The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Trades, Warriors, Knicks and Celtics | Christmas Extravaganza
Tue, 24 Dec 2024
Dave DuFour, Es Baraheni and Zena Keita are joined by a plethora of guests like James Edwards, Jared Weiss and Anthony Slater to preview the Christmas Day NBA games we have in store featuring Knicks v Spurs, Celtics v Sixers and Warriors v Lakers. Our Slam ‘n’ Jam hosts Andrew Schlecht and Alex Speers close out the show with their Christmas wishes for the NBA.Host: Dave DuFourWith: Es Baraheni, Zena Keita, James Edwards, Jared Weiss, Anthony Slater, Andrew Schlecht and Alex SpeersExecutive Producer: Andrew SchlechtAudio Producer: Grayson MoodySubmit your questions to The Athletic NBA Daily mailbag: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5939460/2024/11/25/nba-podcast-mailbag-athletic-daily/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What games are being previewed for Christmas Day?
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily for December 24th, 2024. Coming up, it's Christmas Day and we're talking about all the games. We've got S sitting down with James Edwards to talk Spurs-Knicks. I sat down with Jared Weiss to talk about Sixers-Celtics. Zena got a chance to sit down with Anthony Slater to talk Warriors-Lakers.
And then Andrew Schlecht and Alex Spears give their Christmas wishes for the NBA. Good morning, everybody. We wanted to wish you guys a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, whatever reason you're celebrating this time of year. It's a good one, and we hope you have a safe and happy time. Enjoy the games on Christmas. It's going to be a good time. We've got Stephan LeBron. We've got Wemby in New York.
It's going to be great. Coming up, guys, we've got S sitting down with James Edwards to talk about that game, to talk about why Wemby is playing on Christmas and why the Knicks might have one of the best offenses in NBA history.
All right, well, we're joined. Happy holidays, everyone. Everybody listening right now, we're joined with James Edwards III, senior writer for The Athletic, covers the New York Knicks. Is this your first Christmas game?
Chapter 2: What are the Knicks' chances against the Spurs?
It is. It is. I was just actually doing a pod with Vincent Goodwill before this, and we were talking about that. Yeah, my first Christmas game. I'm not sure I feel...
um yeah different than different than getting the day off for sure yeah and i think for me i'm fine with it because like again i'm not home i'm i'm obviously i live in new york now um and both of my like my both my parents don't live in michigan and my sister doesn't live in michigan so it's like i would add to travel anyway and it worked out too my mom's in florida and the knicks play in orlando two days after christmas so i'll be able to go i'll be able to be with my family yeah
Okay, well, happy holidays, my guy. Thank you, you too. I mean, look, if there's any place to be on Christmas for basketball, it's Madison Square Garden for the matinee game. That's like a staple at this point for the NBA. And it's going to be a great game between the Knicks and Spurs. I want to get into the Knicks first, though, because I think...
For the audience, for most people, Christmas is when they really start tapping into the NBA, really start listening in. And so they have that opening night game where they get clobbered by the Celtics. They've been battling and grinding to find their identity. We had you on about a month ago in which you were telling us they're still struggling to figure out what their identity is. Now about...
Twenty five to 30 percent into the season. They're third in the East. They've played really, really good basketball. Got a couple of guys who are definitely an all star consideration. Has this team figured it out for what kind of basketball they want to play or what style they want to play?
I think they're getting there. I think we have a better idea of who they are. They're going to be an elite offensive team who the majority of the time are going to be able to just out shoot their opponents to death with efficiency. Yeah. And they're going to be defenses that they still shoot officially against, but struggle in terms of like
how many possessions they get up, whether it's two more, less twos, less or more threes, less twos, whatever. Um, certain teams do, do give them issues there, but they still, regardless, find ways to shoot efficiently defensively. They gotten better. Uh, I don't think this team is going to be a top 10 defensive team. It could happen because they do have a very easy stretch here.
They just played in New Orleans. They have Toronto tonight. San Antonio, who's good. Orlando, who's banged up. Two Washingtons. And then Utah. Utah.
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Chapter 3: How are the Sixers and Celtics performing this season?
That's a breeze. That's it. That's easy.
That should help with your defense. But with that said, they've lost to Utah. They struggled with Orlando the other day. They struggled with Toronto. So none of these are gimme's and San Antonio is good. So you never know what can happen. But I do think they're starting to feel a little bit more comfortable with who they are.
And at the end of the day, they're just a team that has so many good shot makers and they can make shots from all over the floor.
It seems like and this is from just watching them a lot. They have a lot of fun on the court. And, you know, you wrote that piece about Mikhail Bridges and the amount of trash that he talks on the floor, which I wouldn't have known, you know, watching it. I was shocked. I don't think you really get it. So so what is it about this group of guys?
I know we know the the Nova kids and whatnot and then OG and his personality. But like, what is it about this specific group that has them playing fun basketball?
Yeah. I think they just have good dudes in the locker room. I think it comes down to that, but also like you said, there's the Nova connection cat comes in. Cat's a guy who just wants to be liked. He's a likable guy. Like he's always, always, even in Minnesota, always propped up his teammates and like, he's just a nice guy.
Um, so for whatever jokes people like to have about cat being around him, he's genuinely a very nice guy. And I think it's hard to dislike somebody who's that nice. Uh, Um, obviously Josh Hart's funny. Um, even guys like Deuce McBride, funny campaign, hilarious, like great locker room guy. They just have really good guys in the locker room. They have a lot of guys who know how to play basketball.
And like, you see it with how much, how efficiently they are as a cutting team, how much they share the ball, like tips as teams were not high assist teams in the past. This team shares the balls with the best of them in the NBA. Um, just a very smart, high IQ players. Um, and again, who can make shots from all over. And I think when you were able to share the ball, um,
I don't always subscribe to like, you always hear passing is contagious. And it's like, I agree, but also like, I don't think that's the thing with the Knicks. I just think the Knicks have a lot of guys who know how to play the right way. Like, I don't think it's like a contagious thing. I just think they're just a bunch of smart basketball players.
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Chapter 4: What should we expect from the Warriors and Lakers matchup?
But in terms of how they guard Wimby, I'm going to be interested to see. I think I could see them. Maybe forcing him to shoot. If he makes it, he makes it. If he doesn't, he doesn't. I think that's probably the best way to defend Wimby. You bait him into shooting, and if he's hot, you switch up the coverage. If not, you let it keep going.
Live with it, right?
Yeah, you live with it because he can't pass. But I do think he's still a streaky shooter, and I think that's probably the best point of attack is let's see how he starts the game, and then we'll adjust accordingly.
Man, I remember like maybe not five years ago, probably closer to 10 years ago, matinee game, Milwaukee Bucks versus the New York Knicks. And it was this coming out party for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Like he just dominated. And I wonder if we get that this time with Wemby, because it does seem like he's being given this opportunity.
Usually the first game of the night or of Christmas slate is the first game that most people are tuning into because they got dinner later and whatnot. This is in a lot of ways the primetime game. Do you think we're we're in store for a Wemby breakout type of performance? Or you think or you think Tibbs is on the other side working on crazy defensive matchups to figure him out?
I don't know if we're in store for it, but I think the league's hoping so. Yeah, I think that's why they put him in that slot against the most rabid fan base in the garden. Yeah, I'm against a really, really, really good team. Like, I think that's what the league is hoping for to see to allow Wemby to show what.
he can do and where the future of the league is headed, um, on the, on the biggest stage pre playoffs. Um, yeah, I, I think it's going to be fascinating to see. And the Knicks haven't been very good in games that like start before 7.
Oh, so they got the matinee curse. Interesting.
I think that, yeah, like this year there was a really bad game against the Hornets. Um, They struggled in Dallas, I think, was an early game. I think there's a couple more. If you look at the games that started before seven, they either lost them or struggled, if I'm not mistaken. I don't know how many there were, but it's been a thing, I guess. I don't want to say a thing.
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Chapter 5: How does Victor Wembanyama match up against the Knicks?
Does Landry Shambit not solve all their problems? No.
Yeah, not right now. I mean, he helps some of the problems they have right now. But if something goes wrong, I don't know if that's going to change much. But yeah, I mean, this team is built. This team is built. It's top heavy. Yeah. And I think one injury to a couple guys. There's a couple guys that I think could have an interesting trickle-down effect. Yeah. Knock on wood.
Knock on wood. You don't want anybody to get hurt. The holiday spirit. No injury talk here. James, appreciate you as always. Of course. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays. Happy New Year if I don't see you before then. Same to you, man. As always, tap into the athletic. Tap into James Edwards writing New York Knicks. Appreciate you.
Joining me to talk about the Sixers and Celtics big Christmas Day clash, my good buddy, Jared Weiss. Jared, welcome back to the show. What's up? The Christmas episode. That's what's up. Before we jump to the game, you know, you just dropped a piece at The Athletic on A.J. DeBonsa. This guy, I saw some clips of him over the weekend for the first time.
And let's just say he pops, just pops from the screen. Tell me about A.J. DeBonsa.
Yeah, he's he's one of the most complete wings we've seen at the high school level in a decade, at least like you have to look at guys like R.J. Barrett, Zion Williamson, Andrew Wiggins, all guys that when they went to college were pretty, pretty elite like that's. He's at that level and maybe even a little bit more skilled than those guys. And so he just went to BYU.
And this is the second year in a row that BYU has landed like an elite prospect, this time the number one guy in high school. And he kind of became the star of this NIL bidding war that really escalated NIL to a new level in the basketball sphere.
Oh, interesting. Well, so go and read that over at The Athletic. Jared does a really good job breaking down draft prospects every year anyway, and one of the better storytellers that we probably have writing about these guys. But Jared, you're here to talk hoops, man. We're here to talk about the games on Christmas Day, a tradition unlike any other, the Sixers and Celtics. Needless to say.
These two teams have not had similar starts to their season. I think the Celtics look just as good as they closed out last year, obviously winning a title. And the Sixers have had what you can only describe as a season from hell between the injury stuff and just general morass. And honestly, it feels like cursed vibes around there.
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Chapter 6: What are the New Year's resolutions for the Sixers and Celtics?
Christmas against LeBron, Christmas against Steph, Christmas against your in-state big brand rival is not the day where those two are like, I don't know if I have it tonight, right?
Right.
Like you expect them to come with juice. And when they come, when they still like turn it up to, to, to eight, nine, 10, they're a spectacle. So I do expect it to be a great matchup. Number one. And then stakes wise, these are, I mentioned it, but this is a compact matchup.
part of the standings just like it was last year when they were basically the similar versions of what they are now uh and i don't know if you got the standings up i believe the lakers member was the last day of the regular season everybody's all tied up bunched up the lakers win and end up getting that uh into the seven eight plan and playing them their way into the playoffs where the warriors obviously dropped right at the end into that 9 10 bracket um
I would assume they're going to have very similar records come April again. So these head to head matchups are huge, right? There's two game swings one way or the other. You win it or you lose it. So like there's like relatively, you know, decent stakes, you know, I think, too.
Again, we're talking before the Warriors play the Pacers, but right now, sixth and seventh. That's how these two teams stack up. All right. Now, before I let you go, I got to ask you. It's the end of the year. It's going to be 2025. If you had a New Year's resolution for the Warriors, what would it be?
Clarity on Jonathan Kaminga's role and future within the franchise. Are you going to give him an opportunity, a long runway to figure out if he can be like kind of an ascendant 32 minute per night player on your team? Are you going to trade him?
Are you going to kind of keep, you know, bouncing him back and forth, minimizing him, but still have him on the roster come February 9th or whatever the day after the trade deadline is. I would just, that's the New Year's resolution. He's in his fourth season. He's a restricted free agent this summer. The league wants to know about him, not even just us, right?
People who want to trade for him, people who want to either give him or not give him a huge contract this summer. He wants to know about himself. Viewers want to know. But I think we just need to see more of him to know more.
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