Talking NBA w/ Audacy Insider Nick Friedell

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1:22Light up. This is Bed MGM tonight with Brad Evans and Pat Boyle on Westwood One Sports. Heyo! Welcome on back to Bed MGM tonight here on Westwood One Sports. He's Brad Evans, and I'm Pat Boyle, and we are brought to you by Bed MGM. Make it legendary. Download the app today. Please gamble responsibly. You can watch the show live on YouTube. Just search Bed MGM tonight and hit that subscribe button. You can watch the show live on Twitter at Bed MGM tonight. And you can listen to the program on the Westwood One Sports app. The Odyssey app, Series 6M, Channel 375, and hundreds of local affiliates throughout North America. All right, last two segments, Brad and I were breaking down the big NBA games on this very busy electric Tuesday night slate. So now let's bring in our guy, Nick Friedel. On the line is Odyssey Sports NBA inside our Nick Friedel inside our calls.

2:24He brought to you by Hyundai and the all new Hyundai Palisade Hybrid. Nick, I feel like a right of passage for you here. You're often traveling. It looks like you may be home. So where are you checking in with us here from on this very beautiful Tuesday? We are in San Francisco right now, Pat. And the words are feeling great because Steph Curry went through a five on five. If he comes out of that, feeling okay. All signs are pointing to he's coming back here at some point in the next week. And as far as that goes, I mean, there are a hundred different topics we can get into. But seeing Steph Curry on an NBA floor is time for celebration for most fans because that dude can still do things. But only one guy can do. Yeah, look, so let's jump right into that. That was actually that was one of the last questions I was going to ask you. But let's let's go right into it here. Let's talk about the dumps. You know, because it it feels like the chef Curry is is going to make a go at the play in tournament.

3:25You mentioned, you know, five on five scrimmage continues to work his way back from that persistent right knee injuries. Been suffering from hasn't played since January 30th and his absence couple with Jimmy Butler's torn ACL. You know, Golden State free fall nine and 17 in their last 26 games all the way down to 10th in the West. Now the good news is they're going to make the play in tournament. But should we be expecting the Warriors to even get out of the play in against the Blazers who it's likely that's going to be the nine versus 10 game. And if they win that, then they're probably going to play either the Clippers or the Suns. Like what are the expectations for Golden State this postseason if Steph Curry is playing? Come play off time. That one of my favorite 20 minutes or so of every week has been on with y'all and I love the idea that after all these months, I can finally say, well, if it were me and I were walking to the window and I were trying to make a decision, I bet on it. I bet on the Warriors being able to get out of the play in because of Steph.

4:28Now what type of version are we going to see and how will it look after so much time off only time we'll tell. But if we were betting that Steph Curry and a motivated group of Dremond and Al Hoerford looks like he's going to be able to play at least towards the end of the regular season and this team that on the surface had championship level expectations to start the year. If you gave me some odds and said, all right, you really think the Warriors can win two games? I'd say, yeah, because they still want to be out there. And I know there are a lot of people that look at the Steph situation and say, then they say, why is he coming back at all? What's the point? This dude's 38 years old. He knows that he doesn't have a lot of time left no matter what he decides in the next couple of years. We've seen very clearly that injuries can derail everything in the blink of an eye. He knows he doesn't have a lot of big games left no matter what.

5:29So I think this team is worth the flyer on whatever they may be because for two games to get into a playoff series and give in this case probably the thunder a shot. I think it's worth it. And the reason that the Warriors feel like they have that chance is because Steph has been pushing so hard to come back. So with that in mind and with the track record that he's shown, absolutely, I think it's worth the chance that she can take. Nick, let's go ahead and say out west if you don't mind based on record over the last 15 games, the thunderspers and lakers of the hottest teams, the continental divide. They've combined for only four losses over the stretch of the nuggets to or he up down the homestretch winning 11 of their last 15. We know you're all in on the thunders represent the western conference in the NBA finals, but out of San Antonio, the L.A. Lakers and Denver.

6:29Who is the best equipped to bounce OKC potentially and I say that again, potentially in a seven game series. I would still lean with Denver and the reason I would lead with Denver Brad is because of yoke it's really that simple. I have told you all enough to me, it's the thunder and everybody else, but I still believe that Nicola Yoke which is the best player going. And when you have the best player on the floor and you have a team that has been there before and knows how to win in the biggest of games. I absolutely think they have a puncture chance, especially nobody wants anybody get hurt, but somebody turns an ankle, you never know how a series can shift in an instant. Yoke itch is that talented though that leads me to believe always that if the choice is out of three teams in this case, the team that has Yoke itch give me that team every single time. I think he got a little bit of arrest when he was out with that knee injury, he's still finding a little bit more of the form that we've seen for so long, but when you get in those big games, you want to have the best player.

7:40As she is going to probably win the MVP award guys, he's awesome, but to me, Yoke itch is still the baddest dude going and when you have that dude, you always have a chance. Yeah, exactly, man, he is all universe and he loves his horses as well, does it go the Yoke itch, the common belief in NBA circles is three star lineups are imperative to be successful, but what playoff training teams do you believe have the best support staff, a sort of viable glue guys, you know, players who are incredibly valuable in the rotation rolls in terms of support staff, a playoff training teams who's got the best. Oh man, Brad, I'd love to just be able to fire off a whole bunch of different possibilities at you, but the funny part is there's only one guy that kind of comes to mind and I don't think he's in a support staff role anymore at this point, but it's Josh Hart and it's on Pat's nix.

8:41When I hear the guys kind of behind the scenes and in the periphery, he's the one that kind of jumps to my mind to start. I just I think the difference is like the reason I feel so strongly about the thunder isn't just because of SGA, it's because of all the depth that they have behind it and they have so many different guys that can hit you in so many different ways. And you watch them and you just go, geez, how deep is this group? It almost feels like a college team because they plug in a different four or five and you say, all right, well, they're going to dominate too. I'd say the other team that the jumps to mine and I mentioned Hart, although he's taken certainly more of a larger role the last couple years, but it's a guy like Peyton Pritchard in Boston. That team knows where they need to be on the floor and when you're looking for teams that can make playoff runs and they can have deeper benches and they can move all kinds of different places, coaching staff, getting them set up, especially on both ends.

9:50I look at Boston, I see a team that has the depth that they're going to need to make the push potentially all the way out of the east. I wish I could give a more defined answer about which teams kind of second unit can get to there. But to me, when you're looking at the totality of what Boston and OKC provide, it's why I think they're just a cut above everybody else in their own conference. I'll give you a couple others, not to read off the bench for the for Minnesota for the T wolves and electric three point shooter and shop locker and then, you know, the only because I tweeted it, I think two or three times last year during their run to the title Nick, but I said I would probably give up my unborn first child. If Alex Caruso could be on the next because my God, that's a guy that saves his best ball for the for the biggest games of the year and for the finals and for the playoffs. And so Alex Caruso on OKC, if I could have him on the next. Oh my God.

10:51God. Well, can I throw this in there too? I throw this in when you have a team that has depth, the type of depth that that we're talking about and Brad's mentioning more often than not, you have an executive who is acquiring that depth and who knows who the right pieces are to fit his team. Sam Press is the best of the best. There's a reason why the thunder set up so well, not just the last couple years, but for years beyond, I mean, there's secondary logo should be like the lottery pick placard that pops out every year because they have all those graphics them in their way. I agree with you completely on Caruso. It's why that Josh Giddy trade made so much sense in the moment, which cargo a couple years ago, but if you're looking for depth, you mentioned, not as read with the Timberls, but if you're looking for teams that know what they're doing and they can stack a roster for a run in the postseason, you're looking at great executives that always seem to have the upper hand against their peers.

11:58Yeah, we're talking with our odyssey sports MDA inside or Nick Friedel here on bed MGM tonight Westwood one sports. He's Brad Evans on pap oil insider calls are brought to by Hyundai and by the only Hyundai Palisade hybrid learn how it makes every day epic at Hyundai USA.com. Nick, let's pretend for a second that the NBA regular season ended yesterday and that the current standings are what we get for the playoff matchups in the West. It would be Lakers versus rockets as the three versus six and nuggets versus T-welves in the four versus the five. Which of those matchups would you be more excited about because they are both equally mouthwatering? I would take Lakers versus KD. I know it's the rocket, but I think with Kevin being at the stage he's at in his all of fame career. And with the injuries that that team is dealt with that would be the whole focus. It would be Luca Lebron versus KD and seeing how that would play out.

13:01I mean that would be fascinating. I probably have to lean with the Lakers because again this goes back to the the Yoke team. I think Luca is just the best player out of that group. But Kevin in a seven game series and Chen Goons had a really nice year and they have some nice pieces. But I just don't know if he at this stage at 37 years old has enough to carry them through four games with the times that they've gone back and forth with Lebron. I think that would be the most fascinating from a storyline perspective, although Yoke versus the Ant Man isn't so bad as a secondary appetizer to the main one for me. Yeah, that one's down right to like to mold to say the least. Nick, the final four in an apple is set with Yukon Maya, Lanai Arizona, Michigan racing into the circle city. How's your bracket looking? Are you still alive? First question. And then secondly, I know you've just recently gotten familiar with some of the top prospects in this NBA draft field, but curious.

14:10Your initial thoughts on the align eyes, Keaton Volgler, who many project as a lottery pick and some have come to a guy or dimension, Steph Curry with his just insane in the membrane range. So tell me I bracket to and if you're still alive, get me your thoughts on the align eyes, Keaton Volgler. Well, first of all, no, I'm not still alive because for the second year in a row, dude, because just completely shredded my bracket. And the fact that that happened, Brad, I mean shame on me after watching that meltdown against Houston last year. I'm thinking they can't have that happen twice in a row. You're looking in the first half of 19 on Yukon and you're like, oh, they got this one. No, they never do. Something's going on. And when that starts to happen, there is a mental block that occurs. I just can't touch Duke again. No matter how many great one and done they have next year, I'm not doing it. As far as Volgler and your line, I go, I want to say this is a public service announcement. Any time I hear any comparison to Steph.

15:14There is no other Steph Curry. There's no one close to Steph Curry. Trey Young was in that conversation for a while. Trey Young is not close to Steph Curry. Steph Curry is the ultimate one of one. Nobody will ever do it as good as that dude has done it and he has changed the game. Having said that, Volgler is a hell of a player. He has fit that profile of a guy that certainly the league knew about, but he's taking that next step in the biggest of games. And when you start to do that and you see the pattern and maybe we'll see what happens over these next couple of games here for Illinois. But if you can carry them through, oh boy, that is where you make yourself a whole lot of money. So I absolutely can tell you he has generated a lot of buzz for himself for his team and I am very curious to see how that group does is in ending. Oh, yeah.

16:15It's a good interesting answer. We're talking with our Odyssey sports NBA inside our Nick Friedel here for another two minutes or so on. Bet MGM tonight. Nick, what do you make a Mark Cuban's comments on the intersections podcast this morning where he now very publicly has admitted his regret. Not in selling them average, but his regret and selling it to the Adelson and Dumont families. You know, Mark Cuban said two and a half years ago after the sale, he would continue to have control the day to day operations. That obviously wasn't true because Nico Harrison traded away. Look at Don Church in the middle of the night right from under Mark Cuban's nose. So does Cuban have a point here or is he just bitter because they basically continue to do basketball business without him in Dallas? I think there's absolutely a big part of bitterness there, Pat, because he was the guy for so long and he called the shots. And I can only imagine if you're Mark Cuban having done what you've done for so long when the Luca deal goes down and it's so immediately goes south.

17:19I mean, there wasn't even like a period of, I want to say a week, a couple days. I mean, Davis got hurt in that first game and everybody went, oh, so on top of the fact the entire world seem to go, man, that's not a great deal. Then he gets hurt. Then a year later, you've already moved him and Lucas doing what he's doing again in LA. I am sure he is feeling that personally. So I can only imagine that every day he still is viewed as the public face of the Mavericks, even though he's not anymore. And he made the decision to sell for all that money. I mean, that's on him. That was his choice. But when I heard that clip, I went, this is a guy who is very good about knowing how public perception works. He knows that he will always be tied to this organization. But that decision by Nico Harrison in the new ownership was, it was just awful.

18:20I was just in Dallas the other night, actually, in the amount of people that were like, this really was the worst trade of all time. I mean, guys, it probably was. Time is going to show how much more the reality of it all hurts and how much that impacts the Mavericks in time. But as we sit here right now, it was probably the worst trade in NBA history. And when you do that, everybody is going to feel pressure from it and get the shrapnel off of it. And I think Cuban has been feeling that I'm sure he feels bad about it, especially because of what he built. But it doesn't matter now. He made the choice and it is what it is. Yeah, that's damn right. It is what it is. Nick, we appreciate the time. As always, brother, enjoy the final for this weekend. We will be a week away from the NBA playoffs when we chat with you next week. So I cannot wait for it to finally start taking some concrete shape here.

19:24And hopefully Steph Curry is back on the floor by that point as well. And you guys have a lot more excitement at the Chase Center. Even if it is just the right to get blown out of the water by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round. So we appreciate the time. As always, brother, we'll talk to you next week. Always, buddy, Brad, good luck to your ally and I. And that finally the NBA regular season is about to be done. And I think for everybody involved, that is a great thing. I will talk to you guys soon. Thanks, Dick. Look, nobody loves and covers the sport and also at the same time speaks the cold hard facts about it like Nick Friedel. So we appreciate him for that one. That's for sure. That was Odyssey Sports NBA insider Nick Friedel inside of calls and brought to you by Hyundai and the only Hyundai Palisade hybrid. All right. We'll take a short break. If you want to join the show, it is 310 840 4910. You can call us. You can text us when we come back. We'll do a little hotter cold. March madness style baseball.

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