Above the Break Episode 51: Warrior Kings
Episode 51 of Above the Break has the benefit of a special guest, Taylor Smith. Smith’s podcast “Black is the New Black” touches on pop culture and sports and can be found on Apple podcasts, among others. James and Taylor first met via a decade-old hip-hop forum on Facebook called, “Hip-Hop Lovers Delight for Life.” When asked to describe himself to the listeners in two sentences or less, Taylor said, “I hate Twitter, and I love sports.” Don’t we all. In this episode, we discuss the Hawks & Trae Young, and the Warriors & Kings.
The News
Jaren Jackson Jr. (JJJ - pronounced triple-J) wins Defensive Player of the Year much to James’ delight.
Taylor is glad to see him get back on track after a rocky two-year stint earlier in his career that was marred by injury, ineffectiveness, and fouls.
While JJJ’s defense earned him an award, his offensive growth this season has gone under the radar and has him primed to become one of the best two-way players in the league.
Mike Brown wins Coach of the Year unanimously. He is the first coach to ever receive 100 out of 100 first-place votes.
Nevin fundamentally believes there can’t be a unanimous Coach of the Year, but Taylor reminds him, he got the Kings to the playoffs.
The Wizards fired General Manager Tommy Sheppard due to the disappointment of the franchise missing the playoffs the past two seasons. Nevin is irate at the reason for Sheppard’s dismissal because the Wizards so clearly need to rebuild and not push for playoff cannon fodder.
The Atlanta Hawks & Trae Young
The Hawks lack a vision or identity. With Quin Snyder brought in midseason for Nate McMillan that may change, but currently, it’s a mess.
The Dejounte Murray trade, to the surprise of no one on this pod, has been a mistake. Murray and Trae Young do not play well off of each other.
John Collins continues to see his role reduced even though he showed tremendous promise as a young player. The power forward should have been traded ages ago and remains stuck in a bad situation for him and the franchise.
Trae Young is not a player worth building around. He cannot physically play defense at the NBA level, he refuses to do what his team needs, and his brand of heliocentric offense has a limited playoff ceiling.
Nevin thinks Young would be a great fit for the Nets. James wonders if Celtics would be able to get the most out of Young if Jaylen Brown wants out.
Warriors - Kings
“A series doesn’t start until the road team wins,” is one of Nevin’s least favorite sayings and was applicable at the time of recording.
Steph Curry needs to go off to give the Warriors a chance in game 3 and the series.
Draymond Green will miss game 3 and his impact all season was massive. On/Off — On: Net rating +6.9 // ORtg 118.7 // DRtg 111.8 // Off: Net rating -5.56 // ORtg 113.25 // DRtg 118.8
Draymond is the offensive and defensive coordinator of the Warriors. He is their quarterback
The Draymond ejection and subsequent suspension weren’t a big deal but the right decision.
Domantas Sabonis’ ‘physical’ play could be called ‘dirty’
The Warriors have a big edge in effective field goal percentage in the first two games, but the Kings have handily won the turnover battle, the offensive rebounding, and the free throw game.