{"id":5133,"date":"2023-01-06T22:00:21","date_gmt":"2023-01-06T22:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/crossover-nba-midseason-check-in-with-zach-lowe\/"},"modified":"2023-01-06T22:00:21","modified_gmt":"2023-01-06T22:00:21","slug":"crossover-nba-midseason-check-in-with-zach-lowe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/crossover-nba-midseason-check-in-with-zach-lowe\/","title":{"rendered":"Crossover: NBA Midseason Check-in with Zach Lowe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The Crossover welcomes ESPN&#8217;s Zach Lowe to discuss trends at the NBA&#8217;s mathematical midpoint, including the sudden burst of high-scoring individual games capped by Donovan Mitchell&#8217;s 71-point out. They also reflect on their preseason fumbles, discuss the merits of a trade with the Lakers, and ponder his tournament advantage midseason. Plus: If you could go back in time and save a team from its worst offseason blunder, what would it be?<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>The transcript below is an excerpt from <\/em><\/strong><strong>crossover<\/strong><strong><em>    Listen to the full episode on NBA Podcast. <\/em><\/strong><strong><em>podcast player everywhere<\/em><\/strong><strong><em>    or <\/em><\/strong><strong><em>SI.com<\/em><\/strong><strong><em>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Beck:<\/strong> I said we are at the mathematical halfway point. In retrospect for a minute&#8230; we&#8217;ve all been doing silly pre-season predictions and predictions and rankings and all that stuff. And I was looking back at some of myself. I think the thing that cringed me the most was that Rudy Gobert was preseason Defensive Player of the Year. Well, it probably won&#8217;t happen. <\/p>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-c\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-0\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-0\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-0\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-b not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-0\"\/>\n<p><strong>Row:<\/strong> So that race is wide open.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Beck:<\/strong> I think we&#8217;re still okay with Clips over Bucks in Finals, but at least 17 Finals iterations are possible. And that, you know, we&#8217;ll see. <\/p>\n<p>Was there anything you were sure mid-season about the teams, the races, the players, the pre-season situation?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Row:<\/strong> I was dramatically wrong about the Toronto Raptors. I thought the Raptors were good. Whatever their over\/under was, I can&#8217;t remember what it was, but I was like over, over, over. Well, they say he&#8217;s 16-22. Every possession is a slog and they&#8217;re starting a homestand right now that will make or break the season. It started with comeback wins and losses.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-c\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-1\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-1\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-1\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-b not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-1\"\/>\n<p>Their defense wasn&#8217;t as good as I expected. And you&#8217;re starting to feel the shortcomings of the lengths, sizes, and types of variety they&#8217;ve chosen. Center is good. Those shortcomings became roost. That&#8217;s what I did most wrong.  &#8230;<\/p>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-2\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-b not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-2\"\/>\n<p>I was probably a little too low in Portland, but they were only one game over 500. And, you know, despite all the opposition I had to the Gobert trade, I still thought the Timberwolves were going to be a good regular season team. was not good as a team. And\u2026 Utah is clearly the one that we were all wrong about, but those are the ones that stand out. <\/p>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-c\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-2\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-2\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-3\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-b not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-3\"\/>\n<p><strong>Beck:<\/strong> I had my easy hit list underestimating Utah, Portland and Indiana.All of these teams were really fun and competitive. And yeah, not surprisingly, none of these teams have won a playoff series.<\/p>\n<p>I thought the Grizzlies would struggle to replicate last season&#8217;s success. It was about the depth of the Western Conference and the players coming back to Denver, the Clippers, etc. I knew things were going to get tough.  \u2026 <\/p>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-c\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-3\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-3\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-4\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-b not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-4\"\/>\n<p><strong>Row:<\/strong> Well, Jaren Jackson Jr. started the season and got injured. I thought their downside was a potential &#8216;hmm, we need to avoid play-ins&#8217;&#8230;and they&#8217;re really, really good people. Grizzlies are really good. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Beck:<\/strong> They are the first to be tied in the West when we record this.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Row:<\/strong> As I said before&#8230; it&#8217;s a team. They play for big fish. If I were them, one small asset, one pick, one young player, or something like a medium sized fish that could be traded and become the 5th to 8th best player but a proven veteran with the skill set can help me, I think that team has enough to do it now. I think you should. <\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Listen to the full episode at <\/em><\/strong><strong><em>podcast player everywhere<\/em><\/strong><strong><em>    or <\/em><\/strong><strong><em>SI.com<\/em><\/strong><strong><em>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/template\" id=\"facebookPixel1103097776498609\">!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function()\n{n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)}\n;if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\nn.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\nt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\ndocument,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n(function(){\n    fbq('init', '1103097776498609');\n    fbq('track', 'PageView');\n    var contentId = 'ci02b4b43e800024a2';\n    if (contentId !== '') {\n        fbq('track', 'ViewContent', {content_ids: [contentId], content_type: 'product'});\n    }\n})();<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/__i\/rss\/rd\/articles\/CBMiQWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnNpLmNvbS9uYmEvMjAyMy8wMS8wNi9uYmEtY3Jvc3NvdmVyLXBvZGNhc3QtemFjaC1sb3dl0gFGaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc2kuY29tLy5hbXAvbmJhLzIwMjMvMDEvMDYvbmJhLWNyb3Nzb3Zlci1wb2RjYXN0LXphY2gtbG93ZQ?oc=5\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] The Crossover welcomes ESPN&#8217;s Zach Lowe to discuss trends at the NBA&#8217;s mathematical midpoint, including the sudden burst of high-scoring individual games capped by<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","two-columns"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/jarenjacksonjr.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atswins.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}