The Ryen Russillo Podcast
Part 1: More Mavs Misery with Kyrie Out for the Season, 15 NBA East Teams in 15(ish) Minutes, and Les Claypool of Primus!
Tue, 04 Mar 2025
The first installment of this two-part special starts with Russillo sharing his thoughts on Kyrie Irving’s season-ending injury and how it affects how we look at the Luka trade. Then, he runs through the NBA’s 15 Eastern Conference teams in just over 15 minutes (6:06). Later, Primus’ Les Claypool joins the show to talk about their search for a new drummer, his time with Oysterhead, and the journey of his career (52:30) . Check us out on YouTube for exclusive clips, livestreams, and more at https://www.youtube.com/@RyenRussilloPodcast. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Les Claypool Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, Mike Wargon, and Jonathan Frias This episode is sponsored by State Farm®. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.® Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What happened to Kyrie Irving this season?
But we have to start with the headline, the breaking news this morning. Kyrie Irving lost for the season with a torn ACL. We were watching it last night on the drive. You were wondering, could it have been something else? He's helped off. He makes the free throws. And then we get the word this morning. I'll just tell you right now, Mavs fans, I feel for you.
I mean, this is an absolutely brutal, brutal stretch. You know, I know some of the talking points on this are kind of the karma element of it, but you're also doing that to millions of Mavs fans. So if this were about karma... they would deserve a deep playoff run.
Chapter 2: How does Kyrie's injury affect the Mavericks?
Because I still think with a healthy AD and a healthy Kyrie, and I've mentioned this before, I really like Dallas and their offseason and some of their improvements around this team with Luka in place, considering this is a finals team last year that had to navigate a really tough West. But, all right, so Luka's gone. We've covered that.
then you're thinking at least for 25 with a healthy AD who's been incredible the last couple of years, which again was another whole reason why for all the reasons the trade was ridiculous and should have never happened. You're trading for an Anthony Davis that I think the biggest Anthony Davis fans would tell you, you're always worried about that next moment.
I mean, one of the, I don't even want to use the word funny, but you know, living in LA when 80 was hurt, you know, it's after the title, uh, And there's this kind of like limbo phase of the Lakers. And local radio would be like, well, what could you get for AD? And it's a bit like the Zion conversation where, okay, what's the market for Zion?
I mean, some of the most negative, absurd Zion being at the lowest value rating was still just ridiculous. It's like, look, another team would trade for him. But I think the win in what you're seeing from the way Zion is playing is that the Pelicans are like, okay, I think we actually need to pivot off of this. Um, his market has recovered.
It will recover if he continues to play like this and is healthy going into the off season. So when you think about the lowest point of the Anthony Davis stretches, was it where it wasn't about his playing? It was about his availability and then trying to project out as he got older and be like, okay, well,
kind of contract do you want to do for somebody like this like how much can you really bank on him and then you have local talk shows which again i'm not even being critical of the local talk shows because i did it and it's just kind of what you do is like could you trade anthony davis what do you get for him and back to the zion point is that really the best thing you can hope for is that he plays well and then if you wanted to make a move that he would be available or more interesting to more teams because you just start to talk yourself into the recency bias of what you've just seen from a player
And in this case, Anthony Davis goes to, what could you get for him into Luka Doncic years later? Because AD was healthy and playing really well. But the fact that you would trade Luka, again, to just one team. And I know there's been some reports that they had kicked the tires on other players. From what I had heard,
Dallas may have inquired about other stars, but didn't really lay out any kind of blueprint that involved Luca. So then it becomes a debate of semantics. So even if you love Anthony Davis, which is kind of funny because I think there was like a player reaction to it, you know, players in the media being like, you know, Anthony Davis isn't nothing. All of us
understand that okay every single person that had a comment on this trade all understood like the best version of anthony davis is an awesome basketball player like he's a top 10 player in the league but he's 31 and he's hurt all the time after two really healthy years so like okay now he's had the two healthy years now it's never going to be an issue again so he gets hurt immediately so now the trade is even worse and
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Chapter 3: What are the current standings of the Eastern Conference?
They have the second lowest amount of drives in the NBA. So it's like, OK, is that something? Does this team settle a little bit? too much. Well, Denver's last. Denver's last on drives. They pass it per game, the fifth lowest in the NBA. Total number of passes in a game. Behind them, though, Lakers, Denver, Milwaukee. Maybe Milwaukee's not your
Chapter 4: What makes the Cleveland Cavaliers a strong team this season?
Maybe the Lakers are going to be a little less movementy with Luka being so dominant with the ball and LeBron and Reeves looking for his kind of matchups. Denver maybe is just different from everybody else because Jokic is just this maestro pulling all the strings and all these different things. But like these numbers don't really mean anything, even if they seem a little bit lower.
I mean, they even have one number here where they have the most shots in the NBA between 25 and 29 feet. So that's 33 attempts on those shots per game. That's five more than number two Golden State. That's a pretty big differential between number one and two, but they make 37% of them.
So there could be a few things over the course of a Celtics game where I'm like, I don't know what's going on there. I think if there's an anti-Celtics argument, it could be, hey, they coasted through the East because everybody was hurt the whole time. So some of those questions we had about stagnant
kind of one-on-one basketball, but not really driving and settling for some of these mid-range, getting into threes a little bit too early? Was that not exposed because they weren't really tested? And maybe Dallas wasn't even the best team from the West, and that's who they faced in the finals. It's a terrible matchup for the Mavs.
I can understand some of that stuff, but I almost think the standard that And I'll just say for me, my standard is probably just too high for them because of how special I think they are. It almost feels like when the SEC loses a national championship or in this case, last couple years, doesn't play in one. It's like, hey, what's wrong with those guys? So that's where I'm at with Boston.
All right. The Knicks. Probably guess where I'm going with this. The Knicks defensively. That's really what this conversation is about. They're one of my favorite teams to watch, by the way. If the Knicks are on, it's a lot of fun. They win a ton of close games. You know their starting five is going to be. That's pretty clear because you've seen him throughout.
So defensively or offensively, start there first. Number four in the NBA, 18th on defense. Last 15, 22nd in defense. Last year, they were seventh in offense, ninth in defense. So defensively, I can't believe the defensive numbers are actually this bad with OG, McHale, Hart.
But it's a bit like a baseball team having a bad defensive shortstop and catcher because when your point guard is Brunson and can be attacked, and Cat is going to be brought up into every single switch and get used to it.
If this team closes with Cat in playoff games because they have the Mitchell-Robinson scenario, which is now back, which I'll get to here in a second, I don't know if Tibbs is going to be able to play Mitchell-Robinson and Cat together. Maybe he's just going to have to to try to bring up some sort of rim protection. I don't know what he's going to do.
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Chapter 5: Why are the Boston Celtics a title contender?
Matherin's three-point shooting, it's been bad two of the last three months after kind of a nice start there. So it might be a Neesmith closing group here. It's just hard to take them seriously with this defense. All right, let's talk about everybody's favorite team from the Midwest right now, and that's your Detroit Pistons. So the Pistons are 12th on offenses. Ninth on defense. Okay.
Last year, they were 27th on offense, 25th on defense. They won 10 of 11 games this year when they won 10 of 11 after the win against Utah. That's the first time they've won 10 and 11 since 2007, 2008 series. A season, I should say. Sorry. The last 15, they're the number three offense, the number three defense, number three in net rating behind Cleveland and OKC.
And it's not really about the passing and the touches because there's been talks of like, and again, I still would love to know how many Pistons games Monte Williams has watched this season. Because I wonder if he ever just watches like, hey, they've got some good players on this team.
The passing, touching, movement, all that kind of tracking data, you wonder, oh, is it they're getting... No, because a Cade is a bit like the Luka Harden model of like, I'm going to kind of figure it out until I figure out how to best use this possession, and it has worked for them.
But playing defense at a higher level and having your true shooting percentage improve from 26th in the NBA to 14th in the NBA, even just being average, means you're going to be in a lot more of these games. So shooting and defense has helped a lot of this stuff.
And I think Cade also is a bit of the Luca Tatum mold of when you're that big and you have that big of a frame and you have that big of a handle. I think SJ is a little different because I think he floats a little bit more than these guys, even though he has all the tricks and the angles down.
There is something to be said about the way the game is officiated right now, that if you're playing to contact, but your body is almost a shield against the defender, once you can figure those things out, and around the rim where Cade had struggled so much earlier in his career. He's figured that out.
On top of everything else with Cunningham, where he's just got this terrific vision to keep the possession going later or keeping his teammates engaged later because then he knows he might find them. That's an incredibly great place to start. They also play a million dudes. This is like a hockey team with what they're doing with the rotations in February.
I don't know what that's going to mean, but the Pistons right now are a half a game back from hosting a playoff round at home. They're only a half a game behind Milwaukee and the Pacers that are in front of them in the four and five seed. All right, we go to Miami. Number 19 on offense, number 12 on defense last year, 21st on offense, fifth on defense. So they're playing better defense last year.
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Chapter 6: What are the strengths and weaknesses of the New York Knicks?
I didn't bother looking it up. Last year, they were 22nd on offense, third on defense. To say it one more time, this team went to seven games last year with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the playoffs. Should Jalen Suggs get MVP votes? Well, he's not going to. He's not going to qualify. And now he's out for the season. Knee surgery. Kept trying to figure out what this contusion was.
If you look at the on-off stuff, there's a pretty significant swing for Jalen Suggs. I think it's like around nine points the last time I looked at it. The problem for them, well, there's a lot of problems. But their two best players, Paolo and Franz, are shooting 30% on threes. And...
They take 12 a game, or at least they take 12 a game in February, where Franz is shooting 29%, and Powell is down to 27% on threes. So you're looking at two scores that are combining for 50 points a game in February, and they're at a number where you're not going to tell these guys to stop taking threes, but other people would be told to stop taking threes.
Now, some of it, to be fair to two players that I still really like, Um, there's just so bad on offense, whatever they're trying to get into. And man, I'm telling you when it is bad, it is unwatchable. I think there was a Stan Van Gundy game where I just really appreciated his just absolute like exasperation watching them try to figure out what they were going to do.
And I don't know why it's this bad. But it's a lot of, oh, what do you want to do? Maybe we'll do this. Oh, this isn't working. Okay. Fran, shoot it. Paolo, shoot it. So I have, I think, a fairer eye in how bad some of the shooting is. I don't know what the shot quality stuff is here because I was looking at...
The wide open shots, I was looking at some of the quality tracking stuff that's out there because I was like, is it that they just have the lowest quality of shots? Well, on wide open shots, they actually were like 14th most in just a closest defender, not even being within 10 feet. That's how they track wide open shots. So it's not like they're not getting any of them.
Um, but this team is just forever has spacing issues. And for 66 million, you wanted a little bit more out of KCP and he's shooting 31%. And you want to talk like all don't notice him. I think he's all don't know to some second team NBA this year. I guess I could just say all don't know to some second team. KCP would get some votes.
There's some other guys who are just like, I know they've had some injury stuff here, but you're like, what the fuck is going on with that guy? It is so bad on offense. It's just so bad. They have a really good one-two. They'll have Suggs back.
you know, the Anthony Black stuff, the numbers are okay, but I expected a little bit more out of him, especially with the opportunity because of the other injuries. Cole Anthony's been really good for him. He's probably a six man forever. Jet Howard has not been really good for them.
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Chapter 7: How do the Milwaukee Bucks compare to other teams in the East?
They were 27 and 11. I remember doing a thing and being like, man, that's a really good start. But I'm wondering, do they have enough size on the perimeter to deal with Giannis in the playoffs? Then we didn't have to worry about that. If you go from that 27-11 record, again, from January of 22, they are 122 and 147 over three years. I don't know what they're doing.
I don't know what the point of the team is.
Kobe's good. He's bad on defense.
Fuch has good stats. He's 34. Giddey's 37% from three this year, and he's been insane from three in February. But they just have a bunch of guards that are probably all guys that come off the bench on other teams. Pat Williams, just not going to work out. Bezelis is the most exciting thing about this team. Again, Bezelis is the most exciting thing about this team because you're just like, maybe.
Okay, Brooklyn, let's talk about the bad teams here because, man, are these teams bad when it comes to some of the rankings. They were 27th on offense, 23rd on defense. Last year, they were 22nd on offense, and they were 20th on defense. They were 14-33, then went 7-2. They've lost four straight. Another team that plays really hard, but you need Google when you watch them. Cam Thomas is back.
He's had some rough stretches of just missing games from November 25th. Didn't play until December 29th and played on January 2nd. and his first game back, um, Friday night, 17 shots, 21 minutes. He is better than I gave him credit for this summer. I just think he's a pretty high volume guy that plays the game one way, but I would say the difficult shot making is impressive. Um,
Cam Johnson, asset. Claxton, kind of an asset. Those three guys are probably your starters. Keyon Johnson to get a ton of minutes. Killian Hayes, 38% from three with the Nets. That's probably not going to last. I've seen games where Watford is the number one option.
I've seen games, there was a recent game where the rotation, the five that were out there, I believe, were Watford, Reese Beekman, Tyrese Martin, Jalen Wilson, who's been okay, but not shooting it great. And then Tosan Iwuma, who played soccer at one point. So yeah, this is the real ones out there. who he played for, like the guys on TNT would be like the Nets.
I'm just going to keep guessing Nets. So I just wonder like what the player trade asset here is. Cause if you think of Brooklyn still as a destination, I don't know if people still look at it that way. I mean, I know you get something for Cam Johnson.
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Chapter 8: What is the future of the Washington Wizards in the NBA?
And then, ultimately, I think it's the question of what Cam Thomas' ceiling is because, you know... he's, he's likely like, is he good enough to be the third guy on a really good team? I know his scoring is that, uh, and again, he was better this year. I know Nets fans go crazy for him because he puts up huge, huge numbers, but you know, whatever.
I don't even know that we need to dig into it all that much more. All right. The Sixers offense, 24th defense, 25th last year, offense, 14th defense, 11th. We know the obvious stuff. Um, Paul George, worst advanced stats of his career. Max's three-point shooting has gone down four straight years, 43, 43, 37, 34.
I think that's a volume thing where I really felt like he was pressing because they needed him so badly offensively to just kind of carry them. So I'd give him a bit of a pass on some of the efficiency declining here. The McCain injury ruined the one feel-good story about this team, and then ultimately we're stuck with Embiid and an unknown future. The Embiid extension was irresponsible.
There's plenty of times where something will happen, I'll have a thought, and then a couple days removed from that thought or somebody will say, hey, you know what was really going on here was like this thing or that thing. You can try me on the Embiid thing and tell me there's all these things that I don't understand about it. I'm not changing my mind.
Three years, $193 million, fully guaranteed, not like the previous extension where they had protections. You saw him laboring. Thanks for the Serbia quarter, but for the most part, he looked like he was diminished. And maybe that's the positive. Cause like the on off stuff with him and Embiid historically has been, this is a special basketball team in the regular season when he's been out there.
That did not happen this year because when you watch it, it's like, Hey, he got his stats, but did you see him? He does not move unless he has the ball or knows exactly where he's moving. So knowing that they gave him this extension and, when they had him under contract for two years and a player option, right? It's inexcusable.
You want to talk about, well, we've given George and we've given Max this, so we owed it to him. Wait. Wait. He's hurt all the time. Wait. I don't understand it. He's going to be 34 years old and he's going to have a player option for $69 million a few years from now.
So you pray you land in the top six because the other element of this Sixers thing is that that draft pick lands outside of the top six and it ends up with Oklahoma City.
I think you've got to hope that... Can you out-tank Brooklyn? Does New Orleans get hot here with Zion?
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