What is up, fellow thermonuclear A efforts high and damn the valley coming at
you with another trademark hardware not smell bag. Like I said, I'm trying
to do two of these a week. This one will be discord specific unless
I get random questions on YouTube or via Twitter, which I got one random
Twitter. Not random, but I had a Twitter question that did not come
via Twitter solicitation very quickly though, before we can and ball into it.
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comments are very appreciated. Who let's dive right into this mailbag. I have
so many good questions. I'm hoping I don't wind up going too long,
because then I will split this into a two part episode and just release one
of them over the weekend to ensure that every subject is given enough time.
But there are a couple of questions that I could see myself rambling and rambling
about, and why not start off with them? De moost Cool had a
few good questions for this mailbag. Ask can when will Carter Junior do another
level up with Palo Bangko on the team as the floor general. Statistically,
Wcj's fourth year is almost identical to sabonus Is third year. Does he indeed
step on his footsteps? They're both undersized mobile bigs. Anyway, I've never
thought of Wendel Carter Jr. As Under's eyes. I will say demost that
I did not realize how similar his numbers were to h Sabonus is in his
fourth season. I looked those up and they're like, they're eerily similar.
It's absurd. The thing I will say is, I don't think he's gonna
follow in saonus Is footsteps, just because when you go back and watch how
he's accumulating some of these numbers, there feels like there's I don't know what
the word is, but one WCJ is not the passer that Sabonus is because
he's not asked to be. He's also not going to enjoy the same type
of post up volume that was twelve percent of w CJ's plays last year and
the average, by the way, one point two one points per possession in
the post. And so he's a good passer. I think what I'm very
interested is I view him as having some more like outside in Juice, where
Sabonus is gonna op rate methodically in those situations, even if even if you
see him bring the ball up the court, WCJ just seems to operate faster
there. And so that's not to say that he would be better, but
I'm more interested in him as like this explosive decision maker or even just I
like him more. I think he can fit more alongside someone like Ben Carro
and Jail and Suggs and anyone else like a Mark el Folster needs the ball
or wants the ball in their hands on the magic you look at w Wcj's
screening, an off ball movement that look to get a lot better last year.
I trust long term Wendell Carter Junior's jump shots. He shot thirty eight
point five percent on catching shoot threes after the All Star break. Maybe some
noise in there when you look at some of the games that he played.
What I'm most interested in seeing is how he deals with what will presumably be
less attention because also look at him when he catches the ball on the roll,
like defenses were showing two or three bodies to him, towards him more
than you would expect. That can't happen if you have Ben Caro and Suggs
is playing well and Franz Wagner's on the court, and so that extra space,
I think we'll allow him to put more pressure on the rim. Since
he was a little bit below average there when you're looking at his volume,
some of that had to do by designer, by choice just looking at some
of his ballad options, little flip shots and touch a little bit further away
from the basket. But I'm anxious to see if they run ban Carro WCJ
pick and rolls, which they absolutely should, or even if they're not,
if it's faults Weindel Carter Junior pick and rolls or sugs Wendel Carter Junior pick
and rolls the magic Well, I don't think that they're just like chock full
of good shooters. Now the roster is currently constructed with ban Carro in the
fold. They brought Mobamba back, Gary Harris comes back, Terrence Ross is
still there for now, they have enough like surrounding shooters Franz Wagner of course,
to where WCJ is gonna have easier paths to get to the rim.
And so I don't know if WCJ will be as central to what Orlando's doing
offensively, if you want to see him have the ball in his hands,
but I don't think he needs to be that type of player to have an
impact. Look, let's call it what it is. There's a chance that
Wendel Carter Junior is still an All Star. He is, He's young enough
to where he can continue to improve. He just wrapped up his age twenty
two season. He was largely written off because of Chicago, and his pass
has mattered. They weren't like super complicated passes, but teammates shot almost fifty
four percent on their looks when they took a shot after a pass coming from
him. And also there's more like I want to say laterality, which probably
isn't a word to Wendel Carter Junior's offensive game. If you put the ball
in his hands, he I think it was a game against the Doubs last
year he hit like this two or three dribble escape, dribble three, and
it was just glorious to watch. And so he's been a player I've been
thinking about a lot of what is his ceiling? It feels undefined. Do
I think he's ever going to be an All NBA center? I'd probably bet
against it. But if he told me how Wendell Carter Junior was in the
All Star discussion this season, I'm not going to be shocked. There's more
mobility from him on defense than there is alongside We're not alongside, but from
Doma Sabonis as well. And I also liked the fact that Sabonis can make
can devastate as a playmaker from a standstill, and even just like if you're
gonna put the ball in his hands and tell him to try and get his
way towards the basket, there's just more like jet fuel or pop to what
Wendel Carter Jr. Is doing. He might be best if he's catching the
ball on the move, but like he can get going downhill off a standstill
like and really get going. And so I view him as more complimentary than
Sabonis, which is not to say better, but I think easier to fit
in inside this ecosystem where the Magic are gonna want to feed plenty of other
players, and quite frankly, when you look at Sugs and ben Caro and
even Fall specifically, they're gonna need to feed a bunch of other players.
And so I just think this is all to say. I think Sabonis and
Carter Junior, despite the statistical similarities, are just much different players by the
avenues through which they got there, and so that's not a problem. I
don't think that Wendel Carter Juire needs to be the number one or number two
option on the offensive end. This is someone who I think could just within
the ple flow of the offense. I don't want to say not having plays
drawn up for him, but not having to toss the ball to him in
the post or or you know, like from the high elbows or just like
a like beyond the arc and have him run these handoffs. I don't think
he honestly needs that. He can get to fifteen plus points like he did
last season, maybe even flirt with twenty entirely within the flow of the offense.
And I'm just again very intrigued to see what he might do with either
you know, is it going to take more threes? Three point five attempts
per game is fine, but you want to see that number go up,
or se just have even higher quality twos to take because of the extra space
that should be around him. And his passing might improve from there too,
because like I said, he did a really good job diming up cutters and
even finding some shooters beyond the arc. And he will swing the ball very
quickly as well. And so he's the type of player where you scale his
game to a better version of the magic and you have to envision Wendell Carter
Junior actually being better, and so you want to see the three point clip
come up. I think getting the extra rim pressure will hopefully bring up his
free throvevolume. That's tough to do sometimes when the ball is not perpetually in
your hands. Like I said, though, when he gets going and is
going downhill hard teams should be able to foil him. Needs to bring the
free throw clip up sub seventy percent last year for the season. Not great
good, a certainly good enough rebounder to play a center position. So the
question here can Wendel Carter Junior level up? Absolutely? And this is someone
that I would watch as Look, if you want to pick sugs, I
would not pick rookies as part of this exercise if you wanted to say that
Wagner is going to do it. But if you're looking at a breakout Kennedy
on the Orlando Magic relative that would happen last season, it's Wendell Carter Junior.
Feels like, no, he might not have the most runway to improve,
but it might just be set up best for him to improve based off
what we just saw last season. And so I'm not ruling out in All
Star trajectory for Wendel Carter Junior at this point, and frankly, you shouldn't
either. I know players can sort of be considered what they are entering year
five, but like, that's not always the case. If you told me
that Wendel Carter Junior was just worked his way into the discussion for most improved
Player, I'd be a little bit surprised, and less the context of his
game changed the ton He probably deserved that buzz this past season that he didn't
really generate when you look at who all the other candidates and the ultimate winner
was. But I wouldn't write him off of that discussion. You tell me,
there are just so many possibilities left for Wendell Carter Junior, And yes,
I'll bet against all NBA because you need to be a top three center
or I guess the way they fuck with positions now, you could be like
a top six center technically and get it as a forward anyway. I don't
know if he gets there, but this is someone who's really good. And
that's why I think when there's been a lot of questions about would you rather
have the Magic or the Pistons next season specifically, it's why I'm leaning towards
the Magic because they have a Wendell Carter Junior in addition to and Franz Wagner,
but in addition to like having the Bank Hero and Sugs and how that
applies to the Pistons having Kay Cunning him and Jay Nivey among others. Obviously
great question, but the Magic look they were already worth watching. I just
think that they're still room for Wendell Carter Junior to grow, even if,
like I said, there's less centrality to the way that he's used on offense.
The Bronx with Hallow Ground ass and I thought way too much about this
scenario and it's cropped up before. But the Bronx with Alan Ground asked.
With the rumors about the Celtics possibly shopping Jalon Brown, would you would do
a Brown for brandon Ingram trade. I feel like the Ingram Zion CJ combo
is kind of clunky. They all kind of need the ball a lot.
I like the idea of Zion Brown CJ. Brown could help bolster the defense
next to Zion and CJ, and scaling back his uses from what the Celtics
needed would make him a better player. Ingram isn't the defender that Brown is,
but I think he offers more self creation and playmaking. What are your
thoughts so to start with I, aside from the deal itself, I agree
with everything you said about the difference between these players, Brandon Ingram. If
you need to jump start a pick and roll, jump starting offensive set,
get someone's, rely on someone's maybe in between touch, you want him on
your team. He's just a better creator right now. And then Jalen Brown
is. I don't want to say he's a complimentary player, but he's not
just three indeed does more than that. I think it's easier to plug him
into all these other situations and he will work on more teams than Brandon Ingram
might. What I will say is I don't view Zion, CJ and Ingram
as clunky, because you want to have as many primary playmakers on your team
as possible, so long that what they do can spill over two off the
ball, and for Zion, CJ and Brandon Ingram it does. CJ is
a very good shooter off the ball, and I think he showed some on
sat chemistry with the Pelicans. Zion coming back changes a lot of that.
But Zion, despite not being this high volume jump shooter, he is devastating
off the ball, get the ball to him in transition, or if he's
setting screens and going down hill, or you're just throwing him lobs. He
works off the ball and then brandon Ingram. Yeah, his off ball touches
improved as well. He's not this high volume catching three point shooter, but
he's become a rock solid one, and so I think he scales two more
situations than people will currently credit him for. It might be harder to fit
him in, but I think that you want to load up your roster with
guys who can make plays on the ball, especially if they're if they can
exist off the ball. What's interesting about is the Pelicans still probably use Jellen
Brown defensive juice, and I think Brown gives you more pure rim pressure Ingram
likes to Bali on his drives more than Brown does. The trade off there
is that Brown can get tunnel vision, but he was an excellent finisher around
the rim, and he will burst through the soul of defenses when he gets
going downhill. I also think that you look at his turnover to assist ratio
Brown's, and you also look at some of the passes he throws. Some
of the turnovers that he actually commits. I understand why some people might be
low on him and think that he's never going to make the Tatum like jump
as a playmaker, let alone becoming someone like you know, like a like
a Lebron that like that was never on the table. I almost feel like
he's an underrated passer too, and that we've exacerbated the issues with this handle
just because we saw it happen in the playoffs. And yeah, that that
matters, because if it's the extra attention he's getting, or if he's capitalizing
predominantly on the attention that Jason Tatum is drawing, that has to change the
complexion of how we view this game. But it feels like there's more on
ball creativity there. You saw him like kind of stop and turn and fade
and pop around the basket. When he gets going and he can hit those
shots, you don't want to slow things down and have him run a pick
and roll. And so if your boss and I get the appeal of having
Brandon Ingram, So these are two very valuable players. What I think is
also interesting it deserves to be mentioned Ingram is about a year younger and has
another year left on his deal, so he's more expensive. But where Brown
is going to is slated to become a free agent in twenty twenty four.
He does not have a player option. He just says two more guaranteed years
left. Brandon Ingram isn't slated for freeing until two and twenty five. It's
also because Brandon Ingram's final year salary is thirty six million dollars. This will
tie into I think our last question the mail bag, by the way,
but it's more likely that he will extend off of that number because one hundred
and twenty percent rays off of that would be forty three million or whatever it
is. And so that's closer to what would be his absolute max at the
time unless the salary cap there's no smoothing, and that thing just fucking jumps,
and so you don't have to necessarily risk him getting into free agency,
where with Brown it's fay to complete just extending him off that number he's making.
Look, so you're talking having that extra year of Ingram and the fact
that he got a max his final year salary that you would extend off of
his thirty six million dollars. Brown's final year salary, which was submax and
it's going to expire a year earlier he would be extending off of thirty point
seven. That's a huge difference when you're looking at someone again who hasn't even
been given his first MAX yet. Now you sort of sprinkle in the fact
that there have been trade talk surrounding Brown with Kevin Durant, maybe he becomes
a little bit more disenchanted with Boston, or like the question poses, do
these players sort of film needs for either team where the Celtics get that other
creator that they want while New Orleans shores up its defense and then gets I
think you can call Jaylon Brown a better shooter, not a better off the
dribble shooter, but a better shooter or a more reliable floor space or however
you want to want to frame it. My gut says, because of the
defensive value that Jolen Brown brings that the Celtics won't view Ingram's extra year of
his salary, especially when it's more than Brown's, and maybe just the extra
control as enough of an upgrade over Brown. And that's more like you're talking
about Brown being involved in a conversation for Kevin Durant, who's one of the
greatest shot creators and makers alive of all time. Brandon Ingram is not that,
and so while he could be the second engine of your offense, I
do still think that if you pull the bunch of executives, they would still
prefer Brown because of the defense, because there's a little bit more plug in
playing this on offense, and they're going to appreciate Brown's rim pressure and maybe
even overlook some of the passing issues he has. And I know people said
the words that are coming out as his offensive game is a mechanical, robotic
however you want it from rigid, and there is a certain rigidity to the
way that he plays, but there's also more valuability too, and so you
might take that. You know we're talking about. By the way, Jalen
Brown is not like he's eighty. He just wrapped up his age twenty five
season, so he can still get better. And so that's what my gut
says, Well, I personally do this trade. I don't know if I
would necessarily do it for either side, because I think the Pelicans best path
to being uber successful is to stack the deck with on ball creators who don't
overlap too much with each other. We don't know what's going on with Zion's
health. CJ. McCollum isn't exactly super young at this point, and Ingram
earlier in his career had some injury issues. We saw CJ deal towards the
tail end of his time in Portland with some injury issues as well. You
just want to hedge against those bets, and so you don't need the secondary
or even like a second primary shock creator. Let's call it as much as
Boston does right now, since it's still is it Brown? Is it brogged
in as it Marcus Smart? They're still asking that question. So there's Tatum
and then there's still sort of a fuzziness on the number two pecking order.
But if you're New Orleans, still trying to pronounce it not the way that
people hate it, by the way, so hopefully everyone appreciates the effort to
try to remember if you're New Orleans, I still think you need Ingram and
that you'd rather take the ceiling on his on ball creativity than have to acquire
Brown where even if it's just straight up and there, I do believe that
the money, like in their current salaries would work. Straight up we're talking
about twenty eight seven versus thirty one. Yeah, so you can just trade
them straight up. There's a chance that Boston would demand something else. And
also just now you risk Brown getting to free agency one year sooner, and
could he leave. And like I said, the Zion element matters a lot
to me, where maybe Brown is just the better catch and shoot guy if
you want Zion really operating on Ballaton, but you also want Zion to be
your screener at points or to just get rolling towards the basket, even it
was from a stand still without a screen Ingram's going to do a better job
of finding him there. And I just if there was a real fit issue
between New Orleans and or CJ. McCollum and Ingram and Zion, if if
I was actually concerned about what that looked like, maybe I can that are
this Also, I think the Pelicans they showed a lot of defensive improvement after
their three and sixteen start, whatever it was under Willie Green, especially he
got them to get back in transition. Some of their rotations were just more
on point, where they were less like these wandering children lost in a supermarket
or wherever you want to frame it, looking him at half court, and
now with Herb Jones, Trey Murphy, even Dyson Daniels coming in, it
feels like they might be able to and Larry NaN's junior two, let's not
forget about him, it feels like they might be able to upgrade their defense
this season, especially if Zion improves there in any way whatsoever. So I
don't think I would do this for either side, but it is a fascinating
discussion. If you flip flop these two players, which team gets better or
do they both somehow get worse? And I honestly don't know the answer to
that question, because you are giving up. You know, there's a defensive
down grade just as much as there might be a shot creation down grade going
from Ingram to Jaylen Brown for New Orleans, there's that shot creation downgrade,
but there's that defensive downgrade still as much as Ingram has improved for Boston if
they went from Round to Ingram. And I also finally, like there's been
we haven't even heard that the Pelicans would be willing to give up brandon Ingram
and Kevin Durant trade if push comes to shove, and Katie said, I
want to go to New Orleans and that was that was that. I do
think that the Pelicans would they would try to construct the deal without Ingram and
I think that they could do that when you look at all the picks they
have an addition to the youngsters. I do think they would if Kadi said
I want to be in New Orleans. But that means said, we haven't
even heard that. He's not been deemed the level of untouchable as Scottie Barnes
most because the Pelicans have existed on the fringes of the Kevin Durant discussions.
We don't even know how involved they are. It's just us, these talking
heads discussing it really and there's been some chatter like behind the scenes, we'll
hear it from people. So yes, you know that there's a tangential involvement,
but it's not front and center. And then also the Celtics, are
you trading Jalen Brown if you're not getting Kevin duran we haven't is he eminently
available? And if look, that might be another podcast like what could you
get in a jail and Brown trade that's independent of KD And are there any
worthwhile deals? I think this would be worth at least thinking about for both
sides. I have a feeling Pelicans fans would immediately say that it's not that's
just my guest, that's thought an insult. Maybe it's not. I'm a
feeling A bunch of healthic stands would say, Hey, no way, it's
an interesting thought exercise. I ultimately wouldn't do it for either side. What
do you think, though, let me know, let me know what the
comments about this question, which I clearly thought and talked way too long about.
Demost Quoll again asked, how do you see Haliburton's scoring average this season?
If we accept that he's a past first point guard, isn't too difficult
for him to reach the twenty points per game mark? Chris Paul only did
it for two seasons out of seventeen, despite being efficient and clutch. Yeah,
you're sort of spot on here. I don't want to pigeonhole Tyrese Haliburton
to the Chris Paul two point zero comps that he continues to get. But
look at the I don't even want to call it an opportunity. Look at
the burden he was carrying when he first went to Indian shout out reett Bauer
did discuss this in our discord when this question came in. But tyres Haliburton
average seventeen point five points and thirty six point one minutes per game after going
to Indiana, that was at twelve point four field goal attempts slash five point
three three point attempts per thirty six minutes. That's like he's not going to
get I would think a higher volume opportunity than that. Christo Wartey didn't play
the final month of the season. Benedick Mathren's now in the fold. If
Turner's there, I think you're probably gonna try and feature him a little bit
more, just in advance of his free agency, or to see what you
might have if you give him a little bit more self creation. And so
my bet would be, given how responsible he's going to be for setting up
other guys, but also some players specifically Duarte and Mathren, who are going
to infringe upon his volume, I would bet against it next season. That
being said, his path to getting there is actually shooting more. Twelve point
four attempts per thirty six minutes is not like, especially on that roster that
he was working with at the time. And Kenny jack up his three point
volume. I won't rule it out, and like the most cool said Chris
Paul, did get there for a couple of seasons, and it wouldn't like
if I set the over under on his scoring where it was at Indie last
year at seventeen point five. Honestly, don't know what I would pick.
I might take the over but still go under twenty points. It's just it
doesn't feel wired into his game Haliburton to be that aggressive looking for his own
shot. And I think what will be critical is either that changes or do
they get him taking more threes, either if it's as a catch and shoot
guy or he's just more confident in is off the dribble looks. Do I
think he'll ever get there for his career. I'm just gonna say yes because
I am drunk on Tyrese Haliburton everything and the fact that he was just viewed
is just like this, like eminently like really good player who wouldn't dominate in
anyone facet. I just don't. I don't buy it. The passing,
the live dribble passing is just there and it's fantastic, and he is more
of an off the dribble threat pretty much at every level, certainly at the
bottom level and at the top level threes, threes and around the basket.
Then people give him credit for this is someone who has in a very clearly
to me an all NBA ceiling, and so I will say he gets there
at least once in his career. Let's revisit this in ten years and see
I'm at Christopher asked with the Durant Irving Mitchell trades apparently at a standstill because
of the haul Utah got for Gobert, do you think the NBA should come
up with a set cost for certain caliber level players like Pat Beverley would be
worth X amount of players and X amount of picks, while Durant costs and
picks and players would be more since he's a higher caliber player. I hope
this makes sense. It's in my head, but then I started typing it.
Thank you for this, crushing Christopher and Glad and Discord. Edit.
There is kind of already a rubric in place because the MBA you need to
match salary, not dollar for dollar, but be within the realm depending on
where you are relative to the luxury attacks or salary cap. I would lean
know that I don't think they should or really can come up with a way
to provide a uniform cost for players, just because I believe that the value
of players is too subjective, and just look at the difference in criteria,
not just age. In this case where it's like Kevin Durant is going to
go into his age thirty, age thirty four season, whatever it is,
but brandon him was about Brandon Ingram is about to go in to his age
twenty five season. That's a big difference. Contract length. Kevin Durant has
four years left on his deal versus are you trading for someone who has one
year left on his deal? And then there's also just the overall skill is
how do you delineate between stars? Like yeah, okay, there's one end
of the spectrum of Beverly versus Durant, but like what about Ingram versus Brown?
Should those two cost the same on the trade market? That might be
an example of two players that that should come pretty close to that. And
there's also just like player archetype where certain teams don't need to give up as
much for their last piece or even a star that they're acquiring, but maybe
there's a team that desperately needs a five versus that definitely needs a wing or
depends on how they want to play. Minnesota was very clearly for a while
in the market for a big and that's why they gave up so much for
Gobert. Whether they should have given up that much, that's a different story,
but that is the market is. It's just it's supply and demand there.
And there's also the context under which the players leave, if it's the
team deciding to trade a player if a player asks. I do think that
with what Christopher is suggesting, would help teams that are kind of bent over
a barrel if players get closer to the end of their contract, the final
year, two years left, whatever it'd be like if Donovan Mitchell requested out
after this season with two years before free agcy, or even after next season
was one year left on free agency. And so I get that aspect of
it, but I also think, like the way that star trades have working
out worked out for the most part lately, we haven't seen like any team
just get absolutely fucked in the return. It was widely considered that the Pelicans
did well for Drew Holiday, that they did well for Anthony Davis. It's
why have you been considered that the Jazz did well for Ferrudy Gobert as well
well, even the Spurs with Tamarta Rosie. Look what Chicago gave up,
Orlando for the Nikola Vuchevic with what Chicago gave up and so, and the
Spurs with the Jante Murray and so. I don't think that the only thing
this would succeed in doing is repressing to me the star market for teams that
have already spent all their assets for some of them. For a squad like
the Lakers are now like the Timberwolves, it might make it easier for them
to acquire a certain star if they wanted to open up anything. The only
thing I could really see the lead doing is capping or uncapping the number of
first rounders that get sent out in any deal where it's no, you can't
trade more than in addition to Stepian rule like three that that's the max,
uh and then that that's like you know, it might save some teams from
themselves, but then it hurts teams where the star does ask for out or
wants to leave, or because you uncap and say fuck the Stepian rule,
or if it's a singular trade where yeah, you have to abide by it
if you already have a pick that is like like conveyable out in the distance.
Let's use the like the Hornets as an example. But if you own
all your first round picks like the Suns, can you trade them in succession
now any years out that you want? So there, if they made tweaks,
maybe it's along the lines of that, But I don't think that we
could ever see a set value for Stars versus would other like any other players.
And again, you still get into complications there even if you tried,
because how do you view like, yeah, Patrick Beverly's a different player from
Durant, but he's also making like a larger salary than if you were decided
to move like a Kenrick Williams. At this point, I think you could
argue that ken Rick Williams has more value than of Beverly, and so the
money that these players are making also matters, since you have to match it
as the team that's acquiring them. Nuggets Fan, ev how many games in
the next season will Bones Highland become a household name. I'm just a little
bit insulted that Nuggets Fan doesn't consider Bones Island a household name. He's not.
I'm just kidding. He's he's a Hardwood Knox hold name. I don't
really know what the fuck that means, but Nuggets fans know him. People
listen to this podcast know about him. I would say, go look at
Denver's first back to back of the season, and then that's when he'll become
the household name because he will be starting. Jamal Murray's not going to play
both ends of back to backs, I imagine when the season starts, at
least not at the beginning, maybe not all all year since he's coming back
from that ACL injury. And I guess the Nuggets could go a different route
to try and preserve their bench. Matt Moore, who does a fantastic job
covering the entire league with the Nuggets as well. Him and Adam Madez do
the Lockdow Nuggets podcast. On a recent episode, they were discussing how Michael
Malone doesn't really like to tinker with the bench rotation if it's working, and
so let's just say the bench rotation is working because bones Hihland is the sixth
Man of the Year candidate, which I'll get into that in a second.
So where you all of a sudden gonna start Bruce Brown instead, or you
like the does is Smith just step in and then you give him a quick
cook? I don't know, but because of what's gonna happen with Jamal Murray
and even can you count on Michael Porter Jr. I imagine bones Highland he
It wouldn't shock me if he's one of those I don't think a second year
player will win it. But if he's tangentially mentioned in most improved player discussions,
if he's mentioned in sixth Man of the Year discussions, a lot of
people are wondering, well, how is he going to have the numbers to
prop up sixth Man of the Year Again, you're looking at someone who is
going to play a lot, like if Murray's maybe on a minute scrap or
not playing certain games, or what's going on with Michael Porter Junior? Does
he need rest? It feels like there's always going to be a vacuum in
the offense, sort of in a good way where someone needs to step up
and score a bunch. And look, this dude just averaged ten point one
points per game in nineteen minutes. That is the equivalent of nineteen points per
thirty six minutes. I have no doubt in my mind that he can juice
up that actual rate, and it was juiced up. I'm trying to use
the whole season as sort of the summation, but it was juiced up.
When you're looking at the end of the year for him, that this could
be someone who averages like seventeen points in like twenty minutes per I mean he
was at basically through the final I don't know how many games through like March
ten, through the end of the season, so sixteen games he was at
fourteen point six points in twenty three point six minutes, and so like it
wouldn't shock me. That's with him shooting thirty nine point two percent on threes.
I got news for you. This dude is capslock italics bold text shooter.
The functional range that his pressure put like that, the functional pressure that
his range puts on defenses, I just it's absurd and defies logic. He
will uncork mega deep threes downstand still triples from the corner, and then just
rame hellfire from the perimeter off the dribble. I was very impressed with his
live dribble passing last year and even Adamataz and I kind of discussed that leading
into the Nugget season, and you look at his season long shooting numbers and
they somehow don't even accurately portray just how devastating he was. He had thirty
six point seven percent of his spot up triples and thirty six point nine percent
of his pull up pull up trays. That is a fraction of the season.
When you look at post All Star break, forty seven point two percent
on pull up three pointers post All Star break. That is just absolutely ridiculous.
And so I would call him and I think Matt Moore, I think
I've read something from him where he called him this, he's a pretty good
sixth Man of the Year bet at this moment, I would say, because
voters love volume scores and a lot of the times they're going to come from
teams that received a lot of attention. You know, look at Jordan Clarkson,
Tyler Hero as examples. So he would be a good bet to me.
And I think he has another sort of dimension to reach as a passer,
And it just wouldn't it would not shock me if this is someone who,
look, there will be room for him to play between twenty to twenty
five plus minutes per game throughout the season, Like, there might be nights
where he needs to eclipse thirty depending on what's happening with Murray or Michael Porter
Jr. Or just what the Nuggets offense needs and so like, if he
ends up at like twenty six minutes per game or even just twenty five,
if it's between twenty three and twenty six, yeah, he's got a chance
to win six Man of the Year, even to someone who won't necessarily be
part of all of Denver's closing units. So I think this is someone who's
just sort of like a sleeping giant in terms of building blocks. There's a
very real, if not likely chance at this point that Bones Highland is the
biggest X factor on this team when you're looking at none of the big three.
And also, I think you can make the case that he's more important
to the Nuggets of future at this point than a Michael Porter Junior, depending
on how you feel about mpg's reliability. Yeah, if MPJ hits on the
player that he was and Jamal Murray gets injured again, okay, sure,
But then bones Island all of a sudden becomes his X factor of there's an
embarrassment of riches when it comes to talent on this team, or if Bones
Thailand is that dude, If we're talking about Bones Thailand in the same vein
as Tyrese Maxie coming off of year two, all of a sudden, the
Nuggets is best. Trade offers get a lot more enticing, even though they
don't have a ton of pick equity to offer, so Bones Island. I
do think he'll be a house whole name on the end of this season,
and having to start some games, I imagine will probably help him get there.
Just the Nuggets being good as well, if they're even gonna be relatively
healthy. We're talking about a team that I've already said they might be my
title favorite right now. I'll expect him to finish no worse than like second
or third in the West at this point, assuming relatively good health. Their
team to watch. He is one of the bones, is one of my
favorite prospects, and I'm very anxious to see what he does this season.
Demos Cole has a third and final question for us. Is Draymond Green inching
to team up with Lebron What if gsw opts to trade him now instead of
losing him next summer because they don't want to play him. I followed this
up with my own question that Demos saying that I missed something in the news
cycle where Draymond was pushing to get out of Golden State, and he was
just mentioning that the clutch sports element and if Draymond wants a MAX and the
Warriors don't want to give it to him, Draymond has that player option for
the twenty three twenty four season, and I don't expect him to get an
extension. I don't view this as a possibility. I mean, the Lakers
could technically have cap space next year if Lebron doesn't sign an extension, but
if he's not, if Lebron's not taking a pay cut, and you have
Anthony Davis on your books, you're not going to be able to offer Draymond
Green the max. Draymond Green would be an interesting target because I don't think
he's a MAX player. He's going into his age thirty two season, and
so like you're talking about something that would then be going in their age thirty
three season. If we're in the twenty to twenty seven million dollar range,
it might become more workable for the Lakers and for other teams. Do I
think he's a flight risk of the big four? Well, not the big
four, let's call it the like the five main Warriors were watching moving forward
that you know that are not there, that are that are not trying to
think aminga James Wiseman, Moses Moody. Yeah, those guys matter. But
between Wiggins, Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Jordan Pool,
I do view Green as just the biggest flight risk. He's not to say
he's more of an independent thinker than all of them, but he might be
the one that gets valued the least by the franchise, or you know,
maybe Klay Thompson gets valued the least. But he's willing to accept a pay
cut just because he dealt with injuries. He seems he's talked about wanting to
retire a Warrior a little bit more. If the Warriors then got up and
decided to trade Draymond Green this season, I don't know what you get from
him just because he's on that expiring contract. So you need to ensure that
he's going to come back because you're not acquiring him as a rental because the
Warriors aren't treating him as bad money unless you're trying to get off bad money.
But the Warriors aren't going to take that either. They need to.
They need to continue to parlay green salary spot long term into another one,
since they're not projected to have cap space. I don't think you're looking at
I'm not saying the Warriors should even go to this rob like I don't think
Phoenix is giving you eight and and stuff for Draymond Green when we get to
January. I think you're probably looking at more like Jeremy Grant and Picks from
Portland if you decided to go there would in Atlanta, like consider Collins and
Hunter. I don't think so. I mean, Draymond Green murraying Capella will
be a hell of a defensive trio, but they would also probably suck on
offense. The one that kind of stands out to me is what if we
know Kevin Durant's gonna meet with Nets Governor Joseph Si and Kyrie's there and seems
to be happy there. What if the Nets just decide, Hey, we're
gonna run this back Ben Simmons, Draymond Green gets kind of interesting there.
I don't think it's anything that either team would seek out. But you can
trust Draymond more at this point to be available than Ben Simmons. Maybe you
actually like his past relationship with KD where they've had conversations together since then there's
you're rolling the dice there. But like that would be something that could be
potentially interesting. But other teams I could see, like a Charlotte just being
stupid, drunk and mortgaging their future to have Draymond Green come in. They
want to have a defensive anchor in the middle. They're willing to pay him
more than anyone if they if they already have him on the books and on
his bird rights, so that would be stuff to look at. I don't
think you're getting a whole lot for Draymond Green if you look to trade him
right now, and he's way more valuable to the Warriors. Think it's easily
to say this as a player that you have right now and keep moving forward,
then he is as a trade asset. And I would also say I
don't think he will expect to get the MAX, and I don't think there
will be a team on the market next season that gives him the max we
could talk about. Look, Charlotte, depending on what happens with Miles Bridges,
they could have a bunch of money to spend. I don't think Cleveland's
I don't think maybe they would would Cleveland another team that's projected as cap space.
No. Could Detroit give him like a huge offer that might be semi
interesting? Does him and Jalen during work at all? They might be okay
with that. They're trying to play Bagley and During together out imagine at certain
points, or at least Bagley and beef stew However, you want to structure
that from court. So maybe the Rockets. No, they could have a
ton of Indiana, I would say no. Okay, c might have some
cap space. I'd probably say no, though that would be interesting. Orlando
could have cap space. That's a no for them going after them. Sacramento
can get there, depending on, like they can get twenty plus million next
year. I have them at depending on what they do with their own free
agents. I that'd be that'd be intriguing, but I would still vote no.
The Spurs will have a ton of cap space, but I don't see
them going after Draymond and Utah right now. Projects to have a bunch of
cap space, but they don't seem like a team that will go after Draymond.
So I just don't see the threat that would even give him the max
to leverage against Golden State. Really, I only see this going off the
rails. If he wants does he want money comparable to what he's getting now,
which twenty seven million under the new tax new tax cap, If you're
going in the one fifty plus million dollar range, yeah, fine. But
if the Warriors aren't even willing to go that high, and they prefer to
keep Wiggins and Pool and then worry about Klay Thompson's next deal, there also
might be a chance that if you let the season play out, which I
think is smart for both sides, because I don't think Draymond Green, if
he wants a long term security, sure, but I don't think he's going
to get a number that's bigger than the twenty seven point six he would be
owed in twenty three twenty four right now in an extension, and so building
off that number, I feel like he would be right around that area.
So if he wants to build up his value, playing it out makes sense.
Also, he can wind up picking up that option. Maybe he has
a down year and needs to build up his value again, or thinks that
the capped landscape in twenty four, when Clay Thompson also comes off the books
for the Warriors, maybe that would matter more. I think he ends up
staying with the Warriors. I definitely don't think they end up trading him.
I do not think that he ends up getting a MAX though, or anywhere
near it. Quite frankly, regardless of ware, he ends up jt Alexander,
do you anyone else in the chat have any harmless, unoffensive mild takes
for the new season. We had a couple of listeners respond to this,
so I'll get to those after mine. This was a question I kind of
wanted to pose on Twitter and see like what type of responses we got read
them off. But I don't think that anyone. I'm not anyone. I
don't think enough people would have understood the context of it, because we're looking
for like, not spicy takes, maybe medium spice, mild takes like the
mild sauce from Taco Bell And as a bassist, jt Alexander said, mineus
Porzingia is going to be an All Star again, I was initially like jaw
dropped at that suggestion. That felt super spicy. But porzingis played well in
Washington after the trade. If he stays healthy, sure, why not?
I could see it happening. Also, it's it's the East and so like
the Big Man votes, if you're looking at pure centers, it gets a
little bit questionable. App you know, you have bam and and beads,
so maybe it's maybe it's possible. But now like Evan Mowgli and Jared Allen
are in that fold, it's still that feels more than mild JT. That's
all I'm gonna say. I tried to frame mind off of that, and
so I have. The two I have is Whendell Carter Junior becomes an All
Star. That might be too spicy. The other one I hap is the
Pelicans will be better than the Mavericks next season after Dallas lash John bruns In.
I tell you we haven't gotten to report cards or wind totals yet,
but I have a feeling MAVs and Grizzlies fancy gonna come from me? Once
again. I admitted my make copas when I was wrong about them past season.
But there's a pattern with me underestimating the Grizzlies, and then now if
there becomes a pattern of me underestimating the MAVs, I almost don't want to
spute. I don't even want to spill out this tape, but I'm going
there the Pelicans will be better than the MAVs. That's how hot I am
on the Pells. Demos Quoll says Terry Eason enters the Rookie of the Year
combo, Scottie Barnes is an All Star. I think those are in theme
with this. I initially thought maybe thy Tie Washington would be the just the
rookie that gets there, but I understand that ty Ties Washington's summer leagues up
for a few moments was on their rough friend and then four as the MAVs
won't get past the second round, that's like, yeah, I'm sure that's
inte with it. And Boston won't make the finals. Boston won't make the
finals. I feels like not spicy enough because the Bucks and the Sixers and
the heat still exists, and so you need to believe that, like Boston
is entirely in its own tier. What takes do you guys have mild unoffensive,
reasonable ones that maybe a lot of people wouldn't share, so they're against
consensus, but they're not stupid. Let us know at me on Twitter.
Maybe I'll run a similar thought exercise about this on Twitter. I just don't
know how to frame it properly so that people will get it. It's a
bit prem and this question actually comes from Thor it's a bit premature. With
a new TV deal three years away, are we likely to see Caps moving
or another large jump like we had a few years ago? With that in
mind, are we likely to see history repeat with large contracts given resulting in
overvalued contracts our players on board with Caps moving? Will expiring deals be more
or less valued as teams try to get caps based to lower multiple stars as
the Kyrie Katy situation made teams more leery. So I do think as an
overarching answer would be twofold. I definitely think we can get Caps moving because
I even think some teams are going to want to prevent what happened with Golden
State in twenty and sixteen. That is the expectation right now around the league
is my expectation as well. I will be more than mildly to take to
borrow the phrasing from the previous question, I'll be more than mildly surprised if
we don't get caps moving. The other thing is, I do think there
is an effect even with this moving, where we're still seeing these larger than
normal incremental jumps where might be a million of season or whatever. I do
believe that free agency is going to get sort of a like a reinvention,
or we're gonna return to at least a fraction of time where we'll see a
lot more higher profile player movement or teams preparing for it, because those cap
jumps are still going to be larger than normal. And also these players and
Jalen Brown is the perfect example, So I'm just going to use him his
number, his extension number right now. To extend off of that doesn't make
sense with the cap rising because he's under the max. He's not gonna get
anywhere near as max if he was to accept one hundred and twenty percent race.
So they're going to be players like him that will either angle to hit
free agency in general, or maybe they'll even sign shorter term deals that they
hit free agency right after. As this cap is supposed to get its biggest
spike, So I do believe we'll see more of that, might just see
players, like I said, sign more short term deals, and I do
think in turn, we'll see more teams preparing for a free agency, which
would make expiring contracts more valuable. Depending on Arietta point, where so many
contracts are short term that maybe it doesn't matter as much. With that said,
I think if we're expecting the cap the first caps moving to begin before
expecting the first infusion to come in twenty and twenty six, yeah, if
there are contracts that week beyond that and you're looking to prepare for twenty twenty
six, I absolutely think that expirings will become more valuable and it will probably
last maybe a year or two into it, like twenty seven twenty eight,
depending on how long the smoothing the smoothing last. I don't know, and
I don't when we're looking at contracts in terms of bad contracts, I think
teams probably learned their lesson from the summer twenty and sixteen, and because we're
not going to see a guardanguin jump like that, you're not going to get
the Timothy Mozgov like deal. Would I would argue that most of the questionable
deals. Most you know, people who don't like the jail and Brunson contract.
Maybe he didn't like the Mitchell Robinson contract all that much. I'm not
trying to just name mixed players here. Deal is not a good example there.
Maybe you don't like the Marvin Bagley contract. These deals just look better
because they've become a smaller percentage of the cap. Blue Dort That was overblown
to begin with, especially because the fifty years a team option. But now
with sudden he's seventeen million dollars a year. That's a lot different when you're
talking about a yeah, okay, he's seventeen million dollars now around there,
But when you get that against the salary cap that's one fifty one, sixty
million or more, that just doesn't matter as much. And so because there's
going to be smoothing, so the jumps will still be pretty significant, but
they won't be as massive as twenty sixteen, I think teams will be inoculated
against having those types of situations. And also, just if there are going
to be more stars prepping to hit free agency, you're probably going to be
a little bit more judicious and how you're spending anyway. You're not going to
throw the money to poach these non stars. You're going to try and wait
and go after the bigger fish. And maybe there are a couple overpays here
or there because of that spike, and maybe a market like a Charlotte or
if a team really wants to finishing piece is more desperate to reel in someone,
or maybe we see it with like a veteran on the back end of
his prime, where it's just like, oh, we have all the sexual
cap space, let's go overpay Draymond Green if he decides to free agency again
in twenty six, or if we see that happen with like Chris Middleton as
an example. Neither players are slayed to be a free agent twenty six.
There's slay to be free agents before then, but they might be interesting exercises
as well, even maybe a Kyrie a Lebron But we have the Brownie element
there. But just like other like a Jaylon Brown again or Brandon Ingram thinking
about his next contract, is he gonna want to hit the open market or
extend? Players might time shorter term deals to re explore free agency, And
the final element of this has a Kyrie Katy situation made teams more leary.
I don't think so. I just feel like free agency has never been a
particularly realistic path three builder team. It's very much only worked for a handful
of franchises. That being said, like if it was more common opportunity and
this is how the NETS situation blows up, yeah you might be more leery.
But I don't think the Kyrie Katy situation has scared teams from wanting to
sign guys. And in free agency there you can argue the collateral damage is
typically lower than if you were to fire them via trade. And then the
next case it was like very specific to where there was almost just no collateral
damage. They had all these you know, they had all like yeah,
it would have cost them de'angelo Russell that summer, but like they still a
carousel vert there. They still have Jared Allen, they were well set up
beyond that, had all their picks. But if you were trading for these
stars, it's definitely going to cost you more in pick equity. Whereas when
you sign them out right in free agency, do you need to use a
pick to salary dump someone? Maybe if you structure your books right, you
do not, and then you're obviously not dealing away even in those scenarios as
much pick equity in straight up trades. And so I do think that we're
due for a free agency renaissance, not immediately, but probably once we get
like between twenty six through maybe twenty eight or something. I don't know how
long the Caps movie is gonna last, and we have to see what the
actual number is. But once we start seeing a cap jump like ten million
dollars a year or whatever, minds up being, I do think there's going
to be in anticipation of that player signing shorter term deals, not signing extensions
at all, maybe even getting into free agency before then, again using Brown
as an example. Final question, ben Bender fan, is cam thom Is
going to get the time he deserves and prove he's a star? Will it
be another year? I don't know. I mean, right now, I
have no idea what the Nets are going to look like. If they keep
Kyrie and Kady, it's going to be at least another year. The better
question might be does he have that star potential? I do think Brooklyn needs
his three point efficiency and volume to climb. That being said, he has
the look and feel of someone who will inevitably down triples at an above average
rate. He diets on a steady stream of off the dribble opportunities, and
yeah, his shot prile shot profile wants for rim pressure, and he does
indeed bail out too early on his drives. But it's really hard to quibble
too much with a shot selection when he was connecting on fifty four point eight
percent of his attempts between ten and sixteen feet last year, and then north
of forty three percent on his long twos, where you're gonna need to see
the jump. Is I definitely still think as a passer when you're looking at
his drives, and then if you want him to run pick and rolls,
he wasn't bad relative to rookies. Is a score a point eight eight points
per possession that was in the fiftieth percentile not exceptional efficiency. You're gonna want
that number to come up. Maybe him turn the ball over in those situations
a little bit less, So you're gonna need him to become more a more
dynamic pick and roll threat as that passer and even as the score and then
bump up his three point volume. The defensive concerns for sure, but we
have I don't want to call him one way stars, but you can be
an offensive superstar and still qualify for stardom. I think he is a viable
prospect. I wouldn't predict that this is someone who's going to make All Star
teams. But if you said that, this is someone who winds up being
maybe a perennial sixth Man of the Year candidate, or you want to loop
him into oh, this is someone we think that's going to get on the
Tyler Hero trajectory. Hero was a better shooter and passer and still is than
Thomas, but that off the dribble creation and how comfortable he looks subsisting on
it is important. A lot of it's going to be though. What type
of agency does he have over the offense. He did have quite a bit
of license last year, but that was with there were some injuries, players
in an out of lineup. Then, of course the Kyrie Irving situation.
If you have both the Rant and Kyrie Irving there in addition to Ben Simmons,
no, that opportunity won't be there. Even with Ben Simmons still there,
you're gonna want to put the ball in his hands a time. That's
why you need Cam Thomas to sort of, you know, nail down his
three certainly his set threes if you're not expecting him to hit these off the
dribble looks that he does inside the arc, scaling it beyond the arc.
Okay, fine, but he needs to be a viable set shooter that will
do it for us. I hope you enjoyed this mail bag. Please remember
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leave you with the shout out to the one, the only, the indelible,
the actual prospect who remained on the superstar track and he deserves the time
to prove it and the reps to prove it. Fran in the Lakina