Howard Beck
Appearances
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
And I don't know whether this is one of those situations, too, where, okay, we make a big deal out of youth versus experience, and then they play their first game, and a guy like Jalen Green craps the bed, and you say, is this just, okay, it's his playoff debut, it's his first time out there, is it the moment, is it something else?
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
Is it the Warriors just being that good defensively against him, not letting him get where he wants to go? I don't know. But for one game at least, for one weekend, he is the MDP.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
It must have been crazy. It was it was wild. I mean, the garden is just incredible in the play.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
like the last couple of years of going to nick's home playoff games um the place is just so intense uh i recommend highly recommend people if you ever get a chance to although i will say so i was up on the chase bridge that's the uh that's like the overflow press area for the garden yeah so you can bungee jump down to the court from there uh if if one wanted to and was brave enough um
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
It's an interesting vantage point, actually, but that is mostly fans up there. And I ended up having a conversation with a couple of fans who said they were visiting from, I think it was Mexico City, tourists. They were really excited to be there. They're like, we paid $400 a seat for these. on the bridge, like the chain, like this is, this is about as high up as you can get, um, $400 a seat.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
Anyway, I was chatting with a couple of, um, actually before I mentioned the Pistons people, I should just say, I ran into a Doris Burke pregame DB said to say hello. Um, while I was milling about on the court pregame, doing our usual pregame schmooze fest.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
And I was chatting with a couple of Pistons people and we were just talking about this whole thing and like, okay, yeah, like this is a very exciting moment for them. Their first playoff game, what a great breakthrough season and all this. And I just stream of consciousness and sticking my foot in my mouth, like not really thinking about this. I talked about, yeah, you know, it's interesting.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
And I remember, you know, Cavaliers Knicks a couple of years ago and, you know, Darius Garland and Evan Mobley, you know, their first time just looked like deer in headlights or whatever. Like the Pistons person who I was talking to me, I was cringing like I was possibly throwing out a bad omen here. I said, no, it's not what I mean.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
I mean, I just mean that, you know, sometimes it's interesting to see how young players react and whatever. And I had to kind of backtrack. But and then through three quarters, the Pistons looked good. Like they were absolutely ready for the moment. They were fine until suddenly they weren't. That got out of hand very quickly. And but it was it was a wild finish.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
Jalen Brunson, like just a typical Jalen Brunson. Right. Like I'm going to fall down three times. Each time is going to look a little bit more scary than the last. Or he's going to take a little slow to get up, waving off his teammates. Don't pick me up yet. I need to catch my breath. And then he just goes and, you know, destroys you.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
Yes. Although I got to say before I lose this train of thought, I thought for sure your most disappointing candidate was going to be Kyle Kuzma with the trillion line.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
What's happening, Zach? Three most anticipated words separated by one anticipated comma. That was a great intro. Did you notice Bob Myers at one point on the call? I didn't watch most of that game, Clippers Nuggets, because I was, as you know, at the Garden. Big mistake. Big mistake, by the way. Huge, huge tactical error by me on the first day of way too many games.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
That was the only stretch of the game I got to see because as we previously established, I'm a doofus and went to the garden. So I was either on the subway or running around the garden pregame and missed most of that. So I got back to the press room, got to catch the end there, saw that play. I think I laughed.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
The only times I audibly laughed during basketball over the weekend, I think, was that rush play and Steph's ridiculous three last night where I just sat on the couch and just like... It was just because it was so preposterous. I had a question for you, though, because I didn't see most of this game. And it's one of those things you glance at the box score and the first thing that leaps out to me.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
Bob Myers at one point said something to the effect of, well, you know, that's Russell Westbrook. You know, he's going to do some great things for you. And then... And then, you know, that's his... And then he just, like, trailed off into something else or kind of repeated it. Like, he wanted to say, like, best of Russ, worst of Russ, best of times, worst of something.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
And James Harden has had a phenomenal year. He did make my all NBA ballot at the end of the day. I had agonized over that one quite a bit. But Harden taking 22 shots to Kawhi's 15 did something. What was going on in the course of that game where...
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
james harden is your is a a bigger option than was it just all the pick and rolls with zubach like don't i i would guess or i would have um thought ahead of time like you're like you know kawaii is a little bit more of the of the thrust here but um maybe not what anything some of it is the pick and roll some of it is that um the nuggets are switching a lot as are the clippers and so harden has his pick of the litter like he can isolate against jamal murray and he likes that matchup yeah
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
And he couldn't bring himself to say that he's going to giveth and taketh away. He dropped the taketh away thing because I think he felt like he was going to be, I don't know, mean-spirited or get aggregated or something.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
I had the same thought just watching yesterday as it went from 20 to 30 to 40 to 50 to 55, whatever that margin ended up being at its peak. And a couple of quick things just to back up. And they put themselves in this position by being a play-in team, but going from the Friday night game just to qualify to get in to a noon local start on Sunday.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
Yeah. So there's that. By the way, also, though, because when you had when you had texted me my homework and you were talking about the three drawing dead series and all I could think was back to my proposal once upon a time when we used to do our drunk with power podcast, as you know, I love the best of five first round.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
And in cases like this, I just think, my God, the sooner this series and the Miami series in the Orlando like the sooner these teams go away with all due apologies and respect to those teams, the better. These are not interesting series. They're not going to be. This one is interesting because of the question that you raised, right? Like Miami's in transition.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
They had to trade Jimmy Butler, you know, at the, you know, under duress. They're in transition. Orlando is not healthy. They still need a point guard, blah, blah, blah.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
Yeah, their team on the rise. And I don't I don't care if they get smoked in the first round. They're young and they're still kind of forming themselves. But Memphis is already formed. These are their three guys. The curse of the term big three is that everybody then sits there and preens when they get they find three really good players out.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
We got our big three and we're gonna have to max them all out now, by the way, and then deal with second apron issues potentially. Their big three are not big three enough. They're not big enough. I don't mean size wise. I mean, you know, although in John Moran's case, maybe size as well. And I was looking at it and it's not to get too reductive. But the fact is, and you alluded to this.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
In this league, you're a contender if you've got certainly a top five guy, hopefully maybe a top 10 guy. And if you have one of those, a top five or a top 10, and then hopefully your second best player is top 15 or top 20. And these three guys in our own ringer top 100, which neither you or I participate in.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
All right. I love not being part of it because one, I'm terrible at ranking. And two, I have the ultimate alibi. Now you're going to be a part of it. You just asked for it. People complain about it, and then I can say, you know, it wasn't me. I send them all to Michael Pena. In the ringers' top 100, the highest-ranked Grizzly, Jaron Jackson Jr. at 22nd, Jaws at 29th currently, and Baines at 46th.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
People can quibble over it, and maybe somebody should be a little bit higher or whatever, but that's the basic reality. They do not have a top 10 or a top 15 player at present.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
I was defensive of Jha a couple years ago when it was like, look how great their record is when it's just Tyus Jones and Jha's out. And I said, Lynn, don't get too caught up in that. I know there's like a 25, 30 game sample the one season. I said, but don't get too caught up in that. Like, you know, teams can do this in stretches and you can like you cannot replace or you can long term.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
You will feel the loss of a truly elite talent as Ja is. That said, as you just noted, like there are times when you watched and I think part of this was look and I got in trouble for this. I didn't get in trouble for it. I got aggregated in the aggregation, got me in trouble.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
In February, Real Ones podcast, we did a live show at All-Star Weekend, and I mentioned in the course of conversation that- A couple drinks in, maybe? A couple drinks in at All-Star? We may or may not have been doing shots before the podcast.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
May or may not have.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
You were drinking beer. I think I was actually doing like the fancy, ridiculous cocktails or whatever that had God knows what in them. That was a fun day.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
I mentioned at All-Star Weekend on the podcast, on a live show, which then got aggregated, that a rival executive, when I was just making the rounds after the Luka trade about what else was coming and what else to look for down the line and what does it say about stars being traded, blah, blah, blah, whatever. And someone said, just keep an eye on Jaa. And that was all they said.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
And then it got aggregated and it blew up and it was really annoying because aggregators are annoying and it was out of context. But the reason that the person that said it to me at the time was, as we know, as we've seen a lot of hand-wringing over because Taylor Jenkins then got fired, the offense this season had kind of de-emphasized Ja.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
Ja also de-emphasized Ja by not being available for a good chunk of the season. But the offense was less pick-and-roll heavy, less Ja-centric. And to your point about Scottie Pippen Jr.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
and non-jaw lineups, they had an offense that could do other things that wasn't just so static or pick and roll dependent or jaw dependent, which is overall good for them for the non-jaw minutes or the non-jaw stretches when he's out injured. But it raised the question of how does this sit with jaw?
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
And I think we have learned since that maybe the person who I talked to was right to raise this as a concern. And they've now fired Taylor Jenkins and they've fired the assistant coach who devised this offense. No, LaRoche. LaRoche, thank you. And so there are concerns. There are some things to keep an eye on, as the rival exec said to me. It wasn't – he's definitely getting traded.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
It was just keep an eye on. I think more than ever, I'm keeping an eye on it, to be honest, because of the way the season has gone, because of the firing, because of where they are now and getting smoked yesterday. And they're certainly going to get thumped in this series. And they do have to reevaluate. And it's a smart front office led by Zach Kleiman. And I think.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
Like, they're not going to be... We saw this. There was no sentimentality when it came to Dylan Brooks. John Morant's not Dylan Brooks, but this is a franchise that I think is very pragmatic in the way it thinks about its team. And John may be beloved locally, and he is, but there are no sacred cows in this league. That was kind of the point of the Luka exercise, right?
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
Huge mistake, but there are sentimentality and whatever fans love and everything. I can't... There are times when nothing means anything. My last quick jaw thought. Jaw does not seem to be evolving as an individual or as a player. As an individual, because we've seen all the stuff with the finger guns and then his defiance of the league and grenade logs and all this stuff.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
But it's... The thing is, it gets... I laugh, but it's also like, it's so immature. The point of all of this that you've gone through is to show that you have thought about this and why it was a problem and you evolve and you stop doing these things.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
I said this on the pod a week or two ago. He's just going to drive a tank on the court.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
But he's a slightly built, incredibly athletic, smaller guard and still not a shooter.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
and he gets the shit kicked out of him, just gets beat up because he's constantly... These incredible drives that are why we watch, because he's so much fun to watch, but he takes a beating a little like Iverson back in the day, and that can shorten your career, and it certainly can shorten your seasons, as it has. He gets hurt a lot.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
So, no, I'm not confident in this team's future as currently constructed, and I do think that at some point, maybe sooner than later, at least one of those three probably has to be swapped out for different pieces, because this is not a big three that's going to make you a contender. All right.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
A lot of ways to go, but I went with Jimmy Butler. Playoff Jimmy, who last week we saw play in Jimmy. I don't know if we've ever had... I mean, there's been play in Jimmy before, but playoff Jimmy last night, the 25.7 rebounds, six assists, five steals. Not only all that, and got to the line six times, made four.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
I mean, once you take into account availability and everything else, yeah. And Darius Garland is also just really good.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
He was a plus 14, second only to Pajemski among the Warriors, who was a plus 17 for the game. But... There was that moment in the first quarter, they're just getting battered on the boards. It looks like the size of the Rockets is going to bother them. And, you know, they're just looking a little bit on their heels. Steph's missed his first couple of threes at that point, I think.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
I mean, haven't we had some version of this conversation for the last couple of years? I mean, I think that we've we come back to this periodically. I'm trying to remember, like every so often there's been somebody. I don't know. Maybe it was like the Fred Van Vliet summer or something when he went to Houston. Like there've been a couple moments.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
over the last three to five years where it was like, when are they going to go get a point guard? And the more prominent they've become or the more Wagner and Bancaro have evolved as this one-two punch, it's become, I feel like, more and more pressing.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
The Magic are interesting because they spent a lot of years, Zach, where it looked like they absolutely needed the teardown and they waited forever to finally blow it up and send out all these guys from the Vooch era, including Vooch himself. they've been really, methodical would be the kind way of putting it. in the, in the rebuild.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
Yeah. But is Jalen Suggs a point guard? I mean, that's, you know, we've had a lot of Cole Anthony and he's had some nice moments and, and Corey Joseph and like how many other different point guards who are all like Markel, the Markel Fultz era. It just feels like they're content to just keep dabbling. And not make the big swing. Pop quiz.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
So they open the second with Steph on the bench and Jimmy leads them on a 14 to 5 run. Steph comes back and they're up 32-26. And it's like, okay, they can hang. And they can hang without Steph, which is kind of the important part of having Jimmy in the first place is not just when they're both out there together, but having somebody who can run that second unit competently.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
Oh, my God.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
I mean, that was... almost gratuitous the other night. But I think we all kind of perversely enjoyed it. Social media very much enjoyed it. There were super cuts of every Nico Harrison reaction. There were split screens. There were, you know, there were, you know, Curb Your Enthusiasm overlays. People were having a blast with it. Thank you, NBA. Thank you, network.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
I can't remember if it was ESPN or Turner. Thank you, whoever, for all the Nico Harrison close-ups during various moments. His expression, to Nico's credit, really never changed. It was just some form of, like, hmm.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
pensive consternation yeah little maybe little little growly little kind of i i might be aware that this camera keeps focusing on me get it the hell out of my face i realize the whole world uh thinks i'm uh i'm an idiot for trading luca uh please leave me alone expression i make when my daughter or one of her friends farts in my face because they think it's it's funny
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
uh nico harrison by the way somebody just uh tweeted out a little bit ago nico harrison's uh got his end of season presser in a couple honestly i can't wait can i get on a plane to dallas now and make it in time that's how bad these media available are cameras allowed this time i guess i was gonna say yeah just just pens leave all your leave all of your instruments at home no no recorders no tv cameras no pens papers chisels locked
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
So I thought Jimmy really set the tone for the Warriors and for that ugly but somehow entertaining win.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
OK. And Scott Scott's working for Dirk specifically. He left the Mavs to work for Dirk. That was, I think, two seasons ago. And at the time, this is, I think, before Cuban had sold everything else. But like, man, Scott pulled the ripcord at exactly.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
Let me just say this real quick, Zach. You and I, we are not PR people. Thankfully, we are not PR people for the Mavericks specifically, and we have not worked in crisis management.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
There's just so many unforced errors here. The trade itself is bad enough. You've made it, and you have to live with it. But there are better and worse ways to deal with this. Being defensive and pricklish. Pricklish? I think I just made up a new word. Prickly. It's early for me, Zach. It's only 1030 Eastern, and I'm still waking up. You can handle this a lot better.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
Be at least a little bit more empathetic toward the fans who are hurting here. And when the media are sitting there in the room, and I know you're tense with them because of the way they're asking questions and they're asking pointed questions, and Tim McMahon has done a phenomenal job of putting them on the spot and so have the rest of the Dallas media, but...
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
The last thing you should do in a moment like this, when the whole world, 99.9999% believes you made a catastrophic error, is to sit there, double down, triple down, and on top of it, be snarly about it. So hire a better crisis management person. If you don't have one, go get one. Find somebody who can at least tell Nico Harrison if he's still doing this for the foreseeable future and Dumont.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
You need to lead with some sense of acknowledgement of just how bad this looks. You have to be confident in what you did. You have to project confidence in the plan. I get that. But you can do it in a way that's a lot less dismissive and prickly or pricklish or some other term of the word that I now won't say because now I'll sound like an ass.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
Do you know how many people have like hit me, Zach, with various versions of like, why didn't they do low this, low that? Everybody wanted to make a pun with your name and they're puzzled. I think they're a little disappointed. Not that they don't like your name. But I think they love the puns.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
You're going to hate me for this, especially since we've now moved past when I thought we were going to do this. I went with Jeff Van Gundy for wrestling, Jokic for the ball.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
Jeff was dead fucking serious in that moment. He wasn't messing around. He wasn't being cutesy, smiling. This wasn't being mischievous. He was not letting go. His face was stern.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
just to get Steve up to date here. I was at the Garden Saturday night.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
So I missed most of it. I did want to pipe in on Randall for a minute, though, because there was just an observation here that I'm curious what both of you think of this, because it felt like Randall was an awkward fit early in the season, and it was because of usual Julius Randall things, which was being a ball stopper, being a little slow to make decisions, and a little bit of tunnel vision.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
And I feel like This last part of the season, I'm not sure how far back to go, and I haven't looked this up quantitatively, but it does seem to me like Julius Randle has been a smarter, more judicious player for them down the stretch here. And when they first got him, all I could think was, this is temporary. He's got a contract coming up. They're just going to plug in Nas Reed and move on.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
They'll flip him for something else. And I am wondering if this version of him actually makes more sense for them. But is this a reliable version of Julius Randle? Take it, Steve.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
I don't know where else they go with that, but I do. I mean, you and I touched on this earlier in the pod and Steve just touched on it, too. But like, yeah, why aren't you leveraging your size and athleticism on the wings against this team? Why aren't you, you know, whether it's Jalen Green driving, a man Thompson driving.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
It does feel like there are advantages there that they didn't really fully exploit. I am curious, Steve, where are you on Jalen Green at this stage of his career? or lack thereof. Because it feels like he should be the answer to this question, no?
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
I saw pieces of it before I ran out the door.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
I would love some Curry stats.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
Kevin Porter Jr. is not fixing this? Is that what you're saying? The week before Middleton was moved, I was talking to a GM and we were, again, going through the list. So who's actually getting moved out of all the guys we're rumor mongering about? And he mentioned Middleton and I was asking just why he was so certain. He says...
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
Middleton's cooked and they know it like that, that, that the medical concerns at that point, the health concerns were just so glaring that moving him just to get anything, anybody of use who they could rely on. And it's just, this was not, I want to make this very clear. This was not a value judgment on Chris Middleton as a player, his talent, his, his determination.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
Yeah. He's, he was fantastic for them. He's, they don't want a championship without him, but yeah, this has been a gradual erosion going on on years now. And it was, they'd reached the point where they knew they just weren't going to be able to rely on him and they just needed to get something. It ended up being Kuzma. So I wasn't surprised that they moved off him.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
And I don't think it had anything to do with, you know, it wasn't so much about getting Kuzma. It wasn't so much about whether or not they like Chris Middleton. It was just like, there's just a reality setting in here, but that reality has been coming into focus or has been kind of
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
visible on the horizon for a few years now like this that's the whole thing like i know yannis has been hurt in the playoffs and that's a lot of why they've been out early but it's also been this slow erosion of you know you traded drew holiday but drew was was you know getting older brooke was getting older um middleton was getting older and always hurt and it's this is not even a criticism of the way the front office has handled all this it's really hard to adjust on the fly you've got the core of a team around yannis that helped him win a championship
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
figuring out when to start spinning off the older pieces and whether or not you can actually even get the right value for them and the right fit is really hard. And it's gotten harder in the second apron era. So I sympathize, but the reality is what it is. And I get it, Milwaukee fans are already... fatigued of the national media speculating on Giannis' future discussion.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
But there's a reason it keeps coming around. And it keeps coming around because there are these inflection points where it looks like they've stalled out and it's going to be really hard to keep building a decent team around him. And we've hit another one.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
And yeah, there was a New York Post story a month ago about the Nets are lying in wait with all their draft picks and other stuff to try to get Giannis if he becomes available. And there's undoubtedly other teams doing the same. That's the way this league works. Every front office is just staffed with vultures.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
And if you don't have a superstar, you are waiting for one to ask out, to be discontented, to hit a fork in the road or to hit a brick wall or whichever metaphor you want to choose. And it's kind of looking like another one coming up potentially. Yes, we're ahead of ourselves.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
Thank you, Zach. I appreciate the sympathy. I think I went Clippers in... I must have gone Clippers in six, but I might have said Clippers in seven. It was probably Clippers in six. I said Knicks in seven. I expected the Pistons to be feisty. I think we'll see a little bit better version of the Pistons tonight. And maybe that, you know, look, it is a young team, all cliches applying.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
But yeah, you know, they got that one out of the way. They had their moment and maybe they're a little bit more poised under the searing garden spotlight tonight. What was your Clippers-Nuggets pick, Steve?
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
loses the challenge and then doesn't have it so i think they could use even more steph pick and rolls he was sensational and you know what held his own on defense too he had to make some really tough so his first couple threes i mentioned i think he missed his first two in the first quarter and then he started uh getting to the rim or not i'll say getting the rim he got in the paint and he had to convert some incredibly tough acrobatic shots high off the glass like it just it
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
Every time he goes in there, it just looks like he might just get clobbered and like there's no prayer. But but Steph can do like his his finishing ability and his manipulation of the ball and those kind of drives, I think, has always been underrated. I mean, no one's Kyrie Irving, but Steph made some really, really tough shots getting into the teeth of the defense.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
And I thought that was really important for them early on when they were having trouble scoring and his threes weren't going right off.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
Yeah. And the Rockets don't want to be slow. And the Warriors seem quite pleased with themselves for playing a plotting game because they feel like they can take advantage of the fact that the Rockets don't have much of a half-court offense. And... It's interesting because the Warriors, throughout this entire era, have been such a high turnover team.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
It causes Steve Kerr a lot of agita, their turnovers, and they've been better with Jimmy.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
Yeah. But if they can keep their turnovers down... then they're keeping the Rockets from getting out and running easy baskets from Thompson and Brooks and Green and the rest of these guys. It's funny to say for a team that we've always thought of as such a high-powered offense, the Warriors, but grinding the game down to a halt is to their advantage for sure in this series.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
And Jalen Green, yeah, was my MDP of the weekend as well. I just thought, and look, everything you said... I agree with here, but I do think Jalen Green, you're bigger than Steph Curry. You're younger. You're matched up with him quite a bit. He should be able to attack that. It seemed to me like he was settling for some mid-range stuff, 18-footers.
The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
I just thought Jalen Green, you're this young spry gazelle. why aren't you getting to the rack more here? And I didn't drill too far down replay anything, but it just seemed to me like he was settling.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
About a month ago, when the Lakers had first gotten off to this hot start and we're still trying to process why, well, you know, they don't have much size and maybe, you know, What is this team now? And there was a coach I was talking to at the time, and I'm like, what is the magic of this going right right now? And he says, don't overthink it.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
The Lakers have two of the top five players in the NBA. It's as simple as that. And I said, wait, wait, wait, hold on. Did you say two of the top five? LeBron's top five? Coach said, yeah. Reeves?
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
He is. I mean, and let's be clear, like he's obviously benefiting quite a bit, too, from the amount of attention that's paid to the two superstars he's playing alongside. Like if you put, you know, Austin Reeves on a team with, you know, zero stars, is he carrying them to 45 wins tomorrow? I don't know if we can go that far yet, but he's been phenomenal. Rui's been fantastic. Gabe Vincent.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Gabe Vincent shooting lights out a lot of nights, busting his ass defensively, and giving them, like, one of the concerns I think we all had about them after the trade was, all right, well, Anthony Davis was your defensive anchor. You don't have a lot of size. They're playing small ball a lot.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Do they have enough defense on the perimeter to make up for the fact that they don't have a classic rim protector back there? And yet, for the most part, there's been some dips. But for the most part, the defense has been there. And, you know, there's a temptation, I think, with yesterday's game to look at this and say, Lakers go 22 of 40 from three, right? Season high, 22 three-pointers.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
You love attention so much that you actually warned me before we started recording not to say the thing that I'm about to say, which is welcome the fuck back. My God, it has been way too long. The people missed you. It's my responsibility and honored to be the first guest.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
They hit 20, I think, on two other occasions. So this is an outlier game for them. Their average per game, I think they've been hitting like, I don't know, 13 threes or something a game, and they hit 22. That's that's probably an outlier game, not just, you know, literally, but like you're not you're not reproducing that every night.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
And if you were going in a best of seven series against the Thunder, I don't think you're counting on that. But it is one of those modern day games where we have to sit there and say, well, sometimes the team that just shoots the three better wins it. This is one of those classic cases. The Thunder went 12 of 37 from from three. And then keeping holding shade is zero free throw attempts.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
For the first time since December of 2021 was the last time he played a game without a single free throw attempt. Notably, though, a couple nights earlier against the Rockets, he was held to two free throws. Is Shea downshifting a little bit because they've got such a massive lead? Is he a little tired? Is he saving it for the playoffs?
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
How much do we attribute like obviously, you know, against the Rockets, they've got phenomenal defenses. We were just discussing with them against the Warriors, but I don't know. I'm not sure how much I want to take away from it other than Luca cooked the shit out of them. And he is still just absolutely devastating when he's going to get a big on an island and he can just do whatever he wants.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
My responsibility, Zach, as your friend, as a man of the people, as someone who spends way too much time on social media more than you do, The people missed you. The people are very happy you're back. You didn't want me to say it. I'm saying it anyway. I'm thrilled you're back. We're all thrilled you're back. This is awesome. By the way, I've already cursed at least three times.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
We can do that here. There are no Disney censors killing our F-bombs. So I can now set a new record. I once had the record. I believe I had the F-bomb record. On the low post, which I believe Gino Auriemma or somebody obliterated at some point.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Yeah. And that's why I'm – I think there's plenty to take out of it, especially if you're the Lakers, maybe less if you're the Thunder. And I think, you know, it's weird to say of a team that has LeBron and Luke on it, but like the Lakers kind of needed this more right now, like literally in the standings, they needed it more. And I think just to kind of, You know, Luka has nothing to prove.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
LeBron has nothing to prove. But together, they have something to prove as the core of this completely reconfigured team.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
And guys like Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent, who at times have looked like really important pickups for the Lakers over the last couple seasons, but have both been banged up, that they're healthy and thriving and giving them a different defensive dimension and tone is really important. And I think just everything that allows the Lakers to see the full picture of who they can be in the postseason,
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Um, I think all of that's really significant for them and, you know, and, and I'll, I'll be honest, I have from the moment the trade happened, which we still can't quite put our heads around. Um, and maybe we never will. Uh, I have been skeptical. It looked like a win-now move for the Mavericks by their own definition, which made no sense, of course.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
But it was a for-the-next-10-years move for the Lakers. And I thought there would be some short-term... perhaps. It was short-term take a step back. Our defensive anchor is gone. We've got to incorporate Luka. He's not healthy when he arrives. We've got a supporting cast that's still kind of in flux. We don't have size. We don't have a center. We traded for Mark Williams.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
We rescinded the trade for Mark Williams. And I thought... it doesn't matter. None of this matters. This is about the next 10 years. And lo and behold, here they are, you know, sitting in third in the Western conference and looking very, very potent and very, very ready to make a deep playoff run that I'll be honest.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
I, I was not sure was on the table and they have made, they've made a lot of progress in a lot of places in a very short time.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Yeah. Yeah. No, that that's frigging huge. Our buddy Mark Stein is like in the midst of like a 17 part series or something. Reviewing how we got here. It's phenomenal.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
I can't even imagine. That's going to be a weird one, right? Just because, like, I was there for LeBron back to Cleveland the first time after he left for Miami, but that was LeBron left. He abandoned you, and so it was like the nastiest, just most intense... atmosphere I've ever been in, in terms of just everybody in the whole building, having it out for one guy.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
And it got really, really ugly at times, but this won't be that because Luca didn't leave them. He didn't abandon them. Like, like the Mavs fans are still just pissed off at, at Nico Harrison and Patrick Dumont. So I assume it's going to be mostly a love fest, but a really awkward kind of like crazy,
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
crappy feeling one right like there i don't i don't know what to expect from that game um i will never say that anybody should shut it down uh on on the on the uh the interviews part of it because as a member of the media by all means keep saying stuff well it's it's it's uh great for us and uh i appreciate the candor even if it makes you look like a complete buffoon it hasn't been great the messaging has has not been great it's not been great um
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
I had a lot of fun. You had a lot of catching up on Bill's pod last week. That was awesome. Two hours of Zach just unloading after six months of pent-up takes. Tremendous.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
It's unbelievable. We will be talking about this for years. The rest of our careers, the rest of our lives, we will still be trying to unpack this puzzle. It'll never make sense.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Some of the Thunder players said it outright after the game yesterday. I saw some quotes in the Oklahoman to my buddy Joel Lorenzi where they were saying – like, Shea said it, and I think maybe Jalen Williams said it too. Like, you know, yeah, I hate to say it, but – we've got everything locked up. They're playing out the string. So who knows?
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
The rematch tomorrow night may not even... Will everybody play? And how much are these teams showing each other with days to go? So I don't want to put too much on it.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
We did. Yeah, no, we did. We did the whole staff picks thing back in October, and I went Thunder over Celtics on the premise that Like, you know, the obvious for why the two teams would be there, but why Thunder winning? I looked at it in the preseason and said the Celtics are going to have a much tougher road this time. There's the championship hangover possibility.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Just it's hard to go back to back seasons. It's a ton of games. It's a lot of stress on the body. But on top of that, the East was going to be better this season. Right. I didn't see this coming from the Cavaliers.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
I mean, yes. I mean, my my my rationale was the Celtics are going to have to go through some combination of like Knicks, Philly, Milwaukee, Cleveland, whatever. I probably didn't even put Cleveland that conversation. Apologies, Cleveland. None of us saw this coming. And I don't think I mean, I didn't see this coming, but I was I was telling people Cleveland's could be really good.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Yeah, but at this level, and I don't think we saw even the most skeptical or the most, you know, PTSD, you know, stricken Sixer fans would not have predicted this is how the Sixer season was going to go. So I thought the Celtics might be more beat up. And I so I went, oh, all right, really deep team, younger legs, you know, spry athletic Thunder team over Celtics.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
So that was that was my prediction back in October. But predictions are stupid. So.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Thank you. Thank you.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Thank you. Thank you. We'll see. Yeah. I mean, you know, it's I mean, Steph is the most efficient of the high scoring guards by far still at age 37. And I'm not saying wait it for the age. I'm just saying he's still absolutely incredible. Just just to be clear.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Yeah. Um, so with Mitchell pencil and on, on the first team, and I, by the way, I still, I'm a creature of habit in part, just because it was easier to organize my thoughts. Zach, I still went two guards and I went, I didn't go two forwards and a center. I went two guards, three front court for each of these.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
And then I gave myself room and I'm giving myself room for the next week as I keep playing with this to then scrap that. If I feel like somebody is just clearly better than somebody at another position, but so that's the first team, second team. Curry, Ant Edwards, Mobley. So we overlap on those three. At the moment, I've got Jaron Jackson Jr. and Carl Anthony Towns. Fair, fair.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
I mean, Jaron Jackson, you just had an outstanding season and in a year where jaw has played what, like half the games less. And they don't really have a lot of places to go for consistent offense, especially in the half court, his defensive presence, all of it combined.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
And then Carl Anthony towns, you know, like there's, there've been times this season where it's been hard to kind of like parse who's been the more important Nick. And that's no disrespect to Brunson, but especially with Brunson having missed a month, You know, and Towns just, you know, kind of was their stabilizing force. So that's where I am right now.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
But the other guys you mentioned are on my third team.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
I have questions. We could get back to the details of Draymond's game. But let me just say, I fucking love that Emi Udoka talks trash like that. We were so far removed from the era of coaches who trash talk and trash talk each other. We're so far removed from Phil Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy calling each other stupid names and stuff. I love it. I want the coaches involved.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
LeBron and Halliburton, right? That's two. LeBron and Halliburton are two. Same as you, I put Brunson if he qualifies. And if he doesn't... I'm assuming his comeback is being timed to qualify.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
It seems so. Right. But who knows? I mean, you know, things happen. You know, he may, you know, bang knees with somebody and like, you know, miss one one of the one last critical game down the stretch. Who knows? Or maybe they decide to rest him because they think it's more important. I don't know. Actually, you've got the whole the whole week off with the plane. Now you guys have time to rest up.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Cade Cade has been awesome. And I've seriously considered him. But I also I've been weighing whether or not Darius Garland is getting overlooked in all this. He's been outstanding. And obviously, this is Donovan Mitchell's team. And we've already got Mobley on there as well. Or the Cavs good enough for three all NBA players. That feels maybe excessive. But I think Garland's been really good.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
And, and just like with Donovan Mitchell, like Garland's numbers would be higher if not for the fact that both of them have done a phenomenal job of just meshing their games and neither of them needing to dominate. Um, but it does suppress his, his, his raw stats a little bit, I guess. Um, I've kicked around Siakam. I'm not sure. I'm glad you mentioned him. He deserves mention.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
I think he's had a really strong season. And for a team that's like, like the paces are really good, but this is not like some offensive juggernaut in terms of individual talent. You don't look across the board and go like, Ooh, look at all these guys who could just kill you or put up 25, 30 night.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Yeah, and because of that, because he's more just kind of malleable or just, you know, filling whatever you need in a given moment, it doesn't feel like the prototypical all-NBA case because he's not a go-to player, right? And he's not some superstar dropping 30 on you every night. But he does a lot at both ends. Jalen Williams is in this mishmash of names I've got in front of me.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
I also had Kevin Durant kind of like just with an asterisk there. Yeah. We set out at the beginning and said that it's not about team success for all NBA as much as it is for MVP. But it does affect when you're trying to make a case for a guy like, as you mentioned, Sabonis or Trey Young.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
It's easier to dismiss them because their teams are irrelevant and the Suns have just completely... I'm not going to let you say that about my Atlanta Hawks.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
I want Emi Udoka saying this stuff. I want... Like, we don't have rivalries anymore. We don't have enough tension anymore. Like, amp it up. Fine. Give me all of it. I love it.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Are we not allowed to mock the Sally Jesse Raphael glasses anymore?
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
I've had glasses most of my adult life in phases. And I always have to go with the darker. I've never even considered, like, the Sally Jesse Raphael red or purple or something. Anyway, you were making an all-NBA argument. Maybe I was. Durant was your... Yeah, no, like, at a certain point...
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
When you have a lot of really good candidates, as we do, we just named a bunch of them, you've got to draw a line somewhere. And sometimes the line is, you had an incredible season, Kevin Durant, but you just barely got to 65 games and your team isn't even making the play-in. And you're part of that. And this is where I think it's okay to kind of bring in intangibles, too.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
And by the way, I think it's okay to bring in intangibles for the MVP discussion, too. There was a great piece in The Athletic last week, I think by Sam Amick, about... you know, Shea Gilders, Alexander's, you know, just his, his general leadership, the way he affects his teammates. Like we can bring in that stuff too. Like there, there are other aspects of this.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
And I think in the case of a, you know, son's team that has absolutely just completely disintegrated. And when you look at the talent, you go, well, that talent's good enough to at least be a playing team. They should at least be better than the Mavericks or the Kings. And they're not, it's because at some point chemistry just went to shit.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
And I think it's okay then to look at it and say, well, you all bear responsibility. Kevin Durant, you're the best player on this team. You're the most decorated player on this team. Like you bear some responsibility.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
I jotted down Zubats. I had Harden on my initial list, crossed him out. The efficiency, I think – When you're comparing everybody, you're right. The case for Harden is he's been as steady as can be.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
He has kept them afloat all season, especially while they were waiting for Kawhi to get back, that they're in this position at all, that we're talking about them as a team that could make the conference finals or who knows beyond, is a huge credit to James Harden. The guy's taken a lot of shit over the years. Some deserved, maybe some exaggerated.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
He's been fantastic for them, and he's been everything they've needed. But we're having to split hairs when you're squeezing guys into the fourth and fifth spots on the third team. And I think the fact that his efficiency numbers are down so far is fair as an eliminating condition.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Can you indulge me for a minute? Here's the ineligible list based on injuries and 65 game rule. Victor Wembanyama, Luka Doncic, Jimmy Butler, Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Paul George. I know he's having a shitty season anyway.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Let's move that one to the side. I'm just saying, if a full season of Joel Embiid, last year he was running for MVP until he went down. I'm just saying, these are all guys who in recent years have been- Ramping up, baby. Still ramping up. A lot of ramping. Nobody makes ramps like the NBA. I'm ramping down.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Rest of the list of guys who normally we would be discussing if not for injuries in 65 game rules. Kyrie Irving, Franz Wagner, Paolo Bancaro, Kawhi Leonard, Zion Williamson.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
uh, Zion, Brandon Ingram, John Morant, Isaiah Hartenstein. Stop. Stop. I'm just saying Chet Holmgren, Damian Lillard, Norm Powell, drew holiday. These are like all guys who have had either had really great seasons or in the past were in these conversations. And so when I'm, when I'm looking at all NBA or, you know, other awards, uh,
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
I'm also looking at the list of like, all right, who have we had recently? Okay. No, no, that guy's out. Put a line through them. Like that is a big block of guys who either are stars or, or were recent stars or had really good seasons, but just didn't play enough games. And it's just an interesting and very kind of sobering list.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Like there's a, like think about in a normal year where Luca had played enough games, we'd be saying, Oh, wow, what a weird year. He's going to be an MVP, the MVP conversation in all NBA, probably first team, but split among two teams. When has that ever happened? But he didn't play enough games.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Jimmy Butler, his case would have been on all NBA would have possibly been tanked just by the fact that he tanked his way out of Miami. And there's a price to pay for that. But look at what he's done for the Warriors. Like there's a case for like Jimmy Butler getting honors based on how he is
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Or Big Face Coffee. Isn't that the name of his coffee company? Yeah. Big Face Coffee. I'll buy stock in Big Face Coffee. I like coffee.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Probably just to mock one of the many names that's out there.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Anybody, anybody could play a fourth quarter for the Raptors. We've seen this. It doesn't matter.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
candidacy but i'm open but that's just where i am i have no idea who i'd vote for there's there's been in i feel like in the last decade or so i think there's most there's been kind of this general framework of defensive player of the year where it's kind of been like a big who's an anchor on a top five top 10 defense right that's the rudy gobert model and the dream on green model in the past and on that basis like evan mobley the calves are ninth in defensive rating
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
So not dominant, but very, very good. They've been 15th since the All-Star break. And we talked about this earlier. The Cavs have kind of... But again, it's sometimes hard to put too much weight on the last month of a season or last few weeks of a season where you've got everything locked up and there's not as much to play for. You don't have to come out with the same intensity.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
But Draymond Green fits those parameters, too, for Defensive Player of the Year. The Warriors are 7th in defensive rating, 3rd since the All-Star break. Unejectable, Draymond Green. And by the way...
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Okay. The flip side of that is, I don't know how people are going to react to this one. I have not heard any discussion of this. I think he's probably one of the only guys who gets called for the flagrant for that elbow. Like that, that, that was a normal, like driving, shooting layup motion. Like what? Let's, let's, let's be honest.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Cause I agree with you. The crap out of Shingun every other way, the whole game. And so at that point you've lost the benefit of the doubt, but like, I don't know how many other players are getting called for a flagrant for driving to the hoop against a defender who has jumped into you as well. So I don't know. That one was weird. I don't want to be the Draymond Green apologist.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
All right, so the all-defensive team. Draymond, Mobley, Dort are all first team for sure. I think Amin Thompson is first team for sure. I had penciled in Ibika Zubac. Um, the Clippers are number two in defensive rating.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
And again, going back to the defensive player of the year framework where it's, it's, you know, if you are the, the primary reason, overwhelming reason for your team being a dominant defensive team, um, I'm going to give that a lot of weight. So at the moment, Zubach fifth. But that bumps guys who, you know, you discussed.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Dyson Daniels gets bumped to second team there. And Dyson Daniels has been just freaking awesome. And Jaron Jackson, did he get bumped to second team? Jaron Jackson Jr. also on the second team. So that's the seven that I was sure of. Everything after that, I'm still kind of noodling around. Gobert and Ananobi are guys who I have kind of rotated in and out of those spots.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Somebody was mentioning me the other day because I'd forgotten about him. Back to the Clippers. Chris Dunn? I don't think he qualifies because of the 20-minute-a-game rule. I think he's ineligible. Again, this 65-game thing with all these freaking sub clauses just drives me absolutely batshit.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Yeah. Kicked around Derek White. Kicked around Nikhil Alexander-Walker. Bam, obviously, you have to consider every time.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Yeah. Heat 10th as of this morning in defensive rating. So, yeah, the Heat have fallen apart, although, you know, a little late-season resurgence. But, yeah, they're not great. But defensively, they're still as stout as ever. And Bam – I don't think Bam has lost anything. Do you? I mean, it's been a rough season.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
And the other one that I'm struggling with a little bit here is, like, Rudy Gobert's raw numbers are down, right? The block shots and the rebounds are just down. But the Timberwolves are still, they're sixth as of this morning in defensive rating. And they've got some great wing defenders, you know, Jada McDaniels and the aforementioned Nikhil Alexander-Walker.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Like, they've got, you know, Anthony Edwards himself. Like, they've got good defenders, but like, The Timberwolves are top six defense because of Gobert and still everything that he deters, dissuades Mr. X. And so the raw numbers don't look as dominant as they did in his defensive player of the year seasons. He's surging, too, toward the end of the season. Yeah, as are the Wolves.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
So I feel like I'm probably going to get him back on there.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
No, no other party thoughts. Just this has been an honor. And again, you don't want to hear it.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
For the longest time, my top three life moments were, yes, marriage, birth of my daughter, and the moment that I got the job at the New York Times was just like this career-altering, life-changing, just this thrill. I can still remember walking across Times Square, where the TKTS booth is and the little police booth, whatever, calling my wife, New York, back to LA, saying... I got it.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
We're moving to New York, and here we are 21 years later still here. In terms of other goofy career honors, though, you and I being animated in Game of Zones, still an all-timer. I even got to do my own line in one of those episodes. So I might have to revive that screenshot for Blue Sky today.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
My Real Ones turn has shifted because I'll be popping on with you now and then. So Friday's now on The Real Ones instead of Tuesday's on The Real Ones. Two pieces I'm cranking on for TheRinger.com that I don't want to –
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
spoiled just yet but a couple things coming at least one of them before the playoffs one of them probably around time of the play-in but yeah dude again just I'm so excited to have you here and and working with you we've never been teammates all this time we have done a thousand podcasts your podcast my podcast drunk with power podcasts all kinds of stuff we're actually teammates this is awesome I love it thank you for being here fun times Howard Beck everybody thank you sir thank you
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Top of my head, I'm going to guess the Clippers.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
There were two things there, actually, that I thought made it clear why Jaws being singled out. Yeah, of course he's being singled out. One is, yeah, his history and the fact that he was suspended twice for two instances of flashing what appeared to be actual guns on Instagram Live.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
So, yes, the league is, of course, going to be more sensitive to you, just like there are certain guys in the league who are more likely to get rung up for flagrance and text based on their behavior. Like, you have a track record. So that's one. The second is...
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
It seemed to me, Zach, that when Ja did the two finger point gun thingies, it was directly at the Warriors bench, at Buddy Heald, at whoever. So instead of like the McHale Bridges or other guys who are shooting things in the air and they're like skeet shooting and they're shooting flaming arrows and things, this wasn't like a celebration. This looked more threatening.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
And I think the fact that it... And I haven't asked the league on this, but the fact that it was actually aimed at someone... As a threat, plus his history, to me, is probably why, yes, you get the fine. Also, you got the warning first. Then you got the fine because you defied it and did it again. Like, at that point, you're asking for it. You're defying the league.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
You're flipping off the commissioner's office. Like, that's just not smart. And so I have, you know, it's hard for me to hear anybody trying to defend it or making him out to be some sort of victim at this point.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Easy enough. Yeah. No guns, no fake guns, no real guns, no finger guns, just no guns. How about that?
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Before I forget, just one quick observation. I can't remember, Zach, and I don't know if you have a thought here. I don't think I can remember any year where in either conference you looked with a week to go and said, there are seven teams that could make the conference finals.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Like, I don't think I'd rule out anybody except for maybe, like, I'll downgrade Memphis a little bit, just some volatility there. But the top seven in the standings right now, any two of them are in the conference finals. And, of course, we expect the Thunder will be there. But Thunder and whoever, it could be anybody. And given, you know...
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
just given the Thunder's lack of playoff experience, I think people are still kind of waiting to see, like, okay, well, you're 1,000 games ahead of us, but let's see you prove it now in the postseason. But I don't recall... Like, this is the extreme parity that the league absolutely loves.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
Except... No. But the parity is 2 through 7, or 2 through 8, however you want to slice it. Every single one of those teams, I feel like... Look, and it seems...
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
What? The Zach Lowe Show? What's happening? There's a sign? You have a sign. They were quick at Spotify. I don't have any signs. You've got a sign. That's awesome. I love the sign. Um... I think we all love the old name. The new name is fine. It forces you to say your own name every time you open a show, which I know you love that. You love attention.
The Zach Lowe Show
Lakers' Statement Win Over OKC? Plus, Awards Talk With Howard Beck and a Warriors Check-In With Anthony Slater.
What struck me is that Luka still owns the Thunder, number one. This has to be the only bigger nightmare for the Thunder than Luka being on the Mavericks with a full compliment around him is now Luka's on the Lakers and standing there next to LeBron James.