00:00We're joined here by Gilbert McGregor from PHNX Sports, and we're talking about all things NBA.
00:06We'll get to second half, futures, performances, and expectations, all of that.
00:10But we teased it before. Let's get into it a little bit.
00:12This alleged Kevin Durant burner situation, where, as we know, and you said it,
00:20we were talking about it during the break, Kevin Durant, anyone who is a basketball fan knows that
00:24this guy is very online, chronically online, and there have been suspicions of him having burners
00:31over the years, but nothing proven, and this new one is not proven, but coming out over the weekend,
00:36some pretty damning tweets from a burner account out there calling out a number of people that he
00:43has either played with or played for over the years, certainly local to you there in Phoenix and
00:48covering the Suns. Devin Booker, this is a tweet. Devin Booker and Frank Vogel are dictators,
00:54Stalin and Hitler, Mussolini and Kim Jong-un. The Suns are my team when we lose, Devin Booker's team
01:00when we win. On and on. I mean, there are a lot of great tweets in here. What do you
01:06make of this
01:06whole situation?
01:100 to 100 pretty quickly as far as stuff kind of coming out with that potential alleged burner
01:17account. Now, I know he's admitted to having them in the past, and he's been caught up when he forgot
01:21to switch accounts, replying to some accounts maybe several, four, five, six years ago with
01:27some stuff about his exit from Golden State. So the evidence kind of points toward it being
01:32potentially him. I obviously don't want to point out and just say definitively that it is, but
01:37the big thing, and you and I discussed this as we were preparing for this segment, just
01:41if it is him, any part of it, any of it isn't doctored. He's got some bridges to probably repair,
01:48whether it's with his former teammates, former coaches, current teammates that he's playing with,
01:52whatever it is that he said that is true from him. It blows my mind a little bit that that
01:58kind
01:58of is what it is. And I know that people have their opinions about co-workers that they've had,
02:02but just sharing it in that form is a very interesting thing to see as far as that goes. And
02:08it does make
02:09me wonder, again, where is this coming from and what that means for those relationships if this
02:14is proven to be true. Yeah, I mean, KD, do it like the rest of us. Do it in the
02:18group chat and just
02:19hope your phone isn't seized by the government. That's really what it comes down to. Don't go do
02:24it out there with a burner out there. I don't know. Yeah, crazy. So let's talk about your sons,
02:3232 and 23, nine and a half back, obviously, of the Thunder, but only a game and a half out
02:38of a playoff spot. That one through six in the West as it sits right now, top seed in the
02:42play
02:43in tournament, you know, long way to go, I realized. But this team, I don't know what your
02:48expectations were going into the year. Mine for Phoenix, very low. I thought we'd get something
02:53similar to what we saw last year. So really just overshooting expectation as far as I'm concerned.
02:59But is it sustainable led by Booker? Absolutely. I mean, talk about expectations. It's the team that
03:05surpassed their preseason over under win total before all-star break, which is a feat in itself.
03:10And now they're somewhat playing with found money as far as where they are this season.
03:14They stumbled a little bit into the all-star break, but I think they just ran out of gas.
03:18This is a team that plays extremely hard. They outplay teams every night just with their effort.
03:22And I think that that takes a toll on teams. So coming out of the all-star break, I do
03:26think
03:26that we'll see a surge from this team that just picked up Haywood Highsmith, who spent some time
03:31with Miami Heat in the past several years as kind of an added player to add to that group of
03:36guys
03:36that play really hard for this team. The schedule doesn't get any lighter, especially in the Western
03:41Conference, but they've proven the ability to compete and beat anybody this year. So as far as
03:47where I see them landing, I think that a top six seed is very much within reach. I think the
03:51Lakers
03:51who are ahead of them still are a very flawed team. And I think that they are primed to surpass
03:57the
03:57Lakers. It's interesting, the Rockets, who knows what happens now, they're ahead of the Suns as
04:01well. They could implode if this stuff is proven to be true. So I think the Suns right now have
04:05a
04:0515% chance to finish with the fifth seed and maybe a 16% chance to finish sixth. I think
04:10that they
04:10finish around fifth or sixth. And then how far they go depends on first-round matchups. So
04:14they're a fun team and they're going to have fun this second half of the season.
04:18A lot of people going into the year just assumed the Oklahoma City Thunder, who really didn't have any
04:23notable off-season changes, they're going to run it back and they're going to roll to another title.
04:27And, you know, it's hard to argue against the talent on that squad. And really, despite the 42
04:32and 14 record, difficult to properly evaluate any struggles because this team has had so many issues
04:39staying healthy of late. But I still look at this team and, you know, on the one hand, I say,
04:44best team in the NBA, deepest, and why couldn't they repeat? But then there's another part of me
04:50that looks at the head-to-heads with the Spurs and says, man, if that's a seven-game series that
04:55we're looking at in the playoffs, this team is certainly beatable because San Antonio,
05:00for whatever reason, has had OKC's number all throughout.
05:03Yeah, I think that the big reason is that seven-foot-five big man that they have down
05:07there in San Antonio. Victor Wimbanyama is a guy who, he just is a matchup nightmare on both ends
05:13of the floor for basically every team in the NBA because how do you deal with a guy that's that
05:17tall
05:17that has that skill set that he has? Now, the Thunder, as you mentioned, have not been healthy
05:22basically at all this year. As soon as one guy comes in the lineup, one or two guys leave.
05:26And we haven't really seen the strength at any point this season. But I still think they have
05:30a team to beat. I actually think that the Nuggets are their toughest battle or their biggest obstacle
05:36to get back to the finals, knowing Nikola Jokic and what he's capable of. And the fact that they
05:40pushed them to seven games last year as good as the Thunder were, I think the Nuggets are much
05:44better this year considering bringing back Bruce Brown, adding Tim Hardaway Jr. If the Nuggets can get
05:49healthy, I think it's between the Nuggets and the Thunder in the Western Conference. I think the
05:53Spurs need to have that year of kind of learning what the playoffs are like, as we see with most
05:57young teams. But all that being said, it's going to be very, very exciting to watch the Western
06:01Conference playoffs unfold. Go to the East before we're out of time. The Celtics are really exceeding
06:08most people's expectations given the losses in the offseason and what they've done. Still not having
06:13Jason Tatum sitting 35-19, 5.5 behind Detroit for the top spot in the East and increased reports
06:20that Tatum is going to play at some point this year. Hell, he's partnered up with NBC to release
06:25videos documenting his progress over the coming weeks here on a weekly basis. I feel like it's
06:30only a matter of time, probably inside the next three weeks, we see this guy back, as far as I'm
06:35concerned anyway. Are the Celtics the team to beat in the Eastern Conference?
06:40It's tough to say. You know, I think the Pistons still kind of have to learn some things. They
06:44are a flawed team. The Celtics are definitely outplaying expectations and bringing Tatum back
06:49would be massive for them. If he comes back and can be incorporated pretty easily into what they're
06:55doing, they are the team to beat in the Eastern Conference. Now it's a lot, a big few ifs there,
07:00knowing how big of a player that he is, but also knowing how great he is, that makes him very
07:04tough to beat. So I think it's between the Celtics and the Pistons, and also the Knicks might have
07:09something to say about that as well. They're figuring some things out, but the Eastern Conference,
07:12as quiet as it's kept, is going to be a fun race as well.
07:16Gil McGregor on Twitter, at Gil McGregor with an underscore, of course, PHNX Sports. Gil,
07:22thank you so much, man. Always enjoy catching up.
07:24Absolutely. Do it again soon.
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