- 11 hours ago
Dukes & Bell are joined by Brian Geltzieler as they discuss the NBA playoffs and how the Hawks can set the franchise up for the future with the upcoming NBA lottery.
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00:00Geltz, I've got to start with our guys. We'll get into these series that are ongoing.
00:04We know Embiid's out tonight, which could be a big deal, obviously, as the series could easily turn even more
00:11so towards New York after their big Game 1 win.
00:14But I want to ask you about what you saw with our team, I'm talking about the Hawks, and the
00:20needs, and then if they do have a top three pick, or even a top five pick, because the odds
00:26are there.
00:26I don't know where it's going to end up. Sunday is the draft lottery. What do you see this team
00:30needing?
00:32Well, listen, I think this team needs something that a lot of teams in the league need, which is a
00:38lead dog.
00:39Now, there's two ways you can get that lead dog. One way can be you can go and get a
00:44top three pick in this draft and end up with an A.J. DeBanca or a Caleb Wilson or a
00:50Darren Peterson.
00:51The other way is you can go trade for it, and the third way is you can develop it.
00:56Listen, I think that for the Hawks, what we saw on a couple fronts were, number one, in terms of
01:03being a guy that is going to have the mentality that the games are going to be won and lost
01:08on my shoulders.
01:09Jalen Johnson didn't appear ready for that. Now, I say it this way, guys. It doesn't mean he's never going
01:14to be ready.
01:15It just meant he wasn't ready right now.
01:17And there's been a lot of great players in this league that have won championships, that have entered the playoffs
01:21for the first time, and gotten their backsides kicked the same way the Hawks did.
01:25And listen, they were up 2-1 in the series. So all hopes not lost.
01:29And yes, the way Game 6 shook out had to be very upsetting for Hawks fans because they rolled over
01:35quickly.
01:35And you never want to see that in a playoff setting.
01:38But I think they were overmatched.
01:40I think Quinn Snyder got overmatched.
01:42I think there were only so many cards that he felt as though he could play.
01:46Could he have played a few more?
01:47I guess he could have.
01:49They weren't as disciplined as they needed to be once the Knicks stopped switching and getting to hunt Brunson out.
01:55Daniels ended up having to initiate more offense than the Hawks would ever want to.
01:58And they got hung up with attacking Brunson, and they weren't successful doing it because the Knicks hid Brunson well,
02:03as opposed to just trying to get the best shots that they possibly could.
02:06So their offense got out of control.
02:08And listen, they need to be a better defensive team.
02:10I think one of the things you look at defensively is Daniels was not this year what he was last
02:15year.
02:16And that's the one concerning thing I have because I think when it comes to Atlanta and the potential to
02:21have an above average or even elite defense,
02:25I think that you're going to need Dyson Daniels to be an elite defender in terms of doing that.
02:30The other thing that I think they have to look at, and I love this player, so it's hard for
02:33me to say,
02:34I'm an enormous fan of Aneka Kanwu, but in a league that's trending bigger, it's fair to ask the question,
02:42can you win multiple playoff rounds with a 6-8 center?
02:44As good as he was from three, as well as he rebounds, as hard as he fights inside,
02:50can you win multiple playoff rounds with a 6-8 center?
02:53I think it's a fair question.
02:54So there's a handful of things the Hawks need, but I do think the future is very, very bright for
02:58Atlanta.
02:58I think you've got a lot of really good young players here, and I think this thing's trending in the
03:02right direction.
03:03You made a great point about Jalen.
03:04So just real quick as a follow-up, is that Quinn Snyder's project?
03:08We'll get to re-sacheting in a second.
03:09We've got a couple of off-season projects as Brian Geltziler joins us, guys,
03:13from Sirius NBA on the Sweet James Axe and Attorney's Hotline.
03:16What's the conversation with Jalen?
03:18I mean, they just dunked on our team and someone shoves you.
03:21You've got to stand up for yourself.
03:22Is that part of the conversation?
03:23I felt we just got really punked in Game 6.
03:27Hey, listen, they absolutely got punked in Game 6.
03:30There's no doubt, and I think there has to be a little bit of toughness that is built up with
03:36Jalen,
03:36and I think some of that's going to be on Quinn Snyder, and I think some of that's about Jalen
03:40digging deep himself.
03:41But I also tell you it's something that's got to be solved sooner rather than later,
03:44because we just, listen, Cleveland's a great example of where I think Atlanta can go with the lack of toughness.
03:50You saw Cleveland last night get pushed around in a game against a flawed Detroit team.
03:53You saw Cleveland that got pushed to the brink by an undermanned Toronto team based on toughness alone,
03:59based on just a team that was willing to be intense defensively every single possession
04:05and bring physicality every single possession, and that's not the Cavs.
04:08My fear for the Hawks is they look a little bit like that.
04:11Like, listen, here's the thing about Jalen Johnson.
04:12I think he's a better player than Evan Mobley.
04:14With all that said, there's, from a lack of toughness standpoint,
04:18there's some Evan Mobley traits about Jalen Johnson that I would hope the Hawks can kind of pound out of
04:23him a little bit,
04:23because you want to see more physical toughness out of him, more mental toughness out of him,
04:29because in the end, he is the leader of this team right now for better or for worse.
04:32I know McCollum's a 34-year-old veteran and all that.
04:35You know, CJ's going to be a free agent at the end of this year, and who knows what the
04:38Hawks are going to do here.
04:39Listen, the Hawks could be players.
04:40There's any big player and major superstar that's put on the trade market.
04:45The Hawks have the assets to be players for a player like that.
04:48So, and part of having that, those assets, is having the financial flexibility.
04:52McCollum's contract coming off the books helps with their financial flexibility.
04:55So, I think for the Hawks, they have to be careful if they go ahead and re-sign him,
04:58which is why I talk about Johnson as being the de facto leader right now, and he's young to be
05:03that.
05:03But I think the physical toughness part for him is something that you really want to see the Hawks kind
05:08of work on.
05:09And listen, maybe they can and maybe they can't.
05:11The whole physical toughness thing and being that kind of guy, some guys have it and some guys don't.
05:15I happen to think I saw enough out of Johnson.
05:18I think it's somewhere in there.
05:19Where with Evan Mobley, I'm not sure.
05:21But I think the Hawks have to figure out a way mentally, emotionally, to put him in a role where
05:25they get that out of him.
05:26Don't you want, just as a follow-up, because me and Carl were just talking while you were talking,
05:29about McCollum, we'd love to keep him, even though you said it might get too expensive,
05:33if we're going to be breaking in a rookie point guard.
05:36Well, it depends who the rookie point guard is.
05:38You're still a young team, and I think you have to realize that.
05:41And my point being is that, you know, if you can bring Darius Acuff in here,
05:45you probably should live with the year or two of growing pains and let him grow with your young core.
05:51Let him grow with Johnson and, you know, Alexander Walker, who's not really, really young,
05:56but young enough that you can do something with him.
05:58Daniels is a youngish player, you know, 24, 25 years old.
06:02Like, you have a really nice young core here.
06:03I think the world of Kaminga, I know we've seen a lot of inconsistency since he got to Atlanta.
06:08Kaminga also won you two playoff games in this series.
06:11He played terrific in those games.
06:13So there's a lot of good young guys here that I think you have the luxury to be patient
06:18if that's the route that you decide to go.
06:20And again, if McCollum's willing to take a little more of a team-friendly deal,
06:24and he may be able to do that because it seemed to be a very good fit for him.
06:28For a guy that had a lot of success in Portland, struggled in New Orleans, ended up in Washington,
06:33like, this was a good situation for him.
06:35How much more money does C.J. McCollum need, right?
06:37I mean, I understand this group's going to want to max out every dime, okay?
06:40But if the Hawks turn around and say, listen, we'll give you three years at $63 million,
06:45who else has given C.J. McCollum three years?
06:48And if you can get him on that deal, it becomes a deal if you want to move off of
06:51it that you can.
06:52Like, I think there's a middle ground here for McCollum that could potentially work.
06:56But I think for the Hawks, in terms of what they decide to do in this offseason,
07:00there's no doubt, especially with the fact that they're going to get, you know,
07:03the better of the Milwaukee New Orleans pick here.
07:05You've got to prioritize your future.
07:08Geltziler, Brian Geltziler joining us.
07:10Let me ask you about the Knicks.
07:11I actually think we sparked them.
07:12I think we might have woke them up because we won those games,
07:15and then they were like, wait a minute, we're way better.
07:17And now you're just seeing them roll, right?
07:19Game one was a blowout against Philly.
07:21And then today we find out they are not going to have him beat.
07:24He has been ruled out.
07:25And I said to our guys, Brian, I said, look, this is Embiid.
07:28He's great in the end of the Boston series.
07:32And you're like, man, this guy's incredible.
07:34Hurt.
07:35Can't play.
07:36I mean, that's how his career has been.
07:38And I'm not saying that the Philly is out of this series,
07:40even though I think New York is better.
07:42It's just like, here's the moment, and you don't have Embiid again.
07:48So this is where it gets a little tough because there's a couple different things here.
07:52First of all, don't underrate how what a spiritual leader Embiid is for this team.
07:57Because Embiid's return seemed to inject an energy in this group that I thought brought the best out of everybody.
08:05That's what Joel Embiid's able to do.
08:07And, yes, he's hurt all the time.
08:08A lot of it's bad luck.
08:10This guy, but you can't say he's not tough.
08:12Like two and a half weeks off an appendectomy surgery?
08:15Yeah.
08:16And this guy's back out on NBA 4 playing high-level playoff games?
08:19I mean, you know, with that said, he's like a piece of glass.
08:22Guy breaks easily.
08:23And here you see with the knee and the ankle, which, by the way, the knee and the ankle were
08:27a clear product.
08:28He was dragging that leg in game one of this series.
08:32It was a clear product of the Jalen Brown push-off play on Maxie where Maxie hit him in the
08:36knee and the ankle.
08:38That's exactly what's wrong.
08:40And Embiid tried to play it off at the end of that game seven.
08:43That is the injury.
08:44But here's the other complicated part about all this.
08:48The Knicks' new style of play.
08:50And I say new because the Hawks kind of pounded them.
08:52You're absolutely right.
08:53The Hawks woke them up.
08:54The Hawks pounded them into this style of play.
08:56First of all, Jalen Brunson, having the entire offense run through Jalen Brunson was not going to work for the
09:02Knicks long-term.
09:04And the Hawks exploited it early, and they exploited it so well in the first three games of that series
09:09that the Knicks had to go away from it.
09:11So what did the Knicks do?
09:12Something they should have been doing for two years, which is run the entire offense through Carl Towns at the
09:17elbow.
09:17Once they started to do that, the Hawks were not prepared for the off-ball action.
09:21They were not prepared to deal with Brunson off the ball.
09:24And guys, keep in mind, Jalen Brunson made his bones as a player in this league as an off-ball
09:28player playing with Luka Doncic.
09:29He is excellent as an off-ball player.
09:32So you combine that, what they did there, with the fact that Brunson was easy to find and easy to
09:38hunt for the Hawks in that series.
09:40And McCollum torched him for three games.
09:42Once they moved Brunson over to Daniels, and then they were pre-switching Brunson to keep him away from a
09:49screener and did it very successfully, then all of a sudden the Hawks resorted to having Daniels initiate offense.
09:55And you're going to do that to try to hunt Brunson, the Knicks win.
09:58And so the Knicks kind of got in those habits very quickly and give that coaching staff credit and give
10:03the players credit for buying in.
10:05The thing about this Embiid injury going into game two is because with Embiid's, just his physical state, you can't
10:14have him hedging high on pick and roll.
10:16Pete is going to play drop defense 100% of the time.
10:19You play drop defense against Jalen Brunson, you get what you've got in game one, which is 37 points.
10:24And him having all the space in the world to operate, especially with him playing off-ball on the half
10:28-court, which has really been incredibly successful here for the Knicks since game four of this Hawks series.
10:35Now it's going to be either Boner or Drummond.
10:36And Drummond's going to play pretty similar to Embiid defensively because Drummond's not the most well-conditioned athlete in the
10:41world.
10:41I'd be very curious to hear what his favorite cheesesteak placed in in Philly because I want to go there
10:46because he's eaten plenty of them.
10:47Okay?
10:47Because he definitely has got good taste in cheesesteaks with the weight he's put on since he's been in Philly.
10:52With all that said, Dem Boner's a little bit of a secret weapon because he can switch on the guards
10:56on the perimeter.
10:57And I'm very interested to see how Philly switches their defensive approach in game two based upon the fact that
11:03they don't have Embiid.
11:04Listen, Embiid's presence is going to really hurt Philly offensively because one of the things Philly did successfully in that
11:09blowout in game one was they were able to get Towns and Robinson and quit foul trouble.
11:13And that's all going Embiid in the post.
11:15And that disappears here.
11:16However, I do think there is a universe here that Philly is a significantly better defensive team in game two.
11:21And they stay in the game.
11:22Here's one other thing to note.
11:24Therese Maxey was absolutely shot in game one.
11:27His legs didn't look right.
11:28He looked tired.
11:29He can count on a much more energetic and just healthy, not even healthier, but an energetic and more well
11:36-rested version of Maxey going into game two tonight.
11:39And that's trouble for the Knicks because I don't think they have anybody they can guard him.
11:41Brian Geltz-Syler is with us, guys.
11:43NBA Series XM Insider here on the Sweet James Accident Attorney Hotline.
11:47I was saying this to Carl yesterday.
11:48I want to get your take.
11:49Embiid has a historic night with a triple-double, 12 blocks.
11:52But, I mean, isn't it Mitch Johnson's job to get him closer to the basket and not be throwing up
11:56those threes when he's not feeling his shot?
11:58I know that's the NBA.
12:00But, I mean, Embiid, get him inside, man.
12:01I felt like they really let the T-Wolves steal the home court advantage.
12:11Mitch Johnson's going to have to make a concerted effort.
12:31I just talked a lot about the Knicks having success running offense through towns at the elbow.
12:35It's not different for the Spurs.
12:37They have to run everything through Wemby at the elbow.
12:39They cannot have Wemby hanging outside the three-point line launching threes.
12:4317 shots in the game, eight of them are threes.
12:45That is unacceptable.
12:46And I don't even put that on Mitch Johnson.
12:48I put it on Wemby.
12:50Listen, Mitch Johnson could have called timeout for that last possession, but they got a good look from Champagny.
12:54So I'm not going to kill him on that.
12:56I think a lot of it's on Victor Wemby now, but I really do.
12:58The other thing is this, and I give Minnesota a ton of credit because two things in Minnesota.
13:02Number one, they don't give a crap that he had 12 block shots.
13:05They're going to keep going at him because they're going to see, and they didn't get him in foul trouble
13:09in this game, but that's a product of going at him is getting him in foul trouble.
13:12And they ended up, in spite of all those block shots, having success going at him.
13:17Here's the other thing about Minnesota that makes me nervous for anybody that they play.
13:21Anyway, they are more together now than I could have ever imagined them being, and that makes them dangerous because
13:28the one thing that can undo Minnesota is they hit adverse situations, they start finger-pointing, and they're not always
13:33a together group.
13:34This is two years in a row to a conference final, guys, and this is year three of them here
13:39trying to make a run.
13:41Anthony Edwards is clearly one of the ten best players in the NBA.
13:44You guys know how much easier it is for a coach when he's got a player on a minute's limit
13:48if the guy doesn't have to start?
13:50It allows him much more latitude later in the game.
13:53Anthony Edwards, as an all-NBA quality player and a top-ten guy in the league, pretty much turned to
13:58Chris Vincent, and I'm for my starting.
14:00I don't mind.
14:01If this makes it better and gives us a better chance to win, I'm going to do that.
14:04If Anthony Edwards is fine not starting, no one will be selfish there.
14:08He has set a tone there, and they're dangerous.
14:11They're really dangerous, and the thing about the Spurs, the Spurs rarely struggle with teams from a size standpoint,
14:17but they went to, almost by necessity, the ultra-big front line of Reed, Randall, and Gobert,
14:22and it was successful in the minutes that they played it, and I could see them going back to that.
14:27The other thing is this.
14:28Terrence Shannon is a very important player for Minnesota in this series because it's just another athlete to match the
14:35athleticism from these San Antonio guards.
14:38And listen, we just beat up on Victor Wembanyama a little bit.
14:40And De'Ara Fox is going to have to get better shots.
14:43He really is.
14:44His shot selection wasn't good.
14:45He didn't shoot the ball well.
14:47He didn't look confident at times.
14:49He looked like he was pressing at times.
14:51You know, Fox has never been this deep into the playoffs his entire career.
14:54He's got an opportunity to show something here.
14:56But right now, at least through game one, the experience factor seemed to matter in this series.
15:02And the Spurs are a very together team.
15:04But Minnesota seems a little bit more together.
15:06And because of their experience, because of their talent, because of how well the pieces fit, that makes them dangerous
15:11for anybody.
15:12That's why we bring him on.
15:13He brings it every single time.
15:15Brian Geltziler, NBA SiriusXM.
15:17Brother, appreciate you joining us.
15:19We'll get into this Draymond thing next time we get you on.
15:21I want to get your opinion on if Steve Kerr held him back.
15:24Don't answer it.
15:26Okay, I was going to give you a little bit of it.
15:29He can't help himself.
15:30We'll leave it for right now.
15:32We'll leave it for right now.
15:33But I want to get you on this, because I thought it was absolutely ridiculous.
15:37Brian, man, appreciate you.
15:38Thanks so much.
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