Kendrick Perkins calls Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball the NBA’s best backcourt. Ric Bucher isn’t buying it. But that bold proclamation raises a bigger question: Who faces the most pressure heading into the 2026-27 NBA season?<\/p>\n
Ric breaks down the five players and five head coaches with the most to prove, from Luka Doncic carrying the Lakers without LeBron James to Nick Nurse juggling Philadelphia’s star-studded roster.<\/p>\n
Plus, why Jayson Tatum faces an unprecedented challenge without Jaylen Brown, whether Victor Wembanyama can take the Spurs to the next level, and why Anthony Edwards may be running out of time to turn superstar hype into championship success.<\/p>\n
00:00 \u2013 Introduction and Coachable announcement<\/p>\n
01:31 \u2013 Kendrick Perkins’ best-backcourt claim: Ant and LaMelo<\/p>\n
02:34 \u2013 NBA backcourt comparisons: SGA, Luka and more<\/p>\n
05:03 \u2013 How superstar expectations create pressure<\/p>\n
06:46 \u2013 Five NBA coaches facing the most pressure<\/p>\n
07:02 \u2013 No. 5: Steve Kerr and the Warriors’ future<\/p>\n
08:39 \u2013 No. 4: Joe Mazzulla and Boston without Jaylen Brown<\/p>\n
10:50 \u2013 No. 3: Mitch Johnson and the Spurs’ championship expectations<\/p>\n
11:49 \u2013 No. 2: Chris Finch and Minnesota’s LaMelo Ball gamble<\/p>\n
12:32 \u2013 No. 1: Nick Nurse and Philadelphia’s superstar puzzle<\/p>\n
14:04 \u2013 Mizzen+Main sponsor message<\/p>\n
14:45 \u2013 Five NBA players facing the most pressure<\/p>\n
14:53 \u2013 No. 5: Anthony Edwards and the burden of superstar hype<\/p>\n
16:14 \u2013 No. 4: Victor Wembanyama’s championship clock<\/p>\n
17:53 \u2013 No. 3: Paolo Banchero and Orlando’s expectations<\/p>\n
19:43 \u2013 No. 2: Luka Doncic, Lakers ownership and life after LeBron<\/p>\n
23:03 \u2013 No. 1: Jayson Tatum’s biggest test without Jaylen Brown<\/p>\n
25:31 \u2013 Final thoughts and closing<\/p>\n
#NBA #OnTheBall #RicBucher #JaysonTatum #LukaDoncic #AnthonyEdwards #LeBronJames #NBAPodcast<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kendrick Perkins calls Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball the NBA’s best backcourt. Ric Bucher isn’t buying it. But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":903549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,107931,590,471758,471755,85,471756,471757],"class_list":["post-903548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-insider-information","tag-nba","tag-newssports-news","tag-on-the-ball-with-ric-bucher","tag-sports","tag-sports-analysis","tag-sportsbasketball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=903548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/903549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}