What is track rack in Hardward Knocks. Listen, there's I Am Dancer Valley
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We're pleasantly not the worst, is how I would call us. That's all
for me. The other note here is there are questions about out the playoffs,
and Adam and I will be going a little bit deeper into the playoffs
soon. I believe we'll be having a guest on next week to talk about
maybe surprises or just takeaways. But we also recognize that you guys are getting
that content of elsewhere a lot in droves, especially from the team's specific podcast
that do a great job covering these these singular matchups or the singular organizations themselves,
and so we want to make sure we're putting at least some bigger picture,
evergreen content stuff up throughout the postseason as well, which means that you
will be seeing that from us. Whether if you don't like that model,
you can let us know. But that was just the thinking here is that
we don't want to be putting out the analysis that other people are are already
doing. And so with that we can canonball into this podcast, and I
think we probably have to start with the Suns. I'm recording this about an
hour and a half after Suns Pelicans Game two ended. To answer your question,
yes, I am fucking delirious, but that doesn't matter basically the question
here from It's not basically it's from our discord member renewed is the best way
for the Suns to win this series against the Pelicans to just throw out all
the weird strategies to catch Willie Green off guard. Seems like they always knew
what the Suns were up to in the regular season. Willie Green, of
course, hailing from the Suns themselves to before he was coached, the Pelicans
might have an inside track on what they are thinking. This is also just
especially pressing it because the Suns did lose Game two after Devin Booker injured his
right hamstring in the third quarter. That is not the same hamstring he injured
in the middle of this past regular season that cost him seven games, by
the way, so we're still waiting as of this recording for an update on
that. We don't know the severity of it. I was watching the I
forget his name, but I really watched quickly the clip of the doctor who
posts immediate reactions to these injuries on YouTube, and he said, based on
where they were massaging and how little Devin Booker was limping, his initial prognostic,
his initial prognosis from afar be that hopefully it's sort of the meat and
potatoes of the hamstring, and so the severity of it would actually not be
that detrimental. The Suns really should have used Devin Booker they were trailing at
the time that he left, but things got worse after he left. He
was really the only consistent shop maker for them in game two. To this
question's overarching point, should the Suns get weird? I don't know what weird
looks like for the Suns, to be honest with you. Is it when
the Pelicans are going with those sort of Larry Nance Junior at the five lineups?
Are you going to throw Tory Craig and as you and Jay Crowder is
your front corn with Michael Bridges and then Devin Booker and Chris Paul are just
some other different combination where Tory Craig or Jay Crowders effectively your center. Are
you going to try and match their duel big lineups with McGee and Ayton?
I just don't know what getting weird for this team looks like, because it's
just so well balanced and their best lineups make so much sense that I wouldn't
deviate from them. We did see a little bit of Landry Shammitt in Game
two because of Devin Booker leaving the game. I just don't know if downsizing
really plays to their advantage. Again, when Larry Nis Jr's at the five,
maybe and those lineups, you know, a couple of them, but
the Larry Nis Jerior Trey Murphy combination with Brandon Ingram in this series is faired
pretty well. I'm just basing this completely off the eye test through the first
two games, so that would be something to consider. You can't call duel
Biggs with DeAndre Mnage. It's just, you know, the Jackson Hayes minutes.
With the starting lineup. They've played the Suns to a net neutral in
this series so far, and so maybe that's concerning given how much more talented
the Sun starting lineup is supposed to be. And Jackson Hayes had some really
big moments on the glass and big buckets, some big defensive plays in this
one, but he still provides a week point to me for the Suns when
when they're on offense, I think, what for the Pelicans, excuse me,
on offense, I think what the Suns really need to focus on here
is I guess you know they're probably going to lose the rebounding battle, but
you can't lose them the transition battle as well. And what the Pelicans seem
to do is even if they're not getting if they get an offensive rebound,
that's an extra possession. That's time you can't get go back out and transition
and get So that's just that sucks if you're the Pelicans. But also even
where they're not getting the offensive rebound, like they're around the glass so much
that they're just going to have bodies and hands able to contain the ball a
little bit or slow down the Sun's offense, that they can't get in those
transition or semi transition opportunities as much as they're used to. It feels like,
I don't know how you necessarily change that. Are you making more aggressive
outlet passes maybe rather than trying to find a specific person to dribble it up
the court, or you know, if it's a CP three rebound and dribble
up the court himself. But that that could be one suggestion there for them
to try their own transition defense, though, is probably the larger concern.
In Game two, specifically, they were outscored by second chance points and fast
break points combined. They lost that battle thirty one to eighteen, and so
to be a minus thirteen in those and then on top of it, you
lost the three point battle by a substantial margin this time because you had,
you know, CP three, Cam Johnson and Jay Crowder combined to go three
of seventeen from downtown in this game. That is not great and you expect
better. Even though CP three three point percentage has been lower than normal this
season, just an FYI, that's not going to happen again. And so
in most games, certainly against this Pelican team that wasn't a good three point
shooting team in the in the regular season, you're not going to be a
minus fall from beyond the arc as well. Seventeen of thirty they shot from
three fifty six point seven percent. I know that they've done some really nice
things with We've seen Jose Alvarado. You can trust him off the catch.
Herbert Jones is steady history point percentage. You have CJ and brand Ingram,
both of whom can kill you if you're gonna drop or just give them any
sort of room. But like you know, seventeen of thirty is just egregiously
high, and it's it's not going to continue. So you can look to
that, but you can't you know, if you're gonna know that into this
that you're probably gonna lose the rebounding battle. And I would think if the
Suns had like a basic fundamental weakness, it would be there based they're essentially
an average defensive rebounding team. That's a concern there. So I think you
have to make more of an effort to get back in transition. That's a
lot of the times going to fall on the guard, the perimeter players,
just because you're going to have eight and even Jay Crowder is going to be
around the basket a little bit more, or Mchael Bridges depending on who he's
defended. And so that's on CP three, that's on Devin Booker, It's
on Cameron Payne. It's also it's on Michael Bridges as well. And it's
not that it's not on everyone, but you have to be able to get
back in transition. The Pelicans offense is going to be worse when you slow
it down as surgical as CJ and Brandon Ingram are. And that was the
other thing in this brand Ingram hit just some like astronomically tough shots in Game
two. This is all of which is to say, I'm not actually worried
as someone who picked the Suns to win the title, and I don't mean
to dismiss what the Pelicans have done and I had to exchange with core Board
Twitter user core Board. We talk all the time, and it was it
was just a pleasant exchange. I appreciate anyone wants to call us out on
takes and if we're just going to have level head of discussion. Who thought
that we were being too dismissive of the Pelicans in our preview and we tried
to make the point that we weren't when we were talking about their future,
but perhaps you were too dismissive of them. Were Adam and I are both
very high on their future, and I was higher on them than most like
PreCG. Mccollumn trade. After the CG. Mccollumn trade. It's clear that
we underestimated them in this series. Though again the Devin Booker injury helps you
out towards the end of Game two. But the Pelicans were winning at the
time you went down, and they were having some real offensive success in the
first half. Their ability to come out in third quarters in this series and
just make adjustments with their personnel some of just the the defensive stuff that they're
running where I'm not going to be the one to identify like the specificity of
it, but if you're looking at certain cross matchups, or knowing who would
put bodies on when you're around the glass, knowing who CP three is going
to look for coming on screens. They've done some really just a great stuff
where it feels like, oh, this team is actually taking into account what
happened during the first half and figuring out ways to stop it. Willie Green
descerns just a ton of kudos for that, as do the players obviously.
So I'm still just not concerned. If I'm the Suns. You want Devin
Booker to be fine and not to miss any time, but they're deep enough
to withstand this where you slide Cam Johnson into your best five men unit even
if you don't want to start him. You do have Cameron Payn who's familiar
with this team. You do have Tory Craig, who's, like, you
know, just the Phoenix Sun version of Tory Craig is just so freaking good
in general, not that he was great in this game. He was scored
zero points in his eight minutes of action. So they have options, and
I still think that their top end talent or the balance of their roster,
it just checks more boxes than New Orleans right now. But New Orleans is
playing with some force and ferocity, getting great minutes from Trey Murphy the third.
Like I said Larry Nane Jr. As well, they've completely They've essentially
completely taken DeVante Graham out of this series, and hopefully Jose Alvarado remains a
past who can make some just good pocket passes. Has been hitting his standstill
threes two of two in the in game two. But I don't know,
to get back to Newt's question, what getting weird for the Pelicans would look
like, and though knew you were free to let me know what you think
that is, but I would say, like those are the focuses. My
main one is it'd be cool to see them be more aggressive on the offensive
end to where they're you know, they're a team that can play with varying
paces. I know that a lot of people look at Chris Paul and even
Devin book or sometimes I think the Sons are slow. They're not slow,
especially with the speed off ball of DeAndre and Mchaal Bridges. The other thing
is just they have to be able to neuter the Pelicans transition opportunities a little
bit better as far as line ups go, though, I just don't know
what they could do to really get weird. This is still a series.
I don't expect them to win. If you told me, Brat, if
you told me Devin Booker doesn't play again, I'd probably the Suns in six
or seven. To be honest with you, I said, Devin Booker not
play again. Sorry tripping over my words here. I probably still pick the
Suns. But the fact that I'm hesitating is really testament to the Pelicans,
who, by the way, we're missing Zion Williamson. It's not oh,
they're so lucky that Devin Bookers out. They don't have Zion Williamson either,
and so that's like a transcendent talent that every team has not had to go
up against this year. So this is going to be a series I'm watching
for sure. We actually should dovetail this question with Noah Odage, longtime listener
and friends of the Pod, ask how bad did the New Orleans Pelicans overachieved
this season? How likely is it that this team will contend when Zion is
healthy? And they overachieved? I mean, they started the season three and
sixteen, and from that point they essentially had the best transition defense in the
NBA. A lot of people brought up how well they played in third quarters.
You don't look at this roster preseason mccollumn trade, postseason McCollum trade and
just think that they're built have one of the best transition offenses in the NBA.
And so they overachieved a shit ton because they did all of this without
Zion Williamson, while also kind of reinventing their identity and the fact that their
defense, if you go and look at the numbers, like you wouldn't call
them an elite defensive team since the CJ. Mccollin trade, but they haven't
regressed. They've been better in some areas. So to get this team to
defend at a high level with the personnel, it's taken some tweaks. It's
come at the cost of some offense. When you look at what they've sacrificed
to really hit the offensive glass during the Jackson Hayes and you want to sound
Tunis minutes, I still I still don't love that pairing, but there's no
argument that it can really dirty up games and hit the offensive last. So
that's just absolutely huge imagining this team with Zion, just to put him beside
you want to sound Junis instead of Jackson Hayes, and Zion has an incredible
second jump and he's going to hit the offensive last just as hard on his
own attempts, and he comes with the benefit of being able to run the
offense. Yeah, there'll be some adjustments that need to be made when you
look at having CJ and Brandon Ingram integrating next to him. But this team,
I think they could be top four in the West next year. And
that's with a healthy Zion if he's healthy all season, which as we know,
is a big fucking if. And I don't mean to sound hyperbolic with
that. I know that your mom are and Michael Porter Junior should be healthy
in Denver. I know that the Clippers should have their full cast with Kawhi
Leonard. What happens if the Lakers rebound, the Warriors and the Suns aren't
going anywhere, I mean Utah, Utah's probably going somewhere, and the Dumpster,
it feels like, are the Mavericks. They're not going to go anywhere
with Luca so and then Grizzlies certainly aren't going anywhere. But I think with
Zion, this team, based off what it's done this season has a realistic
chance of being a top four team in the Western Conference. I have legitimate
questions about them preserving their defense long term. Again, they were not an
elite defensive team overall, even if they were exceptional in transition, and Zion
was part of their defensive problems last year. That's someone who's not away from
the ball. Didn't feel like he was when he's in rotations. He's not
making the right decisions or slow to close out to the corners. I don't
know how the yannas Vali juniors, Zion Wlliams and front corp pairing ends up
faring defensively, and to that end, if they can get like a and
it has to be better than Larry ANNs Junior. I think he's just super
versatile. He's not like this shutdown rim protector. If you can get a
rim protecting five to put, you know, and maybe you want to go
with you oannas Vali Juni is still you have him. And he's a very
good underrated player. I'm not trying to underrate what he does. But if
you have that rim protecting center coming off the bench, someone who's a higher
end than Larry DNS junior and Jackson Hayes or even if you're going still full
Born trying to get into the Miles Turner or discussion, or I wouldn't recommend
going after Rudy Gobert Gobert if or should I say, when he becomes available
this offseason, that team becomes I won't say transcendent, but they become special.
And they're already special in my book just because of this mid season turnaround,
so they even puzzant watch with Zion though Noah, I'm just gonna call
it now. Let me top five team in the West next season, let
me branch it out to that. But if you're forcing me to pick,
whether they're top four or not, you give them fifty eight games of Zion
just he can miss twenty four twenty five games, give me fifty eight games
of Zion next season, and that's when I'm that's the trajectory I'm picking for
the Pelicans, and I would expect, you know, Jose Alvarado especially to
be a big part of what they do. But also Trey Murphy the third
has really shown something as a shooter during the second half of the year,
essentially just ever since he joined the rotation, he's been, yeah, the
highest three point percentage of all rookies, but he's been shooting like forty four
something ridiculous from three since he entered the rotation for good. And he's really
showing some moxie on the defensive end as well, and hitting on those types
of players like that subtly deepens your rotation. And they've had some missus,
DeVante Graham being being one of them. But like when you hit on Trey
Murphy the third, you have Herb Jones, you have Jose Alvarado, and
now Sezy McComb and Brandon Ingramman and eventually Zion Williams didn't run the offense.
The DeVante Graham miss is not as blasphemous, even though it's it's less than
ideal. And I would still expect this team just to be aggressive looking at
its first round pick equity on the trade market as we lead into the offseason.
And so if you can add like a really it doesn't have to if
you can just add a plus room protector, or if you go the elite
route. Again, I wouldn't be against Miles Turner on this team just because
they have Joannas Valancunis. He's probably not an upgrade as an individual player,
but as a fit yeah, maybe, And so if you can get him,
but it doesn't it won't take that. If you told me that they
went out and they signed Chris Bouche for some backup minutes, maybe that's a
little bit too lower end. I don't want to see, really Mitchell Robinson
get a like a Nicholas Claxton maybe, although he kind of falls in the
school of Larry Ann's Jr. But like those the players of that caliber,
if they're checking the box that I'm talking about, I do think Nick Nick
Claxton probably comes pretty close to doing so comes to the cost of spacing obviously,
but he's if he's your backup five, maybe it's not as big of
a deal that. Like the team is special, that's the word I keep
coming back to with Zion. They're going to be special and there's a pathway
to them becoming even better. Let's move on to this question from j T.
What's the roadmap for OKAC to actually use their picks to be a competitive
team? Who or what are they waiting for to become available. That's an
interesting question, and so when you look at we know they have a boatload
of picks moving forward, and you can't get too bogged down with the future
commitments because those are future commitments, like they can be moved in the middle
of the season. They're not taking up a roster spot right now. And
if you want to use them in trades, you're not at the point where
you should just be swinging on these role players or non stars. And so
the right star needs to become available. And that's not to me, even
though I think he would be great in Okay. See, let's say Bradley
Beale, there's a sign of trade and he wants to go to Okay.
See if the cost is low enough, maybe because it's a signed trade rather
than a flat out trade than yet you look at it. But someone who
aligns more closely with Shake Gildest Alexander's timeline or the thunders larger timeline, because
they're still a very they showed some real, just like energy on the defensive
end this year, and I think that people who didn't watch them regularly or
watch them at all, look at their record or look at the way they
were sitting players and think they're this flagrant, ugly stain of a tank job,
and in some ways, again the benching players towards the end of the
season, I think they're bad enough as is to where they didn't need to
do that. I get the frustration over that, but they're so far away
from a finished product. We don't know they have Shake Guilders Auxanders their Blueeship
cornerstone. I don't think we can guarantee that Josh Giddy is even that co
star the passing. I Q that he showed some moments on defense as a
rebounder, yes, but sub fifty true shooting that's certainly not encouraging. Even
there's plenty of time for him to improve upon that. So you don't want
to rush it for the wrong player. And I the way to frame this
and I don't know who to like what identify as this. You need the
next Shake Gilgris Alexander to become available. You got him, yes, while
you were giving up a star in Paul George, But you need a team
to be willing to move a superstar on that type of a timeline. Like
if Karl Anthony Town's all of a sudden wanted out of Minnesota, which I
don't think he does. Let's just make that clear, or a Devin Booker
in Phoenix who clearly is not gonna want out of Phoenix. You have to
look for that age of a player unless there's such a megastar that it really
doesn't matter. And again that's most of those times, like Jason Tatum's not
just gonna want out of Boston, and Luca Dante's is in that timeframe,
but he's not just gonna want out of Dallas at least I don't think.
Maybe it's some Maybe you could aim a little bit lower if the player is
young enough, very plug and play, and you know they want to be
at Okay. See if Boston was ever open to moving Jayson Tatum would be
a good example here. Again, I do not know why Boston would want
to do that. That's those are the opportunit as you're waiting for whether the
Pelicans were actually use them. As a different story, we saw them do
it with the Paul George trade, except they didn't give up any higher end
assets there. He was viewed as sort of a rental. It's like what
the Raptors did with Kawhi Leonard. Paul George's happened to resign in Okay see
they're going to be more reticent than other teams to go after any stars that
become available on the trademarket, even if they really wanted a Bradley Beal,
he's entering free agencies and maybe that's just like a bad example. But they're
gonna be more You know, they're not gonna go full tilled after a Damian
Lillard because they don't know if he's gonna want to be their longer term.
It's different, sees so much time left on his deal, but you do
age up your timeline quite a bit there without really ensuring yourself of anything.
So it needs to be a perfect storm of circumstances in my book of oh,
this star is young enough to where we don't necessarily have to care because
either Stone is rookie deal or just on that sign that first extension and we're
getting him, or they just have to be confident he really wants to be
in Okay. See, now with that being said, they have three picks
the top thirty four of this year's draft. When you look at their salary
commitments for next year and take in and take into account non guarantees and options
and all that jazz, they have thirteen players that you could project to be
under contract, So the mass starts to get tight if you think there's a
chance that they're going to bring back Mike Muscala as well. Like all these
picks are probably where all these players that are currently on the Russer are not
going to just being okay. See. I would bet against them though,
making this really big time move at least right now, unless again, there's
a unique situation where a player who has a ton of time left on his
deal and is maybe also young enough to align with Schek Gilder's Alexander for them
to go all in in that route, or at the very least, you
need to be a playoff team before you're making that move, rather than trying
to get the player that's going to make your playoff team. I think that's
what they're thinking with all these first round picks, is we're eventually going to
hit strike gold on someone to Paris Schek Gilis Alexander. Maybe they did with
Josh Giddy already. They're probably gonna try and hope that they do so again,
though, because Giddy is not what you'd call of the shore things in
this draft class. I do not believe that he is one of them,
and so that's where I'm at with the Thunder. I do wonder what the
timeline is for them to become super competitive. We get in the next season
and we're in late February March and they're still just benching all these guys because
they want to be so bad. I can understand the frustration, but this
is a rebuild more than it is the sixer style process because they do have
Shakilgis Alexander they put together in identity this season, So I don't have an
issue with what they're doing. And you do have to be more methodical in
the smaller market because bad decisions can come back to haunt you harder and longer
than in certain other markets. And I would almost I almost, I don't
want to use the word admire, but I respect what Okasey has done over
the past couple of seasons in a market such as theirs, because I don't
know that they're Yeah, they built up goodwill with those teams that were great,
down to Russ and Kevin Durant, having James Harden for a minute,
Serge Ibaka even making the trade for Paul George, agreeing to take on mellow
like showing that they were aggressive at one point. You do get that inbuilt
goodwill. That being said, it's tough to stomach two seasons of really bad
basketball and the look going back to getting Chris Paul and the Russell Wester trade
is still being good right after that. So I respect that they're willing to
take such a long time to go through this process. And maybe I would
have a bigger issue with it if they turned around like everyone wanted them to
last year and traded shake Gil Saxander rather than paying him. They didn't do
that, though at least definitely not yet. His extension kicks in next year,
so we can wait and see, but I wouldn't expect them to do
that. So that's where I'm at with the thunder. Next question from Discord
Bones Thugs and Highland, which GM executive is under the most pressure if their
team underperforms in the playoffs without the obvious ones like Utah and Philly, And
we do kind of have a Utah question later so we don't have to talk
about them, but yeah, Utah and Philly are certainly the obvious ones.
I would be interested to think, like, oh, is this a travish
lank situation, just because Atlanta has fallen off so hard from their Eastern Conference
Finals appearance last year, and they do have some injury excuses that are part
of it. But the Cam Reddish experiment was a wash. Who did end
up getting good value in that trade? I think, what are you doing
with the Collins Capella front court? Does that make sense having Collins Capella around
Trey Young? DeAndre Hunter hasn't really progressed this season, even if he's still
like your top wing prospect. That Kevin Herder contracts should end up being sort
of net neutral. So that's a team that I could see being under just
a ton of pressure. They're not in a series that you would expect them
to win. But at the same time, it's like, Okay, we
were just in the Eastern Conference Finals and now we had to go through the
play and to make it through to the through to even the first round where
we just lost there. I don't know that anyone else stands out to me
on that. Shawn Marks would be a big one in Brooklyn if you lose
to Boston. Yes, it's oh we Kyrie wasn't playing for most of the
year. The James Harden stuff cropped up. We didn't have Ben Simmons,
or maybe we will have Ben Simmons. We're gonna get to that in a
second, but he's coming back. If you're not playing basketball for a year,
the supporting cast isn't great. We dealt with inconsistent availability from Nick Claxton,
did Joe Harris injury? It sucks Seth Carrie has been banged up since
they acquired him. That being said, you get to a point when you're
kind of paying all this money for a team that's supposed to be a championship
inevitable and it didn't make it out of the first round this year, and
it had to go through the play. In Kyrie's entering free agency, I
would expect him to be back. Kevin Durant already extended. It seems like
those two are attached at the hip, But I don't know. I wouldn't
what I say, Sean Marks's job is on the line. I don't know
that you're gonna get someone who has done a better job. You do look
at this roster, though, and go, Okay, they're really limited in
what they can do with the supporting cast. You hope Paris is healthy next
year. You'll still have Steph Curry. What are you doing sort of after
that? Are you bringing back Nick Claxton, who's a restrictive free agent who
could wind up getting a nice little offer seet or you're willing to go in
to the tax deeper into the tax, so that's that you're you're already in
the tax to facilitate that. I honestly don't know the answer to that question.
But he would be just another person that another executive excuse me, that
would be under intense pressure to do something this summer. I would be it's
pointless to say the Warriors here because Bob Myers has carte blanc. Like if
they did Vault of the Nuggets, I think there would have been a push
for, oh, we need to start cashing in some of these youngsters for
an established start. But they clearly seem like they're doing the balancing act to
perfection with Jordan Pool emerging that they're going to be able to plan for the
future while competing in the present, And so I don't really have anyone after
that. I mean, it's like, you can be disappointed if Memphis falls
to Minnesota for lack of adjustments, but Taylor Jenkins went away from Steven Adams
in Game two. This is a team that's a head of schedule as well.
They have some other equity draft equity when you're looking at picks that they
have all their own, as well as some extras from other teams that they
could make a move if they wanted to. They can also have cap space
this summer if they really desire, but I don't think they'll go that route.
You probably could maybe a case that David Griffin and New Orleans will be
under a ton of pressure regardless of the outcome of these playoffs, and you
expect the Pelicans to lose in the first round, and there's no shame in
doing that to the sixty four wins Sons, especially when you don't have Zion
Williamson, particularly after you started the season three and sixteen. That being said,
you did kind of make or you did make a win now trade with
CJ. McCollum and Larryette Jr. That ends up working out for you just
fine, but you've described some sort of immediacy to your timeline with that move.
And then also just the buzz surrounding Zion's future where he's not enthralled with
the franchise where everything's just not hunky dory. There, you're perpetually walking this
tight rope of team building, and so he's going to just be under a
ton of pressure leading into the off season. There. That's a great question,
though, if I had to pick just the one I think it's gonna
be, I mean, David Griffin. I feel like it's probably the answer.
I'm just gonna let's just roll with those three, say Sean Marks,
Travis lankin Atlanta, and David Griffin in New Orleans. That that was a
good question though. Next question comes from Luke Jay at thirty seven, also
of Discord, Which of the lottery teams do you expect to be the best
next season? Not counting the Clipper since they would be the obvious pick.
Shame on you for taking away what would be the obvious pick for me.
This is a great question. I shouldn't be so. I think most people
just believe it will be the Calves. The Calves, I'm not so certain
it could be. You're gonna I assume you're you should be healthier because you're
gonna have the option to bring Colin Sexton back. He is a restricted free
agent. I'm just curious as to what their offense looks like next season.
Darius Garland clearly made the leap, Jared Allen busted out some different moves.
He's just more dynamic on offense. I'll put it that way than people really
think. Evan Mobley watching him, I think I've said it on this pot
before. He looks like an eventual hybrid of Kevin and Kevin Durant wily be
that in year two they could just use some extra real wing depth. Isaaca
Coro was fantastic for them defensively, but they don't really have a wing who's
going to generate offense unless you consider caruslaverna wing. How does that dynamic play
out between he, Colin Sexton and Darius Garland if they even move forward with
it? Do you like sort of having this ultra huge front court with Kevin
Love, Lowry Market and Mobley and and Jared Allen. We saw that in
fade this year. I think that had more to do with injuries than anything
else. So they could they could be the pick. I'm not going to
pick the Knicks anyone way. On that. I apologize. I'm intending to
pick the Pacers more than I should be there's the rumor for Mark Stein that
they have made it known they're going to trade Malcolm Brogden, and so if
you're gonna move him, I'm going to take that to mean that you're open
to moving Miles Turner, even though Turner's younger and doesn't necessarily have the injury
history, that you'll also be open to moving Buddy Healed. And if you're
gonna approach the season as quasi sellers again, if they left this roster alone,
no, they could be really good. Bring back to t J.
Warren if he tends to be healthy or figures out a way to be healthy,
that would be absolutely monstrous for them. So I'm tempting to pick them
more so than you would think. But I do believe that the answer is
going to be the Calves. It could be the Lakers. I just don't
know what the move is based on the reaction of fans. When the Pacers
not wanting two picks and two swaps for Brogden and Healed in exchange to take
on the one year of Russell Westbrook leads me to believe that you're not going
to be able to turn him into an impact player. And I won't move
out a team that has Lebron James and Anthony Davis, if they're both going
to be fully available. That being said, I don't know that they would
be my first choice, and so my top three would probably be some combination
of the Cavaliers, the Lakers, and the Pacers. I'm just I'm enthralled
by them. You look, if you want to pick Charlotte because you think
that they're going to make some nice decisions after the ending in the play in
as the in that first game once more more power they have Lamello. There
there's a base. I don't understand why the fans seems so up as upset
as they did. At least I'm not trying to single out any Charlotte hornsman.
To me, they met expectations, if not exceeded, winning like five
or six more games at least the equivalent of this year, while not getting
better availability from Gordon Hayward will not really having a center of the future in
play if you want to put them, that's fine. Detroit by way of
having Kake Cunningham, Yeah, that certainly matters. Could you see the Spurs
doing some weird things this summer, like they have the assets to go out
and make a tray. They have something special with Kelvin Johnson, Jaco Peartle
Dejantay, Murray, Devin Vassell. I really like Josh Primo and Trey Jones
as well. Josh Richardson played kind of well for them after the trade deadline,
So could they be that team again? I laid out what my three
picks would be the Pacers just if they leave their roster roll, and they
won't be my singular pick, I would go with the calves of the Lakers
first and foremost. I don't think the other teams really have a chance,
though. I'm just riding off the Kings in perpetuity at this point. They
don't deserve any of my faith anymore. As much as I love the darn
Fox Portland they have Damian Lillard, I'm still just not sure what the plan
is there. Houston and okayc are not on those timelines, neither as Orlando.
Like I said, Detroit by way of having Kate Cunningham. I don't
really know what to do with the Knicks. I think they're not going to
be able to take a step forward that than even until they move on from
Julius Randall would be my I don't even know if that's a spicy stance,
but that that is my stance. Strops As from Discord favorite announcers broadcast teams,
this is always a good one. The Nets and the Timberwolves are probably
my two favorite. Give them a lot of credit. I really do enjoy
the Sun's broadcasts as well. The Knicks one can have some really good moments.
I also shout out to like the game operations staff for the Grizzlies.
They consistently have just the best mid game stuff going on. Their broadcast is
like fine to listen to as well. It's not too homery for my liking.
It's not on the level of like a I really just I can't stand
the MAVs broadcast. No one can stand Warriors broadcast at this point. So
yeah, I think Minnesota, Brooklyn, and I'll go Memphis. Like shout
out to that New Orleans has a pretty good one as well too, but
Memphis just the all around experience is you know, again for the in between
the timeouts, and I'm getting like the NBA feed because I cover the league
and that's something I've accessed to, so I'm not like, not everyone's able
to see that, which is like seeing what's going in the middle of the
game. There's really some pageant. Try to just like these small swats of
time. It really impresses me. And so if you have the ability to
those are that's a broadcast, I would recommend checking out as well as Phoenix,
Minnesota, Brooklyn, New Orleans is a good one. And I don't
know how you couldn't love wal Clyde Frasier rhyming on the next one when he
and Mike Breener calling games. It's it's still a lot of fun for me.
Caveman from Discord asked how should the Nets integrate Ben Simmons if he becomes
available by game four or five? Is he better than Bruce Brown in the
short term in Saturday coming and then in the long term? Who As far
as integrating him, I mean tether him to the Kyrie k D minutes.
I think so you just lighten his load as much as possible on offense,
or maybe you don't want to do that because he's so used to having the
ball. I would say, I don't know what the lineup should look like,
but you need to probably can't have a true big next to him.
I don't think the Simmons nick Claxton lineup is gonna fair. You probably have
to stagger him from Bruce Brown as well, so you certainly can't have there
needs to be at least three shooters on the floor of Ben Simmons at all
times, and so you can't play him with both, with both Bruce Brown
and then a big it's one or the other. And I wouldn't even recommend
going that route. On defense, I guess you could just hope that he's
ready, so you're tethering him to the Boston's best. But is he going
after Jason Tatum or Jalen Brown. We know that he'll be on a minutes
cap if he comes back, So I don't really know what the solution is
here. After giving this a lot of thought, I ended up on,
like, you know, Seth Curry, Kyrie k d or probably the three
players you need to play alongside him most. You can throw Patty Mills in
there as well if you're well. I mean, that could be a lineup
if you have Ben Simmons and Katie on the court, and maybe you could
get away with those three guards. I just don't I think you need to
set him up on offense to streamline his role and to be as successful as
possible. As for whether he's better than Bruce Brown in the short term and
long term, short term, we don't know. Bruce Brown has been pretty
streaky slash on fire from three, so there's that element. He also does
not need the ball on offense. We've seen him make plays out of the
short role. He's not gonna have a problem hanging in the dunker spot.
And while Ben Simmons has done the dunker spot stuff in smaller volumes, it's
never just been his full time role. It's it's happened in the playoffs,
I guess, but like that's just never been something he's done. He's never
been the primary screener for a huge amount of time. That is something to
consider in all of this is why I think, no matter what you're doing
with him, surround him with as much shooting as possible. But defensively,
is Bruce Brown gonna be better for you right now? Ben Simmons is gonna
give you more positional malluability there. I also think he's by far the higher
IQ passer, and if you're willing to get out and transition a bunch,
I don't know it's been that's the I mean, that would that would be
a great question to really ask. Is Ben Simmons at back going to hold
up in transition? And it should if you're going to play him at all.
But you look at his next team as a team that doesn't generate a
ton of pressure on the rim, and they're also just not going to spend
an inorminate amount of time in transition. They were twelve in transition frequency this
season. That was the number that was actually higher than I was expecting.
But get Ben Simmons off and running is what you could also do. So
put him in lineups that are going to promote that, and so as Seth
Curry is going to help you there, even if Patty Mills is going to
help you there. Katie and Kye are gonna like to slow down the game.
But if Ben Simmons has the ball, like yeah, they will fan
out or they will Katie especially will get up and down the floor. That's
probably the best way to integrate him on offense, though, So just put
him into that the position to be both simple and succeed, which I don't
know is easy when you look at the rest of their roster because a lot
of it, some of these lineups were talking about, are gonna be predicated
on Ben Simmons being ready defensively to hold up under his usual, if not
heavier workload. Otherwise you do have this intrinsic needs for playing him with Nick
Klaxton and or Bruce Brown. They might do not play him with Andre Drummond.
Please, for the love of God, do not play Ben Zimmons with
Andre Drummond. Steve Nash. That better not be a thing here, But
that would be my stance. I also personally don't think he should play I
know that that ends up hunting. You can call it on a season of
Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irvy's prime. I would argue that that already happened by
Kyrie not getting vaccinated earlier in the year. Also with the James Harden stuff
just going belly up, you've kind of already it would be a nice story,
I guess if you beat the Celtics, but the road that you have
to go through in the playoffs probably the Bucks after this and then like my
god, like Matt, I mean, oh wait, they don't go through
the Bucks after this, because they're the two seven, So you're playing the
winner of three six, Like, okay, your gift just going through the
playoffs is still just going to be super difficult here. So that's just like
it would be the Bucks. It is three. I'm just I'm my matchups
wrong. So if you're in the that you're going through the Bucks and then
after that like, oh, who could have waited there, Philly or Miami,
Like that's a really it's a tough path, and then you get to
the left or you're gonna face Phoenix or going to State. So I just
would rather see Ben Simmons get a training camp with this team, have some
more off time to be integrated, to make sure that his back is okay,
because back injuries can be fickle. If he's going to play, though,
I just laid out what I would do, No, No, Andre
Drummond, Ben Simmons minutes. I would prefer to surround him with four shooters
and any given lineup, two of them being Katie and Kyrie Irving. I
would also look at what you could do is and probably becomes harder because Kevin
Durants one of the best shooters of all time. It's around him with enough
shooting in these lineups. But the Kevin the no Kevin Durant minutes have given
you some issues in the past, even though you did win them in Game
one of this series. Maybe look at pairing him with next to Kyrie Irvings,
specifically during those stretches, and so then you know that there's only one
person he's kind of jockeying for touches with, and so far as Ben Simmons
is actually jockeying for touches, but that might be sort of another gap there,
and then round out those lineups as you see fit. Maybe you can
squeeze Bruce Brown into that lineup, but you can't really play It would be
Bruce Brown or Nick Claxton for me again, I'm gonna I'm gonna be pretty
bullish on that. Element of this. Next question comes from do nationally televise
games really determined end of year awards? That was Dark Wing Duck from Discord.
I'm gonna scroll down to my Google doc here because we have some other
like thoughts that are questions that are tangentially related to this. I'll look those
next two together. So Nick Wright ass on Twitter. Will Nick Wright ever
be right? That was from Paul I might have just wrote down a wrong
name there, and so like, there's just this who there's I'm assuming this
pertains specifically to Rudy Gobert and Nicole Yokich. The awards were talking about our
regular season awards, and so I can't like view what's happening in the postseason
as something that has this transcendent impact on who I would choose for MVP or
Defensive Player of the Year. If you're using it as a tiebreaker as who
would you rather have in a playoff series, if it really was down to
that and it was Yokich or Yannis for you and that's what you wanted to
use as the tiebreaker, I don't think I would fault you there. I
also think, though, that we tend to oversimplify these nationally televised games what
happens in the playoffs. We make these referendums on ultra small sample sizes,
when in the end, the MBA for the good teams is an eighty two
plus game sample size across the season, and so the macro picture matters here.
And if anything, what's happening in Denver with Nuggets going up against the
Warriors and kind of seem like they're up for slaughter. I don't mean to
say that before we go through a Game three in Denver, and only to
me makes it more impressive that Yokich put them drag them to forty eight wins
there. I just don't understand what the problem is with that or why it's
so hard to separate. There are the people, the paid employees, the
fans that have their agendas, and some of them are pretty just obvious about
it, and it's all in good nature, which is fine. But this
idea that Nicole Yokich is a foe MVP, or that the computer skewed the
returns and his favor it's just it's not fair and it's lazy and it's oversimplified,
and I get tired of it. That being said, like, there
is higher end analysis out there, and we have to remember that the talking
heads on TV they're paid to whether it's in specific those these exact terms or
not. It's an engagement at all costs type of industry now, and we
can bemoan it. I've bemoaned it privately at times with people that I trust.
I've had just wholesale conversations about it. But however, you want to
watch or consume the league that avenue is essentially available to you. MBA media
is flawed in just so many ways when it comes down to the still just
a glaring lack of diversity, but it's also sort of a golden age of
options when you just look at the localized coverage. I think team podcasts and
writers have just become so important this day and age, especially ones. I
have infinite respect for beat writers, but also those who are more detached from
the teams and their their opinions. Their livelihood isn't show tightly more to access
that maybe they could be just a little more honest or a little bit more
punitive with their coverage. And there's just a nice mix of everything. I
try to consume as much of it, and look, I'll even admit that
I do at times just feel like and I don't want to. I'm not
conventional national media, but as someone who talks about, writes about puts a
lot of effort into trying to cover the MBA at large as fairly as possible.
I don't I hate when it feels like I'm being looped into, like,
oh, the national media doesn't talk about Rudy Gobert enough for the national
media is against Nkoliokich. Some of these, like ad serial takes against Jokis
and Gobert, I don't even see them, Like I'll see someone tweet about
it. Oh, but they told me that NICOLEA. Yokis couldn't pass or
just something stupid like that, And I'll just be like, is my Twitter
bubbles so insulated that I just didn't even see this take? Is it an
actual take? Who are you following or listening to or watching that is saying
these things? And if you're that fundamentally disagree or you think it's unfair,
like there are other ways to go. And no, I promise I'm not
bitter that poor poor me who doesn't get like enough recognition for the work he
puts in the Harbor Knox and Bleacher Report. That's really not what I was.
What I meant, It's just like I I don't want to be looped
into like the lower brow analysis. I'm not like the x's and osavons that
you're gonna get if it's like an akaias jump the Duncan. No. But
I do put a ton of effort into covering the league at large and going
deeper and trying to have a pulse on every team. And also what I
do think we forget and this is the localized coverage is so important, but
it's I've come to view my job as one very un serious. Is anyone
can tell, like, I cover a fucking game, but also to have
a pulse on the entire league better than the localized people. And it's not
to say that I'm better at my job. And the thing that's beautiful about
the localized podcasts and writers, they are seeing every team because the teams that
they cover go up against them, but they do a great job like stepping
into the national waters. And I know a lot of them are watching and
covering more than just their teams basketball. You look at Caitlin Cooper and the
Twitter thread she does and some of the podcast topics that she covers. The
guys the Timeline podcast to a fantastic job of having a pulse in the entire
league. But for the fans in general, it's my job to have a
better pulse in the entire league than even not just the fan of a singular
team, but of the general NBA fan. And that's what I'm there for.
That's why I've come to view my job and so I put a lot
of effort in doing that. I get bitter to myself. I don't really
voice it unless it's to this podcast at this very moment about when I see
those things about the national media, there's like inside of me and I have
to remember if you if you don't think you fall under that umbrella, then
it's not about you. But that is something I struggle with. I do
think though, that we have to remember that some of this is whether you
want to. I won't go as far as to say it's an agenda,
but it's for the sake of drumming up conversation. Those are the easiest talking
points to have, or the easiest talking points that will incite reaction, and
that's what a lot of people want at the end of the day. That's
how that's just their job, whether it's in specifically stated in their description or
not. You look at Rudy Gobert specifically, which I think this question was
also aimed at. It's just when the discourse around him has just been fucking
absurd because he is not the problem for the Jazz's defense. You go back
and look at Game two against Dallas. Yeah, there are some things that
I guess he did wrong, but he doesn't adjust to what I would consider
their base defense and time of the time because they don't make the adjustments,
Like is it on him to decide, like, oh, I have to
change up my coverage here, and instead of help towards the driver, that
I need to be closer to the guy in the corner. The Jazz have
been designed to funnel people towards Rudy Gobert all season, the amount of ground
he has to cover on certain possessions to where he's around the ram, but
he can be pulled away from the basket he's covering out to the corners.
Like it's just it's overwhelming and their failure to put the right perimeter defenders around
him, people who can contain the ball not get that consistent effort from Donovan
Mitchell. That's the issue. And it's even the Donovan Mitchell blowby, it's
like there's an element of that. Yes, it's not by design, but
like you built your defense around funneling people towards Rudy Gobert. Is it his
fault that it's falling apart when teams are better built to attack it and work
the corners or put your entire team in rotations that they're not built to handle.
Shout out boyon Mardonovitch. So it's just I don't understand why we can't
look at that and identify it, even as someone who's such a basketball idiot
as myself can understand that. How do you look at the game and say,
oh, he's such a liability when they go small, then somehow you're
not watching the game properly, or you're just saying something for the sake of
saying something at some point, And so yeah, I get that it can
be mega frustrating on both sides of the fence, and then all of a
sudden turns into like this war between analytics versus the eye test, when it's
just anyone that matters. I have never seen only rely on one anyone that
I respect or that is really has an impact on the way that people think
about basketball. I've never just seen him point to one catch all thing,
eye test, analytics, whatever, one one stat, one play, one
singular game referendum. So I don't even know why that has to be a
discussion. If you're complaining everybody Gobert didn't win Defensive Player of the Year,
or if you're even you know, you think Yanna should have been the MVP.
We also have to do a better job of recognizing that there are multiple
deserving candidates and that a lot of this stuff comes down to a matter taste
or preference, which we're gonna get into with these two questions, which I
thought were fascinating. So the first one comes from Henrik Ahmed Statistically, who
is the best defender Gobert or Smart? And then Ryan Mortenson asked thoughts on
Smart winning Defensive Player of the Year over Rudy. I'd love to see a
side by side comparison of all the defensive stats. And so here's the thing.
Defensive stats are going to be inherently flawed anyway. There's just at least
maybe there's you know, internally, teams have proprietary metrics that do a better
job of measuring the impact, but the ones that are publicly available, the
ones that I even know of that aren't publicly available, there's just it's impossible
to quantify the defense in the same way that we do offense. What also
gets tough, but let's go let's look at the Smart Gobert date debate specifically,
so in estimated defensive estimated plus minus, Rudy Gobert ranks fifth in the
league this season. Smart was thirteenth. This is just the regular season.
In defense of Lebron, Gobert was first. Smart was sixty fourth in luck
adjusted regularized adjusted plus minus. Rudy Gobert was sixteenth. Smart was fifty seven
in defensive raptor. Rudy Gobert was fourth. Smart was forty first. So
you look at some of those kitchen sink metrics and you think it's outrageous that
Smart would be the defensive player of the Year discussion. But their roles are
so different. You look at the matchup difficulty ratings of these two. Because
Smart is tackling more primary ball handlers, more explosive perimeter guys, covering more
ends of the positional spectrum. He ranks thirty ninth in matchup difficulty for this
past season. That was among anyone who logged at least a thousand minutes.
Rudy Gobert was one hundred and eightieth. So Rudy Gobert's trash because he is
matchup difficult, like are we going to go that room? As well?
Their roles are so different. Rudy Gobert contested six point nine shots at the
room per game this year, Marcus Smart was at two point one, which
is actually high for someone his size. There's such a fundamental difference in what
they're responsible for. And it's fine if you want to make the case that
bigs are always going to be more pivotal to the defensive model, and so
they should get the bump in the defensive Play of the Year discussion. If
that's a philosophy that you ascribed to, it is perfectly fine. I won't
argue with you against it. I mean, if you like, there's been
support out there, which is why I'm accepting. And I'm not just saying
someone should come up to me and say I'll only vote for a big and
that's that. But what did we just talk about with the Jazz two seconds
ago about how the lack of perimeter defenders or quality help defenders around him have
really fucked the Jazz over and made it easy for people to think that he's
the problem. So if perimeter defenders are that important to Rudy Gobert's success or
let's say failure in Utah for certain stretches, doesn't that kind of make the
case that a Marcus Smart or Mcal Bridges is super valuable on defense because they
have to pick up the toughest singular assignments. They're going to be at guarding
the primary actions more than he is. Yeah, he's responsible for more.
He's calling out coverages. People point out that Marcus Smart does that in ball
I would also like to point out that Michael Bridges, aside from just covering
the toughest assignment on a night to night basis, is one of the best
transition defenders that honestly I've ever seen, but also just makes the job easier
on a big like DeAndre Ayton because it shrinks the scope of what DeAndre Ayton
is responsible for. And I'm not saying even though I thought people thought that
the pick for Marcus Martin Michaeale Bridges as defensive Player of the Year was fucking
stupid, and I just I won't subscribe to that. I believe they were
my top three. I can't remember who I had third of my ballot.
I should really look at that. I'd go beart second behind Bridges. If
Rudy Gobert would, I want I'm not gonna give you any pushback. Could
it have been voted for tigue on some level. Maybe it could be the
fact that people look too much into teams stats or success in general, rather
than the team's success or stats with that player on the floor, and the
Jazz w elite defensively with rigal bart on the floor. Maybe is there too
much value even placed in that because the Suns were technically better defensively without Michael
Bridges on the floor, but that's only because of he's going up against starter
competition, the level of individual competition he faces, and also the Suns were
still elite with him on the court. It's just that the other line up
se weren't in posted better defensive ratings against lesser competition. For the most part,
there is context and reasons for everything. You just have to date a
little bit deeper. So I do think some of the coverage, I'm not
going to call it national coverage or localized coverage or TV coverage, some of
the coverage has gotten lazy and frustrating. But the right coverage, or the
one that aligns with how you want to view the game, is out there,
and we just don't have to pay the ones that are truly out there
too much credence. I don't think no one I know is taking what Nick
Wright specifically says, or even what stephen A says and allowing it to shape
their basketball opinions. Those are people who are responsible for covering the full breadth
of sports and rather than just basketball. And so if you're just a fan
of the NBA specifically or a team in the NBA specific basketball in general,
throw the WNBA college basketball in there as well, you're going to probably have
a better pulse on what's happening in the league than the people who have to
cover a wider scope of sports in general. And so it's it trickles down
like that to where Nick Wright is not going to be as in tune with
the NBA as zach Low and zach Low though, isn't going to be as
in tune with the Pelicans rotations as the in the no podcast guys Mason,
Ginsberg and Schmidt Duah, because that's the team that they're covering on a regular
basis, and zach lois to cover the entire league. I don't think one
person is more or less important than the other or one type of coverage.
They're all important. Like I said, I have so much respect for the
localized coverage, the localized podcasts. They I try to listen to as many
as possible. I would categorize as I listen to more than most, and
I'm sure much less than some. And they helped me a lot in how
I approach covering their teams and the game in general. So every like that's
important. And I'm not saying that what a nick right or the talking HEAs
we're doing isn't important. It's just it's a different type of coverage. It's
not meant to be that granular, and there's more of high stakes engagement at
play there. That's just my opinion on that matter. So to this Smart
winning Defensive Player of the Year of Rudy Gobert, I don't have an issue
with it as long as we're willing to have honest discussions about it. If
you picked Marcus Smart because you think Rudy Gobert is a liability against smaller lineups
or just a liability in general in the playoffs, then no, I don't.
I don't want to say that your opinions invalid, but I'm going to
fundamentally disagree with that. If you think it's dumb that Marcus Smart one defensive
player year because he didn't lead in any of the defensive metrics. As someone
who does place a lot of stock and stats in general, I'm going to
think that I'm going to fundamentally disagree with that as well, because it's what
we can tell, at least from these defensive metrics, is it seems easier
quantify the impact of Biggs. Whether that's because the volume of shots they're facing
around the rim and rebounds they're grabbing, it's just easier to quantify what it
seems. I don't know this for a fact, So that's where I'm wanted
that I don't have an issue with Marcus Smart winning. I wouldn't have an
issue if it was Rudy Goobert, wouldn't have an issue if it was Janie
attend to Coupo mcal Bridges, Jaren Jackson Junior. I think that we collectively
also just have to get better with this idea of there's you see it when
the All NBA teams come out or when the when the award finalists came out,
like we're naming the snubs. Jordan Pool from the Most Improved Player discussion
from the top three, the name who he has to replace like, that's
how we have to do this, have an honest discussion about it, but
also be comfortable with the idea that, yeah, you know what, like
it could have been Jordan Pool over John Morant or Darius Garland or or I
can't remember who the other finalist was. Wow, blank Dejante Murray who was
actually my pick? Wow? And that's just that's just life because there were
so many deserving candidates. Let's be better about sort of accepting that as a
reality. That was a fun, little long ass rant. Let's get to
this question from j G H. If you are the Hornets, how do
you use their first two picks in this year's draft? Pick at both package
for a VET or a combination of both. For context, the Hornets are
holding number thirteen and number fifteen. Now here's where it gets interesting is we
also kind of tangentially mentioned this when we were talking about the which teams from
the lottery will be the best next season. The Hornets need to beg like
they and they need to change the way that they play defense. A lot
of people say that part of Brigos failure was need to optimize Mason Plumbley on
defense. If your job is to optimize Mason Plumbley starting center on defense,
you're fighting battle. I don't know. I don't know what else to say
there. But they need just more of a defensive backbone and that that starts
on the perimeter or doesn't start. But that includes having more of a base
and a consistent approach on the perimeter. But it's going to start with just
having better backline protection where you're not as weak or vulnerable on the glass giving
up second chance points. Opportunities are being put in weird pick and roll situations.
You could go the route of, hey, let's go get Miles Turner
from Indiana. Let's just say he's available, and you have two lottery picks
that you can move after the draft. Yeah, and you have James Book,
now you have Kaijo. You could go that route. I just wouldn't
suggest it because I don't think the Hornets are good enough and for some reason,
I feel like there's just a misconception of what their expectation should be.
The other thing that I think it's important to note, I don't subscribe to
the idea that that bigs are eminently replaceable. Certain ones are not. When
you look at the Knicks, do you need to pay Mitchell Robinson when you
have Jericho Sims on the roster based off what he showed. I don't know.
I think it's an oversimplification to say, oh, why pay Mitchel Robinson
when you can get Jericho Sims at number fifty eight. That's not what I'm
saying here. My gut instinct, though, is that you could use one
of those lotto picks on a big is. You know, look as someone
who is only I'm not even like ankle deep in draft coverage at the moment,
So as someone who I'm just throwing out names here, like is Durant
available that someone whos they viewed as a lottery prospect. There's Williams. He
has a seven foot seven inch wingspan, and this is privileged supports Jake Wossonman,
it showed great touch around flashes of great touch and shot blocking. Could
you put either one of those guys that they're available into your rotation immediately?
There has to be a commitment to doing that. They didn't do it with
Ky Jones. Maybe he just wasn't ready. We did see some more minutes
from JT. Thor, But I do believe that you could get for what
the Hornets need like a defensive remounder, a shot blocker. You could get
that in lottery, and someone who could play right away. And so there's
no need to go mortgaging more of your future to get that big. With
that being sad, you still need the veteran presence because I don't know that
you want a rookie tasked with sort of salvaging, saving, rescuing, however
you want to frame it your defense here. I also think that you could
do that with the mid level exception, the non taxpayers mid level, which
is what Charlotte's going to be working with this summer. It's I don't know
the names I've already mentioned, Nick Claxton, Mitchell Robinson, those are two
names that certainly spring to mind. You have you know, like does Chris
Bouchet, Like those are names that should be available for that money. And
if you want like higher end options, then yeah, sure you take to
the trade market. I don't know how higher end those options necessarily need to
be. I would this is the cop out answer, but I would go
the route of and I'm just going through the big men free agents right now.
It's just JaVale McGee is not going to be a game changer for you,
or I mean you don't have the cap space to sign DeAndre and I
don't know why the Suns would want to even engage in sign and trade talks
at this point, So there's not a ton of options. But like there
are guys where they could upgrade your defense who are going to be at least
a four. I mean even Kavan Looney in Charlotte. I don't know how
much he's gonna help you with maybe all of your core problems, but he
has more switched, he has more switched to him. He's only twenty six
at the moment. So like those are routes you could go. You could
straddle the two lines, which maybe is the cop out answer here is can
you get Nick Claxton or Mitchell Robinson and then also draft another bigs and I
give three bites at the Apple and Kai Jones, Mitchell Robinson or Nick's Claxton
and number thirteen or fifteen? Do you try and use number thirteen or fifteen
to address another need and see what you could still pair with Kai Jones,
a pick and James book Knight. Does that get you in the Miles Turner
discussion? If not, does it get you in the discussion for anybody else
for this team, though, if this is what we're sort of like,
if this is the head that we're coming to, I guess no, I'm
not looking at them and saying you need to go after Rudy Gobert, like
throw a full boat future picks, which get iffy because do you have that
technicality, that commitment to the Knicks or I guess it's to Charlotte Now,
is that the one that they traded away? I'll double check that really quick.
So that gets a little complicated. But yeah, so it's two in
land, but so that and that's in twenty twenty, so that makes it
a little a little bit finicky. I'm not I would not urge them to
go after Rudy Gobert would be a perfect fit. If the asking price is
low enough, then sure. I would rather see, like what do the
Spurs want for a Yaka peardle there? Just to have an elite RIM protector
who could do a huge shot for you mean you call the Sixers about and
beat I'm clearly just kidding there that you could. I would prefer that route
for them if you can't. If a mid level isn't enough to get Misseell
Robinson or the Knicks willing to engage in sign and trade talks. There,
That's when I think it'll help you. I would even before I'm mortgaging the
future on a Rudy Gobert like to that extent, knowing how much Rudy Gobert
makes down the line, and just the urgency you all I'm attached to year
three of a mellow. I prefer to go like the Chris Bouche route.
If he's someone that you could pick up, someone who has a little bit
more bounced is a pretty okay Riom Protector will will hit jump shots for you
or I kid test jump shots for you, Seth. He also will hit
jump shots if anyone cares Turner, I would get that like that would feel
like the middle ground acquisition. If you're giving up both your late lotto picks
for Turner. Let's say two of those picks in book Night. I'm two
of kai Jone's book Night, and those picks I'm not. You know,
if that's all costs to get Rudy Gobert too, by all means do it.
You can go ahead and do that, but don't don't go the nuclear
route for a big and I would also argue that you need to commit to
a direction first here because what are you what else are you giving up to
bring in these names that we just mentioned specifically a Miles Turner or if you
go to the Rudy Gobert route, who else is part of those trades?
Because he's money to match those salaries and actually might be easy to step lottery
a Miles Turner, but Rudy Gobert makes a ship ton. But you're just
kind of wallowing in the wilderness at the moment, and you have tery Orsier
about the end of the first of a four year, ninety six million dollars
extension. Gordon Hayward is two years sixty plus million dollars left on his deal.
His availability has been wonky. Miles Bridge is a restrict to free agent.
He's probably gonna cost you near max or actual max money to bring back.
Are you committed to this core or is it a better route to you
know, I know cap Space doesn't call that far in Charlotte, but to
get out of the deal's Rosier and Heyward use that extra flexibility down the line
to take on other bad deals. Attached to picks or just have trade for
some players that elevate your immediate ceiling. I know there's probably a little bit
more anxiety in Charlotte over the Lamento's future. So I'm out, let's have
already started talking about it. I will believe that a player turns down his
rookie extension when I see him. And so worst case scenario, you still
have let's say five years of Lamello with you. That is time to figure
it out. You don't need to rush this. And I don't know that
they're good enough at the top of their roster aside or even if he's Lamello
and Miles Bridges to just say okay, like let's go after the Rudy Gobert
and Gordon Hayward and Turtros or whatever happens to them, Like that's not really
that essential. You have Kelly Bridge J're there. So I think they need
to choose a direction because if they want to be a team where forty three
wins over the course of the two game season's disappointment, it's not to me
just a matter of acquiring some upgrades at the center spot. They're going to
have to be some more wholesale changes to that roster where it's you know,
I don't know that your primary wing options is Gordon Hayward and Kelly Roobridge Junior.
How far that's going to get you? Even I don't really know like
the value of Miles Bridges as your second best player at this point. I
think you probably need someone who's going to make him your third fourth best player
to truly optimize him. And so what are you going to do to actually
make that happen. You're going to have to be more aggressive on the trade
market, and I don't know who's out there that you can feasibly get,
because again I don't think this is just you can get Miles Turner and you're
there. I think he helps, but you're still going to fall short of
the measuring stick to which this team appears to be holding itself, or at
least the fan base is holding itself. I don't know, And so I'm
more of a fan of the gradual approach here, or at least at least
realistic expect expectations. So I would recommend that Horde Spans temper their expectations and
maybe honestly think about the roster that's in place right now. And if they
want the team to do better or the team is dead set on doing a
lot better, really transforming their position within the competitive landscape, it's going to
just take a bunch of overhaul and dice rolls and aggressive moves. Let's get
to these last couple questions here, Frankie Bacon and the and the screaming popes,
why are the Kings like that? I'm just assuming he's asking why are
the Kings in the sense that you know they're not bringing out for Gentry Back
his head coach, and they have the second lowest winning percentage of the NBI
since they last made the playoffs in two thousand and six. If you're curious
as to who has the lowest winning percentage, it is the Minnesota Timberwolves.
So I guess shout out to the Kings for not being dead last in that
category. Do I think the Kings are going to be substantially better next season?
If I frame it as that, I don't have any faith in the
organization right now. The Demanta Savonas trade, while justifiable from certain angles,
I think it's sort of increases their aimlessness, at least for the moment.
What you need to see is what they do over the off season. Where
are they moving Rashaun Holmes and what are they getting back for him? Are
there going to be these weird rumors about Daron Fox's future? Who just f
y is not in Albatross on his current contract. He's he's a fringe all
star player and he finished the season in that capacity. So I'm not worried
as worried as I was about the the partnership between he and Samonis. They
had some good connections in chemistry before Sabonis went down. But this roster,
you need Harrison Barnes there because he's sort of maximizes the fit between those two
and just the rest of the roster. You clearly have a defensive presence in
davy On Mitchell. You need to hit on your first round pick. You
need actual wings on this roster, Dante de Vincenzo, who's gonna be restrict
to free agent Justin Holidays kind of whatever. You need to have more inspiring
options there, Like you have to me maybe four poor players on this roster
five if you want to include this year's lottery pick, so it'd be lottery
pick Sabonis, Barnes, Fox, and davy On Mitchell, and I can't
include Rashaun Holmes in there just because his future in Sacramentos is clearly he's on
the way out of there because you can't make his Sabonis train and plan on
holding onto Rashaun Holmes long term. I don't know what the move out there
is that they make, though I said that I wanted them to do something,
anything, if it was cashing in some of their chips for a star,
that it made sense. I just thought said Starr would be more of
a directional harbinger than he actually was. And that's no offense to Sabonis.
He's a fantastic player. I just don't know how much he nudges. They're
sealing him the Western Conference on his own. With this current roster, the
Kings are not going to have cap space this year to work with theyre so
they're not going to have like this big spending advantage when it comes to poaching
free agents. And also newsflash, this is not the summer post poach a
big time free agents anyway. What can they do on the trade market?
I mean picks and Daman Mitchell like, are the package and you have some
nice salary filler. They're assuming you don't want to give up Sabonis or Fox
and those negotiations, then who's really available. This team needs like a star
way more than anything, and those don't grow on trees, and the ones
that exist, like are just not readily up for grabs. Whenever we're talking
about the next disgruntled superstar, it always kind of feels like we're talking about
a guard or a big Alianof's never like, oh, I mean Luca don
which I guess some people flirted with, but that's still years out. It's
always just the I like, you don't hear about, Oh, it's Jason
Tatum grow disenchanted and in Boston. It's just it doesn't seem to work out
that way. It's, oh, the Karl Anthony towns in Minnesota or the
Zion clock is already taking Lamello and Charlotte. So not you know, trying
to give those conversations merit. I'm just that's just how it seems to pan
out. So they need to really figure out a way to map to just
improve their perimeter defense, improve the number of shooters that they're going to put
around Darren Fox and Sabonis, and I think they could probably just use another
type of secondary ball handler. Damian Mitchell showed sort of flashes to be that
guy, but you want a more bankable option, I would think I would
expect some pretty size, big turnover from them over the offseason. They're another
team that needs to commit to a direction because they still think they're kind of
stuck in the sub middle. They're clearly trying to angle for immediate semi contention,
whatever you want to call it. So that's just going to more swings,
which is because it's going to entail that. That's what we should expect
from the offseason. If they don't do that, if there's more of a
status quo here, that's a fucking problem. GreenScreen Greg will be our last
question. I believe I'll make sure that I didn't miss. Oh no,
there's one more after his actually two more after his green screen. Greg asked
Luca question mark, thank you, green screen Greg. Luca is anticipating to
return from his cash strain in either Game three or Game four. Utah should
be scared as hell about that, because if you think Jillen runs in and
Spencer Dinwity picking apart, your crunch time defense is a problem. Wait till
you meet Luca nanche is doing the same, not as you know. There's
a change of speed to the way he plays stop and start. Maybe he's
not as fast as going downhill. Spencer did what he can accelerate from sort
of a stop quicker than John Brunson. Is way more explosive, but he
will he will find your weak spot and he will press on it. If
Luca comes back, let's think game four, I'm gonna pick the MAVs.
In seven. I think if it's game three, I'll stick with the MAVs
and seven. If Luca comes back before game five, the MAVs will win
this series because I'm just anticipating the Dallas even without him and steal one of
two in Utah. I don't I don't trust the Jazz anymore. I trust
Mike Conley, I do trust Rico Bears defense. I trust Royce O'Neill.
The trust meter starts to run thin after that. Donovan Mitchell is a playoff
killer on offense, but he just goes through these really bad decision making stretches.
It's terrible defense, and then it's just like weird shots on offense,
maybe too early in the shot clock or missing someone who is trailing in the
corner that he could have found and you know, avoiding them for just like
this contested Layoup. There were a lot of these, just like single pass
possessions for them down the stretch. I don't trust Utah anymore, and so
if Luca doesn't, if Luca returns before Game five is expected, I'm just
gonna take the MAVs and MAVs and seven. My original pick was the Jazz
and seven thos. I'll stick with it until we get a concrete status on
Luca. But that is not good news for Utah that Luca is coming back.
Also, congradulations to Jail and Brunson, who he was probably gonna get
paid anyway, but that dude's gonna get paid this offseason. Last two questions,
Jack Olmore asked, who's the best three point shoot ever? In the
sense of career three point percentage? Do you think it will ever be beaten?
We'll say a minimum of five years to make it more realistic. LOL.
So I just sorted by five hundred career three point attempts because if anyone
who is on here and got to five hundred in play five years, it's
probably in this era and they'll be playing. If they're taking that many threes
and over two or three seasons, they'll probably be sticking. So Steve Kerr
out of everyone in NBA history who has attended at least five hundred threes for
their career leads and three point percentage at forty five point four. Hubert Davis
is two at forty four point one, Seth Curry number three at forty three
point nine, Joe Harris tied for third at forty three point nine, and
then Drayson Petrovic forty three point seven is number five. Desmond Bane of the
Grizzlies is number six, So like that's where he would be filtered out by
the second the minimum of five years, so would Trayson Petrovich. But we
you know, for obvious reasons he was. He was a joy to watch,
although I was not old enough to appreciate it in real time. Jason
Coppono was seven here, Tim Lailer's eighth, Steve Novak is ninth, Kyle
Klover's tenth, and then we get Steph Curry down at eleventh at forty two
point So you could measure this just in different ways. It's tough to say
whether I think it will be broken. Just because Steve Kerr's not taking the
same kind of shots that Steph Curry is SOT mean taking, He wasn't even
taking the same kind of shots that a Seth Curry is at this point,
I do ultimately think that we'll get to a point where someone retires with just
an absurd volume and he shot over forty five percent from three. That's just
maybe we won't get there because you look at the Trey Youngs and Lucas and
just James Hardens, and the level of difficulty that are you know, built
into their shots is going to give way to a lower percentage. But I
think as Seth Curry, Joe Harris, guys who are taking not super easy
looks all the time. There's some pull up stuff, there's a little bit
of off the dribble work, there's there's guys flying around screens. I could
see that Steve Kerr's record will eventually be broken by someone when when they were
there. So I'll go with yes. Would I say that that players in
the league right now? Probably not, but I do think it will be
broken. I don't think that is an unbeatable record, although holy crap,
Steve Kerr right final question comes from Simon and I really like this one.
If the Bucks win again this year, do we have to rethink the Yannis
all time ceiling? Example, are we now looking at someone who could likely
break into the top ten. If anyone's listened to Adam and I discussed this
before in this podcast, you know full well we think jan is going already
break into the top ten and it begs itself to an interest. So to
answer Simon's question, if he wins in back to back years, especially when
there's a team like the Suns that exist but the Warriors kind of peak and
so much just talent at the top of the West, when you look at
Miami in Boston specifically, and then maybe the hypothetical ceilings of Brooklyn and Philly.
Hell yeah, Like it just changes his all time ceiling where maybe that
discussion about him finishing is one of the ten best players of all time becomes
more mainstream, but it lends itself to a larger question of how many potentially
top ten all time players are in the league right now. And I'm not
trying to be incendiary with this take between Steph KD, Jannis and Lebron,
Like that's I would say four legitimate candidates, and are there people that are
say, oh Luca or Yo Kich is gonna belong in that discussion, or
a Zion or or at this point Kay Cunningham. So those were getting too
far ahead. But it feels like right now, and this is without Yannis
winning that second title, Kevin Rant, Jannis, Steph and we know Lebron
is already there, Like, those are four real top ten candidates that are
just active. Is there a recency bias kaked in there? Maybe? But
where would Yannis rank among those three four all time? You can really say
three because Lebron will be in front of him. Would you have a better
case from the top ten than Stephor kd I don't think so yet, but
those three would be really neck and neck if Yannis is picking up title number
two. And look the emotional sentimental value that will be given to his titles
if they come in Milwaukee. I totally get it. Steps shouldn't be any
different because he's been a Warrior's lifer as well, But you know, playing
on the Warriors is to play in more of a glamor market. I guess
technically, and there wasn't. It's just Yannis is different like, there's narrative
and anecdotes that shape it a lot. There were people that were waiting for
his regency for years because they were convinced that he was going to leave or
ask for a trade. So yes, I do think it would have to
It would definitely reframe the discussion. But simon, I think we're already there.
So where those are the four players you look at right now currently league
and think that they have a chance to be When all said it done and
we fast forward to the MBA's one hundredth anniversary rather than seventy fifth, those
are four players that could be in the top ten all time list. This
was fun. I hope you did not tire of me doing this solo.
This might be something I throw in as a third podcast every week because I'm
trying to provide more content for everyone, But I'm not sure if I have
the bandwidth for it. Do you all even have the bandwidth to listen to
three Hardwoknox episodes a week? Anyway, I rambled here for like eighty minutes,
which is way more than I wanted to. Let me just close by
saying remember to rate, review and subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.
If you haven't done those things that have made it this far, please
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also remember to subscribe to our YouTube. Last, but certainly not least,
shout out to the one the old currently on a lay off roster lockdown defenders
should have won Defensive Player of the Year. We don't care what the metrics
say or the eye test says. It's just about our gut feeling. Frank Delapa