The New York Knicks made one of the moves of the off-season, but does that give them the most talent in the NBA? Peter Klein gives his list of the Top 5 Most Talented Teams in the NBA as we head towards the start of the Regular Season.
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SportsTranscript
00:00We may as well just dive right into the NBA season preview.
00:05The league, the season, is getting closer and closer.
00:09I'm getting more and more excited for the NBA, and in doing kind of the prep for some
00:13of this, kind of realizing this is such an awesome time for the league.
00:17And we kind of discussed this a little bit yesterday, looking at the top 10 players in
00:22the NBA, but the amount of talent that this league has, like this was the first time since
00:26I started doing these back three or four years ago, that LeBron's not in the top 10.
00:32And that, like, he has certainly fallen off a little bit.
00:36But he has fallen off, and so many players have risen up, that there are just an unbelievable
00:43amount of talent.
00:44And I do think that part of that is why we will probably be getting at least two expansion
00:48teams coming up pretty soon.
00:49But all of that talent, where does a lot of it lie?
00:52Today, we are looking at the top five most talented teams in the NBA.
00:58Howdy Toxic.
00:59Howdy Toxic and Howdy Deeds.
01:01Yes, thank you for popping in.
01:03I gave Toxic a bit of a shout-out before, but I do want to say hello to Toxic and to Deeds.
01:10The all-stars of the chat, as always.
01:13Coming in at number five for the most talented team in the NBA, it is the New York Knickerbockers.
01:19The Knicks have an un—the turnaround they have.
01:24Like, when we look back five years ago, if you were to tell yourself, back in just before
01:30the pandemic even, that, oh yeah, so, just so you know, the best team in the NHL is going
01:39to be the Florida Panthers, and one of the best teams in the NBA is going to be the New
01:43York Knicks.
01:44Like, just giving you a heads-up on all of that.
01:46You would have thought it would have been insane.
01:48But the Knicks have done a great job of—and it's one of the things we talk about when
01:52we do the team-building episodes all the time.
01:54They built that foundation, they have set that identity, and now they are building around
01:58it.
01:59And the more I have talked to people who have played at high levels in sports, the more
02:04I think that identity thing is actually quite important.
02:07You need something when shit's going sideways.
02:09Like, look, this is what we do, let's get back to doing it.
02:13It's something to bring it local, it's something I think the Calgary Flames have struggled
02:16with for a very long time.
02:18And I think they have tried to go the route of, um, we're just gonna—we're gonna be
02:22like water, man.
02:23We're gonna—whatever—whatever style you play, we can play it.
02:26And I do think there is a value to that, um, when you see in, like, mixed martial arts,
02:31John Jones, like, I'm going to do the thing you're best at, I'm gonna do it better than
02:35you.
02:36George St. Pierre was very good at that as well.
02:37But, both of them had that foundation first.
02:40You look in the National Hockey League, the Florida Panthers.
02:43They have, I think, the talent that they can kind of out-skill you.
02:47They have the grind that they can kind of out-grind you.
02:49They have the defense, they can play the defensive style.
02:52They have all of these different styles, but it started with setting that identity with
02:56guys like Hubert O. and Barkov and Ekblad of this really tough-to-play-against team,
03:00and it kind of blossomed from there.
03:01The Knicks have done that here, in the NBA, where they—they hired Tibbs, and they're
03:06like, we are going to go all-in on making this be a Tibbs team.
03:10This is no longer—the identity of the Knicks is no longer going to be, let's wait for
03:14a superstar to come here.
03:16After Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were like, hey, deuces, we're going to Brooklyn, which
03:21worked out great for them.
03:23After that all played out, the Knicks, I think, understood, like, look, this isn't working.
03:27If Brooklyn has passed us, for Katie and Kyrie, which was a layup three months before the
03:33offseason, I think it is a—I think it was a wake-up call for them.
03:40And so they were like, okay, we're getting Tibbs, and we are making a Tibbs team.
03:44And they did an amazing job with that, to be able to build this roster around those
03:49guys, and now you have—then, you go out and you get Jalen Brunson.
03:54And that helps, right?
03:55So now we have set that foundation, that identity, now we need to go get, like, kind of the superstars
03:59who fit in with that.
04:01And to be fair, we didn't know Jalen Brunson was going to be this level of superstar when
04:05he was acquired by the New York Knicks, but we did have an understanding that he was pretty
04:09good, and he was going to be a pretty good fit on this team.
04:12And he turned out to blossom.
04:14And then everything kind of fit around him.
04:16And now, one of the final pieces that is added is Mikael Bridges.
04:20And now you look at the talent on this team, Bridges, who I think is really good, Brunson
04:23who made the top ten players in the NBA list yesterday, you have Julius Randle, two-time
04:28All-NBA player, and they're already like, hmm, wonder where he's going to fit.
04:33Hart has been unbelievable at different times.
04:36Devin Chenzo won them playoff games in the postseason.
04:39They have done a really good job of filling out talent that fits what they are looking
04:44for, and building off of it.
04:46I am so high on the Knicks, and they are one of the teams where I just think the sport
04:51is better when they are good, and right now they are very, very good, and things are pretty
04:55fun in the NBA.
04:57At four, it is the NBA champs from a couple years ago, the Denver Nuggets.
05:02They were higher on this list a couple of years ago, and certainly last year.
05:07But each year, they're just losing a little bit more, and a little bit more, and a little
05:12bit more.
05:13And these are the dangers of having championship teams in salary cap worlds, and you're never
05:17going to apologize for it.
05:18I'm not saying, yeah, you know what, actually winning the championship was a bad thing for
05:21Denver.
05:22That's certainly not the case.
05:24To lose KCP, and then Bruce Brown is gone, and they've kind of lost a bit of this depth
05:30as things have kind of played out.
05:32Now all of a sudden, it is a big four, and then a lot of question marks.
05:37But it's still a very good big four.
05:40Jokic, again, the best player in the league.
05:42I guess, spoiler alert, for the top ten players in the NBA list that we did, if you haven't
05:47checked that one out.
05:49But Jokic, very good.
05:51Jamal Murray, you know, has had a tough Olympics, and has had a tough time staying healthy,
05:57but when he is out there, A, fits with Jokic perfectly, and B, is such a great creator,
06:02such a very good shooter, and attacks the rim so well.
06:06You have Gordon, who is incredibly important to what this team does defensively, and MPJ,
06:14who is such a skilled scorer when everything is going.
06:18With that top four, you have to consider this one of the best teams in the NBA.
06:23At three, it's the Minnesota Timberwolves.
06:26Anthony Edwards has been such a great breakout these last couple of years, and has grown
06:32into being one of the best players in the NBA.
06:35He makes the top ten list yesterday.
06:37You have Carl Anthony Towns, who, while incredibly flawed, a lot, is also someone who can, you
06:46know, score really, really well, and can at least be a good big body that you can put
06:51on other big bodies to keep them from dominating in ways that big bodies do.
06:55And then the other pieces around, like, Gobert is what he is.
06:59And getting benched in the Olympics, not a great look when it's for France, but he is
07:03still one of the best defensive players in the NBA.
07:07And I just think with that trio there, and then some of the very, very good pieces that
07:13they have found to kind of build around that, this is now a very good roster in Minnesota.
07:18And so they are in at number three.
07:20At two, it's Oklahoma City.
07:22The moves they made this offseason have rocketed them up.
07:25You already had Shea Gilchrist-Alexander, and Chet Holmgren, and all these other pieces
07:31to build around.
07:33And then you turn Giddy, who you couldn't even play in the playoffs, you turn him into
07:38Alex Caruso, who was created in a video game to fit this team perfectly and to fit what
07:43they need, and then to go out and get Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency.
07:50This is a perfectly built basketball team.
07:52And the only reason we don't believe that this team can go further is we haven't seen
07:56it before.
07:57But they are, I think, so clearly the best team in the West.
08:01And I think we're gonna, we could get to a point by like January or February where we're
08:04gonna look back on this list and be like, um, why were the, like, two feels low.
08:10Why weren't they higher?
08:11I think this team is that good that they, that they acquired, again, talk about team
08:15building, they make a gigantic trade to get Shea Gilchrist-Alexander and every draft pick
08:21from the LA Clippers, which has worked out great, by the way.
08:24And they have now been able to build up an amazing foundation.
08:29And then again, what do you need off of it?
08:31Well, we don't need the superstar.
08:32We got that in Shea Gilchrist-Alexander.
08:34Some crazy how.
08:35In a trade with the Clippers, we have drafted well, now let's go out and acquire these pieces
08:40and just do the finishing touches on this.
08:42They get that with Hartenstein, they get that with Caruso, and they do it perfectly.
08:47But in at number one, it has to be the Boston Celtics.
08:50Jason Tatum made our list for top 10 most best players in the NBA last season, or going
08:55into this season.
08:56And he wasn't even the best player on their team in the, um, in the NBA Finals.
09:00Jalen Brown took a gigantic step forward last year, and that was not something I thought
09:05he had.
09:06I was very underwhelmed with Brown two playoffs ago, when Tatum went out, and all of a sudden
09:11it was, oh by the way, this guy can't dribble to the left.
09:13Which is a scouting report that we gave guys when I was playing junior basketball in grade
09:178, and that should not be something that happens in the NBA.
09:21But he absolutely elevated his game.
09:23And then Chris Epps-Porzingis, who won't be ready for the start of the season, but the
09:26talent he has when it comes to shot-making, being a big dude as well, and then rim protection.
09:32Holiday and White both elevating their game, and the talent that they have.
09:36And then some of the other guys, some of the bench options who can come in and just launch
09:39threes.
09:40Pritchard, who is the greatest half-court shooter in the history of the sport.
09:44This is, again, we went over how this team was built.
09:46It is a phenomenal example of taking a team's depth and turning it into superstars and guys
09:52who fit a championship model.
09:55Boston, 100% deserves to be at the top of this list.
09:58So they are the most talented team in the NBA.