What is krack alac in our We'reknox listeners. I am Dan Valley coming at
you for a mailback, which we have not done in a while. I
think it would be a two part mailbay because I have so many questions and
we'll do a discord only one, I think in part two. So for
part one we'll get to all the Twitter questions that I got from the solicitation
sweet and also in my dms, which we're backed up. So I apologize
if I took too long to get anybody. If I don't answer your question
because you DM me forever ago, feel free to hit me back at Dan
fa Valley at a v al on Twitter. Before we dive head first into
this, just a quick and friendly reminder if not a portion of this podcast
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the podcast description, along with the links to our YouTube channel and all our
social media handles. With all that out of the way, let's get to
some quick news notes, some not so quick news notes maybe before we cat
and ball into this mailbag. Well begin here. This one's really quick.
The Timberwolves are hiring Jazz assistant coach and former Pelicans GM del Demps is part
of new president Tim Connolly's front office. That's Perham Sharania and John Krasinski of
the Athletic It's going to me to be fascinating to see how Connolly continues flashing
out his staff in Minnesota. Krasinski noted in The Athletic that because the Timberwolves
have operated with more of a Bear Bowen's crew in over the years, that
Connolly's sort of tasked with beefing up their front office staff flashing them out.
I still remain very interesting to see what happens with Satri Glupta, who took
over the basically the head of basketball operations once Gerson Rosas was was dismissed.
And now we've seen hires. I don't know if they're ahead of him,
but we've seen just a lot of hires from Connolly, So I'm very curious
to see what happens there. But yeah, the Timberwolves, I think they're
gearing up for what should be one of the more fascinating off seasons, even
though I say that about pretty much every single team. The other this little
tidbit which I thought was it's not really news, but it still matters is
David Griffin. We're speaking on the Ryan Rasillo podcast, and he called offering
the idea of offering Zion Williamson a MAX extension, the idea of Zion Williamson
is a MAX player, rather as a pretty easy decision. The direct quote
was, it's not a big decision. It's a pretty easy decision. The
kids historically good when he plays. This is a max player, but becomes
significant as a team. It's a small market team and as a team that
you can't make mistakes in terms of injuries over time. You have to indemnify
yourself in some way for that being Zion's injury risk. And that's fine.
But the decision of whether or not this is a max player is an easy
one. Zion consign a max deal five years worth more than one hundred and
eighty million dollars. He has mentioned that he couldn't sign a deal like that
fast enough. Anyone who's kind of spatuated the talk that he will leave New
Orleans anytime soon, that's long felt maybe not fabricated, but so much it's
felt pointless, just because given his injury history. I don't know that if
your Zion, you would want to risk signing your qualifying offer of a a
lot of people thought he might and trying to get to unrestricted free agency,
you should guarantee yourself as much long term money as possible. What is going
to be interesting is how much of his contract extension is going to be guaranteed.
We saw the Philadelphia seventy six ers with Joel and Bead baked incentives into
the contract based on game plays games played. I would expect to see something
similar with Zions, where he is guaranteed a huge portion of this deal,
but that it could be voided if he doesn't meet a games played threshold.
I don't know where that's going to land. The fact that he's played just
eighty five games through two seasons three seasons excuse he missed all of last years,
it's gonna make it tough. And given his body type and the way
that he plays, it's not a shot at him being in shape. It's
just someone who is that thick, girthy you don't expect to see fly through
the air like that. And so he's more of this physical nominally than Joel
Embiid And so will there be a difference there or does he just have more
leverage because technically he's played in more games over first three seasons than Joel Embiad
did. That's how I would expect this to play out, though, is
that he signs a five year MAX deal with the Pelicans that is not fully
guaranteed, and it will become fully guaranteed as he crosses a game's played threshold
over the year. The final thing, news nugget or topical non question I
wanted to address is the Draymond Green podcast stuff. There seem to be people
who are legitimately mad that Draymond is podcasting during the Finals as a podcast at
all. I saw a tweet going around from a Twitter space roots Twitter spaces
where someone was just irate after Game three. I'm telling Draymond to get off
his podcast and lock into the finals mode. I'm here for the jokes,
because I'm always here for the jokes. But I think SAMs Findiari from Light
Years had like one of just the best tweets on this, or the single
best tweet on this excuse me, where he said Michael Jordans was out until
four am gambling the night before playoff games, Finals games. Draymond Green is
in his hotel room, sober, just podcasting like this is not a big
deal. He's not spending hours upon hours upon hours on his podcast. Jake
Fitcher of Bleacher Report did have a report that there were there are Celtic staffers
other coaches around league who listened to it to maybe gain some insight into what
he's saying about other teams. I saw some people push back. Again it's
that saying, well, those opposing coaching steps know everything they already need to
know it STI would not surprise me if they were checking out Raymond Green's podcast,
if they're being mandated to by the head coach or maybe the front office
of the team which employs them, just to see if there's anything on there
that they missed or that they should know that he lets slip whatever. I
wouldn't say it's a primary form of their research, but it wouldn't. You
know, Jake Fisher one of the most reputable reporters out there right now.
He's not making shit up. But this idea that Draymond Green is focusing too
much on his podcast or he's giving away trade secrets on his podcast is just
so fucking stupid, Like, come on, I know there's this rampant like
issue of oversimplifying everything in the NBA rather than providing actual contest context. Draymond
Green was really bad in Game three, and that includes what happens on defense.
We can go further into that and look at how on offense he's such
as zero when he's not making shots or being hesitant to take them, and
then when Boston is just not guarding him at all, they're treating him like
a complete non factor. We can get into whether the Warriors should they change
certain lineups to include Looney in the middle when they're downsizing instead of Draymond Green,
even if it's for small stretches. I would argue if he's having a
game like he had in Game three, where he just you know, he
there's some really bad passes, wasn't especially good at containing the ball or disrupting
plays as he was in games one and two, specifically Game two, It's
easier to make a call like that if you want to go even deeper into
just like the defensive nuances of where Draymond Green was struggling or where he was
beat like, there are there's content, there's writing, there's podcast The Dunker
Spot, the low posts that went into detail on it. There are Twitter
accounts that went into detail on it. Like I said, articles that went
into detail on it. We can have more in depth discussions about this without
going for the low brow reasons. And again, if you want to poke
fund in it or joke, that's mine. I think. Look, Draymond
said he was talking about basically new media with Chris Haynes preferencing himself, JJ
Reddick, and CJ McCollum. When McCollum informed him that he picked the Celtics
to win the series, he mentioned Patrick Patrick Beverley as just a billboard of
honesty and someone who's not a hater in this quote unquote new media. That
is that is fucking wild to me. After how over the top Patrick Beverley's
comments were on I think that was the ESPN's first take. Maybe it was
the Fox Sports the show, I can't even remember at this point when he
was some about Steph Curry and just some of the other stuff in the NBA
at large, like go ahead and criticized Draymond Green make the jokes if you
need to, the fuck Draymond Chance. That's that's something I'd want my kid
to hear. But I'm also not skewing towards Klay Thompson. Think of the
children's speech, which was subjectively funny because it was following a press comments from
Raymond in which he said he played like shit while his son was sitting right
next to him. This we don't need to take this stuff so seriously or
just go so off the rails that we veer into the senseless, and that's
what happened. I don't care that Draymond Green is podcasting ever or during the
finals. Good for him, and he was probably right when he said that.
You know, people are just angry that their podcast has fewer download than
his. Since everyone has a podcast, and many, many, many of
them are going to be less popular than Draymond Greens. Let's get to an
official mail bad question. Although this is somewhat topical, it's not somewhat,
it's it's highly topical. This comes from Matt Lyons, who will the Jazz
higher as their head coach? I got into this on my monologue at the
previous podcast. If you haven't listened to check it out, I honestly have
no idea Perlos. The Jazz just requested permission to interview Dallas Maverick's assistant Sean
Sweeney. He also for anyone who cares interviewed for the Charlotte Hornet's job.
At one point. They've also been linked to their own assistant in Alex Jensen,
Frank Vogel Terry star Stots form coach of the Blazers Johnny Bryant, head
coaching assistant coach with the Knicks, and he also has ties to Donovan Mitchell,
which is why he is someone who should probably be taking very seriously in
this. Lamar Skeeter he's also been on the Jazz staff. Kevin Young,
he's an associate head coach for the Phoenix Suns at the moment, used to
work for the Sixers. Charles Lee he's an assistant for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Adrian Griffin well known assistant at this point for the Toronto Raptors. And Will
Hardy, a current Boston Celtics assistant coach. These other names of them seeing
right now from KSL dot com. Chris Quinn he's a Miami Heat assistant.
Joe Mazzulla. I actually did not see this name until just this moment,
as a Curt assistant for the Boston Celtics. Also, there are a lot
of names being bandied out about there, and unfortunately for Sixers fans, none
of them are are doc Rivers. I honestly don't know what route they're gonna
go, and my guests would be that they'll go in the Terry Stotts direction,
and that could inform out of what we should expect from them in the
off season and moving forward as it pertains too. Oh, are they going
to look to blow up this core if you see them go, if you
see we go with Johnny Bryant. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve it and
hasn't been a good enough assistant or an assistant from long enough to not be
in the mix of these. But if they go with Johnny Bryan, I
think it's pretty clear that Rudy Gobert is gonna be gone and they're gonna do
whatever it takes to keep Donovan Mitchell. I don't if I had to,
Like I said, I think they'll go with someone who's a little bit more
established, and Terry Stotts would just be stabbing the dark here. And it's
not just because he's one of the few names with a track record and someone
I know more about. That just seems like the Utah Danny age hire here.
However, if they are open to rebuilding, or if they're more concerned
with sticking with Donovan Mitchell and moving Gobert or just retooling in general, I
could see them going outside the box hiring an assistant someone with either limited head
coach experience or not at all. I will say I will be fairly shocked
if this is where Frank Bowl land. They have to being fired by the
Lakers. That's as far as I'll go there. It also wouldn't surprise me
if we've yet to even hear the name of the person the Jazz hire.
But as of right now, I'm just gonna say Terry Stotts because they don't
think the Jazzs are looking to rebuild. I think they want a name in
there that they could trust. And if Don F. Mtchell is really unnerved
and unsettled, the next best thing you could probably do, aside from letting
him pick the next head coach or going with someone who's super close with him,
would be installing just a reliable veteran in there. Again, I really
do have sub zero feel based on the dot. I didn't think as many
assistant coach type names are going to be released, knowing that Danny Ainge was
spearheading this search, so that's going to be something to monitor for sure.
Simon asked if the NBA adds teams in Vegas and Seattle, which team gets
moved to the East. That's an interesting question. I think it's fairly certain
that it would be Memphis in that scenario would become the sixteen team in the
Eastern Conference. I could also you could make the case for New Orleans as
well. I know others have men Minnesota if you're doing some conference in realignment
there, excuse me, I would totally understand going that route. But I
think it would be Memphis if not New Orleans. Those would be the two
that I would expect. You could even make the case that, like if
you want to move both Memphis and New Orleans to the East and then kind
of shift around the Western Conference a little bit, setting another team in that
direction. But yeah, I think it's if I had to settle on a
one team, I think it would be the Memphis Grizzlies. That just seems
like the easiest answer there. I don't even think there are any other possible
answers, Like when you look at the actual makeup of the Western Conference besides
Memphis and New Orleans. And again, if you want to get into Minnesota,
like it's not going to be an LA team, you can't be a
Texas team. Portland's too far west. Same thing with Oklahoma City. So
yeah, it would be the Memphis Grizzlies. For me, if you wanted
to go like super confid realignment, would you consider like moving both Memphis in
New Orleans to the Eastern Conference And then you know there's not even a good
East team to just punt to the West there Like it doesn't there's nothing even
close, Like even Toronto would be dumb just because of how northeastern they are.
What you could do is get rid of conferences, which I would be
in all favor for. Let's just have the best teams making the playoffs.
Maybe that makes the play in tournament a little bit messier. I honestly don't
care. You have to maybe shape shift the way that you're going about your
your schedules, but whatever, keep conferences and let's just get get rid of
divisions at this point. Please something along those lines tangent that we don't need
to get into. We've gotten into it on previous episodes. Sammy s,
how often does the team with the best regular season defensive rating end up winning
a championship? They say the events wins championships. I'm just gonna say all
the time, but that's actually not true. So I went back through the
three point era and looked at the teams that won the champions chip while placing
first in defensive rating during this span. In the three point hour, we
have had forty two champions so far, and only seven have ranked first in
defensive rating. Going in order of the most recent to the furthest away,
we have the two fifteen Golden State Warriors, two thousand and eight, Boston
Celtics, two thousand and five, San Antonio Spurs two thousand, Los Angeles
Lakers, nineteen ninety nine San Antonio Spurs, nineteen ninety six Chicago Bulls,
and the nineteen eighty six Houston Rockets. I think what's a better barometer for
championship equity is where you rank in both offensive and defensive efficiency. This has
been studied and said ad nauseum in the past, but ranking of the top
ten of both points allowed per possession and points scored per possession are the greatest
harbingers of of your likelihood to win a title. So that this season,
though obviously we could come to a point where Golden State this using basketball reference,
the numbers can be different when you're using cleaning the glass. Basketball referens
are just used because it was easier to go that far back Golden State had
the top regular season defensive rating, and so could they become the eighth team
to rank first and defense and win a title during the three point ever era?
Will we will have to see if you're listening to this after Game four,
taking posts the Friday night, you will you will have a better hold
of whether they have a legitimate chance of doing that. But one of the
top two defensive teams are gonna win a title because Boston was second in points
aloud per possession this past season. That's a great question. Though s asked
has a bunch of questions, Let's go through the first one. What happens
with Zach Lavine's free agency. I just expect him to resign with the Chicago
Bulls. Maybe it's a four year max, as we've mentioned, just someone
with his age, he could say that he would prefer to get to free
agency quicker. So maybe it's four years with a player option on that fourth
year, which is why the fifth year that the Bulls can offer doesn't matter.
If the Bulls go at him with a full five year max offer,
though I would expect him to sign it. He's just had injury issues pop
up in the past with his more serious injuries with his knee, and then
even now there are just these They're not random or necessarily isolated incidents, but
his body has just been banged up this past season, and so that's something
that I think if you're him, you want to secure your long term future.
There's also just sort of a dearth of teams with cap space this summer.
If we've mentioned at nauseam, does he want to leave to go play
for the Pistons, It'd be super interesting to see Memphis clear more a little
bit more cap space than they're slated to have and get him. That doesn't
seem like something they would do, just it's out of character. The Spurs
would be interesting. Are they going to be that aggressive to get him?
Though? And you know it's just Orlando. I don't really see Lavine wanting
to play there. Portland they been mentioned for Lavine. I just I still
with Portland. I don't necessarily know why he would want to go there.
I don't think it's a much better situation than he has in Chicago, even
though I think the world of Damian Lillard just with Portland would be weird to
go And I said this before go from Norman Powell and see J McCollum and
Damian Lillard to just Anthony Simons and Zach Lavine and Damian Lillard. I don't
I don't know that you're materially better with the latter trio, and you would
definitely need to hit on the margins and flesh out the rest of your wing
rotation and an even big man rotation in the image of that. If I
had to pick a team that Zach Lavine would be on, if it wasn't
in Chicago, Damn, I want to stay with the Miami Heat, Like
I could just see a scenario where he wants to go to Miami. They
have enough injury risks on the table with Kyle Lowry, Jimmy Butler, even
Bamana Bayo a little bit. But if they just went the Tyler Hero and
all the picks route, maybe it requires you have Duncan Robinson in there as
well. Maybe this requires them seeking out Sorry I'm operating on three hours to
sleep here. Maybe it requires them to sussing out a third team to make
it like this weird mega deal because Chicago still wants to compete. I'm just
going to say Miami, I would prefer to see him in like a San
Antonio would be interesting, or Memphis or even the Knicks, and that's just
not you know. I just feel like him on the Knicks. If they're
able to keep RJ. Barrett, like you really start to have something there.
I fully expect him to return to the Chicago Bulls, though, as
also asked to, Sacramento and Portland ultimately keep their picks. Sacramento has number
four, the Blazers have number seven. There's been so much smoke about the
Blazers trade number seven almost makes you think that they won't trade number seven.
I think they're far more likely to move their pick, and not just because
it's lower. If they're serious about retooling, rebuilding, whatever you want to
call it around Damian Lillard, they almost have to move this pick. It
is their best tool with which to improve the roster. Are we talking about
them giving it up flat out for a player based on who's been mentioned as
available, unless you're talking about getting Oganna Noby who. By the way,
Matt Moore of the Action Network reported that Portland, San Antonio, and Denver
are all teams who have known registered interests in Ogana Noby. I still don't
think he's moved unless the Raptors are making their own blockbuster by Denver, super
intriguing for him. I just I find it hard to figure out how the
Nuggets would build a package. I think you would have to throw Bones Highland
distant first and then hope that they're really interested in Aaron Gordon. But looking
at your defense, you probably want to have both Aaron Gordon and Ogna Noby
in there, even if you don't view either of them as the most bankable
shooters. So you would then need yes, Bones Highland ton of value I
think one of the ten most valuable trade assets heading into the off season.
If we're being honest, You then need them to really like Michael Porter Jr.
In that contract, which could wind up being disastrous. So just food
for thought there. If you can get Ogana Noby straight up with the seventh
pick, I think he's actually worth more than that. But if that's the
package you're going after, I'm fine. If it's for Jeremy Grant, No,
just he's headed towards free agency. You need to be more prudent with
with your top asset here. I could see the Blazers in a situation where
they trade down and they're getting a pick that can still be used to anchor
Jeremy Grant. Trade that's lower than seven. I think one that's become I've
mentioned a bunch, I've written about a bunch. I think one that's become
popular is probably just the Knicks sitting there at number eleven. Can you get,
you know, trade number eleven for two excuse me, number seven for
two of number eleven having to be one, but then also the MAVs twenty
twenty three first round pick they have will be topping they have at Burke's,
Quentin Grimes, Duce McBride, even cam Reddish. If you can get number
eleven plus then two of those assets, maybe even one, depending on how
much you value it. Can you then turn around and flip number eleven as
the primary asset for Jeremy Grant while still keeping the other players or picks that
you're getting back in that deal. For the Kings, it's tough. They
are up rating with a sense of urgency. It's implied by the fact that
they traded a twenty two year old stud in Tyres Haliburton with two years left
on his rookie scale, for an older, but still youngish Doma Sabonis,
who's now extension eligible, makes more money to begin with, and just put
you on the wind now track, even if it doesn't actually put you on
the wind now track. I don't know if the Kings are appreciably better with
him and Fox over a Haliburton Fox pairing. I get that it clarifies a
little bit of their backcourt rotation if you've viewed Davion Mitchell as this long term
player moving forward. I just don't think that was the decision the Kings ever
had to make, and so knowing that, I could see them just holding
on a number four, taking Shand and Sharp or even Jane and Ivy and
figuring out the rest later. It's not like Fox and Sibonus or super old
Sibonis just turned twenty six in May. Fox doesn't turn twenty five until December.
You can go the more gradual route with this redirect, whatever you want
to call it. In in Sacramento, I don't know what player becomes available
that's worth just giving up the number four pick without getting another first round pick
in this year's draft in return. So maybe it's an instance where they look
at moving down because there's a team that you know it is it the Knicks?
Is it the Wizards that really wants to move up to get Jade and
Ivy. Let's say, if they want to take Shaden sharp, just just
take Jaden sharp like beef up, shore up your wing rotation, make that
sort of dice role on him. But if you are really married to the
idea of making noise in the West next season, I don't know that you
can. There are there are avenues. What would Indie give up to move
up all the way to number four? What it's just the two spot jump.
But again, you might be able to recoo a veteran or another first
round pick. There there are I wouldn't say there are a shortage of teams
that need point guards. I think when you're looking specifically at how the draft
order shakes out, that you might be limited in what you're able to get.
I think because Indian Detroit might be the two teams that are most interesting
when it comes to being higher up, having value, and needing a point
guard. And they're only one and two picks away, So what are they
really giving you. The Blazers have Dame and they intend to keep him.
They're at seven New Orleans is at eight, having CJ. McCollum, brand
Ingram and a healthy Zion Williamson, plus Devanta Grammys, even Jose Alvarado.
Like that limits your need for a primary playmaker. I mentioned the Wizards at
number ten. They could use someone next to Bradley Beal. I mentioned the
Knicks. I know they have a manual quick lead Derek Rose kemba walker for
anyone who still cares about about that. No one that I just mentioned,
including a Julius Randall who serves their primary playmaker for points, is good enough
for them to draft for need. If you can move up and get what
you think is the best player available in a future star, you should go
for it. Okay, see at twelve they have Josh Giddy and Jacobs Alexander.
I'm not a big draft for need guy, but if you have Jade
and Ivy and then those two, you're gonna have to answer some awkward questions
pretty soon. Charlotte already has LaMelo ball, they have thirteen and fifteen the
Calves they don't they don't need Jay and Ivy, So like what would Houston
give you? You're not going to get number three when you're number four?
So like we've already moved there at seventeen. That's like the next team that
I could envision aside from Detroit or Indiana really wanting a higher end point guard
giving up a ton of equity. What are you getting for that? Is
it like they have Christian Wood and Jason Tate and Eric Gordon and then future
picks plus number seventeen. I don't really know. You know, Christian Wood
and demas a bonus. I think Sabonus is defensive. Reputation has been inflated
by the fact you played with Miles Turner. It will be deflated if he
starts playing alongside Christian Wood. So that is training down to something they could
look at otherwise, unless it's just this patented star that becomes available who makes
so much sense for the roster, and I think it would be a name
we've yet to hear that could hit. It's not a Bradley Beal want stay
in Washington, but people still talk about him, Zach Lavine, Dido with
Chicago. Those aren't the names we're talking about here. You have to be
like Pascal Siakam all of a sudden becomes event elbow from Toronto, which I
do not expect what I give up Number four is the question I posed to
myself for og Ana Nobi. I think I would. I'm not going to
lie. It'd be great if you'd get Gary Trent Junior as part of that
as well, and maybe you're sending out Rashaun Holmes and some other stuff.
But if it's just the Frameworkers og for number four, I'm not doing it.
If I'm the Raptors, just I don't necessarily love the idea of Jade
and Ivy there. Maybe maybe it would be fine. But if they are
looking to say, oh, we have Scottie Barnes, we have Pascal Siaka,
we have Fred van Fleet, let's get number four. Maybe it's a
three team trade where they're getting a different type of player for the Kings.
Certainly, I would absolutely trade number four for og An Anobi. Final question
from that we'll get to from s is will Scottie Barnes of an All Star
season next year? I'm just gonna say no, It's really tough for sophomores
to get to that level. I think we would still have to see pretty
major strides from him on the offensive end. As good as he was,
will Toronto saddle him with more playmaking. We know that he has that nice
sort of mid range baby interior touch and addition to playing with some thrust when
he's around the basket, and we saw him hit go through stretches where he
was hitting standstill threes. I think what needs to happen with him on offense
is everything improving while him making decisions at a faster pace. Not that he
was a particularly slow player, but when you're looking at what he would do
operating off the dribble when the half court was set, he did feel touch
slower at points, even with the directionality of his downhill attacks or going east
west trying to elude players, he just felt a touch slower than linka Pascal
Siakam. If you ask me to peg it at a percentage chance, I
don't even I don't even feel comfortable giving one. It's probably higher than the
credit I would give. The Eastern Conference is deep with forwards and wings when
they're when they're fully healthy, so that could make it difficult for him.
Also, what will be prohibitive is just the fact that you will have two
people in front of you in the offensive pecking order, in Fred van Fleet
and Pascal Siakam, if the roster stays the same, I think he's going
to need to put up like real you know, o Ganna Nobi two twenty
two, twenty one type scoring numbers just to catch the attention of the voters,
fans and media members alike. I could see him becoming just sort of
a defensive monster someone were mentioning in the all defensive discussion next season, and
again it would not shock me. I just wouldn't bet on it. E
G has apparently coming to the right podcast. He asked, why does no
one care? Isaiah Hartenstein had a higher pr tri stream percentage and assist percentage
than James harden while Hardenstein was in a bench role when the only other players
to do that in NBA history are Curry, KD and Yokich. I didn't
even know that that was a thing, so I apologize for not caring for
that. I do think there's something to Hartenstein being underrated. The fact he
had a fight for a roster spot in LA in the first place still wild
to me. I look at these numbers. They're more specific, but I
think they're a snapshot of his value. He was coming off the bench for
LA, his role was expanded as the c season went on, just as
a situational passer on the move, someone who is able to protect the rim
for them, he had some range to his game. I think he's capable
of expanding his three point touch, even if his release isn't the quickest.
But numbers that's tenned out to me. Opponent shot forty seven point five percent
against Isaiah Harten signed at the rim last season. That's the best mark allowed
by one hundred and sixty three players to challenge at least one hundred and fifty
shot attempts at the rim. Hart signs nineteen point three assist rate ranked sixth
among all centers who averaged fifteen and more minutes per game last season. That's
a big freaking deal. While he isn't what you'd term an explosive lob threat,
he can definitely finish tough catch and shoot lay ins through contact and even
above the rim. They're just not going to be these thundering dunks. I'm
more impressed by his touch just beyond the point plank range. He downed fourteen
of his thirty three point attempts. That's a forty six point seven percent clip
and found nylon on almost fifty nine percent of his floaters. He was fifty
five of ninety three on floaters. Nonstar centers are generally consider replaceable and seldom
generated a ton of fanfare. This is someone who would not shock me to
see that he's graduated from mini mid level exception territory to full mid level exception
territory. And if it's a shorter deal, is there a team that's willing
to offer him more that has cap space? And maybe it's just two years
and they've inflated, or it's three years or something. He has been that
good and I think he's a starting center in the NBA and definitely one of
the most underrated players from this past season, one most underrated free agents heading
into this summer. Next question comes from Shalamar the God. If Clay Thompson
wasn't untouchable, what team would benefit most from a Clay Thompson trade. I
try to give these questions, and if you saw the doc that I have
lined up right in front of me, I do a ton of research for
these. This was one I struggled with, maybe because I just can't ever
envision the Warriors moving him. The team that springs to mind for me.
Would be Cleveland. Just they need shooting. They could use a little bit
more shock creation, but they just need like sweet shooting wings. And you
think about what Klay Thompson does. He has been a liability at points on
defense. Now the Caps being Larry market and look good on defense this year,
I think he did a better job staying in front of guys relative to
his matchups than some people I believe. I know the Calves were able to
structure and play around with his matchups in a unique way because they have both
Mobili and Alan alongside him. It only gets easier with Klay Thompson. I'm
not saying replaces on Marketing at the three, but if you're playing him while
putting someone else at the two, it could be a Colin Sexton. It
could be a Caress Lavert with Deres Gollan at the one. It could also
be Isaaca Coro and Clay as sort of your swingman and perimeter guy. We
also talk about which we give up to get him, which I'm assuming probably
consists of if we were doing a trade, Number fourteen is Isaaca Corre.
I don't even if teams would actually give up that much for Klay Thompson.
Let's throw that package aside. I look at what Cleveland needs most, and
he feels like a great fit, not the least of because he doesn't work
PETEO your defense. Still, if you have enough competent defend years around you,
it might be really important for them to also keep isaschool core out just
because of how you could, you know, shape shift your defensive matchups.
There. With that said, Evan Mobley's basically a do it all guy on
defense, and he gives you that flexibility. Anyway, I could see Toronto
as an interesting fit. They need shooting, they also need some half court
creation. They have more than enough defensive talent to handle a reduced version of
Lay Thompson at that end. And look, I want to point this out.
Thompson was already on the defensive the climb before his injuries, and he's
coming back from an achilles and an acl injury, where for each of those
it kind of feels like you punt on your first season back. You're just
not the same player. Kevin Durant was an anomaly, of course, but
defensively, it feels like you're not the same player for at least a year
or that you're a shell of your former self, or at least a year.
And so I'm not saying we need to bake two years into his recovery
timeline, but let's try and keep what we're seeing now this past half season
that he played basically in perspect if he could be a lot better next year.
So Cleveland or Toronto spring to mind for me. I tried to figure
out a Western Conference team that would make a ton of sense. I didn't
get there. I mean, the Lakers just need talent, so you could
obviously throw him right there. I think the Grizzlies, if it's not gonna
be the Wars, would be my next team to pick. Just another team
that could definitely use some half court shooting in the idea of Clay Thompson pin
bolling around, and then they're going to have the defenders to really make his
job simple. So the three teams I'm settling on is the best non Warriors
play Thompson's fit fits. And this would be This is infinitely stupid, because
we know what's ever gonna happen. It is Cleveland, Toronto, and Memphis.
If I had to pick a fourth or Orlando, Look, they have
the number one pick Jonathan Isaac might be healthy. They have mark el faults.
We have a question about mark El Folts in our discord portion of this
mailback. So the next mailback we released next week sometime we'll have that they
need shooting and someone like lay Thompson would really open up things for Jail and
Suggs and keel Folds and whether they wind up with Jabari Smith, Junior chet
Home or Palo Bank Caro and people have mentioned that we don't talk enough about
teams like the Magic. Going for these window plays is because the Magic aren't
winning now. I want to make that clear, and I'm not trying to
dump all over the Magic. I know they get less coverage than a lot
of other teams, probably including on this podcast, because they're out of headlines
so often. We try to do a thorough job as possible though of covering
the league. I think we do awesome at it if I can be selfish
and not so humble for a minute. So I'm gonna throw Orlando into that
mix just if they were looking to win now, based off what that roster
kind of needs, and you believe you have the nice defensive base with you
know, maybe you're drafting chet Home Rinn and you have Window Quarter junior already.
You know you have Jonathan Isaac at Faults as well, Like that's something
that you could look at, depending on the asking price again doesn't matter,
but just thinking about Klay Thompson fits there. Jake g asked, is this
the perfect trade? Who says? No? In my mind, the Hornets
are getting a first round pick as well. Jake, I love you and
all your questions. I want to know why the Hornets would be getting a
first round pick and Harrison Barnes and Matisse Thybel for giving up Gordon Hayward.
But the deal is Philly gets Gordon Hayward, Rashaun Holmes, Justin Holliday,
Charlotte gets Harrison Barnes with heast type on a first round pick. I'm just
gonna go out on a limb and say it's not the King's number four pick,
and then the Kings get James Harden. This is, I'm sorry to
tell you, not the perfect trade. I get that maybe you think James
Harden sucks now. I was talking about this in the discord where I think
it's more likely he enters the MVP discussion next season than this drop. Off
continues just because I can't envision such this steep, sudden drop off from him.
Based on his comments during the exit interviews, I feel like this is
the off season where he'll take his recovery, his diet, nutrition, fitness
more seriously than he has the past two or three off seasons, or maybe
his entire career. I just don't think he's ever shown that commitment to staying
in a certain type of shape, even though he's been fantastically durable and in
shape that other players have, and he's into his thirties. Now that's something
that would probably need to change. It's just funny me sitting in a chair
right now recording this and I'm saying an NBA player, he'sn't getting the shape.
The other issue here is just that James Harden has control over where he's
going. He's not going to the Kings. If he has no other offers
on the market and he's forced to pick up his player option, then yes,
the Kings could definitely go that route. I don't even if I'm a
Kings like, yeah, I'd roll the dice on James Harden. If it's
Barnes, Holmes and Holiday and you're not giving up like any major first round
equity. So for them might do it, I just in a heartbeat it
from Charlotte Philly to me is getting screwed. They would be the team that
needs to get picks here. Hayward's contract to me is still net negative,
even if it's potentially shorter than the next deal that James Harden would sign.
Your highest and outcome with Gordon Hayward is significantly lower than your highest and outcome
with James Harden, So I would I do not think this is the perfect
trade. I apologize j g. It would be interesting if James Harden does
enter the trade discourse this season after signing his next contract, or maybe he's
just opting in and playing on an expiring contract. I'm bracing myself for anything,
just because he was, you know, pretty bad when he wasn't pretty
bad, but he was pretty uninspiring this past season. I will say with
Harden, even when he's like operating at this like half capacity, his on
ball gravity is incredible. I don't think you're ever gonna get him to move
him off the ball, and he could still definitely hit jumpers off the catch.
But when he's on the ball, teams really good defenses still pay a
ton of attention to him. That opens up things for everybody else, and
he remains one of the league's best passers, so I don't want to dismiss
that either. Final two questions here, both of which will come from Raoul
Clement. He first asked Jeremy Grant for Julius Randall and draft compensation. Detroit
seems to have plenty of cap space and time to take on bad money.
Grant isn't the star that the Knicks want, but he seems a little more
plug and play than Randall. I think the Pisses need to be following Okay
season lead by using their cap space to take on bad contracts or picks.
They're not hate that idea For Detroit. I think the issue is in a
nutshell of taking on contracts or picks. Julia Randall has four years left on
his deal, his extension, his MAX, what was a max extension at
the time, is only kicking in to start next season, and so that's
tough to swallow. What is the draft compensation that's making it worth it?
And then you still have to reconcide the fact that he's there, and are
you going to play him when he's such a huge cap number and you're rebuilding,
and if you're not, you're just gonna have this dead cap number or
player is he Is he with your team not with your team? Are you
confident that he could you could reroute him at some point, I honestly don't
know. But when he's you know, owed four years and one hundred nineteen
million dollars I believe was the final number. Even talked about his actual contract
in quite some time. Four years, one and seventeen million is what it
was. Has a player option in the final year for thirty two point four.
He's definitely exercising that. As of now, you would need to be
confident in his ability to help your team or at least reboot his value,
or the Knicks need to be offering you a crap ton of compensation. And
if if I'm being honest, I think we're talking about number eleven at minimum.
To get this type of contract off your books. Maybe you're arguing that
Julius Rendell could actually help a team Untilking to win. Now that would become
a third team scenario. Then grant on the Knicks is fine, but he's
also a good player. While he's head it towards free agency. You have
to account for the value you're giving up with him. Would they trade Jeremy
Grant for the number eleven pick? Straight up? My guests would be no,
And so are you willing to go Cam reddish Obe topping an eleven like
pairing that with Julius Randall to get Jeremy Grant? Where that opens your books
and you get As Robel mentioned, he's more plug and play, even though
he wants a bigger role. Julius Randall. Part of this is on the
Knicks. They need to use him as a screener more and even like as
a spot up shooter or more. He's at least shown in the past,
even briefly, that he can hit threes. So I don't hate the idea
of this for Detroit. I just would question whether the Knicks can and should
give up at enough draft that could even make it happen. I think they
are going to think that they can reboot his value themselves. He is one
year removed from making second team all yeah. I just think he demands too
much centrality within the offense to ever be the player that is going to be
best suited for this. I think his role needs to be rejiggered to just
include more complimentary usage, like I said, being used to the screen,
or more maybe in Linus where he's actually the five the defensive returns be damned
there. I look, if the Pistons are interested, you should absolutely explore
it as the Nick Shore with any other team that's gonna have cap space.
But if you're also getting back a player who's good, I could see this
being number eleven plus Obi Toppin would be the minimum. I could see destroys
you doing it for And again the length of the Randall extension, having those
full four years, I think that makes it more difficult. The other trade
will proposed Deandreton for John Collins. I don't have a clear sense of Aten's
value. I want to say he's seen as more valuable than Collins, but
maybe if you if you have to pay him the max. However, excuse
me over would he rank you? Oh? I actually have two questions after
this, now that I'm now that I'm seeing this anyway, and Collins would
give However, I think he could help Atlanta's defense a lot, and Collins
would give Phoenix some more small ball versatility. Plus it seems like they don't
want to pay eight in anyway? Is their path to getting Collins and macdonovich
if they throw on someone else, maybe Cam Johnson or someone. Should the
Suns even want to do that? Should the Hawks? I don't think the
Hawks should want to do that because I wouldn't view DeAndre Aten as a defensive
upgrade over Clint Cappela. They do different things, but Clint Cappella is going
to be substantially cheaper if DeAndre and gets the Max. I do like the
idea of John Collins and Phoenix if you trust your defense overall. Are they
willing to pay him even around twenty five million a year when it seems like
they don't want to pay bigs anything near max money. Maybe it's different just
because he stretches the floor and he's just proved infinitely scalable, that type of
return be interesting for them. You need to have another team that's taking on
Capella, and I think Atlanta would still need to get more there base here.
Compensation makes this really difficult as well, because Aton would counts only like
fifteen points something million an outgoing salary should he sign the Max. I don't
love the idea for Atlanta, though, I do think that Phoenix can get
into some interesting trade packages where if John Collins is available, maybe this is
a situation where there is a third team involved, and maybe that third team
is Detroit, where Jeremy Grants the one going to Atlanta, and then you're
sending something to Detroit to help it make worth their while. Is DeAndre Atan
involved in that? And then Atlanta is sending you John Collins by virtue of
that framework. I don't hate the idea of John Collins and Phoenix. I
just that would be a fairly significant defensive drop off going from Eton to Collins.
There that being said, you can play Collins at the four. You
can't do that with eighten, despite what Ayton might say. And if you
keep Devala game, maybe bring me up his mac biambo. If you sign
another center that you're you're really high on, you're able to cobble together a
good defense in that regard. So I like the thought of just as an
off the beat sort of consideration of John Collins and Phoenix. I think people
have been when you're not talking about an actual center, they're more inclined to
go the Jeremy Grant route more when they're talking about a big It's been a
yaka purdle because of his defense. I don't hate the idea of leaning into
offense at this point. John Collins gives you more actual shock creation than DeAndre
Ayton. There's more post up work to plumb with him. But he has
more of a face up floor game, I think than Atan does. And
just his range extending me on the three point line. Hit thirty six point
six percent of his catch and shoot threes last year, and I that number
to me, I would expect to go up. He would definitely be more
of an an offensive asset. Now we're at our final mail. Bad question
from long time listener friend of the podcast Miroslav Shook, rank your top five
guys to start your franchise with right now in the case of a fantasy draft.
I didn't see this one, so I'm doing this off the cuff.
I'm gonna go with Luca don Chich. I'm going to go with Jason Tatum.
After that, I have to, like, I have to get past
these so many old heads or older heads excuse me, or are springing to
mind here. I'm gonna say Evan Mobley, Scotty Barnes, and Kake Cunningham.
Did I just pick I really just went that route. I'm gonna Kake
Cunningham definitely him, Luke Donchich, Jason Tatum. If I'm not gonna,
I wouldn't use any of the like I say, oh, Orlando's number one,
pick, Luca don Chi's, Tatum and Kake Cunningham for sure. I'm
gonna throw Scottie Barnes in there as well. Do I want Mobley? Then?
What do I think Mobley's gonna become on the offensive? And I'm sure
people are at rate right now that I'm I'm thinking in that I'm thinking in
these these terms. So yeah, those four. I don't know who my
fifth is. I don't want to settle on somebody. I think it might
be Evan Mobley. I could see the case for you thinking that it maybe
it needs to be someone the lines of a Devin Booker just giving his youth
and all he does on offense. Zion Williams said, if he was healthy,
he could be in the mix. I think Joel Embiad's officially like two
old for this. I know what fuck it, Yannest, it's still y
honest, it's Jannest Tatum, Don Chich Barnes and Kake Cunning. That's what
I'm going with. Come at me if you're angry, I mean no malice,
and please recognize I did this off the top of my head. This
was great. Thank you everyone who made it this far and for listening.
Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe to this podcast wherever you were
getting your podcasts. Until next time, I'll leave you all the shout out
to the one, the only, and someone who's not gotten a shout out
for this and quite some time. Definitely makes my list now that i'm thinking
about it. The top five guys to start my franchise with right now in
case of a fantasy draft, Frank and Neil Keenan