1 00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:07,679 What is Krack Oak In Hardwood Knocks listeners, I am Dampa Valley, coming 2 00:00:07,719 --> 00:00:13,480 at you without my fan tabulous co host Adam Frommel this time doing a little 3 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:17,480 bit of an impromptu news and rumor catchup because we have a ton to get 4 00:00:17,519 --> 00:00:21,600 to. Figured i'd do it on Spotify's Green Room because I'm by myself, 5 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:24,120 and why the hell not? I want to talk to people in the chats 6 00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:28,039 and Eli's already talking what is up? Eli? A lot of things have 7 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:31,120 passed us by, a lot of news have dropped. We've got extensions to 8 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:35,200 talk about some rumors as well. Anyone who's in here and wants to talk 9 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:38,840 about anything, I will of course oblige for that as well. For our 10 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:42,560 regular listeners, there will be no Monday mailback, which has been being published 11 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:47,039 on Tuesday for scheduling reasons. That will be moved till Tuesday of next week 12 00:00:47,119 --> 00:00:49,679 for anyone who cares, which is why I'm also here tonight, because I 13 00:00:49,679 --> 00:00:54,200 figure why they he'll not come talk to y'all on locker room and record it 14 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:59,200 this way, I'm gonna start with I'm gonna go in order of recency first, 15 00:00:59,359 --> 00:01:03,600 and Terry Rose Year is Noah's in the chat, screaming eleven, I 16 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:06,840 said, it's an impromptu late night thing. No, I'm here, I'm 17 00:01:06,879 --> 00:01:11,040 talking hoops. How about your welcome geez man, I'm about to get off 18 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:15,120 these Terry rose Year takes and Marcus Smart takes from ELI. So yeah, 19 00:01:15,159 --> 00:01:18,439 this is a good it's a good place to start. Terry rosy Year got 20 00:01:18,439 --> 00:01:21,319 a four year, ninety six point two million dollars extension. Is what it 21 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:23,680 roughly comes out to. Its report is ninety seven. Because that's how agents 22 00:01:23,719 --> 00:01:27,519 really just get there, you know, get their players. Look at the 23 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:30,560 wording, pay attention to the wording on CRYD trust with everything. Marcus Smart, 24 00:01:30,879 --> 00:01:34,840 in turn, signed a four year, seventy seven million dollars max extension. 25 00:01:36,079 --> 00:01:38,799 These are both considered max extensions because you're only allowed to give them a 26 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:42,840 percentage raise based off their current salary, so that percentage is the same. 27 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:48,280 And since Tarry Rosie was making more than Marcus Smart, his extension could be 28 00:01:48,719 --> 00:01:52,120 marger. And when you sort of look at the net sum of these two, 29 00:01:52,519 --> 00:01:56,040 Marcus Smart, yeah, one hundred twenty five percent Eli it is it's 30 00:01:56,079 --> 00:01:57,400 I think it's it's twenty or twenty five. I can't remember what it is. 31 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:01,359 It's around that. It's around that number, but Marcus Smart. So 32 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:04,760 if you look at these in the totality of the next five years, because 33 00:02:04,799 --> 00:02:07,840 each of these players are under contracts for another season, Marcus Smart comes out 34 00:02:07,879 --> 00:02:14,520 to like five years and one ninety two million, and now Terry Rosier comes 35 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:16,919 out to five years, one hundred and fifteen ish million. It's a little 36 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:21,319 bit less than that. That is sort of wild to think about. And 37 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:24,800 so with the Rosier extension, I think people had sticker shock when they looked 38 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:29,400 at it. Dan Devine wrote a great piece at The Ringer where he pointed 39 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:32,639 out that it's really barely even a top twenty deal among guards right now. 40 00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:36,960 I don't think most people view Terry Rosier's a top twenty guards. So I 41 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:40,439 think it's fine to have that initial sticker shock. For the Hornets specifically, 42 00:02:40,479 --> 00:02:43,599 there are two things I'm looking at. Is one, I need to see 43 00:02:43,599 --> 00:02:47,280 the fully, the full details of this deal because this year, specifically the 44 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:52,719 guarantees, whether they're partial, whether they're team options, player options, earlier 45 00:02:52,759 --> 00:02:57,520 termination options, they've been sort of trickling out even behind the scenes, later 46 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:00,400 than normal, and so I'm just curious to see if there's like a partial 47 00:03:00,439 --> 00:03:04,560 guarantee in that final year. Is there a team option involved here or something, 48 00:03:04,599 --> 00:03:07,599 because that will change the context the way we look at it. I 49 00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:10,439 will, though, note that I think Terryer's years incredibly, incredibly valuable because 50 00:03:10,479 --> 00:03:15,280 of how plug and play he is on the offensive end. He does have 51 00:03:15,319 --> 00:03:19,960 some off the dribble juice that fell off over the course of last year as 52 00:03:20,039 --> 00:03:22,199 he went forward, but there was a time where he was knocking down a 53 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:24,520 huge portion of his pull up jumpers. But I think it's more important that 54 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:29,759 this is someone who, on incredibly high volume, knocked down forty three point 55 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:32,560 three percent of his catch and shoot tripples last year. When you're playing beside 56 00:03:32,599 --> 00:03:38,319 Mamelo Ball, when you're playing beside Gordon Hayward, you want someone like that. 57 00:03:38,439 --> 00:03:39,879 He's going to compete on defense too. I don't think he's a great 58 00:03:39,879 --> 00:03:43,759 defender, but he's gonna go up against He'll defend up to the two even 59 00:03:43,759 --> 00:03:47,000 though he's I think he's six one, So there's value in that. And 60 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:50,800 again you might get a little bit more off the dribble juice from him, 61 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:53,319 and the volume at which he does it at again is absolutely monstrous. Last 62 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:58,120 season there are only eight other players who cleared twenty points a game while shooting 63 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:01,400 as well on two's fifty one point two percent and threes thirty eight point nine 64 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:08,240 percent as Jalen As excuse me as Arrero's year. Those eight players were Jalen 65 00:04:08,319 --> 00:04:12,879 Brown, Steph Curry, Kyrie, Nicola Yokich, Zach Levine, Kawhi Leonard, 66 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:15,160 Damian Lillard, and nikolavout Rich. Now, Tarro's years not on the 67 00:04:15,199 --> 00:04:18,519 same level as any of those players. He is not the same level of 68 00:04:18,519 --> 00:04:24,079 an off the bounce threat, but he still hit a higher effective field goal 69 00:04:24,079 --> 00:04:27,480 percentage honest pull up jumpers than Devin Booker. I'm not making the case the 70 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:30,879 Tarro's years a star. I'm looking at it from the hornet's perspective of I 71 00:04:30,879 --> 00:04:33,000 think they view this as a player who is useful to them. They were 72 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:38,879 probably scared of what he was going to get in free agency next summer, 73 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:41,720 which is kind of shaping up to be like a not too spicy summer. 74 00:04:41,759 --> 00:04:45,839 And I'll get to that point with the Marcus Smart deal, and so you 75 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:47,560 were probably gonna get there was probably gonna be like a four year, eighty 76 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:50,759 million dollars offer coming at him anyway or something in that realm, if not 77 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:56,959 greater, just based off who else projects to be available. And the other 78 00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:59,600 thing is, I think they're looking at this and saying, Okay, because 79 00:04:59,639 --> 00:05:03,319 of the way he plays, this deal is never going to become impossibly difficult 80 00:05:03,319 --> 00:05:05,720 to move. We know there's no such thing as in a movable deal on 81 00:05:05,759 --> 00:05:12,040 the NBA, but this shouldn't age into a John Wall conundrum here. As 82 00:05:12,079 --> 00:05:15,720 ELI did point out with Terry Rozier in the chat, the value seems high 83 00:05:15,759 --> 00:05:18,680 and because last season was the first at that efficiency, and I do agree 84 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:21,920 that was also kind of his first season in that role. They saddled him 85 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:27,439 with a little bit more on ball responsibility at times during his first year in 86 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:30,600 Charlotte, so and they were still trying to figure out things in their offense 87 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:34,920 in the first year that Kema Walker wasn't there good Devonte Graham basically as the 88 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:38,680 primary ball handle for you, and he was fantastic that year. But that's 89 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:43,160 different from having LaMelo ball Gordon Hayward, and I do think to Eli's point, 90 00:05:43,519 --> 00:05:47,839 it will. Rosier's value sort of dropped off after that Hayward injury followed 91 00:05:47,879 --> 00:05:53,079 by the LaMelo ball injury. He needs those primary creators around him. That's 92 00:05:53,079 --> 00:05:56,959 fine. Though I think this is a deal, I don't know how it's 93 00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:59,480 going to look from a team's perspective in years three and four. I think 94 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:01,560 for the next two or three years, when Lamello was still on his rookie 95 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:04,240 scale deal, when the Hornets still have that grace period of trying to figure 96 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:08,759 themselves out, I think it's fine. Can you build a contender with that 97 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:11,800 deal on your books, just knowing the limitations the Hornet's will inherently face. 98 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:14,720 I honestly don't know, but I don't think it's going to I don't think 99 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:16,279 it necessarily helps them pull off a trade. I don't think it's going to 100 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:20,519 be completely immovable. Now you sort of juxtapose that with the Marcus Smart deal, 101 00:06:20,759 --> 00:06:26,720 which I thought was fantastic value just for the Celtics here because had you 102 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:30,120 let him get into two twenty two free agency. This is someone who can 103 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:34,480 defend basically four positions even though he's under six four, and he's improved. 104 00:06:34,519 --> 00:06:39,279 I don't think this gets talked about enough. He's improved his three point shot, 105 00:06:39,319 --> 00:06:43,720 and it's not just to the point where he is hitting these wide open 106 00:06:44,319 --> 00:06:46,720 catch and shoot triples he has, and look, it does take them a 107 00:06:46,759 --> 00:06:49,600 little while to get into them, and defenses are giving him this shot. 108 00:06:49,639 --> 00:06:53,519 So I will recognize that he is not, you know, at the same 109 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:58,279 level as a Damian Lillard here, but he's shot thirty seven point eight percent 110 00:06:58,879 --> 00:07:03,439 off the dribble over the past two seasons. Is that is huge because it 111 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:08,000 makes him less of a limitation on offense. I still don't think you want 112 00:07:08,079 --> 00:07:10,240 him running the pick and roll, even though he can do that. There 113 00:07:10,279 --> 00:07:14,040 is some surgicality to his drives, but they have Dennis Shrewder now. I 114 00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:17,519 also think Peyton Pritchard will help them here. Had you seen that dude's handles 115 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:23,240 in Summer League? Please, though, can we stop calling him the Caucasian 116 00:07:23,319 --> 00:07:26,759 Kyrie. That is just flat out embarrassing and his handles are not even close 117 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:30,199 to that good. That that nickname that started cropping up in those social media 118 00:07:30,199 --> 00:07:33,519 sphere made me made me cringe a little bit too much. So I you 119 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:36,680 look at that and this Celtics deal, I'm honestly shocked. That maybe not 120 00:07:36,839 --> 00:07:40,160 shocked, but I am a little bit surprised that Marcus Smart signed it. 121 00:07:40,399 --> 00:07:46,360 I think some fans, analysts were surprised that the Celtics offered it because everyone 122 00:07:46,439 --> 00:07:47,879 was under the not everyone, there were people under the guys that the Celtics 123 00:07:47,879 --> 00:07:50,199 were going to go out and try and chase Bradley be able to pair with 124 00:07:50,279 --> 00:07:55,120 Jayson Tatum because those who are tight, it was just impossible with Al Horford's 125 00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:58,279 money on the books and this deal. If you have four years and seventy 126 00:07:58,279 --> 00:08:01,800 seven million left at Marcus Smart after this season, that is a deal that 127 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:05,519 could be traded in in a snap over the off season. There are teams 128 00:08:05,519 --> 00:08:09,680 that will give you assets for that. The Warriors are always linked to him, 129 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:13,120 so when the Warriors invariably finish in the lottery, they'll probably be touting 130 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:16,800 that lottery pick to try and get Marcus Mart from the Celtics as Boston looks 131 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:18,759 a clear cap space for Bradley Beale. I don't. I don't actually think 132 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:22,839 anything like that goes into it. I think this was Boston looking at he 133 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:26,319 is without question to me, there's Jason Tatum, there's John Brown, and 134 00:08:26,319 --> 00:08:28,000 then Marcus Smart is your third most important player. I know people might want 135 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:31,000 to cite Al Horford. Maybe someone want to try and be trendy and go 136 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:35,399 the the al Al Horford route, excuse me, the Robert Williams the third 137 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:37,960 route. It's not like, don't even bother making a case for Josh Richerson 138 00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:43,279 is definitely not Dennis Shrewder, and so I just think that's great value for 139 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:46,440 the Celtics from a team's perspective. You lock him up and then think about 140 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:50,399 the rest later. Brett Juele has said, I really like Scary Terry, 141 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:54,039 but hopefully he plays like twenty seventeen if they make the playoff, not twenty 142 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:58,480 and eighteen, twenty nineteen against Milwaukee. You know that two thousand and eighteen 143 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:01,720 playoff run, right, It was good from him, and that's two eighteen 144 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:05,200 playff one n looping two years into it. But he wasn't as efficient as 145 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:09,759 people really thought there. So I yeah, you know, you want to 146 00:09:09,759 --> 00:09:13,039 see improve it in the playoffs, and we just saw Charlotte get absolutely annihilated 147 00:09:13,080 --> 00:09:16,480 in the playing game. This year, I think they're set up to be 148 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:20,080 better. Give me a full year of LaMelo starting and healthy. Hopefully Heyward's 149 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:22,519 able to stay healthy. I would have liked to see them sure up their 150 00:09:22,559 --> 00:09:24,799 center rotation a little bit more, but I love PJ Washington line that's with 151 00:09:24,879 --> 00:09:28,519 him at the five. I think Mason Plumby helps them. Miles Bridges was 152 00:09:28,559 --> 00:09:31,159 great last year. I'm actually, you know, after watching James book Knight 153 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:35,480 get his soul just obliterated by Davion Mitchell in the Summer League, I actually 154 00:09:35,519 --> 00:09:39,480 liked what I saw from him, So I'm hoping he gets some burned in 155 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:43,080 Charlotte as well, who also picked up Kelly Looobery Junior gives them some length 156 00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:45,840 and size on defense. It does seem like with him, they're gonna lean 157 00:09:45,879 --> 00:09:48,200 into the smaller lineups where you're gonna see PJ. Washington more at the five. 158 00:09:48,279 --> 00:09:52,440 So Charlotte's team to watch. I think. I think Terry Rosier is 159 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:56,480 fine there for there. I think he's fine there right now. I do 160 00:09:56,519 --> 00:09:58,919 think that's the deal to look at and see how is it going to age 161 00:09:58,799 --> 00:10:03,080 With Marcus Smart, It's more of a no brainer to me. I just 162 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:05,000 if he was willing to take that money. Looking at the twenty two free 163 00:10:05,039 --> 00:10:09,679 agency class, which I do think starts a different type of discussion, we're 164 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:13,559 seeing teams and players sign extensions. I think, for one, if you're 165 00:10:13,559 --> 00:10:16,960 a Terry Rosier, maybe you looked at what happened at Dennis Shrewder this year 166 00:10:18,399 --> 00:10:20,879 and saw his market crater, and I don't I think you've put together enough 167 00:10:20,919 --> 00:10:24,159 of sample size where you're not going to be settling for the mini mid level 168 00:10:24,159 --> 00:10:30,200 exception type money. But if you're getting this much guaranteed cash, even if 169 00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:33,879 it's only a three year guarantee, right now, he's taking it, securing 170 00:10:33,879 --> 00:10:37,320 that financial future. Maybe Marcus Smart feels the same way, especially where I 171 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:39,519 do think teams look at what the Knicks did the summers free agency. I 172 00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:46,480 think that organization among others, even Chicago who acquired Lonzo Vias sign and Trade, 173 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:48,120 who acquired to Marta Rosen via Sign and Trade a lot. I feel 174 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:52,000 like these teams are starting to look at the star market and saying stars are 175 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:54,879 going to be traded, Stars are going to be signed and traded, They're 176 00:10:54,919 --> 00:11:00,600 not just going to be outright poached in free agency. And I think teams 177 00:11:00,639 --> 00:11:03,840 are now maybe letting that approach leak over to the non stars, where maybe 178 00:11:03,879 --> 00:11:09,519 you wouldn't have given Marcus Smart or an extension because you want to keep the 179 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:13,000 illusion of, hey, if we got rid of Al Horford's money, or 180 00:11:13,039 --> 00:11:16,519 maybe we could work out a sign and trade for Bradley Beal. I think 181 00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:20,600 that teams are now understanding it's going to take real assets to maybe get stars. 182 00:11:20,639 --> 00:11:22,200 Almost at every turn, where're gonna see very few of them leave for 183 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:26,519 nothing unless they're age thirty five Kyle Howry, and you can get them for 184 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:31,440 gore and drag and precious hichiwa. So I think that's something to watch. 185 00:11:31,519 --> 00:11:35,000 And I think twenty twenty two freec the overall is just going to be another 186 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:39,200 you know, off season where I don't know if we'll be as disappointed, 187 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:43,000 but we need to keep an eye on which restricted free agents are gonna or 188 00:11:43,080 --> 00:11:46,480 restricted free agents to be are going to sign extensions before the start of the 189 00:11:46,519 --> 00:11:50,080 season, and just look at what that market's going to look like. We 190 00:11:50,120 --> 00:11:54,720 saw this past year where not just guys restricted free agents to be, we're 191 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:58,279 signing extensions like a Jason Tatum or a band out of Bio. It was 192 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:01,279 the Lebron, it was a Rudy Gold there. We saw Paul George sign 193 00:12:01,279 --> 00:12:05,480 an extension. There are players who it seems like the more popular route right 194 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:07,960 now is going the you know, they know they can be extended after two 195 00:12:09,039 --> 00:12:11,120 years, and so they're going with three plus ones and then they're hoping to 196 00:12:11,159 --> 00:12:13,879 extend off the top of that number. That's just a guest by me. 197 00:12:13,919 --> 00:12:16,360 I don't know if that's you know, I haven't had any NBA agents tell 198 00:12:16,399 --> 00:12:20,000 me that, but just looking at what Paul George did, even what Kawai 199 00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:22,799 did this summer, it feels like that might be becoming the more popular thing 200 00:12:22,919 --> 00:12:28,639 Brooklyn nets Stars. By the way, Kevin Durant is already sign an extension. 201 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:31,480 Kyrie is expected to sign an extension. I wonder if James harm will 202 00:12:31,519 --> 00:12:35,320 wait another year before he does it, but that's going to be something to 203 00:12:35,879 --> 00:12:39,600 monitor there. Before I move on to I want to talk about Joel and 204 00:12:39,679 --> 00:12:45,759 Bead's extension. Would you ever speak her quests from Brian Langford? Brian, 205 00:12:45,799 --> 00:12:50,919 how are you doing? Hey man? You hear me? Yes, I 206 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:54,399 can hear you. Oh no, you know, I like to hear what 207 00:12:54,399 --> 00:12:58,159 you were just talking about. I've been preaching us around the world the last 208 00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:01,679 three years. It's all about getting the money and now, like from examples 209 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:05,279 like Carmelo, He's got so much money for his career. Now he's about 210 00:13:05,279 --> 00:13:09,639 winning a championship and I'm fair with that. Everybody goes, oh, win 211 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:15,000 a championship first, No, secure the bag first, get the money first. 212 00:13:15,279 --> 00:13:18,679 A championship, to me, my opinion, only is a bonus. 213 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:22,200 If you get a championship, it's a bonus rather than that this is a 214 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:24,799 job, this is your career, and real quick, I know a couple 215 00:13:24,799 --> 00:13:28,799 of guys I'm not name dropping that retired from the NBA and I know him 216 00:13:28,799 --> 00:13:33,360 personally, and they said, I wish I would have taken that deal in 217 00:13:33,519 --> 00:13:37,360 two thousand and blank. And I'm like, and I said, why didn't 218 00:13:37,399 --> 00:13:41,320 you take it? They said I was trying to win. And I was 219 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:43,480 like, well, but most of you guys say your championship RINGSI will be 220 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:50,279 your retires he big, get your money. That's just my opinion. Thank 221 00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:54,679 you for weighing in there, Brian. That's you know. I don't disagree 222 00:13:54,720 --> 00:13:56,399 with him, and I know what you Li's in the chat saying it's not 223 00:13:56,440 --> 00:13:58,440 about the money. Competitors don't think like that. I do think once you 224 00:13:58,559 --> 00:14:01,320 get to a certa point. But I do think part of being a competitor, 225 00:14:01,639 --> 00:14:05,159 and Brian brought this up with Mellow is that you think you're so good 226 00:14:05,519 --> 00:14:09,639 that you don't that you can have both, that you can have the max 227 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:13,360 contract, let's say your max extension if we're going off the twenty percent raises 228 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:18,480 here and also win And Brett Jules says in the chat Bobby Portis has just 229 00:14:18,519 --> 00:14:20,840 exited the chat that actually made me laugh. Thank you, Thank you, 230 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:24,440 Brett. And so when you're dealing with actual star players, I think you're 231 00:14:26,039 --> 00:14:31,440 less likely to go after take a pay cut to win a championship. I 232 00:14:31,519 --> 00:14:37,480 also think that players in general aren't gonna want to take these pay cuts because 233 00:14:37,519 --> 00:14:41,440 all they're doing is giving discounts to billionaire team governors. And if you have 234 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:46,799 enough cashier, if you're a star, you can sign a deal and you 235 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:50,080 can force yourself to get traded later you have. Look, if Janice went 236 00:14:50,159 --> 00:14:52,759 to the Bucks tomorrow with five years left on his extension that I want out, 237 00:14:54,159 --> 00:14:56,879 Milwaukee's probably gonna facilitated. It's the same thing with Dame in Portland. 238 00:14:56,960 --> 00:15:01,159 And so I think, as always, stars are sort of up against a 239 00:15:01,159 --> 00:15:03,399 different type of window for guys along the lines of Terry Rozier. Look, 240 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:07,360 I think we see that a little bit more where those mid tier guys might 241 00:15:07,399 --> 00:15:09,480 be taking pay cuts. Yeah, there there are some of them, like 242 00:15:09,679 --> 00:15:15,039 you know, Trevor Ariza has been until recently a mercenary his entire career, 243 00:15:15,159 --> 00:15:16,840 just taking the money from wherever it's from, and then he'll just get traded 244 00:15:16,879 --> 00:15:22,840 mid season because that's like a right of passage now. But I think those 245 00:15:22,879 --> 00:15:26,799 guys have the more limited earnings windows because if they get an injury or if 246 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:30,519 their stock goes downhill like a Dennis Shrewder. We just saw how much a 247 00:15:30,559 --> 00:15:35,120 few monch can change everything for him. He goes from betting on himself turning 248 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:37,360 down. I think it was four years and eighty four million, if I'm 249 00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:39,879 not mistaken on his extension, but some sort of number. It might have 250 00:15:39,919 --> 00:15:43,600 been seventy three guaranteed. Whatever it was, he bet on himself in the 251 00:15:43,879 --> 00:15:50,759 market cratered and we're we're seeing I think if you look at these other guys 252 00:15:50,759 --> 00:15:52,879 and say, well, what if that happens to me, you know, 253 00:15:52,879 --> 00:15:54,639 I don't think of Marcus Martin needed to take an extension to make sure he 254 00:15:54,679 --> 00:15:58,000 got paid again. My bet would be that he would have gotten more on 255 00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:00,440 the open market next year. But if you like where you're at, if 256 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:03,960 you're on a team that you think even has a pathway to contention, like 257 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:07,600 a smart and he's a non star. You can easily talk yourself into prioritizing 258 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:10,279 the bag then, and then a guy like Terry Rosier, I don't think 259 00:16:10,279 --> 00:16:14,120 he looks at the Horders team realistically and thinks I'm going to win a championship 260 00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:15,679 there. I just don't think he looks like that. I think money matters 261 00:16:15,679 --> 00:16:18,200 to these guys, but that it's an also a case by case basis, 262 00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:22,480 and that's where I sort of land on this is I don't think there's really 263 00:16:22,519 --> 00:16:25,679 a blanketed thought here. I think different things are going to matter to different 264 00:16:25,679 --> 00:16:30,039 guys. The one that we've seen that's almost you know, fail proof, 265 00:16:30,159 --> 00:16:33,440 is as they get older, as they get into the latter parts of their 266 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:37,559 career, they're going to prioritize winning a title at some point and maybe take 267 00:16:37,559 --> 00:16:42,559 pay cuts. I know Brian and the chat mentioned David Wesley did that, 268 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:47,759 but David Westley used me David Leslie. Wow, but again it was after 269 00:16:48,159 --> 00:16:51,759 you know, his primary earning days he did. He signed an extension with 270 00:16:51,799 --> 00:16:55,120 the Pacers at one point. I believe so these guys have a limited earning 271 00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:57,279 windows. And I would side if I had to with Brian and say if 272 00:16:57,279 --> 00:17:00,399 I'm an NBA player, I'm prioritizing the I'm not taking a pay cut for 273 00:17:00,519 --> 00:17:03,200 anything, not to play with my homies. Nothing. I don't want to 274 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:07,079 give these billionaires discounts. But I also understand where Eli is coming from, 275 00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:10,799 where I don't think they're competitors wired like that. We've seen, you know, 276 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:15,440 even guys earlier in their careers where they're their non stars, but they're 277 00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:18,359 maybe going to go to teams where they think that they have a better chance 278 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:19,720 of winning. Do you think that Otto Porter could have gotten more than the 279 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:23,279 minimum of someone this year? That's another issue of someone's stock who's plummeted. 280 00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:26,799 But he's going with a Warriors team where he's gonna get playing time and they 281 00:17:26,839 --> 00:17:30,440 might have a chance to win. So he's probably not like the perfect example 282 00:17:30,519 --> 00:17:34,319 there. But there are guys who before their primary earning windows Rover will go 283 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:38,240 to more so winning teams. I did want to get to this Joel Embiid 284 00:17:38,359 --> 00:17:42,400 extension. I think I don't think anyone was, or at least in my 285 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:47,559 opinion, they should not have been surprised by it. But Joel Embiid signed 286 00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:52,160 a four year, one hundred ninety six million dollar extension. What I thought 287 00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:57,440 was most interesting about it is that it is fully guaranteed and that there is 288 00:17:57,559 --> 00:18:03,680 nothing inoculating this six through sixers against yeah, a disaster, where right now 289 00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:10,759 a lot his primary extension, his last extension, excuse me there was it 290 00:18:10,799 --> 00:18:14,519 was incentive based. It was the sixers were protected in the event that he 291 00:18:14,559 --> 00:18:17,440 was injured. Missed a ton of games. He's had a clear threshold in 292 00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:22,680 certain seasons. The fact that this doesn't have it matters to them because if 293 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:25,880 you look at him bead last season, misses twenty one games. This season 294 00:18:25,920 --> 00:18:29,759 before that, misses twenty one games in two eighteen nineteen, he misses eighteen 295 00:18:29,839 --> 00:18:33,759 games in two thousand and seventeen eighteen, he misses, he misses nineteen games 296 00:18:33,039 --> 00:18:37,440 in two thousand and sixteen, twenty and seventeen his quote unquote rookie season, 297 00:18:37,839 --> 00:18:40,680 he misses fifty one games. And then we all know that he missed the 298 00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:45,039 first two years in full of his career. He's had foot issues, he's 299 00:18:45,079 --> 00:18:48,599 had back issues. He played on a Parsley tour meniscus this year in the 300 00:18:48,599 --> 00:18:52,480 postseason and was still dominant. There's risk here, There's real risk. He 301 00:18:52,519 --> 00:18:56,359 has not looked the timeline on a normal player, he is about to enter 302 00:18:56,359 --> 00:19:00,079 his age twenty seven season. You have Joel Embiid for another half decade six 303 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:04,640 years. That's fine and aligns right with the meat and potatoes of his prime. 304 00:19:06,279 --> 00:19:08,720 But he does seem like someone who you could pencil out for at least 305 00:19:08,759 --> 00:19:11,319 fifteen games every single year, and he might not be fully healthy when the 306 00:19:11,319 --> 00:19:17,079 playoffs rules around that matters. At the same time, he was probably the 307 00:19:17,119 --> 00:19:19,960 permanent MVP this year. I had him as a leader until he suffered his 308 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:23,279 was it a knee injury? I can't remember what mid season injury he had, 309 00:19:23,319 --> 00:19:26,599 but before he missed time, I had him as the MVP over Yokich. 310 00:19:26,799 --> 00:19:30,519 Had he played in more games or as many games as Yokich, I 311 00:19:30,599 --> 00:19:33,799 might have had him as the MVP. Anyway, I think he is the 312 00:19:33,839 --> 00:19:37,200 Sixers most valuable defender there is. It is a symbiotic relationship between he and 313 00:19:37,279 --> 00:19:41,519 Ben Simmons. I think if you removed Ben Simmons from the Sixers, there'll 314 00:19:41,519 --> 00:19:44,440 be a lot more pressure on Joel Embiid on the back line, and the 315 00:19:44,480 --> 00:19:47,680 Sixers defense wouldn't be as good. But part of the reason why I wouldn't 316 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:49,920 vote Ben Simmons defensive Player of the Year, at least looking at last year 317 00:19:49,960 --> 00:19:53,200 specifically, I think a lot of what he does is aided by the fact 318 00:19:53,279 --> 00:19:59,960 that you have Joel Embiid behind you, so again, symbiotic relationship there. 319 00:20:00,359 --> 00:20:03,920 Jolobie was so dominant though, and it's become so great on the defensive end 320 00:20:03,960 --> 00:20:07,400 while also just honing his offense to where the past two seasons, No, 321 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:10,359 he's not been the most efficient from three. This year he was thirty seven 322 00:20:10,359 --> 00:20:11,480 point seven percent. Don't get me wrong, but we've kind of seen him 323 00:20:11,519 --> 00:20:15,920 take these off. The general Jumpers tortuned a bunch of different ways. I 324 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:18,559 still think he needs a player like I don't know, Jimmy Butler. Only 325 00:20:18,599 --> 00:20:22,880 the Sixers could have someone like him, the face up wing or guard or 326 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:27,839 just playmaker who you can milk in crunch time. And as Brett said in 327 00:20:27,880 --> 00:20:30,319 the chat, yeah, it was a partially torn meniscus I think he had 328 00:20:30,359 --> 00:20:33,160 in the hyper extended knee. That was the injury he had mid season. 329 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:37,880 Eli Ads indeed needs the perimeter star or wing on one hundred percent with him 330 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:41,880 there. As I was just saying that. Being said, he can be 331 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:44,599 the best overall player on the championship team, or if you want to go 332 00:20:44,759 --> 00:20:48,079 the one A, one B route or even just co one a's I think 333 00:20:48,519 --> 00:20:52,039 you know, it's a situation where let's look at it this way. In 334 00:20:52,079 --> 00:20:56,839 Milwaukee, Joannice is clearly the best player on that team and was during their 335 00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:00,759 title run. But they ran a lot of the primary offense through Middleton in 336 00:21:00,759 --> 00:21:03,359 the crunch time of the playoffs, and he initiated the two man game with 337 00:21:03,799 --> 00:21:07,839 Jannis And so that's Joel Ebie need that needs that player. Ben Simmons is 338 00:21:07,880 --> 00:21:12,279 not it because Ben Simmons, despite what that video showed from his trainer, 339 00:21:12,799 --> 00:21:17,000 you don't have guys playing up on him on screens like there's not a lot 340 00:21:17,039 --> 00:21:18,920 that you can do with a Ben Simmons. Joel Embiid pick and roll. 341 00:21:19,039 --> 00:21:22,599 That was objectively one of the funniest videos ever. By the way, I 342 00:21:22,599 --> 00:21:26,039 don't really like taunting players because they deal with so much shit. But I 343 00:21:26,079 --> 00:21:30,880 don't know why anyone would have posted that that video anyway. It puts the 344 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:33,240 Sixers they didn't have leverage. Here is my point is Joel Biad has become 345 00:21:33,359 --> 00:21:37,440 great enough to where he gets he has the leverage to get this deal. 346 00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:42,200 But There is risk involved there, and I do think that it increases the 347 00:21:42,319 --> 00:21:48,039 urgency with which the Sixers need to go out and find him the player he 348 00:21:48,079 --> 00:21:52,599 needs. It's invariably going to have to come at the expense of Ben Simmons. 349 00:21:52,640 --> 00:21:55,720 But that sort of leads us through the next thing I want to talk 350 00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:59,599 about. There was an update from Bleacher Reports Jake Fisher, who and yes 351 00:21:59,599 --> 00:22:03,720 they aren't my employer, so there's bias there. But he's absolutely been killing 352 00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:07,480 it this offseason with his reporting. When you look at what came out before 353 00:22:07,519 --> 00:22:11,359 free agency, he had so much shit right on the money. But it 354 00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:15,519 does seem that despite interest this is perject Fisher from Minnesota, gol and State, 355 00:22:15,559 --> 00:22:18,880 Sacramento, San Antonio, other teams that and this is quote, league 356 00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:22,720 insiders continue to believe that Simmons for now is expected to remain a six or 357 00:22:22,759 --> 00:22:26,440 once training camp opens on September twenty eight, barring a change of temperature with 358 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:32,839 Damian Lillard in Portland's I kind of came to expect this a few weeks into 359 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:36,599 the off season, when it became clear how low Simmons's value was around the 360 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:38,759 league. There were if you talk to people from Portland and Float the idea 361 00:22:38,799 --> 00:22:44,920 of CJ. McCullum and stuff for Ben Simmons. They get reticent about the 362 00:22:45,039 --> 00:22:48,960 end stuff portion of this, and we have a speaker request from NOA. 363 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:52,880 I'm going to get to you very shortly as I finished this thought that to 364 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:57,240 me is just I get it because of his offensive vanishing athlete act in the 365 00:22:57,279 --> 00:23:00,839 semi finals this year. At the same time, I've view Simmons as the 366 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:03,240 positive in that trade because of his youth, because of what he can do 367 00:23:03,279 --> 00:23:07,480 on defense if you surround him with enough shooting. No, I don't think 368 00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:10,319 you can build a team around him like the Bucks did with Jannis, where 369 00:23:10,319 --> 00:23:12,519 he can be that guy. But he is a predatnatural passer and he can 370 00:23:12,599 --> 00:23:17,640 really set up guys for threes based off his dribble penetration. If that's what 371 00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:21,119 his value is. If you can't even get CJ. McCollum and stuff like, 372 00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:22,640 let's just keep moving and wait see if you can build back up his 373 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:29,160 value close to the trade deadline. The catch twenty two here also is for 374 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:32,240 CJ. McCollums. Specifically, there's a debate whether in a vacuum, let's 375 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:34,000 say Damian Lillards staying in Portland for the next two to three years. Let's 376 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:37,279 just say that you would have to debate internally if you're the Sixers whether you 377 00:23:37,279 --> 00:23:41,119 want to make that deal anyway. But now that the Damian Lillard stuff is 378 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:45,480 filling around in the ether, why are you going to do something that ostensibly 379 00:23:45,559 --> 00:23:49,519 helps the Blazers keep Damian Lillard, who should be one of your primary trade 380 00:23:49,519 --> 00:23:56,599 targets if you aren't giving up this mid twenties all defense type player who has 381 00:23:56,640 --> 00:24:00,079 the potential, again surrounded by enough spacing to be a really impact full offensive 382 00:24:00,079 --> 00:24:03,759 player. So that puts them in a tough position. And then when you 383 00:24:03,799 --> 00:24:06,960 look at the rest of the market, because of where the Sixers are on 384 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:12,440 their timeline now, specifically after extending Jowell embiid, you can't just do business 385 00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:18,200 with teams that are going to offer you picks as the primary asset incentive. 386 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:22,400 Here where I think the Spurs might be the best example of this. They 387 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:26,200 might be able to straddle two lines where if they're using Dejanta Murray and or 388 00:24:26,319 --> 00:24:30,319 Derek White as sort of the main attraction, and then including Devin Vassell and 389 00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:36,680 however many picks it takes whatever that's not picks, prospects they're not going to 390 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:38,240 mean as much to Philly, a team that's trying to win now. So 391 00:24:38,279 --> 00:24:42,119 then you get into a scenario where there are certain trade partners. I would 392 00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:45,680 probably throw a Golden State in there at this point, because what does Philly 393 00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:49,799 want with Andrew Wiggins? What do they want with Jonathan Comingo or Moses Moody 394 00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:52,960 or James Wassman, especially when when Jowell Ebiad's there. Now you need a 395 00:24:53,039 --> 00:24:56,799 third team to start facilitating. And now this leaves you in this weird area 396 00:24:56,920 --> 00:25:00,200 where if Bradley Beale doesn't want out to wash Ington right now, which doesn't 397 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:04,319 seem like he he does, you can wait on that or you pull the 398 00:25:04,319 --> 00:25:08,519 trigger on a deal now where you're getting like role tired, role player type 399 00:25:08,599 --> 00:25:12,359 guys maybe attached to picks and prospects, and you're trying to straddle those two 400 00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:18,680 different types of packages. And that's I think, you know we just mentioned 401 00:25:18,799 --> 00:25:22,240 or San Antonio. That's a team that could do it, Sacramento. If 402 00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:26,400 the Sixers like Buddy Healed and Harrison Barnes, maybe you could get a Haliburton 403 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:29,559 or a Davion Mitchell out of that plus other picks. But if you're trading 404 00:25:29,559 --> 00:25:36,200 Ben Simmons, I don't think you can justify having the main acquisition the meat 405 00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:38,559 and potatoes. Second time I've used that phrase in this podcast. I don't 406 00:25:38,599 --> 00:25:44,960 think you can have that be a Buddy Heal, a Harrison Barnes. I'm 407 00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:48,240 maybe a Desjaante Murray, just he would be really good in Philly. By 408 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:49,119 the way he's showed a little bit more in his jumper. He's just one 409 00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:52,039 of the best, you know, wing defenders, flat out, not even 410 00:25:52,079 --> 00:25:56,480 just guard defenders out there, So maybe him, but even then, like 411 00:25:56,559 --> 00:26:00,799 you are punting on someone who's just an all defense given with Defensive Player of 412 00:26:00,839 --> 00:26:04,440 the Year Chops, we've shown that he's a great passer and for me and 413 00:26:04,839 --> 00:26:07,920 I'll throw the talking stick to Noah in a second after this, I just 414 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:14,240 don't see the rush when and Beat and Simmons aligns with them on the court. 415 00:26:14,319 --> 00:26:17,839 Last year obliterated opponents by sixteen points per one hundred possessions in the regular 416 00:26:17,839 --> 00:26:19,400 season. So you have a little bit of a cushion. If Ben Simmons 417 00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:22,960 doesn't report to training camp, if he tries to hold out, then things 418 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:26,839 can get iffy awkward. We saw it with James Harden in Houston. Ben 419 00:26:26,839 --> 00:26:30,400 Simmons doesn't have that same type of leverage though, because he's he's not as 420 00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:33,640 good. And unless there's a team that's gonna bowl over the Sixers right now, 421 00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:37,279 I would advocate where, yeah, you're gonna have to just lean into 422 00:26:37,319 --> 00:26:40,519 the awkwardness. And that's not me complimenting Darryn Morrier the Sixers Trown office. 423 00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:44,599 I just think it's a matter of fact because the returns right now don't necessarily 424 00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:48,599 make a ton of sense. But Noah, you now have the talking stick. 425 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:55,680 Noah, are you there? Yes, Hey, Dan, what's up? 426 00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:59,799 How's it going? Noah, it's going good. So just to echo 427 00:27:00,079 --> 00:27:03,599 what you were saying about, you know, Ben Simmons. Obviously, we 428 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:07,880 talked earlier last week about how probably c J. McCollum isn't going to be 429 00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:14,880 traded from the Blazers. But I think the definitely the extension for Joe well 430 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:18,599 embid and given the fact that I'm actually very surprised that they gave him such 431 00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:22,519 a you know, lucrative deal considering his injury history. He hasn't had a 432 00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:27,880 full healthy season is even his entire career, especially last year was his MVP 433 00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:32,000 type season. He did even played, and he was playing injured and still 434 00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:36,039 was managing to dominate. But I agree with you in the sense that I 435 00:27:36,039 --> 00:27:40,440 feel like Ben Simmons right now we already know how badest trade value is, 436 00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:45,319 but it doesn't seem like the Sixers are in any type of rush to trade 437 00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:51,119 him, especially given the off season that they had bringing Andre Drummond. They 438 00:27:51,559 --> 00:27:55,440 are obviously they're obviously thinking that, you know, do I have They just 439 00:27:55,480 --> 00:28:00,559 brought a younger Dwight Howard in it all honesty, but no offense Germmon of 440 00:28:00,559 --> 00:28:07,240 course, bringing Andrew Germmon and also not doing much on the offensive end in 441 00:28:07,279 --> 00:28:11,119 the off season. I don't think. I don't think they're basically in a 442 00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:15,240 situation where they can trade Ben Simmons and he doesn't have any sort of leverage 443 00:28:15,279 --> 00:28:19,599 at all. If Ben Simmons were to walk into training camp come September and 444 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:23,559 say I want out, he would be he'd want out for the wrong reasons, 445 00:28:23,599 --> 00:28:29,359 because he's already he already has this extension from his rookie extension. It's 446 00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:33,759 not a sense of him, not of the organization not treating him well, 447 00:28:33,839 --> 00:28:38,240 but rather him not improving enough for the organ for the organization's standard. So 448 00:28:40,319 --> 00:28:45,319 in all, honestly, I don't see Ben Simmons. I see Ben Simmons 449 00:28:45,359 --> 00:28:48,279 being a sixer by the end of the next season. Wow. Yeah, 450 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:53,720 I honestly think so, because you just you just finished this season as the 451 00:28:53,799 --> 00:28:59,039 number one the number one seed in the in the East. Yes, the 452 00:28:59,119 --> 00:29:06,960 Hawks completely obliterated you unexpectedly because of Ben Simmons' offensive woes, but I'm inclined 453 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:10,319 to believe that. I don't think they're gonna make that the end all be 454 00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:14,559 all for him if he doesn't have an improvement, If he doesn't have improvement 455 00:29:14,799 --> 00:29:18,440 over the season, I do agree with you that they're probably going to trade 456 00:29:18,519 --> 00:29:19,559 him at the end of the season, but it makes no sense to trade 457 00:29:19,599 --> 00:29:25,200 in mid season, especially since even during the regular season last year we knew 458 00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:29,000 he wasn't offensively. He wasn't doing anything offensively either. There were nights where 459 00:29:29,039 --> 00:29:32,519 he was putting up less than fifteen a game. So it's just in the 460 00:29:32,519 --> 00:29:36,599 playoffs that becomes way more exploitable. So I definitely think that Ben Simmons is 461 00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:40,240 going to be a sixer. I don't know if the city of Philly wants 462 00:29:40,319 --> 00:29:44,480 that, but for sure, I think the organization. There's no rush to 463 00:29:44,519 --> 00:29:48,640 trade him, and I don't think any other team if you're adding Ben Simmons, 464 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:55,079 you're adding him to a team that has championship or contention in contention aspirations, 465 00:29:55,519 --> 00:29:57,519 and if you're the Sixers, which you want back from him, for 466 00:29:57,640 --> 00:30:02,759 him is an all Star caliber player, and if you're gonna get picks, 467 00:30:03,079 --> 00:30:04,519 you're not going to get picts from It's not a bad team that you're going 468 00:30:04,559 --> 00:30:07,000 to get a player for him. I don't I don't know what player you 469 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:11,880 would trade for Ben Simmons. If it's not Bradley Beal who doesn't play defense, 470 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:15,279 if it's not two people call him who doesn't play defense, if it's 471 00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:21,359 Buddy Heels, who is just a defensive liability, And like this, you're 472 00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:26,480 losing a lot. So I don't really see the Elton brand and the Sixers 473 00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:30,799 take making a move to get rid of him any any types. I think 474 00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:36,759 he's gonna become twenty twenty two. He's gonna be a in Philly. Still, 475 00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:38,880 No, I thank you for those thoughts. I'm gonna remove you as 476 00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:44,160 speaker. I agree with everything you said there. The one thing I guess 477 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:47,880 our question is whether Simmons will still be there by the end of the season. 478 00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:49,839 My shopping the one I think actual disagreement I would have. I don't 479 00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:53,599 know that you need to be a team with contention aspirations to get Ben Simmons. 480 00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:56,880 I think if you're Portland and you're rebooting even a little bit with Toronto, 481 00:30:56,960 --> 00:31:00,720 even with san Antonio, he's twenty five, So if you believe in 482 00:31:00,839 --> 00:31:03,480 him, I think you can view him as part of your longer term or 483 00:31:03,519 --> 00:31:07,599 maybe the central hub of that. The one thing I definitely agree with you 484 00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:10,839 on is the leverage isn't there, And I know that clutch Boards is great 485 00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:15,519 at manufacturing leverage. However, with four years in one hundred forty plus million 486 00:31:15,559 --> 00:31:18,799 left on this deal that's not viewed lead wide right now, isn't that positive. 487 00:31:18,119 --> 00:31:22,839 He could refuse to show up to training camp. That's fine. I 488 00:31:22,839 --> 00:31:25,359 don't know that that's going to force the Sixers his hand there, because they 489 00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:27,960 would have to accept bottom dollar at that point. This isn't a James Harden 490 00:31:29,039 --> 00:31:33,480 situation where he was still viewed as this great star, this huge asset. 491 00:31:33,599 --> 00:31:37,559 On his current deal, they could still turn if they wanted to Philly turn 492 00:31:37,599 --> 00:31:41,000 him around and get maybe one of the packages that we were discussing. That 493 00:31:41,079 --> 00:31:44,079 being said, I just I'm with nowhere. I don't think he has the 494 00:31:44,200 --> 00:31:48,640 leverage to force his way out of Philly. We do have another speaker request, 495 00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:51,359 so I'm gonna hand the talking stick to Rob Hillman in a second. 496 00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:53,680 But I want to pose this through the room and to our listeners we're hearing 497 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:57,839 this as a podcast. Let's say Ben Timmins is still on the Sixers in 498 00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:02,839 a year. There was a school thought before this season that the Sixers should 499 00:32:02,839 --> 00:32:07,799 trade Joel Embiid and rebuild around Ben Simmons, or retool, not rebuild because 500 00:32:07,799 --> 00:32:10,839 they were still expect to be really good, surround him with a bunch of 501 00:32:10,839 --> 00:32:15,839 shooting another creator, win creator, and go that route. Is there any 502 00:32:16,039 --> 00:32:21,359 path, anything, realistically that could happen this season? If Ben Simmons finishes 503 00:32:21,359 --> 00:32:25,279 it in Philly, that would reignite those types of talks and full disclosure, 504 00:32:25,359 --> 00:32:30,599 I was actually one of those people leading into last season. I'm no longer 505 00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:34,240 one of those people with even with the Joel embiead injury risk caked in. 506 00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:37,880 Simmons has not been a beacon of health himself, by the way, but 507 00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:40,759 just seeing everything that Joel Embiid did. I don't know how he would ever 508 00:32:40,839 --> 00:32:45,119 revert to that route, but I'm just curious. Does anyone see a feasible 509 00:32:45,119 --> 00:32:49,640 path or what would need to happen over the next year. Let's non catastrophe 510 00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:52,359 division. Yeah, Joel Embiid having both his legs amputated, that would definitely 511 00:32:52,359 --> 00:32:55,640 be an issue. But for now, I'm going to hand the microphone to 512 00:32:57,319 --> 00:33:00,480 Rob Hillman. Rob, can you hear me? Yeah? Dan, I 513 00:33:00,559 --> 00:33:06,720 love that. Yeah. You gotta get rid of Drummond. You gotta sign 514 00:33:06,799 --> 00:33:10,440 JJ Raddick. You got to bring back Roco. They had a great team 515 00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:16,519 five years ago. I'm a Timberwolves fan. I live in Minnesota. We 516 00:33:16,599 --> 00:33:22,440 would love to have Simmons because he would fit great with Cat. But the 517 00:33:22,519 --> 00:33:30,200 problem with Philly is elden Brand. They had a great they had spacing four 518 00:33:30,319 --> 00:33:34,279 or five years ago. Then they brought Jimmy Butler, then they brought Al 519 00:33:34,359 --> 00:33:39,559 Horford, then they Richardson. Like the roster construction in Philly has been awful 520 00:33:39,759 --> 00:33:45,359 in the playoffs, and when we think, when I think about Simmons, 521 00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:51,279 he needs to be paired with a spacer five who can shoot like Cat. 522 00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:58,279 Maybe Yoki trade him like Simmons for Porter, would be my something I could 523 00:33:58,279 --> 00:34:04,839 see happening in Philly if you just spaced hand. Let Simmons play the small 524 00:34:04,839 --> 00:34:08,039 ball five. When and Beat is on the bench, he is a wrecking 525 00:34:08,079 --> 00:34:13,159 crew. When the lane is open, he is. He's so awesome, 526 00:34:14,039 --> 00:34:17,000 And I think we'll figure the free throws out. Yeah, honest did in 527 00:34:17,039 --> 00:34:23,920 the playoffs seventeen for nineteen and so I I from Minnesota perspective. We would 528 00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:29,760 love to have him, but we'll be okay without him. Maybe maybe we 529 00:34:30,079 --> 00:34:36,320 are always optimistic because we have to be. But I think Philly could work 530 00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:43,400 it out and they just have to have spacing and shooting and open lane because 531 00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:49,679 when he is a driving ten times a game, he is awesome. Thank 532 00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:52,880 you for those thoughts, Rob, And so let me start with the one 533 00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:55,519 disagreement I have with you. I think Jimmy Butler was fantastic for Philly and 534 00:34:55,559 --> 00:34:59,920 he was initiating a lot of their offense by the end of their postseason. 535 00:35:00,079 --> 00:35:04,360 On whatever happened there, you could definitely put some of this on Elton Brand. 536 00:35:05,559 --> 00:35:07,400 There was something I think Jimmy Butler, Ben Simmons, I think it 537 00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:12,960 effectively came down to that iteration of the Sixers chose Ben Simmons over Jimmy Butler 538 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:16,599 because Ben Simmons wasn't content with his role beside Jimmy Butler when it mattered most. 539 00:35:17,239 --> 00:35:21,679 And you probably weren't going to keep Jimmy Butler if you had that sort 540 00:35:21,719 --> 00:35:24,119 of Ben Simmons stuff in the in the offing, and it didn't sound like 541 00:35:24,159 --> 00:35:27,960 Philly was willing to go for five years with Jimmy at the time, which 542 00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:31,199 you absolutely should have done. So that's on Philly dal Horford stuff. That's 543 00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:36,400 on whoever wasn't charged that Elton Brand, whether it was you know, Josh 544 00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:38,480 Harris pushing for that, that was just, oh my god. That was 545 00:35:38,519 --> 00:35:42,960 an experiment where I was morbidly curious about it, and I wasn't just like 546 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:46,079 so down on it, but you were looking at it like I only want 547 00:35:46,119 --> 00:35:49,840 to not take my eyes away from this because it makes no fucking sense. 548 00:35:50,719 --> 00:35:54,519 So Brand deserves a lot of criticism there. I think you're also right where 549 00:35:55,079 --> 00:35:59,159 Simmons needs to be surrounded by a ton of spacing. I don't think Philly 550 00:35:59,199 --> 00:36:04,239 has given him enough looks as a de facto small ball five to say that 551 00:36:04,239 --> 00:36:06,960 that can't work. I'd like to see more of Ben Simmons as a screener 552 00:36:07,239 --> 00:36:08,960 without the ball. We staw Yannis lean into that role recently. Again, 553 00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:13,719 he's a different type of offensive threat, a better one than Ben Simmons is. 554 00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:17,960 But we've seen him kind of acqui acclimate himself too somewhere off ball stuff, 555 00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:22,199 and I think that's important. I think, you know, Ben Simmons 556 00:36:22,239 --> 00:36:25,800 can mirror some of that. What he really needs to play beside is I 557 00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:29,599 think, because where you have Jannis is probably just one of the best help 558 00:36:29,639 --> 00:36:31,199 defenders of all time at this point when you look at the ground he could 559 00:36:31,199 --> 00:36:36,559 cover, he probably needs to play beside like a big who's not really a 560 00:36:36,599 --> 00:36:39,280 big and can be a great help defender because Ben Simmons is not like he's 561 00:36:39,320 --> 00:36:42,559 this awesome one on one guy. And I think he's fine. It's a 562 00:36:42,559 --> 00:36:45,559 help defender, But I do think that sort of separates him from the yannestier 563 00:36:45,559 --> 00:36:47,679 of defense right now. Is the havoc that Jannis can wreak away from the 564 00:36:47,679 --> 00:36:52,280 ball, I don't see doing the same. I don't see Ben Simmons doing 565 00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:54,360 the same. So if you had, you know, you know, I 566 00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:58,159 think big man wise karl Anthy Towns would be a great fit for Ben Simmons 567 00:36:58,119 --> 00:37:00,599 is not defensively, I think he'd helped karl Anthy tow a ton there. 568 00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:04,039 But if you put him beside a Maxi Kleiba, that's someone who could help 569 00:37:04,639 --> 00:37:07,920 those minutes. But then it comes back to this point of well, then 570 00:37:07,239 --> 00:37:10,800 you know Maxi Kleib is not Joel and bad Connety Towns is not Joel Embiid. 571 00:37:12,199 --> 00:37:15,039 That's the pairing that's really awkward right now. It works in the regular 572 00:37:15,079 --> 00:37:22,719 season, but unless Ben Simmons is going to develop any sort of extra range, 573 00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:25,599 it's going to be awkward come playoff time, unless Joel Embiid wants to 574 00:37:25,599 --> 00:37:29,519 take a step back and be just more of a picking pop guy, which 575 00:37:29,559 --> 00:37:32,519 you can't do that, Joel to Joel Embiid, especially now when you know 576 00:37:34,239 --> 00:37:37,880 you don't have that other win creator to even justify displacing him from the ball, 577 00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:42,960 so Eli said, he cringes when people compare Johannest and Simmons. I'm 578 00:37:43,039 --> 00:37:45,000 kind of there with him. I still would like to see that experiment that 579 00:37:45,400 --> 00:37:49,480 Rob was alluding to, where it's just Simmons and a bunch of shooting, 580 00:37:49,519 --> 00:37:52,800 And I do think you need like a wherewith Janice he can kind of be 581 00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:54,480 the lone big. I don't think Simmons is built to be that way. 582 00:37:54,519 --> 00:37:58,920 So you need a complimentary floor spacing big who's gonna give you a lot of 583 00:37:58,960 --> 00:38:02,400 help. Defense and MAXI cleveand type is the first one that comes to mind. 584 00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:07,000 I'm not saying he would be the guy that changes everything for Ben Simmons, 585 00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:13,360 but that feels like the ideal construct within which Ben Simmons would would need 586 00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:15,079 to operate. I'm gonna be fascinated to see where he winds up next, 587 00:38:15,079 --> 00:38:19,800 because I don't think he's going to be there long term in Philly. Like 588 00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:22,440 I said before, I don't see a pathway to them ever choosing him over 589 00:38:22,559 --> 00:38:27,079 Joel Embiid at this point. I think the Supermax is proof of that. 590 00:38:27,119 --> 00:38:30,400 They could definitely move that when he's aligible to be traded again, but I 591 00:38:30,519 --> 00:38:34,239 just after the season he had. I don't know how you would even get 592 00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:38,400 to that point unless something happens that would make other teams not want Joel Embiid. 593 00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:43,519 Another thing I wanted to talk about that was just in the news, 594 00:38:44,519 --> 00:38:49,920 But Kevin Durrett Draymond Green interview on Draymond Green Show Chips. I thought it 595 00:38:49,960 --> 00:38:53,840 was a very interesting conversation. I think the big pull everyone's taking from it 596 00:38:53,920 --> 00:39:00,000 is they said that Bob Meyers and Steve kirk kind of fucked everything up because 597 00:39:00,159 --> 00:39:05,840 the way they handled the Draymond Green Kevin Durant kerfuffle, yelling match, whatever 598 00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:08,000 you want to call it against the Clippers. One, I can't believe we're 599 00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:12,320 still talking about this when I was like three years ago or whatever it was. 600 00:39:12,639 --> 00:39:17,960 And two, the other thing that really gets me is does it matter 601 00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:22,559 what Steve Kerr and Bob Meyers were doing. I don't think they handled it 602 00:39:22,559 --> 00:39:25,320 properly. I want to make that clear. Pandering to Kevin Durant. That's 603 00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:29,400 effectively how they handled the situation. They suspended Draymond Green, they wanted him 604 00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:34,960 to apologize. They were more concerned about Kevin Durant staying or making it so 605 00:39:35,039 --> 00:39:38,119 that they weren't the reason Kevin Durant left than trying to actually fix things that 606 00:39:38,199 --> 00:39:42,960 had been festering clearly within the team. That is one percent on them. 607 00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:47,199 But were they physically restraining Draymond Green and Kevin Durant from hashing it out like 608 00:39:47,239 --> 00:39:52,320 they wanted to? If they just needed to have an aired out cathartic conversation, 609 00:39:52,440 --> 00:39:57,039 like Draymond Green said, that could have happened, you know, outside 610 00:39:57,079 --> 00:40:00,159 the arena and could have happened whatever. No one was stopping them from from 611 00:40:00,159 --> 00:40:05,840 doing that. So I don't understand how you can let all the blame fault 612 00:40:05,840 --> 00:40:07,960 the feet of Bob Meyers and Steve Kerr. I think that was just a 613 00:40:08,039 --> 00:40:12,320 situation that Kevin Durray didn't want to be there anymore. And that's okay. 614 00:40:12,400 --> 00:40:15,320 It seems like these are two guys and Draymond and Kevin Durant we're friends now 615 00:40:16,280 --> 00:40:20,559 and that's great. But as Marcus Thompson, I believe it was said on 616 00:40:20,599 --> 00:40:23,280 an athletic podcast recently that just probably weren't friends then and that's part of the 617 00:40:23,320 --> 00:40:27,920 reason why its deteriorated. I'm not placing all the blame on them, but 618 00:40:28,119 --> 00:40:30,880 that was just talk about deflection from that conversation is just the one thing I 619 00:40:30,920 --> 00:40:34,400 didn't get and you're not gonna find. I'm not defending the way Bob Meyers 620 00:40:34,440 --> 00:40:37,960 and Steve Grandlin's the Draymond Green suspension was was so dumb in the moment. 621 00:40:39,039 --> 00:40:45,159 We have a question in the chat where someone asked what rookie stenches at rookie 622 00:40:45,159 --> 00:40:47,159 stenches, what rookie extensions do you think we're going to see from the rest 623 00:40:47,199 --> 00:40:52,519 of the twenty eighteen class. So we've already seen an extension for Luca don 624 00:40:52,639 --> 00:40:55,440 Chich, Trey Young, and Shake Gilgis Alexander. We're eventually going to do 625 00:40:55,480 --> 00:40:59,480 a podcast on this probably, so I don't want to get like super deep 626 00:40:59,519 --> 00:41:04,639 into it. There aren't a lot of locks after that because of there are 627 00:41:04,639 --> 00:41:08,559 these guys that you could maybe argue or like near max or very expensive players, 628 00:41:08,639 --> 00:41:13,199 who is there a point in locking them up now? I think you 629 00:41:13,239 --> 00:41:16,559 look at you know, the two guys in Phoenix, Mchael Bridges and DeAndre 630 00:41:16,639 --> 00:41:21,159 Ayton are either one of them signing for less than twenty million dollars a year. 631 00:41:21,599 --> 00:41:23,719 No, I don't know that either of them has a leverage to get 632 00:41:23,719 --> 00:41:28,360 a max. DeAndre Ayton put together the best stretch of basketball of his career 633 00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:32,119 when it mattered most for Phoenix in the playoffs, so he has some leverage 634 00:41:32,280 --> 00:41:36,840 in negotiations now. But if they sign an extension, I'll be very curious 635 00:41:36,840 --> 00:41:38,119 to see what the numbers are for them. I would think if I had 636 00:41:38,119 --> 00:41:43,159 to estimate. If I'm Michael Bridges, I'm not taking less than like four 637 00:41:43,639 --> 00:41:46,360 and eighty eight. I mean, even you look at with Terror Rozier just 638 00:41:46,400 --> 00:41:49,920 got there are two different players. But if I'm Michael bridge is knowing how 639 00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:52,840 valuable I am on defense, I want that type of money. So if 640 00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:57,719 he's not getting twenty one twenty two million dollars per year, I doubt he 641 00:41:57,719 --> 00:42:00,199 would sign. DeAndre Atan is more complicated. I would still say he's the 642 00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:05,760 less valuable player compared to Michael Bridges. That being said, I think he 643 00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:07,239 has to get at these twenty million dollars year an extension for him to sign 644 00:42:07,280 --> 00:42:10,639 because there will be a market for him next year. Amongst teams are cap 645 00:42:10,639 --> 00:42:15,519 space. Other names that stand out to me. I don't think Jared Jackson 646 00:42:15,639 --> 00:42:17,800 Junior will sign one just because he's coming off a year he missed most of 647 00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:22,599 it with injury and then didn't shoot all that well from three. It's clear 648 00:42:22,639 --> 00:42:25,159 that he's really important to their offense because those ultra deep threes open up things 649 00:42:25,159 --> 00:42:30,760 for Memphis like crazy, But coming off that type of the season when he 650 00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:32,440 still fouls a ton on defense, you don't necessarily know if he'd defend the 651 00:42:32,440 --> 00:42:36,880 five consistently. At this point, are you even playing him at the five 652 00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:39,679 consistently? That something Memphis has been reticent to do. They still have a 653 00:42:39,719 --> 00:42:45,679 lot of finding out with him, discovery to go with Jared Jackson Junior, 654 00:42:45,719 --> 00:42:50,039 and so unless he's just signing to get some security and the number is super 655 00:42:50,079 --> 00:42:52,960 team friendly, I'd be a little bit shocked if he ends up signing an 656 00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:58,920 extension. Colin Sexton's the other another tough one. There was a report from 657 00:42:58,960 --> 00:43:02,559 Jason Lloyd of the Athletic Leading in the free agency that con Sexton was very 658 00:43:02,639 --> 00:43:07,719 much available, in part because the Cavs like Darius Garland and of con Sexton's 659 00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:12,840 extension eligibility. I don't know what you pay con Sexton. I do think 660 00:43:12,880 --> 00:43:16,199 that con Sexton has become underrated. People are still harping on the fact that 661 00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:22,480 he can't be the primary playmaker of an offense. That's you know, I 662 00:43:22,519 --> 00:43:25,440 think it's true. He's also not a point guard. They're harping on the 663 00:43:25,440 --> 00:43:30,280 fact that he doesn't have like the super efficient off the dribble game, which 664 00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:32,519 is true. He hadn't affective field goal percentage sub forty five. I'm Paula 665 00:43:32,599 --> 00:43:37,320 jumpers last year. I totally one hundred percent get it. But he's like 666 00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:40,719 a souped up, younger version of Terry Rozier on offense, someone who has 667 00:43:40,800 --> 00:43:45,320 some surgicality to his game when he gets in the lane and he hits a 668 00:43:45,360 --> 00:43:47,199 lot of threes and doesn't need to have the ball in his hands to hit 669 00:43:47,239 --> 00:43:52,880 them. He is just the second player in NBA history to average more than 670 00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:57,559 twenty four points per game while knocking down more than fifty percent of his two's 671 00:43:57,599 --> 00:44:00,679 and thirty seven percent of his threes. Before we're turning twenty three. The 672 00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:05,559 only other player to do that is Jason Tatum. Different players, Jason Tatum's 673 00:44:05,559 --> 00:44:08,199 way more valuable. Contexton is good. That's just really what I'm getting at. 674 00:44:08,360 --> 00:44:12,719 And when you see the terror Ros year extension as a baseline, not 675 00:44:12,800 --> 00:44:19,280 as rookie extension obviously, but if he got four years and ninety ninety six 676 00:44:19,320 --> 00:44:22,159 point two million, whatever it is, and if that's all guaranteed, which 677 00:44:22,519 --> 00:44:24,519 I'm hoping this podcast I was ane super poorly. I gave it the entire 678 00:44:24,639 --> 00:44:29,719 day to see if there would be any further reporting that trickled out. You're 679 00:44:29,719 --> 00:44:32,840 a Colin Sexton. You're seeing that, why would you ever sign for less 680 00:44:34,079 --> 00:44:37,800 than like four and one ten if that's the going rate for guards who can 681 00:44:37,840 --> 00:44:45,239 shoot and score. I honestly just I don't know why you would. So, 682 00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:49,719 yeah, there's like that's just I'm gonna be fascinated to see what he 683 00:44:49,800 --> 00:44:52,599 gets. I doubt he signs an extension though, because if you sign him 684 00:44:52,599 --> 00:44:54,039 to an extension, then you can't really trade him this season because the poison 685 00:44:54,079 --> 00:44:58,000 pill provision. Do have a couple of questions in the chat. I would 686 00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:00,079 get to both of you in a second. We're just gonna wrap up this 687 00:45:00,159 --> 00:45:04,079 segment. The other one that I'm really watching here is Michael Porter Jr. 688 00:45:04,440 --> 00:45:07,039 I think he's a no brainer Max, and just based off what he did 689 00:45:07,159 --> 00:45:10,639 last season, he's a perfect hit beside Murray and Yokich. And even after 690 00:45:10,760 --> 00:45:15,199 Murray was injured, Michael Porter Juniors a lot of his buckets still came off 691 00:45:15,199 --> 00:45:17,519 assist, but he had the ball in his hands more, was taking more 692 00:45:17,559 --> 00:45:22,039 dribbles per touch, and his efficiency was still pretty damn good. I think 693 00:45:22,039 --> 00:45:23,519 he's proven that he's just going to get that money if he let him reach 694 00:45:23,519 --> 00:45:25,679 the open market. Now, if you're Denver, you probably want to make 695 00:45:25,719 --> 00:45:29,199 sure he doesn't get injured. And if you think you have the good will 696 00:45:29,320 --> 00:45:31,559 built up with him to just wait because you can match whatever offer he gets 697 00:45:31,599 --> 00:45:35,559 in free agency, maybe you want to make sure that back stuff still isn't 698 00:45:35,559 --> 00:45:38,480 an issue because that trepped up towards the end of the playoffs last year. 699 00:45:39,599 --> 00:45:44,679 That's kind of the last guy I'm interested in. Kevin Hurder, some guy. 700 00:45:45,119 --> 00:45:46,800 Some guy. Kevin Hurder gives you a little bit more off the dribble 701 00:45:46,840 --> 00:45:50,639 pizzas that I think people credit him for on offense, and he's a good 702 00:45:50,639 --> 00:45:54,360 shooter. I just when you have Cam Reddish DeAndre Hunter, when you've signed 703 00:45:54,360 --> 00:46:00,000 Bardanovitch under contract for three more years, two more years after this upcoming season, 704 00:46:00,800 --> 00:46:02,519 they got a look at and figure out who they're paying, what's going 705 00:46:02,559 --> 00:46:06,639 to move forward long term, because I don't think they pay all those guys. 706 00:46:06,960 --> 00:46:09,239 Miles Bridges is another one. He had a spectacular season last year. 707 00:46:09,519 --> 00:46:14,679 Charlotte's been given out extensions like crazy, and I'm just they extended Terry ros 708 00:46:14,760 --> 00:46:17,519 here so they're not afraid of sort of locking themselves into guy's longer term. 709 00:46:17,599 --> 00:46:22,840 I kind of almost expect him to get one now unless he's asking for an 710 00:46:22,880 --> 00:46:28,159 astronomical amount of money, that's probably it. I'd be curious to see if 711 00:46:28,199 --> 00:46:30,920 Donte DiVincenzo signs an extension, But after having that injury and on him, 712 00:46:30,920 --> 00:46:35,280 I might better myself based off what Milwaukee's offering, And Milwaukee probably wants to 713 00:46:35,360 --> 00:46:38,559 cheap out just based off how concerned they've been with their tax bill. Landry 714 00:46:38,599 --> 00:46:43,960 Shammitt probably isn't getting one from Phoenix. Robert Williams might be interesting in Boston, 715 00:46:44,800 --> 00:46:47,559 but they do have Horford under contract for another year after this weren't even 716 00:46:47,559 --> 00:46:51,840 though it was partially guaranteed. So if Williams wants real money, and maybe 717 00:46:51,880 --> 00:46:54,239 he's looking at Jared Allen and thinking I could play well enough to get that 718 00:46:54,920 --> 00:46:58,519 one. I don't think Jared Allen played well enough to get that, but 719 00:46:59,440 --> 00:47:01,679 you probably maybe you're gonna make that weight. And although I don't know, 720 00:47:01,840 --> 00:47:05,119 like if they extended Marcus Smart, so, I don't think they're as concerned 721 00:47:05,119 --> 00:47:08,280 about twenty twenty two caps based or flexibility, let's say, as people think. 722 00:47:08,320 --> 00:47:13,519 So those are just sort of the names that bandying about. Of all 723 00:47:13,559 --> 00:47:15,159 of them, I don't know that I expect any of them to get an 724 00:47:15,159 --> 00:47:20,400 extension. I think my best guest might be Mile with Bridges and Michael Porter. 725 00:47:20,480 --> 00:47:22,920 Junia comes close, just because you know what his market is going to 726 00:47:22,960 --> 00:47:24,039 be, and so Denver could also look at it as well. Why wait 727 00:47:24,079 --> 00:47:29,639 if he's gonna get max money? Anyway, Rob Hillman asked, is Memphis 728 00:47:29,639 --> 00:47:34,079 taking tanking? And that is something I wanted to talk about because Memphis has 729 00:47:34,079 --> 00:47:40,440 been trading all over the place. They acquired Rondo and Patrick Beverley at one 730 00:47:40,480 --> 00:47:45,719 point from the Clippers to get off of Eric Bletsoe, and then Daniel Turrow 731 00:47:45,800 --> 00:47:47,719 was involved than that one as well, and then sent Patrick Beverley the Timberwolves 732 00:47:47,760 --> 00:47:52,960 to take a flyer on I guess they're technically taking a fire on war On 733 00:47:52,039 --> 00:47:55,960 Hearn and Gomez, but to take a flyer on Jarrett Culver. If you're 734 00:47:55,960 --> 00:48:00,280 a Minnesota that's interesting just because you traded Cam Johnson. What was the pick 735 00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:04,760 that Cam Johnson and Dario starts to get Jared Colver then he kind of flamed 736 00:48:04,800 --> 00:48:07,840 out. I think the best flashes he showed was as a rookie when you 737 00:48:07,880 --> 00:48:10,159 were using him at point guard, and there's obviously not the flexibility to do 738 00:48:10,199 --> 00:48:14,199 that, even though they had backup point gardment it's available. I'm fine with 739 00:48:14,239 --> 00:48:15,880 them sort of selling their losses there. I think Patrick Beverley is a great 740 00:48:15,880 --> 00:48:20,559 fit for what they're trying to do. Can play off of everyone Malik Beasley, 741 00:48:20,679 --> 00:48:23,519 D'Angelo Russell, and Anthony Edwards, and then is still he's gonna compete 742 00:48:23,559 --> 00:48:27,199 on defense, and we saw that he could be effective during the playoffs. 743 00:48:27,199 --> 00:48:30,519 Still on the defensive end for Memphis though, Yeah, Rob, I don't 744 00:48:30,519 --> 00:48:35,280 know if they're tanking. They're clearly not concerned about winning right now. When 745 00:48:35,280 --> 00:48:39,239 you look at taking Brett Yeltson's twenty four percent from three for Culver, Yeah, 746 00:48:39,239 --> 00:48:43,199 that was difficult. He did shoot better on catch and shoot threes at 747 00:48:43,239 --> 00:48:45,320 one point. I think it was his rookie year. It might have been 748 00:48:45,400 --> 00:48:49,599 last season, so I still sort of believe. But yeah, this isn't 749 00:48:49,840 --> 00:48:53,199 I don't begrudge Minnesota for doing this, even though given how great Cam Johnson 750 00:48:53,280 --> 00:48:57,800 is now and how well Dario Starts played for much of last year before his 751 00:48:57,880 --> 00:49:01,159 injury, that trade does not look so for Memphis though, taking on Bletso 752 00:49:01,159 --> 00:49:05,760 who's no longer than obviously Steven Adams, getting rid of Yannis Valancotis. They're 753 00:49:05,760 --> 00:49:09,440 a worst team overall. I do find it interesting that they've decided Jarret Culver 754 00:49:09,960 --> 00:49:15,599 is a better wing prospect or wing flyer than Justice Winslow. They obviously had 755 00:49:15,639 --> 00:49:20,039 to get rid of him as part of the Clients team option as part of 756 00:49:20,039 --> 00:49:22,880 the deal that brought them Bletso and draft compensation, which put them in position 757 00:49:22,920 --> 00:49:28,000 to move up and get Zeyer Williams along with getting another future first round pick. 758 00:49:28,280 --> 00:49:30,119 I mean, I like Zayyer Williams. By the way, he might 759 00:49:30,159 --> 00:49:31,599 be more ready than we thought based off how he played in Summer League. 760 00:49:31,639 --> 00:49:35,800 I'm trying not to take too much away from Summer League, though dude didn't 761 00:49:35,800 --> 00:49:39,480 really score from what I saw there. Though they're clearly not prioritizing it now, 762 00:49:39,639 --> 00:49:44,760 and I think that's okay. A lot of people were up in arms, 763 00:49:44,840 --> 00:49:49,519 I guess because you look at how good John Morant is already and you're 764 00:49:49,599 --> 00:49:52,199 sort of wondering, well, you made the playoffs the past two years, 765 00:49:52,639 --> 00:49:57,159 exceeded expectations, Why wouldn't you be sort of going more for now? And 766 00:49:57,199 --> 00:49:59,920 look, you can fall into a trap that way. We saw it with 767 00:50:00,039 --> 00:50:02,480 the Phoenix Suns years ago. We might see it with some teams now where 768 00:50:02,480 --> 00:50:06,719 they think that they're better than expected. Let's look at what the Hawks didn't 769 00:50:06,719 --> 00:50:08,559 do. They made the conference finals and then didn't go out and try and 770 00:50:08,559 --> 00:50:14,320 pull off this blockbuster trade or do anything aside from talent retention with John Collins 771 00:50:14,719 --> 00:50:16,800 and you know, making moves on the margins, the ln Wright getting Gorgie 772 00:50:16,880 --> 00:50:22,000 Jang after the Nika Kungu injury. You don't want to overreact to success. 773 00:50:22,039 --> 00:50:24,639 And I think you look at Memphis, they were not close to title contention. 774 00:50:24,840 --> 00:50:27,719 It was cool that they made the playoffs two years in a row. 775 00:50:27,760 --> 00:50:30,239 Great, they were a first round they were first round stepping stone. That's 776 00:50:30,320 --> 00:50:35,719 essentially what they became. They're trying to angle for something bigger here. If 777 00:50:35,719 --> 00:50:37,960 they believe that Vier Williams is going to be off the board at number ten, 778 00:50:38,360 --> 00:50:42,440 or maybe they had their eye on someone else in that spot who's taking 779 00:50:42,480 --> 00:50:45,079 you know, maybe they thought Jane excuse me, maybe they thought that baby 780 00:50:45,119 --> 00:50:47,079 On Mitchell was still going to be there or something. I don't know. 781 00:50:47,519 --> 00:50:52,000 But you're taking these big swings and hoping you hit. And Desmond Baine is 782 00:50:52,039 --> 00:50:55,280 another guy who they acquired around the draft last year. He ran a lot 783 00:50:55,320 --> 00:50:59,000 of pick and roll in summer League. Maybe they're hoping to kind of catch 784 00:50:59,039 --> 00:51:00,440 fire and a bottle with him. The wings, they're clearly on the hunt 785 00:51:00,519 --> 00:51:04,119 for a star wing. When you look at them draftings, I your Williams 786 00:51:04,440 --> 00:51:07,159 taking Jared Culver, having Desmond Baine, and they're trying to find it, 787 00:51:07,199 --> 00:51:10,920 and I kind of I kind of dig it. We'll have to see how 788 00:51:10,920 --> 00:51:14,719 these moves pan out, but I think they've given themselves more bites at the 789 00:51:14,719 --> 00:51:16,400 apple and more room to experiment, because now I think when you look at 790 00:51:16,400 --> 00:51:21,360 the players on the roster, you're not gonna care about playing Jared Jackson junior 791 00:51:21,360 --> 00:51:23,239 at the five over Steven Adams as opposed to yours. Valn Tunis. Valon 792 00:51:23,280 --> 00:51:27,639 Tunis was clearly their second best player last year, was probably their most consistent 793 00:51:27,639 --> 00:51:30,199 player last year as well, and so it's a little tougher, especially with 794 00:51:30,280 --> 00:51:34,679 him in a contract year. Probably not the greatest optics or player relations to 795 00:51:35,199 --> 00:51:38,280 experiment with an Xavier Tillman, Brandon Clark even still in the roster there and 796 00:51:38,280 --> 00:51:43,760 a Jared Jackson junior over him. So and I again, I like they 797 00:51:43,800 --> 00:51:45,360 have a mass, like a tidy well of picks they have the Jazz pick. 798 00:51:45,440 --> 00:51:49,800 In twenty twenty two, they've got Warriors pick loosely protected. In twenty 799 00:51:49,880 --> 00:51:52,239 twenty four, they have all their own first round picks. But if they 800 00:51:52,280 --> 00:51:54,280 want to go out and make a trade, they can maybe one of these 801 00:51:54,280 --> 00:51:58,280 dice rolls sort of pays off, and I look, now is the time 802 00:51:58,559 --> 00:52:01,039 to me to sort of take these risks. Even if John Morant maybe he's 803 00:52:01,039 --> 00:52:07,119 not overwhelmingly excited about the direction that they've gone in after what happened in the 804 00:52:07,159 --> 00:52:09,599 past two seasons, but he's still on his rookie scale contracts for another year's 805 00:52:09,920 --> 00:52:14,000 another two years. Now is the time when you need to take these risks, 806 00:52:14,639 --> 00:52:17,760 go through these paths of you know, discovery, find if you can 807 00:52:17,800 --> 00:52:21,639 get that co star, because that look, that's what they're still looking for. 808 00:52:21,719 --> 00:52:24,480 It's not Dylan Brooks. Jaren Jackson Junior hasn't put together enough two way 809 00:52:24,639 --> 00:52:30,119 consistent play to be that guy. So they're still very much in the hunt 810 00:52:30,400 --> 00:52:32,159 for a co star for John rant. I don't know if they're any closer 811 00:52:32,159 --> 00:52:36,320 to getting him, but they're taking swings to try and get that type of 812 00:52:36,320 --> 00:52:39,039 a player, and there's still positioned to be flexible in the years moving forward. 813 00:52:39,119 --> 00:52:43,039 I'm not saying I love this, but I kind of understand the logic 814 00:52:43,079 --> 00:52:46,199 here, and the alternative is kind of being like the New Orleans Pelicans, 815 00:52:46,199 --> 00:52:51,239 like they're trying to rush this rebuild around Zion, and I think they had 816 00:52:51,280 --> 00:52:53,079 the single worst off season in the NBA this year. Unless something changes, 817 00:52:53,079 --> 00:52:57,960 maybe they use that trade exception, you know, to land someone this year 818 00:52:58,000 --> 00:53:00,719 and it really helps. But to give up all they did, you know, 819 00:53:00,760 --> 00:53:05,039 they're down two first round picks. I believe you have DeVante Graham, 820 00:53:05,039 --> 00:53:07,960 but you lost Lonzo Ball and you've got Thomas header Ransky and Garrett Temple back 821 00:53:08,000 --> 00:53:14,199 for him. Just a bunch of weird stuff. So and to not to 822 00:53:14,239 --> 00:53:16,960 grease the wheels of a salary dump and then not really put that flexibility to 823 00:53:17,119 --> 00:53:22,480 create use. I respect what Memphis did this offseason a lot more than I 824 00:53:22,519 --> 00:53:27,880 did with what is happening in New Orleans. Another question we had from Brett 825 00:53:27,880 --> 00:53:31,239 is what about the twenty seventeen draft class. Are guys like Harry Giles and 826 00:53:31,320 --> 00:53:37,599 DJ Wilson just going to have to take two ways or go overseas. I 827 00:53:37,599 --> 00:53:39,840 wish I could kind of tell you there. I think Harry Giles belongs in 828 00:53:39,920 --> 00:53:45,519 the NBA, kind of really understated passer, really mobile on the offensive end. 829 00:53:45,840 --> 00:53:49,639 You can kind of get away with playing him alongside another big, So 830 00:53:49,679 --> 00:53:52,000 I would like to see another team give him a chance. DJ Wilson, 831 00:53:52,039 --> 00:53:57,280 I was just never really enthralled by the Bucks. Tried camping him out in 832 00:53:57,320 --> 00:54:01,800 the corner for stretches previously before he was before they moved him obviously, and 833 00:54:01,840 --> 00:54:06,119 he just never really spaced the floor too consistently. I don't really know what 834 00:54:06,119 --> 00:54:09,639 he was on defense. You know the player that I'm interested in. Anyone 835 00:54:09,679 --> 00:54:14,360 who listens to this podcast religiously will know this well. Speaking of the twenty 836 00:54:14,480 --> 00:54:19,760 seventeen draft class, that deal that Josh Hart signed, holy crap, the 837 00:54:19,800 --> 00:54:23,119 fact that it's one fully guaranteed season with the two years after that, I 838 00:54:23,199 --> 00:54:27,119 was shocked, and I can't believe he didn't get more. I think his 839 00:54:27,280 --> 00:54:30,400 rebounding is overrated as good as it is there, so that's fine, and 840 00:54:30,440 --> 00:54:36,159 I know his three point clip has not been super high for his career and 841 00:54:36,320 --> 00:54:39,760 spoiler Brett knows where I'm going with this, by the way, So I 842 00:54:40,840 --> 00:54:45,239 just I can't believe he can didn't get more guaranteed seasons. This was like 843 00:54:45,280 --> 00:54:49,559 a it was a three year, thirty eight million dollar deal reported, but 844 00:54:49,719 --> 00:54:53,159 like only next season is wholly guaranteed is what essentially breaks down too. So 845 00:54:53,320 --> 00:54:58,679 I'm I'm shocked. I just from the twenty seventeen draft class was just pretty 846 00:54:58,679 --> 00:55:00,320 wild though that was happening. Because he competes on the defensive, Van can 847 00:55:00,360 --> 00:55:06,360 basically go after positions one through four. So he shoots well enough from three 848 00:55:06,400 --> 00:55:07,480 where I think you can say, oh, look this three and D guy 849 00:55:07,519 --> 00:55:09,719 we have. And as Brett said, are you just going to go Frankie 850 00:55:09,800 --> 00:55:15,079 Lakina, You're damn right, I'm going frank Nielickina. Someone sign this man. 851 00:55:15,480 --> 00:55:20,559 Don't use him as a point guard. He is shooting a fair weather 852 00:55:20,679 --> 00:55:24,159 clip from three dating back to essentially the end of the twenty nineteen twenty season. 853 00:55:24,400 --> 00:55:28,760 Yeah, they're all catch and shoot. Looks great, streamlined his role. 854 00:55:28,880 --> 00:55:30,039 Don't put the ball in his hands of Ton and then have him defend 855 00:55:30,079 --> 00:55:34,519 his ass off because he does that. You can't just be like, oh, 856 00:55:34,519 --> 00:55:39,440 Frankie Lakina, go guard Trey Young for five seconds after you were sat 857 00:55:39,519 --> 00:55:43,199 the entire game essentially, even though you played like eight seconds in the first 858 00:55:43,199 --> 00:55:45,159 half or whatever it was. Use this guy as a three in D wing. 859 00:55:45,719 --> 00:55:49,559 Use him as a three and D wing. He has the size to 860 00:55:49,559 --> 00:55:52,679 guard up to the three the size and length. I am just I'm not 861 00:55:52,719 --> 00:55:55,440 flabbergasid he's not signed because I kind of understand like where this is going. 862 00:55:55,519 --> 00:56:00,199 But man, you some some smart he needs to sign him and use him 863 00:56:00,199 --> 00:56:05,320 in that fashion. And if the Knicks were smart, because the Knicks don't 864 00:56:05,360 --> 00:56:08,320 have wings by the way, I like they have RJ. Barrett, they 865 00:56:08,360 --> 00:56:13,639 have Quentin Grimes, Argie barrettson winn I'll give you that. Argie Barrett six 866 00:56:13,679 --> 00:56:16,639 seven, Quentin Grimes is six four. I believe people think he could defend 867 00:56:16,639 --> 00:56:21,239 a bigger great for him. I'm not even knocking that pick, so to 868 00:56:21,280 --> 00:56:23,920 speak. I'm not even knocking their off season. And I know Frankie Lakeena 869 00:56:24,039 --> 00:56:28,039 is not the size of a traditional wing, but you need wings. After 870 00:56:28,079 --> 00:56:31,960 letting Reggie Bullock go Evan fourne is not a wing. Like just I didn't 871 00:56:31,960 --> 00:56:35,719 think that Frankie Lokeena was this no rainer for them to get rid of him. 872 00:56:35,760 --> 00:56:37,320 And in theoretically he could still come back. I want to make that 873 00:56:37,360 --> 00:56:44,119 clear. But the fact that you prioritize paying Taj Gibson over as your look, 874 00:56:44,239 --> 00:56:46,679 he's like he's if all goes according to plan, Taj Gibson is your 875 00:56:46,719 --> 00:56:51,679 fifth big You Randall, Mitchell Robinson, Noel, then Obie Topping and as 876 00:56:51,719 --> 00:56:54,320 Toash Gibson, I know Gibson did good stuff for the Knicks last year, 877 00:56:54,559 --> 00:57:00,559 but come on, someone signed Frankie Ookeena. That's the moral of this of 878 00:57:00,639 --> 00:57:07,039 this story. Rob asked, will the offensive player rule changes limiting plays where 879 00:57:07,119 --> 00:57:09,400 driving players viewer to create thousan or create space and end up tearing the racl 880 00:57:10,000 --> 00:57:15,159 I e qaua Jamal Murray. I'm not sure if there's a question here, 881 00:57:15,199 --> 00:57:16,639 am I missing some part of that? I do think those rule changes were 882 00:57:16,679 --> 00:57:22,000 good. I know they're going to be enforcing those unnatural motions by shooters this 883 00:57:22,079 --> 00:57:27,320 year as well, so I'm hoping that's addressed. The last thing actually did 884 00:57:27,440 --> 00:57:30,639 want to get to in this podcast is because I found it funny. Maybe 885 00:57:30,679 --> 00:57:32,719 it was two things, but the Christmas schedule we have Hawks, Knicks at 886 00:57:32,719 --> 00:57:37,360 twelve, Celtics, Bucks at two thirty, Warrior Sons at five, Nets, 887 00:57:37,400 --> 00:57:39,400 Lakers at eight, Mavericks, Jazz at ten thirty. Now I have 888 00:57:39,519 --> 00:57:43,159 gripes because I'm a nerd, and I will have grapes, But I want 889 00:57:43,199 --> 00:57:46,880 to say that people need to remember the Christmas Day slate is about catering to 890 00:57:46,920 --> 00:57:52,559 the more casual basketball fan, drawing them in fans that are still thinking about 891 00:57:52,599 --> 00:57:55,719 football and the playoffs coming up, more so than the NBA at that point. 892 00:57:57,119 --> 00:58:00,880 So you need to kind of you matches match up through those lenses, 893 00:58:00,320 --> 00:58:05,639 even wearing those goggles. Come on, they missed a chance, in my 894 00:58:05,639 --> 00:58:07,440 opinion, to go Sons Bucks. I just thought that Matt that could have 895 00:58:07,440 --> 00:58:10,000 been a little bit of a budding rivalry. I don't need to see Sons 896 00:58:10,039 --> 00:58:13,800 Warriors. If you guarantee me that claim is gonna be back Shore, put 897 00:58:13,840 --> 00:58:17,039 the Warriors on on television, I would have even Bucks nets that could be 898 00:58:17,079 --> 00:58:20,920 the rivalry. So maybe even go that route if you're trying to keep it 899 00:58:20,960 --> 00:58:22,880 to two East Coast teams. I don't think Boston needed to be on this 900 00:58:23,039 --> 00:58:27,239 late I don't even think that. Look, if we're being honest, I 901 00:58:27,239 --> 00:58:29,119 don't think the Knicks needed to be on this lag. Yeah, they have 902 00:58:29,199 --> 00:58:31,440 Kemba and they have Julius Randall and they're good, so it don't get me 903 00:58:31,480 --> 00:58:36,719 wrong, but I probably would prefer to see Hawks Sixers. That's another budding 904 00:58:36,800 --> 00:58:39,159 rivalry that could have been fun. I also think that so I think imbat 905 00:58:39,199 --> 00:58:43,079 Is snubs from here. They're obvious snubs, but I actually think that embiads 906 00:58:43,119 --> 00:58:47,199 team should fit into one of the Celtics or Nick slots there. I would 907 00:58:47,199 --> 00:58:50,599 have loved to have seen. I think if I had my druthers based off 908 00:58:50,599 --> 00:58:54,440 the current schedule, I would have went Hawks Sixers, Nets Bucks, And 909 00:58:54,440 --> 00:59:00,480 then could you've gone like Lakers Nuggets, like let's put the MVP Yokis on 910 00:59:00,480 --> 00:59:04,519 this stage, or even Damian Lillard. But I definitely think it bad was 911 00:59:04,559 --> 00:59:07,239 probably the biggest nup here. When you're looking at players, Yokich is right 912 00:59:07,280 --> 00:59:09,280 after him. I'm trying to you have to go through the fact where I 913 00:59:09,320 --> 00:59:15,760 don't think that Yokich appeals necessarily to the casual NBA fan as much as a 914 00:59:15,840 --> 00:59:17,800 Luca don Chich does, And so Yokich was my MVP by the end of 915 00:59:17,800 --> 00:59:21,119 flesh. You're not trying to take anything away from him, but I think 916 00:59:21,159 --> 00:59:23,199 that that was part of this. I still think they've missed just some cool 917 00:59:23,440 --> 00:59:27,960 opportunities here. I'm glad the Suns are on, but I think I think 918 00:59:27,960 --> 00:59:30,239 the Sixers and yes, I would have me I would have liked to have 919 00:59:30,280 --> 00:59:34,760 seen and Bad and Yokich be a part of this at the expense of maybe, 920 00:59:34,840 --> 00:59:39,079 let's say Celtics Knicks. So yeah, but I understand why not both 921 00:59:39,119 --> 00:59:42,440 those guys would have made it. I really do think you missed an opportunity 922 00:59:42,440 --> 00:59:45,079 of you know, Hawks Sixers to me would be more interesting than the Hawks 923 00:59:45,119 --> 00:59:46,960 Knicks. I know people think that there's a rivalry there. The final final 924 00:59:47,000 --> 00:59:52,719 thing I want to talk about is Lebron tweeting Washed King after zero executives voted 925 00:59:52,760 --> 00:59:55,360 for him as the best player in the league. I don't really have a 926 00:59:55,360 --> 00:59:59,679 problem with it. I think if he thinks that this was, you know, 927 00:59:59,679 --> 01:00:04,239 he's responding to something that's someone of legitimacy said years ago. There might 928 01:00:04,239 --> 01:00:07,239 be an issue there because no one who's actually a legitimate MBA analyst that I've 929 01:00:07,239 --> 01:00:09,679 ever seen said it, and I believe that someone did the research on that. 930 01:00:10,159 --> 01:00:13,639 But Lebron is probably the greatest player of all time. He's one of 931 01:00:13,639 --> 01:00:15,519 the two greatest players of all time. You need to find motivation from somewhere. 932 01:00:15,880 --> 01:00:19,920 He is six months removed from being maybe the MVP favorite. I still 933 01:00:19,920 --> 01:00:23,079 had him being at that point, but maybe being the MVP favorite there he 934 01:00:23,159 --> 01:00:28,320 was just a finals MVP a year ago. Essentially, if he has to 935 01:00:28,360 --> 01:00:30,320 do this to find motivation, fine, it's not an insult. You're honest 936 01:00:30,360 --> 01:00:34,960 or Kevin Durant probably might pick at this point too. I have a zero 937 01:00:35,000 --> 01:00:38,039 issue with it. I promise you. I'm really only mentioning this and jest. 938 01:00:38,280 --> 01:00:42,320 We're in the point of the NBA offseason where people are arguing about stuff 939 01:00:42,360 --> 01:00:45,440 that really, actually, I promise you, doesn't actually matter. So let's 940 01:00:45,480 --> 01:00:50,800 try and focus on things that are more important, come up with more creative 941 01:00:50,840 --> 01:00:52,559 ideas, or let's at least be realistic about what we're responding to. You 942 01:00:52,599 --> 01:00:55,519 want to talk about the Lebron James thing, the tweet, the Wash King, 943 01:00:55,800 --> 01:01:00,360 I'm one hundred percent here for it. But can you really get mad 944 01:01:00,639 --> 01:01:04,719 at him for doing that? Because I'm not. I'm not gonna I'm not 945 01:01:04,760 --> 01:01:07,719 going to thank you everyone in locker room who rolled with me. This was 946 01:01:07,760 --> 01:01:09,800 fun talking to y'all. We are hardwa Knox. If you've not checked out 947 01:01:09,800 --> 01:01:14,360 our actual podcast, it's a pretty good podcast. In my opinion, sub 948 01:01:14,400 --> 01:01:19,079 pleasantly sub mediocre is what I would say. We're on iTunes, Spotify, 949 01:01:19,199 --> 01:01:22,239 Stitcher, Google Play, find us all over just search Hartmwox. We're on 950 01:01:22,360 --> 01:01:25,119 your two too, Search hardw Knox. Twitter at hardware Knox. I'm at 951 01:01:25,239 --> 01:01:30,559 dan Fa Valley on Twitter. We are here weekly, normally on Sundays at 952 01:01:30,599 --> 01:01:32,159 four pm. We will not be here this Sunday at four pm. Maybe 953 01:01:32,199 --> 01:01:35,599 do a Monday night mail bag if people are interested. It seems like we 954 01:01:35,639 --> 01:01:38,400 get a lot of stragglers in here for these midweek nighttime one so perhaps that's 955 01:01:38,400 --> 01:01:42,639 something to consider. Thank you everyone for listening. Until next time. I 956 01:01:42,719 --> 01:01:46,280 leave everyone with the shout out to the one, the Only, Frank fucking 957 01:01:46,400 --> 01:01:50,320 Neila Keena. Someone signed this man soon, please,