What is krack alakin fellow thermonuclear a effort. I am a dance valley coming
at you with my certified fantabulous co host grant Us. We are on to
the Eastern Conference mailbag that we promised you before we get started. My usual
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channels, so quick clips as well from from these longer podcasts with the housekeeping
noise out of the way and under a minute. We asked the question everyone's
actually dying to know the answer to Grant, how the heck are you doing?
Like you two? Watson Abbe reacting to a Kyrie Riving tip dunk.
I am delighted to be here. Have you seen that? Did you see
his reaction to it? Yeah? That was incredible. It was just it's
like you don't always get like genuine unfettered emotion in life, and so when
you see it, like and Watson Abbe is kind of like a darling right
now. Everybody like his approval rating is like one hundred and fifty percent,
and to see him just like hands on head, just like giddy. After
Kyrie's tip dunk against I can't even remember who it was against the other day.
It was that's great. That's that's like my favorite thing is just seeing
somebody over the moon about like a silly play. Look the vibes coming out
of the nets right now, or just uncomfortably sanguine and it's making me.
It's unsettling me. It isn't. We'll talk about them, but we are
going to get to some Eastern Conference mailbag questions, as you said, as
promised, we will always deliver, and I have the Atlanta Hawks first.
If we're ready to go, let's dive in, right, Yeah, let's
cannabi. I'm gonna belly flop in I think belly flop. I'm gonna jack
knives. Jack Knife's is underrated entry technique. So this is from crabtree.
What is the hawks two to three years ceiling? And so I guess like
this is a ceiling I always think of as you know, if everything breaks
right or almost everything breaks right, Like how good is this team? To
me? It's conference finalist, which is kind of like it feels like I'm
punting because they actually have been a conference finalist essentially with this core, So
it's not the highest bar, but like to get beyond that to me,
or even to get there, because I think now in hindsight most people would
agree at that run to the twenty one conference finals was you know, it
seems hard to it's hard to believe that happened. The path wasn't that difficult
and just you know, a lot broke right, So that's kind of what
we're dealing with. But just to flash forward to now, this version of
the Hawks is one in five over the last two weeks they can't score still
their twenty second in offense. Their defense has been better than their offense this
year, which is like, I guess that's glass half full, but it's
also just what's going on. There's just not enough shooting, so their full
season numbers are roughly where they are, even though the record is really rough
over the last two weeks, last you know, ten days or so.
I just think if you look at the short term of this team, it's
kind of locked in because basically everybody's under contract next year other than Bogdanovich has
an eighteen million dollar player option, which I assume he'll opt out because these
can do, you know, at least as well over a multi year deal.
The Holiday brothers are going to be free agents. What's it going to
cost to get off John Collins? Like, should it cost anything? We've
talked about this a lot. Just I'm trying to think of ways for him.
Did you see that report just Trump take on John Collins. That's that's
never gonna not be wild to me. Even though he's shooting like twenty percent
from three and it's rough, it's bad, it looks bad right now,
but I just can't get over you. Know his age twenty three or twenty
two season, whichever it was, twenty percent from three. He played great
defense in that twenty one Conference finals round, like he was a valuable playoff
contributor. But so zooming back out, You could talk me into if everything
broke right, like Collins figures it out, young starts making shots. Uh,
you know, DeAndre Hunter is not a massive disappointment. They bring back
Ogdanovich the next two three years, you could talk me into them being better
than almost anyone in the East, than other than Boston, just because Boston's
locked in. It has a ton of talent. Like maybe the things go
bad with the Bucks, you know, Middleton doesn't re sign, Holiday gets
older, something falls apart there, Brooke Lens combustible obviously Philly. You know,
maybe Inbeat asked for a trade because we're dealing with a three year window,
so there's a lot on the table. I can't get past Boston.
I just they're just not going to be better than them, I don't think.
So. Yeah, that's about as high as I can go. And
the downside, I would add before I you know ask your thoughts are,
like the downside is this team is rebuilding within like the next eighteen months,
and like that includes Trey Young being traded, that includes Collins being gone,
that includes trying to get picks back that you gave up for de Jontay Murray.
So the downside is, I don't know how how steep that gets,
but you know, to me, it's more plausible we're talking about the Hawks
starting over in a three year window than we're talking about them as like making
the finals. I would agree with you on the overarching tentament here, which
is that it's more likely they're starting over in the next three years than not.
And even if it's that's a recalibration around Trey Young, Like I'm not
even saying it's new, you know, trade Trey, but it could be
because at that point in the next three years, you're talking about his third
contract, like we're near in the end of his second. I don't know
what the pathway to this team to getting better is. Like they should not
have made the Kevin Hurder trade. That's pretty clear they've knew John Collins's trade
value, And I just I honestly don't know when you look at them,
what is their biggest need. It feels like they have biggest needs, and
that's like a major problem when you're not a team that seems like it wants
to spend, has a bunch of assets, or even is particularly flexible moving
forward. And so, like I've tried to think of in an ideal world,
I tried to look at it this way, what would be the one
player, non superstar that you could target that would significantly drum up their current
ceiling. And I've been unable to identify that player, I think, and
I don't this is a cliche, but I was like, if it was
Oganna Noby, maybe, like, does he provide just enough shooting and shot
creation to go along with the defense where you're alleviating the burden on even DeAndre
Hunter where de Jean d. Murray has helped there. But I just I
like, and that's even still depending on what you would need Bogdanovitch to stay
in that situation, they feel like they are two or three players away being
a routine contender in the East. And there's also the thing that I can't
escape here is yes, maybe Nate McMillan isn't the ideal coach here. The
shop profile is outmoded. I think a lot of that has to do with
their personnel. Frankly, when you look at where Trey and de Jean day
Murray like to operate, but also okay, improve the coaching. Is there
something here with Trey Young and like behind the scenes locker room issues, I
don't want to overblow it, and like the Hawks have come out pretty forcefully
and said, you know, the Sham's reporting is like what do they call
it bs basically, which is like, I trust Sham's is reporting on it.
Whether it was there was actually substance, there are things we didn't know
already. That's a different story. But like there's there's been enough smoke here
for there to be fire for a while. And the fact that the report
I don't even think this was from SHAMS came out that players in the locker
room would have sided with McMillan over Trey in this scenario. If that's even
a like there's an iota of truth to that, that's a real problem.
And the other thing is just which might set them back because we've seen they've
had other changes aside from Travis Slank stepping down, we know that Landry Fields
reportedly he's more motivated than ever. Trade Collins, why did you let Schlank
go through the off season like he was the one that makes the Murray trade
extends, DeAndre Hunter goes through your draft, goes through the free agency for
trades Kevin Hurder unless Landry Fields was the final saying on that like what like
now he's gone the middle of the season and you're sort of changing regimes.
I just I don't understand the logic here, and so I don't need to
be all doing glue with the Hawks. They have a lot of talent.
I'm with you in the sense though, and maybe you have better ideas on
how to fix them or what they need. I'm with you in the sense
though, that over the next three years they're ceiling. It's conference finalists,
which is that's fine, but it's more likely not that they don't make it.
That's always more likely. It's more likely that we're talking about a full
on tear down over the next three years than them being a conference finalist.
Again. Yeah, and I think so part of the problem is, you
know, what the Hucks need is the guy, the version of DeAndre Hunter
that they thought was worth ninety million. That's like one thing. And then
I think, you know, optimized you and Capella hasn't been playing but a
kong Wu in the middle, as as just like a defensive you know,
game record. I think that solves a few things. Young not shooting thirty
one percent from three. I feel like I've mentioned that almost like every time
we talk about the Hawks, like how much different does the season look if
he's at thirty eight percent? But to me, you mentioned it, and
you don't want to overblow stuff like this, but I just have and and
no good point has ever started with I just have this feeling. But I
just have this feeling that the Tray Young stuff is real and and some of
that is the reporting and some of that is just the idea that I really
don't I can I could totally understand why he wouldn't be someone that guys like
playing with both it's some of it's the heliocentrism, but he's a great passer,
so there's like, well that offsets, you know, the fact that
he's always got the ball. But then there's also just like what makes Trey
Young great outside of the rain shooting, the great passing, the flow,
the craft, all that stuff, A lot of it's just the chip on
the should like he's really like defiant, like super confident, like loves to
kind of rile things up type of player, and that just might not be
the kind of guy that is a great teammate, Like I don't know.
I wouldn't say that if there weren't reports about the team. You know,
if it's me or him, we're going with McMillan. And that's just that
just factors into it. So it's almost as much as anything, I have
some skepticism about the Hawks, you know, mid and long term ceiling and
future, just because I totally it would never It would the farthest thing from
being shocked if it turns out that Young is just a tough guy to be
around and play with, and everybody else on that team, Collins, you
know, there's been it's been debunked and then bunked and rebunked over and over
that Collins and Young haven't seen ey'd eye. So it just feels like that's
a factor that can't be ignored when you're talking about, well, which direction
is the arrow going for this team? A. J. Griffin was a
nice find. Can I very quickly? Can I play with within the next
year? I want to play Round of keeper trade with you for Atlanta.
I'm just gonna go through some of their players, and I don't even want
an explanation. I just wanted to keep her. Trade on these guys.
Tray Young before let's say, before the twenty twenty four trade deadline is what
we'll use. Tray Young trade, Welcome, Dejante Murray, keep Bogdan mcdonovitch
going to be a free agent this year. Yeah, i'd keep him.
DeAndre Honor, trade John Collins keep damn it. No, they're gonna trade
him, but I would keep them. Clint Capella trade keep and aj Griffin.
Oh keep. We traded half of the rotation. Basically you're starting over.
Yeah, yeah, you did say keep Dejanta Murray, though, yeah,
I think I can. I don't like a scenario where he's your best
player. I just think he makes I still think the logic of pairing him
if Young works on paper, and I think if you had if he's a
guy that is a secondary you know, even he works fine as a primary
creator if there's just enough shooting around him. I mean, it was an
All Star in San Antonio with with you know, middling shooting. I don't
think it's that hard. He's almost easier to integrate than someone like Young.
But just that's as much personality as anything. I don't know. And that's
assuming you don't have to max Hunter Max Murray outs that would like it all
depends on what you're gonna have to pay him on his next deal. That
gets into and I don't want to spend more time to talk, but that
gets into an overarkling discussion. Like when he reaches free agency. I think
that free agency's gonna look maybe not vastly different, but I think it's gonna
be a little bit more competitive. Where we've seen a lot of players just
signed contracts with their team and move later. I think there might be more
player movement on the horizon, so you might need to max him to keep
him. That's a scary thought. I don't feel great about that. Let's
move on to the Boston Celtics, who are my team. Shout out Grant
by the way for labeling these so that we didn't get last time. I
figured out before we went live, but I did research on like four or
five because I fucked up the order. There was no at least not that
I know of. Maybe we'll find out now there was no mess ups at
this time thanks to him the two guests Bastard. How good is the Celtics
offense and is it as dependent on three point shooting as it seems were the
first twenty games due to unsustainably high three point percentages? Or are the last
ten or so due to unsustainably low ones? And so some background on this.
So the Celtics starts the season twenty one and five. This is how
I broke it down for them. They were first in offense one twenty one
point seven offensive rating. Their effected field goal percentage of fifty nine point six
was first by a country mile. Basically, Denver was second at fifty eight.
Over their last twelve games, they're twenty sixth in offense at one twelve
offensive rating. Their affective field goal percentage has dropped by more than seven points
to fifty one point six. That is twenty seven, So there are the
bottom five of both offensive rating and effected field goal percentage. They're shooting from
three during the twenty one and five stretch forty point eight percent across the board,
both in the corner and above the break that led the league by a
comfortable not really. Denver shot the three ball well during that stretch, but
forty point eight percent that ranked first in the league. Over their last twelve
games, they are thirtieth at thirty point five percent on threes, including under
thirty percent from above the break. To break this down one final time,
during their twenty one and five stretch, they shot forty three point six percent
on wide open threes. During this stretch, they were shooting thirty one point
three percent on wide open threes. This is with wide open threes accounting for
basically the same share of their total shot attempts, and so that hasn't changed
at all. That leads me to believe that we're just simply experiencing peaks and
valleys right now, and there will be a middle ground. And when you
look at this stretch, their highest volume three point shooters are and this is
an order of their attempts per game, Jayon Brown thirty one point eight percent,
Jason Tatum thirty point nine percent, Marcus Smart thirty point five percent,
Al Horford thirty nine point six percent due to God, Malcolm Brogden twenty eight
point nine percent, Derek White twenty two point two percent, Sam Houser twenty
eight point nine percent. And so you're looking at their seven, their top
seven in terms of volume three point shooters, all being demonstratively below the league
average, not just not just what they were shooting before their league average.
When you look at those names Tatum, Brown, Brogden, Sam Houser,
for sure, there's going to be some progression to a mean. Now,
do I think that Boston's offense was too reliant on threes? I don't,
because their three point at temph three was never astronomically high. It's always hovered
around like ten twelve for the season, and even now you know, as
the as their bricklaying, it is currently at their third so like, yes,
it's up there in three point a tenth three. Could you pull back
from that? It seems like they've got away from driving and dribble penetration a
little bit. They were doing Jason Tatum specifically a good job of getting more
to the foul line. Yes, you can get back to some of that.
I don't think. Did they have one of the five best offenses in
NBA history? I thought on paper that was probably always fluky, and a
lot of it did have to do with the three point shooting. I'm not
worried about their offense long term. I think there's enough varying layers here to
where they'll figure it out. And also they've had to reintegrate Robert Williams the
third during this stretch, and that changes the geometry of your floor, and
that's something that they're gonna have to get used to. What do I think,
Like, you know, we see the extremes bottom five offense versus the
best offense in the league, I probably think they should still be settled into
not even just for the year because we know the first twenty six games will
skeewe that, but they should be a top ten to twelve offense like that.
Twelve feels like almost their floor just because of the level of individual shop
makers and creators that they have. And so no, I'm not worried.
If you're if their path to winning the title was, oh they're they're,
you know, one of the five best defense and five best offenses, I
think it's fair to question whether they fall under that umbrella. But I don't
view anything here as sinister that they need to make some type of move at
the trade deadline. They have a nice little tidy trade exception to be good
if they could do something with it or willing to pay the luxury TAXI,
you know, penalties for using it. That being said, this is still
they are probably Honestly, look, they're probably the safest bet to come out
of the East when you look at what's happening in Milwaukee. Will get to
them, Brooklyn, you just will get to them too. But I mean,
why are you gonna trust Brooklyn. Philly's tearing it up right now,
like what is Miami going through. They've gotten a little bit better, So
I would say Boston's probably the safest bet in the East. And that hasn't
I didn't pick them to come out of the East. I picked the Bucks
and I'll stick to it. But that this hasn't moved me in the direction
of panic. I don't know about you. No, I agree with pretty
much everything you said. I think if the short answer to the question of
how good is the Celtics offense is it's good enough. You know, it
doesn't have to be great, like it's good enough now. And I think
specifically with a team like this, there aren't a lot of teams that I
give this kind of leeway to. But you know, they were in the
finals, They've made deep playoff runs. They you know, they look totally
likely to do that. Again, I kind of am more interested in the
highs and like the stretches where they're playing really great than I am concerned by
the lows, which you know, there's just been a ton of variants.
We're all we're trafficking in small samples, you know, cutting the season up
into ten and fifteen game increments. Even so, it's like, I just
valued now, the shooting to start the season was totally unsustainable. It was
just everybody was shooting forty whatever percent on good four percent of wide open threes.
It's just like next level stuff. Yeah, it's just that wasn't ever
gonna last. But I think it's pretty compelling that they did. They did
sustain that for you know, what would have been a long chunk of the
playoff run. And that's all it really takes, like if you have the
capacity, if you have the shooters, and I think Boston does have enough,
like genuinely good shooters to say they could run that hot against playoff competition
over a couple series or even more than that. For sure, I guess
it's as likely that they could run cold like they have for other stretches this
season. But I just like the highs. The highs matter more with a
good contender like this, I would say the only really quickly, sorry to
interrupt you, because I rambled for five minutes, was who was the actual
outlier throughout that entire stretch was Derek White. And I guess if you want
to go Marcus Smart to talk, but when you see Marcus Smart run hot
for an entire season basically from three, yeah, No, it's just the
overarching thing is when you're talking about a team that's as good as the Celtics,
I think just when they show that they can hit a really high level,
it just matters more than when they slump, because I think even internally
it's kind of like, well, we're bulletproof and then you let your guard
down a little bit, and then that contributes some along with variants and just
randomness and regression of the mean. But that's a factor two for teams that
are this good. I think, speaking of teams that are this good,
the Brooklynness that's so good the brook the Nets have won a trillion games in
a row. They're the best offense in all the land. They're grade at
everything. And so this question is from not Grant Hughes at all. Come
on, get at us Brooklyn Nets fans for a question here. This is
why I've sent out four solicitations in total to our two to our discord,
one from Hardwoo Knox Twitter, one from MBA Mats Twitter. Where are you
at? Nets fans? And Clippers fans kind of let us down this time.
Maybe maybe they just don't care about anything until the playoffs, but for
sure as hell don't, that's for sure. Yeah. So we talk all
the time about how we started the season, talking about how like, well
it's it already was a tire fire, it seemed like, and the combustion
potential was off the charts, the most high variance team in the league.
Take that off the table for the Nets. Take Kyrie's gonna say or do
something crazy. Uh, they're gonna try to get Jock bonfired for some reason,
like take all the like on the trade, like take all that off
the table, take all the like. No way this is happening again to
this team. So why shouldn't we believe the Nets can make the finals if
we just pretend? And this is kind of like this is purely a thought
exercise, because I don't think it's safe to pretend this that none of that
stuff is going to creep in and kind of derail what's been one of the
best runs of any team this season, even though the schedule and hasn't been
all that tough. But whatever, Like a winning streak like this is still
a winning streak like this. So to me, there's just there's only a
couple of areas you really look at, and almost all of them can be
just over there, papered over, overcome by incredible shot making, which this
team just has, you know, up and down the roster, particularly Durant
Irving, you know, Curry, Harris, t J. Warren looks really
good to me in limited stints. They're a little small. Nick Lackson has
been awesome, but there only other real center that they play is Darron Sharp
and and like, I get it, you want to use Ben Simmons there
if you can. Kadie can play some center. They're a little small,
Like this is a problem for everybody, but like, what do you do
with MB in a playoff series? That's just that's really difficult for this team
even you, honest I think probably poses a similar problem where there's just aren't
enough like bulky deterrence inside. Not the length is there because durance long and
they can play a lot of forwards and wings that can have some reach,
But that's an issue. It's tied to the defense. I think rebounding has
been a problem for this team for most of the year. So through November
they were twenty first and offensive rebound rate fourteenth and defense or though they were
dead last and both through November. Since December, during this run started twenty
first and fourteenth and offensive and defensive rebound rate respectively. That's improved a little.
That's still probably not good enough. I'm wondering if the sorry Ben Simmons
clacks ten minutes now working, I wonder if that's helped there. I haven't
looked at the rebounding percentages of those lineups, but I'm wondering if that maybe
has helped them stabilize a little bit. It does, and they're a little
like the Celtics, where you know, the off can be good enough,
everything else can just be good enough, and then Durant is unstoppable and Irving
can get you thirty on seventeen shots, and like that's just the recipe for
winning. So size defense, I guess you could question their shot profile.
They're really reliant on just making mid rangers. So their first and effective field
goal percentage this year, but they're twenty ninth in location based effective field goal
percentage. But that's the Kyrie kd effect, right. How big a concern
is that if you just know that the guys that take the most shots are
really good at shots that you know theoretically you should not take. It's a
little bit like we talk about the suns, you know, the last couple
of years. Oh, they're mid range. Well it's like if Devin Booker
and Chris Paul are taking all your mid rangers, they're just gonna make a
disproportionate amount. So I guess the other big one is like, how good
how useful is Simmons going to be in a playoff series? Yeah? I
mean, like he's still I think I read the other day he hasn't taken
a free throw. Since he hasn't made a free throw since November twenty five,
that's problematic. Can he be on the floor at the end of games?
I don't know. And he's so valuable to their defense that if you
can't play him, then suddenly it's Claxton and like Royce O'Neil's playing the only
other guy you'd really trust Durant. Maybe. So there's a few things,
but I just come back to like, if you're telling me that this isn't
going to blow up for non basketball reasons, then we just have to We
just have to view the nets as as as dangerous as like literally anybody else.
I don't have any other concerns other than what does Ben Simmons look like
in the playoffs? And then what's the Kyrie Irvan Wildcar factor? I honestly
don't have anything to add to you. I will say that I think people
might be underrating how valuable Nick Claxton is. It's probably already the single most
switchable actual center in the league. Opponents are shooting this year. His rim
protection has never been better. Boast is that bolt? Is that like zero
like level stop gap? Or someone's coming over as helper, or someone's breaking
up place from behind they're shooting, And I was looking this up. I'm
getting used to a second screen. That's why you see me staring off here
rather than shaking my laptop my first laptop here. Fifty point nine percent against
the classon at the rim. There have been thirty eight players who can test
at least one hundred fifty shots at the rim. Only Draymond and Jane McDaniels
have better limiting percentages there. And his offense has been spectacular. I'm not
even talking about like rolling finishing at the basket. He's shooting like eighty percent
at the rim. Led the league in field goal percentage last time I checked.
But he's hitting like fifty percent of his hook shots. He's putting a
ball on the floor. I posted actually a clip of him because I was
watching him, and so I posted some clips of like his more complicated usage.
People on Twitter comment think they're like some of these drives drives. They
thought it was Kevin Durant. That's a huge swing piece. This is a
player they almost traded for protected first round pick. That's the only thing I
have to add is that the only thing that's preventing the Nets from winning a
title, my eyes, my own skepticism which leads me to this is from
not Dan for Valley at all. Ken Kevin Durant win the MVP Award?
Is it? And I guess it's Is it fair to hold what happened against
him in the discussion and why's the answer. That's just gonna say that that's
the question, because I don't know how you get over Well, the MVP
is just such a cluster anyway, because like what's value? You know,
what's valuable? Is it on the court stuff only? Is it offense only?
Do we care about catch all metric? You know, because Durant just
excels in so many of those areas. But how do you get past?
I'll say this, I don't think voters are gonna get past the fact that
he really tried more than once to just blow the team up. And I
guess it's a credit to how great he is that he just came back and
is playing at an MVP level. Like, I don't think that's really debatable.
But I just don't know how you get past how anyone's going to get
past the other stuff. Here's my thing. And I saw I can't remember
which podcast I was listening to. They were commending Durant's leadership, leading this
team through the Kyrie Irving stuff, leading this team through his own trade demand,
but Steve Nash firing, no, you absolutely can hold it. He
might be the most valuable player in the NBA. But the nets were in
lurch. Does the roster look any different or is it any better if he
doesn't make his trade demand. You were the one that wanted the coach fired,
and so like, you didn't lead this team through anything that you didn't
create. Like, and I'm not going to give you bonus points for navigating
the Kyrie stuff because first of all, you did it quite poorly if we're
being honest, And two, like, I don't want to hear another fucking
thing about his love of basketball. That is awesome. Kevin Durant is an
underdog when you look at his life trajectory, everyone like if there are people
in like not this league isn't filled with Andrew Bynum's who are only playing because
like they make a lot of money and that was their best you know,
occupational option. I don't even know how to phrase that. Ever, these
players love the game. That's why they're here, That's why they're at the
level. That's why most of them invest time in their craft. It's that
it's the money. You might be the famous celebrities accommodation of everything. Kevin
Durant is not like on some it's not so higher power because you think Kevin
Durant loves the game less than Steph Curry, Like, I just you think
Kevin Durant loves the game less than Lebron James for them, and that's why
Lebron's Lakers have fallen apart. Doesn't love the game enough. Maybe if the
station his career, he doesn't. I don't want to fucking hear it,
Like, if he's so love of the game that he wanted to be traded
from Brooklyn, have his coach in general manager fired. No, I'm just
that is and I think, and I'm part of this, and I wanted
and I'll try, and I'll be remedying something in my next MVP ladder.
I have artific I don't know if it's artificially. I've held him back in
the MVP discussion because of this where it's like he should probably be one two
or three at worst based on the body of work from him, the minutes
that he played, especially at the start of the year. I just think
that if we're going to talk about teams, like if wins and losses are
a players stat, because the player has to come from this really good team,
you know what, a player has to prove to me that he's not
trying to submarine that team. Well, it's like if if a pilot of
a commercial airliner like sees a couple of clouds and so I don't like those
clouds. I'm gonna fly into the middle of this Category five hurricane and then
somehow like makes it out, like everyone thinks we're all dead on this plane
and he makes it out. Do you applaud the pilot? Like is that
are we is? Like doesn't the first thing matter as much as the second
thing? Like you, it's just's just the self created problem that you managed
to navigate, just like, don't start the problem, like I don't matter,
I don't mean it's It's also like I don't remember the show that this
came from now, Like I was watching a show away back when, and
like someone set a fire in their school chemistry room. They put it out
and then they got an award for putting out the fire, and I don't
remember what show it was, Like That's that's what Kevin Durant did, is
he helped if it wasn't him who set it on fire, he handed like
the matches over to other people to do it for him, and then he
put it out and just he's been terrific. He can be your MVP.
But let's not pretend that like his love of the game transcend it all here
like fuck that fuck. Let's keep coming up with analogy. If you jump
into the lion cage and he dragged twelve people with you, and then look,
Kevin Durant understands his why more than anybody else in the league. That's
that's why the Nets are here. Kevin Durant understands his why. He might
have been he was clearly right about Steve Nash, but that also kind of
goes on him because the Steve Nash get hired without Kevin Durant says, well,
yeah, let's not be naive. He at least said, cool,
let's do it at absolute minimum. And I don't mean Kevin Durant is one
of the ten greatest basketball players of all time. He's probably been wire to
wire the best player in the NBA this season? Is he the most valuable
player in the NBA this season? Just putting out your own fires count as
value. Who's this? Are we ready to hop onto my team, which
is there's Charlotte Hornets and we have We had more than one question on the
Charlotte Hornets. I appreciate that horns fans usher which duo would you rather see
with Wemby, Kayden Wemby or Lamello and Wemby. I chose just to do
it make it more interesting, because I think Detroit has more young talent than
Charlotte. I would rather see. Oh my god, I'd rather see LaMelo
and Wemby. Let's just get this dude some fucking help. I think Cade
and then having Jade and Ivy, Killian, Hayes and Wemby and that Core
and Detroit would be objectively better right out of the gate. But also,
like, I want Wemby to get as much opportunity as possible on the ball.
And if you have Jaden and Killian and Kaide, but especially Kade and
Jayden, how like does that limit his development? Also, Jalen Duran is
there too, like him and Isaiah Stuart aren't guys. They're gonna clog up
the pipeline for Wemby, but it is part of the equation. So give
me LaMelo and Wemby, and then Wemby just automatically your second option, and
let's just let let let's see him cook on Charlotte and give some hope to
the Hornets franchise in general, which I think is the most hopeless team the
league. We we name them the most hopeless team the league. But also
just that's it kind of I want to see players. I don't want to
get into the talk of well, what's LaMelo gonna do next after he signs
this extension. I want to just envision him being there because I like when
organizations, unless they just so blatantly run them out of town, which the
Hornets might be doing at this point, I want to see Lamello stay there.
I want to see all these like I want to see smaller markets have
have their why have their core and when LaMelo would just be so much fun
to me. I don't know where you landed on this. No, it's
it's LaMelo one hundred percent. And it's like, yeah, the Hornets need
when ban Yama the most, but they kind of deserve him the least.
So the way to put it, some part of me is is hesitant,
but just like I think, I think LaMelo is full stop one of the
best passers in the league, and there's just not a lot of places to
put the ball for him on this team, and just like, well,
let's bring in the guy with the widest catch radius of all time, like
imagine the lobs imagine, you know. And I think too, if there's
anything to worry about with when Bin Yama, it's that he can do.
He'll be able to do so much as a rookie just based on you know,
it's gonna be hard to tell him not to take tough threes just or
just really go into his bag because I mean, he's gonna rightfully believe he
can do that stuff. But I think it will help a lot if there's
someone on his team that's just a high level thinker, distributor passer, just
because maybe the you know, four or five easy buckets he would get from
LaMelo. Not that Kade is you know, any you know is incapable of
that kind of stuff, but LaMelo is just a dynamic facilitator of like cool
shit. So I think I think having Mbiamba get easy stuff will be helpful
and Mabe prevent him from you know, falling into the crowd pleasing trap or
the like I'm just gonna do this myself, I think, I think esthetically,
and I think for his development, probably playing with LaMelo is better.
Charlotte also as much as their rosters just like man, they can't carve out
better spacing. I would think around So let's say Mark Williams, Lamello and
Wemby, you would have Terry Rozier just to get up shots and volume there
and then if hey word is healthy for some reason next season. So where
it's Detroit, it's like Jay and Ivy such a question mark there than playing
him with Duran and because Ivy so ball dominant where Terry Rozier is not.
And I would also although Wemby Durhan is the more intriguing from court pairing,
Mark Williams and Wemby could do some awesome shit together too. Next Hornet's question
comes from RMM, what are some realistic deals the Hornets can do at the
trade deadline? And I'll preface this by saying, I don't think they need
to do anything because they're going to be organically bad enough to just be in
the the Wemben Yama sweepstakes or Scoot Henderson who had like this. I don't
know if you saw the Scoot Henderson dunk on Wednesday night, Tuesday night,
Oh my god, talk about that is like I'll take that consolation prize,
so with Charlotte, and I'm not looking to get players that can help me
per se this season. I'm looking to load assets up for the future.
And I want draft pick flexibility because of the way that I protected the pick
that I don't even remember who owns it at point because it's been it's bounced
around the league so many times. There it's to Denver, but it's like
it's Lotto protected the next three years. So this year, twenty two four
and twenty twenty five, I'm looking at just what can I get for guys
that I either shouldn't be investing in or won't be here long term. Jail
McDaniel is going to be a free agent. I think he'd get a second
for him, like not a great second, but like a second Terry Rose
year in the first of a four year extension that's basically fully guaranteed his partial
guarantee on the final years, like twenty four point eight million of twenty seven.
It's just wild. I don't understand what like, I don't I just
want to know what went into that at all. I don't think you're gonna
get net positive value for him. But if you just want flexibility to get
his money off the books. Maybe in a shorter amount of time. The
Lakers to me are off the table with Westbrook. They're going nowhere, and
Westbrook's been good off the bench, But like, what about a team that
won't would they be would teams to be a willing to send back expiring money
or close to it for Terry Rose year and so two that I thought of
Milwaukee, if you build stuff, if you're at the Hornets and willing to
facilitate a step ladder trade Grayson Allen, George Hill's salary, you have,
like Jordan Wara makes a little bit of money there as well. It's like
you can get to bringing back or Joe Angels if you want to give him
up. Obviously, you can get to bring back Tarry Rozier. And I
think he might help out I know you don't necessarily want him to dribble a
ton, but he might help out Milwaukee's half court offense. The other one
I thought about, and I don't know if they would do this Orlando with
Tary Rozier, Like maybe they don't want to go to the consolidation route like
you have some just Jonathan Isaac and Terrence ross Is expiring money for starters,
and you can flesh out other types of deals there. So I would look
at can get off Tarry Rozier's money. Caspace doesn't mean the world in Charlotte,
and I do think Rosier is valuable. We just talked about his facing.
This year has been for most of it a down shooting year for him,
but a lot of that was look at the burden they placed upon him
earlier in the season. I get what you would want to keep him,
but you're also not at the stage where it's like, well, we like
Terry Rozier, I there's number for the next three years just doesn't make a
ton of sense. So I don't know if you have any I'll throw it
to you after I have two more players to talk about. But, like
Terry Rozier, any teams bringing to mind for you or would you just keep
them? If you're Charlotte, I think the Clippers or another team you might
look at, just because the beyond, you know, John Wall has kind
of has faded a little bit, and then you're just kind of looking at
Reggie Jackson. I think what the Clippers might say is how much better is
Terry Rozier than like a healthier, you know, good version of Reggie Jackson.
They're somewhat similar. But a team like that that just Orlando is a
great, a great option just because to get a guard in there that could
kind of run things would be would and shoot, it would be would be
final. It's it's it's really it's a veteran team. It's a team that
is looking to consolidate a little bit. The Clippers are the only I mean,
I think you covered a pretty well, but the Clippers are the one
that jumped in mind first for me. Clippers are interesting, so it's sort
of like, would you prefer Terry Rozier over Marcus Morris and Luke Kennard?
Though it could be Marcus Morris or tryor Zier straight up and the Clippers can
get away with that, right A distant pick to sweeten it, I mean,
Morris, I think is someone that you know, the Clippers just have
such a log job. If I'm if I'm Charlote, I might do that
straight up, just because there's only one more year of Morris. I'm like,
yeah, plays that you could play him at the four small ball five.
Maybe he's a better alternative than PJ. Washington. Who's my next player?
Can you get a first for PJ Washington? I don't know which team
would do that at this point. Maybe Miami the I thought about the Pelicans.
They're not giving up a first round pick for him after the Zion injury.
Phoenix maybe, but what can you get. He's gonna be in restricted
freeency. UNS think you're gonna keep him for like twelve million a year or
something. I would argue, we never see these teams make these moves.
But I would argue, it's time to move on. And then finally,
Gordon Hate oh PJ Washington? Any PJ Washington teams would you keep? Trade
him? What would you do with him? If you could tell? If
you told me I could keep him for twelve a year, I'd probably just
hold on to him. I just don't know what the market is going to
be in restricted free agency for him. Miami's good. I just the number
it's really for him because he has his uses, right, Like you know,
you lose a little bit when you play him at the five defensively,
but he's like fine defensively as a for something. Most of the time.
He don't play five now at all. He's proven he can shoot it.
He's young enough to where you're probably gonna get this level or better for the
next you know, three, four or five years. If I could keep
him at a salary that's like low end starter slash like sixth seventh, eighth
guy, which is probably twelve to fifteen, I'm I'm fine with that,
just I just don't know the restrictive free agencies of If you're trading for him,
you just have to know you have to. It's got to be a
wink, you know, handshake thing, and that's hard to do when any
other team can come in with an offer sheet. So I would probably move
him though if i'm then because I think he ends up costing Grand Williams is
gonna get fetch a pretty penny. I think Grand Williams is better than people
watching Clear. But that's like sort of a like market parallel for him that
I think might drum up his number. Maybe we'll be wrong. His three
ball has started to fall a little bit more recently, though, so if
he can if he hits those, I think that'll of his markets. Kellybridge
Junior injury unless you're using him to take back bad money. At this point,
he had surgery when he was kind of putting it off all season.
I don't like you could move in, but like, if he's actually gonna
return this season, I don't You're not getting a first round pick for him
anymore if you ever were. Hayward to me seems immovable with the final year
left on his deal after this season and the fact that he's been so injured.
But I did think, like, would you if you're the Hornets this
time, trade you should be thinking about what would Dallas give you to consolidate
long term salary into Gordon Hayward. And that's Davis Burton's Tim Hardaway junior at
this point, maybe it's JaVale McGee is on that list as well, And
I don't if you're demanding a first round pick for that, they probably say
hell no because like they're not gonna trade. But if you're if you want
like Josh Green or Jaden Hardy, is that something you consider if your Dallas
is that too much for you? Would you rather just play this out?
Because you kind of divested Chris Stops's contract into these two more like into these
more digestible numbers, But Davis Burton's is just such a non entity for you,
So that might be a team that I could see saying, oh hey,
like if Hayward was actually playing and then he'd had the money to get
there, they would they would be interesting for him just because that Duncan Robinson
deal. But that's just that's too low level on the deal spectrum. The
Dallas has two. I know Tim Hartwo Junior has been better, but his
contract office is contract. Maybe even if you don't want Spencer Dinwood's contract,
though I don't necessarily know why you would prefer Hayward over him at this point.
Yeah, I think I would consider it for Hardy if Hardy's the sweetener
and going with the bad salary back. I like MAVs fans, just like
through darts. I just part of it's I really like Josh Green a lot,
but the idea of like a healthy ish or as healthy as he ever
gets Hayward on the MAVs, it makes a lot of sense to me.
It's just, you know, the MAVs have changed a little bit how they
played. It's still Luca you know, almost all the time, but another
guy like Hayward really does move the ball well and he's been a good shooter.
It's just like, are we what are we are we chasing a version
of Hayward that's never gonna exist again? Like that's a concern. And then
you know, depending on how the MAVs want a time really hunting that real
second guy. Having Haywards thirty one and a half million on the books next
year is get more valuable to have, let's say the smaller contracts with Davis
McGee and Tim Hardaway Junior to move with. Let's say they're pick conveys to
the Knicks their best offer, and I think it'll pay on comparison to others
because they don't have Josh Green and Jane Like those aren't blue chit prospects.
But are those salaries plus four first and three swaps better than let's say,
Gordon Hayward's one salary four first and three. Like it's cleaner with Hayward,
But teams might prefer the maaluability of just having the smaller deals. It's just
that Haywards also comes off the books, dobas for Tom's and Tim's Hardaway juniors
do not. Yeah, I think normally you'd want more pieces in the mid
tier salary ranges because it's just easier to do stuff with those, But the
fact that you know, talking about next year thirty one and a half expiring,
that's just that's one you dump on some team with cap space if you
need to and throw a pick in there, or you use it as in
to aggregate and get like some crazy you know star that wants out like That's
so if you're we're getting way away from Charlotte, I guess because Alice wants
to package him with something to the Wizards to get Bradley Beal and the Wizards
say this is we don't have to pay anybody after this year. That's appealing,
But but we're three We're three trades down down the pipeline at this point.
I'm happy that you have this next team. Yeah, because I didn't
want them. I got the Bulls. This is from Everything Blacks. The
bull situation isn't completely unsalvageable, is it? This year might be lost,
but the roster seems closer to eating a few tweaks rather than a full tear
down. Disagree. Uh So this is a win now roster, and you
have to call it a win now roster just not just because of the age
of like the Rosan Vukovich, but because of the pick equity that was given
up to sort of put this roster together to win. Now, roster that's
not winning. They're they're okay lately, you know they they're four and three
in there last seven. They've had worse stretches. Unsalvageable was a strong term,
but it applies here because if what you're attempting to salvage is like an
Eastern Conference contender, that's just not here. It's more, it's not just
tweaks, it's the principles are not good enough, and the you know,
the role players are you know, secondary, they're ancillary to the real problems,
which is you're paying a bunch of money to players that are supposed to
be your best guys and they're just not They're not good enough, they don't
fit well enough together. There's reports that Levine and de Rozen have had friction,
players only meeting stuff that's all driven by your best players, Like,
no ninth man is the one that's saying we got to sit down in the
locker room and hash this out because I don't get along with the twelfth Man.
It's not that's not how it works. So you have hope that happened.
I really hope that that happens all the time in the NBA, because
that's great. So, yeah, I like, are the tweaks that you
get, you know, hypothetically Bonzo Ball is magically back and he's the connector
that's been missing and the second perimeter defender it's been missing. Maybe I don't
know if that's a tweak. At this point, you need a defensive anchor.
Vuchovich ain't that guy. You need Pat Williams to be better. You
need him to have a usage rate above like fourteen percent, and you need
him. You know, he's shooting forty percent from deep, but he just
doesn't it's such a like a hack criticism, but like he just doesn't do
enough. It's just there if you watch him, they are long stretches on
both ends of the over were you just don't feel him right. So and
it's great if you shoot forty percent on low volume and you can defend,
but it's just that's just that's not fourth pick stuff, especially you know,
a couple of years into the into the career, even if he's missed time.
So I don't feel like tweaks are are are the issue? Just a
couple of things because this is usually more your territory. But so like,
if if this isn't it, if this is unsalvageable, Lavine's the guy that's
got to go. It can't because he's gonna bring you back the most.
You can't do it till January fifteenth. But like, where are the teams
that are saying, we've gotta have Zach Lavine at that number, like just
gotta well, we're backing up the truck for him. It's like Miami just
because they hunt stars. I don't think Lowry and a pick gets you like
anywhere close. You got to throw in more stuff, and the Heat just
are still a little short on assets. The Clippers again, just because you
can throw Norman Powell and Filler and they can move some distant like twenty eight,
twenty nine firsts like that. I don't know. Orlando definitely needs a
guard that can score and they could throw Isaac and Suggs and Bomba and give
back that twenty three first. Let's have these two teams deal again and maybe
another like it's just how many we'll get to this with the Knicks because I'm
gonna bring up Lavine again, but I just don't know where I don't know
where the team is. That says we're going to replenish your draft assets and
give you, you know, not terrible salary because we've gotta have zach Lavine
and we've got to have him at the deadline. So that's that's ultimately the
biggest challenge. And that's like, that's not a tweak, that's a you
know, a fundamental how do we fix this team question? Yeah, and
Zach Levine has been a lot better lately too, but his knees are super
concerning. Like you said, he's younger than Bradley Beale, I think by
a year or two, but the cot and he's cheaper, but the contract
is still like four years out. On that as a concern, I think
Miami's a smart one. I kind of thought about Brooklyn build stuff around Ben
Simmons and all the picks that you have in your cachet now. And if
you don't know that Kyrie's going to be there long term, is that something
you look at. Toronto could use him. I don't know what they would
be willing to give up for him and does he fit into the project six
nine whatever they're trying to do, But you would have to put you know,
why do the Bulls want Fred van Fleet? And that's Fred van Fleet.
In that scenario, you're gonna have to probably use Ogan and Obi or
Scotty Barnes. And I wouldn't trade Scotty Barnes for I might even trade Ojan
and Obi for him at this point. And I think that's what's complicated to
me is I think that Zach Lavine is still an exceptional player, and that
the fact that he's been better gives the Bulls hope. And then if you
look at the core of DeRozan, Caruso, Lonzo and Lavine next season,
like that's real, But how are you building upon that now? Bohich has
been fine this season. I just don't know that he's the answering the long
term. Like you don't have your own all in trade package to go anymore.
Like the Patrick Williams mysterity is worn off detO with Kobe White. I
would assume it would be super valuable to someone as for sure, but like
you've hamstrung yourself with the amount of picks that you can give up, and
so how do you It's even if the Bulls are better than this, which
were the healthy Lonzo and Zach Ldn playing the way he is now, and
if they start beating teams that they should beat rather than just getting up against
the good opponents, they should be better than this. But we talk about
what's the hawks ceiling over the next three years. I think the Bulls ceiling
is lower than the Hawks, in part because they're probably even less valuable when
you look at the trade market to buy than Atlanta would be. Yeah,
I agree with that, is that itight on Chicago. That's all I got.
So that brings us up to a call Eveland. So we have I
should probably loop a few of these. Let's loop this first two together.
On Donovan Mitchell, Ippo Ougi Flirk asked, when did you realize that Donovan
Mitchell is the greatest Cavalier of all time? And stupid Jerk asked, can
we get a heat check on the Donovan Mitchell on whether Dono Mitchell can or
can't be the best player on a championship contender? Take So what's interesting about
that is I don't know where either of us landed on whether we thought he
could be the best player on the contended to leading into the season. I
do think we both thought Darius Garland was going to be the Calv's best player
this year and that long term it would be Evan Mobley. I started to
recalibrate a little bit on how obviously Dono Mitchell has been better than Darius Garland
at this point and he is the best player for what. I was listening
to Chase Down podcast and reaction to his seventy one point game, and Justin
rowan friend of the podcast, Excellent what he does, said that he didn't
really questify the Cavs is like one of those foremost contenders. I might be
there for them, and Donov Mitchell is already their best player. If he
can't be maybe he can't be the best player on a universal contender, but
the way that the Calves are built, he can absolutely be the best player
on this version of a title team. He's shooting lights out on off the
dribble threes. It'd be nice if they played a little bit faster at points,
not just in transition but in the half court. But he's so good
at playing off of others as well. And numerous people have said this,
and I didn't watch in real time. I took the night off because it
was my birthday and I'm vain as fuck, but going back and watching like
there was nothing in organic about the seventy one points, basically like he had
what do you have tennisis lemnosis and they very much needed Garland wasn't playing,
Mobile, wasn't playing, so they needed him to have that role. But
he's so much more adaptable than I think people gave him credit for in Mars,
part because Utah they had like these tertiary guys, but they were always
either like two middle rung or towards the tail end of their primes. And
Mike Conley or like I said, Joe Angels or Boyanmardonovitch, like they're ball
handling specialists or secondary options when they are another I'm mary. So his adaptability
is really shining through here, and yes it helps it. He gives a
damn on defense again, So I don't know. I don't know where I
landed on the take leading and I'll probably say that I didn't think he could
be the best player on a contender, but I thought he made the Calves
a contender. I will update my take to say I believe the Calves are
a real threat to come out of the East now and Loan Donovan Mitchell is
their best player. Yeah, I think when we talked about him shortly after
the trade, I know that I thought that this is a good trade.
But the version of the Calves that wins the title has Evan Mobley as their
best player. And I'm starting, I mean, as I'm trending up on
Mitchell as like, yeah, because of what you said, if your other,
if your other like secondary players are have been All Stars and could be
All Stars again and are young and are going to develop like that, maybe
that gets you away from we've got to have a top five, top ten
guy. If Donovan Mitchell is like the twelfth best player in the league,
that's maybe enough. Provided that the Calves do figure out the small forward spot
and just get a big wing that can guard and make threes like that,
that to me is still the missing piece. But like, I don't want
to take anything away because so much of what we look at in well can
this guy be the guy on a title winner is when things slow down and
you need buckets late in games like that's a that's a signature skill. And
if you're in an account for ninety nine points in a game with your seventy
one points and you're eleven assists, Like, I feel like that question is
kind of answered. If you need a bucket, Mitchell, I think,
is as good an option, you know, short of the absolute Kevin Durant,
Steph Curry's, Luca's as bad as good as you're gonna get in that
regard. So yeah, I think or do we need to recalibrate as a
fair question? But it all sort of to me Hinges on the Calves being
still just like one guy away there's next question on the Cavs came from Luke
Jay thirty seven. I saw Zach Low say the Calves were looking for a
short term wing option via trade who's most gettable and who would be the best
for them most gettables, like for Concord mos so like something like. But
so I said, I'm want to do this later on with the Pacers,
but can you will you play who says no? With me? I came
up with a few Cavs trades. Okay, carous leavert for Marcus Morris.
That's just a good trade. I'm I don't I don't think anybody says no
to that because they're another creator. I think that's valuable. I don't know
it doesn't get weird with Reggie Jackson John Wallavert on the same team, like
you could maybe a little bit, but that's a weak area of weakness.
I do think that Morris might be a little big and slow to guard the
threes that he would theoretically up to guard. But maybe Mobile makes that fine,
and Alan makes that fine. I like that trade. I'm carous Leavert
and Isaaca Coro and two seconds for Gary tren Jr. And a contract that
Toronto's looking to dump, whether it's Chris Bouchet or more likely Ken Birch.
I think that if anybody says no Toronto, well that's another two. I
don't hate either of those because I think Trent gives you some of the shooting
and is at least disruptive defensively when he's at his best. A little smaller
than I want for that. That three for the Cavs, But like from
Toronto's perspective, you don't know if you're going to have any control over Trent
because of that player option, So I think you take back a flyer on
a Koro and whatever else you can. I think that makes total sense for
them too. This one is Cody Martin has not come back from a knee
injury yet. He's appeared in one game this season, but he did just
sign a contract basically at the what was less not basically at the mid level,
was less than the mid level exception. So he's under a team control
for the next four years essentially if you want him at no more than eight
point seven million dollars. But again, he's playing one game this season.
So Cody Martin for Dylan Windler and Lamar Stevens and if there's a second round
pick that needs to go in there. My gut instinct with Cleveland might say
no because they seem to really like Lamar Stevens. But you can sprinkle in
other money. It's not gonna be Dean Wade like you could get. What
would you do even you know Isaaco Coro for Cody Martin straight up you could
do? Who says not? I mean, I'd rather have Caleb. Can
we just make can we can we pull some Shenanigans and have it be Caleb
Martin. He's their only option at the four side from Jimmy Butler now that
Yovich is injured, and I guess they have Haywood Highsmith too, But still
yeah, No, I have Martin's not playing as as a factor. And
for do they like Lamar Stevens the Cavs or is it just like he's the
only guy that we can throw out there that's just gonna guard really hard.
I think I would prefer for with him to just get off Isaaco Coro for
Cody Martin. I'm not gonna lie. Yeah, I think the I think
we know what we know all we need to know about a Coro at this
point. I think I have a couple more here. Okay, So would
you do Van Fournier, Cam Reddish and two seconds for Lavert and Dylan Windler?
I don't think so. I think the Cavs say no, they're Fournier
feels like dead money and like is it a flyer on Reddish? If this
is now, you know, let's take a shot on him. Is he
a third draft guy? Now? I don't know how much stock I could
put in Reddish anymore? Would you do Dylan Windler and Isaaca Coro for Gary
Harris? Mmm? I think I probably would. I still feel like I
think maybe I'm just a little too too rosie about Gary Harris. I still
think he's denver Gary Harris. That just backcuts really well off Yokich. But
I think I think Orlando says no, I would trade. If Orlando would
do it, I would do Carris Labert for Gary Harris and if they want
to include another money in there to match it up. But it works financially,
yeah, I think that does give because again we've talked about it a
lot. Lavert's just kind of superfluous with Mitchell and Garland and you don't really
need that much more superfluous with markol Foltz and Colin Anthony and pal Bean Carol
a little bit too though, a little bit, But I think, don't.
I think I think Leavert's probably a better offensive player than Faults, But
I mean, I mean not that that's like maybe not this season. I
think Faults is definitely the better game manager, oh for sure. Yeah,
I guess Lavert Lavert's just a six man to me that I wish could shoot
a little better. And here is one that I came up with in light
of the Devin Booker injury, Landry Shammitt and Jay Crowder for Cais Labert.
I'm definitely doing that if I'm the Calvs. So I guess I guess it's
I guess it's the sun saying no if I have to pick one, although
how much better your offer is gonna get for Crowder At this point, I
just is there are there any offers at all? And I don't know.
Landry Shammon's had some higher moments, but I don't know if people want the
you know, the longer term money that's left on his deal. I'm like
the shooting that Landry Shammit provides will probably actually help Cleveland. Yeah, no,
I think that's right. It's certainly more than I mean, Lavert has
shot it, okay, but I just does anybody nobody's afraid of him,
you know, catch and shoot? I just I don't see that going to
cut in here. That'll do it for Part one of our Eastern Conference Mailbag.
Be on the lookout for Part two. It'll come out the immediately the
day after this. It's coming out on the Part one's coming out on a
Thursday. It's the next one. I'll come out on a Friday. As
always, please remember to rate reviews, subscribe to us wherever you consume us,
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