Slam N JamAndrew Schlecht and Alex Speers discuss the week of NBA Basketball, who should be DPOY?, their favorite quotes, players, and stats of the week, and more. Then they are joined by Scott Agnes to discuss the Indiana Pacers and if their recent play is a sign of things to come. Then the boys play a fun edition of Andrew vs. the Beat, a trivia game where Andrew is pitted against a beat writer.Host: Andrew Schlecht and Alex SpeersWith: Scott AgnesExecutive Producer: Andrew SchlechtAudio/Video Editor: Jake Kleinberg Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What are the top NBA stories this week?
Welcome to the Saturday Slammin' Jam here on the Athletic NBA Daily. On today's show, we're talking NBA Cup aftermath, Defensive Player of the Year odds, and Scott Agnes joins the show to talk about the Indiana Pacers. But to start us off, Al, tell me about the top stories this week.
Well, Andrew, our top story this week was the crowning of the 2024 NBA Cup champion, the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks were led by two-time NBA MVP and one-time NBA Cup MVP, Giannis Anetokounmpo, who put up a 26-19-10 line with Three blocks in the 97-81 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. That's right, 97-81. The Thunder shot 34% from the field and 15% from three.
The last time OKC had that bad of a game, me and Andrew were arguing about whether Alexey Pokushevsky would be a Hall of Famer or just a multi-time All-Star. For the Bucs, it wasn't just another memorable elimination game performance for Giannis. It was also the second NBA Cup championship for summer free agent signing Torian Prince and assistant coach Darvin Hamm.
Will we get a Hamm man three-peat next season? Speaking of three-peats, the Chicago Bulls have won three in a row, including a shocker on Thursday night, a 117-108 win over the Celtics in Boston. After losing only four home games all of last season, the Celtics have already lost four this season, and it's not even Christmas.
Zach Levine led the Bulls with 36 points, another strong performance in what has been a bounce-back season for him. Could that bounce-back lead to a trade? Well, this week, the athletic Sam Amick reported that the Denver Nuggets have expressed significant interest in Levine, a deal that would likely involve Michael Porter Jr.
In the meantime, the Bulls are now 13-15, 9th in the East, with the 12th-ranked offense and 23rd-ranked defense per Cleaning the Glass. Now, potential trades are fun, but what about real trades? Well, we had two this week. First, kind of a minor one in Indiana as the Pacers sent a 2031 second round pick swap to the heat for Thomas Bryant. Not super exciting.
A second, more exciting trade, though, followed with the Golden State Warriors sending DeAnthony Melton, Reese Beekman, and three second-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets for Dennis Schroeder and a 20-25 second.
Now, the Warriors are in need of some offensive help in those non-steff minutes and also just in need of help more generally because since starting 12-3, the Warriors have lost 11 of their last 13 innings. including a 144-93 destruction at the hands of the Grizzlies in Memphis on Thursday night. The 51-point loss was the fifth biggest loss in Warriors franchise history.
And in his first game as a Warrior, Dennis Schroeder did get the start, but he went 2-of-12 for five points. The Grizzlies, meanwhile, are 19-9, second in the West. Now, in a week without many basketball games and not a lot to talk about, it was a particularly bad time to publicly steal a PlayStation 5 from a child. But that's exactly what the Charlotte Hornets decided to do.
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Chapter 2: Who are the top contenders for Defensive Player of the Year?
I just don't like it, man. I just don't like it. This is exciting. Okay, it's now time for our favorites of the week, Andrew. Starting off... with our favorite quote. And for me, the NBA officially announced their new All-Star game format. They're doing four teams, eight players each, three teams of All-Stars, one team of Rising Stars. Chuck, Kenny, Shaq, and Candice Parker are the coaches.
Personally, I'm excited. I will say that this format for the Rising Stars games has made it much more interesting to me to watch. Now, the NBA chose this week of the NBA Cup to make the announcement, maybe trying to generate a little buzz, get people talking. Well, within minutes of the announcement, Kevin Durant was asked about the changes and said, quote, I hate it. I absolutely hate it.
Now, listen, that's not a good quote. It shouldn't be my favorite. In fact, it's a bad quote. He shouldn't have said it. But it did make me laugh because you could not script a worse response
rollout for this league and it just kind of summed up this current funk the NBA is in where they just can't seem to do anything right they can't get out of their own way the story no matter what it is is always going to skew negative and usually the negativity is coming from inside the house so it did make me laugh though I hate it I absolutely hate it it's just so direct and explicit he's not even like beating around the bush at all nope
Nope. It's funny to me that it's a funny strategy to use because I don't think it's going to necessarily get them what they want. It's like having a cake that you're like, this cake, we know this cake is not good. It's not going to go. But what if we cut it into smaller pieces and then gave you the cake? Would you like it then? Still not going to like the cake.
These guys still aren't going to try it. They're obviously not going to try again. It's like why are we – I don't know. I just say have the game. Just play it. Who cares? I don't think anybody is sitting down and being like, man, I just hate this All-Star game. It's mostly media and it's mostly the players. I don't think anybody else cares. I really don't.
I will say, though, the whole idea with the Elam ending was that, okay, even if this game sucks, we will get a game-winning shot. We will guarantee a game-winning shot. Now they have guaranteed multiple game-winning shots, and I bet at least one of those is genuinely interesting to watch. Like, one of those shots... will be a close game, and it will be cool.
So I get the calculus of, can we rig this to at least generate more moments? Because that's ultimately all this is going to be. The All-Star Game is a series of highlights for most people. And so I do think this will generate more highlights. And for that reason, it's a good idea. But Kevin Durant hates it, absolutely hates it. That's really funny. It's really funny.
I have a couple quotes. I just thought this was really funny from Mark Dignot last night. He's been pretty frustrated with the lack of foul calls that J-Dub has gotten for the Thunder all season. And then last night, he was talking to the media after the game, and he said, here's a stat. Jalen Williams and I both had the same amount of free throws tonight. We both shot zero.
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Chapter 3: How are the Indiana Pacers performing recently?
Ben Matherin, 12.4 feet. No, this player, his average shot is only from eight feet away from the basket. It is TJ McConnell.
Oh, duh. That's so bad. Everything was layups in those. Yes, that was bad.
God, that rocks. That's amazing.
It makes sense when you hear the name. It's like, oh, yes, obviously.
Okay, Andrew, the board is yours. Six. The Pacers traded for Thomas Bryant this week. What is Thomas Bryant's career high in points? Now you get to choose who answers first. You can make Scott answer first, and then you go higher or lower. Or you can answer first, and Scott will go higher or lower.
Okay. I will say... 33. 33.
Andrew has set the bar at 33 points for Thomas Bryant's career high.
I've been going too low in the past weeks, and now that feels uncomfortably high, to be honest.
But I always go back to, Andrew, there's a reason this question was asked. Yeah, there you go. What is the anomaly here? I'll go lower, even though I don't feel good about it.
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Chapter 4: What trades are the Pacers considering?
Chapter 5: What is the significance of LaMelo Ball's usage this season?
This is easy. It's the most coveted position, 6'8 wing. That's what they need. They need a Paul George. Okay, well, that's easy. It makes it easy for Pacer fans, so I continue to reference it. But that's the type of guy, a two-way player, who can do a little bit of everything.
Hmm. Okay. Is there anyone, like, has Pacers fans thrown out any names that seem, like, semi-realistic?
Not in particular. To me, it's just a running joke that whoever you play that is probably a 6'8 wing is going to go off. So, you know, it's Scotty Barnes one night and Kevin Durant the other night. I mean, he's obviously taller, but at least 6'8". Hmm. Those guys have tremendous success.
So also, that's why they struggle with the more quote-unquote modern teams like Toronto, Orlando, who has just full of size and athleticism and length. They give the Pacers all kinds of fits for that reason. So filling in that gap at the three spot would be their number one focus.
So Alex and I were both fans of Jairus Walker during the draft process, like a lot of people were. And we've been a little surprised at how few minutes that he's gotten, or at least the few minutes he got his rookie season. But he's played a little bit more this season. What have been your impressions of his game and where he's at?
Yeah, I would say offensively come along better than I thought to this point, especially his three-point shot. So last year, the challenge in all this is he was drafted to fill a need. And then one month later, they acquired Obi Toppin. And six months later, they acquired Pascal Siakam. Those two guys obviously fill in the four spot.
So here's this 19-year-old rookie who has a lot to learn, who played in a very different system under Kelvin Sampson at Houston that year. required much different things of him.
And he acknowledged there was a steep learning curve in trying to break old habits, especially what he could do defensively at Houston versus what the Pacers are trying to impress upon him and force them to do and all those sorts of things. So defensively, I think I expected more and I've gotten less. And offensively, conversely, I think that's where he really benefited in particular from his
significant time last year in the G League is he didn't hesitate from three, and now he's shooting, I think, about 40% from distance. But you would like to see more from him, demand more from him. And the hope coming into this season, guys, was, okay, we know there's not many minutes at the four spot.
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Chapter 6: Who are the most improved players in the NBA right now?
meta world peace oh interesting interesting okay that means that means the score is tied three to three so we're going to go into sudden death oh boy okay for sudden death we are going to do the franchise top 10 in most triple doubles Okay? Franchise top 10 in most triple doubles. And I'm going to let Scott guess first, and then Andrew will guess, and we'll go back and forth. Oh, no.
I am not going to do good in this. We'll start with Tyrese, obviously.
Tyrese Halliburton. Now, okay, I am going to have to check on this. I wish I hadn't have asked this question now because the guys who are number 10, there's like five of them tied for two. So I wonder if he because he is not on the list, but I wonder if he actually did make the list. So I am talking right now because I'm doing a stat head search and I'm going to find this out right now.
Don't worry, Andrew. It's not going to take any time at all because stat head is always super quick. I'm there. Tyrese Halliburton has only had one triple double in his career. Scott, I am sorry. Mm hmm. In his career. So he is not on the top ten list, which means, Andrew, to win the week, you just need to name one pacer.
One of my favorite pacers of all time. He surely had one. I will be so mad at myself. I will not forgive myself the entire weekend if he did not have one as a pacer.
Andrew, he needs to have two. To be clear, he needs to have two.
Yeah. That's where I messed up. I thought we were doing any pacer with a triple double. I think he had to have had multiple. He had to have had multiple. Yeah. And I just would love to just hear his name one more time on this podcast, and that's Lance Stevenson. Lance Stevenson.
Ooh, Lance Stevenson. Lance Stevenson, in his career, had five triple-doubles, Andrew. Five triple-doubles. Congrats on the win. And even more fun than that, he did it all in one season. Five triple-doubles in one season. Yeah.
Now, the franchise leader, Brian Miles, It was 13-14, yeah. All-Star Lance season. Sir Lance-a-lot season.
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