Around the Horn | Does Pascal Siakam make the Pacers LEGIT contenders?

Around the Horn | Does Pascal Siakam make the Pacers LEGIT contenders?

The horn with statements on statement wins and here’s a preemptive mute for all of you we know you can’t win a championship in January we know it ring is better than MVP this is about now and today and beat over joic last night and a whole lot of great action and a

Statement trade news of the day Indie gets seaka we’ll talk about it now around the war yeah I wasn’t going to say any of those things I’d like my point P you guys always do that like it’s a big surprise yes we know a game in April

Means more than a game in January but still when Joel embiid was crowned MVP last year after Philly was about to be run out of the playoffs and then yic went on to dominate the postseason and win the ring an irresistible force was set in motion so last night in

Philadelphia it was Haggler Hearns to start Young People YouTube b you got to see the Haggler Hearns round one one closing minutes though going to Philadelphia and embiid Woody pige you’re in Denver we start with you what’s the statement made by Philadelphia last night well let me

Start with this statement Tony I think that statement had an exclamation mark at the end of it because embiid proved that he is the best player in the league again this season with the numbers he’s putting up and with the performances he’s had uh I don’t think that jokic really is in the

Conversation more than being in the paragraph with him based on what we saw this season yeah mhm yes uh the early straw poll says that yic is second to To None except for mbid but here’s the key to this series embiid never plays in Denver he’s only played in two games

Against the Nuggets since he came into the league he finds a convenient way not to be in Denver each year so they play again in two weeks we’re going to see what happens when he comes to Denver but these two teams would make a great finals because we haven’t had two big

Men of this caliber I think in a finals forever going back to Chamberlain and and Russell I think but here’s what we saw last night even though they lost Harden Philadelphia has Harris who’s doing a great job for them and that Maxi is doing a fantastic job as the number

Two guy there and I think that being rated eighth as they are in the latest ESPN power pole is wrong this is a team that belongs in the top five all right so the statement you took away from last night is that Phillies should have finals aspirations David Dennis Jr to

You oh I want to start I know what Kevin Clark is thinking that’s Shaq and elijuan finals Orlando Houston that go in the big man finals uh history books too but uh in terms of this one yes the statement here is being made that you know sticks with the nuggets and the

Sixers Denver has gone out there in these playoff series A lot of times the last few years and they’ve known that they have the best player on the court at all those times we might not be able to say that when they’re going up fac against the 76ers and embiid embiid had

More points and more assist than yish that’s the first time that’s happened since a meaningless game in April of last year and you talk about those last two games that they played yes they both were in Philly but embiid has outscored yic embiid had four 88 points in those

Two games almost doubling up what joic has in those two games he’s been straight up dominant against against jic so when Denver looks across the aisle at who they’re playing with they’re going to have to face the fact they may have the second best player on the court and

That’s foreign to them isra Gutierrez statement from last night Philly over Denver well of all people Joel embiid can’t make regular season statements and I know you just said this Tony I know this is not what I’m this is not what you want to hear but what they did show

And what they’ve been showing all season long is the blueprint to then get m be that success in the playoffs and last night you saw it didn’t matter where he initiated the offense low post mid post at the top he was effective and he has such Variety in his game it’s almost

Like Nick nurse is using him as a bigger Kawhi Leonard which won him a championship in Toronto and when you’ve got that versatility and that Variety in your game and you’ve got an efficient Tobias Harris who I always gauge as sort of the real barometer of how good that

Team is On Any Given night if he’s playing well they’re going to be really good and so if you have all that and Tyrus Maxi doing his normal thing you have to be perfect to beat this team and the Nuggets were not their back court of kcp and Jamal Murray were just slightly

Off slightly off enough to lose this game on the road what I do think this does for Joel embiid as he continues this run in in the PO in the regular season is when he gets to the postseason says hey I know it’s going to be about

Me I don’t have to worry about getting Harden involved I don’t have to worry about getting Ben Simmons involved and if I don’t perform I’ll be the reason we lose and so you set that sort of Line in the Sand immediately and you see how he’s performing in the in the regular

Season you expect that now in the post K Clark did you get a statement that was similar to the rest of this panel that embiid has risen to that or something else yeah best player in basketball I do want to correct David I do not acknowledge the 95 finals Nick Anderson

Made sure of that it is out of my mind um but I will say this the last time that Joel embiid did not score 30 points was the group stage to an inseason tournament that you’ve already forgotten about that was November 15th when guarding each other the two best players

In basketball last night Joel embiid doubled up joic in points he was unb this isto the best way to prove valuable is to be more valuable with other guys like that on the there was a game last year and thank you Kevin where MBI out played

Yic was a huge line and that was more than anything I think a deciding vote for embiid over joic when it came to MVP this year we may not have that conversation embiid may not have enough games played for the requirement but I think you all agree it’s not about MVP

Anymore for Joel embiid we’ll move on more statement last night Clifford’s getting the best game of the season from Paul George and some lock down defense late to beat OKC after the game James Harden positively buoyant about this team wants that hard core to be kept

Longterm David Dennis Jr I go to you for hardcore what’s the statement here from the Clippers I want start with a statement from James Harden which is the most self-aware statement he had he said I want to stay with this team and I said that about the last team I played with

But no for real this time I want to stay with this team so shout out to him for being very self-aware with that this Clippers team has been the best team in the in the west since that uh six game skid but there are some long-term things

That you got to worry about if it’s sustainable here kawh Leonard played 36 of 40 games that is a tick that we have not seen from him in a very long time you also have the Bugaboo of what James Harden’s going to look like in the playoffs there’s the playoff P stuff

That’s going on there’s how Russell Westbrook gets played off the court in the playoffs and again they are the Clippers how many times has this team been the best team or the favorite at this point in the season and have fallen apart so yes they’re the best right now

But there are a lot of long-term concerns that are based on their history Gutierrez well I’m not going to hold Kawhi Leonard actually playing now against him so I’m just going to assume he can continue this through the regular season and the postseason I think against Oklahoma City when you can slow

Down Shay guildas Alexander you can pretty much you know cut the head off the snake there and they have the Defenders multiple Defenders to do that in Paul George Kawhi Leonard Etc and so I think for this matchup yeah they they fit very well I think there are some

Other potential situations with some bigs maybe a Denver or Lakers team that could give them problems but the Clippers a lot like the Sixers have been showing over and over again their formula works and whether that be uh going through kawhai going through Paul George going through James Harden or

Just picking the hot hand and going through that person and just playing enough defense it seems to have worked and OKC’s been really good all season long they have an uh MVP candidate themselves so to beat them at all huge accomplishment Kevin Clark statement from the Clippers win over OKC yeah the

Most dangerous player in basketball is James Harden when he can’t renegotiate his contract and has to lock in obviously the Clippers have the two the combination of the best two best players which is Paul George and Kawhi Leonard but those two only played 38 games together last year they’re going to blow

Past that Mark this month they’re playing basketball they like basketball together right now this is special stuff there is a new contender in the west if they get home playoff games and it looks like they will look out and Woody Paige well I told you two weeks ago I

Thought the Thunder was the best team in the west well that’s been replaced by the Clippers we’ve seen that since the beginning of December the best record in the league and I think that you this core will stay together because of a couple of things one uh that that

They’re moving into a new Arena next year and I think that’s going to be a big thing to these Clippers players that they’ll have their own play they won’t be an interloper in the Lakers gym and the other aspect is the contracts are going to be coming up at the end of the

Year we’ve already had Leonard sign his and he took less than a Max contract to come back so I think if they can bring those together including Westbrook who’s got only a $5 million option right now for next year less than a Max contract still 50 mil per over the next three

Years for Kawhi Leonard who I heard what you’re saying David it’s a shock that he’s playing so much once he did come back last season he missed you know 20 games early on he played just about every night to finish last season we’ll take one more statement from the

Schedule last night Phoenix coming back from 22 down Midway through the fourth quarter to beat Sacramento look at the emotion from Kevin Durant after the game he said he had no clue how they came back Israel there’s coming back from 22 and there’s blowing a lead up 22 was last night more

Phoenix’s breakthrough or sack breakdown I would lean towards Sacramento here because watching this game a lot of the times Kevin Durant I found him in the first three quarters stuck in the corner not really touching the ball and Devin Booker and Bradley be were not shooting

It well he thought there was no way they would get out of this and then Kevin Durant gets hot gets the ball a little bit more and he shows that emotion that to me sounds like the Kings not being able to close against a team that’s not

Really a threat when you got two of their big three having bad games and you let Grayson Allen go off for that type of game so if I’m the Kings I’m a little concerned about my defense in the four Kev Clark statement from last night’s Phoenix Sacramento game for you

Yeah disagree with Izzy this is about the Suns and the creativity on offense playing Kevin Durant at Center He was all over the place on defense this is a team with the best fiveman combination on defense in the entire league uh right now they understand what they can be you

Get I think identity finding is is a big key uh this this regular season to find out they’ve got that kind of creativity that that’s that’s huge come come April May that’s a pretty big takeaway then that that Phoenix with Durant playing in the center position could spur their move up the rankings

Here it’s like the bills you find your identity if you have talent through the regular season and all you need is a couple of things to click in your D at the e seed right now finally Woody page they had to work hard to get there what was your takea away from last

Night vogo going to four guards with Kevin Durant at Center made a difference Durant went out made two three-pointers but you’re talking about a game when they were uh 87 three pointers and three pointers will get you back into a game in the NBA if you’re able to get it like Grayson Allen

Going for nine and Bradley Bill contributing after having problems early in the season I’m giving all the credit to the Suns in that comeback because they just went out and didn’t give up at all I think you were off a little bit 77 three-pointers total in the game David

Dennis Jr take away from last night’s big comeback my takeaway is is the Kings and what they struggled with last year and what they’re struggling with against this Year yes that Sun’s lineup was devastating that fourth quarter but that Sun’s team is still 4 and 11 when

Trailing after the first quarter and you put Kevin Durant in that Center position sabonis is supposed to Feast on that uh position on Kevin Durant and he could not do that in the playoffs last year and he could not do that last night and then there’s dearon Fox who was the

Clutch player of the year last year who has been struggling tremendously in the cutch 0 for 13 from three in the clutch this Seas you gave us stat the suns were 4 and 11 when trailing at halftime they’re now 1 and0 when a dog pe’s on the court at halftime the dog PE

Comeback game for the phix Suns we’ll take a break here buy or sell next I missed that I’m very confident very very confident extremely confident three Beres and an extremely from Lamar Jackson given how good the Ravens have been this year and he’s the presumptive m how good he’s been this

Year it’s understandable given the playoff history it’s slightly more complicated Kevin Clark so buy or sell Lamar Jackson saying that in advance of their first playoff game I’m selling extreme confidence because Lamar Jackson has not been very good in the playoffs his best quarterback rating in the playoffs was

His first game four years ago which was a 78 um that’s just not his regular season form and by the way I think they’re going to win this game but I would not be wanting to justify my playoff bonafides against this Texans team this is a really good team CJ st’s

Making perfect passes Derek Stingley was playing excellent uh defense the other day lar me tons miles Garrett in his pocket so you’re selling the idea that the presumptive MVP should be confident going into this postseason their offense Israel how about you well I’m buying him saying it

Because what else is he supposed to say especially when you’ve got a surprise Houston Texans team and a rookie quarterback coming in but the part of being a disappointment in the playoffs is that you’ve had the I expect high expectations before and so having them now and you disappoint it’s going to

Come at you even harder a lot of that criticism so yeah you have to say that you’re confident but there’s a reason you’ve disappointed in the past and maybe it’ll happen again and it’s Junior buyers sell Lamar saying it I’m buying the confidence like say what else is he

Supposed to say but also this team has set the record for beating 500 teams and smacking most of them by at least 14 points you can talk about Lamar’s playoff record but it looks very similar to another guy Peyton Manning’s playoff record who was 0 for three in his first

Three playoff games with one touchdown and two interceptions and they’re going against a Texans Squad that’s 29th and yards per attempt and so he should be able to feast in the squad you lose this game then we can start talking about choking and all that stuff with the

Playoff things but let give Lamar this season to see what he can do and Woody paig I by way he said Kevin Clark you actually want a quarterback get up there and say I’m hesitant about this game I’m not sure what’s gonna happen I want him to say he’s confident very confident

Extremely confident because he has gone one and three in the playoffs but this year I think he’s developed a mental aspect to the game that he didn’t have during those periods of time that he actually won’t just take off on the run that he looks for other options and he’s

Got wide receivers there the one in obj that he really trust so I’m think he should be confident buy or sell too back to the NBA wood he smok him if cakam the Pascal SE yakum trade Raptors sending him to Indiana the inseason tournament Runner UPS or

Runners up what is it for Bruce Brad and three first rounders Israel three first rounders and a starter for seaka on an expiring deal means what about the Pacers I mean if you are an franchise like the Pacers this is exactly how you do it you get yourself a superstar that

Seems like he wants to stick around and halberton having been on another team would probably want to stick around here you make yourself fun and attractive to free agents if you get to that point but but more importantly you lock up the second Allstar Pascal cakam is that and

If he’s on an expiring deal they can negotiate with him and sign him to an extension so there you’ve got two potential Allstars and don’t forget a head coach in Rick Carlile who can win you championships has done it with another organization I don’t care how

Many draft picks you have to give up this is a perfect scenario so you think this is a perfect scenario in a move that proves the Pacers can win the Easter Conference this year close enough Kevin Clark out about you I don’t want close enough is this a move that

You think proves they can contend to the Eastern Conference this year no all due respect to the tantalizing possibility of the Halbert and cakam 2-man game I’m really excited to see it this is a big swing to be the fourth best team in the Eastern Conference this does not get them into

The top I won’t say the ew that will get me banned um but I understand uh what that looks like up top the Pacers are cut below that I think there’s a big swing I like it for the future but they’ve got maybe C problems going

Forward um this is not going to get them to where they Boston Milwaukee and Philadelphia are the three teams I think you’re saying ahead of Miami mhm uh yes we hear you Israel uh Woody Paige the Pacers are going to be in Indianapolis for a while Kevin so they

Can look to the Future they don’t have to worry that they’re going to win the championship this year if you are putting together those kind of talents with halberton and him coming in I think that a sign that they’re on the way up rather than trending down well they

Haven’t been trending down they were runner up in the inseason tournament a month and a half ago David Dennis Jr Pascal this is a beautiful move Pascal can show up that defense and I know they’re going to still be not the top three team in the East this season

But the most important numbers are 23 and 29 and that is their age and you have locked in two stars for the foreseeable future who can be the best in the east in the coming years sure up that defense I think it takes more than one seaka maybe that team lets up 130

Every other game it seems like but uh yeah he can’t help can’t help but help them uh that’s going to be it Israel guer Kevin Clark thank you for your time today Paige Dennis Jr both uh a little bit of a drought coming into today’s Showdown we’ll see who gets that FaceTime

Next and David Dennis junor good luck and Showdown the Bel Che sweep staks and Jeremy fer reporting he’s targeting talented yet underachieving teams Woody what does that mean and which team should be most excited well of course he has all the teams are didn’t overachieve this year but specifically it

Would be the Chargers they’ve got Herbert there I would think that he’d want to go there and work with a quarterback like he had in New England for a lot of years David Dennis Jr yeah I’m glad to see that bill bich has uh you know lessened the pool

To literally every team that’s looking for a coach but on the bright side the Atlanta Falcons are going to Tweet out one day uh today breaking news we are an over under achieving team congratulations to us you’re talking about every team now has to release a a

A tweet to say that we’re just even considered an option I don’t know I don’t see either of those teams as being The Talented teams you’re both losing a point we’ll move on Clippers new Arena we got our first look here it is it’s a section of uninterrupted rows that I

Want you to draw your attention to behind the basket section 51 it’s a Clippers fans only section this is what they hope it’ll look like only Clippers fans you cannot cheer for the opposing team you cannot wear opposing team gear you cannot sell your tickets to anybody that’s not in the Clippers Marketplace

They’re calling it The Wall David do you need Clippers fans on that wall do you want them on that wall I don’t know how you’re going to enforce this to to enforce players cheering for one team you remember this is the history of the Clippers they’re

Doing well now but there was a time when it was really really hard to fill up stands of people were serer for the Clippers ww David I say to the Clippers build the wall develop the develop the Loyalty of your fans there you don’t want Lakers fans being in the crowd anymore you

Don’t want teams coming in from the Celtics and taking over the crowd I laughed when I first heard this but I agree with you Woody paig I think this is like this is like European soccer the idea here if you can make it work could be great there it is wood you’re finally

Off the schneide oh thank goodness there was a young man who was a stutterer growing up and he has developed in what we call in this country the voice I’m talking about James Earl Jones who is 93 today happy birthday he has been two of the most

Famous voices in history of films once he was Darth Vader in all of those movies and he was also Mufasa in the movies uh about The Lion King but in addition to that he’s played in three Sports movies The Great White Hope The Sandlot and of course the Field of

Dreams where he said Ray you buil it and they’ll come you First Blood First Blood an enemy has been defeated the past is a train tomorrow is a new day Around an enemy Has even if I forget my name all remember Ally defeated Ally has defeated en defeated eny has defeated an enemy has been defeated double Kill here we Goated kill triple kill an enemy has been defeated double kill stick around have defeated an enemy I will nourish the Earth with your team has destroy even if I forget my name double [Applause] kill an enemy has been defeated violence is always the answer the an ally has been defeated double kill

Let’s play weel of karma victory Tower is under attack Tower ATT spe Bo foree so First Blood First Blood an enemy has been defeated an enemy has been defeated to Me an Altimate only the righteous will prevail has defeated eny double kill Victory is for the Bold on double kill triple kill triple kill Ally has deated rally to me your team has destroyed the tower en enemy deated have been defeated enemy double kill you have defeated an enemy to victory has

Destroyed strike an enemy has been defeated an enemy has been defeated double kill let’s fight for a better future en You getting Eny legary show Victory is for shot down to Victory an eny has been defeated deated double kill double kill Legendary they there an enemy has been Defeated [Applause] on show me your pain you have been Deated an enemy has been defeated enemy to has destroyed A Flash our BAS Tower is under attack an enemy has been Defeated tower under ahuh VI Spe W l mode

Around the Horn | Does Pascal Siakam make the Pacers LEGIT contenders?