Game Night: Which Team Is Under the MOST PRESSURE This Season?!

0:00This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. This is Jake from Lockdown. When the game is on the line, the best no end to pass. Because the right assist can change everything. And off the court, it's no different. That's where your State Farm agent comes in. Whether it's protecting your car, your home, or helping you prep for the unexpected, they'll help set you up with a game plan that works for you. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. And the cover options are selected by the customer, availability and eligibility, vary by state. On today's show, a lot of teams in the NBA are under pressure going into the season. Well, David and I each picked three of them that we think are under the most pressure. We'll discuss on this edition of Lockdown NBA Game Night. When that final buzzer rings, you know it's time for a Lockdown NBA Game Night. All the post-game reactions to every game across the league, every single night. The insight only the hosts that Lockdown can provide.

1:00It's the true NBA fans. One stop for all the action. Every game, every night. It's Lockdown NBA Game Night, tipping off now. Hi, everybody. My name is Danny Cunningham from Over at Lockdown Caves. And I'm joined tonight by David Armil from Lockdown Heat. I'm filling in for Ryland Styles on this Thursday edition of Lockdown NBA Game Night. We appreciate everybody that makes this show their first or maybe even second listen of the day. We do us a favor as we get started. Hit subscribe wherever you might be listening to the show. Apple Spotify or on YouTube as well. And David, there are a lot of teams in the NBA. I think we probably could have expanded this. We could have gone five, maybe could have gone 10. There are a lot of teams in the NBA that are under pressure going into the season. Now pressure is different for everybody. And I think you can make a case. All of them are under some sort of pressure. But we today are going to talk about the three teams that we each think are under the most amount of pressure. Before we dive into it, did you have any trouble narrowing down your list to three? Not really.

2:02I think that just you have to measure expectations. As the weight of those actions at this last season, you make a good point because during the last season, everybody makes some improvements for the most part. Let's say 25 out of the 30 teams. Think they have upgraded the rosters may move or there are a couple teams that maybe made some changes for various purposes. For the most part, again, I think teams that have made those kind of moves whether through the draft or upgraded in free agency or made of smart trade or anything like that. All of a sudden that shifts the expectations to, well, we can be better than we were. And it's leading up to media day where 30 out of 30 teams think that they have a shot out to play off. Listen, we all know that's not the reality. And so, of course, those nations are tempered as the season progresses. For now, when everybody's feeling the weight of those expectations, that's when you can really say, okay, there's pressure to live up to those. And for some teams, a few handful of those, those will continue to build throughout the regular season.

3:02But right now, I feel like most of the teams in the NBA are certainly dealing with a lot of those high expectations. Yes, everybody. The one thing that all 30 teams have in common as of September 10th is belief. All of them believe to some extent that they can have a successful season that they have some sort of pressure on them now. We are going to discuss the three teams not didn't say, hey, you need to have at least one east, one west. We've not shared our list. I don't know what David's going to say. He doesn't know what I'm going to say. But we have each come up with three teams across the NBA that we think are under the most pressure going into this season. David, I'll let you leave it lead it off. Who do you have? And I did not rank mine like, oh, this team has it. One, two, three. I just picked the three. I think have the most. I don't know if you put them in order. But give me your first team. Well, one team that I'm looking at that I think exceed expectations last year had a phenomenal season and then wound up falling short at the very end. The Sanctus first. And me, they've got an immense amount of pressure to continue to build on that. And maybe that seems a little misplaced considered they have other top players in the world.

4:04And Dr. Webanyama that that an improved roster that after another year should be even better. But we find this in the NBA history all the time, you know, a team that all of a sudden exceeds expectations. Can't live up to those high expectations. And so that's why I was looking at this first and saying, can they duplicate or even continue to build on last year's success for a team that went to the NBA finals? The only way to go up is to win a championship. And so if you don't meet that standard, there's a lot of pressure. And what happens next? How can they continue to compete against the Oklahoma City Thunder and the other top contenders in the West Bank? Can they continue to cast teams by surprise it off and last year? And can they continue to be as dominant as they were for long stretches of last seasons when they were so good? And they look like the best team in the NBA by margin and then it wound up totally falling short. And I think that's another part too is the way they'll shorten the NBA finals, getting beat so handling by the New York Knicks that seemed to catch fire at just the right time and wound up having their number so completely. And so the Spurs have to really do some soul searching this off season and look in the

5:07mirror and say, can we live up to that? How do we get better? We're going to be continue to improve and make the slight tweaks that can lead to even more success this season. To me, when you define pressure, that's it. It's all of a sudden we've got to win a championship or anything short of that could be considered failure, especially after what they did last year. I don't know how this young team as good as they will last year, as dominant as they were, can live up to that kind of pressure. I think that's a great call. And I think one of the things that's going to be most different about this Spurs team compared to last year's Spurs team is, you know, when the Spurs would not have been anywhere near this show last year, they were not a team that had a lot of pressure. We, I think, all expected them to be good to be better than they were the year before. But thought, okay, if the Spurs make the playoffs, that's the successful season. If Victor Wembeanyama can stay healthy and play 65 games, that's the successful season. I think all of those things were true. And they, I don't want to say took the league by surprise because it's not as if this seven

6:10foot six guys like, oh, no one saw this coming. But no one thought they were getting to the finals. And I think that you can go back, especially considering you've got Wembe going into his fourth year, you've got Stefan Castle going into his third year. You have Dylan Harper going into year number two, not exactly sure what to do with deer and fox because you, I don't want to say agree to that extension, but you made that move before you drafted Dylan Harper. Now you kind of have a log jam in the back court. And the thing that it makes me think of David is the Oklahoma City Thunder when they made that finals against your Miami Heat all the way back in 2012. And what did everyone say after the heat beat the thunder? Okay, you ran Russell Ressbrook James Harden like there's no way the team doesn't be back. And you know what they never did? They never got back. And I am not going to sit here and say that the spurs are not going to get back to the finals. You're not going to win a title.

7:11But if I would have told you in July of 2012, hey, Durant, Westbrook and Harden, they're all going to be gone one day. And Oklahoma City's first title is not going to happen until some guy named Shave Gildress Alexander who is in like second grade right now is the league MVP. You would have called me crazy, but the reality is there's no guarantee that they ever get back. Yeah, it was tough to predict. And I think we see that all the time. Again, teams, especially young teams that get this first course is, you know, they show all this potential. And maybe taking teams by surprise was a little, you know, hyperbolic. But I think exceeding what the expectations were prior to the season, you make a great point. Will you look at last year's team? Yeah, they were. They're good sleep routine. They're going to play off the year before. You know, exactly necessarily think that they're going to want to make city plus games and being in the powerhouse that they were. So that's absolutely a concern. I'm saying, but where they were, they were so good.

8:11And now they have to be even better than what they were. And I'm sure that's what they're using as their own internal baron or success, too, is they want to win a championship. They see those. And rightfully so, as title contenders, you make them move to include to buy his hair. And then, you know, they're going to have to be in the powerhouse now. He's in your starting lineup. That's of change that I think and he adds even more pressure. He adds even more expectations to this group. So how they live up to that is going to be one of my biggest questions going into the season. For my first team, I have a Denver nuggets here because they are a team that is the only team I have. And I'm not sure of the rest of your list. They're the only team I have that is want to title in this like era. But you may have heard, Nico Leoke, which is going to be a free agent next summer. And all indications have been that Nico Leoke, which wants to be a member of the Denver Nuggets for life and that he's going to sign a massive mega super humongous max contract with Denver next summer. And maybe he will. But this off season has not been kind to Denver.

9:12They lost Peyton Watson for a future first round draft pick from the calves. They are a team that is in the second apron right now. It does not want to be in the second apron. And I would not be surprised if there are some other changes to the roster prior to the trade deadline that are some cost cutting moves. But it's also a Denver nuggets team that has not had a lot of post season success since they won that title. And that is something that I look at and say they need to go out there and have a good year because if they don't have a good year, I don't know that Nico Leoke, which would seriously consider leaving Denver next summer. But I do know if a lot of things needed to happen for Yokech to consider leaving, a lot of them have already. So, I'm not surprising maybe, but I don't necessarily want to add to the Yokech to torture narrative that's going to be discussed. We have really gotten much indication. I look, it's a good point. I agree with you that if you're going to look for a reason to leave the only organization that you've been a part of, the one that you helped guide to a championship, they're lack of ability to improve roster and continue to make righteous substituting your head

10:18coach at one point, like all the different things that they've gone through over these past years, this is not the way to retain your best player by and large. So I totally understand that. At the same time, one of the things I've talked about in this show is Nicolas' own individual legacy, I think, is at stake here. And the question about how he's viewed throughout his historical context because we talk about him as this incredible player, generational, one of the best player of time. And what do we have to show for it is one championship over, I'll be honest with you, I'll tell you, lack less your Miami Heat team. That's not going to cut it. If you really want to be in this discussion, it's one of the greatest players of all time. And you haven't enjoyed the kind of postseason success that duplicates or anywhere it comes near what we just saw from that and finals run. And since then, they've been pretty okay, they're good to know that about it. I think they have the potential to be really good yet again, but we just haven't seen it when it matters most in the terms of actual hardware or actual accomplishments during the postseason, especially off late. So for them to be able to add to that and to be able to improve his own legacy and how

11:21it's viewed his historically, I think that's an immense amount of pressure that he'll be facing. The rest of the substantial will be facing this season. Yeah, I think that what they look like in the postseason is, okay, he's probably not leaving. But if you're the Denver Nuggets, you can't feel great about things right now because it's kind of for them, especially with where they're at where they're not exactly a young team and they did not get younger this summer. They let the one guy in paid Watson, who's 23 years old and like could have been a big part of their future. They let him walk out the door. Like for me, it's you better have a good answer and they've not done so so far. Now, those are two of the six teams that we're going to talk about so far. David's got a good one. I'm sure next right here on lock that I'm here again. The problem of finding clothes that you can live it all day, be comfortable and do whatever you need to do. Dylan, go in the meetings, playing golf, being on the move. That problem has been solved by Kozierth. The everyday polo is the answer.

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13:24tremendously. If you could please do that, David, you said the San Antonio Spurs. I said the Denver Nuggets as a team under pressure this year. Who's the next team you got? Someone home merge maybe, but I have actually got the Miami Heat facing a lot of pressure this season. You blow up your roster. You try to tie the hero, Kalil, wear a lot of your young players. Maybe they had low ceilings and maybe they might not ever become stars, but you're sacrificing what youth you had on this team. You give up on Norm Powell. You let him walk. This is a team that made an all in move for Yannis and Kupu. And since then you've added obviously Bobby Pord. You added Clay Thompson. You added Tim Hardaway Jr. Those are fine moves. This is a team I think that can achieve post-examination. It can achieve success. But when you're on a window as narrow as it could be with Yannis at this point in his career, wanting to continue to add to his championship legacy, that is a lot of pressure. And so I know a lot of people are kind of punting on this season looking at next year's when they'll have the most pressure to continue to succeed.

14:27But I think internally this team has high expectations. Everything I've heard since Yannis is opening press conference with the team. And since the addition of Clay, Tim Hardaway, et cetera, is about wanting to put pressure on yourself as an organization, wanting to kind of get back to where you were as a contending team. And I think the fans internally also have a high level of expectations. We just did a show earlier this week and lucked on heat as far as what a successful season would be. And I was surprised at how many people said it was Eastern Conference Finals or better. That's a lot. To be one of the top two teams at the Eastern Conference and using that as a your Baramura for success for a team that has just landed Yannis at a couple of weeks ago, that's a heck of a lot of pressure. And so while that might not be the view outside of South Florida internally, I could tell you that's a lot of pressure they're facing. And I think they have to continue to add and show that there are at least a playoff team that can make a deep playoff run. When you land one of the top five players in the NBA, you're going to have to do something.

15:31You're going to have to make something happen. We just talked about the pressure in Nicola Yokic would be facing in Denver. I think Yannis is facing it in South Florida as well. If you're going to make them move to leave Milwaukee, then you might as well be joining a team that has a legitimate shot and making the finals. So you're selling me on it a little bit because I came into this conversation. I didn't think about the Miami team as a team for me because I look at this year and yes, they have totally remade their rots right at Yannis and did Kumpo, sending out Tyler. Here are all those moves that you talked about. I don't need to say those again. Everyone heard them come under your mouth. But I look at them and say, the Miami heat are going to be, I think, better 12 months from now than they are right now. And I don't know that I can say that about all these other teams. So because I think they're going to be better next year when they have two more transaction cycles, when they do something maybe potentially at the trade deadline, I'm sure they will do something next summer. Like I think Miami this year, making the playoffs needs to happen when you trade for Yannis.

16:31Like that needs to be a thing. You can't be where the heat had been in years past in the plan. But I also look at it and I think the heat or a team and I think there are probably seven teams in the East and the heater on this group that think they can win the Eastern Conference. But I think if you look at some of those teams, I think some of those considering where they're at in their life cycle as a team, I think some of those other teams might feel like they or should be feeling more pressure than Miami because I look at this as year one of Miami's life cycle. So it's a little difficult for me to say, you're one of the life cycles, do or die. I think next year they're on this list, no doubt. But right now and you've swayed me a little bit like I see where you're coming from. But I still think that there are other teams that I look and say, if they don't get it done now, they might not get it done ever. And we've not actually even seen this version of the heat play basketball game together. But I do feel confident that this is not a one year experiment for them. No, it's a fair point. And I totally see that perspective of the life cycle of the team.

17:33But I think the moves they've made, I mean, obviously, Jan is topping the list. But just an addition of an older player, Clay Thompson, getting to him hard away junior, finding the right roster, trying to see if you can maximize what Dave Young mentioned, who I think a lot of people view as a weak link on the team. They chose not to trade Nikola Yovitch, who's a young player probably. They didn't find a lot of takers for him. I'll be honest with you. But the reality is that there's internal hope that he can build on of what Pete did in Eurobasket this summer. And that's been the expectation for some time. He just hasn't been able to live up to its potential. So I think they're in a win now kind of mode and winning now for a team that famously has Pat Riley at the helm saying there's winning and then there's misery. Anything short of winning and that means a championship is probably going to be a miserable experience. Bolstera wants to make the most of this group and there's height expectations at pressure on him because it's one thing to have a team that was always playing above their weight class in terms of what they did during the Jimmy Butler iteration of that team.

18:36But now with Janus, you've got a legitimate top superstar. One of the best players in NBA history, you better find a way to make it work. And that's again, a team that wants to win and win a lot of games. And so I do think that they're facing a lot of pressure, not just internally, but over the course of the season, we'll see that continue to build as well. So you were a homer with that pick. I'll be a homer with my pick. And I will say the Cleveland Cavaliers here. And the Cavs, I think, are in a much different place than Miami because they are not at the start of their life cycle. This is going into year five of Donovan Mitchell in Cleveland. And I think that you people in Miami have finally stopped trying to trade for him. And they went all in this past year. They traded Darious Garland for a 36 year old James Harden who has since turned 37. They got over the hump and they made the Eastern Conference Finals, even though no one ever felt great about how that process went, needing seven games to be the Raptors. And then seven games to beat the pistons. Like it was not the most enjoyable playoff run that did result in them getting to their first Conference Finals without LeBron James in over 35 years.

19:37And then this summer they add Peyton Watson. They send out the only tradeable first round draft pick that they had to move. They did lose a couple of guys. Max Truce is gone. Dean Wade is gone. They are hard-capped at the first apron. They are like $70,000 below the first apron as of right now. And I look at this team and I say, if not now, win. Because the East is good. The Cavs should be good again. But I'm starting to see like, what does the end of this look like? And how many more cracks at the Apple do they get before it's like, hey, this didn't work and we need to pivot? Yeah, 100%. I mean, I think that's a great call. I would have had them on my list too. I figured you would speak through it a lot better than I would. And certainly that's been the case. I just, you know, we talked about the move for Harden before. That was a move that had pressure already baked into it because that goes, that's an incredible departure from the team they were. Like you could allow some of the mistakes or whatever shortcomings they had when you had a younger player in Garland that you were kind of building for.

20:38But with Harden, you knew that there was an inherent risk that you had to take on by adding it to your roster. And then you doubled down on it. You made the run and LeBronge. James, I'll show it obviously. But then you doubled down and go with Harden again. And now we're leaning into this version of the R as a team. I think there's a lot of pressure in Cleveland, maybe because they didn't necessarily, to your point, feel like a legitimate Eastern conference finalist. But that's certainly been a potential for quite some time. And they were one of the best teams in the East, not that far ago, that that long ago. And then they made them move for Harden. That's changed things so dramatically. But I think, like you spoke about Mitchell, I don't know that there's any player, and you could speak to this probably better than I could facing more individual pressure than Evan Mowgli, because I think as everybody saw his star rising just a couple seasons ago, and last year felt somewhat flat in that regard, what version are we going to get this year? Is he going to be even better than what he was? Is he going to be what we saw from him last year?

21:38Are we going to be somewhere in between? Because I don't think that's necessarily good enough. If everybody expects him to be a great player, and I don't know that we've seen that consistently enough for him, and this is his opportunity, his best, maybe even last opportunity to really show that, which is kind of unfair, considering how young he is in his career. But given where he was a couple of seasons ago, with so much expectation, and all star selection, et cetera, I think that there's a lot of pressure on him to continue to build on what he was. If Evan Mowgli is the guy that was an all NBA player two years ago, and he was second to him all NBA, he won defensive player of the year, which, if Victor Wemba-Namma plays 65 games, you can just send that award to San Antonio right now. But if Evan is that guy that he was two years ago, the Cavs are going to be really good. And I don't want to say this pressure is going to go away, but they're going to be a team that legitimately can go to the finals. If he's the guy that he was last year, the Cavs are going to be in some trouble. Like I agree with you, I think that's a great call that there are not very many guys in the NBA that are under more pressure going into this season than I think Evan Mowgli is.

22:39I think the Cavs are going to go, you know, like Donovan Mitchell is going to be the guy still, but they need Evan Mowgli to be the second best player. And like I just got done recording a podcast about this. I think for them to get to the finals, we need to be having a conversation at the end of May. It's like Donovan was really good in the post season, but are we sure Evan Mowgli wasn't actually more impactful than him? And like that's possible, but it needs to happen. And there is a lot of pressure there for it to happen. Yeah, that's a great point. I mean, it's interesting. Again, a young player with so much potential and for him to continue to build on that, it's a huge question going to the season. So I really like that. And using that as a kind of conversation point for this team to really unlock that potential be the best version of themselves, you have to have those serious conversations about whether or not Mowgli might be even better than Donovan Mitchell because I think you're right. Donovan is much more of a proven commodity for Mowgli. It doesn't feel quite that way. And especially after what we saw from him last year.

23:40So he has to show something considerably better. So that to the point where he could be viewed again as a consistent legitimate star in this league. Well, there's a guy in the NBA that both David and I thought for a certain amount of time was going to be playing for the teams that we cover. He's in Philadelphia. That's LeBron James. We're going to talk to sixers coming up next right here, unlocking an American night. But first today's show is brought to you by Odo. Starting a business, it shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect a bunch of systems that were never really designed to work together. You've got one app for accounting, another app for inventory, a different one for sales, and somehow none of those can find a way to talk to each other. That doesn't sound right. Well, that's exactly where Odo comes in. Odo is an all in one business management software that brings every part of your business together in one powerful platform. Sales, accounting, inventory, marketing, all those things that you need, they're going to work together in one place. Odo is one platform to manage, grow, and to scale your business. The best organizations, they don't success. It's about talent, but it's not just about talent. It's about having everyone working towards the same goal.

24:42That's true in business, and it's true in sports too. Think about your favorite team. Is ownership aligned with the front office and the roster and the coaching staff? If the answer to that is yes, the team you might root for, probably pretty good. If you see some cracks in that foundation, if they don't necessarily have the best lines of communication, chances are your team might not be one we're talking about today on this episode of Lockdown MBA Game Liking. Great organizations, they win because operations matter. That's exactly why you should get Odo. Odo is one platform to manage, grow, and scale your business. You can try it for free today at odu.com slash lockdown. That's odod.o.com slash lockdown. L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N. One more time, that is odu.com slash lockdown. Well, David, I don't know if you have them down. I already teased that I have them down, so we are going to go to my final pick, and it could be your final pick too. But the Philadelphia 76ers, who this offseason made the shocking trade for Jalen Brown, which nobody saw coming, and then something really nobody saw coming. They landed LeBron James in free agency.

25:43Now LeBron is not ever won a title year one in a new city. He has always won a title year two in a new city, Miami Cleveland and Los Angeles. I still think even considering that fact, this is LeBron going into year 24. I think he's going to play two more years. This is a very short runway. They have to find a way to win a title within this year or next year, or this era is going to be looked at as a failure. And my friend, that I think is the definition of pressure in the Eastern Conference. Absolutely. So much, if you look at this team and who's facing pressure, like LeBron, his decision is one thing. I think he's almost impervious to whatever criticism of the team faces, because I don't think he's necessarily going to be viewed as the focal point for what this group is. I think if you're going to look at whatever the season however it plays out, like the question's going into next season isn't going to be, oh, what's LeBron James going to be like in this year, if his career.

26:46I think the questions will be more about Joelle and B. Continuing to prove that he is the player that he once was staying healthy is Jalen Brown, really that complimentary player or that Boston just find a way to maximize whatever it was. Can he find a way to thrive in this new system? Can Tyrese Maxx continue to be the face of Philadelphia's future regardless of what happens? You look at BJ Edgeko, my guy who sheds so much promise less years of rookie. How does he fit into this new structure as well? Like there's a lot of pressure there. I don't know that LeBron's necessarily facing it. Although I think his move is certainly viewed as joining a team that he hopes to elevate to title contention status, but at the same time, I think he's fairly immune of all the criticisms because he's proven what he's capable of doing. Whereas the rest of the team cannot. That's the difference here is that he's the guy who's won a championship shirt. Jalen has as well. But Philadelphia as a whole, the lack of success that they've had over the last decade, considering the moves they've made, considering the improvements to the roster, the players they've had on there. They've just never been able to really achieve it.

27:47And so now there's so much pressure because it really is championship or bust. And I think that's an incredible amount of pressure. And I don't know that for LeBron or for the Philadelphia 76ers, he can afford to wait till year two of this experiment. It has to kind of be this year. And we're talking about all these teams, whether it's Cleveland or Miami or San Antonio. Like there's all those teams have expectations of being able to win at a high level. And not all of them are going to be able to do it. In fact, maybe not, not of them are going to be able to do it. And so that's the where you kind of see how much pressure the 76ers are facing because in an improved Eastern conference, they have to find a way to be in the year one of the experiment, be the best team. And that's not even facing, you know, not even including the New York Knicks and what they were able to accomplish last year and making them into the conversation. And that's why I think I don't necessarily view LeBron as the guy under pressure. I think it is the 6ers and I think it's more even Joel and Bede. And Jalen Brown to a different extent too because like he kind of wanted to be the guy,

28:48right? Like that's part of the reason why he wasn't super happy and Boston. He wanted to be the guy. And now you look at it's like, well, Joel and Bede is there. Tyrese Maxi is there. LeBron is there. Like he might be the fourth guy in Philly. And like I look at that, just like that situation. And it's going to take some time. These things you and I both know from watching this particular experiment with LeBron up close and personal. I, if I'm not mistaken, the 2010 11 heat started nine and eight and it was, it got real uncomfortable real early. And the 2014 15 calves were 19 and 20. It's going to take some time. And I am especially in that city, which is a great sports town, but this organization is not one something of consequence in a long time. If it doesn't start out well, I just wonder how warm it gets in Philly. Hmm. That's a great point. I think everybody's facing pressure on the nurse, the organization as a whole. And they have to find a way to, to overcome that because you're absolutely right in pointing

29:50out that when it comes to incorporating LeBron James into a team, it's how everybody else figures out how to play alongside him because he has that unique ability to kind of unlock what everybody does. So effectively, which is why he is the best or one of the best players in NBA history. And as such, I think it's going to be so incumbent on everybody else to figure out the roles and for a guy like Brown in particular, who wants to be seen as somebody who can carry a team. He has to be more of a complimentary player and figure out his role. A guy like Maxi, who stars rising and all of a sudden he's going to take a back seat to this LeBron guy, even at the stage of his career. And for a B to figure out, well, you know what, can I still be the player that I was or can I be somewhat close to that and be healthy and everything else like that? And look, even in the depth that they added, all the players that they acquired a Dean Wade, et cetera, I had free silence. Like this is a roster that's looking to make some major moves this year. And yet it is going to be a little bit more difficult than everybody expects to play. For the record, I think the Sixers are going to win the championship this year.

30:52That would be my pick. But I do think it's going to be a little bit more difficult than everybody expects it to be to. Were the Sixers your final team or did you have somebody else? No, I had the Detroit Pissons. I think you win 60 games last year. And I think with that, like I said, with this first, what's real? What's, you know, considering again that they surpass expectations last year and were very, very good for most of the season, I think now you have to show that you're even better than what you were last year. And I don't think that's realistic either. I don't know that any team in the East is going to win 60 games away. The Pissons is last year. And so now you've got questions you lose to bias hairs. You got John Collins into the mix. You've got the whole Jaila Dern situation. That's going to be difficult. I think that's going to be something that's going to be, they're going to have to face. Obviously, nothing's happened with Dern just yet who knows what eventually he winds up playing for or what he wants up resigning with the team if he does, which seems to be the case. So there's going to be a lot of questions about this team.

31:54It's not going to just be, you know, Bikers staff leading this group and getting the best out of them and looking at everybody kind of looking at them as a real plucky team that has shown some defensive chops and some ability to do some really nice things. Now it's like, okay, you want 60 games. Great. You felt short into playoffs. What are you going to do this year? Because that's how everybody approaches everything in the league. It's what have you done for me lately. So the success of last year, that's way in the rear of your mirror. And now how do you build on that? Especially when the Eastern Conference has improved top to bottom. That's going to be a real question. So I think this Pissons team is facing a lot more pressure than people actually expect them to. I mean, they were, you know, they only won 14 games two years before that. And now, instead of, well, how can you get to the Eastern Conference finals or better? And that's how I've arrived to expect. But yet, that's the expectations for a group like that, especially for a guy like Kate Cunningham, who's one of the top young players in the league. And what's he capable of doing? How can he reach yet another level to be an all NBA player, a guy who's an MVP conversations and helping to carry this team to the promised land?

32:56That's, that's a lot of pressure to put on a young team. And yet, and I don't know that bigger staff is the right guy to take him to that point because we haven't really seen that from him either. So it's going to be an interesting question about what version of the Pissons we're going to get this year. Bicker's staff is shown to be in, I say this as somebody who has covered him. He is shown to be an excellent culture center. He is shown to be an excellent regular season coach. But like he has left things to be desired in the postseason repeatedly. And listen, like two years ago when they lost in the first round to the next, there was no shame in that. That was the way that it's here. You should have gone. I was impressed by the way that went. But like this year to have game seven of the conference semi finals in your building after you win 60 games and you just get absolutely throttled and lose by 35, I think that is something that kind of put the damper on that 60 win season. And you brought up the Jalen Duren situation. And that to me, I think is like a pressure amplifier because vibes matter in the NBA. You can't quantify it, but it matters.

33:56And if Jalen Duren is playing on a qualifying offer this year, I don't know. I'd have to go look with our friends at Fandall what the win total is for the pistons. If Jalen Duren's playing for the qualifying offer, I'm taking the under. Like if that happens, I think that is a sure sign. Things are not going to go as well as they possibly could in Detroit. That's such a great point because he's at such a critical phase and as ability to kind of build his career and to make the money that so many NBA players feel they deserve. Like he had a great individual season. Then fell short in the playoffs as well and restricted for agency did not go the way he expected or wanted to be for sure. And so at what point does he go into next season? Does he just start to kind of take over? Does he become a little bit more selfish and trying to get his in order to show the rest of the league that he's still that type of player? Does that kind of sabotage a torpedo everybody else's efforts? There's a this team has the great potential to be disastrous.

34:56And that's not what you expect from a 60 win team with as much youth and promise. And yet things can go really sour and how big her staff is able to keep that together in this year. You know, again, I would not want to be in his position and having to face that and kind of carry all that and try to keep everybody working together and positively when there's so many questions individually that players have to face within the context of team success as well. Those are just six of the teams in the NBA that we think are under pressure. If you think there's a team that we miss comment below on YouTube or tweet at us, you can find David at D. Rameel 13 on Twitter. You can find me at real D. Cunningham. And if you want more of David, you can check about every single day over at lockdown heat. And if you want more of me, I'm over at lockdown calves every single day. But as we get out of here, one last thank you for making this show your first or maybe even second on this is a day a thumbs up button and clicking that notification bell on YouTube goes a long way towards helping the lock down NBA channel out and make sure that you're subscribed on Apple on Spotify or anywhere else. I'll be back tomorrow talking more about the NBA.