen Clark, they were getting more opportunity. That was helping the second unit. Can he continue with that? Shu says they have one of the easiest remaining schedules left in the Western Conference at least. I don't know though. Are they back to being a flirt in the Final Four? No one had them as a title contender, I don't think. Are they better than those other teams that we all had at the top of that third tier? Game out of the sixth seed currently.

So they could get the guaranteed playoff spot. If we don't put them in the flirt category, we won't have anybody from the Western Conference. No flirters. We will have zero. Now, I do think they have gotten better recently. They've turned it on. We're talking about sixth best defense and 13th best offense. It sounds okay. It sounds good. And they just had a five-game winning streak. They beat Denver. They beat Dallas. I think they are turning it on.

And I think I could see them in the Final Four, but I understand that it's more of a... It's, again, one of those that could somehow go south and be a play-in team. I mean, that's possible. I think playoff lock is a decent spot for them. Well, this is the difficulty of this exercise. In the West, for sure. Thunder, we know, we feel very confident they'll at least be...

in either the championship game or the conference finals, we feel pretty good about the Nuggets being very likely one of those other teams, right? So then it's like, of all these teams we're going over, the Grizzlies, the Rockets, the Warriors now with Jimmy Butler, obviously the Wolves. Both LA teams. Both LA teams. Like, holy crap. Like, try and pick. I don't know. Matchups, baby. Try and pick who's it going to be that you have the most confidence to go that far.

That's the difficulty here. The Wolves play the Rockets, the Thunder twice, and the Lakers coming out of this break here. So big, big games against all these teams that are either ahead of them or right behind them. Well, all three of them, I guess they are ahead of them. But I think it's playoff lock. All right, lock them in, baby. I do. Ahead or behind the LA teams, the Lakers and the Clippers? Wow. The Rockets. Wow.

The Grizzlies. Where do you want them at? And the Warriors are there. The Warriors are there. Oh, that is tough. What a weird spot. Yeah. Between the Lakers and the Clippers. You want them here. Keep the L.A. teams together. Sure.

Yeah, we're staying Midwestern. Minnesota, Indiana, and Milwaukee. Good stuff. I'm fine putting them in the locks. At the end of this, we're going to elevate at least one team to the Final Four, Flirt. We'll have to call our shot. The New Orleans Pelicans, they've had everybody on their team get hurt. They're 13-42 worst in the Western Conference, 26th on offense, 28th in defense, 29th in net rating.

Any reason to put them anywhere else than the flag seekers? No. No. They traded Brandon Ingram and two of their other starters are injured for the season. Do you think they're better than the Hornets and the Wizards? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah. I think if we had a spoiler category, they'd be in there. Alongside the Nets. Yeah, alongside the Nets. Okay. They can win some games. Yeah. Amongst the bad teams...

They're one of the scariest. I 100% agree with you there. Yeah, you never know when you're going to get 40 from CJ McCollum. You're right. Zion's been playing well. Trey Murphy hooping, of course. Yeah, right. Those three guys can go off on any given night. But they're in the bottom. But they're in the bottom. They could have a great second half of the season and still finish under .500. They don't have enough games left, I don't think. 55 games they played? Nope. No. Nope. Wow.

Weird season for the Pelicans. They are the Grizzlies of this year. It was the Grizzlies last year. Yeah. Happens to one team every single year. Hasn't happened to this team, the Oklahoma City Thunder. They are first in the Western Conference, 44-10. They're fifth in offense, first in defense, first in net rating. They are good. So are they the number one team in the league would be the only question overall. I mean, number one in the West by far. They're eight games up. Eight on the Grizzlies. Holy crap.

They're having one of the most dominant regular seasons we've ever seen. That's true. It's sort of getting overlooked a little bit. Their point differential, plus 12.9 points per game. That's better than any team has ever recorded. That will probably dip a little bit. I would assume, again, they're so far clear of these teams, they might take their foot off the gas, but then they're so deep that they give other guys an opportunity and they can still win a lot of games, even if you get some rest for some of your main guys. What I love about them, they never...

like hurt themselves in games. They just take care of the ball. They just never, they rarely turn it over. So they always like get a shot. That's important. Yep. I think we're just monitoring how Hartenstein and Chet sort of look and play together. That'll be things that we're going to want to see here. They've barely done that because of injuries.

But they are clearly the number one team in the Western Conference. Oh, yeah. They're going to play hard the rest of the season. That's what they do. Shea blocked a shot in the All-Star game from a three-point shooter. What up with that? He will be trying. I am more interested to see when they get up double digits like they do. Excuse me. I always say it. They always get down double digits and then somehow turn it around and win a game.

That could hurt them in the postseason. If that happens. That's what I'll watch the last 20 games. But either way, they're the top team in the Western Conference. Good luck in the NBA Finals. Hopefully. We'll see. Perhaps. Yep. I think they've earned being the number one team on our rankings here with the net rating they've put up. They basically haven't had one of their two centers for... I mean, what? They played...

Five games, maybe total with both of them. So they do have a little something to play for, I think, in this last 30 games here, figuring out how Chet and Hartenstein work together. Like Chet's never played four, like even going back to high school, he was a center always. And now he's having to figure out how to play alongside a big. And the question will be if they can figure out how to win games when they don't shoot well, because the defense will show up and that's what they got 30 games to figure out. So yeah,

Cool. Thunder, number one. Yeah, I got a note from Kevin Pelton when it comes to the two big guys. They've started three games up front, Hartenstein and Chet, since Chet returned on February 7th. And the early returns are encouraging a plus 30 margin in the 50 minutes of action, the two guys. So, you know, strong start at least. A very small sample size, but watch that if you're watching Thunder here, like how those guys fit as we get into the postseason.

The Phoenix Suns are 11th in the Western Conference, 26th and 28th, 11th in offense, 27th in defense, 20th in net rating. Can they make a play-in push? That's what people want to know about the Phoenix Suns. Nah. Highest payroll in the league, and we're talking about, man, you think they can make the play-in? Oh, man.

They're only a game and a half out right now. A game and a half out of the 10th seed. Yeah, they're playing hopeful, which is pathetic. Yes. Yeah, so pathetic. They lost six of their last seven before the All-Star break.

One win against the Jazz in overtime, too. It wasn't even like a dominant victory. Not great. No. And they have one of the hardest schedules. The hardest schedule. Is it the hardest? Yeah. It's the hardest. Well, that's not good for them. That's not good. No. As you said, 27th ranked defense. What was it? Extremely low. 25th, I saw. But yeah, it's probably. 27 on BR. Yeah. So when you play good teams, there's just a bunch of games they're going to lose here.

You got the Thunder. They got the Cavs. They got the Celtics twice. The Knicks. Grizzlies twice. Nuggets. That's tough. So what? This will be Kevin Durant's last couple months with the Phoenix Suns? Sounds like it. Probably, right? He wants to make 10 more all-star games. They have to. They don't make the plan or they get bounced on the plan. You got to shake it up. And it's either trade Booker or trade Durant. Exactly. How bad do you want to be? And if you trade Booker, you're probably going to have to trade Durant anyway. So he ain't going to want to stick around for a rebuild. Yeah.

So what? Another 30 games plus one to two in the play-in. Enjoy it. Yeah. They did remove, I saw, Footprint Center from their arena. They're getting a new name. Yeah. Do we know what it is? I think right now it's just PHX Phoenix Arena because they don't have a sponsor yet. But I say this because that could be a good thing.

Because were they not in... Am I crazy? Were they in the finals when they added Footprint Center? It was a 2-2 finals matchup. I think so. And they changed it to Footprint Center. And then they lose. And then, you know, it hasn't gotten all that great since.

I think that's cursed, that footprint. You're probably right. Get it out of here. They're going to go on a run in the Phoenix Arena. They're like, sorry, we can't ever change it. We shall see. The Portland Trailblazers are 13th in the West, 23 and 32, 24th on offense, 24th in defense, 25th in net rating, though they've been very enjoyable to watch in the month of February, and their defense is good. They went 10 and 1 over a stretch, but then they lost three games right before the All-Star break. But still. But still. I don't know.

They were suddenly a good... They already hit their over-under, I think. Probably. Yeah, because they must have been a low 20. So that's pretty impressive with still a lot of basketball to be played. But they are not a play-in hopeful, I don't think, because there's just too many good teams.

So they have to. Spoiler. They're a spoiler. They're a spoiler. And a good one at that. Yes. Yes, yes, yes. You can call them the Nets. Yeah. I think that's quite comparable. They play defense. There's some vets that are around that you're like, you still got your vets around? For them, it's like you didn't trade Jeremy Grant and Robert Williams for the Nets. It's like you didn't trade Cam Johnson.

But whatever, it makes your team decent. So yeah, I've been enjoying the Portland Blazers lately. You brought up Jeremy Grant. That may be the first time we've talked about him all season long. Outside of maybe trade rumors. Yes. Shu says, had a note in his power rankings, that Jeremy Grant's usage rate is 19.3%. It's down from 25.5% last season. So sub 20%

third biggest drop among 256 players who have played at least 500 minutes in each of the last two seasons and it comes with a huge drop in efficiency as well because he hasn't been good either no even though the usage percentage has dropped he's shooting jeremy grant 38 from the field this year that's pretty he's not small he's a bigger guy it's his worst since uh the sixers rookie season

Wow. And he's, I mean, he's basically given up playing defense. Like Jeremy Grant is kind of just a scorer now. Yeah. That's crazy. Not a good one. Literally Damian Lillard got him paid and that's like, I'm out of here. Yeah. Good to be friends with Dame Lillard, I guess. Sure. The Sacramento Kings currently ninth in the West. They're 28 and 27 eighth in offense, 22nd defense, 13th in net rating. How my bulls doing here?

I literally just watched a game where Zach Levine had 32 points and 10 assists through...

43 minutes and then he didn't touch the ball at all as DeRozan just bricked away shot after shot after shot and I said I love this I would build this team too they're 3-3 I believe in the Zach Levine era so variables like that was crazy man and they have a tough schedule I think remaining as well so I mean are they just a play in hopeful

Oh, yeah. Yeah. They're definitely not a lock. Their defense has slipped a lot. They are Bulls West, I guess, because they're a team that could outscore you on a given night. But if their defense ain't there, they ain't playing for Doug the way they were right at the beginning, then no, you cannot call them a lock. It's a sad, sad season for the Sacramento Kings, but...

They can make the play-in. Kings or Suns battling for a play-in spot, probably. Kings have better vibes, I think. Yeah. And they're a little bit ahead. One and a half games. It's not a lot. No. But yeah, I don't know. They're a play-in hopeful. Do you have them ahead of the Magic and the Heat or below the Magic and the Heat? Yeah. I'm below, I'd say.

Yeah, sort of, just because of their conference. Yeah, better on the top conference. And I'd keep them just ahead of... They have to be with the Suns. They've got to be joined at the hip. Funny thing about them having a better record under Doug Christie than Mike Brown. They do, of course, but they've been worse statistically compared to, obviously, when they were with Mike Brown. They just have been so much better in the clutch games, like in close games, under Doug Christie than they were under Mike Brown, which was always so confusing because we were like...

They have two of the best clutch players in the league in Fox and DeRozan at the time. And they were losing every clutch game. And so that's, you know, either just bounce back or come back to the mean a little bit. But they're 15-9 under Doug. That's the thing. DeRozan, you live and die with DeRozan, man. Like, he's going to be shooting his shots. He's getting the ball in clutch time. He's a great clutch player. But if you go 50%, you win one game and you lose the next game. Yeah. That's how it is. Yep. Yep.

The San Antonio Spurs are 12th in the Western Conference. We thought they were going to be making a playoff push, and it ain't going well. 23-29, 16-18-19 offense, defense, net ratings. For the Spurs, they obviously got De'Aaron Fox at the trade deadline, and they currently sit...

Oh, that's actually a chunky little bit here. Three and a half games out of 10th in the Western Conference. It slipped here, even with Fox. The record's not great. But the Fox acquisition is... It's for next year, if we're being honest. Definitely. But this is...

They're in the bottom. They're in the bottom. I don't see them as a playing hopeful. No, they're a flag seeker that won the flag two seasons ago when they got Wemby, and now they could literally do it again. It's possible. It is possible. It's too far a gap, I think, for them to overcome the three and a half points. Three and a half games, excuse me, that...

They are behind the Golden State Warriors for 10th. I think it's a little too far back. They were. It's weird to say, but it's a tough Western Conference. They were like 18 and 16 at one point. They were 8th, I think, in the West. It was maybe the highest they ever got this season. But then the defense sort of fell off a cliff, and now they have five wins since because they're 23 and 29. They played two games in Austin this week. I forgot they did that little...

Community Outreach. That's not where they play. No, I forget the name of it. They did Alamodome last year. Yeah. Okay. Cool. But they're playing in... It's this week or this weekend or something like that. Two games in Austin. So that'd be cool for people in Austin. Keep Austin weird. Keep Wemby weird. Keep Wemby weird. Bring in a book to the All-Star game. That was so funny. Yeah.

you rarely see an NBA player getting bullied, but I felt like Jokic was bullying him. Yeah. Look at this nerd. Yeah, he really was. He disgusted him. If you ever needed a book, it was during that

All-Star Tournament. That's the perfect time to kill a bunch of minutes and hours. He read it on the bench? That would be hilarious. He finished the book at the end? Yeah. This is good. This is pretty good. Well, that was going on in the, who was it? The NFL player. A.J. Brown? A.J. Brown, yeah. Right. Inter-excellence or something like that he was reading. I bet Wendy's read that book.

I wonder what he's reading. Yeah. The Utah jazz. They're 14th in the West, 13 and 41 18th in offense, 29th and defense and 28th in net rating. They are flag seekers. Yes. The jazz have won some games recently. They have. I'll catch you by surprise. Yeah. The Pelicans jazz and Hornets are all at 13 wins. Yep. Um,

um and we and we we don't believe anyone is catching i put that in air quotes the wizards for the worst record and it does feel like then the raptors are sort of too good uh 17 wins yeah so that's a the jazz are with the pels and the hornets here it's like they're obviously going in that bottom tier it's like they have to be with those teams and just where are we sliding do we have a little more faith in them you feeling you feeling dusty is that what you're saying

You're trying to pick a nut dust team between the 13-win Hornets, the 13-win Jazz, and the 13-win Pelicans? I'm game if you guys are for a little nut dust bowl challenge. We pick the crappy teams and whoever has the worst, I guess whoever has the worst, how did we do it? Whoever has the worst has to do the shot up. POS wins, drinks the dust. Okay, who do you want? Hornets, Jazz, and Pelicans. Yeah, those are our three teams. Let's do it.

I'll take the leftovers. I don't care. Okay. Pass you a bit first. I don't really care either. Yeah, Jazz are going to lose a lot. Pelicans are going to lose a lot. I'll take the Hornets. Oh, good. I don't want them. I don't want the Hornets. I want... Between the Jazz and the Hornets... Sorry, the Pelicans and the Jazz. Give me the...

Give me the Pelicans. All right. Give me the Pelicans. I'm a big jazz guy. All right. Let's go. Nut, dust, bull is back. There was a lot of people asking. Come on, bring it back. That's right. Works perfect. There we go. And if the Wizards end up with...

More wins than either of these three teams, we all drink the dust. Oh, wow. Nice wrinkle. Okay. So, yeah, so people out there will be, like, going crazy for Wizards wins if they could somehow jump all three of them. Let's go, Bryce. Big Bryce Sensabaugh guy now. Yeah.

Big Johnny Juzang fan. Collier's playing really, really well. Yeah, assists galore. That's exciting. Okay, I got the Pels. You've got the Jazz Tassels. I've got to put them on here. So, okay. Yeah, let's go take a look here at our midseason tiers. Oh, wow. So for the podcast listener, four teams currently in our S tier, in our title contenders, Thunder, Celtics, Cavs, and Nuggets. We have one team right now in the final four flirts. That's the Knicks.

And then we have a bunch of playoff luck. Grizzlies, Rockets, Lakers, Clippers, Wolves. We also have the Warriors there. I jumped a few teams from the East. We have the Pacers, Bucks, and Pistons. In the fourth play-in hopefuls, it's the Mavs, Heat, Magic, Kings, Suns, Hawks, Bulls, and Raptors. And then in the flag seekers, in order, Spurs, Sixers, Nets, Blazers, Pelicans, Hornets, Jazz, and Wizards.

Do we want to change anything? Do we want anybody else up there in the flirts? That's what I'm looking at. We got nine teams in the playoff locks, one in the flirts. Who gets bumped up? We got to add one more team. Can't be flirting with nobody. It's so weird. Like, I have the most confidence, I guess. I'm only thinking about the Western Conference. I have the most confidence in the Warriors and the Lakers. Yeah.

Respect to the old guys. Well, yeah, and obviously the huge additions that they added at the deadline. Like, they added two of the better players, Jimmy for the Warriors and Luka for the Lakers. People will be saying, oh, you guys are just an ESPN's putt. Next, the Lakers and the Warriors in the final four flirts. Stay tuned to the second half of the NBA season. But then again, you know, we don't have to have somebody out there.

We don't. We don't. Because we have two teams in the title contenders in the Thunder Nuggets. We're basically saying we think those two teams are going to be in the conference finals. We got a top five teams, you know, if you look at it that way. Thunder, Celtics, Cavs, Nuggets, Knicks. I think that's fair. You want to make a case for anyone else in the final four flirts?

I'm going with the Houston Rockets. I know it's a crazy one. It's a crazy one. But they play the Utah Jazz three more times. That's going to build their confidence. Put the Jazz in the confidence builders category. The CBs? I could make a case for so many of those. Whether it's the Grizz, the Rockets, the Lakers, the Clippers, the Wolves. Sure, yeah. All of them.

The Warriors? Yeah. Yeah. But that's the thing. So we're either saying take all these teams you just listed and put them up a tier or we just leave them there. Can't do it. No, we have to leave them there. It's weird, but it's okay. Yeah. All right, there it is. Exactly as I just said it for the podcast listeners. We're not changing a thing. We nailed it. 100% perfect. Just like our preseason. Okay, I do have one. Keep it up, JD. One question. If you had to pick one team from our tiers here that could make us look the most silly...

for the rest of the season and in the postseason, what would you pick? Most silly, I guess I would go for Dallas Mavericks. Okay. They seem to have the most chance of jumping multiple tiers, I think. Okay. Yeah, they could definitely be a Final Four flirt. Yeah, I'm with that as well.

Because I think we had... Do we have Suns as Final Four flirts in preseason? Or do we have them as title contenders, man? We were obsessed with that Olympic tournament. Yeah, we had the Suns at the bottom of Final Four flirts. Okay, yeah. But last year, even after the NBA trade deadline, when the Mavs went and got P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford, nobody really had faith in those acquisitions. Also true. And then they went to the NBA Finals. Yep. And...

The way they've been playing recently without every single big guy having to play Walker, Kessler, Edwards as their center. I mean, it's amazing what they're doing. They're playing OMAX. They're playing everybody off their bench, and J-Kid is getting them to play. Sometimes he does post-game press conferences. Sometimes he doesn't. You never know with that team. You never know. But they are playing extremely hard, so I wouldn't be surprised at all. But...

Are they going to get their guys back? That's a fair question. My answer for who will make us feel the dumbest for putting them where we did, it'll be either the Kings or Suns. You just watch.

You just watch. Going into the flag seekers? No, no, no. You think they're going to take off. Yeah, one of them will because now I've completely given up in them and like they've just embarrassed me. I believe I get on. I convince myself. Both of them. Both teams are guilty. Kings and Kings and sons. And I will say now that the footprint center is gone, it'll probably be the sons. You watch for that run coming.

I don't want to be the ESPN to say it's got to be the Lakers or the Warriors up there, but the Lakers played Denver three more times. That's a lot. If they could just stomp the nuggets three more times, then they would be the team that's in there. Then you'd be convincing yourself. Right, they'd be the team. Okay. Maybe perhaps. Okay. Let's hear what you guys think.

Sound enough in the stream team? Let us know in the YouTube comments. Tweet at us at NoDunkSync. You fools. You absolute clowns. How did you put so-and-so here? You don't believe in this team. This team needs to be hired. That's fine. Have at it. Go nuts. Yeah, most disrespected. Who's going to get maddest? I guess maybe Heat? Heat? I don't know. No.

Maybe like Grizzlies? I was going to say Grizzlies. Yeah. Grizzlies. Because like they have I mean they're obviously the second best team in the West. I guess Grizzlies or Rockets will be like you don't believe in us. That's true. There's going to be a lot of people actually upset now. And I can't wait. But let's call it there. That was a big juicy podcast for you.

No problem, though. Because this one will last you to Friday. We'll be back with the Drop podcast here in the Classic Factory. Basketball does come back tonight, sort of. One game on. But no show tomorrow from the No Dunks universe. We'll come back, like I said, on Friday because a bunch of teams playing on Thursday night. That all said...

No Buffs returns tomorrow. Our Survivor podcast. We're doing a cast reaction. Once again, we had a lot of fun doing this last year. Myself, Trey, and JD. Unfortunately, no Nora tomorrow. She's up in Toronto. Up in the snow. Toronto, seeing some fam. But she'll be back for episode one when the season starts again.

next week. Whoa. Next week, huh? Survivor 48. But anyway, NoBust has its own YouTube feed, its own podcast feed, so if you're a Survivor fan or you want to become one, you should really watch or listen to our show. We have a blast and I can't wait to do the cast reaction with these guys. Tomorrow, 11 a.m. Eastern is when we're going to go live.

But until then, Clipper Bros. You heard it here first. Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome. Thanks for joining us. And remember, we'll be hearing from the Mavs fans soon. They're just a mad bunch. There are none anymore. Oh, come on. They're outside. They're at the funeral. I say that lovingly. I would almost be upset to be a Mavs fan. You should be. Yeah. Yeah. But okay. That's why we're going to hear from them. They're just mad. Prove us wrong. Prove us wrong. Brace the day, people.

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