Am I wrong? Talking Boston, Trae Young, Wolves, Knicks and more with Nekias Duncan | The Kevin O'Connor Show

Kevin O'Connor (0:00)

Welcome back to The Kevin O'Connor Show. Today, I get Nekias Duncan on the show to talk about some of my early season takes, and I got a question for Nekias with every single one of them. Am I wrong? Nekias tells me if I am on today's episode. That's coming up right now.

Now joining me to talk about the NBA from The Dunker Spot, Nekias Duncan. What's up, Nekias?

Nekias Duncan (0:24)

Hello, hello. Happy to be here. Excited to be here. Not going to steal Steve's entire intro.

I enjoyed your episode with him recently. But I am excited to talk some hoops with you. Very much still in catch up mode coming off of the W season and doing all the travel and things like that. But it's been fun getting back into the flow of things, put it that way.

Kevin O'Connor (0:44)

How many trips did you do this year, Nekias? You did a lot of travel on it seems like, right?

Nekias Duncan (0:49)

Oh, man. We did some bouncing around for the regular season. And then this was the first time I've been covering the W full time since 2022 This is the first time that I traveled for the entire postseason. So, Vegas, Indiana, San Francisco, and then the finals of San Francisco and Atlanta. So bouncing back and forth on the San Francisco coast on that front too. So it's been, it's been fun. It's a blessing. Also a lot.

Kevin O'Connor (1:13)

Travelling can wear you out. One of my one of my best buddies has a trip this week to Atlanta and Miami. He doesn't usually travel. It's like, oh, it's a lot. That's like, that's the life for some reporters. I'm glad I don't travel that much. I mostly watch games from home and dip my toes into going to cities on weekends and hopefully do my first trip at the NBA season very soon. But let's start off with this NBA season here, Nekias, with a little bit today that I have. Am I wrong?

I'm going to give you some NBA takes that all are going to end with, am I wrong? And you're going to tell me whether I'm wrong or not and why. So let's start off here with our NBA conversation with this first thought. Paul George is a better fit next to Jayson Tatum than Jaylen Brown ever was.

And I know it's soon. I know Tatum and Brown won a finals together, but I feel the synergy between these two guys early this season with Paul George averaging 20 on elite efficiency, elite three-point volume, the connective passing from him as well, the ability to be an initiator we saw in that NBA Cup game between Boston, in Chicago this year where Paul George first play of the game, top of the three-point line, left-handed passer or cutting Jason Tatum. It just feels like these two guys, they just gel. It feels natural to me. So even if George isn't as great in a vacuum as Jaylen Brown is, I feel like there's a better fit, that these guys actually fit. That's the key word here, Nekias. So am I wrong?

Nekias Duncan (2:43)

No, I don't think you're wrong. Like I felt a similar way when the trade first broke, I was clear to point out, like do I think Paul George at this stage is better than Jaylen Brown? I do not, especially coming out of the seasons that they had. But if you think about the entire ecosystem of what Boston wants to do offensively, we want to space well, we want to get threes up, we want to have multiple screeners, we want to have some more tertiary playmaking within the offense. Defensively, we want to be able to force turnovers.

Say, listen, I'm doing my best, it's early. But they want to force more turnovers, they also want to take care of the ball on the underhand.

Kevin O'Connor (3:13)

I can't say that word, tertiary.

Secondary is an easy one for me. This dumb guy's like me.

Nekias Duncan (3:23)

We're doing the best that we can. But Paul George is additive in all those areas. For me, it's like, will he be healthy enough to provide all of those boosts? That is the biggest question mark, especially when you're coming off of the season that Jaylen Brown just had. But if he's on the floor, he is a better passer, he is a better and more willing three-point shooter, he is a better defender. I think within the lens of forcing turnovers specifically, he's a more dangerous off-ball threat on that front.

I'm not at all surprised that we have gotten the fruits of what it could be if he is healthy. The biggest question for me now is, we're recording on November 9th, does this extend into January? Does this extend into March? Ultimately, if and when Boston makes the playoffs, what state will Paul George be in physically? But in terms of the actual skill set, I think the fit was always going to be a cleaner one. How much juice were you actually going to get out of it?