Mark Medina: ECF between Pacers-Knicks was amazing | SGA wins MVP | Utah Jazz offseason + MORE
You’re locked on to Hans Soulson and Scotty Chin. That’s right. On 975, the KSL Sports Zone. Hans and Scotty. 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Hey, if you’re uh if you’re a guy in your 40s, late 30s, you know this. And Mark Medina joins us now. Mark, I’m sure you’ve done a ton of radio interviews. I’m sure you’ve been bumped back with this song many, many times. First time ever. Yeah, I bet. Hey, let’s just think that way. But you know what? The first time it’s amazing. The 40th time is amazing. It never gets old. Nice. Good. Well, good. We appreciate you playing along. Mark Medina joining us. Uh, funky Mark Medina kind enough to hang out with us right here on 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Uh, are you surprised that Minnesota’s getting worked over the way they are so far in this series against Oklahoma City? not surprised because I think the Thunder have shown that they’re clearly a much better team than the Lakers and the Warriors. So Minnesota, they’re a legit respected team. We’ve seen a lot of tangible growth, but you know, uh when you go up against a formidable opponent with like the Thunder that just has so much defensive depth, um they’re going to run to a buzzaw. So, I think that partly explains why, you know, Anthony Edwards hasn’t been able to get the shots that he’s wanted and why Julius Randle has struggled in the playoffs, you know, much differently than when he had this resurgent run uh against the Lakers and the Warriors. Is there anything Minnesota can do to shake this? Not really. I mean, unless there’s a a major injury to the Thunder, most notably to shake Alexander, I think it’s just a talent and depth gap. And I think what’s very interesting here, it’s it’s not like the Wolves are a scrub team. They actually have a lot of good depth. It’s just that the Thunder is just so well stacked. Shay being an MVP for a reason with leading the league in scoring for better and for worse, knowing how to draw fouls at the right time and being an improving passer um and even defender. But they have too many wing defenders to count and they got a lot of good size with Chad Holgrren and Isaiah Harden that you add all that up even though Minnesota has star power. They have bench depth. Uh they have good defensive versatility still not enough because the Thunder are that loaded. Are the people that are complaining about the friendly whistle that he’s getting are those are those uh merited? Um I think it’s case by case. I think the most infamous one where Andy Edwards was throwing tossing the bottom and frustration. I thought there was some embellishment, but I personally think that the the amount of whistles that he gets, more of them are real than fabricated. I I just feel from an eye test perspective that watching Shay Gilis Alexander play basketball as well as try to draw the whistle, it’s much different than what we’ve seen James Harden do. you know, most notably during his time with Houston, but even with the Clippers now, uh, you know, because Harden, he he would do his flailing and trying to lean into defenders on step back threes and get their landing space where here Shay is driving to the basket. He’s trying to use angles. Yes, you will see uh in a lot of plays, he’ll embellish contact. Um, but I think a lot of times that’s more about trying to put the finishing touch on something that was already earned. So, yeah, I get why the opponents are frustrated and I do get case to case. Uh, he does deserve some SAG recognition, you know, as far as being off being on the committee, but I think most often than not, he’s earned his trips to the free throw line. So, we talk about NBA parody and this being the seventh champion and all of this. And now we look at Oklahoma City. You just talked about it. They’re talent and they are very versatile. Chad Homegrren is 23. Jaylen Williams is 24. Shay is 26. Lou Dort is 26. Hartinstein’s 27. This is a very young, very capable, and what appears to be a very durable team now that Chad’s got himself healthy. It’s been impressive to see him stay on the court. So, are we looking at a potential dynasty with this group? Yeah, potential dynasty relatively speaking today’s NBA because there hasn’t been a repeat as you mentioned the Golden State Warriors in 2017 2018. But I think the good thing that the Thunder have going for them is this. They have a superstar talent in Shay. They drafted really, really well and player developed really, really well. And at this point, the bill isn’t due for rookie extensions just yet. Um, that’ll come in a few years and that’s when, you know, Sam Prey will have to make tough and painful decisions. But for now, um, you know, it’s all steam ahead. I think that, you know, when you’re looking at parody, I think it’s good for the NBA. These have been great games to watch. I think, you know, at the same time, you know, they won’t ever admit it, but the NBA would love the Knicks to be in the finals because of Big Market and the redemption story for not being in the finals since the 90s, but as long as the quality of play is better, that’s all that matters. But that being said, I hope that there’s some tweaks in the CBA moving forward that these spending restrictions with the SE secretary apron aren’t so inhibitive that we’re having parody more because of process of elimination than actually sustain excellence. You know, you can look at the Denver Nuggets as exhibit A of that where, you know, they left they they decided to not keep certain free agents that were really good role players because of financial decisions and they leaned on the draft. Now, I think part of the NBA’s thinking is you got to draft really well, player develop really well, but I think that that really increases a mar, you know, reduces a team’s margin for error. So, I hope that they can find a middle ground with that. But, you know, I’m loving these playoff games and it doesn’t matter what market size you’re in, what team it’s in. As long as it’s good basketball, that’s what will resonate with today’s fans. So, is is it in your opinion as a guy that’s covered the NBA for quite some time, is it good for the league to have seven champions in seven years or is it better to have the uh the dynasties? Yeah, it’s a really good question and I I think ideally it shouldn’t be an either or. You want to be able to ex, you know, celebrate excellence. Um, but I also think you don’t want to have it preconceived ahead of the season that this team is going to be the runaway favorite. So, when we’re looking at the most recent repeat with the Warriors, I think that the Warriors success was good for the league. It’s still long lasting. You have Steph Curry being a generational talent. You know, the Warriors have been such a devoted fan base and they’ve gone through their own bad seasons, you know, decades prior. But I think what isn’t good for the league is having it thought ahead of time that because you have four Hall of Famers, in this case Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, they’re going to win the championship barring a major injury. I think every team wants to feel like it has a chance. But I will say this, and this goes back to, you know, my previous point about, you know, the spending restrictions. Just like there’s the old adage with front offices that they say that generally they want to give a championship team an opportunity to defend their title, I think the league office should have the same attitude when it comes to collective bargaining. And so again, I think these second apron concerns um are too inhib are too prohibitive and they need to uh tweak it a little bit. So, it’s not so extreme that teams that even do want to spend, have the means to spend, small or big market, aren’t doing, aren’t making good basketball decisions because of these, you know, not even just punitive taxes, but really stringent roster building uh restrictions. So, uh we’ll see what happens. Okay, let’s say we’ve got an expansion draft coming. All right, we’re building a new NBA team and you’re in charge of the draft and in this in this I would get fired before. Let’s go ahead. Well, let’s see. Let’s see. This will be a little bit of a test. In this expansion draft, you can take one of the following four. You could take one between Anthony Edwards, Shay Gilis, Alexander Brunson, or Hallebertton. Who are you who are you taking in your expansion draft to get your team started? Wow. Well, you those are all great options. So, you can’t necessarily choose wrong, but if I had to choose, I would I would take shake just Alexander. Maybe that’s easy to say because he won the MVP, but he’s still in the prime of his career. I think he has a trickle down effect with, you know, he is an isolationheavy player, but he’s a good playmaker when he has good talent around him. Great team guy. Um, I would pick Jaylen Brunson after him if I if he wasn’t available because he’s a clutch player, great competitor, has so much humility. You know, I I don’t ever expect players to have to do this because, you know, the marketplace is the marketplace. But the fact that he was willing to take a relative discount to help the roster construction, that would make my job easier. But I think Shay’s the better player. I would take Brunson after that. Anthony Edwards, he’s improved a lot, but I I just feel like Brunson with his clutch play and just how his maturity is, that sets the tone. And again, he’s a great player. He’s improved himself as a leader. But I’m just such a Jaylen Brunson fan that I would pick him second. Mark Medina kind enough to join us right here on 975, the KSL Sports Zone. You hear him right here on Fox Sports Radio and uh writer for Athlon as well. But when you I mean we’re still not quite two weeks removed from the lottery. So there’s still a lot of salty Jazz fans around here right now with what happened in that lottery. But if you can, what and I know it’s early in the process and maybe I’m putting you on the spot here a little bit, but do you feel like this draft uh has quality available for it that may not be franchise altering like a Cooper flag might be, but somebody that certainly can help in the development in the long-term future of the team? Is that available at five? Yeah, I need to dive further in on candidates, but I think that generally, you know, outside of Cooper Flag, there’s not a generational talent, but you know, you can get a good player that can be a rotation player right away. That’s great. But I think uh ideally use these draft picks in a trade to make a major move. I think the challenging part though is that a lot of teams are going to want to hoard draft picks and it’s all tied together with the potential dominoes. You know, lead into the NBA draft. This isn’t going to happen necessarily, but it’s going to be a pivot point leading into the draft. You know, there’s going to get clarity from Milwaukee on what’s the market for Giannis on the Kmpo, from Phoenix, what’s the market for Kevin Durant. All these teams need to be ready and be on deck to strike, but there’s also a very good chance that it’s a hurry up and wait and that that domino doesn’t fall until after free agency. So, it’s a very challenging uh conundrum and I’m sure Danny Ang has done done all his permutations and he’ll continue to twist arms. Um, but we’ll wait and see. What does this Dallas team look like with Klay Thompson, Anthony Davis? Um Derek Lively, PJ Washington. Um can’t think of who the other back court is. Is it Marshall? Uh and and then throw in Cooper flag. Yeah. I mean, they’re they’re not championship contending favor, but they’re back in the playoff mix. Uh, I think it’s very notable and actually good that you didn’t put Kyrie in there because, you know, the expectation for him to come back at the beginning of the season isn’t realistic and knowing track records of ACL injuries, his best case scenario from, you know, doctors I’ve talked to would be midway through the season, but even if he’s midway through the season, the Mavericks have to assume that he’s going to be a shell of himself with minutes restrictions, conditioning rust, trying to get his timing rhythm back. And so you almost view Kyrie for next season as a glorified role player and that’s it. But everything else is very positive. Now I know you know Anthony Davis has had a bad luck of misfortune with injuries and his injury history is what it is. He’s coming off of one, but since 2023 playoffs or since the midway through the 2022 23 season, he hasn’t actually had a major injury that required significant time. So with that, I think it’s reasonable to think he’s not going to be AC Green and play all 82, but I think that he’ll be more available in majority of the game. So with that, there’ll be a playoff team. The good thing about Cooper Flag is that not only is he going to change a franchise, but he’s very flexible in doing it and and he’s not a jack of all trades guy. He just has so many different lanes he can excel in. He can be a number one, number two, number three. He’s such a great defender. He can attack the rim with force, but he’s a fundamentally sound player. He’s not just a highway reel. So I think what’s very fascinating about Cooper is that he breaks the mold uh usually of what a number one pick is about. You know, you think of these franchise changing players, they usually have a defining trait about him. Victor Wyama, his height and his, you know, point guard skills in a big man’s body. Uh Shaquille O’Neal’s power or LeBron James, you know, his power in a Magic Johnson type of game. Uh Cooper Flag has so much versatility, but he excels in so many things that he’s he’s going to be ready and he’s the real deal. David Alman earned that job in Denver. Do you think uh two three years from now uh the Nugget Nugget fans are still pleased with that hire? I think they’re going to be pleased with the hire. I don’t think there’s any issue with David Adelman, but they have so much work to do. Yeah. because they don’t have a lot of tools to upgrade the roster and they have a lot of roster needs because Russell Westbrook, he was great in the first round, not good in the second round. This is who he’s going to be. He’s going to give you competitiveness and then moments that you know, uh, his shortcomings reveal itself. They don’t have a lot of spending tools to really get guys. And I think Nicole Joic, yeah, he should be there as long as he’s willing to be there. He’s a franchise player. He’ll always be an MVP candidate. But you never know how healthy Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, and Michael Porter Jr. can be. And I think when you’re looking at Aaron Gordon, Gordon, he’s a stalwart. He is someone that is a gamer. But I can’t say that the same thing about Jamal Murray. He showed up in the playoffs, which is good. You’d rather have someone show up in the playoffs than the regular season, but you also have to have one of your star players be consistent in the regular season, too. Uh, and Michael Porter Jr., he’s just a wild card here. And so if they’re going to make a deal, you would think that he has to be, you know, the centerpiece in the deal. But there’s a lot of mixed feelings about him because he’s really really good as as a shooter and a scorer. Not great as a defender. And I think he’s been he’s he’s recovered from the most severe injuries that he had in the game of his career, but he’s also not out of the woods. And so with that, I don’t think you know, David Adelman and how he’s going to be as a head coach. He proved he’s going to be great and even when the honeymoon dies down, he’ll continue to be great. But this isn’t a coaching problem as it was during Michael Malone’s era. It is a roster construction problem. And so they got whoever they hire to lead to replace Calvin Booth, they they have a pretty tough homework assignment. Mark, we appreciate your time. Always great insight from you. Thanks again for hanging out with us and enjoy the rest of the playoffs. Appreciate you. Appreciate the intro music. You got it every time. Every time. Mark Medina from Athlon as well as Fox Sports
• NBA insider for Athlon Sports & Fox Sports Radio Mark Medina
