What is krack Alac and Bell thermonuclear a efforts. I am Damp Valley coming
at you with some more hardwas hoops talk. Before we get started, the
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socials at Hardwood Knox, on TikTok a, YouTube and Twitter, and then
at Hardwood Underscore Knox on Instagram. That'll do it. I figured I would
just bounce around to talk some just like general MBA news and rumors if we
want some TMI session. Though I am recording this even though I wasn't going
to record this because as our discord members might know, I just took a
little bit of time to unplug. The past few days, I wrapped up
a like twelve months diet and training program for people. I've mentioned this in
the podcast before, but I'm like a wanna be fitness bodybuilding enthusiasts. I
don't look like it. The past twelve months, though, I really dialed
in with my diet. Fucking with macros and micronutrients really changed my training.
I did put on a lot of weight. I got up like one,
which is hard for me, like one ninety three. I don't know if
I ever really maintained one ninety three, so it might have been closed from
ninety one and then the last four months though we're spent like going through a
physique style contest prep cut. It was fucking hard. I thought my wife
was probably gonna divorce me by the end of it. And I finished it.
Though took a few days to like kind of just eat and not intuitively
but counterintuitively, like I ate, I ate a lot of cheese cake.
So that was a lot of fun, but it took just a little bit
of a break. Wasn't as active in discord and shout out to everyone who
there were. We had people dm me who watched me on YouTube that asked
if I was sick just because I guess my I didn't notice it as much
because I see myself every single day, unfortunately, but I guess my face
was sunken in. I had some people come to the gym and say stuff
to me. Some of my family members were concerned, so I didn't notice
it in real time. It's not the healthiest thing to do, but it
gave me just like a you know, I wrote about this on Instagram.
It gave me something to focus on, a distraction, made what was just
a very uncertain and stressful year like it was for everybody. So I thoroughly
enjoy that stuff. I'm excited to really do it all over again, maybe
have a coach this time. But if you needed the TMI information and also
just as I kept meaning to mention it that no, I'm not sick,
because there was enough people that asked me if ozz okay, and I'm always
gonna look tired just because I don't sleep enough. But it was really cool
that, like, it's you're not randos on the internet. If you're watching
and listening to me, you're strangers on the internet. Like it was actually
genuinely nice that people were concerned. It's like the feedback when we've talked about
the future of the podcast, that stuff is just really humbling and super appreciative
of it. So I didn't feel the need to It wasn't It wasn't droves.
I think I got like it was fewer than half a dozen messages about
it, but it was enough to where I was like, okay. And
then when I had people around the holidays start saying stuff to me at the
gym, like just people I've spoken to sometimes but not really that much,
and then having family members say stuff to me, I was like, all
right, well, this is you know, no, I'm not sick,
this is I'm doing this to myself. But yeah, so that's that explains
the break in discord. I'll be back and chatting it up in there,
probably around like Tuesday or Wednesday a bunch, but we have like news and
rumors to get to and I think the biggest news is that Kevin Durant dealing
with that sprained right MCL that he suffered against the heat Jimmy Butler barreling into
his leg. I saw some people say that Jimmy Butler aimed for his leg,
and I'm just I don't know. I watched it a bunch of times.
I didn't see the game live. I want to make that clear,
but I know it didn't seem like Jimmy Butler was aiming to get into Kevin
Durant's legs. Kevin duran will now be out, it seems like at least
a month. I'm curious to see what the ramp up will be like for
him, just because he is thirty four. He was averaging over thirty six
minutes per game. I know a lot of people were. And I'm not
a doctor. Although the Glue guys the Brooklyn Nets podcast for the Athletic,
I did check out their episode because I saw that they had Raj Patetel on
Doctor and he was talking about the injury. And I think this was my
stance that was important. He didn't seem to think that playing time was tied
to this injury Jimmy but Like, go back and look at the Jimmy Butler
just like Kevin Durants like crumpled to bet. Like that's what the explanation is
for this. And I will say, I don't know how many minutes you
want Kevin Durant to play. Ideally, he was twenty seven in minutes per
game over the you know, since basically the before Thanksgiving, since November twenty
three, and I was at thirty four point seven minutes, So he was
under thirty five minutes per game for a lot of this dominant Nets stretch,
which probably had a lot to do with maybe how dominant some of the performances
were. I don't know how low you would have wanted his minutes to be.
I guess ideally, like, yeah, you'd like to see him at
like thirty one thirty two. The Nets were still relying on him, and
those minutes. I think you can argue we're just like a bear for him
because he's been really important to them on defense this year too. And I
kind of, you know, not that I misspoke, but I think I
undervalued his defense at one point this year, and then going back and kind
of looking at the assignments that he's taken on, some of the helper in
protection he's provided. He's had an incredible year, both offensive and defensively,
and so those minutes were they were fucking bear. I totally get it,
But how few minutes do you want him to play? He's one of the
best players in the league, and so if you wanted him under thirty two
minutes, you know, I don't. I don't know, and that's not
going to change the outcome of this injury anyway to me at least, So
I can't get too caught up in his playing time when it was the beginning
of the year and it was just routinely, Oh, he was logging forty
minutes at the start of the regular season in these games. Yeah, I
was concerned, but it seems like because the nets were winning and just under
Jacque Vaughan, the minutes have been a little bit more in check, and
so I just can't bring myself to yeah, I care about that, and
he seems to have these injuries every year now, But like I can't,
I don't know that I need to harp that we collectively need to harp on
the playing time issue with this it's a big injury. This came from the
Glue Guys podcast too. I don't know how like important and relevant it is,
but they tweeted this as well. It says, just to recap,
the last time Kadi went out with a knee injury, the Nets were twenty
seven and fifteen. They're twenty seven and thirteen right now. The Nets were
second in the East, and they're second in the East now. By the
time Kad came back, the Nets we're thirty two and thirty one, eighth
in the East. Harden was traded the season completely tanked. I don't I
don't think that's going to happen this year, mostly because James Harden isn't going
to request a trade from the Nets. But more ideally, I think the
fact that you're not dealing with Kyrie Irving only playing in home games. You're
gonna have him available every night. That should help. I like the fit
of this team better than I do like sort of last year. And also
the fact that you know you were waiting for Ben Simmons to come back last
year and that was never gonna happen. Then you're dealing with the James Harden
stuff on top of that I think the Nets are better equipped to navigate this
absence. I will say when you go and look at their schedule, I
don't think they get any sort of breaks here. And this is also this
coincides with what I think is like their biggest national TV stretched. So before
the it's you know, Kevin rant slated a month and bring him right back
around the trade deadline if he returns right there. But this could you just
wonder like could they maybe try and buy time until the All Star break or
something like around that February fifteen, sixteenth area and then Nets have eleven games
on national TV, including Thursday's matchup with the Celtics, between then and the
All Star break. So that's just like you know the schedule they play the
you know they're gonna play Boston on Thursday. That's tough. Okay, see
that's not a pushover. But then you get San Antonio Phoenix without Devin Booker
and they've been kind of a mess. The Jazz have pulled back, Golden
State's going to have Steph Curry back by then, so that's that's food for
thought. Philly has been killing it. You get Detroit, the Knicks around
the come up then the Lakers. The Lake are kind of on the come
up right now too, and Anthony Davis feels like he might be coming back
soon. Boston again, Washington and the Clippers are just Jack and hide.
Phoenix is Booker back by that point, that's February seventh, right before the
trade deadline, the Bulls, which version of the Bulls are you're gonna get?
Then Philly again on February eleventh. February thirteenth is the Knicks. February
sixteenth is the Heat. February twenty four, Yeah, February fifteenth is the
Heat. And so like that's a fairly like in terms of gimme games.
If Kevin Durant was healthy, you look at the Thunder the Spurs, maybe
both of those, like the Detroit game for sure, and then I would
say both like at least one of the Phoenix games. And do you consider
like Utah or Chicago in that vein It's like, this isn't really an easy
stretch. There's just more parody in general. So I talk myself into every
team having this hard ass schedule not an ideal time for Katie to go down.
I'm insure to see what they do, like running the lineups and how
the offense really works without him. I think right now, when you're starting
Claxton, Durant, Irving, O'Neil AND's Simmons, the easiest thing to do,
from my perspective, would be just the slot Seth Curry in there.
Maybe you try and give that spot to a Joe Harris, hoping that helps
him come alive. But just replace Kevin Durant with another shooter around Ben Simmons
and Kyrie Irving. The offense is more interesting to me and how it functions
because this is a team that felt like it really streamlined its process after Steve
Nash was shown the door, And I guess you could still go that route
without Kevin Durant, but that puts a lot on the shoulders of Kyrie Irving.
So I'm just wonder two of the things I'll look for. And by
the way, this is a team that gets out and transition more than you
think, and so it's not you know, do they do they have to
play a ton faster. Their transition frequency is actually fairly up there. I'm
more wondering like their third in ISOs, the frequency with which they rely on
iOS. I think only phillion Dallas. So the teams are relying that more.
Are we going to see them go with a more conventional pick and roll?
Are they really? They're not? I mean, you can run that
with Kyrie Irving, but that's like that's never been Ben Simmons's game either.
If you're putting the ball in his hands more, can you see more off
ball movement? Might be the thing that you could look to. But I
think when you're looking at whose minutes might increase, it's going to be by
committee. I wouldn't pinpoint any one player, and you already had some guys
like Rights O'Neil playing pretty heavy minutes and Irving as well, playing a bunch
of minutes as too. I think I would be just curious to see,
like can they get more dribble penetration towards the basket, and like, let's
really lean into that with Ben Simmons can be a driving force of that.
I'm you know, maybe even like testing Nick Claxton out from the outside in
a little bit more because he's showing some flashes of that. I don't know
if this leads them to rely on a Patty Mills or a T. J.
Warren or a you know, cam Thomas even more. But I think
because this is a team that is so reliant on kind of the in between
range, since Kevin Durant does exist, and then what you get from a
Kyrie Irving as well. I would be curiously if they can figure out ways
to get to the basket more, and they certainly have the spacing to do
that. I'm just is it more of let's put the ball in Simmons's hands
and ask him to create. That's going to be a big one for them
because they've sort of insulated him against having to have this super high offensive uses
or have this mission critical offensive role even and that's just you know, that's
going to be the biggest question mark for me. I could see them.
I can't see them getting better defensively without them, but I can see them
sort of treading water defensively to where they are now, where they're not getting
substantially worse. I do think, you know, this is a team that
it has climbed its way to ninth in points allout per possession, but they're
like one of the worst defensive rebounding teams in the league. And I think
Kevin rants almost you know, defensive rebounding numbers are down, but like it
is almost important to the way that they can defensive rebound better. So losing
him is kind of a big deal there. It's how much do you trust,
Like if it's going to be a Utah wants Anobby or a TJ.
Warren or more minutes for Harrison Curry to be sort of a part of front
court rebounding, that's something that could harm them. They're not relying on getting
the foul line on their offense, which is good, but also just now
you're taking one of your primary shooting foul threats out of the game too,
and so that's something that could pull back. That's the offense is just endlessly
fascinating to me, And I think the player I'm going to be watching most
closely here aside from Kyrie Irving, is probably just Ben Simmons, just to
see, like does his usage change at all or are they trying to empower
him to do things that he isn't necessarily doing right now because he was inoculated
just based off sort of their their offensive structure. I honestly don't necessarily know
what the answer is. I would look to see, though there could be
more. There's been ball movement unders Jacques momb like, is there going to
be more player body movement now with Kevin Durant at not because he needs to
slow like things down. I think you can run the offense they've been running
with Kyrie and Kemp. That's what you do. That's how you optimize those
guys, but almost by virtue of necessity, and so overall, I think
when you look at this roster and what they've been able to accomplish, and
what we've sort of seen from guys like Royce O'Neil lights out this year from
Downtown and also been better defensively, I think a lot of people thought he
was cooked. Nick Clackson having a breakout campaign should probably be I haven't gone
through all defense yet, but he's probably like he's in the discussion for an
all defense spot, especially because you don't need positions for those. And then
like Kyrie's been, you know, he's had his like games where he just
his efficiency feels like it disappears, but then they'll just come alive in the
fourth quarter. You need him to come up huge. I think you need
better play from Joe Harris is like his ankle bothering him at all and I
guess you could look if you're the Nets, like, does this increase the
urgency for you to go out on the trade market and try and find somebody
or something. I don't think so, just because it's like, well,
who are you going after? You don't want this Kevin Durant facsimile because one
he doesn't exist, and two this is supposed to be a month, maybe
a month and a half more. If they're going to try and push this
towards the All Star break, maybe they're winning without him or doing better.
If they can come out of this stretch though, and they're like five hundred
or close to it, that's that's just a monstrous win for them. But
they do. I mean, if they really wanted to, like they have
first round picks to trade, they have some interesting like salary matching tools.
Would there be a team that would roll the dice on Joe Harris has a
year left on his contractor for this one? I believe, And just if
you're a team it's not maybe in best and winning now or just needs more
shooting. That's a number that's certainly workable for you. He's at eighteen point
six. It's just not astronomical. So can you build out something around that?
And because Claxton's played so well, like do you look at like does
day Ron Sharp have any value on the open market? So you could look
at dangling sort of a package along those lines, But who were you targeting.
It's just just like in Eric Gordon might help you buy time, but
it's just like day Ron Sharp and Joe Harris getting you Eric Gordon. I'm
not giving up at first Eric Gordon at this point, and then you're also
still sort of downsizing on the wings there. I think it's fine, like
this team doesn't need to be super big. That's just not the way that
they're going to be built to play. But I don't know, I just
don't look at the trade market. It's sort of they could have used like
some reinforcements upfront, Like this would be a team that if they can figure
out a way to latch onto Jay Crowder in a three team deal, just
because I don't know if they have anything that Phoenix would really want in a
straight up deal, that's just something for them to monitor. I don't think
that changes or if they wanted some different looks at center. Even though you
have Claxton and you have Simmons, and those minutes with them together gotten better.
I wonder what those minutes are gonna look like one how often do they
go to them when when Kevin Durant isn't there, because he's just a big
part of I mean, just he's fucking Kevin Durant's a big part making everything
work. But those were like a big part of why those were successful at
all. And so when you actually dig into like some of their line up
data, they actually haven't tried Simmons and Claxton independent of Kevin Durant much.
There at sub one hundred possessions for that duo without Kevin Durant, and they
have a minus thirty four point four net rating, And so that's that's really
just something to keep an eye on. And you can't you can't get away
from that, especially now because those are like two your two most important defenders
on this team. But they have a plus eight point eight net rating those
two when they play with Durant. So there's that huge drop off there and
they haven't explored it a ton those So that was like, those are the
two biggest things I'm looking towards. Nothing really on the trade market. If
they were still going to trade for a bigger or some front court help.
I don't think this changes that because Kevin Durant stated, to come back,
you're going to be in the mix. Just a huge, mission critical stretch
though for the net there's not a lot of margin for error in the East.
It's good that they've worked their way up to second. It's impressive.
I think I've probably slept on them as a contender, been unfairly pulling Kevin
durantpack in the MVP discussion as we talked about last podcast. But they maybe
third as I record this, or tie for second, ever you want to
frame it. They are, you know, six losses back of the eighth
place Miami Heat, and so it's really just like that can change over the
stretch in a month, Like in one bad stretch, if they're going to
drop back and they're all of a sudden in play in territory, it could
happen. You don't want to put all this on Kevin Durant's return because if
he comes back and you all of a sudden, you're need to have him
on a minute's limit, like there's gonna need to be a grace period here,
and you don't want to have to increase his minutes or just throw him
back baptism by fire too quickly is due to thirty four and he's dealing with
a lot of lower body injuries it seems like every single season. And so
yeah, huge obviously because Kevin Durant's out. I do think the Nets will
be fine overall. Do they still end up top four in the East,
I don't know, But as long as his recovery goes according to plan,
I do think that they're built to, like maybe you know, play close
to five hundred without this, and if they can't, like that's going to
have to open up some more fundamental wholesale questions because if you remember, Kevin
Durant did say and one of the reasons he requested a trade is like he
saw how bad the team was playing last year and when he was out,
and so like, let's see how that sort of works. Now, some
other news just to bounce around here. Lebron James and had the interview with
the athletics sam Amic and then he came out. So the line that came
out of the sam Amic interview was, y'all know what the fun should be
happening? I don't need to talk because Lebron was getting on the bus.
Then Lebron replied on Twitter, Hey, Sam, actually, my patience isn't
waiting. You make it sound like I'm frustrated when I'm really not. I
told you over and over my job is focused on the guys in the locker
room. My job isn't the roster. That's that's the reality of that conversation.
And I said what I said with the upmost respect and calmness, because
that's the mood I'm in. You're welcome five game winning streak. So Lebron
out against Denver. As I record this, I will say Amy, I
don't have a problem with what came out of the discussion. Amy posted the
full transcript of the combo, and Lebron is thrown enough, just like not
so subtle passed with aggressive shots in the past, to know what he's doing
if he feels the need to respond on Twitter that, I don't have a
problem with that either. But there's he wants the Lakers to trade the picks,
like that's the framing for the Lakers making a trade, and he should.
I think when you look at this from a franchise perspective, they've been
so incompetent optimizing Lebron, James and the roster around him, that there's no
trade that's going to salvage this season. So why would you trade those picks?
You're slated have cap space this summer. Regroup, then see what's available
at that time. Yes, Lebron's going into his age thirty nine season,
but you can't just trade the picks for the sake of trading the picks.
And I will also say then, I've struggled with this. I said it
in discord and this is this is the low hanging three episodes. I'm just
bouncing around the news and rumor mill, but like, this isn't Lakers content.
I've actually struggled with how much is Lebron responsible for this? He supports
the Westbrook trade and then he signs the extension at a time when he knows
that he won't be able to be traded this season, and so my sympathy
is limited there. At the same time, he's playing at an all NBA
level. He's Lebron fucking James. You have an obligation to not suck around
him. It's like, I don't want to both sides this. I understand
both sides. I ultimately just end up at what is the deal that's out
there? If you're trading one or both of these picks, who's the best
player that you can get this season? Is it even Miles Turner anymore?
I don't know. And if it is Miles Turner, you know that deal
that we've talked about, they can get Miles Turner without giving up Russ.
But part of that deal was getting Buddy Healed. And so if you're trading
Russ to get Miles Turner and Buddy Healed, Russ has been probably overrated off
the bench, but he has become important as sort of a self starter in
the offense. And so now you're bringing in Miles Turner, you're diminishing your
self creation arsenal unless you really just trust what Dennis Shrewder is doing. He's
averaging like one point five possessions in ISOs this year, so maybe that's that's
maybe that's where you're at, so you're doing that. And then also,
oh, Anthony Davis was tearing up the league while he was at the center
position, like what like, So I don't even know that that make trade
makes sense for the Lakers now, even though Miles Turners are fantastic player.
Can you get Fred van Fleet, Gary Trent Junior and other money from the
Raptors and you're dangling those picks, that would be the trade that interests me.
The Kyrie iringship is sailed, does Bradley Bealle or Zach Lavine demand a
trade to you? I guess that would be worth discussing if either of those
two do that. I just don't know the trade that's out there for the
Lakers to make, and so can they just do something where it's okay,
you have none his expiring contract, you have some other just like you know,
even if it's Lonnie Walker the fourth his expiring money, you have Patrick
Beverley's expiring money at thirteen million. Can you just get somebody to maybe increase
the shooting on this roster, the size on the wings on this roster.
Is there a Camraddish Evan Fournier trade to make? Like, I know Evan
fouriers on the books for next year, But do you just if you're saving
your first round picks it's only a one year deal. Are you Lakers team
that visions yourself actually using that cap space anyway? Maybe you don't want to
do that. I totally get it then, but like you have the money
to where you could bring back other money. It feels like they could be
a team. It's just that Eric Gordon is so small. They could easily
bring in Eric Gordon. I think that's someone who improves them. But again,
they get so small, and that's what's like, that's why he's just
not like that's necessarily a quintessential fit for them. This is all to say
I find lebron comments interesting because he's clearly his patience. Maybe his patience isn't
waning because they've been winning, but like he wants them to make upgrades.
I think they're obligated to do that. Now are they obligated to make the
home run swing? I don't know anymore. But I also don't think I'm
not going to overlook Lebron's role in all this. Like I said, sympathy
is limited, but it's a fan of basketball who's enjoyed what Lebron James is
doing and just understands like the responsibility you have when someone like him is on
your roster. I'm gonna side more with Lebron's thought process here and also say,
you know, Ron Blinka said, they were custodians of Lebron's legacy,
and so like he came out and said that he didn't have to say that.
That's on him. And the other thing is even for Lebron. I've
said this before, pushed for all these other moves that you didn't like,
it's on the organization, the front office to not make those moves. Then,
just because Lebron says that the moves need to be made or he supports
them, Okay, that might make you feel better about Thank you Siri for
transcribing this entire podcast. Apparently just because Lebron supports it you Okay, maybe
it makes it easier to make a move in the grand scheme, but that
doesn't mean that you just go ahead and do it like you have to as
the front office operate with that independency of Lebron James as great as he is,
and I guess they're trying to do that now. I'm just not going
to commend it because they've just fucked up to this point so often. I
just where I landed. You got to try and scope out the medium sized
deals. Is there something that you can get done without giving up a first
round pick? At this point if there were players though available. I you
know, if the Fred Van Fleet GTJ situations available, those are guys you
can say, well, we'll just sign them in free agency. With cap
space one, you're not going to afford both, and too, there's value
in just getting them on your books. Now, I don't know where I
land with the Miles Turner stuff. I will say I don't think those picks
are as valuable as people believe. They probably had more cache at the start
of the season, if not during the off season. But there are a
few things here to look at. And I'd mentioned this in our discord the
other day. Is I do think that in the next collective bargaining agreement we're
going to see at least a couple of years worth of windows where free agency
is more of a hot bed for talent acquisition than it has been. And
if the Lakers can plan their books accordingly, they will be involved in the
biggest names. And so I would certainly say maybe the twenty twenty nine pick
doesn't have a lot of value just because you think that they're going to stumble
into a star or two on the free agent market. Yes, they might
be limited in how they can trade for a star, but they could sign
one in free agency if a star hits free agency, and I believe that
free agency maybe may not change permanently, but just how extensions work. Like
once we get into that twenty twenty seven area, there are going to be
guys that are hitting during that new TV deal that want to hit the open
market, and so if the Lakers have money to spend, they will just
be in the mix because they are the Lakers and they are in Los Angeles,
So teams are going to view it that way. And also executives,
they're not going to necessarily have the confidence they're the ones making these picks.
It's easier to get back all these distant first rounders when they're not let's not
even call them secondary assets, but when they're part of this larger asset pile.
When your primary trade asset or asset that is coming back in a deal
isn't conveying for closer to a half decade than not, it's just tougher to
stomach because you don't have the job of security. You know you're gonna be
around. The Lakers aren't giving you a first round pick this year in any
trade that happens this season. They're not giving you a blue chip prospect like
you're gonna if they're willing to give you Austin Reeves, Like, are you
really like taking a victory lap for that? Maybe? So, I think
it gets harder to sell as the primary turn on a really good player.
Now if it's just sort of the Lakers wire willing to overpay and it's a
throwaway and you're the Pistons and it's playing on Magdonovitch, Yeah, I think
it gets easier to justify that. But when we're talking about a non star,
or we're talking about a star or what could be a core piece for
this team moving forward, I just without any other accessory assets to attach that
are super intriguing, it gets harder to sell as a top end pack.
Something else I want to touch on John Collins game an interview to Samy Makeup
the Athletic where the poll quote was I don't give a damn about whether I'm
traded or not. I thought the whole interview was interesting and fairly candid,
and Collins has been candid in the past. His value has just following so
much. I want him off the Hawks, like it feels like everyone in
this situation just needs a reboot. He does seem to think that the Hawks
have a higher ceiling than they've shown, and I would I would agree with
him, but he's just the roster even with Capella being injured right now,
it's not built to optimize him. And I really want to see him moved.
And my favorite destinations are I think the Pacers and had Tip Reett Bauer.
We've had conversations about this. On the side, just if you're going
to keep Myles turn or I think Collins makes a lot of sense because you
have the ability to play Collins like a five on offense and then like a
four on defense, and so I'd love to seem Indiana. I kind of
just love to seehim in Utah because they run so many like five out stuff
now, But you could also play him with Walker Kessler and they could even
go lowry market in there. Well, there was the report from Sham's that
the Jazz wanted multiple first round picks to take on this deal. If that's
where we're at with John Collins seventy eight point five million left over the next
three years, you know, that's just wild to me. I would give
up a first round pick. The idea that I'd bounced around, that Rhett
had bounced off me. He wasn't sure if the Pacers would do it.
Would you do Chris da Warte and those two like sort of bottom feeding picks
from Boston and Cleveland for John Collins. I would do it if I was
the Pacers, But my question is do you have to do it? Like
are you able to get away with one first round pick? Is it even
cost that. I'm not someone who's like super high on Christa Warte, But
if you're Indiana, why would you give up that much equity if that's just
not John Collins's trade value? So I want to see him elsewhere. Those
are my two favorite destinations. I think if you're looking at other teams,
let's get like fun here. I would kind of like to see him in
Miami with Bam. That would be something where you can't really use him as
a five on offense per se, but you could run just inverted picking rolls
with John Collins and Bam out of Bio if you really wanted to. I
kind of for a minute found about would he be fun in Milwaukee? Like
is there a way to get him there? And I think he would be
fun, But I'm not sure if he's exactly what they need. And then
you're all of a sudden, so Jannis Collins Lopez, like, how many
games are those teams closings? You have Bobby Portis, who is arguably even
better than John Collins this season, Dallas his name that comes up. I
just don't see them, like, I don't know what the package is because
they're not giving you a first round pick and they just don't have a lot
of attractive money on the table. Memphis for a minute was interesting. Just
imagine Jared Jackson junior and Collins in the front court. Are you trading Steven
Adams in that deal? Probably not? The why would the Hawks won him?
And that you're really looking at a prospect and then salary a prospect and
a pick, and then we're salary, so that gets really tough. Oklahoma
City would be fun. It's just too tough to get to the salary matching
from them right now. They're not going to trade Ludor or Sga and so
it's just a mess. After that, Phoenix has been mentioned, don't really
love him there. Portland could be kind of fun. Don't love him with
Nurkics though, Sacramentos. I don't think they're gonna have any interest, even
though they were intrigued when Sabonis was there. I kind of go to San
Antonio sort of like a if they want to, you know, Doug McDermott,
Josh richardson route for John Collins, Like would the Hawks just do that
to break him up into smaller contracts and then you try and reboot Collins' value
as a member of the Spurs. I don't hate that one, like that
was just the other team that I would semi intrigued to buy for him.
So I here's hoping John Collins gets traded. I just want to see him
if he wants to get traded. I don't want to, you know,
campaign on his behalf, but it seems like he wants to get traded,
but it's gonna come short of saying it, and I feels like both sides
need to move on at this point. I still think that there's like a
fringe All star player in there somewhere, and so why not, you know,
get him somewhere where we could explore it more So. I'm pulling for
Indie. I'd love to see it in Miami. I kind of even I
wouldn't mind seeing it in Toronto either. I just don't know if Toronto would
be like kind of a board that train. But Indie Miami might be my
two favorites, with like my third I know, I said, Utah probably
up there for sure, Maybe maybe San Antonio. I'd like to like those
are the four teams. I'm just like, hey, like, let's go
take a shot on John Collins. Please, but anyone, seriously, please,
for the love of God, just rescue him. Last thing I wanted
to touch on is the Raptors, which we've talked about them more in detail,
but this came from Tim Bontemps's article that the sources said there was at
the beginning of the season a four year, one hundred fourteen point two million
dollars extension on the table. That's the max Toronto could offer. Both sides
kind of elected that it was fine to wait. He can sign it before
June thirtieth, so there's no rush, is what van Fleet had said.
That was also via TSNs. Josh Luimburg just kind of weird van Fleet's sufficiencies
down on catch and shoot threes. He also like it just feels like he
peters out in game. Sooner. Now, I don't know if that's a
function of how the Raptors defend, how many minutes he's playing, some combination
of both, So I don't I think the extension would still be on the
table now. I don't think that he's played himself away from that. I'm
just curious whether he's played himself out of much money on the open market this
year there will be some additional caps based on the table. Is there a
team out there that's going to be impulsive enough to just throw him a fringe
max though that has room? I don't know. Like Detroit is not going
to do it, and he's not gonna do it, you know. I
like who else is layd to have cap space at this point? Maybe Orlando
would they do it? The Spurs are they gonna do it? So like,
I don't know if he's cost himself money on the market. Okay,
see he's not gonna do it. I don't and the Spurs won't do it.
I think you could circle Sacramento could techny have cap space this year,
but we don't. Don't. They're not gonna be in the Fred van Fleet
sweep stakes. Orlando would be like the team and maybe I mean, like
no, the LA the Lakers too, the Lakers and maybe the Magic.
I just don't know how much levers that gives him. I think he would
probably get more than the extension, maybe including from the Raptors. So I
kind of don't expect him to sign it. But if he sort of continues
down this path being a small guard, it might behoove him to just lock
up the financial security. He was right saying no that he has outplayed his
current contract. Tim bontemps so would also mention that people around the league are
waiting to see whether the Raptors will sort of blow it up because there's not
a lot of sellers right now. We've heard that ad nausea, YadA,
YadA, YadA, YadA. They've also just been bad over their last twenty
games or so. They are now twelfth in the East at seventeen and twenty
three. We've seen their defense slip. The offense has the same problems that
you think about. There's just not a lot of bankable depth on this team
right now. I don't know what the Raptors are gonna do. They're sort
of they feel like tight lipped when it comes to these trade rumors. Where
yeah, things will leak out, but what do you really expect to find
from them? What they what they do is going to sort of just be
stealth and we'll find out about it either right before it happens or after it
actually happens. I just would reiterate that one. I don't think this season's
unsalvageable for Toronto, and so there are deals out there to upgrade their roster
where they're not let's say it's not a star, but like they're not giving
up a ship ton of equity draft equity. I just wouldn't put it past
Massi to take this wing, because there's a talent at the top of this
roster, especially if you believe in Scotty Barnes, who's played a little bit
better lately. I would say, however, even if the Raptors sort of
elect to just like punt on this season, there's no guarantee it is in
tandem with this blow up. They could just shot down Siakam and van Fleet,
then extend Siakam and resign Vanfleet over the summer, do the same thing
with Annobe. See what they have in their young guys. Maybe you trade
some ancillary players, but you're not, you don't have to go to the
blow up route. I do think Gary Trench Junior gets traded. That's the
prediction I will make here. I do think there's a higher than expected chance
that they do sort of a quasi blow up where it's no, I don't
know why you trade Siakam. I know he's older, but that's just an
all NBA player right now, fringe all the NBA player. He's really good.
Unless you're doing the full scale tear down, why would you move him?
And I'm surprising how many people are just like, well, let's see
if they put Ognaobe on the open market. I just he's so young.
Why are you You're the raptors, like, why isn't he just a part
of even if you're rebuilding or even if you're reloading, why are you getting
why are you getting rid of him? Of all players? It's yeah,
okay, maybe you don't want to worry about his next deal to be his
third contract, and so if you're getting a really high end rookie scale prospect,
but just like you're probably not You're not to get the Donovan Mitchell trade
package or Rudy Gobert trade package or og Anaoby would be my prediction, and
then like, you're probably just not even getting And I had a conversation with
someone aside about this, You're not even getting Benedic Mathrin from the Pacers and
Nogianna Nobi trade and so it's just like, what are you really getting.
Let's say you get two good first so without like a three good first package
someone coming over the top or the equivalent in prospects, I just don't actually
know why they would even consider moving him. And that's like why I'm not,
you know, disenchanted with the idea of a Raptors blow up. I
actually think they need to. I would probably explore moving Gary Trent Junior and
then everyone else who's not Siakam Barnes and an Anobi. I just feel like
Van Fleet his next deal getting rid of his shot creation is super tough,
but like, let's let's keep yourselves a little leaner or look towards other different
trade packages to where can you can you diversify your creation and go out and
if you really want to one actually like kind of explore the play aking depth
of the Scotty Barnes then just yeah, like kind of trade one of the
safety nets on this team, or can you get a hire and creator via
trade over the offseason with some of the picks and prospects you accumulate from Fred
van Fleet. And so it's more of a matter of, Okay, we're
inflating our lottery odds this year. Let's just say by moving Vanfleet and Gary
Trent Jr. We're shutting some guys down here. Maybe seeing what Scotty Barnes
can offers. There anything left on michaem al kaifln here, let's just really
unlock Christian Cloko and see if you can block and swallow the world at this
point. And then you're getting assets and prospects in return to build up what
would be a better trade package over the summer. And when I do think
the trade landscape is actually going to be pretty We'll have different podcasts about this
maybe later on the year, but I actually think the trade market's gonna be
like pretty like bumping, like as the kids from the nineties might say.
I think that the trademark is going to be super interesting over the summer this
year, and so you're more equipped then to make that move. And also
I would say, I don't know if I want to be a part of
and Fleet's text contract. He is so good and I think this game should
age fairly well. But if you're talking like four years and near as money
for him as a smaller guard this year does give me some kind of pause
and the limitations he has as an actual point guard. Or I do think
he's improved over the past couple of years as someone who's not though going to
necessarily buoy your half court offense on his own. Having sort of this one
point five level of scoring, if you want to call it that, rather
than every level of scoring. It does worry me, and that's not a
shot at him. So I would look at moving Van Fleet also because I
think you get real value for him, just because of the dearth of sellers
on the market right now. However, I would kind of bet against the
full scare scale teller tear down. A Siaka move doesn't feel like a mid
season trade that would actually for me. I won't rule anything out in hashtag
this league, but it would actually for me and Anobi. That's the question
is I wish I had grant on this podcast, is who's more likely to
be traded mid season? And I don't think either of them do, but
like who would be more likely O g Anobi or Siakam. That's something I'm
going to pose to you the listeners, but Grant at some point. But
yeah, so I don't think the Raft's season is unsalvageable, and I think
the noise would kind of like that's a decision they're going to make, probably
right at the trade deadline is let's see where they are in a few weeks,
getting closer to the trade deadline around the end of January beginning of February.
But I do think the team, they are a team to just keep
an eye on, because I do believe they could talk themselves into being like
medium size sellers, in which case that changes the landscape for a lot of
teams that might be on the market desperate for a buy now play. We'll
be back at some point this week, Grant and I with a couple of
episodes. Just wanted to get that some of these news and rumor notes off
my chest. If there's anything that you want to ask me, feel free
to DM me getting our discord the linked has in the podcast and YouTube descript
shown And until next time, please remember to subscribe to us on YouTube and
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the only, the legendary Frank Pila Gina