Balanced Trail Blazers Blowout the Hapless Brooklyn Nets | NBA Expansion Headed for 1st Vote

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Lockdown Blazers, your team every day.

In today's show, we're talking about the Blazers, getting an easy win.

They want going away against the Brooklyn nets and a much needed bounce back win after

an ugly start to the road trip or maybe disheartening start to the road trip in Philadelphia, a

balanced win.

Kind of everybody got in on it.

It wasn't just leaning on one guy.

We'll talk about that balance.

We'll talk about the victory.

And then NBA expansion seems to be here.

It was kind of already going to be a thing that was going to be here, but there's a little

bit more reporting that suggests that the momentum is picking up for this to really get passed

in the year 2026.

And we could have two new teams in Seattle and Vegas by the 2829 season.

That's what that's what we're going to do in today's program.

Let's start with our fastest recap in the West.

The Blazers make the trip from Philly to Brooklyn for a second night of a back to back against

the Brooklyn nets.

And listen, I don't want to disrespect professional athletes, but I don't know who Cheney Johnson

is.

I know a bunch of the players on the nets, but that's not a good basketball team.

And importantly for the Blazers, they needed to treat a bad basketball team like a bad

basketball team and they absolutely stink and did.

They jumped out to a 30 to 10 lead.

They also led 32 12 led by 20 in the first quarter on up 35 20 after one led 65 41 at the

break.

You know, in that first quarter, and I'll talk about the second Chris Christmas is good

in the second quarter.

We'll get there in a second.

I miss my first quarter note.

In the first quarter, the nets opened the game two of 14 from the floor, and I thought

it was really, you know, my guy Drake Powell, Carolina legend, missed a three, a catch and

shoot unguarded three pointer did not did not hit the rim, did not hit the rim hit the

backboard hard.

But like the nets, you know, they shot six of 22 overall in the in the first quarter.

So they got they were red hot.

What is that?

They made four of their final eight baskets to close the quarter after after that two

of 14 start red hot to close the quarter, but like the nets missing a bunch of shots

let the blazers push like then they just pushed and pushed and pushed and I thought like

just pushing off misses helped them get into a rhythm.

They never trailed in this game.

They're generally granted a three early in the early in the in the game, and then they

go up three nothing and never look back.

But I don't think the middle two quarters were like this like perfect basketball game,

right?

So dominant early and jumping out to a big lead and they're just not giving it away.

I think there's something to be said for just like, you know, this is a bad group.

I was a big Nick, Nick claxon believer back in 2023, Nick claxon is not good anymore.

If you're a net's fan listening to this program, I'm sorry, that's kind of harsh, but I

just think he was going to be really good.

I feel like he's not an impactful player anymore.

Zaire Williams is a cast off me like Danny Wolf is a young player, Drake pals, young player,

no entry or easy young player playing a bunch of you, a bunch of youths and like Malakai

Smith and DJ Lodell who are just like probably not NBA players, right?

But like the fact that the blazers were able to, you know, jump out to this big lead and

then not wilt is like is is is notable because the blazers have kind of they haven't, you

know, they beat they beat the Pacers by 20, but I don't think that that was like a.

And overall dominant game is at the very end, they kind of said, okay, foot on the gas,

let's let's win the basketball game, you know, obviously they beat the tanking jazz,

but they kind of like limp through it, right?

This was like, you know, they a dominant first quarter and then in the second quarter,

like Chris Murray gets going 12 points on five of five shooting made both his threes,

how to drive off the rim to his right hand off hand lay up for Chris Murray, let's go.

This would have been an even like, so the blazers up 6541 of the break, you're up 24 on

the road at halftime.

The blazers largest halftime lead of the season, not a surprise that they haven't been up

by 24 on other opponents, but like it would have been, it would have been more, but the

blazers had 15,000 in the first half, they committed 15,000 in the first half.

They're a foul happy, just too physical.

The nets were pretty foul happy too, but the blazers like, you know, you got to you got

to play with some fouls, they let the 15 free throws are led to 23 Brooklyn nets free throws

for context.

The blazers average about 20 fouls a game, they committed 15 in the first half, the league

leaders in fouls, the blazers are, you know, blow out of the, or I guess above average

in committing fouls, they're, they're 12 most fouls in the league.

But like, the league leading Detroit pistons commit 22.2 fouls per game.

So like 15 is a ton in the first half as a ton.

They would have been like, they would have been rolling and Danny obviously was only one

of seven and a half time, like they might have by 30 and a half time.

If they just like, foul that a normal rate and, and Danny had made a couple more shots,

he had an early three as the Brooklyn crowd was excited for him and they struggle a

little bit, but he got to the free throw line.

Second half, nets never closer than 19, like the first like three minutes of the, of

the third quarter was like, oh, looks are not playing particularly well.

And on the broadcast, Kevin Calabra was like, the blazers are getting outplayed on both

ends right now.

And like Thiago's putter takes a time out of about the nine minute mark in the third

quarter.

He was right.

They were, the nets kind of take it to him for a little bit, but like they settled in,

and that's never got closer than 19.

They pushed the lead to as many as 31.

They go into the fourth up, 91 65.

It's pretty much elementary, you know, it's like, it's, it's not, it's an unnecessary

fourth quarter.

They just called it the, you know, the blazers, the nets don't play, they do not bring their

starters back.

They play their bench.

The blazers play, you know, an extended run for the end of their bench with, for about

the final five and a half minutes, but like the end of their, they were playing this game

without Rob Williams, because the second night of the backs back into without V. Crachy,

who missed the game with a left calf contusion.

But we did get three minutes of Jason Kent making his trailblazers and NBA debut go off.

You know, it had two huge points in his three minutes that he was only, only one blazer

that didn't, that played in this game, did not score.

That was a city so cool, but I think in general, while this wasn't like, I don't know, this

wasn't the game that I would point to and say like, oh my goodness, they looked good.

This is who they can be.

I will say that just like beating this nod out of a bad team, like rolling to a comfortable

win.

And now they only ended up winning by 19 points.

Their largest margin of victory this season has, they've done it twice is a 20 point victory.

So they didn't get their biggest win of the year, and maybe you can say like Matisse

Thibal and like Wesley let the team down in the fourth quarter, how dare they, but like,

they rolled, you know, they jumped out to a big lead, the second night of the backs back,

like not a big travel day from Philly to Brooklyn, but it's like you second night of the

backs back, you kind of, you know, you make your move, you know, move cities, move hotels,

and you get a nice little win even though you did turn the, you still turn the ball over

a lot, 19 turnovers, they kind of who they are, but like, I, I just at this point in

the season with who they are, if they're going to blow out at a team, good job.

That's my initial reaction, good job.

There's more to it than that.

And I want to get into it, there was a great deal of balance.

They shared the ball.

They made a concerted effort to get downhill, and they set a season record for a three point

attempts.

Let's talk about all of that in the second segment.

We'll get into more of how they beat the nets.

Join me in that second segment, won't you?

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Let's talk more about this Brooklynettes game.

Why are the wire victory?

They don't trail.

They lead by, led by as many as 31, 20 point lead at two separate parts of the first quarter.

Like, this is, I was a sort of broadly speaking.

This is a really good game.

Again, this wasn't, I don't think this was like the blazer's most inspiring performance

because the Brooklynettes are playing.

This was maybe the least talented team they've played all year.

With all due respect to my guy, Drake Powell, and to Danny Wolf, who missed a layup

in one of the funniest ways possible in the second quarter,

you know, with respect to his high volumes,

who I thought was going to really help the Memphis Grizzlies at one point,

and now he doesn't even play for them, and he's a bad player on the Brooklynettes.

With all due respect to Oshag Baji, who broke my heart at one point when he was in college,

but like, those dudes aren't good.

I don't, I, I straight up do not know who Cheney Johnson is.

I watched a whole game of him play.

He had 17 and nine.

I don't know who that is.

But I know this.

Like, that might be the least talented team they've played all year.

Man, and there's, there's some teams in the running.

That, the game against the jazz on Friday was, was up there.

Um, that's my guy, Baz Mbang.

I, March basketball in the NBA has just become, like, there are so many teams.

Like, 12 teams right now in the NBA who are just like, not only like not trying to win,

are actively pursuing losses.

Like, you know, the Nats have some, some legitimate injuries, but like,

no Michael Porter Jr.

No, or, uh, Yegor Joeman, no, like, you know, some of them, even like,

they're interesting players.

Joeman's not going to, like, change the game.

No, no, no, no, a clowny.

Um, no, no, Dave Ron Sharp, uh, you know, Caroline Legend, like, he,

certainly, he would help with this energy rebounding and ability to pass the ball.

This ball has a great motor off the bench.

That's real tardier home rhythm for you coming through in the second segment of this podcast.

But like, yeah, like, I don't want to sell you on this game,

being the thing that like, this is it.

They figured it out.

They've got it.

This is the formula.

They can repeat this.

But I do want to sell you on, like, during this stretch of the season.

If you can, go ahead and appreciate it.

You know, the players are easy win.

Um, they haven't had a bunch of these, right?

Like, this was a game where they like, you know, I think Chris Murray kind of kept him a float in that second quarter.

They were looking low rough and, and, and then, uh, they were able to, and, and Danny kind of kept them a float in the third quarter.

He, he kind of, he struggled in the first half, but three or four in that third quarter.

And, and got to the free throw line and had a couple of cis.

Like, he was, he was good in that third quarter.

And then those, you know, those two performances, uh, really helped them kind of stabilize.

But the thing that really sticks out to me is just the balance from this game.

Uh, the Blazers had, has seven dudes and double figures and nobody scored more than, uh, more than 18 points.

Danny led the way with 18 to money also had 18.

He made threes in this one, two or three didn't take a bunch.

But, like, that balance, like, not just like, okay, hey, Drew Holiday had 31 or like, you got 78 points combined from Danny Obdion, Jeremy Grant.

And like, it wasn't that type of game.

It was just like, the Blazers, how were more talented and they played like they were more talented.

And they also didn't shoot a ton of threes.

I think that is key in this one.

They took 26 three pointers and made 11 of them.

I was like, hey, when's, how many times a season have they taken fewer than 33s in a game?

None.

None before Monday night in Brooklyn.

None.

Their fewest on the season have been, that was 32.

And only six times this year have they taken fewer than 35.

Like, they'd get them up, right?

They're top five in the league and three point attempts.

They don't make them famously, but they shoot them.

But like, everyone in the league shoots between about 30 and, really, everyone in the league shoots between 30 and 44.

But I say 30 and 45 because it's easier to remember.

Everyone in the league shoots between 30 and 45.

So 26 is like, even below the Sacramento Kings who play a style of basketball from another time.

And also just like, run tomorrow to Rosen out there for 38 minutes to ruin their draft pick.

God bless.

The Kings are really a special franchise.

It could be worse, Blazer fans.

Um, like, but, but I think, you know, you say like, well, Mike, they took 52 or 53, whatever it was.

53, I think, against, against the, against, uh, the Philadelphia on, on Sunday.

Like, it took 26 and they dominated the game where they took half as many threes.

Why don't they do this more often?

Um, like, I don't know, Cheney Johnson, Danny Wolf.

Like, if I'm keeping it a buck, it's because the Blazers could actually easily get by their party.

They could get by their perimeter defenders who were guarding them.

And I think really that early start from the nets when they went to a 14, the Blazer were able to push and push and push.

They like started to get downhill and transition.

I thought, don't cling into doing a nice job, particularly early in this game of just like being bigger than everyone else.

Um, like Nick Clarkson had nothing for him.

And when they put in the other, the other, um, options, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna, I'm gonna let, I'm gonna let Cheney Johnson live.

Professional athlete that scorched 17 points in NBA games and I do, do your thinking.

Um, but like, you know, clinging bigger than everyone else.

And I thought, Danny did a really good job just like finding clinging on pick and rolls.

They would send two to the ball or kind of like half two to the ball, like show, like, you know, bring guys up to the level of the screen.

And then clinging would get to the middle of paint. And Danny just said, hey, take it, take it, take it every time.

They would, they were pushing and finding guys and transition.

I thought the, the, uh, net's transition defense was pretty problematic.

Cause like, didn't find guys often and like, and the guy was like, oh, it's, uh, that's Tumani Kumar at the rim.

You probably should have found him when you were matching up.

So like, but I also think like the Blazers made a concerted effort because they were able to beat their man in a way that maybe they aren't often because of the level of perimeter defenders.

The nets trotted out.

They got down hill more.

Like they were down, they were getting to the rim more.

Um, and they can't always do that, right?

You say like they should shoot less threes. I don't know. I watch them play.

If they could get into the rim with, uh, with ease, I think they probably would shoot, I don't know, four or five fewer threes every night.

Um, but like, they don't, they don't, they, they always, they can't always beat those, like, those premier defenders.

They don't always, they don't always have the juice to like, to get past their guy.

But I thought, scoot did a good job, particularly early.

I thought, um, I thought, uh, Danny did a good job.

Just like accepting, accepting a little bit of, uh, defensive attention and then getting the ball off him.

I thought, like you can say, I'm getting, er, excuse me, getting off the ball.

Like, just saying like, all right, here, take it.

Like, I'll accept the defensive attention.

I thought the blazer didn't, you know, they still take threes.

But it's like, they didn't settle for, they didn't have those possessions where it just kind of like rotates around the perimeter.

And then someone jacks up with three, um, like they still, you know, they, they were, there were moments.

And then in the fourth quarter, they just like didn't have that unit that was going to jack up threes.

Like not this is sort of not the crew in there with like Wesley and Thibal.

Um, so like, I, I thought, yeah, I, I thought getting downhill was clearly a priority in this game.

Um, and some of it was, a lot of it was the opponent.

And I think that was, that was, um, good to see.

They have 30 assists on 41 made field goals.

They shared the ball.

They pushed in transition.

They got into the paint.

They played a, um, they played a team game.

It was a team win against a bad basketball team.

And quite frankly, take it to the bank.

Take it to the bank.

I, like, I, I don't know that this is repeatable, right?

They're going to play the Pacers, um, on Wednesday.

Like the Pacers aren't free to either.

Maybe you can repeat it against them, right?

But I don't think this is like, I wouldn't, why is it not repeatable?

It's like, I don't think this is, I don't think this is like a chain, uh, a drastic change in formula

that will be the thing that sort of ignites who they are in the future.

If it is, if they are the team that takes the fewest threes in the league and they played, you know, they get downhill

and that's their magic, then sure, right?

Like, I will, I will be late on this and I'll say, wow, uh, they showed it in Brooklyn and I didn't believe.

But like, I think this is more just like specific to the opponent.

And they did their thing and they, they were focused on, certainly there was an emphasis on saying,

beat your man off the dribble, get to the rim, like play physical, the nets were really physical with them.

The blazer were probably too physical with the nets in return.

Um, and they, you know, they, they got, they got twos where they wanted them.

And that was, um, that was really important.

Like the, uh, the blazers took 51, 51 field gold temps in the paint.

Um, they took 80 total shots, right?

Like that's, uh, that is, that's what they want to do.

And they got to the line for 29 free throw attempts.

Uh, that's key.

Uh, 11 offensive rebounds.

Like they did their thing.

This is, this was, uh, you know, this was, I guess they still missed free throws.

If you really want a nitpick, they shops under 75% from the free throw line.

But, um, yeah, I, uh, an easy win in a season, though it doesn't have many of them.

Hold on to your joy if you are capable.

Uh, here's a little bit of news.

The NBA's looks like they got the votes to make expansion happen.

And that's the real news that ESPN chose to report in a weird way.

But that's what they do there.

Let's talk about NBA expansion because we're going to get teams in Seattle and Las Vegas.

And sounds like in 2829.

Um, what does that mean?

What, what does that look like?

What's the timeline for, for getting that official?

And what, what, what that might mean for the blazers?

Uh, join me in the third segment.

We will talk about just that.

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Oh, right. Still pass first point guard.

I'm still Mike Richmond. You are still listening to locked on blazers.

There's a little bit of news out of ESPN today in the way that shams tyranny reports things weird.

He reported it weirdly, but it is news indeed from ESPN shams tyrania.

Coming up next week or maybe maybe at the end of next week, I should say.

The the NBA board of governors will meet in New York and it it appears that.

So they are headed for for the first round of voting to approve expansion for the cities in.

Well, specifically, you'll be in Seattle and Las Vegas.

But like this was known that this was headed in this direction.

It was named Adam Silver horses mouth said at at the at all star break that.

That's they would likely make a decision on expansion during the 2026 calendar year.

He first said that at the at the in season tournaments in December in Las Vegas.

And then he said it again at the all star game or all star weekend when he did his annual press conference there.

That sort of at the March board of governors meeting the discussions will happen, but there won't be a specific vote.

But at first, you know, that that's, you know, that'll be round one is their momentum for this.

And then the next board of governors meeting happens in July during summer league in Las Vegas.

And then that would that's when things would be approved.

But according to tyrania is that there would be two new franchises likely in Seattle and in Las Vegas in Seattle.

And they would be able to start playing in the 28 29 season.

But I think importantly, and this is not how like the social media posts are framed because this is why I'm saying like trying to report stuff weird.

He just like doesn't he doesn't have a great handle on what is new.

Like that the old reporting is that we knew that they that this was going to be a big topic of discussion at the board is government meeting in March.

Okay, but like the actual truth is that there is momentum to get this past.

And I think that's the key that like they're going to approve moving forward with taking bids.

And so basically they're going to say, hey, we're down with Seattle.

We're down with Vegas.

Who are the ownership groups that are able to move forward with these bids.

And according to tyrania the the the bids to for expansion would be seen.

It would be between seven and 10 billion dollars.

That's a lot of money.

The Seattle ownership group is in place. They know who that is.

They've been in contact with the league. That's not a problem.

I'm not a hundred. I'm not it just because of proximity.

I don't know exactly the deal with the Vegas team.

But like, yeah.

I'm sure there's a general outline of an ownership group they have.

They know that that's in place.

And so step one would be in March.

You get the first vote.

The first vote is going to focus on like, hey.

Are we are we down to do this?

Does this work for us?

Vegas and Seattle.

Cool.

Should we like move into the vetting process of the ownership groups?

They would need 23 governors, 23 owners.

I don't know why we moved away from owners.

Is owner is ownership really a problematic word in 2026?

I have no idea.

Go river otters.

But like.

So you would need 23 23 votes in both rounds to get there.

But I think like what what the actual reporting here from Toronto should focus on

is that like, I'm kind of nitpicking him.

I'm coming at Shams like I'm coming at Cheney Johnson.

Don't record late at night.

I think what the actual news here and what like is the sort of notable subtext here is

that what Toronto is reporting is that this first vote is likely to pass.

And I think if you're reading the subtext, let me just let me just help you real quick.

There is no way that this information would come out from Shams, Toronto.

Unless the votes were there.

Because if this was dicey, like if this was dicey and like the other NBA owners were not

going to be okay with the league expanding, there is no way that a week ahead of time.

Shams, Toronto would be out here saying like there's momentum for this passing.

Like he doesn't do that.

He doesn't do that.

He reports finish line stuff only.

He reports stuff that is at the finish line or across it.

So what is important here is that James Dolan of the New York Knicks was like,

I don't want to expand because I don't want to I don't want to share the money.

Basically saying like your slice of the pie is one of 30.

And then when you expand your slice of the pie is one of 32.

I guess importantly though the expansion fees when teams expand that seven to ten

but seven to ten billion dollars of expansion fees, that money only goes to owners.

So you obviously split it between the other 30 teams but like if you get up to ten billion

bucks, that might offset some of the concerns about like sharing revenue going forward.

But I think Dolan has been very specifically like, hey, the Knicks make a bunch of money

and we feel like we're sort of propping up the rest of these teams that don't have the revenue

and the revenue sharing is unfair because I don't know blah, blah, blah, blah, like capitalism.

But I think importantly, if that was a shared sentiment, which at one point I think according

to Howard Beck's reporting in the ringer, there was at least a handful of teams that had

if not as hard line as Dolan, similar sentiment like, yeah, maybe we don't want to share this revenue.

Maybe like we've already signed this TV deal for several, you know, several years out in the future

and adding another team into the TV deal.

We don't get to negotiate more money. We just get to like split the pot, right?

So I think what the big deal is here and what the like important subtext to read here is that there is actual,

there are enough votes for this to pass because if there weren't enough votes for this to pass,

Shamshtar on ABSPN would not have reported it this way.

So maybe that was never a threat, but I think what this, the subtext here, the like the actual thing to take away

is there's enough votes to get step one in place, Seattle and Las Vegas.

And then they'll get the ownership groups together. And then in July, they'll say,

we like the ownership groups that we've obviously known for several years.

We're going to come forward and make this happen.

We've approved them and now like expansion will take a few years.

And then the ownership groups can shift a little bit, but like you get sort of the principal actors involved

and the rest of the money falls in place, not too dissimilar from Tom Dunton building out his ownership group

after the sort of general agreement was already in place, shout out to the patrols locally

who tried to mess up the count because they are messy people.

So this is the key line from the the tranny reporting.

A growing number of owners are believed to support expansion because of the long-term revenue growth for the league

from the Las Vegas and Seattle markets.

Maybe we'll see, maybe I think we'll see.

Certainly Seattle has a passionate fan base and glad the sun is getting back.

What does this mean for the blacers? Probably nothing right now, nothing to worry about.

Because this would mean the timing wise that in the summer of 2028, there would be an expansion draft.

And the expansion draft, the ways work in the past is each team gets to protect eight players

and then the other seven on the roster are available to be selected in an expansion draft.

It is just too early to worry about which players you would protect in a draft.

In general, my theory is always, if you have big money players,

the Drew holidays and the Jeremy grants of the world, you leave them unprotected.

And you say, if you would like to, on your new team,

draft someone from our roster making $35 million go for it.

But by the time you get to 2028, those contracts have shrunk.

Or we'll be headed off the books.

So just like not a thing to worry about.

It will be when we get a little bit closer and you look at what the blazers do.

Like there's just so many cycles to see who's even going to be on the roster.

Like there's just so much coming right now.

You know, you think about a little bit about who you'd protect and who your core is.

But I don't think we really other than like Danny Avdia and probably Donovan Klingin.

Like who is like a hundred percent part of the core?

I don't think we know that.

And I think we'll get some clarity over the 2627 season.

And then, and then the 2728 season.

And then when you head into the summer of 2028,

we'll talk about who to protect because there's there's a lot that is going to change between now and then,

including the blazers may be getting like a whole slew of new decision makers and a new ownership team.

That's going to do it for today's show.

Come back for tomorrow's show is what we do.

We will talk about the NCAA tournament and which NBA prospects you can watch

if you are a NBA viewer trying to find out who is going to be the next great pain wheel.

Is that what you call them?

I think that's only me.

Come back for tomorrow's show and you will hear me use colloquialisms.

Only share it unlocked on blazers.

Tell your friends about the podcast.

Tell them they can get it wherever they get podcasts.

And also on YouTube, I appreciate your listening.

I will talk to you soon.

you