Trivia Contestant
Appearances
The Athletic NBA Daily
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The guy can write and he can podcast. I was wondering because, you know, Damanis Sabonis, he was asked about what this team needs in his X interview. He said he was the biggest thing is this team needs a point guard. He was very direct about that. Are there any real, because they've kind of boxed themselves in a little bit by taking on this Levine contract.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Are there any realistic point guard targets that you can think of that might be a good fit for this team?
The Athletic NBA Daily
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That is third worst in NBA history behind only the seven win Bobcats and the 92-93 Dallas Mavericks. Now, speaking of the Mavs, as we do every week, some good news finally happened for Mavs fans this week. but not before the Mavericks franchise could make something bad happen first.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I love that idea, especially, I mean, he played all 82 games for the Spurs. So you feel, you're feeling good going into it. It's not like you feel like, oh my gosh, this guy's, I mean, he is very old, but he just proved to us that he can still do it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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The day before the Mavs 9-10 play-in game against the Kings, Nico Harrison offered to sit down with the local media for an interview with the stipulation that there would be no cameras or recordings made of the interview. Thankfully, he did not exclude writing utensils, and so the entire interview was still widely available.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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So on the flip side, ignoring Boston Orlando, because I'm assuming you feel pretty confident about that series. Are any of these? Yes, exactly. Are any of these other series like you feel just locked in, like you feel like it's a particularly good matchup for one of these teams?
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Well, Dan, it's now time for an intermission. An intermission. We're going to ask you some more questions, but we're taking a short break to play a game, sort of. It's a championship draft. OK, so we like to do this every week during the playoffs just to kind of get a read on how we're feeling about all these teams.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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So I'm going to show you what is now appearing on the screen for Dan is a beautiful Excel spreadsheet that I made with all the teams. And just in case you're out there wondering, yes, those are all the accurate team colors. I did pull them from the Internet. They're all correct.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I hear pull out on folks. It's incredible. That's right. So the way this is going to work, we're only going to do three rounds. We're only going to pick nine teams total. And the goal for this is to genuinely pick the teams that you think have the best chance to win the title. OK, so it is a snake draft, though. So if you're in the one spot, you draft one and then you have to wait a while.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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When asked about Mavs fans' biggest misunderstanding regarding the Luka trade, Harrison said, quote, Defense wins championships. When asked about how creating a three to four year window after trading away the team's future first was in the best long term interest of the team, Harrison said, quote, defense wins championships.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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If you're in the three spot, you get three and four. So, Dan, because you're a guest, I'm going to let you choose which spot would you like to draft from? You know what? I'll take the hot corner. I'll take the third. Okay. Andrew, where would you like to draft from? First or second? I'll take second. All right. Great. So you guys want me to go first?
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Well, I had a feeling this would happen, and I'm already locked in, and it is the Boston Celtics. Okay. Yes, I am a Thunder fan, but... I think the West is obviously much harder than the East. And if I'm just going based on what team I think is most likely to make the finals, I feel like I'm going to go with Boston. Obviously, Cleveland's a great team. They're a great team.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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But I think if even if it got to the point where it was Boston OKC in the finals, I still think I would lean Boston just because they've done it before, because they're going into this playoffs healthy. That makes me feel good about them. So I'm starting off with Boston, which means, Andrew, I have a pretty good idea of who you're going to pick second.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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team so bold spicy now Dan before you answer in case anyone isn't watching on YouTube if you wanted to pick because we're recording this on Friday if you wanted to pick one of the eight seeds you can get two for one here okay I'll give you a Memphis and Dallas or the Hawks and the Heat It's up to you.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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When asked why he didn't believe the team he built last season, which went to the NBA finals, was a contender. Harrison said, quote, defense wins championships. Somehow, none of those answers were as bad as Mavs CEO Rick Welts comparing the Luka trade to Golden State trading Monte Ellis for Andrew Bogut.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I do agree with you on the second round matchups because I've even read like from Lakers fans that they don't love the matchup with the Warriors. What do you think about that first round matchup? Like, are you are you pretty confident in the Warriors going against Houston?
The Athletic NBA Daily
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All right, Andrew, who would you like for your second pick? Still a lot of good names on the board. What a great.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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The second trade comparison is many weeks from the Mavs, where it's unclear which side of the trade they think they are. Thankfully for Mavs fans, however, the week wasn't all bad as the Mavs completely demolished the Kings in Sacramento, getting up by as many as 25 points before coasting to the win.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Well, you guys have set this up beautifully for me because Dan mentioned that he was struggling most with Nuggets Clippers. That's the series that I'm struggling the most with, so I don't even have to decide. I can just take both of them. Nuggets Clippers, I'm guaranteed one of my teams will make it past the first round. That's a really good point.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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there is some strategy to this uh yeah i just feel like either of these teams you know if okc has like a cold shooting series i think either of these teams could beat okc um as of right now i'm more scared of the clippers um because they've always had a good defense and now it feels like their offense is starting to click with kawaii playing a lot better and then with the nuggets like if that
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Starting lineups healthy and they're all playing close to 40 minutes a night. Like that's a really good team. I know that they've like stumbled down the stretch, fired their coach, fired their GM. But if those five are healthy, that is going to be a really good lineup in the playoffs. So I'm still nervous about both of those teams.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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And I know that one of them's going to make it to the second round. So that's my final pick. Andrew, who's your final pick? Now you got to really start working. Now you got to really start coming up with some good reasons for some of these teams.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Now, two years after ending their 16-year playoff drought, the Kings lost to the Mavs, locked in their second consecutive season, missing the playoffs. The Kings responded by agreeing to part ways with GM Monty McNair, quickly hiring Scott Perry as GM, who was previously in the Kings front office and was most recently with the Knicks.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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So, Dan, this sets up your final pick. Which fan base would you like to give a glimmer of hope to?
The Athletic NBA Daily
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The athletic Sam Amick reported that McNair didn't want to fire Mike Brown, which is why we didn't see anything from the Kings after Brown was fired. Amick also reported that McNair may have not been behind either the DeRozan signing or the Levine trade. Now, Levine's old team, the Chicago Bulls, are also out of the playoffs after similarly getting destroyed by a 10-seeded home.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Good. You're guaranteeing a conference finalist.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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All right. Well, thank you for playing that game with us, Dan. But it's now time to get back to questions. Serious business now. No more. Yeah, that was just an intermission. Come on. Now, over at Yahoo, you and Ben Rohrbach, you did a preview looking at one key matchup in each series. Which of those key matchups are you most interested in seeing play out over the next couple of weeks?
The Athletic NBA Daily
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The good news, though, for Bulls fans is they will have their first-round pick because they acquired the unprotected part of that pick back in the Levine trade. Hmm. So, as of Friday morning, we know the matchups for two more playoff series. In the East, the 2-7 matchup is going to be between the Celtics and the Magic.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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After Orlando beat Atlanta in a game during which Trey Young was ejected after picking up two quick techs for pranking the refs. After throwing an aggressive chest pass to one ref, he immediately did the trick where you pretend to pass it to someone, spin it back to yourself. When the other ref asked for the ball, he was ejected.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I want to go back to Wolves-Lakers because you mentioned Wolves offense versus Lakers defense. I'm really interested in the other side because the Wolves defense, not as elite as they were last year, but we've seen individual games where that defense has looked just as terrifying as it was last year.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I mean, Thunder fans will remember a game right before the All-Star break where Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle were out and they played these small ball lineups that were just terrifying defensively. And so I'm interested in your thoughts on how they match up defensively team.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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But, you know, honestly, after the ref's performance in the Warriors-Grizzlies game, maybe they need to be pranked every once in a while. because Warriors-Grizz, it was a close contest. It came down to a five-second call on an inbounds play at the end of the game that ended up ending the game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Well, Andrew, our top story this week was the end of the 24-25 regular season. The Phoenix Suns, owners of the league's highest payroll, missed the play-in completely, finishing tied with the Portland Trail Blazers at 36-46. In response, the Suns quickly moved to fire coach Mike Budenholzer, who was only hired last summer.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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It set up a Golden State-Houston 2-7 matchup in the West, but the two-minute report revealed that in those final 120 seconds, the refs made four separate errors in the game. Now, the 1-8 matchups will be decided on Friday night, all leading to the first day of the NBA playoffs on Saturday. Listen to this. On Saturday, we get Bucks Pacers, Nuggets Clippers, Pistons Knicks, and Lakers Wolves.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Well, Dan, thank you for answering all our questions about what is looking like very exciting playoffs. Yeah, that's it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Except for, except now you have to play Andrew versus the beat. Our weekly trivia show where Andrew goes head to head against a beat writer, or in this case, Dan Devine of Yahoo Sports. So this week, Andrew versus the Beat, all the questions are about the season we just saw, the 24-25 regular season. Okay? Okay. It just happened. It's probably going to be really easy questions.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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So how this works, Dan, you're going to give me a question or a number between one and eight, and it will correspond to a question. If you get it right, you'll get at least two points. If you get it wrong, Andrew will have a chance to steal for one, and then we'll go back and forth until all the questions have been asked and answered. So to start us off, I just need a number between one and eight.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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The answer is number three, John Stark, superstar. Let's go. Question number three. There were 11 players who played in all 82 games this season, and we're going to name them all. So how this works, Dan, you're going to give me a name, then Andrew will give me a name, and we'll go back and forth until one of you stumbles. So 11 players who played in all 82 games this season.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Wow, that is a Saturday. And those are the top stories this week.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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We're going to start with Mikael Bridges. Mikael Bridges, he's on the list. Andrew. Chris Paul. Paul, he's on the list. Also, I mentioned him earlier. Cheater. Back to Dan.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Stephen Castle is not on the list. Andrew, did you have any other guesses?
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Nope. You can't even throw out one name. Just for fun, Andrew. I just feel like I'm going to be wrong.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Very good. Jaden McDaniels for the Wolves. Bub Carrington might have been the rookie you were thinking of. That was the rookie I was thinking of. Jared Allen, Malik Beasley, Harrison Barnes, two Spurs. Harry B. Wow. Akil Alexander Walker. Actually, Julian Champagny, three Spurs.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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And yet not the one that I named. That's incredible. Not the one that you named. Okay, Andrew, board is yours. Number one. Question number one. In honor of dunksandthrees.com, great website, there was only one player this season who had 100 plus dunks and 100 plus made three-pointers. Who was it?
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Did Jaron Jackson do it? Jaron Jackson, he did not do it, Andrew. So, Dan, you have a chance to steal. I'm going to go with my gut here. Is it Victor Wambanyama? So it's not. But after I did this question, I was like, wait a second. Wimby had to have done that. How did he not do that? And he had 91 dunks. Seriously. Before he got injured. So does Andrew get a chance to steal back?
The Athletic NBA Daily
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No, but if you guys want to throw a name, if you guys had other names you were thinking of. Is it OG Ananobi? It is OG Ananobi. Damn it!
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Yeah. That makes sense. Now, actually, I'm looking here. Let's see what Jaren Jackson, because he definitely had enough threes.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Yeah. So you think he had maybe one dunk?
The Athletic NBA Daily
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You don't have to feel that way. That's all right. Yeah, you did a great job. It was a good guess. Okay. It was a good guess. It probably was not. He had 31 dunks. Okay. Maybe not so good.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Back to Dan. That's about how I felt. Yeah. Dan, you control the board.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Question number seven, Carmelo Anthony. Oh, speaking of dunks, this Eastern Conference team had fewer dunks than any other team in the league this season. So I did narrow it down for you. You have a one in 15 shot here. My odds are incredible.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Yes, this is very exciting because last year we didn't have any surprise teams. That doesn't happen that often. In fact, since the 99-2000 season, there's only been four seasons without at least one surprise team. But we were spoiled this year because we ended up getting three surprise teams. And as a reminder, that is a team who won at least 10 more games than their over-under.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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But hey, Dan, guess what? I looked it up. Brooklyn Nets, second fewest.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I don't know. Miami? I don't know who it is. Miami? No. Dan, do you have a guess? Just based on shot profile. The Boston Celtics? No, it was actually one of the teams we talked about earlier that was knocked out already. The Chicago Bulls. Oh, okay. Chicago Bulls. Not a lot of dunkers.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Not a lot of dunkers. Okay, Andrew. Board of Shores. Number two. Question number two. Okay. Where is it? Okay. Only two players had their shot blocked more than 100 times this season. Who are they? And you get one point per correct answer. So only two players had their shot blocked more than 100 times this season. Wow. 100 times blocked. 100 times blocked. More than one game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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You get a lot of shots up to be able to get 100 shots blocked. Yeah, I was going to say. Don't give it away, Dan. You're helping him out. These are hints. No, Andrew. Incorrect. All right, Dan, you have a chance to steal. You could get two points here, Dan, if you could get both of these names.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I wonder if that was because he ended up not playing a ton of games. Because that's the other thing. You kind of have to play a ton of games for this.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Yes. I think one of these names will make sense to you. Jalen Green. Yeah. Kind of makes sense. He did play all 82. He played all 82. And the other one, Kate Cunningham. Oh, was the other.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I'm going to nail down by one. We're going to go number eight. J.R. Smith, let's go. In number eight, there was only one player to make more than one heave this season, a.k.a. a shot beyond half court. That player also attempted 10 more heaves than the next closest player. Who was it?
The Athletic NBA Daily
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So who got it this season? Detroit, obvious. Over-under was 24 and a half. They won 44 games. That gap, 19 and a half games, that is tied for the second biggest gap among all surprise teams going back to the 99-2000 season. One of the teams they are tied with for second is the 0-1-0-2 Detroit Pistons. This was Carlisle's first year as coach. The team had Ben Wallace, Jerry Stackhouse.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Okay, Andrew, three questions left. Board is yours. Four. Question number four. There were 26 players who did not record a single free throw make this season. Name one. Wow. I mean, I'm being pretty generous here. 26 names. You only got to give me one. You know, they just can't have made a free throw. They could have taken one, but they better not have made it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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No minimum, but it's still a risk because even if you know a guy who hasn't played a few minutes, what if he got one free throw?
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I almost did a question about that and then remembered that you knew that and were obsessed with it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Well, I mean, how many players are there in the NBA? Probably over 400? What about Markeith Morris? Markeith Morris. Let me look down my list. Is Markeith Morris on this list? He is... Not Andrew. So you missed the question. He at least had one free throw. So, Dan, you can steal a point here.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Now, some names you could have gotten. Some of them make sense. Joe Ingalls, P.J. Tucker.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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kind of makes sense pj tucker i miss pj tucker uh james johnson you know some of these like old vets at the very end of the bench kind of guys uh some other names that you'll know uh mac mcclung that would have been a great poll if you'd got my daughter asked me the other night like that guy the one that dunked us what's up with him and i was like i haven't really been keeping up on osceola i'm sorry nothing
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Not making free throws. Jaleel Okafor played three minutes this season.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Scalabissier played in the league this year. What? Amani Bates. Jacob Toppin. Amani Bates didn't make a free throw? He did not. Wow. So those are just a sampling of the names. I'll be honest. A lot of these names never seen in my life, but I don't want to reveal my stupidity by saying them. So, okay. So Dan, you're ahead by one, two questions left.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Question number five. The most frequently worn jersey number this season had 28 different players wear it at some point this season. What is that jersey number? Now, before you answer, Dan, you get to choose who answers first. You could make Andrew answer first and then you could go higher or lower or you could answer first and Andrew go higher or lower.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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However, if Andrew, if you make him answer and he gets it exactly correct, he would get a bonus point.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Number 23, Andrew, would you like to go higher than 23 or lower than 23? Oh, I was thinking 23 or 33, but I also thought about one.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Wow. Which means Dan gets the points commanding four to one lead. That's bad. That's bad for you. Real bad for you, Andrew.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Actually, the second most frequently worn jersey number zero. Zero. 23 was up there, and so it was like 22 or 24. Okay, Andrew, last question. You can't win the week, but you could get it within one, which would be really exciting. Okay, so Trae Young had 355 turnovers a season, which led the league. It is the fourth time Trae Young has recorded a 300-plus turnover season.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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They similarly had a 19... They won 19 and a half more games than their over-under. The other two teams, Portland Trailblazers, over-under preseason, 22 and a half, end up winning 36 games. Very impressive. And then... In what I would say is like the least surprising surprise team ever, the Chicago Bulls, 27 and a half preseason over under, they win 39 games.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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That puts him sixth all-time for most 300-plus turnover seasons. Now, tied for the most... Are these two players who have each done that seven times each? Now you do get one point per correct answer.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Rajon Rondo, no. Interesting choice, Andrew. I like it. Interesting choice. Dan, you have any guesses? You could really put it to Andrew here. James Harden, yes. In fact, he got his seventh this season. Shout out. Congratulations. Congrats. Can you name the other player? Russell Westbrook? Great guess. He does have six.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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And I actually came up with this question thinking I'd trap Andrew into saying Russell Westbrook. But it is actually Magic Johnson. So the week ends. Dan... You did great. Five to one. One Andrew versus the beat. Congratulations.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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We are a podcast of extremes because you either leave feeling really good about yourself or feeling absolutely terrible and wondering if the fans of your team are going to come and attack you and tell you how dumb you are.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Now for all these teams, I do the difference between their previous year wins and their current year wins. Never been a surprise team that the number was zero, where the Bulls end up being a surprise team despite winning the exact same amount of games they have scored in the previous season, which is just a great stat for the Bulls.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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And I feel like it's very representative of the season the Bulls had. So those are three surprise teams. Very exciting. I don't know how me and Andrew managed to not pick any of those three teams. Very bad job. We did. And shout out to the listener again who made us the surprise team website, which you can go look at at tinyurl.com backslash surprise teams.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Now, one more thing, Andrew, before we get to our guest this week, back right around the All-Star game. We picked a few names who we thought might make a post-All-Star break leap. And I wanted to do a first and second team all post-All-Star break leaps. It's a mouthful. So my second team, Shane Sharp, one of my picks. Zachary Richachet, Steph Castle, Aaron Neesmith, and Cade Cunningham.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Now, assuming Devin Booker is still a Sun next season, their next coach will be his 8th head coach in 11 NBA seasons. Matt Ishbia met with the media this week and was defiant, promising that the Suns would win championships, quote, with an S at the end. Another word with an S at the end is picks, which the Suns do not have until I'm like 45.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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That's my second team. Okay, first team, I'm going to go in a little bit more depth. First, we got Quentin Grimes, which was also one of my picks. He had maybe the funniest pre to post splits. 11-4-2 pre, 23-5-5 post all-star break. What? What's really funny, though, is if you look at net rating, like how the team played when he was on the court, pre-All-Star break, minus 0.6.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Post-All-Star break, minus 14.6 because he was playing on the Sixers, of course. Wow. Now, his true shooting percentage basically was unchanged. This was just a guy, which actually is very impressive because he got a lot more usage and he was still able to maintain his efficiency. Quentin Grimes might just be a good player. So it'll be very interesting to see what he gets this summer.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Second name, Denny Obdio. We talk about him a lot. Pre-All-Star break, 15-6-3. Post-All-Star break, 23-10-5. His net rating swing, minus 5.2 to plus 5.8. He was huge. And then some names that I just wasn't thinking of. We're going to get to an obvious name, but some names I wasn't thinking of. Tyrese Halliburton. Now, if you just look at the counting stats, it doesn't seem that significant.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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18-4-9 to 21-4-11. But his true shooting went from 59% to 68% post-All-Star break. And the net rating swing went to plus 1.2 to plus 12.7%. He was obviously a big part of the Pacers being one of the better second half teams in the league. Another name I wasn't really thinking about, Paulo Banqueiro. Pre-All-Star break, 23-7-5. Post-All-Star break, 29-8-5. His true shooting jumped from 51% to 58%.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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And in case you're wondering... Average true shooting this year was around 57 and a half. So Paulo post-All-Star break got his true shooting, his efficiency above average. And his net rating swing went from minus 6.7 to plus 4.6. And then the last name, the one you're expecting, also an insane jump. Josh Giddey, 12-7-6. to 21, 11, and 9. Similarly, his true shooting, 54% to 62%.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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And his net rating swing, minus 6.5 to plus 9.9. So once again, our first team, Josh Giddey, Paul Bencaro, Tyrese Halbern, Denny Avdia, and Quentin Grimes. So congrats to all those guys.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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The expectation is that Kevin Durant will be traded this summer. And while many have assumed Houston would be a likely suitor, Mark Stein reported this week that a Katie trade would be unlikely for the Rockets because he does not fit with the team's timeline. Now, it took all the way until game 82 to decide who would finish the season with the worst record.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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And this year's reverse champion was the Utah Jazz, who finished with 17 wins, only three more than last year's Pistons team. The Jazz secured the worst record after the Wizards got a dramatic win in the final game of the season, a 119 to 118 win in Miami that ended on an impossible Bub Carrington floater at the buzzer. The Wizards finished the season with an average scoring margin of minus 12.4.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Yeah, that makes sense. And I think we are both worried in the same way for Bulls fans. So the other nine seed Sacramento Kings, their season only ended on Wednesday. They already have fired their GM. Well, mutually agreed part ways with GM Monty McNair hired a new GM, Scott Perry. Now, subsequent reporting has come out from Sam Amick that McNair didn't want to fire Mike Brown.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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He also may have not been too keen on adding DeRozan or Zach Levine. What were your thoughts on the events of the last few days in Sacramento?