Chris Broussard joined Dan Dakich on Don’t @ Me Tuesday morning to break down storylines surrounding the NBA and Team USA’s sad collapse at the World Cup.
Broussard, co-host on the uber-popular “First Things First,” weighed in on Jaylen Brown’s value, LeBron James’ future and the state of the USMNT.
Dakich asked whether the Celtics had grown tired of Brown and the narrative surrounding him.
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“No, I think it more boils down to this,” Broussard said.
“Dan, analytically, I think he’s great. He was on my All-NBA Second Team and fifth on my MVP ballot. But analytically, the numbers have never liked him.
“There are 23 active players with five or more All-Star appearances. He’s one of them, but he ranks 22nd in career plus-minus and is one of only two, along with DeMar DeRozan, with a negative career plus-minus. Last year against Philadelphia, they were minus-24 with him on the court and plus-six with him off the court.”
Brou argued that public perception doesn’t always align with how NBA front offices evaluate players.
“Now, to me, I overlooked that,” Broussard continued.
“But the Celtics are a very analytically driven front office, as are many teams in the league now. I feel like they don’t think Jaylen was as good as the media thought he was and as all the accolades suggested. I think this was largely an analytics-driven decision where they felt like the numbers showed they could be better without him.”
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Dakich then asked where the NBA’s all-time leading scorer will finish his career.
While Denver and Minnesota could make sense from a basketball standpoint, Broussard thinks LeBron will return to the Eastern Conference for one final run.
“I think it’s Cleveland. I think he wants to go home,” Broussard predicted.
“One of his best friends is in the front office in Cleveland, Brandon Weems, who he grew up with. I think he looks at Cleveland as, one, a place where he has a chance to win. They could win the East, and we’ve seen the last few years that if you get there, you’ve got a shot. We saw that with Indiana.
“It’s also a great place to finish. You talk about the perfect ending for a guy who has traveled around quite a bit. The perfect bow to wrap up this great career would be in Cleveland. If it was strictly basketball, you could make a case for Minnesota or Denver. But why stay in the West? Go to the East, where it’s an easier path to the Finals.”
Broussard also weighed in on the U.S. Men’s National Team following its loss to Belgium.
While Mauricio Pochettino’s arrival fueled optimism, Broussard said the team’s recent run created a false sense of progress after victories over lower-ranked opponents.
“We’ve been wall-to-wall soccer on our show,” Broussard said.
“I said this on the air this morning, Dan. My colleagues and I, and I think a lot of America, got drunk on sports patriotism. I started to think, ‘Hey, we’re definitely making the quarterfinals, and who knows, we might be able to do something magical.’ Yesterday we found out there were levels to this.
“We simply got there against a much better team. We had to realize all those teams we beat — Paraguay, the No. 41-ranked team in the world; Australia, No. 27; Turkey, No. 22. Bosnia was No. 64. We stepped up to the big boys against Belgium, No. 9 in the world.”
For Broussard, the loss served as a reality check, underscoring the gap between the United States and the world’s elite soccer nations.
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“And we found out,” Broussard concluded, “Pochettino has been asking, ‘Why not us?’ Here’s why: we’re not good enough. We just went up against a better team. By the end, I wasn’t even mad because it was like, ‘Hey, this is why we generally don’t get past the Round of 16.’ We’re not good enough in soccer, and that’s what we saw yesterday.”
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