Contender Draft + Playoff Preview | Slam N Jam
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What are the top NBA headlines this week?
Well, Andrew, our top story this week was the end of the 24-25 regular season. The Phoenix Suns, owners of the league's highest payroll, missed the play-in completely, finishing tied with the Portland Trail Blazers at 36-46. In response, the Suns quickly moved to fire coach Mike Budenholzer, who was only hired last summer. Now, assuming Devin Booker is still a Sun next season, their next coach will be his 8th head coach in 11 NBA seasons. Matt Ishbia met with the media this week and was defiant, promising that the Suns would win championships, quote, with an S at the end. Another word with an S at the end is picks, which the Suns do not have until I'm like 45. The expectation is that Kevin Durant will be traded this summer. And while many have assumed Houston would be a likely suitor, Mark Stein reported this week that a Katie trade would be unlikely for the Rockets because he does not fit with the team's timeline. Now, it took all the way until game 82 to decide who would finish the season with the worst record.
And this year's reverse champion was the Utah Jazz, who finished with 17 wins, only three more than last year's Pistons team. The Jazz secured the worst record after the Wizards got a dramatic win in the final game of the season, a 119 to 118 win in Miami that ended on an impossible Bub Carrington floater at the buzzer. The Wizards finished the season with an average scoring margin of minus 12.4. That is third worst in NBA history behind only the seven win Bobcats and the 92-93 Dallas Mavericks. Now, speaking of the Mavs, as we do every week, some good news finally happened for Mavs fans this week. but not before the Mavericks franchise could make something bad happen first. The day before the Mavs 9-10 play-in game against the Kings, Nico Harrison offered to sit down with the local media for an interview with the stipulation that there would be no cameras or recordings made of the interview. Thankfully, he did not exclude writing utensils, and so the entire interview was still widely available.
When asked about Mavs fans' biggest misunderstanding regarding the Luka trade, Harrison said, quote, Defense wins championships. When asked about how creating a three to four year window after trading away the team's future first was in the best long term interest of the team, Harrison said, quote, defense wins championships. When asked why he didn't believe the team he built last season, which went to the NBA finals, was a contender. Harrison said, quote, defense wins championships. Somehow, none of those answers were as bad as Mavs CEO Rick Welts comparing the Luka trade to Golden State trading Monte Ellis for Andrew Bogut. The second trade comparison is many weeks from the Mavs, where it's unclear which side of the trade they think they are. Thankfully for Mavs fans, however, the week wasn't all bad as the Mavs completely demolished the Kings in Sacramento, getting up by as many as 25 points before coasting to the win.
Now, two years after ending their 16-year playoff drought, the Kings lost to the Mavs, locked in their second consecutive season, missing the playoffs. The Kings responded by agreeing to part ways with GM Monty McNair, quickly hiring Scott Perry as GM, who was previously in the Kings front office and was most recently with the Knicks. The athletic Sam Amick reported that McNair didn't want to fire Mike Brown, which is why we didn't see anything from the Kings after Brown was fired. Amick also reported that McNair may have not been behind either the DeRozan signing or the Levine trade. Now, Levine's old team, the Chicago Bulls, are also out of the playoffs after similarly getting destroyed by a 10-seeded home.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are the top NBA headlines this week?
0:29–5:19
2
Which teams were the surprise teams this season?
5:19–10:23
3
Who are the players to watch post-All-Star break?
10:23–22:49
4
What are the key playoff matchups to consider?
22:49–42:30
5
Which teams are likely to win the championship?
42:30
6
What did Dan Devine think about the Bulls' season?
40:17–44:07
7
How did the Kings' management decisions impact their season?
44:07–54:03
8
What are the predictions for the upcoming playoff series?
54:03–1:09:58