 Welcome back to another NBA playoff edition knockdown Jay. I'm joined this week Steven Jackson the people's champion one of my favorite players during his prime Steven Jackson We got a lot to sift through here after two great game sevens on Sunday. Let's get started with the 76ers. Oh brutal loss Raptors winner on the kawaii Leonard shot at the buzzer today. Everybody's talking about the future of the 76ers Steven, do you think they should run it back? Should they look to blow up the nucleus? What's the move here if you're the philadelphia 76ers? Well You look the way they lost you want to go down to the wire game seven So they put that left everything on the court But in order to get better and go on to the next season you have to make a move and I think the move has been Simmons. Oh, I think they have to make a move where they can get More guards that can shoot and they can play in pick and roll and I think brooklyn has those two those two guards I think With the with the package of two to young guards that can shoot Dribble penetrate make plays along with jimmy butler to buyers have and the b that gets doubled more than any big man in the game I think that'll be special I think it hinders them not having the point guard that can shoot because he Demand and b demand so many double teams that the normal Shot and the perfect shot out of double team As you know is swing swing shot in the corner Ben Simmons is always diving and when you're diving you're diving into the defense because the defense is rotating your way It kills the offense having two guards. Maybe the angelo russell. Maybe another guard from brooklyn So you're willing to give up a 22 year old rookie of the year that won't even shoot. Yes I sure am you I mean again people have compared him to magic johnson when he came into this league with his court vision His passing ability magic no That's a point guard not a lot of those in the history of the nba steven If you what did magic do his rookie year magic did uh game six against the sixers filled in at center and the nba finals had like 42 points Ben Simmons took four shots in game Yes, yes, you can't compare him to magic with the potential I'm loathe to get rid of ben Simmons at this stage. No, I agree with the shooting Do you think a move of ben Simmons would be enough to keep jimmy butler? Who is going to be commanding big bucks from several teams the lakers perhaps in free agency this summer? Well, I think that would be my my main priority because he's a tough nose guy He brings the energy and the leadership to the team to experience the tough nose hard nose guy He could play on both ends one of the he's with top three two-way player in the game Um, you got to lock him in first. I think he's a big part of that team I think b wants him on the team because it gives him more confidence and more security, but Not having jimmy on that team is going it's going it's going to create a big hole on that team Something that he filled this year and uh, I don't think they can go backwards on that note And regarding the coach brett brown, uh down the stretch of sixers were awful in the fourth quarter I believe they had back-to-back 24 second violations and a tie game with two minutes left Do you think he survives this offseason again the coaching market as the lakers just found out? We'll get to them shortly. It's very thin. I mean cleveland just hired john b line from college He'd never coached in the nba. What did the sixers do with brett brown? Oh I don't want to put you on the spot and say fires, you know, they went to game seven down the wire. Well, I mean Obviously He didn't control the game at the end like he should have on the road Um, I think the players may plays but I think for the most part He's not the coach for them to me because he's not holding been Simmons accountable For getting better creating a jump shot making your team better because by you not having the jump shot at At the point guard position you're hindering our whole offense and to have a coach that's not holding the player accountable I have no respect for him. Okay. All right. Let's move on golden state warriors have just announced kevin durant Stephen will not play in the first two games of the western conference finals So the warriors they're heavy favorites to take down the blazers Your thoughts on whether or not golden state is susceptible against portland without the best player in the nba I'll call him. Well I don't think they're a championship team anymore without kd. Obviously, they still can win games as we've seen. Yes You still have to go out there and win a series You dame dammit in my plan where they were confident in their plan Well, they just went to the the number two seeds home on the game seven and got a big win So they're a very confident team I'm I wouldn't say golden state is going to win this series without kd But it's some of the fact that I was a part of a eight c that'd be the one So anything could happen we kd is kind of solidified but without kd I think portland is real confident and they feel like they can come in there again It's still a game one or two the narrative online and again You don't want to read too much into social media, but you're active on there is that well Hey warriors won 73 games without kevin durant a few years ago. They also knocked off the rockets They also got came back three one Trust me. I'm on your side in this But what do you want to say to the people who are like? Hey, they just beat the rockets in game six on the road Again, it's like a five quarter sample size without kevin durant. This is a team with no bench I know queen cook and jordan bell played nice minutes a game six, but this portland bench is much deeper rodney hood I mean zack collins right now is better than anyone on the golden state bench Uh, I think they're in real trouble if kevin durant doesn't show up in this series They could lose this series if they don't have kevin durant It's definitely possible. Like I said the portland is playing confident. I think Steph and clay are definitely way more aggressive without katie on the court I think the numbers are when katie and steph on the court step averages 18 Without katie on the court he averages 35. So it's a big difference. Yeah, you know what I mean? So those guys are definitely more dangerous and hopefully the guys off the bench can give them something to to to make up a Missing katie, but it's going to be a good series. And I think if portland was confident They're more confident now knowing they're going to the first two games without katie. Yeah, certainly All right, moving on to the los angeles lakers. They just hired frank vogel over the weekend Listen, uh, we don't need to look into his resume. He was a massive failure in orlando Orlando made the playoffs the year after he left. Oh, they also hired jason kid is an assistant We know in milwaukee struggled. They've got rid of him. And now they're the number one seed in the east Um, is frank vogel going to be successful with the lakers? I don't think so I think it's going to be the same type of situation with luke And we looked at last year a lot of the players we looked in the media How many times we heard about players going at luke because there's no respect Yeah, you played in the nba, but you wasn't that good. You wasn't a star player. I think j kid Is all the players gonna gravitate to j kid. They're gonna love j kid. The bronze relationship is going to be with j kid He's going to talk to vote to vogel through j kid j kid is going to be everything to that team All the players are going to gravitate to him. That's why I say players are the best coaches I think it looks kind of shady to me because what are you saying? You saying you want vogel to get the credit but you want j kid to develop the players? Yeah, like what are you saying? Yeah, the big story was when lebron walks into a room He needs to respect boba and lebron could be right there I guarantee you walk to j kid first exactly and that's going to ultimately be a big problem I mean david blatt ran into that in cleveland with ty louis and his assistant I don't know. Why were the lakers and genie bus afraid to hire jason kid? Do you think it's some of the baggage off the court that he brought to the table? It doesn't really make sense why they would be so hot for him But not want to make him the guy. Yeah, I don't think it's I don't think it was anything baggage I just think they got the wrong people running organization. Yes. I mean, that's basically what it is I mean magic walked away for a reason. He's seen a whole bunch of nonsense going on and then at the end of the day You know even with kurt rambas If he comes that decides to come down and coach they're not going to respect him either You know and that's and that's just what it is But for the most part it just it just looks bad Now I don't want to go overboard with a coaching hire impacting free agency But just kairi Irving kawai Leonard those type players jimmy butler See the hire a vogal and say, I don't want to go there or is are we overrating coaching when it comes to free agent? That's why they hire jk because they see exactly what you said. They see the fire the fire a vogal They'll be like, uh, well, they got jk in there All a favor all time great point card. All right, uh, steve. We'll get you out of here on picks Milwaukee Bucks Toronto Raptors Bucks haven't played in about a week by the time game one comes around I will give you this Pascal Siakam in four games against the Bucks is here destroyed them They don't have a matchup for him ever 24 a game shot over 40 from three Um, yannis, obviously verse kawai Do you think the Raptors are live underdogs in this series of the Bucks are heavy favorites to get to the finals? Well, I think the series can go either way Is going to see it depends on who defends the best Greek freak and um kawai both relentless guys on offense. They're going to attack all game We're going to see What different combinations they can throw at each guy? I think for the most part Toronto has different guys they can throw at greek freak and give them different looks I think abacca abacca be more physical with him Siaka can guard him on the wing and on the post. He's big enough. It's just about competing I don't think kawai will be on them too much because you don't want to get kawai in foul trouble And you really need him on offense But I think they have other guys that come off the bench that probably can bang with him a little bit But defense is going to be the total factor at a game and you have a great coach that coaches great defense in milwaukee I play for him in san Antonio Mike buttons He's a great defensive coach and that might get them on yeah, they were number one in the regular season and he knows kawai Yes, let me ask you quickly about that when you look at the matchups If kawai who did everything in that six or series has to guard yannis and then come around and provide all the scoring He's gonna be gassed. We saw him in game seven. I think he put up 39 shots If he has to carry that load steven, they're gonna have no chance in the series who steps up other than siakam I mean can kyle lowery actually show up because he's got a tough match up with blood So danny green if you see he didn't guard he didn't guard, uh, jimmy butler in this series either They always put him on a smaller guard So I think they'll put him on bled so and let siakam and some other guys get the first cracks At at at greek freak, but for the most part you want him fresh and toronto has to figure out Ways for other guys to score but is going to do a great job of taking kawai out of sweet spots And taking the ball like kawai's hand. That's something pop has taught him and something he's good at He's going to make kawai do a lot of things different And I really I really believe that if it's a coaching battle, you got to go towards the Milwaukee coach He has experience. He has the championships and he knows kawai. Why does this games he play out? Things are going to be something kawai's never seen let's give nurse some credit though in game seven Ibaka who had a rough series every time mb'd ate him up Surjibaka was a monster on the offensive glass and that's a great point He could match up with yannis and maybe slow him down. Although. I don't know if anybody can And we talk about coach and talk about bair brown Last play the game. You can't let kawai go, right? Of course him left. Do we want to pin that on ben simons? He kind of gave up and just handed him off I said bair brown. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah coaches at the time out half That's one thing pop was good at tendencies letting you know guys tendencies coming out of time I just should have told him whenever he catch the ball if he makes a game winner Make it make him make it go left. They let him go all the way right all the way to a sweet spot You got to know your tendencies. I am quickly uh Portland versus golden state again the kevin doran injury out the first two games if portland steals one We know they have a big home court advantage Up in the northwest I don't for some reason I think they can win this series if kevin doran is not 100% if kevin doran misses more than two or three games It's it's a chance it's as possible as they can but They have to win it. Uh, I don't think They can expect to just go to say to lay down just because katie's not out there Portland still has to play has to play Lights out basketball they have to shoot well They have to defend in order to be going to stay without katie But it's some effect that they still have a dangerous team that's still championship team for the most part I want to see how dame performs. Yes I want to see how dame he kind of took a step back in this series against Denver You look a little tired and yeah, he used so much energy going up against russ. Yeah, he kind of said back But that's good. I having a teammate. Yeah, like you have he can take over some time I mean they called the play for mccullum with a one-point game down the stretch That was impressive and every time they came down They got the ball in the last three minutes Damien slowed it down and gave it to mccullum because he knew he was going and that's what good players do But dame is an oakland guy right and you wonder if in the first two games He's going to be out to kind of prove something. Hey, i'm on steve curry's level I was first team all nba last year. This is my hometown. He did drop 40 on the warriors this season in a game Um, I think some of the matchups actually could favor portland not dame against curry obviously But the depth could be a problem for golden state. Well It's going to be more dangerous than james to me for some effect that They're in the system and they're attacking in the system. Yes when you're iso and it's you know, what's coming You can see what's coming. Everybody can still in the pain. It's just iso ball They score in the system and they got multiple guys that can score and they're more dangerous I i i like this series been this series is going to be way more entertaining than the houston series All right, there you have it folks another edition of knockdown jay in the books for steven jackson I'm jason mackentire. We'll see you next week