 Welcome back to Knock Down Jay. I'm here with my man, Chris Broussard. Licking his wounds after last week's beat down. courtesy of your boy. Bouchard, how you feeling? You feeling confident today? I'm feeling great. You the one got the beat down. What are you talking about? All right, all right. We need to start all over with the truth. How about that? Let's get started. Chris, the Los Angeles Lakers not in the playoffs, but still one of the most fascinating teams in the league. Chris, I don't kneel. Tyloo, Monty Williams, I'm just going to ask you, is this Lakers head coaching job even a good job right now? Well, it's always a good job to coach the Brown James. And I know that comes with a lot of headaches. It's stress, Tyloo out. He had to go to the hospital because of it, right? Take some time off. So I'm not saying it's not stressful, but Shaq brought problems, right? Coach and Shaq, how about Kobe? There were problems. Michael Jordan gave problems to Phil Jackson. Didn't want to run the triangle. Superstars bring issues. They bring different challenges than a bunch of role players who just want to do whatever the coach says. LeBron's not unique in that regard. And on top of that, with all the challenges you get, you also get the great benefit of having a chance to win a championship. Any coach, any coach who doesn't want the challenge of coaching a great player like LeBron James, I don't want you. Because you're not built for this. Number one, number two, what makes the Lakers job right now not a good one is that is the front office situation. Not LeBron, the front office situation. Who's the president? Who's running basketball operations? What did we say about Luke all year? Magic and Polinka didn't hire him. Rob Polinka, I'm talking about, they didn't hire him. So if things go south, Luke's gonna pay the price. Well, if I'm a coach and the Lakers hire me, and then three weeks later bringing a new president who I'm not connected to, I'm not tied to, now I could be the scapegoat again. The Lakers are doing this backwards. And that says a lot about their organization. Go out, solidify your front office, hire a president, or if it's gonna be Rob Polinka, announce Rob Polinka as president, and hire a GM under him, then go hire your coach. And the challenge of coaching LeBron, it disappears if you have a strong front office because if LeBron, say, has an issue with the coach, the front office doesn't say, look, he's your coach. You're here for the next three years, so is he. If you're gonna win, it's with this guy. That's what Pat Raleigh did with Eric Sposter. It resulted in two titles. So you just have to, the Lakers don't have strong leadership right now. It's not LeBron James that's the problem. It's Jeannie Buss, and the way they're running things. Jeannie Buss is a major problem, I think we would agree. I don't know if she's in over her head or what running the show, but they do need a president because if I'm looking at taking the Lakers job, what's the game plan this summer? Are we trading all the young guys? Who's on the table? Who's on the market? What are we doing as our free agent pitch? Because right now, the Clippers across town have a much better pitch than the Lakers. You guys sell Glitz and Glamour and Hollywood and the Beaches and LeBron. We're gonna sell grit and hardcore tenacity. Look at that comeback we just made against them. A better front office. Better front office. Guys who were kind of undervalued. The Lakers had Lou Williams, Chris. And they let him go and Lou Williams now gonna be the sixth man of the year again. I don't know, this is a great job right now. There's just too much uncertainty and don't forget, you just say coaching LeBron's great. The Rich Paul angle is Rich Paul gonna wanna shove more of his guys into the Lakers and say, hey, we need to take this guy on. But that's my point. Just LeBron's 34 and a half. That's my point. A strong front office won't let an agent Rich Paul or otherwise come in and run their team. Unless there was some handshake wink nod deal when LeBron came here. Hey, me and Rich. Well, that would be gone. Who brought him here? That guy's gone. So this is a chance. So you're gonna be the guy to stand up to LeBron or Rich Paul? Orgently the most powerful agent and the most powerful player in the league. Why are you running a basketball team if you can't stand up to a player and an agent? I'm not saying be adversarial. I want the input of LeBron. I want the good relationship with Rich Paul. No question. But I'm not gonna let you run my organization. I wanna hear LeBron out. What are you looking for in the coach? Who do you like out there? What do you think about, you know, some of our off-season moves could be? I'm taking it all in, but I'm making the final decision and it might disagree with what you're saying. That's what David Griffin did. Well, that's a perfect pivot to the next question, Chris. David Griffin named GM of the Pelicans. New Orleans, of course, has Anthony Davis who has said he's played his last game. He said his goodbyes. He wore his Looney Tunes t-shirt. Oh boy. So do you think David Griffin in New Orleans means that Anthony Davis is more or less likely to land with the Lakers? Oh. I, look, I think there's still a chance he ends up with the Lakers, but I would say Griffin's place there makes it less likely. Interesting. Not that he's not gonna end up there. So Griffin LeBron, who worked together in Cleveland, now Griffin's gonna say, no, you're not getting AD, because I- Is he working for LeBron now? Well, hold on, hold on. His job, David Griffin's job is to improve the New Orleans Pelicans. True. He couldn't care less about improving the Los Angeles Lakers. He's heavily invested in the Pelicans for the next decade, right? We know these GMs. Come on, they have a couple of year job. He's on to the next one. Wait, wait, wait, wait. David Griffin could have held out, could have held off on accepting the Pelicans job if he was really interested in the Lakers job. Maybe he knows Genie's bus. I already got somebody in there. He didn't even talk with them, to my knowledge, and it hasn't been reported. So I'm just saying, Griffin, he's got a great relationship with LeBron and Rich Paul. Yes. But he's working for the Pelicans. He has no interest in making anybody else better. Of course, he could be a double agent. I'm kidding, that's a joke. I mean, here's the thing though. I don't think you're joking. No, no, we've talked about this in depth, Grusar. The Lakers' best shot at a start. You said it last week. I agree, Anthony Davis, right. There ain't no fallback if David Griffin stiffs LeBron and Rich Paul and says, we're sending Anthony Davis elsewhere. If it's a better deal for the Pelicans, I'm not, trust me, I know David Griffin. I've known David Griffin since he was working in the public relations department for the Phoenix Suns. He's a tough customer. He's not going to just hand the Lakers. If it's a tie, he's sending Anthony Davis somewhere else. If it's a better deal for the Pelicans, he's definitely sending Anthony Davis somewhere else. But then we get to the point of this other deal, that doesn't exist, is Anthony Davis signing in that other place long-term? Because he has said he wants to be with the Lakers. Has he? Publicly, as he said. Well, he hasn't said that publicly. And they haven't said, they didn't even say that to the Pelicans, that he definitely wants Lakers. Okay, Anthony Davis wants to be with the Lakers. Lakers are his number one on his list, but it's not Lakers or Bust for Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis, behind the scenes, the chatter is, he's going to be in space gym too, I'm assuming that's out there or something. He's going to want to be with the Lakers. He ain't going to sign in like 28 other teams. Maybe Boston, maybe the Knicks. That's, there's been talk that he doesn't want to go to Boston. Okay, he doesn't want to go to Boston. So Boston them all. The Knicks, if the Knicks get the first or second pick, maybe they can make an offer to New Orleans that might trump what the Lakers get. Okay. Look, and I'm not saying it's impossible for the Lakers to get him. Because if Kyrie Irving leaves Boston, if I'm Danny Ainge, I'm not giving up Jason Tatum. Now I don't know if Daniel shoot those craps, but I'm not doing that for a guy that could be a one year rental. So it keeps coming back to the Lakers. Well, but we don't, we don't, we have to see the landscape from Boston. Even without Jason Tatum, a Jalen Brown, maybe a Gordon Hayward, a Marcus Smart or, or you know, Terry Rogier, draft picks. Like David Griffin has to look at what's going to make my franchise better. What deal? And for the Lakers is Brandon Ingram, I don't want to say damaged goods. I think, you know, when blood clots in the arm, aren't as dangerous as those in the legs, but that does make it a little bit questionable. Let me come back to this. And now Kyle Kuzma, Kyle Kuzma not a franchise player? No, of course not. Louso Ball hasn't shown us anything to believe he's a franchise player. So what, what do the Lakers have? I want to come back to February, when the Pelicans reportedly would not pick up the phone to talk to the Lakers. Okay. And then when they did allegedly pick up the phone, they said, we want everybody in four first round picks. Griffin's not going to be that standoffish, the way these other guys would. So I, that's why I believe David Griffin in New Orleans helps the Lakers in their quest for Anthony Davis. Whoever was running the Lakers, if it was back to Dell Dempsey and those guys, but seriously, during the summer during the new, the off season, if it was the same front office, they would begin talking with the Lakers in the summer. The issue was, we're not trading them there before the deadline. There was no reason to trade them in February. That's what it was. It wasn't just being upset with the Lakers. Yeah, that was a part of it. But come off season, they would have been willing to engage the Lakers along with the Knicks, the Celtics and any other teams that may want to get in this. Well, let's just wrap it up. What does Chicago wants to throw? What does Chicago got a lot of young pieces? Yeah, it's a big city, it's a big market, obviously a great history. So I'm just saying there are other things. I'm not saying it's impossible for the Lakers. I'm saying David Griffin is not going to give Anthony, give the Lakers any type of break. It may have to be a three or four team deal. And right now, who in that Lakers runoffice is capable of putting together a three or four team deal? Rich Paul, the guy who knows. Well, Rich maybe would have to go out and try to help orchestrate it. You know, to be honest, because agents do do that sort of thing. Are you ready to move on to the best player in the NBA? We're gonna talk about Kevin Durant. Yes, we are going to talk about Kevin Durant. He's in the running. It's up for grabs. I'm saying grab it. I don't think that's the topic here, but you want to fire off this question or me, or I mean, listen, what is going on? Kevin Durant has averaged 12 shots a game in these first two games with the Clippers. Furthermore, Kevin Durant over the last month and a half of the season, okay, March and April, 17 games total. He averaged 13 shots. He went from shooting 19 shots a game or close to 19 to shooting 14 shots a game or close to 14 was 13.8 or something like that. So he dropped five shots a game. His scoring went down to 20 points a game from like 27. What is going on with KD? So I will, I'll be at the game tonight. I hope you will be at Staple. I'm going Sunday, not tonight. Easter Sunday, huh? Yeah, okay. So my theory here, Chris, is that Kevin Durant is testing the Golden State Warriors. He is saying to them, all I hear is I'm going to New York and the Warriors don't need me. The Splash Brothers will go back to the way it was when they won 73 games. And I believe Kevin Durant- Is he really hearing that or is that just how he feels? We know Kevin Durant has rabbit ears. But how many, have you heard, is that out there? I don't know that that's out there. I'm floating my ears. Do know this. KD does feel that. He does feel like the Warriors feel like we made you. You need us. You know, not made him, he's obviously a great player, but you know, we made you a champion. Fans on social media feed that. The media, I think kind of feeds that a little bit. And I- That's always going to be there. Yeah, and if you look at- I don't care how many rings you're wearing with the Warriors. His pre and post All-Star splits are dramatic. I mean, he just stopped shooting the basketball. He had eight shots and nine turnovers in game two. And I think he's testing the Warriors. And I think he's saying, guys, I want you to come to me the way you came to me in the Hamptons and said, we need you. We need you, KD. You flew across the country to recruit me. And now here I am in your backyard and you're not showing me the love. And I think the Warriors need to come to Kevin Durant and say, we need you, Kevin. It's on us. We came out of our element. We moved out of our comfort zone and we messed it up. We need you back. And I think Kevin Durant, this is why I give a chance that he signs a one plus one, Chris. We need you back? Like- You've been telling him all year we need you. But are they showing him? Are they showing him? What do you want him to do? Run, please, for Kevin Durant. Get him on the block against Patrick Beverly. The head coach just said, I want Kevin Durant taking 20 or 30 shots. That's not, that's not, what, what? Get him the ball. Does he have to say, I want you taking 50? Maybe he wants- He's kidding Kevin Durant of all. Chris, you know- I want to hear what Kevin Durant needs to hear. Chris, you know, you go home and maybe you take your wife, a nice bouquet of flowers, you put them on the table. Here you go honey. And then you go on and do your work and you watch your NBA. And you do all the right things and say all the right things, but you're not showing the love. I think, and again, this is just speculation, Kevin Durant is not- First of all- The only love from the Warriors. I think he wants to be embraced. People act like it's over. You got guys at this network, ESPN, all saying he's gone, it's done, it's the mix, it's done. Maybe Kevin Durant likes it and has fun. How much fun does he have right now? I don't think he's having fun. He does not look joyous out there. He hasn't looked joyous though for a few years, to be honest. I mean, I think he was joyous collecting those MVPs in the finals. Yeah, but he also is saying he's on LeBron's grill. He also is quoted as saying, I won the championship and it was like, okay. You know what I mean? Like he kind of played down, played. Look, I get you, everybody wants to be wanted. I'm just saying they want Kevin, all this stuff you're talking about is periphery. It's us in the media talking about it. It's not the Warriors. Believe me, the Warriors want Kevin Durant. He knows they want Kevin Durant. The players want Kevin Durant. Again, Simon, this is a good presume. That's Traymah and Green. That's one player. They suspended him because he was such a jerk. Right, that's my point. Isn't that showing you love? This guy's won three championships with us, but we're gonna suspend him for something that really wasn't suspendable. Shouldn't have suspended him for it. Going at a teammate, one sentence. Going at a teammate. We don't need you. Two time finals, MVP's not a teammate. Best player in the NBA, not just a teammate. He's a teammate, just like Steph is a teammate and so on and so forth. I mean, come on. And I'm not saying it was right for Traymah. I'm just saying, typically that's not a something you suspend a player for. They did it. That's showing Kevin Durant the love. Steph, Steve Kerr saying I won him shooting 23rd time. Who doesn't want to hear that? Well, you reminded me. You don't think Michael Jordan would have loved to hear a coach say I won him shooting 30 times? You reminded me of Kobe Bryant in the Sun series, right? He had, what, 50 in a game? Well, that's the only reason I'm not completely shutting down your theory. I think Kevin Durant's better than that. I don't think Kevin Durant will pull a stunt like this, especially in the playoffs. Like, oh, I'm not gonna shoot the ball. Let's see what you can do without me. I think he's more of a winner than that. The only reason I won't shut it down is because Kobe Bryant did do that. Against Phoenix Game 7, we know years back, he was getting a lot of flack for shooting too much. And he decided not to shoot in the second half of that game, and it cost him. The difference is Kobe Bryant did it for one half. Right, right, Durant. You're talking about Kevin Durant doing it for two months? Well, so you really think that? You made a great point with Kobe, people were calling him selfish, right? I think that was exactly what happened, and he took three shots in the second half. People are saying the Warriors don't need Kevin Durant. He ruined the NBA. I think there's, Kevin Durant is showing them, you guys need me, I'm telling you right now, they're not beating the Rockets without Kevin Durant being MVP, final Kevin Durant. Not if Kevin Durant's gonna be on the team and then sabotages and not play. I mean, but the old Warriors, the old Warriors that Kevin Durant joined, that team was capable of beating the Rockets, but if it's gonna be thrown on us like out of the blue and I'm still here but I'm not gonna be myself, I'm gonna be a role player. No, they're not, cause it's gonna be jacked up. I think Kevin Durant's better than that. But I'm, look, it's a mystery. Why all of a sudden, cause Steph, like Kevin Durant tried to explain it, like we're playing differently. The last two months, well he is. He said we're playing differently, you know, the balls more spread. He's the only one who shots are down. Boogie shots weren't down, Steph and Clay shots weren't down. I don't know how to explain it. I mean, you got a theory. Again, I think he's better than that. I'll quickly ask this, do you believe right now the Warriors could be in some trouble against the Rockets in the next round? Yeah, I still favor the Warriors, but they're gonna have their hands full. First of all, a lot of people are saying Houston's not better than they were last year. They look better. They're way better right now. They weren't the first half of the season. Utah is no slouch. They're murdering Utah. They are dismantling Utah. I mean, to do this to Utah is no joke. So yeah, they got a great chance to beat the Warriors. I would say right now I'm probably 55, 45 Golden State. All right, let me quickly move on to the Rockets now. Maybe it's because they're killing the Jazz and it's unwatchable. I don't find joy watching the Houston Rockets because James Harden dribbles the ball 600 times a game. They run the exact same play ad nauseum. It just becomes boring. It's crossover, crossover, crossover drive, either floater or step back three or alley-oop to Capella every single time. And to me, that's a little boring. I like pace and space. I like watching the Warriors and you're stewing and you're gonna kill me like that. Who else do you like watching? Come at me, brother. Other than the Warriors, who else do you like watching? I like Kyrie Irving down the stretch. He is nice. Kyrie Irving. Kyrie ain't handling it like James Harden. But he's not dribbling 600 times a game. And if you won- 557. 553, I think. Look. I like Portland. Damian Lillard, man. I'm having more fun watching Damian Lillard than I am the Houston Rockets. Damian Lillard is going off. Lillard is going to another level. There's no doubt. He's unbelievable. You're not alone. A lot of people feel that way about Harden. I love watching him. He's a great player. I'm not saying I love watching him more than I liked watching Michael Jordan or Steph Curry or something. But I love watching him because I understand how difficult it is to do what he's doing. For you to come down time after time after time. They know what's coming. And shake a dude up with your handle. You're not the most, the fastest guy in the world. But you're somehow able to get around him or create space. The step back three, his three point shot is so pure. It's incredible. Like I like watching it. Like it's not the most artistic thing. It might be the difference between watching Muhammad Ali in his prime and say, I don't want to say Mike Tyson because it's always fun to see somebody knock somebody out. But it's just not as artistic. But I understand how difficult it is to do what he's doing. And I'm in awe. I don't want to, I'm like, I'm poo-pooing what James Harden's doing because he's incredible. I had Giannis as the MVP. Harden is looking like the MVP. I think Giannis is going to get it. And guarding him is difficult. But just from my point of view, watching it, it's just, it's gotten a little tiresome. And I'm a little nervous that if the Warriors get extinguished, we're seeing colossal ratings drops already. No LeBron in the postseason. If the Warriors get knocked out in the second round, I don't think like every night out here in LA, six o'clock, I'm like, I got to get home, watch NBA finals, conference finals, Rockets, Blazers that I just don't know. And I'm a huge NBA guy. I'll give you this. From the casual fans such as yourself. The Jits are not the real fans. But for the casual fans, I do think there'll be a drop. Because I'm enjoying the playoffs now without LeBron. Obviously I'd love to see him in it, but I'm enjoying it just as much as I would if he were in it. But obviously the casual fan is not. And I think it'd be the same thing if the Warriors are gone. I do think there'd be that same thing. But I think it'd be great for the NBA and the hardcore fans because there would be an air of mystery. We wouldn't know would it be a Milwaukee, Boston, Toronto, Houston, maybe, like you said, from the other side of the bracket, San Antonio. I mean, it'd be awesome. But you know what's gonna be a bigger story than Rockets, Blazers game one? Oh, Kevin Durant just unfollowed Curry on Instagram. Like that's gonna be the story. I'm not even making that up. It's gonna be all, where's Kevin Durant going? Cause he ain't staying if they don't win. One last quick note. Well, are you so sure? In the NBA, wine as much as the Houston Rockets. Dude, it is unbearable. I mean, cause they expect to call every single time. If Hardin misses a shot, he's like, where's the foul? Crystal, Crystal, Golden State wine's a little bit, but nothing like it. A little bit. PJ Tucker, Boston River, Austin Rivers wants Michael Jordan whistles. I mean, that's what's happening out here. It's insuffable. Stop ripping the Rockets. Sorry guys, kill me in the YouTube comments. All right. He loves when you kill me. Let's wrap up here. Goatsard McIntyre, Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics, second round. Who you got? Milwaukee in six. Woo. Look, Eric Bledsoe locking down Kyrie. Not locking it down, but making it. Can't lock down Kyrie. Eric Bledsoe was on my first team all defense. You can't, nobody can like down Kyrie, but he will make it tough on him. Here's the deal. Because people look inevitably, they're going to look back and say, Boston beat Milwaukee in seven last year, without Kyrie. Without Kyrie. That's probably where you were going. Tatum was a rookie. You don't know where I'm going. Okay. All right. That's true. I never know where you're going. Look, last year, the Celtics in Milwaukee was nowhere near as good as they are. We know that, right? And Brad Stevens, despite not having Kyrie, had a humongous coaching advantage over the interim coach in Milwaukee. All right? So that was huge. And then in the second round against Philadelphia, he had a humongous coaching advantage over Brett Brown. This season, this series against Indiana, which Boston isn't looking all that great. They do not look phenomenal. They have a talent advantage, because Kyrie is there in Victor Oladipo for the Pacers is not. There's no advantage against Milwaukee. Talent wise, I'd say it's a wash. Both teams are close, but I take Giannis as the better player over Kyrie, even though I think Kyrie is more clutch. And then the coaches, it's a wash. Mike Boudinhozer is a great coach. Mike Boudinhozer, Brad Stevens is a wash? Yes. No question. What are you doing in your wash? Who is the coach? Who is the coach? Get out of here. Stop. Brad Stevens went to the finals, game seven last year in the East, without Kyrie Irving. Coulda took down LeBron. Are you kidding me? Mike Boudinhozer. Kenny, you win a big time playoff series first. Just give me one. One. Because it's a hit. What big time playoff series has Brad Stevens won? He went to the Eastern Conference Finals last year. What big? Mike Boudinhozer took Kyle Corver, DeMarie Carroll, Al Horford. Both teams are in trouble. Jeff Teague, to the Eastern Conference Finals. I did not sweat, but I'm proud. I know, but they dusted out. He didn't have the talent that Boston had. And he won. You just said they had four old stars. He didn't have talent. He started. Stop. Look, stop. He won 60 games. All right. 60 games with a bunch of role players. Got to the Conference Finals. You said winning a big series. For that Atlanta team with that roster, those were big series wins. He took a team that had the 16th best record last year in the league. Now has the first best record. He took a team that couldn't shoot threes last year. Now they make more threes than anybody. He took a team that couldn't defend last year. Now they were the only team in the top five defensively and offensively. What in the world is, Brad Stevens has had a bad year, dude. He has a bad year, no doubt. But you laugh, but you laugh. What body of work? And actually we need to go back to Jason Kidd, who was awful. What body of work? Brad Stevens, I don't know. Should we go back to him? When he took a bunch of kids from the Midwest. No, we shouldn't. Because we don't care about college. This is the NBA. Coaching doesn't matter. This is the NBA. All right. Take that one to the YouTube comments. I gave him a blue chip dude in Kyrie and the whole season was a mess. Well, you're blaming on him, Brad Stevens? Yeah. I'm blaming on Brad Stevens. You want to blame it on Kyrie Irving? Kyrie Irving blamed it on the other players. He didn't blame Brad Stevens. I'm, well, Brad Stevens isn't that confrontational. And he needs to be more confrontational. I didn't think Buck Celtics would be this heated. Now I do a coming up winners gambling podcast. Myself and Andrew Lynch, we like the Bucks and Celtics as great value to win the East. If they show up here and the Milwaukee Bucks get their butts kicked by Boston, which very well could happen. No, it couldn't happen. Because the Bucks are favored. You don't think it could happen? They're not getting their butts kicked. Oh, because they're dusting Detroit and just destroying the Detroit Pistons, who look like a G-League team. What's Indiana look like? Indiana finished the season eight and 14. Doesn't, they're still a good team. Eight and 14 is a good team. I mean, the struggle they looked to the finish, but they still got there without Oladipo. Without Oladipo, they're not much better than Detroit. Detroit loses Blake Griffin and they lose the first two games by 3000 points. Okay, let's not compare Indiana to Detroit. I think actually the Bucks are overvalued here because of what's happening in Thon Maker and the Detroit Pistons. Like, come on, dude. They're running play for Thon Maker. Like, come on, there's a little bit much. I don't even know where you're going. What are you talking about? Celtics, Celtics. Celtics in six. You're going Bucks in? Six. You're wrong. All right. Is that it? This is so much fun, folks. I know you're happy we're back. He's a glutton for punishment. Chris Buzard high. I'm like Rocky in Rocky Four against, he's the Russian. I'm Rocky. You know who wins that battle. You like that wing? I'm just gonna let you join in because nobody believes you. Nobody watching believes you. Okay. The Kevin Durant, the Bucks Celtics. You're who? Can we talk Orlando Toronto? Do we have time for Orlando Toronto? No. All right. Signing off, knock down Jay. Peace. See you next week.