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listen to podcasts. What is krak Olakin Hardware Knox listeners. I am Dan
Valley coming at you, this time without my co host Adam Bromwell. I
am, however, super excited as always to be joined by a frequent guest
and friend of the podcast, Christian Winfield of the New York Daily News.
He covers the Nets and the NBA at Large for them. Follow him on
Twitter at Chris Blashed. That's at kr I sp l A s h e
D. He's a fantastic follow, great writer. As you can tell,
we're going to be talking Brooklyn Nets today. A lot of stuff has happened.
We did record this before Blake Griffin officially signed with Brooklyn, but we
recorded it as if Blake Griffin was going to sign with the Nets. So
it all worked out, and this is a nice little deep die coming out
of the All Star break. Of the concerns are we've seen so far from
Brooklyn? What to watch for moving forward? Some trade deadline stuff as well,
great podcast as always, Before we get started, just a couple of
housekeeping notes, a reminder to continue subscribing and downloading every episode of Hardwood Knox
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was mostly positive. Had a couple complaints that we let the live guests speak
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So please bear with us as we figure it out, but we will hone
it again. Well, we'll try and make sure that we're limiting the length
of questions for that we're giving people, or the length of time we're giving
them to speak excuse me, and we will always include some of your Twitter
questions whenever you guys respond it really, it really is great and we always
appreciate that. Without further delay, though, let's talk a lot of Brooklyn
Nets with Christian Winfield of the New York Daily News. Christian, welcome back
to the Hardwood Knox podcast. Thank you so much for giving me more of
your time amid a firestorm of I guess it's not a firestorm. It's a
mini storm of basketball news related to the Brooklyn Nets. But first and foremost,
how are you doing? You know, I'm good? Well, no,
you know I'm not good. You know why because I went on the
West Coast ship with the nets and we had some well I went on.
I went to Phoenix in LA with them and amazing sunlight, you know,
beautiful weather. And then I get back here and it's twenty eight degrees outside
and it feels like twelve and I'm looking outside and it's sunny, and I
just know as soon as I step out the door, I'm gonna get hit
by some wind in the face and it's gonna freeze my cheekbones off. So
when you ask me how I'm doing, I'm not okay, man, I'm
freezing. I'm cold, man. I want some warmth as someone who needs
to make the grueling commute from the house to the upstairs office I built for
myself and built that I have above the garage. I can't build shit.
Excuse me, I can't confirm that it is incredibly freezing and windy outside in
New York, so I would bundle up and enjoy those cheeks while you have
them. It's annoying, man, but I mean, at least I get
to be cold while I'm covering the nets. Man. They're just it's crazy
to see how this team is kind of transformed over the last two years to
where now I'm covering superstars or teams on a roll. Kim and the rest
not even playing. The team might get Blake Griffin and who god knows who
else. I mean, it's ridiculous right, like out of nowhere. It's
like I'm covering the mon Stars. It's ridiculous, Yeah, from where they
were even less than two seasons ago at this point, because when they just
didn't have even when they were kind of good, but they didn't have Kyrie
and Kate, Like, it's just night and day and let's just start there.
Since I feel like by the time this goes live, it feels like
all the reporting is pointing toward Blake Griffin becoming a member of the Nets.
One hand, it's like, could you imagine if set like saying this and
let's say twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen, that k D, Kyrie, DeAndre
Jordan, and Blake Griffin we're all going to be on the same team.
But the actual question is where do you view his role? If should he
end up in Brooklyn, how does he how does he help this team?
Does he help this team? A man? I mean when you think about
the years when the Nets we're winning twenty games, I mean, it was
hard to imagine them getting to twenty five, right, they getting the thirty
they getting thirty five, and now we've got them potentially being probably gonna end
up being the number one seed in the East by the time this year is
over, and then maybe maybe actually being NBA champions. Right, it's kind
of wild how this whole thing has happened, and because of the nature of
which had happened, I've been getting kind of mixed reviews from NETS fans,
right, mixed feelings because on one end, it's like, hey, man,
we've got a really good team that's gonna go to the NBA Finals.
But on the other hand, it's like, hey, we didn't build this.
We kind of bought it, right, Like, it's not like you
developed D'Angelo Russell into an All Star and watched Carrison very grow into an All
Star and had Jared down Wan to come with Defensive Player of the Year.
You kind of sold those parts and you sold everything for a championship. So
it's kind of like butt not built, you know. And I mean,
obviously every NETS fan in existence is happy that the team is actually relevant and
more than relevant right there the story of the NBA and probably won't say probably
potentially could be a championship team at the end of the season. But it's
just been interesting to see how it all unfolds. Right. It's kind of
like, man, you're breaking basketball, right, Like, remember we were
having this conversation. We'll not you and I, but just in general,
we're talking about when the Warriors had Steph Clay, k d Draymond Igodala these
other guys, and people were like, hey man, this team iss unfair.
Right, It's like you can't even use him in two K without without
being called a cheater. And now that you're trying to pick the nets in
in a video game, right, Like it's already a video game, and
now you're gonna go get a team that has five stars. And then I
mean, look, Spencer Denwood's probably gonna come back to and he's a guy
who could be an All Star at some point in his career. So it's
been a lot of fun to cover, and it's just been it's it's refreshing
to watch high level basketball, I'll tell you that, right, because you've
got guys out there who make the game. And this is what everybody on
the team is saying, right Like, when you've got James harden Coome,
he just comes in and makes the game easier for everybody in ways that they
didn't even know if possible. He's said, he sees the floor like and
I and I'm victim to this, right, I did not have the proper
understanding or appreciation for James Harden's game until I got a chance to watch him
compete on a day to day basis, and the manage to special man,
just how he's able to find guys, how he's able to kind of manipulate
a defense to his will. He's not as bad a defender as I want
thought. You know, he actually tries out there and he can Actually he's
a smart defender, you know, and you get you get a chance to
see it when you watch him on the day to day. So it's just
been fun watching this team. And they're not even at full strength. I
mean, Kevin Dura hasn't played what the last ten games or so, they
only I think the three of them have only played seven games together. Yeah,
I mean seven if you count the game that Kevin was pulled from,
right, well, he didn't even get test start, right and then he
plays nineteen minutes and then gets pulled. So it's really six and a half
games. And I mean, look at them, they're they're rolling right now
without I mean, when healthy, one of the NBA's three best players,
I don't know where you have Kevin durant on your powerball on your power records,
but I'd assume it's something like Lebron Jannis k d or something in that
order somehow, some way. So, I mean, this team is special,
especially with cover mixed reactions from Nets fans, But at the end of
the day, they're all happy because I mean they think about those years when
theyre at the bottom of the standings. Man, they would laughing stock of
the team coming of the league, right like, it didn't get worse than
being the Brooklyn Nets for a little while, and now it honestly doesn't get
better than being the Brooklyn Nets right now. Yeah, the thought of having
to beat them four times and seven tries is daunting and I, oh,
it's impossible, it's not happening. How do you do it? How do
you stop James Harden, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving. You got to account
for Joe Harris, who probably won't ever miss an open three if you leave
him one. And then you've got lobb threts like DeAndre Jordan. Nick Klaxson
is a threat now and if you add Blake Griffin to that mix, and
I don't want to hear that, Oh he's out of shape, he's uninterested.
No guys get into shape and get very interested once they join a contender.
Look at James Harden, right, So how do you beat that?
You don't beat this team. It's bad, It's very bad. And I'm
waiting for the nets broke basketball chance to break out because it's gonna come because
this team is just entirely too good. It's the anti parody team, right
like they were. They found a way to get all the talent in Brooklyn,
and uh, it's kind of ridiculous. Honestly, I think there's I
agree with you that that that thought as daunting being them four times and seven
tries, But I still feel like if they want to be viewed, it's
just like the four gone favorites, there's there needs to be a move beyond
Blake Griffin. And I think you know he'll be He'll be in shape.
He was, he was probably in shape with Detroit. It's just how much
does he have to offer and what he's going to offer you though, is
I assume they just view him as a backup five at this point, which
is smart. And if he's hitting his threes and maybe he can give you
some downhill juice, he just he doesn't really get to the rim anymore,
but the Nets can space the floor like basically no other team in the league
almost right now. So I have no doubt that he's going to be should
he be healthy, just a really good offensive fit. But this team defensively
still makes me nervous. And that's with the you know, Nick Klassen has
been you know, talk about he's like a switchable firecracker. It just does
so much else and it'd be nice if you could grab more rebounds, I
suppose. I just don't know that. It just feels like they're one body
short, not a high end body, but of just being those they could
win it right now like just as is. But defensively it feels like they're
they're they're players short if they want to be. You know, I still
think if they went into a seven game series with whether it's the Sixers,
the Bucks, or you get to the finals with the Lakers, maybe it's
the Clippers, still feel like maybe they would be only slight favorites and that
there's still distance between them becoming heavy favorites in setups like that. You know
that and you say they're one body short, they are a and this is
the prototype of a player that I think the Nets really needed that they weren't
able to get in the offices, and they're they're a Dorian Phinney Smith short
of really being able to to solidify themselves as contenders. They're that one tough
interchangement. And maybe that's like you can say, maybe that's kind of like
a younger And I don't even think Jeff Green was the Dorian Phinney Smith type
mold, but Doran Phinny So there's a guy who could really defend a lot
of positions. And it's just really tough, right and they and they need
that toughness in the front court. I don't think they get it and that
versatility that he has. That said, though, I mean, Philly is
tough. When you look at Philly Joel Embiid, I mean decided to give
him if I number one, if I ever had an MVP vote, and
number two if I was if I was voting on some of these awards,
Defensive Player of the Year. I mean, I think, if you if
there's a year to give a guy both MVP and Defensive Player of the Year,
why not this year give it to Joe and Bid? I mean,
what he's been able to do it two years, and I would love it.
Yeah, I would love it, honestly because Embed is just so good
and when we're just seeing him take his game to another level just in terms
of his in terms of just his his her dombiness, in terms of how
he's been efficient from three point range, what he's been able to do on
both ends of the floor. And this is coming from somebody who hasn't really
been able to watch much Sixers basketball because come knee deep in Nets basketball every
day. The Sixers are a team. I think that's kind of I won't
say Taylor made to stop the Nets because I don't think there is a team
that's tailor made to stop them, but they are. They pose the biggest
threat to them because of their size, because of that five, right Like
the Nets have no answer for Joel Embi. I don't think anybody has an
answer. But if you thought DeAndre Jor was gonna stop him, you thought
round Nick Lacks, then will get eaten alive. It's gonna be tough for
Bruce Brown. I don't think he's gonna play five in that match. It's
just tough. And then you look at the Sixers roster. I mean,
Ben Simmons can defend anybody on the Nets. Tobias Harris is playing better this
year year. I love, I love what he's doing. And they just
have a team that makes sense. And Doc Rivers is tested right like SEVENS
is still the first time they coach. Doc Rivers is a guy who's won
a championship already, So you know, I think that's that's gonna be a
good matchup for them. But I also don't think, you know, somehow,
some way, the Nets are gonna find ways to add I think we're
gonna see teams. We're gonna see players just leave teams trying to get contract
buyouts just in hopes of joining the Nets. Right like that happens every time
there's a team that's a favorite championship consender. So even though we were seeing
Blake Griffin news, I think there's going to be some smaller move that might
happen. The Nets have a couple of guys on ten day contracts. I
think that's chump Andre Robertson and Tyler Cook, who came up from the J
League by honestly, he never really had a chance to crack the roster.
I think they're going to free up some of those spots because you've got guys
like a Blake or like maybe inn Andre Drummond. We're gonna get buyouts and
A're gonna look to join this team. It's gonna be ridiculous, man.
I mean, I'm not sure we're gonna have seen by the time this season
is over. I'm not sure we're gonna have seen this much talent on one
team. Maybe in NBA history. I know people are pointing to the Warriors.
Oh, they had Steph Clay, Draymond, k d Igodala. Yes,
but when you've got Kyrie k d, James Horn, if you can
add Blake Griffin, if you can, and you've got DeAndre Jordan, you
still have Spencer Dinwiddy, You've got Joe Harris. I mean, the depth
on this team is already crazy, and then you're talking about adding other stars.
I mean, it's it's it's I mean, I was gonna say it's
bordering on unfair. It's not bordering, it is unfair. At this point,
I would laugh. If Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin wind up on the
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checkout. Do you you know, and I don't want to get too much
into like, oh, the moves that they need to make, but looking
at Brooklyn, they don't have. When you they have players they could move,
but when you just consider the salary matching and you can't really move there.
Their foremost expensive players are just too valuable to move. And Harris Irving
Durant, it's just not and hard and it's not happening. They're probably not
You're not gonna move DeAndre Jordan because he's tight with Kadi and Kyrie. And
so Spencer Timothy's name has hit the rumor mill. Now do you respect that
they will wind up moving him this season or do you think that they might
see value in one and trying to bring him back next year? Or maybe
is it even thinking the long long game where it's like, you know,
if we resign him, maybe he becomes more valuable as a healthy trade ship
on a longer contract. You know, that's a tough question. Here's one
thing I do know. I know that Sean Marks at the beginning of the
year basically told everyone that's not KD, Kyrie, DJ, Jeff Green,
everyone's available, right Like he's like he told everybody, oh, you know,
there's going to be trade rumors and we're going to do whatever is best
to improve this teams. I mean, when you look at this roster,
you've already got two point guards. Now you've got James Harden, who's going
to play the majority now, And that was the thing earlier in this season,
before the next traded for James Harden is Okay, they're gonna need Spencer
to play that backup one because Carris is a two and he can play the
one, but he's not somebody who you put the ball in his hands and
say, okay, generate offense time and time again. Spencer can shoulder that
load. But now you've got James and Kyrie, both of whom are capable
of playing that one, both not even both of whom are all star caliber
offense initiators. Right, So where does Spencer fit in. I mean when
in the first few games of the season we saw him playing a little bit
more off the ball. But even on top of that, he's ramping up
to get his a cl right and then he's gonna have to get into game
shape. We don't know how far along he is in terms of the timeline.
I mean, it's tough. And then on top of that, the
nuts are aren't very forthcoming, and what they tell the media in the first
place, that's the taste of injuries, and I'm not sure any team is.
But where does he fit in, you know? And honestly, he
fits in on the outside right, because number one, he's got to catch
up to learning what it's like to play with these guys to find in the
positioning. Number Two, he's never really been the best spot up shooter,
and if you're going to play with guys like KD, Kyrie and James,
you gotta be a knockdown shooter at least. And then third, you know,
he's coming back off of a partial acl tail right, and he wants
to downplay how significant the injury is, and I get it. You know,
if you think you're iron Man and you can you can power through and
come back to the floor of this season, then by all means, go
for it. But how much pressure can you actually put on that knee right
before that thing caves again? And not that I'm trying to speak that into
existence, but there's just a lot of factors going on here. So and
on top of that, he's going to be he could be a free agent
next year. Right, you got a player option that he could even turn
down or except there's a lot of factors that play. I'm not sure which
direction it goes. But if I'm the Nets, I'm looking at ways to
improve the roster because as of right now, it's precidentity hasn't really giving you
anything because you know, availability is your best ability, and he hasn't been
available. So if you can flip spencedentity into one of those role player type
of guys, I'm not sure necessarily. Maybe I think I saw a long
report time to maybe a trade back to Detroit. I'm not sure what that
looks like with who you get in return. But if you can get some
depths, if you can get a wing that can defend and then and hit
threes, right, that's that's the other thing, Right, You've got Andre
Roverson, who can defend but he can't shoot threes. You've got em On
Schopper, who hasn't been healthy, can defend but also can't shoot threes.
Can you get a wing actual three and d wing in in exchange for Dinwoody?
Maybe? Probably, honestly, because Spencer is a great player in this
league. So if I was Shawn Marks, I would look at that.
But also I think it's also another part of the story, which is Spencer
played a role in getting Kyrie to come to Brooklyn, right, and Kyrie
brought Katie with him. Katie brings DJ. These guys get James Harden and
now you might get Blake Griffin. You really don't want to have that.
And then on top of that, it's you kick Kenny Atkinson to the curb,
kick Damsel Rust to the cave, kick Carros Lavert and Jared Allen to
the Carrol Are you about to clear house and just kick Spencer Dinweed to the
curb? Next? And then what does that mean for Joe Harris would be
the last end? Then that? I mean, there's so many different storylines
that play with the Denwoody thing, But honestly, I couldn't tell you I
have no idea whether he ends up on this roster in the playoffs or whether
he gets traded for a role play. Yeah, there's I think to move
him realistically, you either need him to agree to opt in to next year's
contract, which I don't think he'll do because twelve point three million dollars player
option. You just look at the free agency landscape now and if you write
off, you know, assume Drew Holiday is going to sign an extension with
the Bucks and Quiet stays with the Clippers. Like, there's just Spencer Dimity
might still be a top five free agent and so he's going to get paid.
And so what you need in that case is a team that doesn't have
cap space this summer who wants Spencer Dimity's bird rights, because that becomes what
you're trading for if you're assuming he's not playing for this season. And it's
tough to find. I think there are teams that could talk themselves into it,
but like some of them are also slated to have cap space, and
so I was like, well, why would you give up value? The
team I keep coming back to is Orlando is. Yeah. I was something
around with sorry go ahead, no, no, no, no, you
go ahead. I'm listening to you. I was just gonna say, is
there something to be done with Aaron Gordon? There? I think you and
I have identified would be a really good fit for this roster in previous conversations.
I don't know what you need to attach because you're not getting him straight
up, but you do have Landry Shammitt. I think Nets fans have become
very attached to Nick Claxton based off me, you know, suggesting a somewhat
deal on this and something I was writing. They were pretty heated that Nick
Claxton was being traded for Aaron Gordon. But you do have things that I
think could actually make the deal worthwhile for Orlando in the sense that they're a
team that I don't think is ready to start over. But they're clearly going
nowhere this year because Gordon's injured right now, but he's expected to come back
soon. Jonathan ISAC's out for the year, Faults is out for the year.
You just don't have wings or shooting or enough ball handling, and Spencer
Dimity takes care of a lot of the ball handling and shooting for you next
year, and he's a great fit next to faults. So that's the team
that I've looked at and said, maybe there's something could be done. But
you also don't just want to move Spencer Dinwoody for the sake of moving Spencer
Dinwoody. I would rather maybe roll the dice and pay him even you know,
you know, let's see does Joe Side care how much does roster costs?
If he actually doesn't, you know, it's not gonna Yeah, it's
an overkill. But just as you just mentioned before that you think people overthought
the addition of James Harden, Like, let's not overthink having a fringe All
star player on this roster who can create his own shot, create some shots
for others, and yeah, his efficiency can be wonky from the outside,
but Spencer dinwy he is a is a fringe All Star, So I think
you still need value in return. It's just that the market for him.
I think there might be a deal there, but it feels like it's just
going to be so finite because it's just such a specific set of circumstances right
now, not just because his injury, but with that upcoming free agency.
Yeah, you know, and on top of that, to your point about
like potentially trading Nick Claxton. I mean, look, I do not put
it past this this front, all of us to do that. You know,
if the right deal presents itself, I don't put it. You know,
you have to make the deal that makes your team, that puts your
team in the best position to win now. And while Claxton has a bright
future, yes and is it's breaking out now, he's also playing twenty games.
I don't even mean to do. You know, this is not his
timeline. They're completely different. Yeah, they are, And but I mean,
like I mentioned, you know, this team has parted ways with other
guys who have had more ties to the team, to the organization, who
have actually broken out into All Stars, right, Like, we've seen this
team trade guys and the Ba's why I was like, yo, you can't
put it past this team to trade Joe Harris, to trade to trade Spencer
Denwit, to trade Nick Klasson, to trade anybody, right, because if
the right deal presents itself, they've got to pull the trigger because it's what's
best for them. That said, you know, I'm still not sure what
the right deal is. And I'm also not sure, like I was mentioned,
I'm not sure where the Denwitty Fit is on this team where James Harden
is playing forty minutes a game at the point guard position, Kyrie is playing
another thirty five minutes a game. That's what's that eight plus thirteen, that's
twenty one minutes a game that you give for Spencer, which I mean it's
fine, but then what's the value in having a guy playing twenty one minutes
and you're paying him this money as a contract essentially coming up, but he's
not really didn't be able to Showlder the load that is supposed to come with
the contract number that you know what I'm saying. I'm like, and I
think at a certain point, Spencer also has pride and he wants to be
like, hey, you know, I can show teams that I can win,
I can I can run a team. You know, we've seen him
do it. We watched him do it. Was that last year when Kyrie
and Karis both went down for that stretch and Spencer basically put the team on
his back. It was the only reason they made the playoffs. Like,
I mean, he's a guy who's capable of doing that and his fit and
this team is still I wouldn't say it's questionable, right, because he's a
guy who can adapt to any situation. All these guys can. I think
his game is kind of tailor made for adapting, right. He can defend
a couple of different positions. He can play the one or the two,
and I guess maybe in this NBA he could possibly play the three, I
think. And he's an aggressive score. He can get down hill, you
can do a lot of different things. He can make plays for his teammates.
But you have to think, I mean, a guy with that skill
set deserves an elevated role, right, And as you mentioned, he was
a fringe off star in past season, so all of the last season at
least, So you know, I'm not sure that's one of the question marks
of the season. Does this team keep Spencer Dinwitty? Do they trade him?
Does he even make a return this year? Right? Like, as
much as he wants to come back, it's it's ultimately going to be up
to the train and staff and to the doctors and to the performance team,
into the head coach and really to the organization. So and if he's not
going to make them return this year, right, then do you keep a
guy on your roster knowing he's not going to play at all, or do
you honestly do what the logical thing is and trade him for someone who can
play. It's a tough situation, so you know, I mean that's kind
of why Shawn Marks is in the in the chair and I'm not right,
Like he's got to make he's got to pull the trigger on that deal.
But if I was him, you know, I look at the deal that
can get me back, maybe a three four combo that can shoot and defend,
and maybe a veteran backup point guard. I'm not sure what team has
that. But if you can get those two things for Spencer Dinwoody, who's
clearly worth the who's worth the trade when he's healthy, I don't see why
you don't do it. Yeah, I guess the problem would be everyone is
probably looking for the first player you described, like that three four combo who
could try. But I mean you brought up a great point, and really
think about it. Spencer Dinwoody at some point, not only he's gonna want
to get paid, but like he's gonna want to play, and so maybe
this end up being like a mutual thing where they can trade him somewhere where
he might get the opportunity to play this season or knows it will have a
larger role in his next contract. Is there. So I think what's interesting
about this team is when you look outside their top four players and Harden,
Irving Durant and Joe Harris, there's a bunch of different players that they kind
of need to rely on that maybe other teams wouldn't, or just such wild
cards, or they're among let's say the non stars or non core pieces.
Who has impressed you the most this season? I'm Brooklyn. That's a great
question. So the non core pieces, right, let's go down loads.
I mean number one will be Jeff Green. He got hurt, but number
one. I feel like once guys start getting older, start getting older,
we start to think that their athleticism is diminishing. And Jeff Green is basically
trying to dunk everything and has been doing so successfully. And then he's just
shooting lights out and say, lights, I'll be shooting a very high clip
from three. And then on top of that, guys are just crediting him
with just being a vent and then having that knowledge and just passing information down
from what he sees from the sidelines. He's been out with the shoulder injury.
So number one, I think he's been a very key piece to this
team's success. But beyond that, when you start to look at this team
and the guys they rely on on that second unit, it's really a three
person unit, right Tim and say, Lui Cabo Row, It's Landry Shammon,
and it's Bruce Brown. That's three, and the fourth would be Tyler
Johnson. One. Bruce Brown has been great and he's really inserted. He's
been starting more often than not. It feels like he's playing a huge role.
And it's crazy because at the beginning of the season he was getting no
burn. And I would ask Steve. I'm like, hey, Steve,
you know, Bruce is a starter for two years in Detroit and can't get
off the bench here in Brooklyn. Why not you know? He's like,
Oh, he's got to developed as a playmaker, as a as a three
point shooter, YadA, YadA, YadA. And then you know, I,
personally, I can't say that I take credit for Nash actually putting Bruce
Brown in the game, right Like, I'm not going to be that delusional
to think that I have that much of an impact on what it coach does.
But you know, I first, Christian is responsible for all of Bruce
Brown. Listen, listen. I asked him every game, Hey, you're
gonna play Bruce. Hey, you know DMP for Bruce, you gonna play.
Hey, Bruce was a starter for two years and it's still it's not
getting what's going on the coach and you can ask all the nets runners is
I hounded him about this was Bruce Brown in the game. First game,
he's the reason they win, and then he never he never comes out of
the rotation since then, and we've kind of just seen his growth. Now
they've got him using him, they're using him as a roller. He's setting
screens, rolling to the basket and making plays. He's hitting floaters, he's
playing d He brings an energy to the team. It's kind of like a
chump like energy, a schump like contagiousness on that defensive end. And he's
just he's just been great. Man. It's been great to see him his
success here. And I think he's the number one I know, I said
Jeff Green first with Bruce Brown is probably the number one other guy outside of
KD, Kyrie, James and Joe that's really been able to make an impact.
But other than that, now when we start getting to the second unit,
now we're looking at guys like Tyler Johnson, Landry Sammon, and TLC.
And those guys have been largely inconsistent, right, I mean, Landry
Shaman couldn't buy a basket to start the season, and then February starts shooting
forty percent and then he kind of falls off and hasn't been in and it's
kind of been the theme, right, And honestly, these are why these
guys are role players, are not starters, right, because if you're consistent
every day and hitting threes, then you probably end up being a starter.
And if you're not consistent hitting those threes, then probably end up being a
reserve guy. Somebody needs to come in off the bench and provide a spark.
So those are guys that the team has been I guess in a way
and relying on that's helped them win some games, but also hasn't done them
any favors and other games. And those are areas of the team has to
improve, right. If you want to win championships, you've got to be
able to rely on your guys that you're gonna play one to ten, one
to eleven, one and nine. However many deep that you're gonna go.
And right now I think Nash has settled on a good ten man rotation.
Right We've got Irving Durant, James, Joe, DeAndre, Jeff, Bruce
right that seven and then it starts to get a little murky after that.
It's like, Okay, well maybe today we'll go with TLC, or maybe
today we'll go with Landry. Maybe today is Tyler's day. And those three
have kind of been interchangeable. So those are the three guys that kind of
needs to be a little bit more consistent for this team to really realize that.
And I won't say for this team to realize right because at the end
of the day, what they do is gonna lay on James, k d
Kyrie, Joe, DeAndre, Jeff and Bruce. But those three guys are
really when the when the starters don't have it going, they really turned to
that second unit, and those three guards are the ones that can either keep
that team afloat or that's when people like me start right in the next second
unit. Man, it's not getting it done. The other thing I was
gonna ask you too, and you kind of alluded to it already, is
there have been times where TLC has usurped Landry Shammont in the rotation, and
I was just wondering, who do you think is more important to this team
just immediately because they do, you know, there's the shooting for both of
them. I think Landry Shammon's is a little bit when he's on, more
functional and he could probably do more the ball in his hands. But TLC
what a find by them. By the way, Yeah, he's played really
well for them, but he's gonna give you more defensively just by virtue of
being six seven, and he's shown that. I mean sometimes he gets super
hot too, and like that. That's been to watch. I'm just curious
as to who you think is more important to them this season between TLC and
Landry Shammon. Honestly, I think Landry is more important to Shawn Monks because
he had to trade that pick to get him, right, he traded the
nineteenth pick in last year's draft to the Clippers for Landry Shammon, who then
traded that pick to the Pistons for Luke Kennard. Right, So there was
a whole like so now it's by the way, man, that's not looking
so great that yeah, right, And I think just as a byproduct of
having to have given up something to get Landry versus finding TLC, it's signing
him to a non guaranteed deal, him exceeding it, and then you kind
of locking him in for that second year. I think he only makes one
like a million one point eight million this year or something like that. I
think there's there's just a natural need for Landry to to kind of validate the
trade that that landed him here in the first place. But TLC, I
mean just when you look at size, right, and just his ability to
defend multiple positions versus Landry, who's a little bit smaller still is a tough
defender, but doesn't have that size right Like last year in the bubble we
were watching TLC played small ball four right, and that just gives you a
little bit of versatility and which we've seen TLC developed this year in his playmaking.
I've seen him make pocket passes. I've never seen him make a pocket
past before this year, but now he's setting hitting the roller with a bouts
pass. I'm like, wait, is this the same TLC that I've seen
it in Beast saw last year, and the answer is no, it's not
the same player. But he's also inconsistent from three, Right, He's got
games where he'll go four for four games and he'll go one for seven.
So it's it's and that's just been the issue with all the NETS reserve guys.
You know, it's it's not being consistent from three on a team where
you've got three primary playmaking and playmaking scorers who when they pass you that ball,
you better be ready to shoot it. And some games these guys are
ready to shoot it. Other games that not. So you know, I
look at Landry as a guy who has a history playing with superstars in the
past, right, whether it be Joel and Bide or Ben Simmons, whether
it be Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, or whether it be how Kyrie,
k d And and James. You know, he has history playing on playoff
teams, versus TLC being a guy who's kind of new to this situation.
So I'm looking at Landry, But I mean TLC's versatility also is a plus.
If he can hit those shots. If he can't hit those shots,
you know, I think I'd rather land would be on the floor. What
do you think happens with and I guess it's if they're going to add Blake
Griffin, it sort of changes the calculus of it. How does the let's
say they add Griffin and then Kevin Durant comes back, Like, what does
this center rotation look like? Are they just completely deciding that they'll never go
to Katie at the five arrangements and it'll basically be, you know, committee
at center with DeAndre Jordan, Nick Claxton, Blake Griffin at that point Jeff
Green as well. Or do you think if Blake Griffin's there, that probably
means that Nick Claxton is going to play less. It's still very even if
they add Blake Griffin, it's still very confusing to look at their big met
rotation and kind of figure out what's going to happen. The fact that we're
just going ahead and assuming that they're going to add Blake Griffin is crazy because
it's a fair assumption that they currently these guys might actually get Blake Griffin after
you already got James Harden, after you got Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and
and DeAndre Juran. It's kind of mind boggling. There's still lots of process.
I still think that you you go with the center who can do the
most for you on the floor, right, And by that I mean I
mean DeAndre has been good in spurts, but he can only give you but
so many minutes before you're getting a diminishing return on the minutes that he continues
to play. Jeff Green has been great for the team at center, but
he's dealing with an injury. I mean, he's a guy who' spaces the
floor and still can defend multiple positions, But how do you trust him in
a game against a guy like Joel Embiid? Can you play him at the
five against him? Probably not, because I mean, but that's also I
mean I feel like Joel Embiad is an unfair baseline, right because there are
not every center is going to be an embi right, Not every center is
going to be able to dominate you in certain ways. So I mean it
gives the Nets a bunch of different options. I still think they go with
Djor or Jeff Green. But and still you can run Blake Griffin at the
five and put Jeff Green at the four. You can probably still run Blake
at the four and put DJ at the five and run Lob City back.
Right, you can probably still do that in a world, right they still
have. I mean that that chemistry that they had once a bill probably hasn't
completely disappeared, right, So I mean there's there's options, you know.
I still think DJ ends up playing the line share of those minutes. I
still think Jeff Green ends up playing a lot of those minutes. I think
we still see Blake Griffin play some minutes at the four. But it's just
a lot, man, how do you split those minutes out? You probably
end up I don't even know what you do with this seam if you end
up getting Blake Griffin on this same I think they end up starting. And
this is the thing that I've seen in New York, well in New York
and Brooklyn. It's just you know, they're going to put their best players
out there, right, So it's gonna be I think, and if you
end up getting Blake, you end up running with your best five, which
is probably gonna end up moving Joe Harris to the bench. You're gonna start
Kadi Kyrie, James, Blake and DJ and but also, but also,
can you just throw a guy like Blake into the starting lineup when he has
no institutional knowledge of what this team wants to do, when he hasn't been
playing basketball because he's been trying to get himself out the game. So we
don't know how to Detroit. So we don't know where it's conditioning is.
And that's been big in Brooklyn, right Stephen. At anytime the Net sign
a new player, it's, oh, well, we want to see where
he's conditioning is before we actually play him, and then boom, they end
up waiting a couple of weeks before they actually play him, and then we've
got to see where his game is. Right? Can he play? And
can he switch defensively? Right? Can he space the floor? Is he
still what you know people used to think Blake Griffin is or is he a
shell of himself and can only provide? But so much so, I think
a lot of it falls on what type of Blake Griffin the Nets are gonna
end up getting. If you're getting a lob City version of the Blake Griffin,
then go ahead and start him. If you're getting a fifteen points and
six rebounds version of Blake Griffin, then maybe let somebody bring off the bench.
I'm not sure, but I do know that this is a team that
has kind of catered to its superstars whim and obviously there's a totem pole here
that goes KDS probably now James, than Kyrie, than DJ and then Blake
Griffin will probably fall in on somewhere after that. But it's gonna be I
won't say it's gonna be tough, right because it's at this point it's probably
a rich person's problem, right, his first world problems. Right, You've
got all this talent, what do you do with it? But I think
ultimately they end up if you get Blake Grifford, I think you end up
starting. Wow. I did not expect that. I always just thought it
would make more sense. You could get by defensively better with him coming off
the bench, and then I'm assuming you know, it's it's so hard to
like kind of I envision how the nets will play at full strength, just
because they've spent so little time at full strength when you look at Superstar specifically,
but it feels like James Harden is going to be the one that'll that
will play the most solo time, like sort of get out Katie and Kyrie
so if you run those minutes with with Blake Griffin, that also makes his
job easier on offense. And maybe there's a lot of bench players around him.
I actually did not consider the notion that maybe they would they would start
him. That would be wild, and I would if I was them,
I probably wouldn't do it. But again, you have you just have way
more insight into this team than I do. Man, you know, I
mean, I mean, think about it, if you sign it, if
you had five I guess we'll call them stars on your team, right,
I mean, you probably end up starting them, right, and then you
figure out, okay, well three minutes go by, take Blake Griffin output,
Jeff green In, take Kyrie output, Joe Harrison right, and then
I mean, that's just the beauty of it. Right then, Nets have
so many different players that they've been tinkering with their rotations this whole time,
and adding Blake Griffin only adds another level to that tinkering, right, Like,
and I think, and now that I'm thinking about it, I mean,
imagine having that James Harden Blake Griffin on the floor with a bunch of
shooters in between them. I mean, you put you put up a lineup
like James Harden's, Landry Shammit, Joe Harris, Jeff Green, Blake Griffin
at the five. I mean, that's gonna be tough to stop because but
that's also going to be how are you going to stop the paint? How
are you going to defend the interior? You've got like a forty eight minute
problem for the next Yeah, yeah, that's not that's not that's not a
ten minutes judgment of problem. That's definitely a whole game. But I mean,
either way, their defensive problems aren't necessarily going to be too terrible because
I mean, at the end of the day, this is really bordering when
a team that's going to be able to score two hundred points in the game,
and I think it's just ridiculous that would say this much talent assemble in
one team there And so maybe the better question for them is and there's no
one size fits all, but I think once you get to the postseason,
you want to have sort of the go to crunch time lineup, like if
you get into a close game, and I think I would my opinion be
they have four of those spots locked up with Harris Harden, Kyrie and KD.
Who do you think would be the most common fifth alongside those four unless
you and if you disagree that maybe they you know, three of them are
locked up like we know that. Maybe you don't think Joe Harris will be
in all those closing units. I'm just curious what you would think on how
they round out the rest of those crunch time units. I think it could.
I think it's a game the game thing, right, Like Joe Harris
could be one game, Bruce Brown could be the next, right depending on
the matchup. DeAndre Jordan could be one game, Jeff Green could be the
next. You know, Nick Klaxton could have it going and you give it
and you play him INDs. And that's one thing that Steve Nash hasn't been
afraid to do, is just tinker with rotations. Right, see who's who's
the hot hand, who's got it going today? Who is the opponent playing?
I think that's one thing that Steve Nash has also been trying to do,
is just match one guy's minutes with another guy on another team's right.
So, if you're in a series against Philly and DeAndre Jordan is your best
chance at stopping Joel EMBIID probably match their minutes, right, and I think
that's how it's gonna end up going. Right, then it's I don't think
there's gonna be any one size fits all rotation that's going to close games for
them. I think it's okay, Well, maybe we're playing the Lakers and
they've got a D today and Nick Klaxton happens to be the best profile for
a guy who can defend him. Or maybe it's KD. Right, maybe
maybe in a matchup against the Lakers, if ads at the five, maybe
you're running KD at the five and you're putting a bunch of shooters on the
floor next to him with KD, with James and Kyrie. You know,
I'm not sure that there's I'll tell you one thing. I think that their
best closing lineup it's going to be James, KD, Kyrie honestly at this
point. And what I've seen, you put Bruce on the floor, and
you also put Joe Harris on the floor, all right, and if you
can, and if you can, if you can find a way to get
away with Kadi at the five and Bruce at the four and Joe and Joe
at the three, Kyrie at the two and James at the one then didn't
do it right. But we also, like I said, you know,
that boils down to who you're playing against. You're not gonna play KD at
the five if you're playing the Sixers, right, You're not gonna play KD
at the five. If you're playing I don't know, if you're playing the
Bucks maybe right, Like, I don't know how that's gonna work. Well,
maybe you can get away with Kadi at the five you're playing the Bucks
on he has taken at the five. But then it's like who on this
team is defending honest? If you have Bruce b like you trust him to
do that, that's a yeah. I mean, first of all, who
So, yeah, that's a that's it's probably it probably end up being Jeff
Green guarding your honest, I think. And I think that's why he's gonna
end up playing a lot of minutes of the five, because he's their most
versatile defender at the five. Well, no, that's that's fy. I
think Nick Laxon is the most versatile defender, but he's just so young,
and he's his body isn't filled out yet, and he has a ways to
go in terms of IQ that it just makes sense to that Jeff Green is
your best, I guess, front court defender in a way, and then
there's still Kevin Durant, right, Like Kevin Durant is is an incredible defender
when he's healthy. It's just do you want him getting trucked by honest every
day? Do you want him to try to defend Joe Ellenbid? Probably not.
You know, he'd rather have him on like Tobias Harris or Christmas Yeah
exactly, those guys, Yeah exactly. So it's it's I think the Nets
are in a situation where they're just gonna mix and match and try to match
up with whatever the opponents put out there. But in terms of the lineup
that I think makes the most sense. I love the the KD, Kyrie,
Joe, Bruce and James line up. I think that makes a lot
of sense. What I need to see, assuming they don't move him by
the time this podcast publishes, is Nick Klaxton crunch time and it's in the
finals. I just need to see happen. Yeah, No, that'd be
amazing. I don't think that actually happens unless well, I mean, and
let me say that I don't think that happens because you know, he's been
playing well these last few games, right. I mean, you look at
these last two games and he has a career high seventeen and seventeen miss.
The next game he comes out and put sixteen and eight up in in sixteen
minutes. Right, So it's a guy who clearly can play. Everyone knows
how talented he is, right, Like, you can see it on both
ends of the floor. You know, he's talking about shooting threes, but
he's all talking about you know, he doesn't really need to shoot threes because
of how these guys play, right, Like, if you're the five and
you're playing with James Harden, you better be in that dunker spot, be
ready to catch the ball, and you're ready to score. Right. So
his role really is to is to pick role and to be around the basket
and really to defend. And he's been able to do that. But for
him, a lot of it. You know, he hasn't played basketball and
basically a year, right because he didn't play in the Orlando bubble, had
knat tender nights, didn't play this entire year up until the last three games.
So he's still working his way into game shape, and then he plays
three games. He's getting his way in the game shape. And now he's
got a week off because of the All Star break, so he's kind of
got to get himself. He's got to get his win back. But I
love Nick now. I love what he's been able to add, love what
he brings. He works hard. You know, you get guys talking about
it, and he's a guy who wants to you know, as much as
he says that, you know, this team doesn't really require him to shoot
threes, he really wants to get that three ball off because he has confidence
in it. I need to you know, I'll believe it when I see
it. But he he talks a good talk about his three ball and about
the work he puts in. And if you can add that to his game
along with being a capable defender and a great roller and finisher, I think
he's gonna have a bright future. That's another reason why, you know,
you know, we made a lot about the Jared Allen trade, you know,
and rightfully so. I mean, I don't know if you saw the
highlights coming out of Cleveland, but but Jared is starting to look like Janni's
out there going full court with the ball, and I mean he's got like
the like he can pass a little bit better too, and yeah, he's
gonna be good. He's great, And that's part of the reason why a
lot of Nets fans and myself as well. You know, I'm looking at
the James Harns, I'm like, man, there's no way you could get
hardened without giving up Alan And obviously danswers, no, right, you keep
jacking, right, but yeah, but he's even still. Yeah, but
when you look at a guy like Nick and what he brings, I mean
Nick is probably two years away from being able to start in place of DeAndre
Jordan, right, and and think about how gary that is. If you
could have KD Kyrie James probably two years older at that point. And then
Nick Klaxson, who is now shooting three's, probably has filled out his body
a little more as smarter can defend four positions and as a ferocious finisher at
the rim. I mean, he's got a bright future ahead of him.
It's just a matter of whether the future is in Brooklyn or whether it's somewhere
else. You know, the origin of why he has the Slim Reaper nickname
on basketball Reference, then KD just decide I want people to stop calling me
that. So you have it? Is that what happened? I did not
know that was a thing. I didn't know the thing either. I stumbled
across it, and it makes men. Did they really? I'm no,
I gotta ask Kevin. I'm like, how you know Kevin on Basketball Reference?
You know Nick's nickname is the slim Reaper. Did you do something to
make that that's currazy? I didn't know if that was the thing? Yes,
if possible. I'm goldn't need the genesis of that, so I need
at least feature or something on it. See, I'll see what I can
do. I don't know if the Daily News will let me write twenty five
hundred words about anything, but I can try to get you five. I
can try to get you five. So I don't want to shift this back
to the James Harden trade, and there's still a lot to see about this
team at full strength, but there's a level of vindication already for booking with
the trade right, not just because of how well Harden has played, but
the thought process here was, he's another player who can literally uplift whatever's around
him. Where if you have James Harden and combative basketball players, you're just
a fifty win team. And now that Kad has missed so much time,
it sort of adds value to the thought, like, oh, maybe I
know the season's weird, and he was an at least health and safety protocols
for a while, but he's dealing with a hamstring injury right now. And
Kyrie Irving is hardly a billboard for good, good physical health when you look
at his injury track record, even if he's not dealing with anything chronic.
So it almost like we were seeing the value of James Harden unfold immediately,
not just because again of how he's playing, but of how the availability of
the stars in general have just shaken out. You know, I got a
chance to watch that happen because, like I said, you know, I
was in Phoenix for the Sun's game, and that was a game Kyrie didn't
laying obviously Katie didn't play in. And the Suns are up twenty four in
the second quarter, and James Harden just goes nuclear, goes for a thirty
eight point eleven as his game hits a step back three in the last second
to the fourth quarter and wins that game for you, for them, right,
So at that point, it's like, WHOA, You've got a guy
who can win you a game against a team where honestly the Nets are supposed
to lose that game. The Suns are good. Right, You've got Devin
Booker, You've got Yeah, you've got Devin Booker, You've got Chris Paul,
You've got all these other pieces of DeAndre and all these guys. And
they find they somehow lose that game because James Harden goes crazy. And this
is kind of the value that you add in a season where guys are getting
hurt, right, because honestly, my take on it is, I think
guys are getting hurt because they had so much time off. If you didn't
go to the Orlando Bubble, you had that time off, and then for
things to just ramp up so fast, I'll barely get a week of training
camp in and then be asked to play real minutes of basketball when you haven't
really been playing all year, I think obviously you're going to get injured that
come across. And then obviously the health and protocol, the health and safety
protocol, you're gonna have guys in and out of the rotation for a bunch
of different reasons. So you want to kind of stat guys that can do
as much as possible, and James Harden is a guy who can do that.
And it's crazy because, like I said earlier, you know, I
didn't really have the level of appreciation for his game when he was in Houston
that I probably should have. You know, I was one of those guys
who was like, oh, James Harden is not not good in clutch.
I a ball. You know, I'm saying, dribble, dribble shoots,
step backshoot, bailout passes at the end of the shot clock. These are
all things that I've either thought to myself or I've tweeted, or I've wrote.
I've written, and now I'm looking at it, I'm like, WHOA.
This is a guy who literally can bend the defense to his will,
knows what the defense is going to do before it actually does it, knows
where his teammates are, makes the right decision more times often than not,
and his turnovers only come from trying. His turnovers don't come from from really
like doing dumb things on the floor he's trying to. The turnos are coming
from him trying to feed guys that sometimes aren't ready for the feed, and
he is just going to end up getting that turnover because he made the past
versus the ball bouncing off of somebody's foot or bouncing off of somebody's hands because
they weren't ready for the past. He's really just been amazing. I honestly
think he's an MVP candidate, But if I had to vote, I'd probably
give it to Joel and be it again because of just how dominant has been
able to be. But I mean just the fact that he's in the MVP
conversation at all again this season, after how things played out in Houston,
come into a new situation and just basically taking over testament to his game how
far has come. And I honestly, I think for him this is nothing
new, Right, It's what do we get from James Harden in the playoffs
that we've got that we've got to look into, right, Like, what
are we gonna get from James hard when the games on the line in crunch
time? Is he going to make the shots? Is he's going to make
the right decisions? And honestly, at this point he doesn't have to because
you've got guys like KD and Kyrie, right, so to win win situations
for him, man, I think he's he can win an MVP this year
and then only have to score twenty points in the playoffs for the Nets to
win it, all right, And that's kind of crazy. You've got a
guy who's making forty something million dollars in a year and always got to do
is give you twenty points and ten assist in the game and you're good.
It's it's the Nets are in a great place, man, It's it's ridiculous
and it's been fun to watch. It's interesting to wonder where James Harden would
be in the MVP discussion had he been traded, either before the season or
even just like a month or something earlier, like a few weeks earlier.
Because for me, and I'm sure this might be maybe I'm just getting too
old and I'm yelling at Clouds here, but like, I can't vote someone
for MVP when he's sort of just undermined the beginning of his own team season.
And I think the bigger thing there is too you know that first however
many games it happened, And the margin in the MVP discussion right now is
so thin that you're gonna have to split microscopic hairs where you have to.
And that's just one of the things that I think, you know, when
you look at Yokich or Lebron or b or even a case like if Steph
and Damon Janis are going to be in it, I just feel like that's
what's going to end up pulling him out of the discussion. However, think
about how wild the MVP disc be right now had he begun or you know,
been traded to Brooklyn five games into the season or something. That's interesting.
I kind of looked at the other way around, you know, before
Harding came to Brooklyn, I mean that team was kind of in shambles defensively,
you know, offensively, they were still all over the place. You
have guys in and out of the lineup, and kind of guys being in
and out of the lineup still. While James Harden has been constant, helps
his MVP conversation in a way, right, because he's been healthy, right,
he's been constant for the team, and he's been kind of the rest
of the reason why the team has been able to win a lot of games.
If you take James Harden out of the equation, and Kevin Durant still
misses all these games with the hamstring, I highly doubt this team goes forget
an eight game winning Street, forget winning ten of the last eleven. I
mean, I don't even think they win four, let alone five of those
games if it's not for James Harden. Right, and now, this team
is second in the East, probably the best team, And I mean,
I don't think it's unfair to call him the best team in basketball when you
look at how much talent they've got, when you look at how hot they
are getting into the All Star break, and when you look at who hasn't
been playing, right, Kevin duran hasn't played what ten of the last eleven
games, or so I think, James Harden I think, and I can't.
I don't know how many more times we're gonna say this, but I
mean, he's just been amazing, right, everything that he's been able to
do in Brooklyn. While also and I think I won't say it flies under
the radar, but I mean, look at what he did for people in
Houston when that snowstorm hit, right, just giving meals back meals to the
community, help and rebuild Homes. I mean, he's a really good guy
in general and then also somehow an even better basketball player. I think he
does have a legitimate case for MVP. I just know me personally, the
way Embiad is playing that, I don't know what it is with me.
I think I just have a a thing for just like other dominance, right,
just being able to impose your will on someone else. And I think
Joel Embid is probably the closest thing we've said, I don't want to say
the closest thing we've seen to Shack because they have kind of two separate games
and when I pull up three point first, yeah, right, but just
in terms of that low post dominance and defending the at and just the he
just brings a different level of excitement to the game, right. Like I
remember having a conversation with somebody else before like who's more marketable, Devin Booker
or Joel Embiid, And I was like, you know, I think Booker
is going to be great and all, but I think in Bead is the
most marketable big man we've seen since probably since Dwight Howard. Right when Dwight
Howard was was in Orlando, and he was also a personality down there in
Orlando. I think it beat is really just something else, so he'd be
he'd get my vote for MVP if I had one. But it can't be
mad at anyone that votes for James Harden because he's just he's basically just come
to Brooklyn and give them giving them a steady really just a steady diet of
winning. Right. And that's something that that DeAndre Jordan said once so long.
He said, James just does whatever it takes to win, right,
and you've got somebody, a team that you can rely on to get you
that win. Yeah, it's funny how it just discourse changes when a player
requests the trade. It's totally unfair. And yeah, I think there are
legit questions. You brought up the playoffs stuff, and I know ESP and
Zach Loo did like a deep dive into there are genuine questions about James Harden's
playoff performance. That's just a non issue in Brooklyn. But the larger thing
to me is, yes, I also think it was fair to question,
like, Okay, he had issues with Dwight Howard and then Chris Paul.
It seems like the Russell Westbrook stuff ended amicably he just didn't want to be
in Houston anymore. So that's fine. So those are fair questions. But
like we can't pretend that James Harden was also un hated by all of his
teammates or that he was a terrible teammate or something just because he requested out
of Houston or players who hadn't you know, DeMarcus Cousins comes into Houston,
hadn't really played with him, and he's frustrated at the situation, which he
had every right to be. But like that's just the dynamic that wasn't established.
So it's it is frustrating how the discourse and perception of players change when
the trade demand comes into play, and that, you know, it should
be separate from whether you think the trade demand is fair or not, because
like James Harden is not. Yes, he's had problems getting along. We're
fitting, it seems like with certain co stars, but he's just never been
built. It's just this terrible teammate and he's also you know, and I
think I got caught up into this aspect of it. The cost and that's
paid. He's just he's a top five player and perennial just an MVP candidate,
like, you can't overthink these things sometimes, yeah, yeah, you
know, and it would have just been I think it just would have been
a disaster. Strips the nets. Let the Sixers get James Harden. Imagine
the Sixers end up getting James Harden and keeping Joe well embiid I did that
situation would have just been disastrous for Brooklyn. But I don't think that was
ever on the table, you know. And it's funny just to watch how
I won't even say I won't even say, I'll say it like this.
You know, Harden even said himself, you know, he wishes some of
the things that he did in Houston to get out of there. You know,
he wished he didn't have to do it. But at the end of
the day, you know, they probably wouldn't have traded him as soon as
as they did had he not done what he did in terms of saying,
you know, I was in the situations can be fixed and whatever else he
said at that situation was wild. I was like, oh nah, they
got to get him out of here now. But I mean, you've got
to do what you gotta do to get traded, right, Like, if
he doesn't do that, we might still be he might still be in Houston
now right like, you never know, So you know, I think that
he I think him owning up to it is as well and not shying away
from that conversation helped him a little bit because he was like, you know
what, like he had to do what he had to do to get out.
And at the end of the day, you know, some of these
teams just aren't gonna move on your timeline unless you force them to. So
I had to do what you had to do, and I get it.
But at the same time, I mean, just look at look at I
don't think there's ever a version of the James of the of the Kyrie,
KD carros LeVert, Spencer Denwitty, Jared Allen, Brooklyn Nets that do what
this the rendition of this Brooklyn Nets team is doing right now, because I
mean, this team just looks special. They have talent out the ass and
back and it's just like I said before, it's just been fun to cover
this team. And I just can't wait for people to start calling them the
villains because if they get Blake Griffin, I mean, I mean they're yeah,
I mean, they are the villains, and it's gonna get worse if
they get Blake Griffin. It's gonna be even worse when they sign whenever they
use whatever I guess they might trade Spencer den Waity to get somebody else,
and they're gonna have they still have another exception they can use to get like
they have different mechanisms. You know, they did what Danny Ainge was supposed
to do with the Celtics, right, Like the Celtics were supposed to siphon
off those assets and build around James, Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown. They
failed to do that. And now you've got Brad Stevens looking like Kenny Atkinson
had he had all his draft things like it's bad, and yet you've got
in Brooklyn, you know, guys who have turned not having assets into now
having a super team pretty much. And it's just been crazy to see how
it's all transpired. Two very quick questions before I get you out of here.
We haven't talked about him much on this pod, which is wild.
Kyrie Irving just averaging twenty seven and six, basically slashing, you know,
fifty one forty eighty six. What has been your impressions of his fit with
with James Harden. So far, it's been you know, I'll say this,
it wasn't the most seamless fit because you've got a guy in Kyrie who's
going to be an aggressive scorer, right like, he's going to get his
shots right one way or another. He wants to leave his impact on the
game and for good reasons. One of the most gifit scores that we have
in this league. And he's just fun to watch, right Like you're paying
him, was it four years, one forty six spend one hundred and forty
six million, Not just be because he gets twenty seven points. Because of
how he gets that twenty seven points. I mean, he can break a
guy's ankles, go up in one arm, come up with the under,
go under, come up with the other hand, throw it off the high
right side of the backboard, spinning off that he gets you the foul and
one right like it's just crazy. But I think that relationship took time because
they had to kind of figure out Okay, well, all right, well,
let's let James play the one because it's clearly a gifted passer and let
Kyrie play the two because it's clearly a gifted score. And ever since they
kind of made that transition and kind of assigned roles from the top down.
It's kind of been better since then. You know, like James, James
sent himself his job is just to make everybody's life easier, and he makes
that. He makes Kyrie's life easier because he knows when to get on the
ball, he knows when to get everybody else involved, and Kyrie knows when
to shoot because whenever he's got the ball in his hand, it's going to
try to make a play. So I think now versus at the beginning of
the year when they were trying to figure it out, it's a lot better.
And I think that that assigning the roles of having James is the one
in Kyrie is the two really helped them a lot. And my final question
would be, so removing Spencer Denwitty from the equation, who's the most likely
player on this team to get traded if the Nets make him over to deadline?
Whoa she? Part of me, I'm always going to be a conspiracy
theorist, So part of me thinks, Okay, well, are you just
playing Nick to drum up his value to get him traded somewhere? Right?
Like, are you going to package him with Den Witty to get somebody back,
like I don't know liking that, Probably not Aaron Gordon. I don't
know who you would do that for, do that with. But I mean
you've got guys at the end of the bench, right, Like you've got
guys like TLC, Shammon and and Tyler. I don't even know if you
want to trade. You know, this is a team where it's like,
well, you're not going to trade your top five. You're not gonna trade
any of your five starters, right, let's just call those out. You're
not you're probably not trading Kyrie K. Well, you're not not. Probably
you're not trading Kyrie k D James DeAndre. You can't trade because he's friends
with those three, and honestly, his trade value isn't that high for his
salary. And I mean you could trade Joe, but what are you getting
in return? Right, Like, what are you getting that valid He's trading
one of the NBA's best shooters, right, Probably not something that's going to
You're not going to get an equal value back. So then you go down
the line, Okay, well are you going to trade Bruce Brown? Probably
not, he's not making enough money to where the player that you get back
in return would would replace the value that that goes out for him, right.
I think he's only making like three million dollars this year, So what
other three million dollars or four million dollars player are you going to get in
return that gives you equal or greater value than you're getting from Bruce? Right,
So you're probably not trading him. Let's go down the line, You're
not trading Jeff Green, and then who else do you even have? Then
then you get down to Nick Klaxton, Christiosa, Tyler Johnson TLC, and
Landry Shammon. Right, honestly, don't really see those well. I mean,
you could theoretically try to package those last three, those those reserve shooters
that we were talking about earlier that aren't very consistent and try to get one
that is a consistent shooter, right, But like where those consistent shooters are
hard to find, right, And if you on one, teams probably aren't
trying to trade them unless you find one that's on a losing team, right
and they need some draft assets, right. So but then Nets also don't
have any draft assets to give up because he traded on them to get James
hard and so it's tough. I think that if they do make a trade,
that they're only attractive assets at this point are Spencer, Denity and Nick
Claxton and with you. I mean, that's an attractive draft package, right,
I mean, that's that's an attractive trade package. Right. You put
Spencer deal with here Nick Claxton together. I mean in two K that's probably
going to get you back with like a three and a half to four star
player and return right, Like, that's that's probably how that works, right,
So what three you had a half to four star player can you get
in return for trading to Dinwoodie and a Clackson And then you could even throw
in a TLC or a Shamment or you know. So I think that's probably
where we look, right, and you look at those five players at the
bottom of the rotation, Well not really at the bottom, right because Nick
Clackson is making his way up there. But if I had to bank on
someone getting traded, it's either going to be a combination of Spencer and Claxton
for a like I said, at three and a half to four star player,
or you start tinkering with some of those other guys with some of those
TLC Shammitt or Tyler Johnson guys, And honestly, at this point, I
don't think you get much in return for them, so I don't even see
a trade happening there. I guess would actually be shamm it just because you
have TLC and you have Joe Harris and all this other offense. And so
if you do sham It, who has another year in his rookie scale plus
Dinwitty and maybe it's you know, I think you have to do a bigger
return, like an Aaron Gordon type player or someone close to it that it
just feels like at this point that's the only move that the Nets can actually
make is like a medium size swing where they don't have the really the the
small time salary fieler to make those like smaller moves or a player who's like,
you know, six or seven million dollars unless they're looking at cut payroll
and moving din Witty anyway, but they're going to be fascinating regardless of what
happens with with Blake at the Trade dead Vine, Christian, thank you so
much for giving me your time. As usual, everyone, you need to
follow him on Twitter if you're not already at CRISP Slash, that's at kr
I sp l A s h e Ed. He does a great job moving
the nets and the NBA for the New York daleen Is TV star Christian went
A Man, appreciate you for having me, man anytime you need anything,
Nets, Nicks, NBA, kim me. Well, no, honestly,
I don't even know the Knicks as much as I used to because I'm knee
deep in nets stuff. I don't even have time to watch them. Is
that Frankie Lakina is a stud And that's right. He's a shooter. Now
he's a shooting boy. Who is he shooting sixty percent from three in his
last eight games? I'm getting look at him. It's sustainable too, It's
just perfectly sustainable. My god, thanks for having me man anytime. Sugar
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