Changing of the Guard in the NBA: Surprises and Outlook

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00:00I don't know if the NBA likes this or they don't like this, but certainly it appears as though we

00:04got a changing the guard in the NBA. I mean, you look at three of the top four teams, Oklahoma City,

00:10Cleveland, and Houston, and you could throw even Memphis in there. I mean, these are not big market

00:14teams. This is a surprise that these teams are within the top five. But again, Gilbert,

00:20we also know that the NBA season is long. Some teams don't take the regular season as seriously

00:25as others. And there are a lot of teams on the outside looking in that can make a run,

00:29no question about that. Do you think that there is a changing of the guard or is this just an

00:34aggressive regular season for Oklahoma City, Cleveland, Houston, Memphis?

00:39It's an interesting balance of things, right? And I think when you look at a team like Oklahoma City,

00:42Cleveland, and even Boston kind of fits in this as well. One thing that most of these teams have in

00:46common is that they've built through the NBA draft. So a lot of homegrown talent on their

00:50team. I know Boston made some moves to put themselves over the top and I could honestly

00:55teams like OKC, Cleveland, and they have to a certain extent making some other trades to put

00:59themselves over the top. I know Donovan Mitchell isn't homegrown and guys like Isaiah Hardenstein,

01:03even Shea Gillis-Alexander isn't technically homegrown talent, but it does kind of feel like

01:07the NBA is shifting to that type of thing. And when you talk about outsiders looking in, you

01:12look at Denver and you look at Milwaukee, anytime you have Nicola Jokic or Giannis Antetokounmpo

01:17on your roster, you have a chance to win and win big. And ultimately, stars drive where this league

01:22goes and stars win championships. So at the end of the day, star power always rules out, but it's

01:27good to see, it's refreshing to see teams built through the draft and have their homegrown talent

01:31on their rosters.