What is up, fellow thermonuclear a efforts. I am Dampa Valley coming at
you with my fans. Have you listic fans? Have you vicious? Even
co host Grant Hughes. Before we get started, please remember to subscribe to
the podcast wherever you consume it YouTube hit that subbuton like comment, help the
algorithm, love us back. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, Google,
wherever you get your pods Downloavery episode. If you've done all those things,
please consider telling people about us. Retweet our promos on Twitter, and
follow us on all the socials which are in the YouTube and podcast descriptions,
and finally, join our discord. Don't be like Grant, join the discord.
Lots of fun conversations happening in there. As a refresher, we each
we split this up and we just came up with what are our biggest most
pressing or question is for each squad. We tried to be like in depth
about this, but also the reason we're asking these questions is because we don't
necessarily know the answers. There were people, specifically the YouTube comments who were
like, well, why would you make a podcast out of things you don't
know? We're curious people, and like that's the nature of this exercise,
Like I don't have all the like I'm not asking this question I'm about to
ask about the Atlanta Hawks. If I knew the answer to it, I
would tell you the answer. So I thought it was an instructive exercise.
Some people disagree. Here's hoping you enjoy it. We begin with the Miami
Heat and my question for them. Miami Heat be tanking for Victor wem Yama.
My actual question for them is it like, is there is this title
window of this cord just closed? And I'm gonna use that to sort of
segue into the offensive concerns I have for them. They have. They've been
banged up some games beyond comprehension. When you look at his available Butler's dealing
with the knee injury, but the heat or twenty second in offense, They've
lost six of their last nine games. They're twenty sixth in offense during this
stretch. They are bottom seven in rim field goal percentage and frequency. They're
twenty fifth in three point shooting. They cannot function without Jimmy Butler, ninth
percentile in the half court without him, or and then you look at just
like all four of their stars playing together. Stars are put in quotes,
but you have Hero, Bam, Lowry, and Butler. They have not
played a ton together, so I want to note that. But their their
offense is in the thirty first percentile with all of those stars up, all
those players on the floor, which is just like, those are your four
best players. You would want them to be like really freaking good together.
And I don't know what the answer is here, Like if you're getting to
a point which oh, like gave Vincen's injured, what the fuck are we
gonna do? That's probably a sit, Like that's a pretty big issue,
and I don't know what the pathway to fixing this team is. Internally,
it's is it Victor Oladipo comes back and they're fine. I think at minimum
they need someone who's like at the four just to like it can't be Kla,
Martin, Nikola Yovitch or Bam had a bio together, Like that's the
fact of the really talking like that's needed to happen a bunch already, So
at minimum they need to do something like that. But Jay crowd are coming
in, I don't think that makes your offense going from bottom ten, bottom
five right now again they've been so banged up to like lee average, and
so is this is a team that's built to win ugly in the playoffs or
is there something more sinister at play here that well, that's that's the question,
because we've seen the heat just there. They are. They are built
sometimes or often to just grind out games, you know, and they and
a lot of that's like a mentality and an experienced thing, I think,
you know, other than you know, the injuries have been a factor,
but there was some foreseeability here with just didn't fill a starting spot, you
know, they just Tucker left and they just didn't backfill that. And all
of the hypotheticals of well, can we really play Caleb Martin at the for
that often? Are we gonna trust a rookie a teenage rookie. Are we're
gonna have Jimmy Butler just be the four all the time? Like? And
that means are we gonna play hero in the first unit? And what's that
going to do to the offense off the bench? Which has been like there's
just all these questions that were foreseeable, they just weren't answered. So on
some on some level, Like, yeah, this is just this is just
what this team is. I do think, you know, there's some there's
some optimism. I think you should you should bake in just because, like
you know, they're set top seven in minutes this year, which is starting
at the bottom. It goes Vincent Hero, Martin Struce out of Bio Butler
Lowry, Like that's pretty solid. There's not a power forward in there,
which is a problem that we talked about. And you're pretty small in general,
but line up with Kayleb Martin though has held up fairly well. Defensively,
Martin's been good. Are you shooting thirty eight percent from three plays?
Really hard? Like, I just think it's probably not great if if he
has started more games than anyone on the team other than Lowry, and even
that's like how about that. I'm just surprised myself just reading that. It
feels to me, Yeah, you're right. I think they if to level
up. I don't think this offense is good enough to do anything in the
playoffs. They need another guy. It's not Oladipo, by the way.
He was like my swing piece for them preseason, you know, kind of
an X factor idea of like, well, that's you know that, I
feel like the ship is maybe sailing. The number of teams I endorsed signing
him before free agency, Boy, are they lucky they didn't listen to me,
right? You know? I was. I thought he would. I
thought he potentially might matter a lot. But really, even if he were
healthy, how much does that really change? You know? It? He's
he doesn't bring the size. He doesn't He's not a guy who guards wings
or combo forwards. You know, I don't know. Yeah, the heater,
the heater. I'm always is hesitant because I was just looking today at
the standings, like, holy shit, they're what are they seven and eleven
or something? Or they're down, you know, outside the plan that seems
wrong, But then you look at just the talent and the way it's put
together. I don't think they're going to finish the season under five hundred,
but I would really have to do some gymnastics to get them up even into
the like Atlanta, Cleveland, Toronto tier. In terms of where I think
they'll be at the end of the year, I don't like I'm I've always
defaulted to just the heat or going to figure it out, sure, but
like this is just I don't know something feel and I don't know what we're
expecting to get better because the half court offense was an issue last year.
By the way, this isn't just coming out of the blue, right,
And so yeah, I don't like I wonder if they are a team that's
always been aggressive, but are they a team that do you feel good enough
about this team if you are Miami to that make in aggressive trade. And
they're also they're even limited what they could do there because of Tyler Hero signing
that extension. It's like everything they do is going to be Duncan Robinson,
koly Yovic and a crap ton of picks. And so like, I'm not
saying the ceiling is Jay Crowder, but like even a move like that,
you're not even dealing directly with the Phoenix Suns, is my guest, because
they have no use for Duncan Robinson. Yeah, and the other things like
are you trading when he's tarrade eligible Kleb Martin, like that he would actually
make sense for Phoenix, but like does that like going from Jay Crowder to
Caleb Martin. So it's tough for me to envision a deal that addresses the
myriad concerns that he'd have right now, and if you're looking at it internally,
I actually think Tyler hero has been He's clearly not focused on setting up
teammates as much this year. I think he's been really good overall. Looking
at the types of shots he's sitting. I know people want him to play
off the ball a little bit more. He's hitting like a pretty good percentage
of his pull up threes right now, And to be quite honest, like
they need him to hit those shots because he's the only one on the team
who can hit there, Like Jimmy Butler's not hitting off the dribble threes and
Kyle Lowry's been all over the place with those. So sorry, go ahead,
no, I was gonna say. The hero narrative is one that was
we talked about in the playoffs, like that's that's too again, Like how
how different is this really with the half court offense. I remember it being
the thought being going into every Heat series was the defense will be good.
I'm just not sure how they get a bucket outside of Butler and and it
all felt a hero and it's like Hero was a huge determinant of their success
in playoff series, and that's fine, but it's also a part of the
reason that they're just not getting anything done offensively this year. Where do you
land on BAM. I love the theory of BAM, just just I've always
loved the guy that that could facilitate from the elbows, could guard five positions
and rim protect. I think the rim protection and aspect has kind of long
been overblown. I also think it's very clear that he probably needs to be
like, no more than you're like third offensive option on a really good team
and on a great offense, he's probably just passing and and rolling and cutting
and he's not creating anything because I don't know, like that's that's a luxury,
and I think, you know, if you had an offense that was
otherwise just better equipped, and then you know, he could kind of explore
the space a little more. But I think offensively he's not someone that you
if you need twenty from out of Baio to like an efficient twenty to survive
on offense, and it's not like a luxury that he does once in a
while, then I think that's probably not the best place to be. He's
he just teases me so much. He's ratchet it up a little bit lately.
He leads Miami and shot attempts over the past per game over there over
here is I think he played in sixth to the last seven, But that's
like, you know, part of that just because look at who's available on
there. But he's averaging over twenty during that stretch up throwing a lot of
turnovers this year as well. He's a fantastic player, uh love Defensive Player
of the Year candidate. I think I might be with you where it's he
might need to be your third best offensive player on like the type of team
you're looking for. He can be a really important piece of an offense.
But the shot attempts, I think it's just that just doesn't feel to me,
like maybe maybe he could be two if your first guy is like different
from Jimmy Butler, where they kind of occupy a little bit of the same
space a lot of the time. The fact that the idea was that Bam
needed to be this team's best player at some point, I think almost works
against him because I don't I don't think that's the answer. Jimmy Butler needs
to be your best player if you're going to have a line to title contention.
Yeah, or if Autobio is your best player, it's because he runs
away with Defensive Player of the Year and is like pretty good on offense,
Like that's the that's that would be ideal. But again we're talking about the
Heats offense and it's not good enough. I have the Bucks next. This
is kind of a two parter related again to kind of a positional issue.
Can Chris Middleton save the offense? In part two? Does that mean Javon
Carter can keep starting? So, like, Grayson Allen seems like one of
those Grayson Allen is kind of in the John Collins camp of just he's in
every like, well, what if you know the Bucks moved him for something?
Maybe that's gonna be Jay Crowder. But so, the Bucks so far
this season great defensively, as you mentioned earlier, they figured out how to
protect the rim and keep you from shooting threes, which is a pretty solid
way to be one of the best defenses in the league. They're twenty second
on offense again this is a day old, twenty fourth, and effective field
goal percentage eighteenth and turnover percentage those are all the worst figures they've had since
twenty fifteen. Sixteen, which is really kind of not quite you honest time
yet, like he wasn't he wasn't full full, you know, fledged honest
at that point, right, So that's significant. So I mean, it's
you can throw the caveats in of you know, it's early. Middleton hasn't
played yet, Pat Conaton hasn't played Holiday, and you honest have both missed
time. But like, this is a top seven offense each of the last
four years, and Middleton is a guy that they trust with a lot of
late game possessions. He runs a lot of the pick and rolls with Yannis
to the extent that the Bucks ever do that. He's the guy they trust
with the ball the most. So does him coming back just suddenly mean that
the Bucks are now, you know, the best defense in the league and
a top five offense again, I kind of I'm hesitant, just because it's
just there are bigger problems, or there are more problems, not bigger ones
than Middleton being out. There's just several players that have either underperformed or haven't
been on the floor often enough. But what interests me most is I like
the idea of Javon Carter playing with the starters because you could sort of you
get some you know, it's kind of cool to have another point guard ish
player on the floor. And also I think he can guard up. He's
spent a fair amount of time guarding wings, and we know Holiday can guard
frigging power forward if he has to. So you get something interesting going there,
and maybe the Middleton return and and Carter staying in as a starter or
as a in a big role playing with the starters kind of gets the bucks
to that, like, oh this is now this at least our best five
just doesn't really give opponents any quarter on either end because Carter is a thirty
eight percent three point shooter, low volume, but he's not going to take
that away. And if that's all Alan is doing for you, for example,
is running around off screens and shooting threes, then I mean Carter's not
going to be as mobile. But the defensive boost is ridiculous. So one,
I'll just throw it to you if Middleton comes back, like do you
have any offensive concerns at all anymore? And would you have Carter be starting
in place of Grayson Allen or whoever else? Throw marj On bo Champ in
there, who had a couple of solid ones. I know you're big on
him, but would you keep Carter in the starting five? Look, they
beat the Blazer and Pat Conaton's return so info, So you're everything you just
said is invalid because bat Conaton is going to say this office No. I
think, Look, did you know that Milwaukee has the least efficient transition offense
in the NBA right now? No? And how is that possible? And
I think what Middleton does and also Drew Holiday was hitting his threes. What
that does is it opens the floor both in the half court and in transition
to make things better. So I do think we can default towards this might
be okay. I've been a big advocate of this. I know the Eurostep
podcast one of the best NBA podcasts out there. They cover the Bucks.
Uh Ty Windish has We've discussed how they don't want to see honest, they
don't want to see them downsizing. I still think the pathway to unlocking this
offense would be can you get that Jay Crowder trade done? And that's how
you open the floor because you can't. Great Grace now might open the floor,
but he's not your nudging Chris Middleton or Pat Connaton is your four.
That just doesn't make as much theoretical sense on both sides of the ball.
And then Mark Stewin said they were on the verge of getting Crowder from Phoenix.
I want to know what that trade looked liked was Phoenix getting Milwaukee's twenty
twenty nine pick because Grace now and for Jake Crowder is not like, that's
not the move of your Phoenix And who wants Like what is Grace now and
getting you? I know Jake Crowder's value is plummeted, but I would have
been I want to know what the terms of that deal was the fact that
it came out probably means it won't happen now. But I think we need
to see it with Middleton back because he changed the dynamics in the half court
a lot, like he is probably their most important ball handler in the half
court. I think that that's fair to say over Drew Holiday. He just
has a different cadence and level to his game. And where Drew Holiday is
kind of just like he's gonna bail out at the rim, but then settle
for a step back. But he can get to the rim, but he's
gonna finish there. We seen him have some issues with that in the playoffs.
I think Middleton there's more of just like an underlying smoothness, being able
to get just so comfortable in the mid range, being able to hit off
the dribble threes, run the two man game with Jannie. That is just
like that's always worked really well for Milwaukee. I think to see it with
Middleton back, and my guests would be the offense will be fine. Does
Chris Middleton coming back really help their transition offense? I do not know.
I think you know, Jannie needs to shoot better from the floor. He
graded out. I actually just did this statistically, relative to volume and efficiency,
Jannie has been one of the five least valuable shooters in the league this
season. That doesn't include free throws either. She's not hitting his mid rangers.
Three is at his usual clip, and so you need those to creep
up a little bit more. You can say, yeah, well he should
just become less reliant on them. I'm a big believer that there is value
in the volume, and you can, especially when Middleton's not available, Like,
you can't just bank on him getting the rim every five seconds. Yeah,
he's STI shooting over like seventy percent at the rim. That's great,
He's not always going to be able to get there, and so I think,
look and the offensive efficiency, if he's shooting better than like fifty eight
percent from the foul line, it probably looks a little bit different as well.
So I can't bring myself to be too worried. But like, and
they also, like, let's not forget they have Joe Ingle kind of coming
back at some points, So this might just be a slow burn from Milwaukee.
I'm not a super big believer, like the fact that Wesley Matthews misses
a few games and I'm like, this feels like it really matters, Like
that's not like the best place to be in the year twenty twenty three that
we're coming up one with the Davon Carter stuff. Yeah, I'm not a
Grace and Allen guy. I think like, so I would absolutely like,
if you think that's gonna and Javan Carter is gonna give you more aggressive defense
and even just more aggressive offense than George Hill I healthy George Hill. I
would totally try that. And but I do think ultimately like they either need
another ball handling up grade, which I just don't think it's feasible with the
trade assets they have, or I do think they need the ability even if
you don't want to do it in the regular season. This is how we
get to Jannis as the lone big and look, maybe we have someone at
the four in Jay Crowder who can cover some of the fives and tussle with
some of those guys on the glass so that Jannis doesn't have to. I
do think they ultimately need to get there. I don't think Joe Angeles is
going to be that player for them, and I think Bucks fans will push
back against this because yes, it's a recycled conversation. I asked Ty Witness
about it every five seconds for a reason, I firmly believe it. Though
I'm not trying to latch onto something that is overdiscussed. I really think that
that is especially in the playoffs, and there's value and understanding how to play.
Brook Lope is really fucking good too, and Bobby Portis has been,
you know, an asset for Milwaukee. But when you're trying to look at
optimizing the best versions of yourself, especially when you don't have that other creator
in Chris Middleton, that's when I think you can argue in Chris Middleton comes
back, it's probably less important to get to be honest at the as your
loan big whatever you want to call it, then you would right now.
But I still think you need that option and they just don't have it.
Yeah, I think that's right. I think it's interesting. If the goal
is to get our regular season offensive rating up, then downsizing I think makes
a lot of sense. But if the goal is to like I'm you're gonna
have to work a little harder on me to I think brook Lopez, especially
like this year, this is the wrong time to be saying we should take
brook Lopez off the floor because he's getting all this defensive player of the Year
hype and has been really good and has looked like you would never guess this
is a guy that had back surgery, especially at this age in his career.
I think, I don't know. I still think the best version of
the Bucks just has be honest at the four just overall. But yeah,
I think if you're trying to figure out how to create some space, get
get more bodies moving, you do the crowder, and that the four and
honest that the five is just like hit you over the head. Obvious or
if not crowd or someone like that that maybe isn't you know, on the
wrong on the on the wrong side of the agent curve. I can't talk
about the Bucks anymore because I really want to see you up for the Knicks.
Who All right, I hope everyone has an hour and a half.
I have talked too much about Tom Thibodeau and the front office. It's time
to talk about r J. Barrett. Okay, the question is I'm not
answering it. I want to make that clear. Was the RJ Barrett extension
of mistake and did they overvalue him in general? Where they could have had
Donovan Mitchell for RJ Barrett and Hella picks per Donovan Mitchell, which was like
the best way to phrase it. Anyway, he has been so uneven this
season. Listen to these splits. First five games of the year thirty four
point six percent from two, fourteen point three percent from three, His next
seven games after that, forty five point five percent from two, forty two
point nine percent from three. The following five games after that forty five point
five percent on two's holding steady two of twenty five on threes eight percent.
Then he goes on Monday Night is ten of sixteen from the floor. So
the direct game after that, there needs to be more zemblance of offensive consistency
from RJ. Barrett. He was finishing better at the rim at one point.
That has now dropped back below sixty percent. He was hovering around sixty
percent per clean the glass there. That's now dropped back below sixty percent.
The thing I will say in his defense, and I also think he's had
some He's gotten better, but he's had some really just like oof defensive moments
this year where he feels eminently screenable and it's like, well, that's not
the RJ. Barrett that I've grown to appreciate over the past couple of seasons.
They still and they've done it a little bit more, probably because they
have to with some of the lineup decision they've been dealing with. He needs
to be staggered more from Julius Randall. That number, and I've cited this
a bunch of times now, not on the podcast, but in stuff I've
written. Eighty two point five percent of RJ. Barrett's possessions are coming next
to Julius Randall. Now the Knicks are in the sixty six percent tile offensively
during those minutes. But Jalen Brunson's on the court, then the Knicks are
winning the minutes RJ plays without Randall, even though the offense is in the
twenty fifth percentile. Now, if you do RJ and Brunson without Randall,
the complexion of that's going to change a lot. I also don't think we've
seen RJ. Barrett with enough of just the youngsters, like let's play him
with quickly and reddish. I know Grimes not been too healthy there. My
point is, I don't think it's entirely his fault. The lineup context does
not favor him. It puts him in a bunch of different roles. The
Knicks don't always have pristine spacing. That being said, I don't I guess.
I don't know what the consensus expectations were for RJ. Barrett, but
he was entering this season. You knew jal Brunson was the Knicks' best player.
RJ. Barrett, in theory, is still your single most important player,
because that's supposed to be your blue chip prospect, the guy who gives
you a line to an internal star. I think we're finding increasing evidence just
based on his efficiency that he's not going to be that guy, which in
the macro is fine, but it's a problem when you treated him as such
in the Donovan Mitchell trade talks. What I also will say, r J.
Barrett has historically just been terribly inefficient in November and December. So there's
a point that by the new year he finishes the season on a tear that's
not also not good enough like and so I don't think they've optimized the roster
around him that is on the Knicks. And so I would if I was
to answer my own question, which I said I wouldn't do, I'm not
going to say RJ Barrett is a buster, will be completely out of RJ
Barrett. But are we at a point where there needs to be some more
wholesale discussions about RJ Barrett? If we're not there yet, we're getting pretty
damn close. Yeah. I Barrett has been a really I feel like I've
changed my opinion on him once a year in all four years of his career,
and it has generally coincided with whatever, you know, whatever really hot,
like six or eight or ten games streak of three point shooting he goes
on, and I think there was a much longer one. Either last year
or the year before, or like for half the season he was on decent
volume, a really good three point shooter. I can't look that up with
the level of the second year he was just he was a good three point
shooter. There was a lot of off ball stuff, but you don't need
him to like you don't have to hit the off the dribble three. Yeah.
I think I don't think the contract is a disaster. I think maybe
this is assuming Donovan Mitchell just doesn't sign with the Knicks when he's a free
agent, which just seems like, based on his comments, is very much
on the table. I think it was probably a mistake if Barrett being in
the deal was if the Nick's unwillingness to trade Barrett was what kept Jonavan Mitchell
from being on the roster this year, because I don't think Barrett is a
blue chip prospect. I think just the it's there's lots of you know,
there are these all external factors that you mentioned, like whether it's coaching,
whether it's who he's got to play alongside the lack of spacing that Randall and
Mitchell Robinson create. But just like he's a high usage wing who the best
he's ever ranked in points per shot attempts is in the thirty ninth percentile.
That was in his second year. He's generally like a bottom quartile guy and
just scoring efficiency and it's all like he gets to the room a lot,
he finishes okay, you know, the volume, the volume matters, but
everything else is just you can't count on the ball to go in enough.
And so where does that leave you if he's not a pure shut down guy.
It's early, but we are four years and it's fair to say like
there's development ahead potentially, but you needed to have seen some signs of consistency
in some area, right, like other than the hot streaks, other than
you know, he's really put the clamps on for a couple of weeks.
Like he's an okay passer and that works well on the drives, Like his
assist percentage is high for his tunnel those drives. Yeah, he does,
like he but I mean part of it is he's just barreling into guys and
he's like a he it's like a last resort past type of thing. When
the when the tunnel closes more, you know, and he's got to do
something yeah, I hate to. I hate to just like decide, you
know, well, this is this guy is not going to have a certain
ceiling. But like I feel like we would have seen more by now to
suggest that he could be that blue chip piece. Like again, the contract
is contracts, not like a crippler. I don't feel like with the we
have to see the cups going up and you know all this other stuff.
He's still young, he plays a high value position like that's you know,
there are ways forward, but I should rather have Donovan Mitchell. You know,
I think that I don't feel like that's debatable at this point. I
still stand by, like we don't actually know what the final tally was on
the picks. There's a point where it was probably too many picks for me
to do it, but r J. Barrett being the deciding factor, and
look, there were I I had toy with it where I didn't know if
if you were training r J. Barrett and a bunch of picks that gets
don Mitchell, I didn't know if you should do it. I would have
been very much more open to including RJ. Barrett based off what I've seen
from him this season. And I but I will note and we didn't focus
on this just because we focused on so much. ARJ. Barret's not the
biggest problem in New York. I would I think the pathway before you look
at was RJ. Barrett a mistake? Is Hey, can we get rid
of the actual mistake on the roster, which is Julius Randall, And so
that opens and by the way, that opens up the pipeline for Obi toppin
as well. Yeah, you're kind of killing two birds there. Yeah.
Well, and this isn't any great revelation either, but just if the guy's
clear offensive strength is get to the basket, get everyone in the fuck out
of the way, like stop having stop having multiple players out there who either
don't need to be guarded off the ball or are literally standing in the way
of Barrett trying to get to the bast And they played into smaller lineups where
it's almost five out if you're depending on how you feel about Barrett with like
Brunston and Hartenstein and Topping, and then they have another perimeter player and there
was not Julius Randall, Like let's let's just see more of that like that.
And that's the problem is, though, is that you have Julius Randall,
and it's just like there's this implicit obligation to play him or feature him,
and I do think that's really hurt r J so and I would love
to see just more RJ and Brunton just independent of Randall for like a long
stretch. Yeah, we can talk about the next forever. I'm gonna move
on. I got the Orlando Magic and we've hit on this before, but
to me, it's the most pressing issue. Is there a guard on the
roster who will start when Orlando if if Slash win, Orlando develops into a
playoff Well, okay, which could be a ways down the road. Are
we that low on Joel and Suggs? Yeah, we are. He's shooting
over forty percent on pull up threes. He's still shouldering a point guard's burden
because they don't have a healthy point guard. I don't. Is it an
indictment to say that Joe and Suggs shouldn't be your primary ball handler or playmaker?
Is that really an indictment? Well, that's not the question though.
Is he gonna be a starting caliber guard? Yes, next on a good
team in the next three years. You're You're in. You're Yeah, there's
like there's there's like defensive moxie to him too, and the fact that he's
hit yeah, okay, the fact that he's so low on catching shoot threes,
Okay, I get it, Like there's skepticism like when you're hitting more
of your pull up threes and you're catching shoot threes, like I don't understand,
like what does that say about your scale scalability? Uh? But like
fellow men, Carol was banged up for roughly forever, they don't have like
you said, there's no col Anthony, there's like RJ. Hampton and Spurts,
there's no Mark el fault who. I also don't think it's like the
ideal partner for him anyway necessarily. But I think the question is they need
a game mat like this would be a team that people have mentioned them,
like, oh, if Donovan Mitchell during that Traders SGA became available, they
should just go out and trade for Mike Conley. I mean, like,
I guess Tea would cost the FIRS round pick at this point, but like
you had something you had Monte Morris ye to this roster. I think you
see jail and suggs his value and he hasn't had the opportunity to be that
guy for a long stretch at all. He dealt with some injury issues last
year, as did mark el Faults. Now this year you come in and
you have the Cole Anthony and mark el Faults stuff. I don't you know.
I guess it changes, like when Palabanko he plays deeper in his career,
even Franz Wagner a little bit. Having Wendel Carter Junior facilitates some of
the offense. There are different things you could do to where but if you
have Suggs as your lead guard, I think it's fair to U like,
is that what he's gonna do? And the answer is, I guess no
at this point, and I never I guess, did I ever view him
as like the primary playmaker type. I probably had more hope for it than
we've seen. I also wonder, like, what would it look like if
he was playing within some brighter space he's saying too, than what you've seen
in Orlando's first two years. I just we are not even a year and
a half his career. Well, okay, granted, yeah, he's he's
young, he is he missed time with injury last year. I just so
here, so First of all, let's do the easy stuff first. Cole
Anthony feels like a like his ceiling is he's gonna be like a pretty good
six. Yeah, well, who's not better than Jordan Fool right now?
RJ. Barrett's better than Jordan f Jordon Pool has actually been like better lately.
But I game, Yeah he made it. He made half his shots
last night. That should have been the question. My question for the Magic
is Jordan Pool one of the most under overrated players. I just feel it
so, like, you know, RJ. Hampton fourth year option not picked
up, doesn't seem like he's going to be a long time or there,
even though he's been actually pretty bad he was last season. Yeah, So
Cole Anthony is I don't view as a starter. Mark el Foltz is just
like doesn't make sense on this team. I appreciate the Magic fans passion for
Mark Helfolts. It's easy to root for the guy and he and he does
have like several I mean, is the number one overall pick. Like,
he does have several, like legitimate starting caliber NBA skills. It's just the
shooting is on this roster you need to not have that level. He's a
and I know people have tried to talk to himselves to him being a two
level score. He's more like a one point five level score because he's not
like actively trying to get to those like mid rangers and like putting the moves
like dance moves on players and jacking him up like they're giving him those shots.
He's taking them. He had hit more of them than we expected.
Good. But that's not like a weapon. No, it's not. It's
like you're getting by sort of kind of just barely. It's not. But
so, yeah, so this is really just a question about Sugs. We've
disagreed about him before you have the luxury, I think smartly of saying it's
early, which is stupid early in his career, I just so and may
at this point last time we got on the topic, if it is clear
that and Carro and Wagner are going to be the guys that have the ball
most often, which I think, however you feel about Sugs, it does
feel like that makes sense at least with the way the roster's constructed. And
I think Wendell Carter is the other guy you just pencil in as like you
have three locks in your front court. These guys are it for the next
however, long on the Magic and I think that's pretty good, you know,
maybe great. If bank Carro is what he looks like he's gonna be,
I think you got to have guys that are just gonna make shots around
those three. And so however, there's no doubt that Suggs is like an
all NBA, all all defensive caliber defensive player today right now and should improve
like so game changer on that, and I think probably, But I just
need him. I just need him to be a league average catch and shoot
three point shooter. He's nowhere close to that. His finishing around the rim
is not great. He's not making free throws. Still this year it's improved
a little bit, and and like there's all you know, you go down,
you go down the Orlando Magic Twitter rabbit hole and is like his post
entry passes are terrible, Like he just can't do that function as a point
guard. So that's a problem for me. So if it's clear that he's
not going to be the on ball guy, which I again it's early,
I get it, it seems like that's just not likely to be his role
for this team, then I don't feel like he can make enough shots to
justify having him be the guy as opposed to someone else who's worst offensively but
is just going to make you pay for all the attention you're going to have
to devote to the front court guys. So I just I'm not sold.
I want to be sold. I love the his run in college. I
love a guy that just guards and like defines himself that way. I just
need more offensively, that's all. So I'm answering, and he will not
be h starting for the playoff version of the Orlando Magic. In support of
what you were saying, there are two hundred eighty two players who have finished
at at least fifteen spot up possessions this year. Jalen Suggs is dead last
in point scored per possession on those touches at point four six. That's bad.
I think he's seven to thirty three is a shooting overall, that's love.
I mean Isaac Occorrel, by the way, is at point five one.
That's that's an issue one to itself. Jalen Smith, by the way,
it turns out his first seven games with the Pacers last year, we're
in a harbinger of how he was going to shoot for the rest of his
career. Who knew he's like like point five six, So I get your
concern. It could be sort of an issue of him trying to think of
what would be a good like parallel to this whereas we've just seen a player
when you're looking at the two best players, there's redundant not redundancy, but
the way he's best used. He doesn't do enough of the other things to
be used in that way. Whereas like, yes, sugs should maybe be
on the ball. He's hitting over fifty percent of his twos. I mean
if the pull up three holds. I get the skepticism there, especially given
the struggles at the foul line, But if he's not good enough as a
passer, or he's not good enough as like a catcher, like what would
be a good parallel for this like player right now the situation that we've kind
of seen where he's like, he's got a bunch of pluses, but they
don't really matter as much in the context of this particular team construction. The
thing I was almost thinking about is just like Andrew Wiggins, who eventually was
able to scale to a larger eCos as a later in his career where it's
he was needed to have the ball in his hands, but was he good
enough with the ball in his hands to justify that. I'm just not ready
to go there with Sugs at the moment, and they're they're completely different players
they like, I totally get it, But like that was Andrew Wiggins for
someone was like, oh, he looks more comfortable like pulling up off the
dribble from three than hitting these wide open jumpers off the catch. I could
see that element from Sugs a little bit. I want I just want to
see more. Yeah, sure, sure I do too. I would love
to be wrong, and there's a great chance I'll be proved wrong because we're
what like fifty some I'd be sixty games into his NBA career and he's played
mostly for like a bad team that has had injuries. So yeah, that's
that's fair. I am the Philadelphia seventy sixers. My question for them is
simply this, what the fuck? The injuries are starting to mount as this
is gonna drop, so like you're gonna have Joel Embiid, Parris Maxie,
and James Harden. Now Parris Maxie's going to be out probably for the next
month between three and four weeks. With the minor break in his left foot,
Joel bead left midfoot sprain, going to miss at least a couple of
games. Then you have hard news, still a couple of weeks away from
returning from that strained foot tending Tobias Harris, by the way, he's dealing
with some left hiff stuff. So just like this team is barren of who
is your primary dribblers are Shake Milton and D'Anthony Melton. Now without all three
of Maxie Ebad and James Harden on the floor, the Sixers have a ninety
seven point nine offensive rating that would be in the first percentile. What's also
interesting if we were looking to project ahead is that the Sixers, they haven't
played together a ton, but with their stars in the court, their offense
is only in the forty second percentile. I look, Basketball Reference decided to
go off with ads again, but just love it. So what are they
supposed to do on offense? And it's even just like it was. I
guess we haven't seen him enough at full strength, but we were worried about
their transition defense at one point. Now they've like completely flipped in terms of
their defense has been a lot better. But how are you supposed to survive
without all three of these guys? And what is the pathway to just getting
better on offense? I don't know that it's a matter of like, you
know, you could fault Doc for a lot of stuff, but the injuries
specifically are outside of his control. You do sort of wonder, you know,
like there's not really room for Philly to take more threes. Their twenty
second in rim frequency. It's probably pretty trembling that they're twenty ninth in finishing
around the basket, and like they're top ten three point shooting team, and
by the way, they're the best mid range shooting team as well. If
I had to guess, and this has been my theory, which I feel
like a lot of people just disagreed with. I just feel like there's not
a enough of a change in cadence in how Philly plays where it's like they
are in the bottom three of transition frequency. You know what they're gonna do.
They're gonna try and get into the half court, give the ball to
Hardener ebead and hope that Maxie can supplement from there. They're not going to
crash the offensive glass at all to get themselves like those additional opportunities. And
I would love to see, especially because you have Maxie on this team when
he's healthy. So I'm trying to I'm trying to talk about them at full
strength, Like you shouldn't be twenty eighth in average possession time, Like there
are minutes where at least Maxi's on the court with only one of James Harden
or Embiid get out and run. And so I think that's been the biggest
to me, is like the biggest weakness of their offense has actually been okay,
Like there's just not enough variants here. But there's also just a big
question of like are they on the verge of I guess we have to see
when Joel Embiad comes back, but like they're kind of tottering on the edge
of panic just with these injuries mounting up at the top, right, Yeah,
you gotta it's just a question of what how much this is going to
cost them standings wise, because they're just not gonna win, you know,
It's not like some great revelation like so I mean Tobias Harris gets assuming the
hip doesn't become an issue like he's just gonna have to cook and then yeah,
I don't know where the supplemental scoring comes from. You're probably gonna play
table some more, and that, you know, maybe be ball Paul,
maybe Paul Reid. This is finally the grand unveiling of Paul Reid, who's
just been such a darling of of NBA Twitter and like a bunch of analysts
and you know draft guru guys. Maybe that's yeah, PJ. Tucker actually
at the five too, but yeah, well maybe, although like how good
is that really when there's just when he's like your third option? Yeah,
the Maxi thing, it's interesting. I forget what I was writing about him,
but the idea was what you're describing of how is it that this you
know, he does improve their transition frequency when he's on the floor. But
there's just it does seem like such an obvious it take take give some Let's
have some minutes with no hard and or EMBIID and surround Maxie with like your
four best athletes of you know, dubious positional designation. Wait we have wait,
let's go through the best athletes. Well that's the thing it but just
run just see, you know, just one of the great things that you
can have in a bench or in you know, a particular reserve is how
they change the like like you said, mix up the cadence. You change
the tone of the game, you change the pace of it. It's like
a changeup. That's one of the great things you get from from good bench
units is like, oh shit, the defense is like, well these guys
are playing differently now, like what do we do with this? That's that's
a value add I think a lot of times. And Maxie being arguably the
fastest guy in the league, I don't know who else you I mean,
he's in the conversation and they just don't probably still there. Yeah, we're
forgetting somebody obvious. Well, Marant's super fast, I mean yeah, but
he's up there for sure. It should be it should be a transition thing.
But he's also hurt, so I don't know why we're talking about him.
Yeah, it's I don't know what the end. There's no answer.
There's no answer. When your top three players are out like this and you
just have a bunch of catch and shoot guys more or less like as your
support pieces, it's gonna get ugly. There's there's no doubt right now you're
your Washington, Philly calls and offers Maxie. They're twenty twenty nine first and
Tobias Harris for Bradley Beal. Assuming Bradley Beal gives the okay, would you
do it? Hell? Yeah, I would if I'm Washington? Would you
Philly? Would I do it? If I'm Philly? That's oh man,
that's really tough because Harris's contract. I think Beal's contract is so bad.
But I think you got to win this year, and I think probably bial
Harden and Bid gives you a better chance than Bill Hardened Maxie, I mean
Harden and Bad, Maxie. So do you do that? I do it?
If I'm the Wizards, I don't know if I do it. If
I'm the Sixers, probably I don't think I do just because we're come about
they need like a change of like pace, and like Bradley Beal's not gonna
give you that. I definitely as a half court creator and maybe even a
facilitator, I get I get that. So I guess push comes to shop.
You would almost have to just because it's it's Bradley Beale. But Maxie's
so young and that like then that's just your team, and we're worried about
them staying healthy. Now, like what make like why is Bradley Beal more
considered more durable than than tires Maxie at this But I guess he had a
few seasons of just like good health before whatever happened last year. And look
Day's credit, he's quietly just like we're gonna get to the I won't talk
about, but he's basically flirting with fifty forty nine slashes at this point,
so I'd just be curious. It's to like that's the and that by the
way, that's their hand if they actually want to make a move, Like
I guess you could throw Jayden Springer in there, But it's it's the bias,
Harris, it's Maxie. It's a conditional twenty twenty nine first, I
think because of the obligation where it's structured to Brooklyn and twenty seven. So
that's the offer, and I'm just trying to think of like what higher end
player that would get you. And also Maxie's so good. This is what
almost makes it difficult. It's a good problem to have, but like you
can't just trade Maxie. Now, I know people if I think he's one
of the most valuable trade assets in the league. Because the Sixers are team
I think that'd be willing to consider anything. He has two years left on
his another year left on his rookie scale after this one, and he's just
so good and he's already shown he could fit next to two ball dominant stars
while also carrying the offensive load himself. So I think he's one of the
most valuable trad asses in the Yeah, the issue with that is that substantially
shrinks the number of players that you're willing to trade him for. That's right
now just is bell on that level. I think the Sixers probably have to
pull back a little bit with expectations just because they don't have the first round
equity to include. But it was just a thought, and I was wondering,
like, does the injury make it more likely they move him just because
they're like need the urgency to have bodies, And I don't think anything would
happen before the trade of them. I was just curious where are you would
land on that? Yeah, I mean it's tough. My knee jerk is
again just like I gotta get off this contract. If from the Wizard's perspective
like I just I can't have this. This someone's offering me an out even
with bad money attached in Harris like I'm taking it. But yeah, I
mean the last thing is, you know, we know that the way Daryl
Morey operates is like, get me the best players and we just will figure
out what to do around that. And I would imagine there's a model somewhere
that says, Bradley Beale ups the Sixers championship equity by like point seven percent
at over Maxie and Harris, and so he'd be like, well, we
just we just do it. But that's not the case for most executives.
I don't think we'll move on to the Toronto Raptors. This is my last
team. I love. I love when a team like tries weird stuff or
just something different, and it's just hoping to be on the vanguard of of
a style that you know, might might be the next you know thing that
shapes how teams operate or put rosters together. And the Raptors very much do
that. We've talked about it for a couple of years now that they love
their long wings. They don't really you know, always play a center,
although Christian Coloco has I mean, injuries have changed the way they've operated quite
a bit, but they kind of just have a bunch of a bunch of
wings ideally. And I wonder though, and they leaned into that, like
they didn't really fundamentally change last year's roster, which had some real issues.
Namely, they're great at forcing turnovers, right, they're awesome in transition,
their half court offense is terrible and they struggle to rebound sometimes. Now they've
addressed that a little bit this year. But the statistical profile of this Toronto
team is very similar to last year's and that includes strengths and weaknesses just which
you'd sort of expect to get from a team that plays a lot of forwards
and like Fred van Vliet, basically, so, I wonder if they're leaning
too much into last year's identity And if maybe that's so, is that like
commendable because we're really committed to playing this way, or is it stubb in
the face of like, yeah, this gets you some advantages generally speaking,
but it also there are costs to playing with a lineup that is different than
almost any other team you go up against. I think that's a fair question.
I also just wonder like, is it too early to ask it because
of just how injured they've been. That's they're not even shorthanded, they've just
they've been decimated. Again, what do you think just theoretically though, like
are you in? Are you still in? Because the Clippers are sort of
doing some of that, but it's different because they have two member. We
were padding about the Clippers and they were just like, oh no, we're
just gonna I mean, it's I still need to see Kawai be great for
like more than you know, four minutes at a time, but you know
what I mean, Like just it's almost like a it's not even specific to
the Raptors. Like if you're trying a weird thing as a team and you
do it for basically a full year and change and you've established like, yeah,
we generate tons of turnovers and we're awesome on the break because we just
have a bunch of six nine guys that are really fast, but we don't
have any creation in the half court. And this has been a huge problem.
We're trying to win playoff games. You gotta be able to do something
in the half court, and they're just not good at it. Like,
is that stubbornness, is that arrogance? Is that like commitment? You know?
Is that being patient? I don't know how to frame it. And
that's like a fundamental thing to the Raptors because this is there, this is
what they're trying to do. I just don't know if it's quite the right
thing, you know. I think it's going to be the right thing.
It's Scottie Barnes basically becoming what Pascal Siakam was able to become on offense as
a playmaker. I'll say, and while I do, he's only in year
two, so I want patience with jail and stubs. We used to be
patients here things seem to be he seems to be like reacting to things faster
and his game feels a step or two faster. But he doesn't look like
that guy yet. We didn't say that about Pascal Siakam in year two though,
But you need because what they need right now, what they're missing is
that second guy is or the third depending on how you feel about Fred van
Fleet. And I think it's harder to find that player in the form that
they have catered to or been obsessed with. And so that's why Scottie Barnes
is so tantalizing and so important to them. I get the unease, and
I'm uneasy about it myself, and I don't want to say I know a
lot of Raptors fans believe in it, and they're every time we post a
YouTube video on the Raptors where we if we have concerns about their half court
offense, they say, that's just like we're wrong, and it's just like
we're not, Like at some point we're not wrong. Like I get that
these fans are going to know the team more intimately, but like, the
half court offensive concerns are legitimate, and yeah, you can cobble together a
you know, an efficient half court offense on your putbacks during the regular season.
That's just not going to be a style that works in the playoffs.
And like, hey, right now, it's not even working in the regular
season. They are twenty nine than the half court last year, so it's
the it's you know, and and just flip it. We're on both on
cleaning the glass obviously, flip into transition. You know, first in frequency
first and points added last year, second in frequency, fourth and points added,
Like this works just in certain contexts, and I guess I would just
say, I'm like, I'm I'm no less interested in what the Raptors are
doing. I think it's I think it's it's exciting when a team is just
kind of being weird or being an outlier. But I just it's we're getting
mounting information now that, like, you know, the trade off is you
win forty six games. They're on pace, I think, for forty six
this year, just as they were last year. It's another similarity, and
the playoffs are just a different They're just a different The rules are different,
the things that work are different, the things that get you killed are different.
And I don't know they got along. They got three quarters of a
season to keep working on this, and certainly getting everybody healthy again will change
things. But I just wonder. I just wonder, you know, it's
I like, I like the approach, I just don't know if it's if
it's gonna work ultimately, Yeah, it's high risk, And I also don't
know, like what do you pivot towards as an alternative. It's because you're
not you know, the Kevin Durant stuff, if he became available again,
that was always sort of out there but you're not like you're too good to
invest. I mean, they draft really well, but I guess it's like
a medium size trade or you're partnering picks with some of your salary who's not
Scottie Barnes or o g n and Obi or or Pascoe Siakam if you were
just looking to you know, is it is it unfair to want them to
at some point to maybe die diversify because like they're even like as good as
Pascal Siakam has been there, they're still in the fifteen percent tile of half
court efficiency when he's been on the court this year, So like is it
unfair to ask him, like, well, can you diversify your tack just
a little bit? And but how do you go about that? Who's available
that's going to help you there? I don't think it needs to be a
star is my point. And so you start to look at some of the
actual salary they have on this roster. If you're willing to trade a first
round pick or even just like Eric Gordon would go a long way to this
team in the half court, whereas that just like money matching and second rounders.
At this point, I honestly don't know, but yeah, that's that's
I guess I just have like not defaulted to not caring about it or believing
in it. But there's they the conviction is so strong that it's almost not
worth questioning, right, That's what you just have to whatever you think about
it, you almost have to respect it because it's like, you guys believe
in this and you're not. You're just going to see it through to whatever
wherever this ends up. I feel like they're just they're committed, which is
you know, it's it's teams are two wishy washies. Sometimes I think it's
cool that they're committed. I just don't know. I just don't know what's
gonna work. I have the Washington Wizards to clean us off or finish us
off. I don't know where clean us off came from. Queeny mcglass is
what it must have been been on the brain. My question to you the
Wizards, they've won six of their last seven, during which time they have
the second best defense in the NBA. Now we can get in to the
teams that they've beat over those seven games, Shorthand in Miami, the G
League Hornets, Uh, you know, Oklahoma City that was actually a hell
of a game. But like they beat the Jazz, they beat the Mavericks
without Beal, they beat the Hornets again. They are eighth in defense on
the season though, And so my question, and I'm going to present to
you evidence before I allow you to answer it is is Washington's defense for real?
And we asked this question, I'm sure last year because they were off
to just this like rollicking start. They have the sixth half court best half
court defense in the NBA. You dig into the personnel, the starting lineup
that they're playing at the moment, which is kind of by force, has
been absolutely annihilating opponents. They're not getting lucky when it comes to They limit,
not as drastically as Boston and Milwaukee, but they limit looks at the
rim and from three point range. And they haven't gotten lucky with opponent three
point shooting. They're twenty fourth an opponent three point shooting their tenth and opponent
shooting at the rim, which is just like you have KP. You have
to Aniel Gafford, do you have a bunch of like rangey, bigger wing
type guys. They're doing this without Delon Wright, who's been out. I
just and then the other thing that they've done. What like it's look,
they don't fail. They don't force turnovers, but they don't fail. And
then it's you know they're gonna grab rebounds. They are when you look at
the opportunities that opponents generate permiss so those second chance opportunities. Only the Chicago
Bulls allow fewer of those opportunities now, So like the Wizards are not letting
you I'm not even just like it's not just specific. It is, yes,
a defensive rebounding, but like the Wizards are not giving you like putbacks.
They're they're taking away that easy stuff. And so it feels like there's
an air of legitimacy to this in a way that there wasn't last year.
And I can't tell if I'm being to use your word from before, like
a little too witchywashy here, But like Denny Avdya has had to play more
minutes over this band, he's actually looked really good. I know that you
know him a sucker for Denny avdy in the first place, but like even
we hatch you mour looked better before. I think he's dealing with something right
now too. They seem like they've gotten good minutes from Jordan Goodwin this year.
So I'm just like, is it Are they a top ten defensive team?
Is my question? And then look, if you say yes, how
do you let that inform? Because I think some people might be expecting us
to treat them like the Hornets? What should this team tank? And I
think that's probably a fair question. But do you think Washington's defense is real?
And then if it is, doesn't matter? Yes, So the second
part's harder. So I'll take the first part. I think you probably.
I know we had a we were talking about there were two or three other
teams that were surprises to be in the top ten of defensive efficiency a week
or two ago, and I think I punted on all of them. The
Wizards were one of them. I think there are a couple of things that
suggest there is some sustainability here. In the first, is their location based
to affect a field goal percentage? Like you you went through the you know,
not a lot of opportunities for opponents at the rim, not a lot
of you know, from from three they're pretty good at limiting the corners.
So I don't I don't think it's a smoke and mirrors thing. It's not
like opponents are just missing a bunch of open threes like which can still be
a massive driver of defensive effectiveness, even you know, twenty ish games into
the season like we are now. I think that's kind of real. The
other thing, just when I've watched is you know, Bradley Bill is trying.
I think, you know, he's making much more of an effort defensively
than he had in the last couple of years. Maybe that's health, Maybe
that's sensing like this team actually might be pretty good. It's worth my effort.
I think Porzingis has mattered. You know, he's an imperfect defensive player,
but he does have his value as as a rim protector, as just
someone who deters like yeah, hit mobility. I guess I would call it
has looked so good just in Washington in general, since he's come over from
there. It's different. It's different, and hopefully that last because it's always
just been a question of cann he stay healthy enough to really move like he's
capable of. So there's a few things that that point to sustainability doesn't matter.
I mean, so zoom all the way out and what you still have
as a roster built around bal And an enormous contract, and some wings that
are at least interesting in different ways. Kuzma, Avdia, Hachimura. You
know, like, sure, there's there's rotation caliber players there. Porzingis is
your second best player. Probably Kuzma might have something to say about that.
I don't know, but he's you know, health issues. He's kind of
not functioned as like your second option on a good team successfully. We've tried
that in Dallas with a better player than Bial next to him, So like
doesn't matter insofar as are we trading, are we buying or selling? I
don't think the Wizards were going to be sellers anyway, So I think it's
probably just like a pleasant surprise and a good story. If this defense is
legit and it, you know, maybe it keeps Washington respectable or with a
winning record deeper into the season than you or I might have thought. I
don't feel like it makes them someone that you know, are likely to win
a first round series or anything like that. So yeah, I don't know
how much it matters, but I do think, you know it, there
is some compelling stuff that suggests like they actually are you know, for sure
going to be above average defensively, I think in top ten is very much
in play. I wonder if it changes things, and I don't think this
the roster is currently constructed, I'm with you, is built to win a
playoff series if this sustains. But I'm just wondering if this gives them more
of a license to be aggressive as buyers, because they do have some money
they could play around with when you're looking at the contracts, and yes,
I know they owe that twenty twenty three first to the Knicks, but like
if you're a team that's sending the Wizards a good player, you're probably banking
on that making the playoffs this season, and they would if they started today.
They're in the top five, so you can bank on that conveying.
And there's worse scenarios than when the first the first round pick is coming in
twenty twenty five. You want to short the wizards long term future so they
can In my mind, I know it's conditional. If they trade you three
first round picks, that would be a mega trade. But if they trade
you three first round picks, you can bank on those three first round picks
conveying unless you're allowing them to be protected and so I just think they're a
sneaky team on the blockbuster market. We've seen the rumors about like Phoenix being
interested in Kuzma while the Wizards trade him because he's coming up on his contract.
I'm just wondering, like, if we're getting into December, closer to
Christmas, and their defense is still hovering around the top ten, and it
just looks like they need a little bit more offensive juice that another I would
call it the outside and score to pair with Beel Who's not Monte Morris,
it's not Kuzma, it's not Danny Avia. Like that might be a team
that could go after it, and I actually wouldn't hate it. Yeah,
it would make more sense. I mean, I think compared to the alternative
of well, let's see what we can get for Kuzma, Let's let's flip,
you know, let's get some assets, let's get some pick which was
really not on the table once the Bill deal got done. Yeah, they
could definitely be buyer. I think if you said, are they are they
buyers or sellers? Like the second you give Bill a quarter billion dollars,
Yeah, like you're buyers, You're not You're not selling anything else. So
so yeah, they do profiles an interesting team, I do. I think
as I'm looking at some other stuff on them, they are fifth in the
East, but they're you know, they're SRS. They're simple rating system.
Basketball Reference puts that together. It's strength of schedule factors in with net rating.
They're still kind they're still in the negative, and they really stand out
among the top like six or seven teams that are all well into the positive.
So the schedule has been a factor here, I think. But you
alluded to that off top, so you know that's not that's not anything new.
I will say, Uh, I did not think the Wizards were going
to be any good at all, So this is this is another instance of
me being proved wrong pretty early through the first quarter of the year. Yeah,
I mean, I'm just I'm like, it's tough because of the schedule,
But then you're looking at the harbingers that would normally concern you whether the
defense isn't for real, and I think the offensive concerns are absolutely for real.
Like you, they are still to me like he's been better this year,
but like you know, Kristaps porzingis postops are still just a little bit
too big a part of like the offensive structure for me, So I'm I
didn't mean to Are they buyers or sellers? But I think if the defense
is actually this good, it makes being a buyer more palatable for both the
team and fans. Yep. Agree. If you don't have anything else,
I'll take us out. Everybody. Thanks for listening. That's gonna do it.
You can. As Dan mentioned in the beginning, remember trying to grow
this audience, trying to grow our reach. We're trying to get into your
homes and into your ears and your brains. So download, subscribe, comment
like raid. Review us, give us five stars on iTunes and and any
place else you can evaluate us positively would be fantastic, But that's a big
one. Follow us on our socials, which we have in the YouTube and
podcast descriptions. Joined the discord, which I have made a note to do
myself. I pledge that I will be in there once I learned what a
computer is. Dan can maybe help me with that. Tell your friends and
enemies about us. Thank you again for listening. And in closing, as
always, I would like to sincerely apologize to Jared Allen and on behalf of
Dan. I'm going to do it this week. I would like to shout
out you want and only we did not get mentioned again while we did the
East, so but still you usually like to fit him in. Somehow Frank
Milkey Wizard should trade for Frankie l'kena to juice up their office