10 GOOD MINUTES: Jimmy Butler's Injury, Rockets Feeling Pressure, Plus Mailbag Questions!

What this episode is about

The discussion focuses on recent NBA developments, particularly Jimmy Butler's injury and the Houston Rockets' performance under pressure, following their significant comeback win against the Spurs. Key points highlight the Rockets' strong offensive and defensive numbers, ongoing identity issues within the team, and responses to fan inquiries, emphasizing the importance of finding a consistent game plan as they navigate the season.

Key takeaways

• Houston's biggest comeback proves they can rise, but can they sustain consistent identity on offense?
• Third-best offense in the NBA? Turns out, Houston's still learning to weather the storm of their own inconsistencies.
• Boston and Detroit in a nail-biter? Teams embody evolving strategies—who says grit isn’t as valuable as glam?
• Ever heard of the goggles strategy? Detroit’s rebounding intensity could make teams rethink their roster durability.
• OKC's surprising hold on the standings reminds us: early season chaos doesn’t dictate late-game clarity. Anything can happen!

Who speaks in this episode?

• Ryen Russillo (Host) · 39 min speaking
• Unknown (Host) · 4 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 5:00: Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, Will and Ariel Durant
2. 5:00 – 10:00: Will and Ariel Durant, Victor Wembanyama, Jabari Smith, Reed Shepard
3. 10:00 – 15:00: Steph Curry, Will and Ariel Durant, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves
4. 15:00 – 20:00: Golden State Warriors, Jalen Brown
5. 25:00 – 30:00: Will and Ariel Durant
6. 35:00 – 40:00: Detroit Pistons, Cleveland Cavaliers
7. 40:00 – 42:47: Will and Ariel Durant

Notable quotes from "10 GOOD MINUTES: Jimmy Butler's Injury, Rockets Feeling Pressure, Plus Mailbag Questions!"

• Is Durant supposed to bail him out every single time? Is the men initiating things? Is it better to run this through Shingun? Do you thank God for Reed Shepard last night just on fire.

  about Will and Ariel Durant · at 1:01

• Comes down to a last second miss by Jaylen Brown. Detroit ends up winning that one. But Boston to keep doing this stuff, like any questions that anybody ever had. Joe Misula, when you win an NBA championship, it kind of puts.

  about Detroit Pistons · at 1:53

• Man in the corner to the right side, and then Tari was kind of at the break. and San Antonio played it as if those two guys have never made a three in their entire lives. Now…

  about San Antonio Spurs · at 3:38

• Feels like five are defending three on that side of the ball? but again, Houston's offense overall, the numbers are terrific. Finny Smith has not exactly been on fire. 30% 26%…

  about Houston Rockets · at 4:36

• Back in a little bit. Like he was just out there rifling. Didn't matter. great job on Wyama last night. Brutal night for him. He was just bad. five of 21, zero seven threes. It…

  about Victor Wembanyama · at 6:42

• You're not. And OKC's so young that maybe there was no next for anyone else in the West. Golden State, Jimmy Butler's out rest of the season. they're the eight seed today.

  about Oklahoma City Thunder · at 11:33

• Durant coming in at 17. it's one of my favorite rings cuz yes, I'm a huge Steph Curry fan and I would argue he'll probably be like the last athlete I actually care about…

  about Steph Curry · at 14:32

• And then Steph gets hurt against Minnesota. maybe, right? maybe people in Golden State wouldn't want to hear me say these things on kinds of the things, but God, like this isn't that expiration date had probably.

  about NBA Championship · at 15:38

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Will and Ariel Durant — Person · Referenced star player / focal point of Rockets offense discussion · 7 mentions · first at 1:01
  Discussed as Houston’s late-clock bailout option and as a matchup target (including being guarded by Wembanyama); also referenced historically in relation to Curry-era Warriors.
• Steph Curry — Person · Referenced star player / emotional touchpoint · 2 mentions · first at 12:39
  Used as the benchmark for Golden State’s ceiling and as the speaker’s personal 'must-watch' player; his presence/absence frames the Warriors’ contention window.
• Victor Wembanyama — Person · Referenced star player / defensive-gameplan subject · 2 mentions · first at 7:23
  Central to the Houston–San Antonio breakdown: his poor shooting night, how defenses are adjusting to him, and how teams should get him deeper touches.
• Reed Shepard — Person · Referenced breakout performer in game recap · 2 mentions · first at 1:06
  Highlighted as a key reason Houston completed the comeback—described as 'on fire' and undeterred even after taking a questionable deep three.
  Their defense was terrific. Reed Shepard was terrific. And it was just great to see Reed kind of lighting it up. He took a three that was so egregious. He missed it. It was…
• Jabari Smith — Person · Referenced young player / development evaluation · 2 mentions · first at 5:09
  Discussed as a swing piece for Houston: shooting struggles in a prior game, limitations with handle/creation, and the ideal shot diet (1–2 dribbles).
  The film the next day. It's okay, this game's really frustrating. Like Jabari Smith should not be going 0, a 10 from the floor, and he missed so many good looks that night. and…
• Jalen Brown — Person · Referenced star player in Celtics example · 2 mentions · first at 1:53
  Mentioned in the Boston–Detroit game recap as the player who missed the last-second shot; used to underline Boston’s elite offense and credibility post-title.
  Comes down to a last second miss by Jaylen Brown. Detroit ends up winning that one. But Boston to keep doing this stuff, like any questions that anybody ever had. Joe Misula, when you.
• De'Aaron Fox — Person · Referenced player (usage/role critique in Spurs rotation) · 1 mention · first at 7:56
  Discussed as surprisingly off-ball and easy to 'forget' in the flow when certain lineups are in, despite being a dynamic offensive talent.
  I completely forget he's out there sometimes with the Spurs. He is 100% off the ball if Castle's in. If Harper's in, I guess he's okay with this. which surprises me a little bit considering.
• Joe Mazzulla — Person · Referenced coach (team credibility point) · 1 mention · first at 2:03
  Cited as an example of how winning a championship quiets coaching criticism, reinforcing Boston’s legitimacy and continuity.
  That one. But Boston to keep doing this stuff, like any questions that anybody ever had. Joe Misula, when you win an NBA championship, it kind of puts a lot of that stuff to…
• Bobby Portis — Person · Referenced player (statistical aside) · 1 mention · first at 4:01
  Appears in a three-point percentage leaderboard aside as a surprising league leader, supporting the broader point about unusual shooting leaders.
  Three-point line. It is third in the NBA. You want to have fun, you want to have some surprise names, go look at the top 10 list in three-point shooting leaders on the season…

Companies & orgs

• Houston Rockets — Company · Business focus · 3 mentions · first at 0:35
  Discussed in the context of their performance in the NBA, including a recent game against the San Antonio Spurs.
• San Antonio Spurs — Company · Business focus · 2 mentions · first at 0:14
  Mentioned as the opponent in a game against the Houston Rockets and discussed in terms of their standings and performance.
• Detroit Pistons — Company · Business focus · 2 mentions · first at 1:54
  Discussed in terms of their performance in the NBA and their standing in the Eastern Conference.
• Golden State Warriors — Company · Business focus · 2 mentions · first at 11:38
  Discussed in terms of their current season performance and historical context within the NBA.
  And the way they've been able to kind of ride this out without Joic on top of everything else. So, Golden State wasn't going to beat any of those teams.
• Oklahoma City Thunder — Company · Business focus · 2 mentions · first at 2:50
  Mentioned in the context of their standings and performance in the NBA.
• Minnesota Timberwolves — Company · Business focus · 1 mention · first at 10:49
  Discussed in terms of their performance and potential in the NBA.
  Frustrating team. That loss last night to Utah. but I still think they're good. Minnesota could get back to the Western Conference Finals this year. I don't, maybe Houston plays the Lakers in the first round.
• Cleveland Cavaliers — Company · Business focus · 2 mentions · first at 4:04
  Mentioned in passing in the context of NBA discussions.
  Top 10 list in three-point shooting leaders on the season so far. Number one's Bobby Poris over 47%. Tyson, Jordan Tyson with Cleveland's at 47% and Tar's third technically 46.9%.
• Los Angeles Lakers — Company · Business focus · 1 mention · first at 10:57
  Mentioned in the context of potential playoff matchups.
  Everybody picks Houston and then that's kind of it. what if that's it and San Antonio is already further along than you are? Even though it was hey, weren't we weren't we just.

Places & events

• NBA Championship — Event · Core topic · 1 mention · first at 2:01
  Mentioned as a significant achievement in the NBA, with reference to past winners and the importance of winning one.
• Auburn — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at 5:48
  Mentioned in the context of a player's background and development.
  Guy. But normally you're not going to find a handle this many years into your NBA career when it was a question when he was coming out of Auburn. So like I've brought that up…

Full transcript with timestamps

0:02 A good 10 minutes for our NBA audience on YouTube exclusively every single week. Wednesday this week post football. Maybe we'll change around the schedule a little bit. Obviously the national championship things got moved around a little bit. So let's get into it. Fun Houston game last night. Win against the Spurs. Big comeback. I think it's the biggest comeback of the season. You could argue it's the biggest win of the season. The first time these two teams met was back in November. Spurs won 121 110. I'll tease some bigger picture stuff. I I don't know that anything was going to be defined if San Antonio takes the season series. I don't know that anything is like established now other than hey, Houston needed this one because if you think about them on the season, it's a team that I like. I think a lot of us like them. Um but there's just these stretches with them on offense, even though the overall numbers

0:45 are really good, which I'll get to here in a second. It's like, okay, who do you actually like want to be? Like what is what is your identity? And sometimes I think that stuff's [ __ ] but when they get stuck, it's just and I think Rockets fans would agree with me on this. There's just these stretches you're like, "Okay, what is the plan?" Like, is Durant supposed to bail him out every single time? Is the men initiating things? Is it better to run this through Shingun? Do you I mean, thank God for Reed Shepard last night just on fire.

1:12 Um, but there's there's just these moments even though the overall numbers are pretty good. So, maybe the high water mark for the Rockets 21-10. Defensively since January 1st, you or even that number going back to it, like the defense is still really good. defense is sixth since January. Again, that's fifth. Um, but overall the offense, like I don't know that a lot of people would realize this, they're third in offense in the NBA right now. You know who's number one? Still Denver. And maybe the most shocking number, I'm going to go a little off topic here.

1:41 Boston is a tenth of a point behind the Denver Nuggets for the best offense in the NBA. Uh, I love that Boston Detroit game a couple nights ago at Detroit. Comes down to a last second miss by Jaylen Brown. Detroit ends up winning that one. But Boston to keep doing this stuff, like any questions that anybody ever had. I mean, Joe Misula, when you win an NBA championship, it kind of puts a lot of that stuff to bed. But this is remarkable how this team plays. Um, and I love Detroit. So, I I think even being in that game on the road coming down to the last possession is really impressive because when you watch Detroit play, man, they just unleash the hounds. It feels like watching the Seahawks on defense. They trying to rebound against Detroit. Like it wouldn't surprise me if teams were like, "Okay, hey, we got Detroit tomorrow, so here are the team issued goggles." Like everybody has to wear goggles now because you're going to

2:29 be fighting with these dudes for rebounds all night long. Uh, another aside here, who do you think is closer to the number one seed, Boston to Detroit or San Antonio to OKC? Do you know the answer to that? It's still Boston, but it's only five and a half games behind Detroit. and San Antonio with the loss last night, so it actually could have been tied. But San Antonio's six behind OKC, which I don't know, maybe that maybe it only surprised me a little bit. I mean, I look at the standings all the time, but it's just something like, man, you think about the start OKC had and as great as Detroit has been and this whole I don't know. It just was crazy to me to think that the one seeds are essentially the same games behind and I think Detroit's like three and a half games behind OKC's pace. So, getting back to the Houston game, um, when it was bad, you know, there was a couple different things that I didn't

3:25 really like. Um, because there was there was a stretch where Houston's unit, they had in there, they had Reed, they had Finny Smith, they had Capella, and on the right side of this one play in particular I was looking at, they had a man in the corner to the right side, and then Tari was kind of at the break. and San Antonio played it as if those two guys have never made a three in their entire lives. Now Amen just struggling out there. Um don't worry Rockets fans Tar Een is now 47% this season from the three-point line. It is third in the NBA. You want to have fun, you want to have some surprise names, go look at the top 10 list in three-point shooting leaders on the season so far. Number one's Bobby Poris over 47%. Tyson, Jordan Tyson with Cleveland's at 47% and Tar's third technically 46.9%.

4:12 Um, now you may look at that number because it's still enough shots and I know he's missed some time. That seems to be a pretty high number for Tari E considering on who he's been. Maybe he's totally figured it out, but on that play and the alignment of some of these things that you're looking for with Houston when they're struggling on offense is well, San Antonio has two guys in the paint ignoring two guys at the three-point line. So, like, how are you going to get anything clear when it feels feels like five are defending three on that side of the ball? Um, but again, Houston's offense overall, the numbers are terrific. Uh, Finny Smith has not exactly been on fire. 30% 26% from three on his shooting splits so far this season. Uh, I could go back and think about probably that second Portland game that drove you Rockets fans crazy because it should have. They were 10 of 44 on threes. Maybe they just

5:00 got sick of being in Portland for like 72 hours. Tons of open looks, really good looks. And that's probably what you're doing when you're going through the film the next day. It's like, okay, this game's really frustrating. Like Jabari Smith should not be going 0, a 10 from the floor, and he missed so many good looks that night. Um, and there's there's just moments with Jabari that I still feel like I just have to accept where the ceiling is with him. Uh, he had a dribble pullup in the lane last night that was so pure and he nails it.

5:29 And it's like he should be living off of these shots. You know, I don't want more than one or two dribbles. We already know that. If you sort him through like is if his field goal percentage north of a few dribbles, it goes down. Um you hope he's not just a catch and shoot guy. But normally you're not going to find a handle this many years into your NBA career when it was a question when he was coming out of Auburn. So like I've brought that up enough. I don't think that's ever necessarily going to develop. But the one two dribble knowing where he's taking off from, it was just a thing of beauty. But they got back into this game because of their defense.

6:02 Their defense was terrific. Reed Shepard was terrific. And it was just great to see Reed kind of lighting it up. He took a three that was so egregious. He missed it. It was early. It was deep. Durant kind of looks at him. You know what the best part about that scenario is Durant kind of being like, "What the [ __ ] are you doing, man?" Like what was that shot? is that even though it was a bad shot, Durant was right. And I'm sure like I'm not trying to psychoanalyze the relationship there because it was that bad of a shot. It was it was like, whoa, dude. What are you watching Jordan Pool and one stuff on YouTube um that Reed was never like deterred by the whole thing. He wasn't he wasn't at any point like, "Oh no, maybe I got to dial this back in a little bit." Like he was just out there rifling. Didn't matter. Uh great job on Wyama last night. Brutal night for him. He was just bad. five of

6:50 21, zero seven threes. It wasn't just the box score, but if you watched where he was shooting it from, it was one of those kind of frustrating winyama nights where you're like, you know, those the way the league has adjusted to him and now this has been going on for a long time where they want somebody lower. They want somebody with a lower se center of gravity that can fight and a Kogi's just into his body. And you know, the stuff that was unbelievable when on some of these drives is whenever he has a center assigned to him and the teams just don't want to do it. You can see it's a very dramatic difference in the way he's going to attack, especially when he has the ball in his hands, but they don't get him enough deep touches.

7:25 And you know, when I look at the 11 shot attempts in the second half, he had one field goal attempt in the restricted area. There's three others that are kind of in the paint, but if you look at WBY, you know, there's these catches and again, when he's stepping back, I mean, he's still going to shoot it over the top of anybody. When he hits these step backs is a thing of beauty, but there's definitely moments, and I would say last night's a good example of it. is like, I need you to be going forward. I need you to be going forward a few more times.

7:51 Whatever. Didn't have a very good game. I'd also add in De'Aran Fox. I completely forget he's out there sometimes with the Spurs. He is 100% off the ball if Castle's in. If Harper's in, I guess he's okay with this. Um, which surprises me a little bit considering just how dynamic of an offensive player he is because he'll still have moments where I'm like, "Oh my god, like this dude is so incredibly talented." But yeah, I mean it's uh like I'm not being like hyper critical of anything here like long term. Um I still like both teams here, but it's just stuff that I noticed with Fox where I'll be like, "Hey, where is he in the sub pattern right now?" It's like, "Oh, okay. He has been out there for a couple minutes." So yeah, you know, just some really good stuff with Houston defensively there overall. I think great job team-wise on winyama and an awesome awesome comeback because I was thinking a little bit and

8:42 it wasn't going to be based on the result of last night but I was thinking a little bit of like what if Houston never gets to be Houston this version of Houston that I think a lot of us got excited about and not having Van Vleet is is clearly a huge issue for them trying to sort out what they want to do because the other great thing about this game was just some of the different defensive stuff guys are trying they put Wimbeyama on Durant and you know when's rain just inhales even a dude like Durant. Okay. And when Houston gets bogged down sometimes too, it's like, all right, so you're just giving the ball to Durant. You some screen gets blown up. He has to start all over and now he's sitting there in the triple threat like 30 feet away from the hoop and it's just on him to get free the entire time. Like I don't know that that's the best. like he's capable of doing it, but asking to do that all the

9:27 time is asking a lot of somebody at this age who still, you know, was was deserving of first of well, I wouldn't say first team, but all-star votes, right? Uh, as an all-star starter, I did not vote for him as a starter. It was part of the conversation I was having when I went through my guys. I was like, you know, it's really close. Maybe um I went with some other guys. Now, uh it would it would kind of suck though. I mean, I would say this for Houston fans. would suck if Houston doesn't ever get to be like the fully formed version of this. Like they've killed it on so many draft picks. They've done a good job of deciding like who's going to be here, who's not going to be here. The Durant trade, you know, you're giving up Jaylen Green who they didn't really even seem like they wanted to extend, although they did in a very creative way. They move him on to Phoenix, the Dylan Brooks part of it. You can talk about culture

10:14 and all that different stuff. That's fine, but you're still getting Durant to close. They were right on Shenon. They're right on a men. You know, Jabari is probably not the best version of what you were hoping for him, but then, you know, Reed is is come around. So, there's just a lot of stuff that I like about this. But what if like San Antonio's already surpassed you? Because they have in the standings and some people would say, "Hey, that's not breaking news. San Antonio is already the better team and they're the better bet as a franchise." All those things would be true, but like Houston's not even going to get to be Minnesota.

10:44 a couple Western Conference Finals appearances and you know, who knows with Minnesota because they're a super frustrating team. That loss last night to Utah. Um, but I still think they're good. You know, Minnesota could get back to the Western Conference Finals this year. I don't, you know, maybe Houston plays the Lakers in the first round. Everybody picks Houston and then that's kind of it. Like, what if that's it and San Antonio is already further along than you are? Even though it was like, hey, weren't we weren't we just positioned to maybe be the only team that's going to be challenging OKC?

11:13 Maybe not every one of those statements is like, but it's just thinking about that kind of stuff. And again, I don't know that we necessarily that feels a little dismissive of Houston. Um, but the truth is if you were pulling teams around the league, you'd be like, "Yeah, I'd rather be San Antonio right now." It's like, man, Houston's done such a good job. And it's like, yeah, actually, you're not next. You're not. And OKC's so young that maybe there was no next for anyone else in the West. Golden State, Jimmy Butler's out rest of the season. Um they're the eight seed today.

11:45 They won seven and eight. They gave up 145 points at the Toronto Raptors last night. Quickly went off. So Golden State's overall stuff is is pretty good. 12th on offense, ninth on defense. It feels like every night you watch them, Kerr's just, you know, figuring out, hey, do I want to be this kind of team tonight? Like how do we want to figure out this rotation? Maybe a little bit more experimental the beginning of the year. Um, Butler's a confusing one for me because they've raved about him. No issues. They've really liked him. He's super important. They didn't give up a ton for him, you know, so he was an upgrade on Wiggins.

12:23 And you throw in the pick, whatever. Uh, it was, you know, some of these deals I feel like can be a little desperate. That might have even felt desperate. Jimmy might have felt like one of those guys that I I'm sure I was saying it at the time like I just don't know that I'd want to get in business with that kind of guy. and and overall the whole thing's worked. Um, not necessarily in a playoff run because Steph gets hurt last year against Minnesota, but you know, it's a it's a nice acquisition for a guy that's still pretty productive.

12:46 Although, I just felt like there was always another level that I would have liked to see him get to, but he kind of hacked the game from an efficiency standpoint. Like some of the advanced stuff on him, some of you guys like this, some of you don't, but if you look at the windshares, 48 leaders, right? How many win shares per 48 minutes are you putting together on a season? Jokic is number one, SGA is number two, Giannis is number three. So, if that number says that those three guys are the three best, like that's probably a pretty good number. Now, it can be hacked a little bit by some of the big guys that just don't necessarily play with a ton of risk that are going to screw up some of their numbers. But Butler is such a free throw merchant, he's kind of hacked this. Do you know who's fourth is Jimmy Butler? Like, he's a nice player. Again, I always would would watch and I'd be like, I think I

13:31 need him to be a little bit more aggressive here. Like, is he turning down some of these shots because he doesn't think it's like necessarily the best shot, but he's a connector. He's somebody that Kerr can trust. And God, they need it desperately like some other person that may be able to get a bucket on his own outside of Steph because when Steph is just left out there by himself, like it's going to get ugly. Like the efficiency is going to dip down. He's going to start taking shots that he doesn't even want to take. Um because there's a difference between taking a lot of shots but being a smart enough player like all right now I have to take some of these things that I would have turned down if there was just one other guy offensively that I would trust. I don't know why anybody guards Draymond around the rim at this point like he doesn't want to shoot it so you might as well just let wait and let him pass and

14:11 not even get yourself out of position. Uh so it's going to get ugly but I saw some people being like hey it's over. It's been over. It's been over in Golden State for a long I can't believe they won that title in 22. I'm glad they did because I'm such a Steph fan. Like I'm so thrilled that he had like this extra one that he gets away from what we had in 1516 and then Durant coming in at 17. I mean, it's one of my favorite rings cuz yes, I'm a huge Steph Curry fan and I would argue he'll probably be like the last athlete I actually care about emotionally. Like the outcome of hey, does this guy win or does this guy lose? So having said all that, like I look at this news and I wasn't like ah now the Warriors are cooked. They've been cooked at least from a title contending standpoint. This is what is supposed to happen. The first championship was almost 11 years ago that anybody's even like think it's

15:01 thinking it's profound and like all right they're done. Like what did you like? Think of all these teams in the west that we all kind of like you know what if Houston figures some more things out and gets Van Vleet back. You know what's the best version of Minnesota? If you look at their five, I think that's the best plus minus. Their five guys of any group in the NBA, you know, OKC, San Antonio, Denver, once everybody's back and the way they've been able to kind of ride ride this out without Joic on top of everything else. So, um, Golden State wasn't going to beat any of those teams.

15:34 I mean, they beat Houston last year, but that was a grind. And then Steph gets hurt against Minnesota. I mean, maybe, right? I mean, maybe people in Golden State wouldn't want to hear me say these things on kinds of the things, but God, like this isn't that expiration date had probably already passed a little bit because that's just the way that it goes. Um, could they have saved this? You know, could they have done a better job in 2020 and not taken Wiseman? I liked Wiseman. I was wrong. They liked Wiseman. They're wrong, too. We felt like it's going to be so easy for Wiseman because all he has to do is just run to the rim.

16:08 He's going to be wide open all the time with all the Steph gravity and the playmaking around him and he he just couldn't figure it out. I still I pulled up my portfolio the other day. I was like, "Oh my god, I still have like a few Wisman sharers." I still thought he could have been, you know, before this Achilles thing. I'm like, I bet you he can stay and stick around as a rotational big, but that's not what you're thinking when you luck into Granted the luck was because Steph gets hurt, misses the season, they get the number two pick. Um, that was also, you know, they had the Moody pick, they had the the Kaminga pick. So, I was looking at it again this morning. I mean, you can sit there and say, "Oh, this what if they had taken LaMelo." I don't know how LaMelo would have fit with Steph and LaMelo and Charlotte is cooking right now offensively. It'd be great if he feels like he can defer even

16:57 more to these guys on some of the shot selection stuff. I don't know that's ever going to happen with him, but I mean, hell, you watch this Kaminga thing that's going on and how long this has been going on and how sick of it I am. I mean, god, it's so annoying. The Dun Levy line last night's hilarious. Like, for a trade demand, there actually has to be demand. And then his agent defined the business principles of demand. So, that was all going on last night. Like the Kaminga thing. I mean, granted, Kaminga is not going to go, "Hey, I can't believe I got 48 million out of this. I'm not even good." Um, they wanted to protect the assets. So they paid him a ton of money. So financially it kind of worked out for a guy who I just don't like he'll probably go if he ends up on some bad team and has a bunch of opportunities and can Cam Thomas it although Cam is a terrific shotmaker then maybe Kamingo will put up some

17:39 numbers but people be like oh everybody was wrong about him. There's so many opportunities for Kaminga to do like to play the way they needed him to play with all the injuries all the rotations that you've seen and they still don't want to play him. Like I'm going to defer to Steve Cerr on that one. So, if you look back on redoing some of those drafts, I don't think this is fair. I'm not like I'm not saying it's even slight. I think it's incredibly unfair to go, well, they took this guy. They should have done this because in 2020, like look at all the guys that were taken after LaMelo. You want Patrick Williams? You want a Cororo? You could argue Hallebertton. Well, he wasn't going to go two in that draft. And then in 21, Kaminga goes seven, Moody goes 14. from seven to 13. You want some Josh Primo action, you know. So, you could talk about Fron. I interviewed Bob Myers. I asked about the Kaminga pick.

18:30 He explained to me much like the Jaylen Brown thing or the Ace Bailey stuff that I've talked about with Age where A is like, you know, there's a body type and his ability and physical like if this guy ever kind of figured out like this huge maybe two-way wing like that's incredible, right? Even though the Kaminga stuff when you're watching him on the the high school circuit, it was it was um went great. And even, you know, his uh was it overtime? Was he with overtime or was it No, I think he was just with the G-League team. Um it was real hit or miss. And so, you know, I asked Bob and I was like, well, I don't want to sit here and say France because like I wasn't saying, oh my god, I can't believe they didn't take Fron and they took Kaminga at the time. Like I totally understood the pick. And we're also talking about Bob Myers who's like one of the best to ever do it. But hell, I remember being in Boston where people

19:15 were like, "I don't know if Theo's that good because a couple bullpen guys sucked." And you're like, "All right, how about maybe not focusing on that part as much and focusing on all the other stuff that's really, really good." So, you know, maybe missing out on Trey Murphy, like who I absolutely love, maybe love more than anybody, like Trey would have been perfect for this team instead of Moody, you know, it didn't happen. Shining, whatever. I mean, we can go through the list here. If they had hit on two of those three picks in a big big way, which they did not, then maybe they extend this whole dual timeline thing, which is B. It's hard enough to have one [ __ ] timeline instead of the two timeline thing. And as great as Lakeup has been, he drove everyone crazy when he was like, we haven't even get started when they had already started and putting together one of the great runs that we've ever seen

20:00 in NBA history. There were, I'm sure the team itself was like, we don't need this right now. other teams were like the arrogance of this guy. Um, so people can point to those two drafts and say, "Well, how did this all fall apart?" Well, first of all, it always falls apart. It is supposed to fall apart. That this isn't even a conversation after the 2015 one is a credit to how special Steph in this group have been. But the only way that they could have extended this was to hit on some of those picks and maybe flip those into some other kind of assets because there's just not really a move there.

20:33 And then the only move is like Steph is still so good. Is there anything? Is there anything to him thinking, hey, you know what? Let me let me try to see. But the contract is so massive, you know, I don't even know if it's feasible. It would be entirely up to him. And if he doesn't want to do it, he's already has the four rings. He doesn't want to go anywhere else. But I can't help but be a little tempted of thinking like I'm never going to get to see this guy in like a conference finals again. Like that sucks. I don't think any of us should want that. You know, even these players that you don't like, you're going to miss him big time. And uh I don't know. I don't even though I know it's true. I just I hate the idea of thinking like he doesn't have one more playoff tease, a second round thing where it goes game six, game seven, and he has one of those quarters where you're like, "This is as much fun as

21:32 I've ever had watching this sport. I just got sat. Let's read some emails. What's up?"

21:40 Oh, yeah. I don't know. I don't even know if I should have checked with the NBA if I'm allowed to say who my all-star votes were.

21:47 H Why don't I not do it then? Okay. That's fair. I do have a vote. Not gets ourselves in trouble. Yes,

21:55 fair. I still have a vote. Um, East was fairly easy. West was a little tougher than I thought.

22:02 How about this? I'll say this. Even though I just ended with that emotional Steph note, I voted a starter.

22:12 They think that was the right call. Yeah. I wrote it down and then I went, "Oh, I got to take like I hate to do it, but I was like, I got to take stuff off."

22:20 I Yeah. Yeah, as much as it pains you to do it, I I think I think it's the right call. I was looking back cuz you

22:24 which speaks to my, you know, like who what's Rillo about? He [ __ ] he holds himself to that standard.

22:31 He's about the truth, you know, like yeah, you have been mopy on the truth. Uh I was looking back because you were talking about

22:37 Kane's. I was looking back at uh because you were talking about just like, hey, you know, there's the two timeline thing like what team

22:46 what team in recent NBA history? Yeah. Like I guess you could just say the Kawaii thing. I mean they had like three I guess timelines, but that's like I mean the Spurs are just like, you know, you want to put you want to talk about like light years ahead of everybody else. I know that's the the wakeup line, but that's what they were doing back then. Like this isn't like a normal thing. This isn't like where like hey the Packers, you know, hey, they go from Brett Favre to Aaron Rogers to Jordan Love. Like it's just like it's harder to do that in the NBA. Like it just because like where are you going to get that guy from? Like you could you can take a good quarterback in the back half of the first round or figure it out with some guy. But like stumbling upon another NBA superstar after your superstar group retires is like I mean it's like finding a needle in a hay stack.

23:23 Yeah. That's why I made that joke like earlier this year. It's like oh Spurs culture spurs culture. And it's like yeah there's some truth to it. It's also hey David Robinson Tim Duncan Womenyama. Like maybe you know like what if you just didn't get lucky? What if you didn't get have the injuries that you had? And I think we're a little cute about it. Little Spurs fans would scream bloody murder. And it's like, hey, no one cares. No one cares that you lost a bunch of games. Like Sean Elliot's back was an absolute like I just remember all this stuff from back then when they ended up with Duncan. Um I mean, look at the Pats. What if Drake May's the guy? What if he's actually that dude? I don't know if he's gonna get six rings like Brady. Seven.

24:05 I love our guy Kyle. Yeah, it's it's just it's a you know the two timeline thing.

24:11 I mean it's like I said, it's hard enough to have one timeline, right? But that doesn't even count as a two timeline thing. They sucked for like five years.

24:19 Who? The Spurs. No, the Pats. Oh, the Pats. Uh I don't think it was five years, dude.

24:25 It was a few years to where they were bad. I Yeah, I'm not Whatever the two timeline thing is in theory, you're right. that wasn't what

24:35 you got to have the guy on the roster like it would have been like Garopolo would Garop if he ended up being like what Drake May is or something then you're like okay there's a two timeline team that's why I got I brought up the Packers those guys were on the roster already like the Pats still had to kind of bottom out. Yeah, but I didn't even think the two timeline thing like how we're describing the NFL even is close to like because it's we're just basically talking about having a quarterback in place. Like the two timeline thing would be you have Parker, you have Ginobi, and then it's like those guys are going to take the mantle from these other guys that are around Duncan and then reinvent the stuff around Duncan. you're going to have this version of the Duncan thing and then you're going to have like I always look at Ant going like whatever this is now like in three years there's going to be some new version of the

25:19 Timberwolves that's all going to be around Ant like they're going to have to figure this out you know um there are there are players that are so good that are still so young that it's like well what do you do you try to maximize the opportunities around that player right now knowing that you know we're probably going to put when you sit there and start like you really have to worry about what's in front of you every day. So, it'd be nice to plan and you don't want to give up a million assets and all that kind of different stuff, but um it's like I said, I I'm going to stop talking. It's hard enough to just do it the normal way, you know? Imagine like asking Mike Winger with the Wizards be like, "What kind of timeline are you guys on?" Right? Like it's like, "Dude, we're just we're just hoping we have five guys that are good.

26:03 Hoping hoping tomorrow's better than today, you know? That's it, right? That's it." Um, by the way, Kaminga and Jaylen Green were the uh G-League Ignite team. That was the first one. 2020 2021.

26:12 So, not overtime, it was Ignite. That's right. Thank you. Thank you for that. Uh, but watch a lot of those games.

26:18 Yeah, it was exciting. And then Scoot, your boy Scoot was there a couple years later. So, you know,

26:22 that was the Dyson Daniel stuff because I would watch D I would watch the other guys like I would watch Hardy tape and I was like, dude, I don't know what this guy is right now other than he's one of the sickest athletes that I'd watch play basketball. And then every time you were watching all the other players, you would see Dyson Daniels make like smart play after smart play after smart play and guys couldn't triple past him. Um, terrific. Yeah.

26:46 All right. Well, this has been a good segue because let's do some emails. We got two here. Eric wants to know, "Who are your top five one-word text guys where you get a one-word text from your buddy and you know you have to turn a game on? As a Wolves fan, I feel like the top pick has to be Ant. His fourth quarter against the Spurs was the most watchable game ever.

27:02 I enjoyed the hell out of that game. Ant would be the first pick when Steph's done. An ANT's going to be my favorite player in the league. So that's why that vote was even tougher for me. Um or maybe it wasn't. Uh Ant also I would say Kyrie not available. Ant has the best handle in the NBA too. I was thinking about that the other day. I felt that way for a little while. So this isn't like a new thing. I just don't know that I've ever said it before. So Ants on the list. Steph, anybody doing LeBron alerts anymore?

27:35 Uh, I mean, he's been light he's been lighting up the numbers lately. But that was another conversation, too. It's like, oh, hey, LeBron not named a starter. It's like, dude,

27:43 write the names down and tell me who you're taking out. There's like eight guys ahead of him for the West to be starters. Again,

27:51 LeBron fanboys, though. That's I I don't I don't think anybody who's who seriously thinks.

27:54 No, it I don't even think it's LeBron thing. I think it is TV producers and then when I went to ESPN.com just I mean clockwork it's LeBron left off of

28:06 snubbed. Yeah. Right. Yeah. It's like it was [ __ ] snubbed. But he's been really good offensively lately. But I don't know that that's a one word. Jesus is probably one

28:18 number one in our hearts. Yeah. Let's go. Uh I do I don't know that LeBron is there for me anymore. Uh, I just I don't know that I get the the same enjoyment. And I I listen, I was a definitely a LeBron guy up until, you know, for for a while. I just I just I don't know that I get the same enjoyment. You know, I was thinking about this because obviously I I read this earlier this morning. We kind of lost a couple guys that should have been this. Like we lost Zion, we lost Jaw. Like they're not dead. I'm like I'm not like this isn't like an obituary, but like they they were kind of supposed to be those guys and they're just not in they're not relevant anymore. So like not because this isn't a best player thing. This is the most fun. And those were two of them, oddly enough, same draft. But losing those two guys, cuz I don't for me it's more like it's it's it's the skill and athleticism combo. Like WMBB's cool, but I don't

29:01 know that like night in night out. It's it's I don't know. Like maybe I'm maybe I'm maybe I'm too late on this.

29:05 Last night wasn't cool. I would agree. I would agree. He has But then you're saying but but the whole point of his question is like, hey, you're getting a text from your buddy. Hey, WebMy's on. Okay, that you probably

29:13 then I probably would because if you're getting the alert on Webyama, that means like something wild is happening.

29:18 Something stupid's happening. even as bad as he was offensively. He had a play last night where he knew that Durant was going to be coming into the paint, but his assignment probably told him that he should have gone out to somebody because like they had all sorts of wild like amen and Castle and then Durant on Castle. I mean, it was a really really fun game last night. That's why I spent so much time on it. I do, by the way, need to do you may this may be like I'm promising I'll do the Knicks. I'll do a deeper dive on the Knicks next week because that was ugly against Dallas.

29:49 Um, but you know, they just got Brunson back, you know. So, I I don't know. I There's obviously some cat stuff. The whole reason why the guy was traded in the first place and now Knicks fans are like, "Oh, wait. Is this why he was traded?" Um, but I need to do more on the Knicks. That's an aside there with that. But when had this play where he knew kind of what was going to happen, so he stayed in position essentially anticipating this. I don't know if it might have been Jabari actually, but he was already in position to contest because he was like, I'm I know where this is going and I don't even have to move and I'm still actually going to contest. And it was ridiculous. Amen had a play where he was free kind of in the dunker spot coming baseline and Amen passed it. Like Amen doesn't do that against anybody. He had momentum. He had the ball. He had an angle and then he was just like, I'm not [ __ ] doing

30:38 this. And he got rid of it to Capella. And then I think the play got blown up anyway. So, all right. I I just was I wanted to be more positive about

30:49 WebM Webby should be on the list. That's fair. I I because it's probably something wild, you know?

30:54 Right. Yeah. If your buddy's saying, "Hey, you know, like you know, you know, you should probably turn the television." So, I I'll give that one. Do you think Cooper Flag ever gets there?

31:05 He's so good, man. He's He's even better than I thought he would be his rookie year. I didn't think the offense was going to come to him this this easily. I mean, I figure he's still going to score a ton of points, but the [ __ ] he's doing off the ball and like that Cooper point guard thing that looked like a mess, now it's it's actually paid off because, you know, they don't know what kind of lineup they're running out there all the time. like that game where they ran away from the Knicks in the first quarter and they just looked like the more intense team. I mean, Dallas is actually pretty competitive team. Um, Zion, I I look, Zion's had some nights recently because they're just kind of letting him go back to point guard Zion.

31:47 Anything to get the ball out of Pool's hands and when Zion's just on, it's a lot of fun. And look, there's I think Jokic I don't know. There's probably most people are gonna say absolutely not, but when there's a Jokic masterpiece happening, I I'm probably already watching it, but I'd like to be alerted Steve.

32:05 Yeah. What What does that look like, though? Is he he's got like, you know, a near triple double at halftime. Yeah.

32:11 You know, it's probably what it's probably Clippers game. That Clippers game I went to where everyone is first quarter, I think he has 25 and everybody's looking around going, "Does he have 20? Does he have 25 points? Because again, visually, it's never going to be as cool as Ant. Ant is visually the coolest player to watch. We didn't say SGA.

32:33 Oh, I I He's not on the list for me. No. Uh oh. That's not That's not disrespect. I just I No. What about Jay Huff? Denny Abia Huff. Somebody just text. I don't think anybody would get that.

32:52 The Spencer Bros. Look at the top. Do you want me to read the top 10 in three-point shooting right now in the NBA?

32:58 Sure. Did you hear the latest that 10 good minutes? It goes a little long, but damn, they read the three-point

33:07 leaders. That heavy, but yeah, it went one through 10. It was sick. Bobby Portoris, Jaylen Tyson, I call him Jordan. Tar Een, IO, Luke Canard, Cam Spencer, Max Christie, Sam Merrill, friend of the show, Jamal Murray, AJ Green,

33:26 Jokic is 11, Khan's 12. It's a good list. It's a wild list. Yeah, it's a few names on there. I wonder how many of those names will be there at the end of the year.

33:39 Yeah, two calves on there. Yeah, that's why the shooting thing with them. Yeah, the Winhorse thing.

33:46 Winhorse nailed it, but there's something wrong with that team. There's no way they should be this average.

33:53 Was Donovan Mitchell ever ever like on this list for you? I think he was close. I don't know if he was fully there, but I mean, he was a couple years ago, I would say, was just a peak watch.

34:07 When Mitchell is cooking, it's [ __ ] awesome to watch. So, uh I don't I I don't know that I get the alert, but when he's cooking, it's it's up there with I mean I don't know that it's ant level, but it's a tick below that. So, there's 37 players shooting 40% from three

34:27 in the league right now. Um 10 years ago it was 20. I gota I got to double check that. And there's also like guys get more tired, play more games. those those numbers will go down a little bit, but that's a lot. You want to start rounding up, it's like 50 something. Uh, we got one more.

34:45 All right, one more. This is a good one and somebody we didn't name. Yeah, it's all right. Uh,

34:50 this is from Noah. Good day, Rilo. Someone who's a huge Pistons fan. I'm having an incredible NBA season. Um, after close to two decades of futility, my question is, could Kade be the face of the league? uh as a as good as NBA players such as Jokic, SGA, Giannis, and especially WB are. I feel like the face of a mostly American sportsbased league, the face of the league is more likely to be a domestic player than an international one. However, as we know, the international guys are currently the top four or five players in the league.

35:15 This brings me to my main question. What is preventing Cade from being the face of the league? You know, Jordan, Kobe, LeBron style. He's a number one pick. He's uh he's on the best team in the East and is a player that seems to not want any drama and just wants to play ethical hoops. I feel like whenever the face of the league conversation comes up, he isn't even in the top five to 10 names brought up. I feel like Jaw Zion have been brought up even more than he has. I think it's uh I think he's a lock to be on team USA in 2028 as well, which should help his case. To me, he has the skill, marketability, and especially the maturity to carry the league. Um I felt this way even when they won 14 games and didn't get any uh any fans any fans from Winktop. Regards, Noah. I

35:54 Well, he was on it early then if he liked. He was wondering this when they we were we we've been Cade. I've been a Cade. I know you have too. Like I I did not I had two feet on the Cade bandwagon throughout all of this. I thought Cade was always good. I was the coaching, the team, whatever, yada yada. But I think is the marketability there? I don't really know like what Cade sounds like, you know?

36:19 Yeah, it's not. I mean, this is kind of the SGA ant thing, you know. Can SGA be the face of the league? I don't think the Canadian thing really matters. Now, I do think like if the best player in the world like this becomes this conversation like Stephen A got into a ton of [ __ ] when he was talking about show Atani about this and then I remember like there was an LPGA tour controversy because I don't know if there was a golf analyst that was like hey so many of the golfers are Asian like there's maybe not as much of a marketability or look I don't remember I don't want to get attached to all this stuff but I I think there is a very like amongst the reasonable people and the grown-ups of like does Doesn't it make sense for an American league to have the face of like wouldn't it be best served?

37:04 You could say, "Oh, it's an international game. It's all these different things." But like the same way people argue like, "Hey, this guy connects to this city better than this guy would connect to this city." I I think these are all kind of like reasonable things. But when I think about SGA, I don't think of like, oh, he's Canadian, so that's going to be too much of a hurdle for the market to get over. I just think he's an incredibly like chill, awesome teammate. He's zero drama. Like I think you have to have to be face of the league. I think there has to be like a little juice to you, you know, even if there has to be like an opinion. It's almost like being a talk show host. Like if everybody's like, "Oh, okay." You know, but SJ's so damn good that, you know, can the numbers really speak for themselves? Can the numbers just carry it? And I don't know that you can. Um because if Ant had SJA success,

37:56 then we wouldn't be talking about this kind of stuff because he would be the full package of all of it. But he doesn't and SGA is a better player than he is. Um Cade, I don't know that we know a ton about him. You know, he's he's an American, you're right, American player, number one overall pick. Like, I don't know. I mean, maybe kids don't care about it. Like, do kids care that Luca isn't from here? Do kids care that Joic isn't from here? Maybe maybe none of that stuff really matters and it and just kind of gets cycled out generationally. So maybe

38:23 Luca SGA I don't think so. I think I think that's fine. Jokic I think is a little different. He's a little more reserved. Um

38:31 yeah I mean Joic goes out of his way to pretend like he doesn't give a [ __ ] about the game which I think is a little performative to be honest with you.

38:39 Yeah. Um and it look as much as I love him I'll like sometimes that even kind of annoys me at times. is like, "Oh, I just want to retire." And oh, like horses like, "All right, then when Okay, we'll see." Like, dude, you when you get onto the court, like, you're a [ __ ] beast. You're just going to Oh, 35. I've had it. I don't know. I don't I think that guy's too competitive.

39:01 Maybe that's what helps him stay grounded, you know? He's just like, I'm, you know, whatever. Just just doing my thing.

39:06 Face of the league draft in August, maybe. Yeah, I'm in. I I will say I mean Ant's clearly ahead of the thing that separates at least Ant from Kade is Ants had like real playoff moments like you know you gota maybe Kade hasn't

39:21 they get bounced in the first round last year against New York I I don't think there's any like I can say right now I would not picking anybody against Detroit I think Detroit's coming out of the East Cleveland thing's a mess Orlando thing is super disappointing the Boston thing is one of the most surprising things now granted you know I guess I should add if Tatum comes back then that changes everything here and by all accounts it feels like he's going to come back. So I shouldn't say, "Hey, Detroit's coming out. It'll be a total shock." But I love that Detroit team right now. But yeah, you have to have a little juice to the personality. I think you have to have the whole thing. And even if people felt like LeBron was corny and he turned people off, there was enough there that we were paying attention to it all the time on top of like he was a unicorn too,

40:04 right? And he he backed up what a B+ athlete probably. I mean, I remember coming out of the draft it was like, hey, like he's got all the skill, but the like is the athleticism there? That was kind of the biggest concern.

40:14 I think he's far enough of an like he had a play the other night. He blocked Garza. So, your point guard is blocking the other team's center. Now, granted, Garza was able to gather the ball in the next one and put it back in. So, just to, you know, make sure we're telling the truth here. Garza did score, but Cade blocks the initial part of it. I'm just watching it going like, so this point guard is going to come down and block the other team's center at the rim and then although Castle had a block on Capella. God, I love that Houston San Antonio game last night. Um, you know, this is [ __ ] Kade is doing that you're not supposed to be able to do. I mean, this is a little Magic Johnsony,

40:52 right? I'm not calling I'm not saying Kade is like me at the YMCA. I'm I'm just saying like aunt like there's you just a different level.

41:00 Yeah. Right. If you're talking Peak Westbrook, Peak Ant, and that kind of stuff. Yeah, Kade's not moving like those guys, but I'll it's when you're that big, and this is kind of like what I like about the Paulo thing, which, you know, I know people are super down on him right now. This is just a magic thing in general, but when you have an onball guy that's that good with the ball that's attacking at that size, like that's such a cheat code. Cuz even when you think you've bottled him up, it's like, oh, on top of everything else, he's 6'9, so he's fine.

41:29 like he's never really that worried about it because he's that big and to be that big in the move the way he does. Um I'm I'm just so happy that he ended up being this good because it was uh there was a time there where people were looking at some of the efficiency stuff going like this guy's might just be average with a ton of opportunities and those are usually the players I hate.

41:49 But I I'm I'm glad he's this good. And maybe this summer this we're having a totally different conversation because they do make the finals and it's it's it's kind of on for him. I hope it happens. I love them too. But

41:59 yeah, Little Caesars is out of Detroit, right? So, yeah, Detroit, the market thing, too. You're like, I don't know, but I know the Pistons are like a historic franchise, but I don't know that anyone's like dying to,

42:08 you know, no disrespect. I'm I'm just going to stop there. But it doesn't matter because if Westbrook and Durant can have the juice that they had in OKC, then anything is possible.

42:16 Yeah. Anthony Minnesota. So, I Yeah, what's up? Google me. All right. Google us. You can get our show on Apple, on Spotify, and on Netflix as well. Um, 45 minutes today, new record for a good 10 minutes. Please subscribe to this page. Thank you.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "10 GOOD MINUTES: Jimmy Butler's Injury, Rockets Feeling Pressure, Plus Mailbag Questions!"?

Ryen Russillo (Host), Unknown (Host).

What is "10 GOOD MINUTES: Jimmy Butler's Injury, Rockets Feeling Pressure, Plus Mailbag Questions!" about?

The discussion focuses on recent NBA developments, particularly Jimmy Butler's injury and the Houston Rockets' performance under pressure, following their significant comeback win against the Spurs. Key points highlight the Rockets' strong offensive and defensive numbers, ongoing identity issues within the team, and responses to fan inquiries, emphasizing the importance of finding a consistent…

What is mentioned in this The Ryen Russillo Show episode?

19 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Will and Ariel Durant, Steph Curry, Houston Rockets, Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs, Reed Shepard. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "10 GOOD MINUTES: Jimmy Butler's Injury, Rockets Feeling Pressure, Plus Mailbag Questions!"?

The episode runs 43 min; the transcript is about 9,384 words in 106 timestamped sections.

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