1 00:00:13,359 --> 00:00:17,359 What is Krack Lakin Barbar Knox listeners, I am Dan FAVALLEI coming at you 2 00:00:17,399 --> 00:00:22,399 without my fantabulous co host Adam frommel I am however, super pleased and excited 3 00:00:22,559 --> 00:00:26,879 as always to be joined by Salmon al Lee, who covers the Houston Rockets 4 00:00:26,879 --> 00:00:29,960 and the NBA at March for the Clutch Points app. We get in and 5 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:33,079 he's also the co host of the Red Nation Hoops podcast. Follow him on 6 00:00:33,079 --> 00:00:36,439 Twitter at Salmon A Lee NBA. That's at SA L M A n A 7 00:00:36,679 --> 00:00:41,200 l I NBA. Great follow on Twitter. We're going to be ranking the 8 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:46,200 futures of the NBA's rebuilding teams and we narrowed it down to eight rebuilding teams, 9 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:52,159 trying to not include squads that are inadvertently bad or aren't really rebuilding even 10 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:55,600 though they're not having the best season. And we get into the criteria. 11 00:00:55,799 --> 00:00:58,520 It was a fun episode before we dive in, though. Just want to 12 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:02,520 remind BEG Pleading forty one to continue rating, reviewing, and subscribing to us 13 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:04,439 wherever you get your podcasts. That's a great way to help out the show. 14 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:07,519 It also helps us out a ton when you recommend us to people that 15 00:01:07,519 --> 00:01:11,560 you know who like hoops or don't know who like hoops, as well as 16 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:17,120 actually putting in ratings and reviews on iTunes to help us on those charts. 17 00:01:17,439 --> 00:01:19,040 Join our discord channel. It is in the podcast description. We have a 18 00:01:19,079 --> 00:01:23,439 lot of fun in there, including live game campfires. I haven't done one 19 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:26,319 of those this week, but I'll schedule another one shortly. Follow us on 20 00:01:26,359 --> 00:01:29,599 YouTube, YouTube dot com s or Chartwknox. We will come up. That 21 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:33,519 link is also in the description. Follow us on Twitter at Hardwood Knox. 22 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:37,159 That is enough out of me, though, Let's dive into ranking the futures 23 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:42,840 of the NBA's eight rebuilding teams with Salmon. Ali Salomon, Welcome back to 24 00:01:42,879 --> 00:01:46,400 the Hardwoo Knox podcast. Thank you for hopping on, specifically this time on 25 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:52,079 short notice, because the Houston Rockets and Jay and Green specifically beating up on 26 00:01:52,159 --> 00:01:57,640 the downtrodden, out of hope, lifeless listless Lakers inspired me to want to 27 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:00,920 have a certain podcast idea. You were kind enough to hop on and do 28 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:05,560 it with me, so I'm excited. But first and foremost, how are 29 00:02:05,599 --> 00:02:09,199 you doing? I'm doing all right, man, I got a positive COVID 30 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:14,759 test. Five minutes to go, I'm pretty confident, and I gave it 31 00:02:14,759 --> 00:02:20,039 to my brother too. I think people are digging up old articles for me 32 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:23,719 and with you know, posting screenshots of headlines on Twitter without context. So 33 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:27,919 life's good right now. I'm doing great. I'm doing great. How about 34 00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:30,159 you? Look you didn't. I gave you an opportunity to tell me what 35 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:32,919 was happening before we started recording, and so you're throwing this on me. 36 00:02:34,039 --> 00:02:37,680 Now, are you sure you're okay to proceed? Yeah? Yeah, I'm 37 00:02:37,719 --> 00:02:39,120 good. I'm good. Do I sound okay? My throats, my throat's 38 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:44,080 a little bothersome, but I feel good. You sound you sound fine? 39 00:02:44,199 --> 00:02:49,039 But I just I sort of feel like despotic having someone who just returned to 40 00:02:49,159 --> 00:02:53,639 positive COVID test come on and talk about what is It's a fucking game, 41 00:02:53,039 --> 00:02:57,520 So I appreciate you powering through it, but I would like our listener show. 42 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:00,879 I did not demand it, So no, no, you didn't. 43 00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:04,520 You didn't even know until I told you just now that I wanted to spring 44 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:07,280 it on you just to see how you'd react. On the bright on the 45 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:12,039 bright side, it does sort of give you some teflon shielding against any bad 46 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:15,280 takes you might deliver now because if people disagree, He's like, look, 47 00:03:15,319 --> 00:03:16,599 I had COVID. I didn't know what was going on. So when you 48 00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:22,560 call the Rockets or identify them as having the best future in the NBA among 49 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:27,439 rebuilding teams, that's what you can use if as to inoculate yourself should people 50 00:03:27,439 --> 00:03:30,520 disagree with you. Oh wow, is that what I'm gonna do today? 51 00:03:30,159 --> 00:03:34,319 Yeah, it's it's gonna be interesting. Let's see, let's see how this 52 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:38,080 goes. I think you know what's interesting about COVID is like every you know 53 00:03:38,199 --> 00:03:40,400 you have it right, Like you know you have it, but you have 54 00:03:40,479 --> 00:03:44,240 to go confirm it. And that's the miserable part, Like you have to 55 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:47,599 tell you have to have someone tell you what you already know inside, and 56 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:52,039 that sucks because I can I can already tell my food was already starting to 57 00:03:52,039 --> 00:03:54,039 lose its taste, my throat was messed up, I had a fever, 58 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:59,960 and like I still had to go to the stupid PCR drive through to confirm 59 00:04:00,159 --> 00:04:03,280 what I already knew. Yeah, that's tough. I do think they're probably 60 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:06,199 sentences where you don't know you have it, which is the bigger problem. 61 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:12,080 And there's also just the fear of you might have something else, but the 62 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:15,600 symptoms are so intertwined with COVID that you're concerned that you have it. For 63 00:04:15,639 --> 00:04:19,079 me, when I had it, the dead giveaway was a body aches like 64 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:23,839 I've never had before. Those were those were the hardest part of me sliding 65 00:04:23,959 --> 00:04:28,079 through that. So we wish you a speedy recovery here, and like I 66 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:31,240 said, I appreciate you continuing to power through. And you know what's interesting, 67 00:04:31,279 --> 00:04:34,199 those body aches actually felt familiar, which is kind of why I knew 68 00:04:34,199 --> 00:04:38,120 I had it. They felt familiar to after I got my second dose, 69 00:04:38,519 --> 00:04:42,079 Like like after I got my second dose, I felt similar body aches and 70 00:04:42,079 --> 00:04:44,160 I was like, Okay, yeah, this is COVID, Like this just 71 00:04:44,199 --> 00:04:48,439 feels very similar to how I felt dead. My god, I still can't 72 00:04:48,439 --> 00:04:51,920 believe you're on the podcast doing this, but I'm excited. I think you 73 00:04:51,959 --> 00:04:56,639 did my show with COVID before. I feel like it's happened. Maybe I 74 00:04:56,680 --> 00:04:58,959 was sick. I don't know. I was doing appearance as the way I 75 00:04:58,959 --> 00:05:00,279 had COVID. I can't even remember. But what is time anymore? Though? 76 00:05:00,439 --> 00:05:03,800 Though I did bring you on to rank basically the futures of the leagus 77 00:05:03,879 --> 00:05:08,639 rebuilding teams, and you and I had an interesting back and forth about which 78 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:14,120 teams should qualify as that, and so we ultimately landed on the Pacers, 79 00:05:14,199 --> 00:05:17,800 Pistons, Magic, the and then in the West the Blazers, Spurs, 80 00:05:17,839 --> 00:05:21,720 Thunder Rockets. And this was the point of contention the Sacramento Kings, who 81 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:28,439 are more of an inadvertently hopeless sort of like the Knicks or like stuck in 82 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:31,240 the Middle Wizards. But I we're gonna include them, and this this eight 83 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:35,319 team listic goal, because I do think you're right. They they're rebuilding and 84 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:41,439 just might not know it or be acting like it. Right And and the 85 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:44,519 reason I asked you to include them many ways because I looked at the list 86 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:46,399 and I was like, Okay, if if San Antonio and Portland are going 87 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:49,800 to be on here, then Sacramento definitely belongs on here, right Like that, 88 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:54,879 those teams are much older, they have more veterans. And so even 89 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:58,600 if I, you know, may not may not agree with the concept, 90 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:01,040 you you kept it not enough to where like, Okay, all these teams 91 00:06:01,079 --> 00:06:05,560 fit under the umbrella that you're talking about. I mean, the Kings could 92 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:10,720 easily fit under any umbrella, just because they might they have a little bit 93 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:14,959 of the Pelicans in them where they are trying to make the play in It's 94 00:06:14,959 --> 00:06:18,759 just that the Pelicans have the talent to do so and the Kings do not 95 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:23,639 at the moment. And you know, for anyone, this is not I 96 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:26,959 want to clarify, like, we're not looking specifically at the worst teams here, 97 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:29,279 which is why the Knicks aren't on here, which is why the Lakers 98 00:06:29,279 --> 00:06:32,759 aren't on here. Anyone that's like inadvertently bad this season or wasn't intending upon 99 00:06:32,839 --> 00:06:38,680 rebuilding. The Kings were just the iffious inclusion though, because the Blazers in 100 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:42,519 the Spurs at least made moves at the trade deadline that signaled the direction which 101 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:46,600 they were headed. The Kings went the opposite way with the Domasa Bonus trade, 102 00:06:47,079 --> 00:06:51,959 and it just confounds everything even further of what was already sort of this 103 00:06:53,319 --> 00:07:00,519 hazy, obfuscated, disaligned direction. Yeah, yeah, definitely complicated things. 104 00:07:01,439 --> 00:07:05,519 But I do have updated opinions on that trade, so I guess we can. 105 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:08,480 I mean, like, where are we going with this? Are we 106 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:11,079 going bottom to top? Were we going top to bottom? Let's go bottom 107 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:14,040 to top, Let's keep let's keep your listeners so who do you have it 108 00:07:14,199 --> 00:07:18,399 at number eight Portland? For Portland, it's like, what are you selling 109 00:07:18,439 --> 00:07:23,680 me on? Right? Like, this team doesn't really know whether they're rebuilding 110 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:27,040 or whether they're reshuffling, right, And I kind of kind of I kind 111 00:07:27,079 --> 00:07:30,480 of feel like they think they're reshuffling, but you look at you look at 112 00:07:30,519 --> 00:07:35,519 what they've been this entire season, and it's like, yeah, they should 113 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:40,519 probably just go full bore, rip the band aid off, trade Dame and 114 00:07:40,519 --> 00:07:44,639 and eventually trade Narcic because I don't see a team. I don't see a 115 00:07:44,639 --> 00:07:47,680 pathway for this team getting back to contendership if they were ever there. I 116 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:53,480 don't think they were ever there at any point since LaMarcus Aldridge left anyways, 117 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:57,120 Like I think this team just should probably tear it down and that, and 118 00:07:57,199 --> 00:07:59,920 like I look at their roster, their prospects, it's like, so, 119 00:08:00,079 --> 00:08:03,199 again, what do you selling me on Anthony Simons this year? Little? 120 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:07,839 Like I actually like Trendon Watford, but it's like he's not like it's not 121 00:08:07,879 --> 00:08:11,160 like he's gonna get an opportunity once nur Gets returns, right, Like he's 122 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:13,319 gonna go back to the bench and they're gonna go back to We're gonna go 123 00:08:13,399 --> 00:08:18,360 back to pretending like the Blazers are this sneaky playoff team again, right, 124 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:22,439 Like would you that every year the Blazers are gonna sneak up on everybody and 125 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:26,920 they never do. I don't disagree with where you put them. I think 126 00:08:26,199 --> 00:08:31,839 they have just opted for flexibility. They're going to have, you know, 127 00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:35,399 twenty plus million dollars in cap space this summer. They have that huge trade 128 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:39,600 exception everyone's linked to Jeremy grant to it. I'm with you in the sense 129 00:08:39,639 --> 00:08:43,159 though that their their asset well is sort of underwhelming. You trade CJ. 130 00:08:43,279 --> 00:08:48,320 McCollum and Norman Powell and don't really recoup a ton of first round draft pick 131 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:52,080 equity. And I think you could argue that the CJ. McCollum trade was 132 00:08:52,559 --> 00:08:56,320 a win win for all parties involved. Actually, but the Norman Powell trades 133 00:08:56,320 --> 00:09:00,559 to me, remains inexplicable. You didn't need to make it to dump to 134 00:09:00,879 --> 00:09:03,840 duck the tax. Excuse me, especially knowing that you were going to make 135 00:09:03,879 --> 00:09:07,279 the CJ. McCollum deal, which we all knew, or we know that 136 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:09,639 they knew they were going to make anyway, and you didn't turn it into 137 00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:13,000 like any high end youngsters, I do think there are more intriguing players on 138 00:09:13,039 --> 00:09:18,320 their roster. It's definitely opened up more of an opportunity for Anthony Simons, 139 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:22,440 who before his I think he's a hip injury right now. He was absolutely 140 00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:28,200 bawling. But it's definitely fair to question where is this team headed because you 141 00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:30,720 still have Damian Lillard, and I know people think that they're just going to 142 00:09:30,799 --> 00:09:33,480 trade him. I'm of the mind that unless he asks her out, they're 143 00:09:33,519 --> 00:09:35,759 not going to move him, and so that puts them in the That puts 144 00:09:35,759 --> 00:09:39,120 them in this weird it's too hard. Yeah, it puts them in this 145 00:09:39,159 --> 00:09:41,879 weird situation where, Okay, you're probably gonna keep this year's pick because you're 146 00:09:41,879 --> 00:09:46,080 gonna successfully tank enough. But where do we go from here? What you 147 00:09:46,159 --> 00:09:50,200 have this let's call it a top like five or seven lottery pick five. 148 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:54,600 That's what you end up with plus Dame plus resigning Anthony Simons. It is 149 00:09:54,639 --> 00:09:58,120 tough to identify the core thereafter. Even if you're intrigued by some of their 150 00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:01,679 youngsters, and like Windlow has played well, Keian Johnson's had some moments for 151 00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:07,480 them. Nasire Little was interesting before he was dealing with yet another injury. 152 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:09,639 But it is hard to spot and Josh Hart, you know that's salad. 153 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:15,879 It's just hard to spot core pieces and there's no guarantee the flexibility they have 154 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:20,519 turns into anything. I admire Joe Cronin for sort of choosing a direction for 155 00:10:20,559 --> 00:10:26,000 this team. Where I think the cardinal sin for the Blazers was when nil 156 00:10:26,039 --> 00:10:30,840 o'shay constantly aimed for these singles and doubles on the trade market rather than making 157 00:10:30,879 --> 00:10:33,759 that swing for a triple or a homer. And so you look at all 158 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:37,320 a lot of his past moves, Larry Ant's junior, Robert coming to Norman 159 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:41,840 Powell. Those are all trades that individually, in their vacuum were quality deals. 160 00:10:41,879 --> 00:10:46,600 But you either missed the point to capitalize on CJ. McCollum's trade value, 161 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:50,279 or you just never went all in around CJ. McCollum and Damian Lillard 162 00:10:50,519 --> 00:10:56,399 not really at least not authentically enough to enter that level of sustainable contention. 163 00:10:56,440 --> 00:10:58,360 There were probably a couple of seasons where I mean, they did make the 164 00:10:58,399 --> 00:11:01,360 Western Conferences, but there are probably couple of seasons where they were in that 165 00:11:01,399 --> 00:11:05,799 click, but it was never really this, you know, persisting status, 166 00:11:05,799 --> 00:11:09,799 So I am with you there. I think I have them at number eight 167 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:15,720 as well, just because I'm I'm so confused as to what they're doing. 168 00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:20,000 I did initially have them though, at number seven, because I have the 169 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:22,720 Kings at number eight. So I think there's a case to have I have 170 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:28,960 to have Portland lower. It's just they still do have Damian Lillard and whatever 171 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:31,799 let's say they do eventually move him, whatever he recous, plus Anthony assignments, 172 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:35,080 plus this year's draft pick. They did get an extra first rounder in 173 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:39,679 the season mccollin trade as well. It's it's at least more of a basis, 174 00:11:39,759 --> 00:11:43,480 and I think I appreciate the clarity at least with which they're operating where 175 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:46,000 they've decided, No, we don't know what the selexibility is going to get 176 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:52,639 us, but we're either rebuilding around Dame or we're just rebuilding period. Right, 177 00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:54,200 they can hedge, they can hedge their backs if they do choose to 178 00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:58,039 go into a rebuild. If Dame does demand a trade, what I'll say 179 00:11:58,159 --> 00:12:01,759 is like to put an asterisk next to all these teams and this this entire 180 00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:05,600 list. Uh, this could change depending on what happens. First of all, 181 00:12:05,679 --> 00:12:09,320 there's a major trade, Like if game gets traded and they get a 182 00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:11,600 major haul for this, I have the right to change this, right if 183 00:12:13,279 --> 00:12:16,080 if they win to the Blazers win the lottery, Right if any of these 184 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:20,639 teams have great lottery luck, or if a player at the top of the 185 00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:24,120 draft falls to them, right and they get lucky at the draft, we 186 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:26,399 have the right to change our list around because we just can't predict those things 187 00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:31,320 right now. Where this is a list based on March tenth, right, 188 00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:35,759 and a month, which is also why this was a good timing immediately after 189 00:12:35,799 --> 00:12:37,799 the trade deadline, and so I approached it like you did. Whereas if 190 00:12:37,799 --> 00:12:41,799 we were just betting and ranking on the betting on these futures, ranking these 191 00:12:41,799 --> 00:12:46,639 teams futures today, That's just how it is, I think the more than 192 00:12:46,679 --> 00:12:48,039 anything. Yes, we don't know what's gonna happen over the offseason, but 193 00:12:48,279 --> 00:12:52,440 this is probably something that could be relitigated immediately after the draft lottery perhaps, 194 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:56,679 Yeah, yeah, for sure, I mean, because I mean, these 195 00:12:56,720 --> 00:13:01,000 flattened lottery just opened up so much like we have team is jumping from like 196 00:13:01,399 --> 00:13:03,480 ten to the top of the draft, and that's just how it is. 197 00:13:03,519 --> 00:13:07,919 That's that's how the NBA wants it to be. You know, we could 198 00:13:07,919 --> 00:13:09,679 talk about the Flatten Lottery and stuff like that, whether or not it was 199 00:13:09,679 --> 00:13:13,399 that it was actually a good idea, or whether they're not actually hurts these 200 00:13:13,399 --> 00:13:18,360 small markets while they're trying to rebuild. But that's a different conversation. Well, 201 00:13:18,559 --> 00:13:22,480 today, March tenth, I have the Blazers at at eighth on this 202 00:13:22,519 --> 00:13:28,000 list because I just don't believe in that core of Dame and Nurkics and I'm 203 00:13:28,039 --> 00:13:31,559 not confident, Like I've seen the Blazers with caps plays before I got I 204 00:13:31,639 --> 00:13:35,600 know what they do right, Like, obviously this is a different general manager, 205 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:41,080 but I'm not confident based off the fact that they promoted from within that 206 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:48,240 they're gonna do anything different. I have the King's last because they have not 207 00:13:48,399 --> 00:13:52,159 provided clarity of direction. And that's a problem when you went all in at 208 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:54,440 the trade deadline. If you were going to and this is maybe the most 209 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:58,639 basic way of looking at it, if you're going to trade someone in the 210 00:13:58,679 --> 00:14:03,519 second year of his rookie scale contract, it has to be with the assent 211 00:14:03,639 --> 00:14:07,240 of immediate urgency and improving your immediate position. They didn't do that. With 212 00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:11,240 Domas Sabonis. This season, they're not going to make the play in They're 213 00:14:11,240 --> 00:14:13,279 probably gonna finish twelfth or thirteenth in the West, like just like we all 214 00:14:13,279 --> 00:14:18,559 predicted. And the biggest victory, or the best way to frame this is, 215 00:14:18,879 --> 00:14:22,639 I think that the Bonus is a good player was still the best player 216 00:14:22,679 --> 00:14:26,480 in this deal. He just said to the athletic he wants to stay in 217 00:14:26,519 --> 00:14:31,480 Sacramento. But you have shrunk your timeline. You also ostensibly made this decision 218 00:14:31,519 --> 00:14:35,039 of what we need to choose between the Iron Fox or Tyres Haliburton, when 219 00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:37,759 that was never a decision you needed to make. And so I recognize they 220 00:14:37,759 --> 00:14:41,360 didn't give up any draft equity for Sabonus, and they're gonna have another really 221 00:14:41,399 --> 00:14:46,519 good draft pick this summer, or at least they at least they should. 222 00:14:46,159 --> 00:14:48,759 And they have the Aaron Fox who's been playing, By the way, anyone 223 00:14:48,799 --> 00:14:52,600 who hasn't watched the Arn foxy the defense still comes and goes, mostly doesn't 224 00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:58,639 exist, but he's just been annihilating people on offense. I still believe in 225 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:01,320 him. You have Sabonus, You have those two. I think you could 226 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:05,759 reasonably say two guys that in any given season, can be one of the 227 00:15:05,759 --> 00:15:09,399 two twenty five to thirty best players in the league, But like, what 228 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:13,440 do you have beyond that? Harrison Barnes is fantastic, there's weird overlap long 229 00:15:13,519 --> 00:15:16,120 term with Rashaun Holmes. There you don't have a ton of wings. I 230 00:15:16,120 --> 00:15:20,759 think davy On Mitchell's an interesting prospect and someone who you know, you look 231 00:15:20,799 --> 00:15:24,519 over his past couple of weeks. He's can be a force around the basket, 232 00:15:24,600 --> 00:15:28,200 and we know what he does on defense, but just like, what 233 00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:31,720 is his best case outcome for this team? And then there's also just not 234 00:15:31,879 --> 00:15:37,399 a lot else thereafter. And I don't know, again on March tenth, 235 00:15:37,519 --> 00:15:43,200 how you trust this team to make the right decisions moving forward When even the 236 00:15:43,320 --> 00:15:48,919 nicest compliment you can give the Domas move you still have to relay it within 237 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:54,080 the context of this remains super questionable. And I just don't trust them to 238 00:15:54,879 --> 00:16:00,519 ever prioritize the big picture properly enough. This was a situation where I think 239 00:16:00,519 --> 00:16:04,279 that people wanted the Kings to do something anything that suggested they weren't okay, 240 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:10,519 absolutely in the bottom of the middle, bottom whatever you want to call it, 241 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:15,320 and they did do something anything but it was somehow just not clarifying to 242 00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:18,639 me at least in any sense. So they are a team I think that 243 00:16:18,679 --> 00:16:22,480 can improve their position a great deal between now and the start of next season, 244 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:26,559 but just after the trade deadline. What we've seen from them since the 245 00:16:26,639 --> 00:16:32,240 offense hasn't even been that efficient since the trade deadline. Domas Tabronis is not 246 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:36,320 shooting well on jumpers. They're just still too many question marks with this roster, 247 00:16:36,360 --> 00:16:38,279 and I think you sort of have to take in the reputation of an 248 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:45,279 organization that perpetually cannot get out of its own way. Yeah, I have 249 00:16:45,399 --> 00:16:48,240 them a little higher. I guess we'll talk about it when I get when 250 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:52,080 we get a little high area. Oh yeah, a little high. Well, 251 00:16:52,879 --> 00:16:55,320 did you want to just move up to my next team or what I 252 00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:57,240 had at seven? Yeah? So I think the best way to frame it 253 00:16:57,240 --> 00:17:00,440 now is let's go through yours and then I'll just talk about if, like 254 00:17:00,559 --> 00:17:04,039 there's any major differences with mine, so we don't spoil anything too ridiculous. 255 00:17:04,039 --> 00:17:07,799 So who did you have at number seven? At number seven, I had 256 00:17:07,839 --> 00:17:14,000 the Spurs. Okay, So so here here's my thing. I like de 257 00:17:14,079 --> 00:17:15,960 John Ta Murray. I don't love de jon Ta Murray. I'm not confident 258 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:18,759 in the jump shot. I think he's probably one of the best players on 259 00:17:18,799 --> 00:17:22,480 this list of teams, right, Like, if you're if you're just ranking 260 00:17:22,519 --> 00:17:25,720 the players that are on these teams, he's probably one of the better ones. 261 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:29,680 I just I'm looking at the rest of their core, and yes, 262 00:17:29,799 --> 00:17:33,440 I'm I'm happy that they finally chose a direction and that they're finally going to 263 00:17:33,519 --> 00:17:37,000 lean into a rebuild. But there's their players are still kind of too old. 264 00:17:37,119 --> 00:17:40,960 Like you're like, we're talking they're their best. Their cornerstone talents right 265 00:17:41,039 --> 00:17:45,160 are Yaka Purdle and Dejante Murray. Those guys are twenty five and twenty six, 266 00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:48,839 respectively. Like it's it's just I don't know, Like I think when 267 00:17:48,839 --> 00:17:52,400 we're talking about futures, I feel like they're gonna flat line at some point, 268 00:17:52,599 --> 00:17:56,720 unless they plan on tradeing Yacca Purdle, and in which case we can 269 00:17:56,720 --> 00:17:59,799 come back to this and talk about whatever return they got for him, or 270 00:18:00,039 --> 00:18:03,119 of a return they get through John Day Murray. I just think I'm looking 271 00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:06,519 at them right now, and you know at takeupton dot Com they have the 272 00:18:06,599 --> 00:18:08,720 seventh best lottery odds. That's not good enough for me to get excited about 273 00:18:08,759 --> 00:18:11,880 what they have going on right now, especially consider you're gonna be taking in 274 00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:15,480 a nineteen year old to add to these mid twenty guys. Right I think 275 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:18,839 there's still more of a tear down that needs to be had. I like 276 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:22,599 Kildon Johnson, you know, I think he can fit into whatever core they 277 00:18:22,599 --> 00:18:26,200 build. He's young enough. I think he's you know, he's shown enough 278 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:27,599 promise to where like, Okay, yeah, you can probably keep him around. 279 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:30,759 I think they're still in the tear down phase. I think they started 280 00:18:30,799 --> 00:18:36,839 some of that obviously at the trade deadline, but they still't need to advance 281 00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:41,680 past this for me to move them up my list. That's all fair. 282 00:18:41,119 --> 00:18:45,079 You didn't say enough nice things about Devin Vassell in my opinion, but they're 283 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:49,200 actually don't have them that much. It's not an egregious miss I have him 284 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:52,359 at fifth on this list, and maybe that just says how I feel about 285 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:56,920 John Day Murray. I also think you can trust their player development more than 286 00:18:56,960 --> 00:18:59,440 a lot of these other teams, and I think the fact that they're committed 287 00:18:59,799 --> 00:19:02,920 to rebuilding at this point is a big deal. And the Derek White trade 288 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:07,039 was more of a harbinger of that than anything they've done, even dating back 289 00:19:07,079 --> 00:19:10,920 to the Collive trade when they still prioritize kind of hanging around in the middle. 290 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:14,160 They've opened up just you know, Kelton Johnson's used has been a little 291 00:19:14,160 --> 00:19:18,000 bit different since the trade. They've thrown more ball screens for Devin Vassell. 292 00:19:18,039 --> 00:19:22,000 We've seen Trey Jones and Josh Primo a little bit more. I do agree 293 00:19:22,079 --> 00:19:25,359 with you that Dejan Say Murray is the closest they come to having sort of 294 00:19:25,359 --> 00:19:29,440 that blue chip cornerstone. I don't know that we know enough about the other 295 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:33,839 guys to say definitively they don't have another option there. You're probably looking at 296 00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:37,559 Basel or Primos your most likely answer, and that's a little underwhelming. So 297 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:41,920 I have trouble, excuse me, putting them in the top half, mostly 298 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:47,039 because of everything you said. They are flexible moving forward. They've done a 299 00:19:47,039 --> 00:19:52,279 great job of mining talent, quality talent. But to look at this roster 300 00:19:52,839 --> 00:19:57,880 and envision there being this tent pole player or two in prospect form, it 301 00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:00,480 is tough to get there. Maybe that changes that this year's draft, But 302 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:03,160 they also just have the look and feel of a team that's gonna still be 303 00:20:03,519 --> 00:20:07,799 in part because they have Murray, but also because they've done a good job 304 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:11,839 grooming a lot. I don't think people understand how good Devin Vassel is unless 305 00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:15,359 they're watching or excuse me, like in San Antonio watching the Spurs consistently enough. 306 00:20:15,359 --> 00:20:19,279 Even Trey Jones is just someone that I think he's gonna be a rock 307 00:20:19,319 --> 00:20:23,240 solid, if not better NBA player, has like the pull up MIDI work 308 00:20:23,279 --> 00:20:26,559 in form, has shown that he can throw some different types of passes and 309 00:20:26,559 --> 00:20:32,119 knows how to work the pockets there. So I'm I'm higher on them immediately 310 00:20:32,319 --> 00:20:34,599 than a lot of these teams. But I tried to forecast more into the 311 00:20:34,599 --> 00:20:38,519 future, and I'm with you there that there's there's the potential for this to 312 00:20:38,599 --> 00:20:42,720 flatline, even if it's by design. They might recognize our ceiling in the 313 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:47,759 West with this core where let's say, you know, even regardless of who 314 00:20:47,799 --> 00:20:49,400 they draft or signed this summer, let's say they look at this and say, 315 00:20:49,559 --> 00:20:53,400 we're gonna get to a point where Deshanta Murray, Devin Vassell, and 316 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:57,640 Kelton Johnson are three best players. They just might decide that that tops out 317 00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:02,839 as a five seed in the Western Conference and sort of have to to start 318 00:21:02,920 --> 00:21:06,880 over. And I will say, what gives them just some a little bit 319 00:21:06,880 --> 00:21:08,279 more cache for me if they wanted to go out and make a trade, 320 00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:14,119 just having the twenty twenty eight swap with Boston and the Derek White deal and 321 00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:17,680 they do have some of these extra first round picks now, they could accelerate 322 00:21:17,759 --> 00:21:22,880 their position fairly, reasonably and more significantly than a team like the Kings did. 323 00:21:22,039 --> 00:21:26,160 To me. Yeah, And to be clear, like I don't hate 324 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:29,200 what they have going on, right, I just I like the direction. 325 00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:33,119 If you were asking, like do you like what direction this organization is going 326 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:36,279 in? Yeah, they were. They had one of my favorite trade deadlines 327 00:21:36,559 --> 00:21:40,839 out of everybody on fifth February to the tenth right, Like they killed it. 328 00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:42,240 I thought they killed it, And that swap is part of the reason 329 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:47,519 they killed it, Like they just seeing the Spurs like behave that way. 330 00:21:47,559 --> 00:21:49,559 The way that they did at the deadline was so weird. It was like 331 00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:52,759 it was like I was in an alternate universe watching them trade for first round 332 00:21:52,759 --> 00:21:56,599 picks left and right. But that's what you gotta do. Like you're not 333 00:21:56,640 --> 00:22:00,279 good enough to make the play in tournament, you're long term, you're not 334 00:22:00,319 --> 00:22:03,400 gonna You're probably not gonna make the playoffs, so it's it's better to just 335 00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:07,240 air down now before you know it gets out of hand and your players don't 336 00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:10,680 have value. So I like what. I like where they're going. I 337 00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:12,680 don't hate where they're at. I like the other teams on this list more. 338 00:22:12,799 --> 00:22:17,400 That's more where I'm at. I think what you sort of spoke to 339 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:21,000 there. If we were to do this in tears. There are maybe two 340 00:22:21,039 --> 00:22:25,000 teams on this eight team list where I don't like their directions. They're gonna 341 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:29,480 be teams that are better than these squads right now. You know, visv 342 00:22:29,559 --> 00:22:33,759 The Lakers, the Knicks, the Wizards rum lower on their overall directions. 343 00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:37,319 I think the Kings and the Blazers, and that's more born from a combination 344 00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:41,480 of distrust or just uncertainty. Are the only two teams on this list are 345 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:45,240 on like either don't necessarily understand what they're doing, don't trust what they're doing, 346 00:22:45,319 --> 00:22:48,279 don't have faith and what they're doing. Everyone else, I would say, 347 00:22:48,319 --> 00:22:52,480 has at least position positioned themselves fairly well. And so that's like when 348 00:22:52,519 --> 00:22:56,519 you're putting the Spurs at you had them at seven, that's not really an 349 00:22:56,559 --> 00:22:59,200 insult because it sounds like, especially if you're higher on the Kings than I, 350 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:00,839 and it sounds like the Lasers are the only team on this list whose 351 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:06,839 direction you don't necessarily appreciate or understand. Yeah, I just I don't. 352 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:08,599 I don't, well, I understand it. I don't agree with what the 353 00:23:08,599 --> 00:23:11,759 players are doing. I guess that's that's how I would phrase it. I 354 00:23:11,799 --> 00:23:15,440 get that they're trying to be flexible. I just kind of think that the 355 00:23:15,759 --> 00:23:19,599 directions obvious. They just don't want to go there yet. And you know, 356 00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:25,920 like I think that you understand what they're doing, because it also means 357 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:27,279 that you understand what the Kings are doing, and that's the team on this 358 00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:32,160 ride just don't have a hold on what the hope here is. Well, 359 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:34,440 we'll get we'll get there. We'll get there. Uh, it might be 360 00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:37,400 a little bit bit of time before we get there. We'll get there. 361 00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:41,599 No, Like, like I think, I think the Spurs aren't a good 362 00:23:41,599 --> 00:23:42,559 spot. You know, they should just keep it up. I have no 363 00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:48,039 problem with how they've operated the past twelve months. What do you have at 364 00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:52,839 number six? Orlando? So I really like Jen Jalen sucks. I realize 365 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:57,440 this rookie year has not been is he's not been one of the best rookies. 366 00:23:57,559 --> 00:24:00,720 It's it's pretty clear. I still think he has the potential to be 367 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:06,880 a star caliber guard in the NBA. I love his mental makeup, I 368 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:10,480 love his intangibles. I love what he could become as a defender. I 369 00:24:10,519 --> 00:24:15,960 love that he clearly has team leadership qualities about him that I think will translate 370 00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:19,480 well into the basketball court. He seems like a big game guy. I 371 00:24:21,319 --> 00:24:25,039 realize I'm talking about everything but what he's actually done this year on the court. 372 00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:26,880 But I think I think that will come. I think that will come. 373 00:24:27,039 --> 00:24:30,799 It takes a long time for point guards to develop. Franz Wagner obviously 374 00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:36,039 one of the biggest surprises of this year's draft. He's probably, by the 375 00:24:36,079 --> 00:24:40,119 way third I think on my Rookie of the Year ballot right now, I 376 00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:41,319 don't. I think a lot of people want him ahead of Scottie Barnes. 377 00:24:41,839 --> 00:24:45,119 I can't get there at the moment. I think it's gonna be tough figuring 378 00:24:45,119 --> 00:24:51,319 out Scotty Barnes versus Wagner versus Kay Cunningham. But that's neither here nor there. 379 00:24:51,319 --> 00:24:52,559 Please continue, I apologize for interrupting. No, no, no, 380 00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:56,480 no, I get it. Like, here's the thing, he's been that 381 00:24:56,559 --> 00:25:00,519 good, Like he's warranted a top five Rookie of the Year spot. Like 382 00:25:00,559 --> 00:25:03,680 he's been amazing, and it's it's kind of amazing. It's kind of crazy 383 00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:07,680 that he failed to the Orlando where he did. And I think, you 384 00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:11,839 know, I like, I like their big I just think they have one 385 00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:14,839 too many. I think they're both playing the same position, right, Wendell 386 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:18,160 Carter and Mo Bamba, Like that's superple with pick one, right, pick 387 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:22,680 one trade the other one, get some value, and and that's a decent 388 00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:25,920 kind of out. I don't want, I don't I don't want to say 389 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:29,000 they have a core going, but they have the makings of a core going. 390 00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:33,319 And I like their young talent better than everybody below them on this list. 391 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:36,160 You know, I actually thought about putting them ahead of the Spurs. 392 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:37,359 I have them at number six as well, so we match up here. 393 00:25:37,759 --> 00:25:41,480 I considered putting them at five based off a lot of what you said. 394 00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:45,759 Friends. Wagner has had the better season than Jail and Suggs. I think 395 00:25:45,759 --> 00:25:48,920 Suggs still clearly has the higher ceiling. They've they've sort of he's dealt with 396 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:52,599 some injuries too, and he's been one of the most inefficient shooters in the 397 00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:55,920 league, but they've saddled him with a lot like this is someone that this 398 00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:57,559 is a team, excuse me, that still doesn't have a clear floor general 399 00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:02,160 hierarchy, and a lot of that has fallen on Joe and Suggs this year. 400 00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:04,240 I've still liked what I've seen when you look at a lot of his 401 00:26:04,319 --> 00:26:08,960 decision making going downhill, the physicality with which he can play there. I 402 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:12,720 do think he projects as a good defender eventually. Like you said, there, 403 00:26:14,039 --> 00:26:17,680 there's just and look, friends, Wagner, the dude is just does 404 00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:19,279 a lot of things well. I don't know if he'll ever be dominant, 405 00:26:19,279 --> 00:26:22,920 but there's a finesse to his game. There's also a fuck you to his 406 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:23,680 game. When you look at him putting the ball on the floor, you 407 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:27,519 see guys bounce off of him. He's shooting like almost fifty percent on his 408 00:26:27,599 --> 00:26:30,759 floaters. I think you would probably make the case, or should make the 409 00:26:30,799 --> 00:26:37,000 case, that he's been the single most impactful or let's say consistent rookie, 410 00:26:37,599 --> 00:26:41,200 let's say consistent rookie on the offensive end this year. So he is a 411 00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:44,960 pick that I didn't appreciate in real time for them, and I think gives 412 00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:48,119 them just a lot of different optionality moving forward. What I struggled to see 413 00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:52,359 here is what the top end of this roster will eventually look like. It 414 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:56,599 just feels like there's a please go ahead, we're talking about all right, 415 00:26:56,599 --> 00:26:59,640 we don't even talk about co Anthony. I like Co Anthony. Anthony's cool. 416 00:26:59,759 --> 00:27:03,279 I think I think you think you'll be a good rotation caliber NBA guard 417 00:27:03,319 --> 00:27:06,799 on a playoff team. I think he's good. I agree with you. 418 00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:10,880 I look. I also still really like RJ. Hampton despite the season that 419 00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:14,000 he has had, and but that more speaks to my point of it just 420 00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:17,839 feels like a hodgepodge still here. And maybe I'll feel better once we get 421 00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:22,000 a bigger sample from Mark el Folts under his belt. They still have not 422 00:27:22,119 --> 00:27:25,240 had Jonathan Isaac hasn't played basketball basically two years at this point, right, 423 00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:29,839 And maybe I'm waiting those question marks a little bit too much. I just 424 00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:32,880 have a question of how it's all eventually going to come together for them on 425 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:36,400 offense, even though the fact that they play in the Eastern Conference might be 426 00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:40,160 worth a little bit of a bump here because Isaac is essentially a defensive system 427 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:42,160 unto himself, and we've seen just a lot of good things at both ends 428 00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:45,200 of the floor from Wendell Carter Junior this year. And so if you're working 429 00:27:45,759 --> 00:27:52,519 off a front court of Carter, Isaac and Wagner, plus you have Sugs 430 00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:55,839 and Anthony in the backward, like, that's an interesting lineup. I still 431 00:27:55,839 --> 00:28:00,519 just I don't necessarily know the mode of operation there offensively. So while there's 432 00:28:00,559 --> 00:28:03,559 a lot of names to like here, I still look at Jail and Suggs 433 00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:07,640 is kind of the only potential blue chip cornerstone option. And it's not meant 434 00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:11,640 to insult Franz Wagner, And I'm not trying to necessarily criticize Jonathan Isaac. 435 00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:15,880 I just I haven't seen it from him on offense yet. He's just and 436 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:18,640 again it's been years at this point, but he is an incredibly limited offensive 437 00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:23,680 player. They look they are a team that maybe could consolidate themselves into a 438 00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:26,839 better position, not to mention the draft pick that they'll have this year, 439 00:28:27,559 --> 00:28:30,880 like even Chumo Kiki, like those are all just interesting guys they have on 440 00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:34,359 this Russer So if they wanted to they can go out and make a consolidation 441 00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:37,680 trade. I just don't know if that's what they're thinking, and so I 442 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:41,279 do have them at six, but I considered putting them fifth with san Antonio 443 00:28:41,319 --> 00:28:45,279 by virtue of being in the East and also just maybe having a lot more 444 00:28:45,319 --> 00:28:48,400 flyers than san Antonio. It's just I like, once you get off of 445 00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:52,559 if you want to go Murray versus Suggs long term, I think a lot 446 00:28:52,559 --> 00:28:55,359 of people are probably just going to prefer Suggs because he's more of an unknown. 447 00:28:55,799 --> 00:28:57,160 After that, though, once you sort of get to like the number 448 00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:00,720 two and three and four guys on the team, I feel like I like 449 00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:06,000 a lot of what san Antonio's dudes in that instance, Ken or might bring 450 00:29:06,039 --> 00:29:08,839 to the table than I do when you look at Orlando. Yeah, we 451 00:29:08,839 --> 00:29:12,039 should also mention that they have the worst record in basketball right now, and 452 00:29:12,079 --> 00:29:18,599 if that continues, they're locking themselves into one of buoncro Ivy, home Grin 453 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:23,559 Smith or aj Griffin right like like that, that's a pretty good player to 454 00:29:23,599 --> 00:29:29,200 lock yourself into, and I'm kind of projecting that as well into this ranking. 455 00:29:29,279 --> 00:29:33,839 Right They're gonna get a really solid blue shift prospect and you know, 456 00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:37,720 adding the adding that kind of player to this core, it's intriguing. It 457 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:41,519 makes them intriguing. And you know, I do agree that, or I 458 00:29:41,559 --> 00:29:45,960 should say I can see the case for you saying that Dejant Murray is a 459 00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:49,880 better prospect than anyone on this roster currently. It's just the age difference, 460 00:29:51,079 --> 00:29:53,880 right, it's just the age that that kind of I'm I don't project much 461 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:59,440 more future growth onto Murray as I do for like Stugs, or as I 462 00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:02,920 do for like Wagner, Right, and that's kind of why I can't get 463 00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:04,640 there with as much with san Antonio as you. Yeah, and just so 464 00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:08,000 over clear, I think Suggs is the better prospect because Murray is no longer 465 00:30:08,039 --> 00:30:11,640 a prospect, and so Suggs is best case outcome I think is the chance 466 00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:15,200 to I don't want to say nuke, but definitely exceed that of Murray's I 467 00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:18,440 guess the best company being. I don't want to. I know, Magic 468 00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:22,240 fans are passionate about how good Franz Wagner has been this season. If you're 469 00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:26,480 asking me whether I prefer Devin Vassel or Franz Wagner long term, or Kelton 470 00:30:26,559 --> 00:30:30,799 Johnson or Franz Wagner long term, once you start getting into those conversations, 471 00:30:30,079 --> 00:30:33,680 I do feel more inclined to pick san Antonio there. And I'm not trying 472 00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:38,039 to diminish what Frands Wagner has done this season. Like I said, he 473 00:30:38,079 --> 00:30:41,519 has been probably one of the no worse than the fourth best rookie in my 474 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:45,720 personal opinion, and he's definitely been the most consistent rookie on the offensive end. 475 00:30:45,799 --> 00:30:48,559 I just don't, you know, do you view him as a legitimate 476 00:30:48,599 --> 00:30:52,359 building block. He's only twenty, so maybe I'm sort of limiting him too 477 00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:55,359 much, and maybe I'm also dismissing, you know, after you know, 478 00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:56,440 Okay, we have Suggs, we have Wagner, we have Isaac am I 479 00:30:56,440 --> 00:31:00,559 dismissing the rest of this roster too much. I think Coland he's like this 480 00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:07,039 really valuable, entertaining, useful microwave score. I think he's been miscast as 481 00:31:07,079 --> 00:31:11,559 a primary ball handler a lot of the time in Orlando. I just I 482 00:31:11,599 --> 00:31:14,480 like him, but it's just sort of where does he fit into the context 483 00:31:14,519 --> 00:31:17,119 of a really good, too great team, And it feels like maybe he 484 00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:21,160 might be better suited coming off the bench there. So just the weirdo pecking 485 00:31:21,279 --> 00:31:26,119 order in their backcourt where they have all these options without a like a floor 486 00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:27,599 general, not even saying a pass first point card, but just a floor 487 00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:32,799 general segs probably still gives them the best chance of having that the absence of 488 00:31:32,799 --> 00:31:34,559 that. I also think, you know, yeah, I like Wendel Carter 489 00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:37,759 Junior. I like Jonathan Isaac. What are they top out at? Though? 490 00:31:37,799 --> 00:31:41,440 If you're looking at just biggs and you know, whether you want to 491 00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:44,720 call we know Wendel Carter Junior should be a five. Isaac could probably play 492 00:31:44,759 --> 00:31:48,160 him five, but he's mostly a four. Just what is the ceiling on 493 00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:52,480 that? Maybe I would feel differently if I had seen Jonathan Isaac play with 494 00:31:52,519 --> 00:31:56,720 any semblance of recency. Yeah, there's a lot of defensive potential there right 495 00:31:56,759 --> 00:32:00,039 in that front court that you're describing as well. When you when you throw 496 00:32:00,079 --> 00:32:05,319 into sugs, uh you know, as your point guard defender that that's a 497 00:32:05,359 --> 00:32:08,279 hell of a you know, potential defensive corps there. Uh yeah, I 498 00:32:08,319 --> 00:32:12,400 agree with you on Coy Anthony. Coy Anthony is a guy. I you 499 00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:15,039 know, I was careful not to describe him as a as a starter on 500 00:32:15,039 --> 00:32:17,759 a championship team or a playoff team, because I don't think he's going to 501 00:32:17,839 --> 00:32:22,119 become that. Like I think it's very KPJSK and that he probably has a 502 00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:27,200 role that he's not qualified for right now. But you look at the rest 503 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:29,200 of the roster, who else you're throwing in there? Right I DI have 504 00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:31,759 no problem with them doing what they're doing right now on the court. Long 505 00:32:31,839 --> 00:32:36,160 term, they should probably think about, you know, how they handle the 506 00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:42,440 ball handling responsibilities of Sugs versus Coy, Anthony versus Wagner. I like Sugs 507 00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:44,640 more as a floor general type, so I'd like to see the ball in 508 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:46,440 his hands a little bit more, and he's gotten it this year. But 509 00:32:46,519 --> 00:32:50,960 yeah, I have no problem what you just said there. The other thing 510 00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:54,319 too, is they have two extra firsts in their chamber in twenty twenty three 511 00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:59,799 from Chicago that is top was a top four protection and then the twenty twenty 512 00:32:59,799 --> 00:33:02,440 five pick from Denver, and so that I think more than I would expect 513 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:06,160 those picks to be sort of black. I mean, the Chicago one's kind 514 00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:09,319 of interesting, to be honest, but it gives them between that and just 515 00:33:09,359 --> 00:33:14,519 sort of these guys you can talk yourself into on the roster away from the 516 00:33:14,519 --> 00:33:15,759 top. You know, you don't have to move jail and Sugs or Franz 517 00:33:15,799 --> 00:33:20,759 Wagner, but just the other dudes on this roster. That plus their pick 518 00:33:20,799 --> 00:33:23,119 equity, plus the inbound like you said, they're gonna lock themselves into one 519 00:33:23,119 --> 00:33:28,559 of the four best prospects probably this year. That does give them maybe some 520 00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:32,279 more juice. And so I'm I'm almost considering vaulting them ahead of san Antonio. 521 00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:37,000 I have to. That's a tough decision between six and five for me. 522 00:33:37,119 --> 00:33:40,160 But who do you have at number five? Okay, number five? 523 00:33:40,279 --> 00:33:45,400 I have Detroit? Like, wait, where did you have? I guess 524 00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:47,440 we can do that later. Yeah, I like I like. I love 525 00:33:47,519 --> 00:33:51,960 Kate cunning aam man. I love Kate Cunningham. I think he's I think 526 00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:55,039 he has a potential to be a hugiocentric ball handler on a very good playoff 527 00:33:55,079 --> 00:33:59,160 team. Like I really do believe that, Like I thought, I thought 528 00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:00,039 that when he was drafted, that I had him in a tier of his 529 00:34:00,039 --> 00:34:04,480 own during the draft. I still, you know, you know, maybe 530 00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:07,119 Mobly has surpassed him, but like as a long term projection, but I 531 00:34:07,119 --> 00:34:09,920 still really really like him. He's not shooting the ball particularly well, I 532 00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:14,360 think he's like forty eight percent true shooting last time I checked. But he 533 00:34:14,519 --> 00:34:17,880 is. He is pretty much the main reason I have Detroit here. I 534 00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:22,280 like Sadik Bay. You know, Sadiq Bay is a good player. I 535 00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:25,960 like Jeremy Grant. I think is obviously someone that probably isn't going to fit 536 00:34:27,239 --> 00:34:30,199 into their long term timeline, but they have some wiggle room there. They 537 00:34:30,199 --> 00:34:34,480 could probably keep him around, and you know, because he's not a major 538 00:34:34,519 --> 00:34:37,480 player on their team right like long term, I think Cunningham is clearly a 539 00:34:37,519 --> 00:34:43,920 bigger player on their team than Grant. Bagley's Obviously, if you're thinking of 540 00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:46,119 Bagley as the prospect he was drafted for, you're going to be disappointed. 541 00:34:46,119 --> 00:34:50,039 If you're looking at him for what he is at right now as a basketball 542 00:34:50,079 --> 00:34:52,280 player at age twenty two. He's a good player. He's a good basketball 543 00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:57,960 player. Isaiah Stewart's intriguing. I like, I like your core, but 544 00:34:58,079 --> 00:35:01,320 it's more Kaid Cunningham more than anything else. And they're extremely young across the 545 00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:06,440 board, which is really attractive to me because some of these prospects may hit 546 00:35:06,519 --> 00:35:09,000 on a level that none of us are expecting. Because just the sheer volume 547 00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:15,719 of young players they have, yeah, for sure. And Detroit with Detroit 548 00:35:15,760 --> 00:35:19,440 has working against it is there's a big mystery box, and that might be 549 00:35:19,639 --> 00:35:22,840 a kind way of putting it in Killy and Hayes. Maybe I'm reading too 550 00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:25,880 much and I won't, you know, reveal where I have them just yet. 551 00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:29,559 Maybe I'm placing too much stock and just you know, you've seen flashes 552 00:35:29,599 --> 00:35:32,199 from my livers over the past few games. Marvin Badley has a lot good 553 00:35:32,239 --> 00:35:35,960 there, but he is of course going to be a free agent this summer. 554 00:35:36,519 --> 00:35:40,280 Sadique Bay that guy who can be sort of out of control at points, 555 00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:43,440 but there's more ball skills there to him on offense, and you can 556 00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:45,440 throw them on a lot of tough assignments defensively, I think for them. 557 00:35:45,639 --> 00:35:49,440 And the final thing I'll say before we move on, just because I have 558 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:54,320 him in a different spot, Kay Cunningham is just the single most transcendent prospect 559 00:35:54,840 --> 00:35:59,280 in this exercise right now, when you're looking at every single other team, 560 00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:02,360 I think he is a lot better if you look at his best case outcome 561 00:36:02,719 --> 00:36:07,320 than a jail and Green in Houston or even a Shake guil Just Alexander in 562 00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:09,760 Oklahoma City and SGA is maybe more of an A step is not. Maybe 563 00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:14,920 he's definitely more of an established quantity at this point, but Kay Cunningham is 564 00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:20,400 going to control, even if sometimes subtly, every single aspect of the game 565 00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:23,480 and do so at an incredibly high level. Even now there are you know, 566 00:36:24,159 --> 00:36:27,440 some of the shooting percentages aren't great. He shot the ball a little 567 00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:29,400 bit better as the year goes on, but you can all of a sudden 568 00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:31,320 look up and this dude is twenty and five and it's you felt it, 569 00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:36,320 but he just didn't realize how quickly it came because he's so effective at it, 570 00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:38,960 and I don't know if it works against him optically, because it feels 571 00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:43,280 like certain guys dominate the game more of an a smack your face style. 572 00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:45,880 If it's a if it's an Evan Mobley or even even a Scottie Barnes who 573 00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:49,280 has like these you know, has the ten of ten night in the first 574 00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:52,400 half the other game. Kaid Cunningham feels like he could wind up flying under 575 00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:55,199 the radar, in part because he plays in Detroit and I think there are 576 00:36:55,239 --> 00:36:58,880 a lot of people that will just tune out of other pistons, but also 577 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:01,480 just because his game it feels like it's built too. I guess the best 578 00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:06,679 way I can say it is he's built to dominate through his well roundedness rather 579 00:37:06,760 --> 00:37:10,800 than necessarily just annihilate whatever is in front of him. No, I agree. 580 00:37:12,079 --> 00:37:15,400 I agree he's not. The athleticism holds him back a little bit obviously, 581 00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:20,480 but just the skill level all across the board, I'm confident that the 582 00:37:20,480 --> 00:37:22,440 shooting will improve. I'm a believer in that jump shot and that guy is 583 00:37:22,480 --> 00:37:24,760 gonna be a very good shooter in the NBA, just based off what I 584 00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:29,039 saw from him as a prospect, uh, and the volume he was taking 585 00:37:29,039 --> 00:37:30,320 as a prospect. I think that guy's gonna be a really good shooter. 586 00:37:31,199 --> 00:37:35,639 And they also have the third best lot of yards as of right now, 587 00:37:36,199 --> 00:37:38,000 so that's obviously a factor into this. Uh. You know, they're you 588 00:37:38,039 --> 00:37:42,760 know, obviously they could drop. That's not secure, but that's that's a 589 00:37:42,760 --> 00:37:45,920 good spot to where like you can guarantee like a top Tennish pick coming in 590 00:37:46,039 --> 00:37:50,400 for them, and like it's it's you know, adding in a top Tennish 591 00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:54,199 pick onto this current young core. I like it. I like what they're 592 00:37:54,199 --> 00:37:58,840 doing. Uh. I think I think that front office is pretty capable. 593 00:37:59,800 --> 00:38:02,519 They you've done some weird things with pick protections on draft picks, but like, 594 00:38:04,440 --> 00:38:07,880 I think that's largely an inherited from Sam Presty and like some of the 595 00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:12,639 creative stuff that they were doing Oklahoma City. So like, I like what 596 00:38:12,639 --> 00:38:15,159 they're doing. I like what they're doing. They've been frisky, by the 597 00:38:15,199 --> 00:38:19,000 way since like the middle of February six and three over their last nine they 598 00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:22,440 have a below average offense and defense during that stretch, including a negative net 599 00:38:22,519 --> 00:38:24,440 rating, but they've had just some nice victories, and like I said, 600 00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:29,719 you can look into stain like seeing Isaiah Livers show flashes in certain moments. 601 00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:34,199 Also, just Marvin Bagley's been fantastic there. I think you hit it on 602 00:38:34,239 --> 00:38:37,039 the head though, and I appreciate sort of the creativity with which the front 603 00:38:37,039 --> 00:38:40,559 office has worked the fact that they still don't have any future first coming their 604 00:38:40,599 --> 00:38:45,280 way right now. That's a little bit weird, but I think, look, 605 00:38:45,360 --> 00:38:50,360 the toughest part of any rebuild is to find the directional star who is 606 00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:53,880 going to guide you or dictate where you go next. They've already done that, 607 00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:58,239 and so to have the hardest part to me of any rebuild done, 608 00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:01,639 I think that makes what they're going to do moving forward exponentially easier, And 609 00:39:01,679 --> 00:39:06,559 we didn't even talk about and I guess you don't like they're eventually going to 610 00:39:06,599 --> 00:39:09,119 get some sort of first round pick and prospect equity for for Jeremy Grant. 611 00:39:09,159 --> 00:39:14,880 That will eventually happen. Yeah, it's possible. And also, like I 612 00:39:14,920 --> 00:39:17,559 think, I think when you look at like what Kaide, so when you 613 00:39:17,559 --> 00:39:21,719 when you project Kide cutting him on a playoff team, like, do you 614 00:39:21,760 --> 00:39:23,320 see him more as like a complimentary star? Do you think he can be 615 00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:28,400 like the ignition for an elade offense? Like where do you specifically see him? 616 00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:30,800 I know it's a little off topic, but I'm curious. I see 617 00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:34,440 him as the ignition of an offense, but someone who can also sort of 618 00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:38,199 scale to that secondary role, if not because he's playing alongside a better player, 619 00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:43,280 but maybe a more specific player who doesn't work off other people as well, 620 00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:47,119 if you need him to work alongside someone who's super ball dominant. I 621 00:39:47,239 --> 00:39:52,480 envisioned him being able to just plug and play into that role almost seamlessly. 622 00:39:52,679 --> 00:39:57,079 And that I think when you're talking about someone who I view as if we're 623 00:39:57,360 --> 00:40:00,920 I don't know how many players can be the best player on a championship team 624 00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:07,360 like ten is probably the fair number to go right. And of those taps, 625 00:40:07,639 --> 00:40:12,159 how many of them can just seamlessly work seamlessly work off of others. 626 00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:15,360 I don't know that you're even going to get to you know a lot of 627 00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:17,880 the yeah, a lot of the heliocentric guys and Luca Nantis and James Harden 628 00:40:17,960 --> 00:40:22,400 or even a trade young it just feels like their teams are unwilling to move 629 00:40:22,480 --> 00:40:24,559 him off the ball or can't and cunning him. To me, I'm not 630 00:40:24,559 --> 00:40:28,719 saying he's going to be better than any or all of those guys, but 631 00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:32,280 he you don't look at him and say that, And I think that's really 632 00:40:32,320 --> 00:40:37,280 important and valuable. There's a flexibility there that may not exist with those other 633 00:40:37,320 --> 00:40:40,480 top stars that you're talking about. I agree. I did have the Spurs 634 00:40:40,639 --> 00:40:45,320 at five. We already talked about them. Who did you have at number 635 00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:49,840 four? The Thunder? So I have the Thunder here at number four. 636 00:40:50,800 --> 00:40:52,400 A lot of this is banking on Sam Presty as a general manager, to 637 00:40:52,440 --> 00:40:55,599 be honest, like I yes, they do have some intriguing, intriguing young 638 00:40:55,639 --> 00:41:00,760 talent, including Shay Gilgest, Alexander and Josh Kiddy. But I trust that 639 00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:04,840 guy more than anybody on this list as a general manager. I think that 640 00:41:04,880 --> 00:41:07,239 guy, uh, he can can rebuild. I think that guy knows what 641 00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:12,679 the hell he's doing. I think he's a very good talent evaluator. And 642 00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:15,679 obviously they have a top pick coming into them. I think I think Josh 643 00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:19,719 Giddy has gotten to the point where he's slightly overrated now. I think he's 644 00:41:19,800 --> 00:41:22,480 he was. The reason people were so high him at the beginning of the 645 00:41:22,480 --> 00:41:24,320 season was because he was surprising, right It was surprising that okay, see, 646 00:41:24,320 --> 00:41:27,599 he took him more they took him, and it was surprising that he 647 00:41:27,639 --> 00:41:30,559 was as good to start the season as he was. But I don't see 648 00:41:30,639 --> 00:41:34,400 him, you know, as a complimentary star ish kind of guy, and 649 00:41:34,440 --> 00:41:37,000 I see him more as a complimentary star starter, Like I think he can 650 00:41:37,039 --> 00:41:43,880 be a very good starter in the NBA. I think Jay Giljis has insane 651 00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:45,199 upside. I mean, he's only twenty two, twenty three years old. 652 00:41:45,840 --> 00:41:50,960 He's efficient right now, He's like forty Phil is a fifty five per century 653 00:41:50,960 --> 00:41:52,760 shooting. The three point shooting is a little bit of a concern. But 654 00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:58,599 I think you know, when you look at how he plays and and just 655 00:41:58,639 --> 00:42:04,719 the ferocity at with which he attacks. I have no trouble buying him as 656 00:42:04,719 --> 00:42:07,679 an efficient scorer in the NBA, and I think he's gonna I think he 657 00:42:07,719 --> 00:42:09,639 has a potential to be like a complimentary star type of player. So they 658 00:42:09,639 --> 00:42:15,039 already have a pillar there, and you look at the rest of obviously the 659 00:42:15,239 --> 00:42:17,920 amount of picks that they have coming in, we can talk about that all 660 00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:22,159 day, but in reality, it's because Presty is managed the ship that I 661 00:42:22,199 --> 00:42:28,880 have him just high. They may not have higher they may not have a 662 00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:32,320 higher talent pool and a team like Detroit, but I trust I trust them 663 00:42:32,360 --> 00:42:37,280 more than a team like Detroit to rebuild. Yeah, there there's a lot 664 00:42:37,280 --> 00:42:40,920 of misconceptions about Okase's rebuild, including that they're just the most egregious tankers in 665 00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:44,159 the league. And I guess there are a lineups that go out there where 666 00:42:44,320 --> 00:42:46,840 that sort of proves their point. But they've put together like a scrappy defense 667 00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:52,000 and they're not bereft of just NBA prospects or yeah, forget about ptegular jobs 668 00:42:52,039 --> 00:42:54,880 ader like. I'm kind of with you on Josh Giddy. There seems to 669 00:42:54,880 --> 00:42:59,760 be a lot he's a lot of progress to make as a as a scorer, 670 00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:01,199 and though I think he's probably been a little bit more aggressive than I 671 00:43:01,239 --> 00:43:05,519 thought he would be, and positionally he's been fine on defense. He can 672 00:43:05,519 --> 00:43:07,280 get you rebounds, and we know what he does as a passer. I 673 00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:10,159 might be with you though, that's sort of if people think that he's been 674 00:43:10,199 --> 00:43:15,920 like the third best rookie this year, I would I would push back pretty 675 00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:20,280 firmly against that. They're just so I have him higher than this. So 676 00:43:20,360 --> 00:43:23,920 my my fourth team and I juggled with this one. I will can we 677 00:43:23,920 --> 00:43:28,880 stick with the under really quick? Yeah? But they're ability to find talent 678 00:43:28,920 --> 00:43:31,559 off the scrap heap is incredible, Like lou Dort, Like his development story 679 00:43:31,679 --> 00:43:38,039 is ridiculous, Like like he is legitimately someone that could be a starter on 680 00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:43,039 a playoff team one day, right and they found him like out of nowhere. 681 00:43:43,400 --> 00:43:45,760 Like I think that that kind of stuff always happens with this organization. 682 00:43:46,239 --> 00:43:50,480 Uh, I'm not as high on tree Man as other people, but like 683 00:43:50,559 --> 00:43:54,719 it's not really a big deal. Like their direction just it's very clear, 684 00:43:54,920 --> 00:43:59,199 like and you're right, they're not trying to take they're just like Mark Dang 685 00:43:59,280 --> 00:44:00,960 knows not out there. I like him. I think I think he's a 686 00:44:01,480 --> 00:44:06,639 He's got a very Taylor Jenkins vibe to him, and that he may may 687 00:44:06,760 --> 00:44:08,360 may not look like he's a good coach right now, but once they start 688 00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:12,280 adding talent, I feel like he's going to be a pretty scrappy team. 689 00:44:12,280 --> 00:44:15,039 Like he's gonna be able to put together really scrappy offense. Is that achieve 690 00:44:15,400 --> 00:44:20,280 ahead of where they should be and that like that. You talk about player 691 00:44:20,280 --> 00:44:23,119 development with the Spurs, I mean this organization has a history of awesome player 692 00:44:23,159 --> 00:44:27,239 development, So yeah, I should want to close out there with the Thunder. 693 00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:30,800 That's yeah. I have, like I said, I having a little 694 00:44:30,800 --> 00:44:32,480 bit higher, so I'll get into them deeply, more deeply in a second. 695 00:44:32,559 --> 00:44:38,719 My fourth place team though was the Rockets, and they have equity moving 696 00:44:38,719 --> 00:44:43,079 forward when you look at all these inbound first they also have a couple of 697 00:44:43,119 --> 00:44:46,480 risky seasons where they're first are going to be controlled by Okhoma City. I 698 00:44:46,480 --> 00:44:50,760 think Jalen Green is that guy. I don't think he's the guy that you 699 00:44:50,800 --> 00:44:53,559 where. I view Kay Gunningham as someone and maybe even Jalen Sungs is someone 700 00:44:53,599 --> 00:44:58,719 who can initiate the entire offense of a good to great team. I don't 701 00:44:58,760 --> 00:45:00,360 see that from Green. It comes the caveat that he's only a rookie, 702 00:45:00,400 --> 00:45:02,880 and I do think he's gotten a little bit better at it as his game 703 00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:07,639 has gotten more efficient, and then the level of difficulty just assigned to some 704 00:45:07,719 --> 00:45:12,559 of his shots is absolutely mind melting to me. I look at the rest 705 00:45:12,559 --> 00:45:15,920 of the roster, though, and Alperren Shangun has been a revelation as a 706 00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:21,320 rookie. Josh Christopher is super pesky. And I'll appreciate any specific thoughts you 707 00:45:21,360 --> 00:45:24,639 have on individual players from the Rockets, since you'd cover them so intimately obviously, 708 00:45:25,480 --> 00:45:30,280 but like, where is the where is the high end talent? Aside 709 00:45:30,320 --> 00:45:32,639 from Jalen Green, And I think you could probably make the same case about 710 00:45:32,639 --> 00:45:36,159 the Pistons. It's just that I think Kate Cunningham is going to be just 711 00:45:36,199 --> 00:45:38,360 a much higher end player there. And it's wife for spoilers, like the 712 00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:44,760 Pistons are number three for me, so like they're right there with Houston and 713 00:45:44,800 --> 00:45:46,199 so if you wanted to interchange those, I don't know that I would provide 714 00:45:46,440 --> 00:45:50,400 a ton of pushback. It's just as many players as you can, like 715 00:45:50,679 --> 00:45:53,719 on this team, whether it's a Josh Christopher Are you a Kevin Porter junior 716 00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:58,119 believer? I think it helps that they have guys like Eric Gordon and Christian 717 00:45:58,159 --> 00:46:00,800 Would. It's just one of those players do for you long term. You 718 00:46:00,840 --> 00:46:05,280 probably should have moved both of them already. And then when you're looking at 719 00:46:05,679 --> 00:46:07,920 just some of the quality, whether they're prospects or flyers on your team. 720 00:46:08,159 --> 00:46:13,320 Yes, kJ Martin is interesting. Garrison Matthews was a nice fine. What 721 00:46:13,360 --> 00:46:16,280 do those players ultimately do for you and how much do they nudge your needle 722 00:46:16,960 --> 00:46:22,719 relative to your hierarchy within the rest of the league. Look, if my 723 00:46:22,760 --> 00:46:24,800 guy who's Mon Garuba suddenly gets the play next year and is a superstar, 724 00:46:24,840 --> 00:46:30,639 and then Houston does have their own pick this season, maybe I'm underwaiting that 725 00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:35,119 a little bit. I just think there are more pitfalls for a team that 726 00:46:36,280 --> 00:46:40,280 when you look at after Jalen Green doesn't have a ton of directional talent, 727 00:46:40,320 --> 00:46:45,679 And if you don't have a lot of that type of prospect equity after Jalen 728 00:46:45,760 --> 00:46:50,480 Green, your top end prospect better probably be even better than Jalen Green. 729 00:46:51,239 --> 00:46:52,559 Yeah, I have them third, So I don't disagree with you too much. 730 00:46:52,599 --> 00:46:59,880 Okay, I think like they're they're obviously really good at fighting talent off 731 00:46:59,880 --> 00:47:02,599 the scrap peep as well. And Jay Shawn Tate, Uh kJ Martin of 732 00:47:02,719 --> 00:47:06,639 somebody a lot of people even have going in the draft. Uh. They 733 00:47:06,679 --> 00:47:09,320 got him at fifty second, So you know, I like like what they're 734 00:47:09,360 --> 00:47:14,719 doing from a talent evaluation standpoint. KPJ they got for nothing. Uh. 735 00:47:14,760 --> 00:47:17,800 And even if you're not the biggest KPJ guy, he certainly has more value 736 00:47:17,840 --> 00:47:22,480 than a pick that didn't end up conveying. Right. And here's here's where 737 00:47:22,480 --> 00:47:25,960 I stand with them right now. They absolutely killed it at the last traft, 738 00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:29,159 right, they killed it, like we we all felt that way in 739 00:47:29,199 --> 00:47:31,920 the moment, and as we watched them right now, it certainly feels like, 740 00:47:32,119 --> 00:47:37,239 you know, we were right. They absolutely destroyed And I think you 741 00:47:37,280 --> 00:47:39,079 look at Jalen Green, I agree with you. I view more as a 742 00:47:39,079 --> 00:47:44,679 complimentary star, sort of a Zach Lavine, Devin Booker, you know, 743 00:47:44,760 --> 00:47:47,679 Bradleybeo type, rather than you know, like he's just heliocentric ballhammer. He's 744 00:47:47,679 --> 00:47:51,760 never been that at any level. And for any you know, Rockets fan 745 00:47:51,840 --> 00:47:54,880 that believes, you know, he he deserves more touches or he's being slided 746 00:47:54,880 --> 00:47:59,960 opportunity wise. Go watch his full full length ge Leaue tapes. It's online, 747 00:48:00,199 --> 00:48:02,079 you can find him on YouTube. He wasn't this guy that was running 748 00:48:02,280 --> 00:48:07,400 a heavy amount of pick and roll and just constantly ball handling for them. 749 00:48:07,440 --> 00:48:12,639 He was very much a guy who thrives in transition, isolation, catch and 750 00:48:12,679 --> 00:48:17,519 shoot, cutting all that stuff, and that makes you a very multiple piece 751 00:48:17,599 --> 00:48:22,840 of clay as a complimentary star. Right. I don't think he's the guy 752 00:48:22,920 --> 00:48:27,480 who can initiate elite off MT. I think he can become a secondary playmaker. 753 00:48:27,480 --> 00:48:30,760 He's done more playmaking than I thought he was capable of this season, 754 00:48:30,880 --> 00:48:35,559 and I think that bowled well for him becoming like a six assistant game guy. 755 00:48:35,719 --> 00:48:37,719 Right. If he can get there at that, I think you hit 756 00:48:37,760 --> 00:48:42,840 it out of the park in terms of your development curve for Houston. And 757 00:48:42,960 --> 00:48:45,960 I think, you know, you look at Josh Christopher, that's a guy 758 00:48:45,000 --> 00:48:49,079 I didn't I did not see him going in the first round. I had 759 00:48:49,119 --> 00:48:52,599 him as a second round talent and he looks every bit the first round talent 760 00:48:52,639 --> 00:48:57,000 that he's played like this year. I mean, he's you know, rafel 761 00:48:57,039 --> 00:48:59,920 Stone on draft night, compared to to Drew Holiday, and a lot of 762 00:49:00,000 --> 00:49:02,119 people, including myself, that that was ridiculous, Right, that's that's that's 763 00:49:02,159 --> 00:49:07,280 an unbelievably eyebar. I still think it's a high bar. But I see 764 00:49:07,360 --> 00:49:10,400 what he was talking about in terms of how he is as a defensive player, 765 00:49:10,760 --> 00:49:15,079 right, and just his ability to score. Like, he has a 766 00:49:15,119 --> 00:49:20,599 confidence and swagger about him that I think translates very well to winning teams. 767 00:49:20,760 --> 00:49:23,719 He has a leadership quality about him, Like if you look at where they 768 00:49:23,719 --> 00:49:27,880 were at the beginning of the season, there was a lot of games where 769 00:49:28,119 --> 00:49:31,440 Houston was out of it. They had they were down like double digits, 770 00:49:31,440 --> 00:49:36,039 you know, fifteen twenty points sometimes, and Josh Christopher would come in during 771 00:49:36,039 --> 00:49:38,599 garbage time and bring them back to within two or three points. That happened 772 00:49:38,599 --> 00:49:43,360 all the time, right, And he did that as the primary ball handler. 773 00:49:43,920 --> 00:49:46,079 So I think he can be a really, really sold I like him. 774 00:49:46,960 --> 00:49:50,599 This is kind of I'm glad I'm saying this on your podcast and not 775 00:49:50,599 --> 00:49:53,559 mine, So I actually like him long term. Next, Jalen Green better 776 00:49:53,559 --> 00:49:57,400 than Kevin Porter Junior, just because I think the fit is more, is 777 00:49:57,440 --> 00:50:00,400 cleaner. I think I like I think gonna need to surround Green with high 778 00:50:00,440 --> 00:50:05,480 level defenders. Christopher can become that. So I like what they're doing. 779 00:50:05,639 --> 00:50:08,760 I think I agree they don't have that foundational foundational talent. Like they have 780 00:50:08,880 --> 00:50:14,760 a foundational talent, they don't have the guy, but they have a pretty 781 00:50:14,760 --> 00:50:19,039 good baseline here and they've only been rebuilding pretty much for one year, right 782 00:50:19,119 --> 00:50:22,079 they had they had one year at the top of the draft, and I 783 00:50:22,079 --> 00:50:27,320 think they did a good job in that in that first draft. I'm still 784 00:50:27,400 --> 00:50:30,239 high on Garuba. I think he has some work to He has some work 785 00:50:30,280 --> 00:50:34,199 to do on the offensive end, and I think both of us didn't anticipate 786 00:50:34,239 --> 00:50:37,119 he's a little bit behind that area. But when you look at what they're 787 00:50:37,119 --> 00:50:42,920 what they're doing, and the direction they're going in, I think obviously you 788 00:50:42,960 --> 00:50:45,800 can nip pick. I don't like how they didn't move aircording to that trade 789 00:50:45,840 --> 00:50:49,480 deadline. I don't like how Christian Wood is still on this roster. I 790 00:50:49,480 --> 00:50:52,079 think they could have maximized his value by trading him last trade deadline, perhaps 791 00:50:52,159 --> 00:50:55,599 not this trade DeLine. I think offers were I think the market was cool 792 00:50:55,679 --> 00:50:59,639 on him this this this season, but I think last season, when he 793 00:50:59,679 --> 00:51:02,800 had three years remaining, and you know he was in that first you know 794 00:51:02,920 --> 00:51:08,280 year with the Rockets obviously one of the biggest surprises of the offseason. Right 795 00:51:09,000 --> 00:51:12,119 back then, you could have gotten more value for him, right you know, 796 00:51:12,119 --> 00:51:14,880 maybe you could have gotten to two first round picks last year. This 797 00:51:14,960 --> 00:51:17,320 year, I think it's pretty clear like they were pretty much offered like for 798 00:51:17,519 --> 00:51:22,440 one first round pick and like maybe a you know, an intriguing young prospect. 799 00:51:22,679 --> 00:51:25,280 So the market was a little bit cool, and it was all excuse 800 00:51:25,440 --> 00:51:30,079 them not moving Christian? Would the Gordon thing? Listen, we'll see man 801 00:51:30,159 --> 00:51:34,039 Like, if if they can't get if if if we get to a point 802 00:51:34,400 --> 00:51:37,599 where they can't move him for a first round pick, that's on them because 803 00:51:37,599 --> 00:51:42,440 we we know for sure now that there were offers on the table where they 804 00:51:42,480 --> 00:51:45,079 could have gotten a first round pick and they turned them down. Like we 805 00:51:45,159 --> 00:51:47,679 know that, Like that's been reported by two people already that they were first 806 00:51:47,760 --> 00:51:52,400 round picks on the table for Eric Gordon and they chose not to take them. 807 00:51:52,440 --> 00:51:54,559 So we'll see if they can act, you know, maximize his return. 808 00:51:55,679 --> 00:52:00,920 I we'll see if they can get in on the on whatever the Lakers 809 00:52:00,960 --> 00:52:02,960 are trying to do the summer if there's a way for them to seek in 810 00:52:04,119 --> 00:52:08,559 and trade multiple role players for like Westbrook and buy out Westbrook or something like 811 00:52:08,599 --> 00:52:12,440 that, that I think is an intriguing pathway. Right that, then you 812 00:52:12,480 --> 00:52:15,119 can kind of defend them holding onto air Gordon, right if there's a pathway 813 00:52:15,159 --> 00:52:19,360 for them to trade air Gordon for that twenty twenty six Lakers pick. This 814 00:52:19,639 --> 00:52:22,480 is projecting in a way that we haven't done with any other team on this 815 00:52:22,559 --> 00:52:23,599 on this rod, on this list. So I'm not I'm not going to 816 00:52:23,679 --> 00:52:25,639 go there. I'm not going to go there, But what I'm saying is 817 00:52:27,000 --> 00:52:30,000 there are pathways for them to eat to add more draft equity. And I 818 00:52:30,039 --> 00:52:34,679 mean, when you look at how long they've been rebuilding for, I don't 819 00:52:34,679 --> 00:52:37,840 know how you can be disappointed. You know, I think you know where 820 00:52:37,840 --> 00:52:38,760 we have them on the list. You know I have them at three. 821 00:52:38,840 --> 00:52:43,000 You haven't met for it. It's fair. You might have convinced me to 822 00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:45,719 move them to three. But to be in the top half of this I 823 00:52:45,760 --> 00:52:49,599 think is an achievement. Like you said, given how brief the rebuild has 824 00:52:49,599 --> 00:52:52,199 been so far, I am with you on Josh Christopher. I think I've 825 00:52:52,199 --> 00:52:58,119 been overstimulated by Josh Christopher in recent weeks, just because you've mentioned the Drew 826 00:52:58,159 --> 00:53:00,000 Holiday things to me before. And he had this play against Miami where the 827 00:53:00,079 --> 00:53:04,639 Rockets are already down big, but he's just like off the dribble, spinning 828 00:53:04,679 --> 00:53:08,159 and spiraling around the rim with this incredibly nifty finish. I'm so high on 829 00:53:08,239 --> 00:53:12,960 him to where I thought, is he more valuable to Houston long term than 830 00:53:13,000 --> 00:53:15,920 Alpern? Shane Goun, Oh, we didn't talk about Shan Goun, my 831 00:53:16,039 --> 00:53:21,119 guy. I love Shanon. So this is this is where while while you 832 00:53:21,119 --> 00:53:23,760 were talking before, I kind of disagreed with you. I think this guy 833 00:53:23,800 --> 00:53:28,199 has All Star potential potential. I'm not saying he's gonna become an All star. 834 00:53:28,599 --> 00:53:31,000 I saw him when he got drafted as a player that's for sure going 835 00:53:31,039 --> 00:53:35,519 to be a starter on a good on a good playoff team. And right 836 00:53:35,519 --> 00:53:37,280 now, I mean, you look at how he plays in limited minutes. 837 00:53:37,679 --> 00:53:43,559 He shows flashes of being someone special, right especially the passing ability, like 838 00:53:43,639 --> 00:53:45,639 he has eyes on the back of his head. In the back of his 839 00:53:45,679 --> 00:53:51,000 head, he makes ridiculous passes every single game. His touch around the basket, 840 00:53:51,039 --> 00:53:53,320 and his size, He's not that big like his talent level for his 841 00:53:53,440 --> 00:53:59,559 size is insane and defensively obviously a work in progress, but I don't think 842 00:53:59,599 --> 00:54:02,079 he's but he's overachieved to where a lot of people thought he was going to 843 00:54:02,119 --> 00:54:06,199 be. I think a lot of people do a lot better on that end 844 00:54:06,199 --> 00:54:08,880 of the floor than I thought that he would ever move, if that's any 845 00:54:08,920 --> 00:54:13,960 If that means anything, right, Yeah, So I actually think there's a 846 00:54:14,000 --> 00:54:16,280 there's a possibility where we come back to this list in a couple of years 847 00:54:16,320 --> 00:54:21,480 and it's like, yeah, Kenon was clearly a cornerstone talent that we overlooked, 848 00:54:21,599 --> 00:54:24,079 right, I think, Uh, I'm I'm obviously bias. I've always 849 00:54:24,079 --> 00:54:29,199 been high on this guy. So I'm gonna I'm gonna try and defend my 850 00:54:29,280 --> 00:54:31,960 take from the traff where Adam seven. So, like, I think I 851 00:54:32,000 --> 00:54:37,280 think their direction the rebuild is uh is fine. They've They've had some They've 852 00:54:37,280 --> 00:54:39,000 missed some some opportunities, right. They should have probably taken care of LeVert 853 00:54:39,199 --> 00:54:44,519 instead of Victoria Deepo in the James Harden trade. They should have they should 854 00:54:44,519 --> 00:54:47,559 have traded Eric Gordon at this trade deadline. We'll see if they if they 855 00:54:47,559 --> 00:54:52,840 can actually capitalize on his value. Despite that, but these are nitpicks, 856 00:54:53,000 --> 00:54:58,440 right, Like, I have no problem with what they're doing. I guess 857 00:54:58,480 --> 00:55:01,679 are you? Are you not his high and joining No, I'm higher than 858 00:55:01,719 --> 00:55:07,159 I was to begin with. I'm just and it's I don't know what he's 859 00:55:07,159 --> 00:55:09,800 actually going to project as defensively and if he's eventually your loan big who is 860 00:55:09,880 --> 00:55:13,519 not I'm not talking about she's playing as the loan big, but like he 861 00:55:13,599 --> 00:55:16,280 is your your centerpiece in the middle, I don't, I don't know. 862 00:55:16,639 --> 00:55:21,360 I feel like there'll be too many obstacles you have to clear to assemble a 863 00:55:21,440 --> 00:55:23,800 really good defense. I do like what he brings on offense, Like he 864 00:55:23,880 --> 00:55:28,000 is a visionary when it comes to being a passer. Like he's shown that 865 00:55:28,000 --> 00:55:32,079 he has his floor game there. We know that eventually he's going to shoot. 866 00:55:32,159 --> 00:55:35,639 I don't even know what he's at up to this season from three point 867 00:55:35,760 --> 00:55:38,360 range, but he's going to shoot better than twenty five percent on threes eventually. 868 00:55:38,400 --> 00:55:43,239 I think he's he has the potential to be an offensive stud. I 869 00:55:43,320 --> 00:55:46,079 just don't know what he trans what he translates into, or what your team 870 00:55:46,079 --> 00:55:51,840 translates into. If you call him your second or third best player, yeah, 871 00:55:51,840 --> 00:55:54,599 we'll see I guess, I guess I want the big The big test 872 00:55:54,639 --> 00:55:58,960 here is like when they eventually move on from Christian would right, because I 873 00:55:58,960 --> 00:56:05,239 think that's a when not question. When that happens and Shangoon has given the 874 00:56:05,239 --> 00:56:09,199 opportunity to play more minutes, can you still you know, produce on this 875 00:56:09,239 --> 00:56:13,360 permanent level like he's doing right now, right, It's different when you're a 876 00:56:13,400 --> 00:56:15,599 starter. It just is. So if when when he gets that role, 877 00:56:15,599 --> 00:56:19,639 when he gets that opportunity, how he produces is going to change how we 878 00:56:19,719 --> 00:56:23,119 view him, I think, and positively negatively whatever I do. Wonder if 879 00:56:23,159 --> 00:56:27,480 I would feel a little bit more rosier on Houston's future, if it didn't 880 00:56:27,480 --> 00:56:30,599 feel like they were sort of straddling like two different directions so much even since 881 00:56:30,599 --> 00:56:37,480 the trade deadline, Like you look at their players who are most used Jalen 882 00:56:37,559 --> 00:56:40,440 Green, Garrison, Matthews, Kenyan Martin Junior, Christian Wood, Jay Shawntate, 883 00:56:40,719 --> 00:56:45,159 Shanegun, Kevin Porter Junior, Eric Gordon, and Josh Christopher. So 884 00:56:45,199 --> 00:56:46,880 you're going ten names down the list there, I think I just went and 885 00:56:46,960 --> 00:56:50,960 how many of those guys do you think are members of the next iteration of 886 00:56:51,000 --> 00:56:54,800 the Rockets? And it's I might say three like Shanegoon, Josh Christopher and 887 00:56:54,880 --> 00:57:00,639 Jalen Green. So yeah, that's maybe something that I'm maybe I'm waiting that 888 00:57:00,719 --> 00:57:02,639 too heavily. And then it's like, okay, well who else do you 889 00:57:02,639 --> 00:57:06,400 want them to play? But I'm also just looking at it like, you 890 00:57:06,440 --> 00:57:09,159 know, I guess it helps the Garrison Matthews is the second most used in 891 00:57:09,199 --> 00:57:13,519 total minutes since the trade deadline, Like there's there's clearly a vision there, 892 00:57:13,519 --> 00:57:16,840 but I could be just harping too much on the Okay, Christian Wood and 893 00:57:16,960 --> 00:57:21,599 Eric Gordon, where does all of this fit into they You have a bunch 894 00:57:21,599 --> 00:57:24,400 of future picks in comanies we already mentioned they basically just control the nets the 895 00:57:24,480 --> 00:57:30,079 future, which no longer looks as certain I think we can say. I 896 00:57:30,119 --> 00:57:31,000 mean, we don't know how Ben Simmons is going to fit in. The 897 00:57:31,000 --> 00:57:35,360 Other thing that's not talked about enough is Kyrie is a free agent after the 898 00:57:35,400 --> 00:57:37,719 season. We don't know what happens with that. And so thinking about the 899 00:57:37,840 --> 00:57:44,039 amount of the breath of nets equity that Houston owns, I'm wondering if I 900 00:57:44,079 --> 00:57:45,559 need to move them up to number three by default. But I wanted to 901 00:57:45,559 --> 00:57:49,760 recap before we got into our final two teams. Who do you have? 902 00:57:50,800 --> 00:57:53,239 Eight through eight through three? And then I'll name how my list panned out 903 00:57:53,239 --> 00:57:57,079 so far. Oh, by the way, the Nets are a game and 904 00:57:57,079 --> 00:58:00,920 a half away from being in the lottery. Why did right now? So 905 00:58:01,079 --> 00:58:06,000 yeah, yeah, I agree like the Brooklyn picks obviously way into it. 906 00:58:07,000 --> 00:58:10,440 It's something you after factor and obviously I guess like I talk about it so 907 00:58:10,559 --> 00:58:14,480 much that I almost forget to mention that they have all these picks in coming, 908 00:58:14,840 --> 00:58:17,760 and they also have the second best lottery odds as of right now, 909 00:58:19,119 --> 00:58:22,719 and I haven't checked where they're projected to finish, but I think they're projected 910 00:58:22,719 --> 00:58:25,360 to finish bottom two as well. Let's recap. So at eight, I 911 00:58:25,400 --> 00:58:29,159 have the Kings, seven, I have the Blazers, six, I have 912 00:58:29,239 --> 00:58:34,360 the Magic five, I have the Spurs four, I had the Rockets, 913 00:58:34,400 --> 00:58:37,400 and I have the Pistons. At three, which was basically my rationale here 914 00:58:37,440 --> 00:58:40,320 is I'm so high on Kake Cunningham at the idea of adding a top four 915 00:58:40,400 --> 00:58:45,360 prospect to him this summer sort of just bends my brain. And so that's 916 00:58:45,360 --> 00:58:49,239 how my eight through three has shaken out. Yeah, and to recap. 917 00:58:49,280 --> 00:58:52,199 I have Portland at eight, stan Antonio at seven, Orlando at six, 918 00:58:52,639 --> 00:58:59,480 Detroit at five, Oklahoma City at four, Houston at three, Indiana at 919 00:58:59,519 --> 00:59:01,800 two, and I guess we can we can talk about I don't know. 920 00:59:01,880 --> 00:59:06,239 I have Sacramento on two. Excuse me? Well, I mean you would 921 00:59:06,320 --> 00:59:08,559 you would have figured out it was gonna be Indian anyways. But I have 922 00:59:08,599 --> 00:59:14,280 Sacramento on two. Yeah, book, make your case for Sacramento here for 923 00:59:14,360 --> 00:59:21,360 me, So darn fox since February eighth, twenty eight point two points per 924 00:59:21,360 --> 00:59:24,079 game, six and a half assists per game, four point three rebounds per 925 00:59:24,119 --> 00:59:28,679 game, fifty nine point three per century shooting. Did you want to know? 926 00:59:28,679 --> 00:59:31,239 You want to take a guest with February eighth is? All right? 927 00:59:32,119 --> 00:59:36,760 What do you want to take a guess? What February eighth is? Yeah? 928 00:59:37,039 --> 00:59:40,400 What is it his birthday? I don't I don't know. February eighth 929 00:59:40,480 --> 00:59:44,280 is the Haliburton trade. It's the date that the Halliburton trade happens. So 930 00:59:44,360 --> 00:59:46,840 ever since that we've made two days before the trade deadline. I forgot about 931 00:59:46,840 --> 00:59:52,159 that, right, So he he, he has been an awkward trajectory stince. 932 00:59:52,199 --> 00:59:55,840 Then he's eleventh in the league and scoring above guys like in that stretch, 933 00:59:55,880 --> 01:00:01,159 obviously above guys like KD Trey, James Harden, Chris Middleton, Like 934 01:00:01,159 --> 01:00:06,599 there's a bunch of high quality scores that he's just just he's just pronounced. 935 01:00:06,679 --> 01:00:09,719 In this second half of the season, he's back on that upward trajectory that 936 01:00:09,760 --> 01:00:13,840 we thought he was gonna be on last season, right like he had this 937 01:00:13,920 --> 01:00:17,880 down year and because of that, the King's future looked a little bleak. 938 01:00:19,119 --> 01:00:22,440 But he's back. He looks like a cornerstone talent. I don't know if 939 01:00:22,440 --> 01:00:24,840 he's the cornerstone talent, but you look at whether where the Kings are in 940 01:00:24,880 --> 01:00:29,079 the lottery, they're six, they have the six best odds at getting the 941 01:00:29,159 --> 01:00:32,159 number one pick. If they can get a top three pick, that it 942 01:00:32,280 --> 01:00:37,039 definitely helps where we how we view them, and they definitely have a possibility 943 01:00:37,079 --> 01:00:42,519 to climb there. And Sabonus is really good man. I mean, like, 944 01:00:42,800 --> 01:00:45,559 well we can I guess we can transition into talking about Indiana after this. 945 01:00:45,800 --> 01:00:50,000 I don't know where you have him, but I but I thought that 946 01:00:50,880 --> 01:00:53,199 I thought that trade was questionable in the moment for sure. Like the thing 947 01:00:53,320 --> 01:00:59,000 that always helped me back from going too hard on King's criticism. Is Monty 948 01:00:59,079 --> 01:01:01,239 McNair is the guy who pulled the trigger. I have so much respect for 949 01:01:01,280 --> 01:01:07,679 that guy. Super smart guy from Houston, obviously an analytics guy. Uh. 950 01:01:07,719 --> 01:01:12,079 And I think you know, if you've viewed them as the same old 951 01:01:12,159 --> 01:01:14,960 Kings, right, if I think that was the reaction right when I have 952 01:01:15,079 --> 01:01:17,039 it like Kings right, Like that was the thing you saw that all across 953 01:01:17,079 --> 01:01:22,239 Twitter. It's that moved shocked everybody. So if you're being objective and if 954 01:01:22,480 --> 01:01:25,719 if you're asking yourself the question, did they maximize the value of Tyrese Haliburton 955 01:01:25,760 --> 01:01:29,599 if they had to trade him, I think that I think the answers yeah, 956 01:01:29,679 --> 01:01:31,000 right, Like I'm not sure if you're going to get a better trade 957 01:01:31,440 --> 01:01:34,559 than SA bonus, And I'm not sure if the bonus was going to be 958 01:01:34,599 --> 01:01:37,360 available later on, because if you look at like, what's what the Pacers 959 01:01:37,360 --> 01:01:40,440 were doing at the deadline, like they were, they clearly wanted to tear 960 01:01:40,480 --> 01:01:44,239 it down. They clearly wanted to tear it down, and SA bonus is 961 01:01:44,360 --> 01:01:47,400 going to be part of that no matter what. So I think I think 962 01:01:47,480 --> 01:01:52,480 if you're looking at if I understand the hesitancy to call that question that trade 963 01:01:52,480 --> 01:01:57,079 a home run for the pay for the Kings. I certainly still think it's 964 01:01:57,199 --> 01:02:00,559 questionable. If Haliburton ends up becoming a superstar, which is very much on 965 01:02:00,599 --> 01:02:05,119 the table, right, I think that completely makes his ranking look terrible. 966 01:02:05,480 --> 01:02:09,679 Right If Haliburn ends up being a superstar caliber player, guy who's initiating a 967 01:02:09,719 --> 01:02:15,280 lead offense in the NBA and you know, very much a heliocentric ball handler 968 01:02:15,320 --> 01:02:17,519 type, if he ends up being that guy, well then that trade is 969 01:02:17,519 --> 01:02:22,239 horrible. Right Right now, he looks like a guy who's projected to be 970 01:02:22,320 --> 01:02:25,599 an All Star. And if Sabonis is also projected to be an All Star, 971 01:02:25,920 --> 01:02:30,480 you traded a bad fitting All Star next to Deer and Fox for a 972 01:02:30,480 --> 01:02:35,239 better fitting All Star and Sabonis. And obviously you'd rather trade Deer and Fox 973 01:02:35,320 --> 01:02:37,039 if you could, right, if I were, if I were the Kings, 974 01:02:37,239 --> 01:02:39,800 if most people were the Kings, they would have tried to trade Yard 975 01:02:39,840 --> 01:02:44,920 Fox. But the problem is nobody wanted that contract, and you know, 976 01:02:45,559 --> 01:02:50,199 Hayli Burden was the far more attractive asset. So you look at like what 977 01:02:50,239 --> 01:02:54,000 they have right now, the pillars of a championship championship team. The pillars 978 01:02:54,000 --> 01:02:58,960 of a very good playoff team and Sabonis and Fox, and they also have 979 01:02:59,039 --> 01:03:01,280 the sixth SOD to the top of the top pick in this draft. I 980 01:03:01,320 --> 01:03:06,519 mean, I'm feeling good if I'm a Kings fan like I. Obviously they've 981 01:03:06,559 --> 01:03:10,239 made some mistakes along the way, but well, all this really ends up 982 01:03:10,480 --> 01:03:14,760 all this really ends up hinging on is if Haliburn ends up being a superstar, 983 01:03:14,880 --> 01:03:17,960 if he just ends up being a regular All Star guard right And obviously 984 01:03:19,400 --> 01:03:22,679 I'm not I'm not projecting to be anything right now. I'm just saying if 985 01:03:22,760 --> 01:03:25,760 if he ends up being that, then that trade's terrible. But if he 986 01:03:25,840 --> 01:03:30,159 ends up being just a regular All Star, I have no problem with logic 987 01:03:30,239 --> 01:03:35,880 behind it. I still I think if if it was another if it was 988 01:03:35,880 --> 01:03:38,639 another executive, I might I might have crapped on the trade a lot more. 989 01:03:38,920 --> 01:03:43,719 But I've just I've just given my side to my time, myself time 990 01:03:43,760 --> 01:03:45,760 to think about it. See how Dear and Fox performs in that time, 991 01:03:46,039 --> 01:03:51,480 see House the Bonus performs without uh, someone you know taking up so much 992 01:03:51,559 --> 01:03:55,360 usage next to him in Miles Turner and I have no problem with what they're 993 01:03:55,400 --> 01:03:59,360 doing. They're building blocks right now, I think they have better building blocks 994 01:03:59,360 --> 01:04:02,440 and pretty much everyone below them on this list right now. I guess I 995 01:04:02,480 --> 01:04:05,440 just don't appreciate the range of outcomes for them, and I do not view 996 01:04:05,440 --> 01:04:09,280 it as you needed to trade Halibert or Fox. That did it? You 997 01:04:09,320 --> 01:04:11,920 did it right, Yeah, I did. I agree you didn't have to 998 01:04:11,960 --> 01:04:14,760 do it. But if you were going to do it, did you maximize 999 01:04:14,760 --> 01:04:17,559 the return? Yeah? I think I think they viewed it as they needed 1000 01:04:17,559 --> 01:04:21,719 to do it. I disagree with that decision, but considering what they got 1001 01:04:21,760 --> 01:04:27,079 and where they stand now, their roster makeup makes sense. Long term. 1002 01:04:27,119 --> 01:04:30,840 They have two pros. They have two pillars of a rebuild. They obviously 1003 01:04:30,880 --> 01:04:33,039 need one more. They need the guy that's going to be really hard to 1004 01:04:33,079 --> 01:04:36,679 get that. That's that's the questions I have for them. But if you 1005 01:04:36,719 --> 01:04:41,000 look at what they have in relation to what these other teams have and where 1006 01:04:41,000 --> 01:04:45,239 they're going to be in the draft, I have no problem. So for 1007 01:04:45,280 --> 01:04:47,440 me at two, I had Oklahoma City and that means that we both have 1008 01:04:47,480 --> 01:04:49,719 the same number one. We'll be able to get into that in the first 1009 01:04:49,719 --> 01:04:54,519 place. With Okay. See, I think as of right now, Shakos 1010 01:04:54,559 --> 01:04:58,360 Hosenter might be the best player, of any player on this list that I 1011 01:04:58,440 --> 01:05:02,719 guess you can quibble between five and Simonis or him long term, I think 1012 01:05:02,719 --> 01:05:06,239 he probably has the chance to be the second best if we're looking at is 1013 01:05:06,280 --> 01:05:10,719 it Kid Cunningham I have as the clear number one if you told me number 1014 01:05:10,760 --> 01:05:13,639 two with Shay, if you told me it was Darn Fox long term, 1015 01:05:13,639 --> 01:05:15,719 I guess you could tell me it sugs. But he gives you like he 1016 01:05:15,840 --> 01:05:19,880 is your future, and they have to me, I would view him as 1017 01:05:19,920 --> 01:05:26,320 more of a ten pole cornerstone than a jail and Green than even a Darn 1018 01:05:26,400 --> 01:05:30,559 Fox or us a bonus that helps them here, just having the higher end 1019 01:05:30,599 --> 01:05:31,920 outcome there. I do think they've discovered like, oh, we have this 1020 01:05:31,960 --> 01:05:34,480 crafty guy and Josh Giddy who, even if he's not part of your future, 1021 01:05:34,840 --> 01:05:39,079 is gonna wind up being in an attractive trade chip to somebody. And 1022 01:05:39,079 --> 01:05:41,679 then I really like what they've been able to do on the margins. I 1023 01:05:41,679 --> 01:05:45,159 don't know if I know people who listen to this podcast and hoopsters, they've 1024 01:05:45,159 --> 01:05:47,880 been paying attention, like Poku is a real NBA prospect now, like he 1025 01:05:47,920 --> 01:05:53,039 looks so much more under control and comfortable can do stuff on the ball, 1026 01:05:53,320 --> 01:05:57,000 but it's like just more complimentary at both ends, and that's huge for them. 1027 01:05:57,079 --> 01:06:00,199 If he ends up panning out, they have lou Dort Ken, Rich 1028 01:06:00,199 --> 01:06:03,280 Williams, Aaron Wiggins has been absolutely fantastic for them. I would encourage anyone 1029 01:06:03,320 --> 01:06:06,280 to go back and just watch film of a season. I'm with you. 1030 01:06:06,679 --> 01:06:09,920 I don't want to frame it just because their names are the same, but 1031 01:06:09,960 --> 01:06:14,079 I tend to be higher on Trey Jones than Trey Man. So you're welcome 1032 01:06:14,119 --> 01:06:17,679 Spurs fans for saying Matt they definitely do need to find some more options. 1033 01:06:17,760 --> 01:06:21,719 And still I'm still intrigued d by Darius Basley. I think he's shouldered an 1034 01:06:21,760 --> 01:06:28,840 incredible defensive workload this season and just combined if you just combined Shake Gilds Alexander 1035 01:06:28,960 --> 01:06:33,159 with all sort of the middle tier lower middle tier and then just the what 1036 01:06:33,280 --> 01:06:36,880 if type of prospects and flyers on this roster, with all the picks and 1037 01:06:36,920 --> 01:06:41,960 cat flexibility they have moving forward this team, even though you have to sort 1038 01:06:42,000 --> 01:06:45,960 of account for these intangibles when you're looking at, well, what are they 1039 01:06:45,960 --> 01:06:46,960 going to do with those draft picks? We know they're not going to keep 1040 01:06:46,960 --> 01:06:49,159 all of them. They have too many, and I know they're not the 1041 01:06:49,159 --> 01:06:53,239 team that typically goes all in, but when you have a player as good 1042 01:06:53,239 --> 01:06:56,400 as Shake Gilders Alexander, and you've proven that you can mind talent at the 1043 01:06:56,400 --> 01:07:00,880 margins, when you have players on I would call them suppressive contracts when they're 1044 01:07:00,960 --> 01:07:02,960 giving out these known as the Hanky specials, but they should really be the 1045 01:07:02,960 --> 01:07:06,679 press these specials at this point, they're going to be attractive to other teams. 1046 01:07:08,000 --> 01:07:11,880 This is a squad that is built to grow organically, but can also 1047 01:07:11,920 --> 01:07:15,400 accelerate their position if the right player becomes available. And I think my biggest 1048 01:07:15,440 --> 01:07:18,559 concern with them is just how do you sort of play the roster spot game 1049 01:07:18,840 --> 01:07:24,320 moving forward. I don't care about the cap space necessarily. People harp on 1050 01:07:24,440 --> 01:07:28,960 too much teams hitting the roster floor. I'm not gonna quibble about incumbent players 1051 01:07:28,960 --> 01:07:31,280 getting extra money. It's just a matter of you're gonna have to start making 1052 01:07:31,320 --> 01:07:33,960 decisions on some of these guys to make room for all these inbound first, 1053 01:07:34,239 --> 01:07:39,840 unless you're going to consolidate Beyond that, though, they are just stacked with 1054 01:07:40,199 --> 01:07:42,800 the with their future assets, and I guess the biggest concern, well, 1055 01:07:42,840 --> 01:07:45,519 I've liked some of the lineups they've rolled out this season, there's like a 1056 01:07:45,159 --> 01:07:49,159 certain I don't want to say position list, but sizeless anarchy to them. 1057 01:07:49,400 --> 01:07:54,519 I don't think you look at Jeremiah Robinson or all or even Poku or Baisie 1058 01:07:54,519 --> 01:07:58,559 like those lineups. I don't view those guys at the fives sort of an 1059 01:07:58,599 --> 01:08:01,719 answer for them. So they do need This would have plumbed another like higher 1060 01:08:01,760 --> 01:08:04,440 end big guy out of the equation doesn't need to be a traditional one. 1061 01:08:04,760 --> 01:08:09,519 But they've been inventive with the lineups they've rolled out, and they are a 1062 01:08:09,559 --> 01:08:12,320 team that has competed on defense this year. I know people attribute that to 1063 01:08:12,320 --> 01:08:15,360 the lack of scouting reports on a lot of these guys. What they're doing 1064 01:08:15,480 --> 01:08:17,399 doesn't happen on accident. Like they're tops. I think they're the only team 1065 01:08:17,479 --> 01:08:21,000 last time I check to who's top seven in the league in both their frequency 1066 01:08:21,319 --> 01:08:25,840 of shots they allow at the rim and then their overall rim protection percentage there 1067 01:08:25,840 --> 01:08:29,319 And to do that with this, cast Roger said, they don't necessarily have 1068 01:08:29,399 --> 01:08:32,720 a long term five. Depending on how you feel about a JR here or 1069 01:08:32,760 --> 01:08:36,399 just position list basketball in general. That's absolutely wild to me. So I 1070 01:08:36,439 --> 01:08:43,039 think we have lost sight of because of how egregious their rebuild has been been, 1071 01:08:43,199 --> 01:08:45,000 or if you want to call it a tank job, at points, 1072 01:08:45,159 --> 01:08:47,479 we've lost sight of the fact that, Okay, they are still actually building 1073 01:08:47,520 --> 01:08:50,960 something here. Yeah, I mean, I have no problem and like this 1074 01:08:51,039 --> 01:08:55,920 idea. I hate when people talk about roster sponts and draft picks, like 1075 01:08:56,000 --> 01:08:59,880 that was the excuse you kept hearing for why Houston didn't trade for a first 1076 01:09:00,399 --> 01:09:02,479 right they have. They have all these first round picks, and they're not 1077 01:09:02,479 --> 01:09:05,840 gonna have any roster spots. Stop. You can always trade first round picks, 1078 01:09:06,279 --> 01:09:11,199 and they always they haven't heard value, like stopping and like, they're 1079 01:09:11,199 --> 01:09:14,359 not gonna draft all these picks. They're not. They're they're gonna consolidate some 1080 01:09:14,359 --> 01:09:17,279 of these assets for better assets. That's kind of what I expect them to 1081 01:09:17,319 --> 01:09:20,640 do. Yeah, can we talk about the Pacers. I'm super excited to 1082 01:09:20,680 --> 01:09:24,039 get into them. We both have them at number one, and I think 1083 01:09:24,079 --> 01:09:29,560 we're both assuming it's because they're not going to go through the the thorough gradual 1084 01:09:29,600 --> 01:09:32,680 rebuild. It's because they have Tyrese Haliburton and this incoming lotto pick. Let's 1085 01:09:32,680 --> 01:09:35,039 say it's top five, top four, whatever it ends up being, and 1086 01:09:35,039 --> 01:09:39,960 then they're just going to continue to try and compete with Miles Turner, Malcolm 1087 01:09:40,000 --> 01:09:42,760 Brogdon, Chris Duarte, Like, oh, shape Risette is there. They 1088 01:09:42,800 --> 01:09:45,960 just have a lot of good players to where I don't think they have to 1089 01:09:45,000 --> 01:09:48,600 blow it up. The Sabonis trade was kind of a like tear down, 1090 01:09:48,640 --> 01:09:53,399 and they moved Leavert as well. But they're like, are they They're the 1091 01:09:53,439 --> 01:09:56,840 team on this list by far and away that's most likely to win a playoff 1092 01:09:56,880 --> 01:10:00,119 series first, right, Yeah, I agree, And I really love the 1093 01:10:00,199 --> 01:10:03,800 job that Kevin Pritchard's done here. Uh So it's kind of my logic and 1094 01:10:03,840 --> 01:10:06,760 having the number one, it is kind of similar to what I have to 1095 01:10:06,800 --> 01:10:11,079 Why I have the King's number two is because they have two cornerstone talents but 1096 01:10:11,239 --> 01:10:14,800 better, right, Like I think Haliburton is better than darn Fox. I 1097 01:10:14,840 --> 01:10:17,640 think Turner is better than Sabonus or at least more useful on a playoff team. 1098 01:10:17,720 --> 01:10:20,800 Right when he's healthy. That's a big caveat His health is going to 1099 01:10:20,840 --> 01:10:26,520 be a factor in their rebuild and how and how they build it around these 1100 01:10:26,560 --> 01:10:30,640 two guys. But I mean, listen, like if Sabonus, not Sabonus. 1101 01:10:30,640 --> 01:10:33,800 If Aliburn ends up being that heliocentric ball handler that we talked about him 1102 01:10:33,840 --> 01:10:38,239 potentially becoming, or if if he's just gonna become like a regular All Star 1103 01:10:38,760 --> 01:10:43,199 like that. They got that for someone three years older, right, and 1104 01:10:43,520 --> 01:10:45,239 that was less. I didn't want to be there. I think that's become 1105 01:10:45,279 --> 01:10:48,600 pretty clear, right, And I was ill fitting on their team. And 1106 01:10:48,800 --> 01:10:54,119 it just makes so much sense what they're doing. They have potentially the cornerstone 1107 01:10:54,119 --> 01:10:57,960 for their offense and potentially the cornerstone for their defense. Because let's be clear, 1108 01:10:58,039 --> 01:11:00,000 Miles her is one of the best defensive players in the NBA. Nobody 1109 01:11:00,039 --> 01:11:03,199 talks about him like that, but he is. He's amazing as a defensive 1110 01:11:03,199 --> 01:11:06,279 player. If you, if you ever get a chance to watch him when 1111 01:11:06,319 --> 01:11:11,159 he's healthy, please do. That guy protects the rim better than almost any 1112 01:11:11,359 --> 01:11:15,680 center in the NBA outside of Rudy Gobert. He's he's amazing, but yeah, 1113 01:11:15,720 --> 01:11:18,199 he's He's a big reason I have him on this on this spot. 1114 01:11:18,319 --> 01:11:24,520 Let's talk about the transactions that they've made from Paul George down to where they 1115 01:11:24,600 --> 01:11:28,399 where they at now. So they traded Paul George for the bonus and Victor 1116 01:11:28,399 --> 01:11:31,600 Oladipot right at the time a questionable move, but ended up working out for 1117 01:11:31,600 --> 01:11:34,560 them because the bonus ended up being a star, right ended up being an 1118 01:11:34,560 --> 01:11:41,119 All Star. And they traded Elodipot for Karros Lavert and then they traded Karis 1119 01:11:41,159 --> 01:11:45,199 Lavert for rick Ricky Rubio and basically two first round picks. That because that 1120 01:11:45,279 --> 01:11:48,560 second round pick that they got was Houston's second round pick, so it's gonna 1121 01:11:48,600 --> 01:11:53,479 be an early thirties pick. So they got two first round picks, rick 1122 01:11:53,560 --> 01:11:57,800 Karis Lavert, uh and Ricky Rubio's expiring contracts so they have they have flexibility 1123 01:11:57,800 --> 01:12:01,359 on their books and they all have. They got Haliburn, so basically they 1124 01:12:01,359 --> 01:12:06,760 went from Paul George to Haliburton, Ricky Ruio's expiring salary, and two first 1125 01:12:06,840 --> 01:12:12,600 round picks. That's incredibly patient deal making by Kevin Pritchard. I did not 1126 01:12:12,680 --> 01:12:15,119 think of him as this kind of executive, but he's The way he dealt, 1127 01:12:15,840 --> 01:12:20,520 the way he was moving in the trade deadline was certainly impressive. Yeah, 1128 01:12:20,600 --> 01:12:25,479 and I just you know, you talk about the outcome of Haliburt like 1129 01:12:25,479 --> 01:12:28,479 he's already one of the most efficient off the drill jump shooters in the league 1130 01:12:28,720 --> 01:12:30,640 right now. But the fact that he can play alongside pretty much anyone. 1131 01:12:30,880 --> 01:12:34,000 I don't think he even needs to be more than a fringe All Star for 1132 01:12:34,039 --> 01:12:39,039 that trade to pan out as a win. Just because Sabonis was look him 1133 01:12:39,079 --> 01:12:41,920 and Turner could play together. They did. The minutes were fine, but 1134 01:12:41,960 --> 01:12:46,039 there was a cap on that ceiling because there was some geographical overlap. I 1135 01:12:46,039 --> 01:12:49,479 think you could say, and now you've removed that from the equation. This 1136 01:12:49,520 --> 01:12:54,199 team I mentioned has the potential to be super interesting, like competitive immediately when 1137 01:12:54,199 --> 01:12:57,279 you look ahead the next season, Like just imagine they could bring back t 1138 01:12:57,399 --> 01:12:59,279 J. Warren as well if he ends up being healthy, and then you 1139 01:12:59,359 --> 01:13:01,520 have a top five pick on top of that, they could also This would 1140 01:13:01,520 --> 01:13:04,399 be the less appealing route. I'd be curious whether I'd still have them here 1141 01:13:04,680 --> 01:13:10,359 if they decided to move Brogged in, move Turner and begin completely anew. 1142 01:13:10,600 --> 01:13:13,640 It would definitely depend on the return they get for them. Then you sort 1143 01:13:13,640 --> 01:13:15,439 of need to hit your wagon too. Oh, we need Tyrese Haliburton to 1144 01:13:15,479 --> 01:13:19,439 be the one A type of star here, so that makes it a little 1145 01:13:19,439 --> 01:13:23,720 bit more risky. But you can go that route still and just based off 1146 01:13:23,760 --> 01:13:27,239 some of the other players that you have on your roster. Now that's also 1147 01:13:27,319 --> 01:13:30,680 okay, Like Isaiah Jackson that showed a bunch for them. O'sheaper set is 1148 01:13:30,680 --> 01:13:33,399 one of my favorite players to watch. We know what Chris Daarte can do. 1149 01:13:33,479 --> 01:13:38,319 Go goo with Todds has come on recently on the offensive end. They've 1150 01:13:38,319 --> 01:13:43,800 gotten like these interesting stretches from other guys too on the roster. They can 1151 01:13:43,840 --> 01:13:45,239 do a lot of different things here. It doesn't have to be okay, 1152 01:13:45,239 --> 01:13:50,399 we're keeping Brogden Turner, Haliburton Duarte this year's pick and moving forward and trying 1153 01:13:50,399 --> 01:13:55,159 to compete immediately. I think that makes the most sense. Just because Turner's 1154 01:13:55,199 --> 01:13:58,239 only twenty five. You can extend him and you're already sort of hinted at 1155 01:13:58,239 --> 01:14:01,800 it, so Bonus might be the better player. Overall. What Turner does 1156 01:14:02,000 --> 01:14:05,600 is more scalable, and I think you, as you alluded to it could 1157 01:14:05,640 --> 01:14:10,840 be more valuable in the playoffs just based off his defensive impact alone. And 1158 01:14:10,880 --> 01:14:15,159 so you just move forward with that core. You're maybe like one type of 1159 01:14:15,159 --> 01:14:17,680 move away where if everything goes right, are we talking about a top four 1160 01:14:17,720 --> 01:14:24,079 team in the Eastern Conference. So the immediacy with which they can rise matters 1161 01:14:24,119 --> 01:14:28,520 a lot to me here. But I also don't want to undersell their ability 1162 01:14:28,640 --> 01:14:31,640 to sort of play the longer game, which again I bet against them doing 1163 01:14:31,680 --> 01:14:35,359 because it's just something they haven't done with Kevin Burchard or Herb Simon there. 1164 01:14:35,439 --> 01:14:39,359 It's we want to figure out a way to do both. And yes they've 1165 01:14:39,359 --> 01:14:43,199 punted on this season, I would be surprised if they lean further in to 1166 01:14:43,279 --> 01:14:46,600 the rebuilding. So that's what actually makes their future much more appealing to me. 1167 01:14:47,640 --> 01:14:50,920 They have the fifth best lottery odds right now, so I mean, 1168 01:14:51,079 --> 01:14:58,000 if they can imagine adding like Jade and Ivy or like you know, Jabari 1169 01:14:58,119 --> 01:15:02,680 Smith to this core, right like, that makes this Indiana Corps so much 1170 01:15:02,720 --> 01:15:06,960 more attractive. And they have a direction. As you said, I think 1171 01:15:06,960 --> 01:15:12,039 we all expected them to move Buddy Healed for another pick and they just they 1172 01:15:12,079 --> 01:15:14,239 just didn't end up doing it. So they can still do that too, 1173 01:15:14,840 --> 01:15:17,880 right Like, So there's Buddy Hell might be overpaid, but if you're gonna 1174 01:15:17,920 --> 01:15:23,560 overpay overpay for functional shooting, I'm not talking about someone who's just standing in 1175 01:15:23,600 --> 01:15:27,520 the corner, like overpay for someone who can fly around screens, hit some 1176 01:15:27,560 --> 01:15:30,840 pull ups, hit some deeper looks, and like that's what Buddy Healed at 1177 01:15:30,880 --> 01:15:34,720 his peak can do. And he's shooting, Yeah, it's only about thirty 1178 01:15:34,720 --> 01:15:39,239 seven percent. That's above LEA average in Indiana, I mean, and it 1179 01:15:39,239 --> 01:15:42,479 comes on eight point six attempts per game. Like that's real volume. He's 1180 01:15:42,479 --> 01:15:45,279 also, by the way, quietly shooting about sixty percent on twos and played 1181 01:15:45,279 --> 01:15:49,840 well in Indiana offensively in general. And so I don't want to discount that. 1182 01:15:50,000 --> 01:15:53,560 I mean, like even just the reason they're having to make as a 1183 01:15:53,600 --> 01:15:56,800 passer since he's been in Indiana. So I don't know, maybe they will 1184 01:15:56,800 --> 01:15:58,720 turn him into an asset. But this is a team that can make a 1185 01:15:58,800 --> 01:16:02,279 ruckus immediately. Like you were saying, it does have the if you want 1186 01:16:02,279 --> 01:16:05,880 to call them, valuable veterans that they could sell off to make their rebuild 1187 01:16:05,880 --> 01:16:10,119 that much more intriguing. And they they have an extra first round pick in 1188 01:16:10,119 --> 01:16:13,079 this year's draft. Now after that Karis Lavirtue. They are just so many 1189 01:16:13,079 --> 01:16:17,920 different things that they can do. Given how poorly this season initially went for 1190 01:16:17,960 --> 01:16:24,960 them, I applaud them for being able to pivot into the multifaceted direction that 1191 01:16:25,039 --> 01:16:30,000 they did. They've just timed their moves perfectly. They traded Paul George at 1192 01:16:30,039 --> 01:16:33,920 the right time, they traded Bonus at the right time, they traded Kris 1193 01:16:33,960 --> 01:16:39,880 Lavert at the right time, maximize all their values, got you know, 1194 01:16:39,920 --> 01:16:44,239 adequate return for all of them. And that's kind of why, uh, 1195 01:16:44,279 --> 01:16:45,680 you know, I'm kind of turning my head at Pritchard, like, Hey, 1196 01:16:45,720 --> 01:16:48,359 this guy's pretty damn good at his job, and you wouldn't have thought 1197 01:16:48,359 --> 01:16:53,239 that, like literally a couple of months ago. Like there's just so much 1198 01:16:53,239 --> 01:16:56,600 more clarity and what he's been doing, Like how long have you been have 1199 01:16:56,720 --> 01:16:59,960 we been talking about splitting up some bonus a turner like two years three? 1200 01:17:00,520 --> 01:17:03,920 Right? And he timed it perfectly, waited till a player like like Haliburton 1201 01:17:04,000 --> 01:17:11,079 was available, traded him. Now has a legitimate corners, don't talent in 1202 01:17:11,199 --> 01:17:14,720 his in the fold, and they have so many directions they can go in. 1203 01:17:14,760 --> 01:17:17,760 Man, I agree with everything you were saying. I think they're clearly 1204 01:17:17,800 --> 01:17:23,159 the best future on this team. Yeah, so I think they're number one 1205 01:17:23,239 --> 01:17:26,039 and for me, ahead of Okayse unless you just think that Isaiah Roby is 1206 01:17:26,039 --> 01:17:29,880 a future mega star in Oklahoma City. I'll recap mine very quickly. To 1207 01:17:30,000 --> 01:17:31,399 wrap us up here, I have the Kings at eight, the Blazers at 1208 01:17:31,439 --> 01:17:35,279 seven, the Magic at six, the Spurs at five, the Rockets at 1209 01:17:35,279 --> 01:17:39,680 four, the Pistons at three, the Thunder at two, and the Indiana 1210 01:17:39,720 --> 01:17:43,880 Pacers at number one. What do you have? Okay to recap? I 1211 01:17:43,960 --> 01:17:46,239 have the Pacers at one. Hold on, let me get my list out, 1212 01:17:46,479 --> 01:17:53,159 the Pacers at one, Sacramento to Houston at three, Oklahoma City at 1213 01:17:53,159 --> 01:17:58,880 four, Detroit at five, Orlando at six, San Antonio at seven, 1214 01:17:59,199 --> 01:18:02,399 at Portland eight. It's funny that we differed so much, but we were 1215 01:18:02,439 --> 01:18:08,000 just in lockstep with number one. That's great, Salmon. I mean I 1216 01:18:08,239 --> 01:18:11,239 think you and I are hiring Haliburton that I think most people. And it's 1217 01:18:11,279 --> 01:18:15,239 not just like a basketball Twitter thing like the guy's ridiculous, Like he's just 1218 01:18:15,399 --> 01:18:18,760 completely ridiculous. He was the best player on the Kings up until they made 1219 01:18:18,800 --> 01:18:23,920 that move the deadline. Legitimately, Salmon, this was great. Thank you 1220 01:18:23,920 --> 01:18:25,800 so much for doing it with me. Or you're able to tell our listeners 1221 01:18:25,840 --> 01:18:30,199 where they can follow you on Twitter and all of your great work. Yeah 1222 01:18:30,439 --> 01:18:34,600 at salmona ley NBA on Twitter. If I'm producing work. It's just gonna 1223 01:18:34,640 --> 01:18:38,840 be there. Follow him. He's a great follow. Thank you so much 1224 01:18:38,880 --> 01:18:40,920 again for joining me, and I think, as you know by now, 1225 01:18:40,960 --> 01:18:43,560 I'll be pestering you again down the line, so I will talk to you 1226 01:18:43,640 --> 01:18:45,720 soon. Thank you so much. Looking forward to it here