What is krack Alac and fellow thermonucle ar A Effers, I am a Damp
Valley coming at you with part one of a solo mailbag. We'll have a
joint mail bag for you, I believe releasing on Friday. This will be
our Discord mailbag. Anyone who submitted a question on Twitter, Grant and I
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Underscore Knox on Instagram. With that, the defining question of this mailbag is
are the Nuggets in trouble? And it's really the actual question comes from Nugs
and they ask are of the Nuggets playing like dog crap on purpose has to
lower their perspective playoff opponents to sleep. This is on that, and I
want to make clearly not believe that Nuggs actually believes this himself. But this
is on the level of people thinking that Yokich doesn't want to win the MVP,
so he's throwing it at the moment to give it to Embed or Janis
so that his team doesn't have to deal with the pressure, or he doesn't
and himself in the deal to pressure to playoffs. The Nuggets doing that would
be on that level of conspiracy theory. I do not think that they're necessarily
doing this on purpose. Nuggs is definitely referencing their losses four straight to Chicago,
San Antonio, Brooklyn, and Toronto. I might go all out and
smack the panic button if they lose to Detroit on Thursday. That's a game
that they just have to win, the second of a five game road trip,
and it's the easiest game they're going to have on the road. They
have the Knicks after the Pistons, then the Nets, and they have those.
Those are back to backs New York and Brooklyn Saturday and Sunday, respectively,
then followed by by Washington before they have to go rattle off games against
the Bucks and the Sixers. At home, but one right after the other
on a Saturday and a one day. But there is an element too.
It does feel like watching them that they're playing with an absence of urgency,
and could that be a mode of conservation heading into the playoffs. I guess
maybe, But it also doesn't feel like strictly that we've seen them turn things
on in the fourth quarter or later in games. We saw that in their
most recent loss. I caught the loss to the Raptors the bigger thing.
I mean, there's a three things stand out to me, So let's start
there. Jamal Murray just does not look the same ever since coming back from
that knee injury. Really seems like he was turning it up leading into the
All Star Break and then ever since then. He's at sub thirty five percent
from three since the All Star Break on nine attempts and it's like thirty four
point nine percent. He's sub twenty six percent over this six game stretch,
and he just doesn't feel like he's moving the same with the ball in his
hands when you're looking at the north south aspect of his game. That's definitely
going to hurt the Nuggets. Their defense has gotten worse. They are twenty
third in points allowed per possession since the All Star Break, and they've been
even worse than that. Of course, over this four game stretch, they've
they've been a team that has committed a good amount of turnovers this year,
and then they've struggled to defend in those situations. Their defense has really always
been best if you watch them, because they're so good on offense, they
get a chance to get set and so when they're committing turnovers. Since the
All Star Break, they're lying one point four four points per possession, which
is an abysmal mark. I think it's twenty eight. I have not refreshed
since the games being played on Wednesday, So forgive me if there's a little
bit of an accuracy there, and that's something that has definitely hurt them.
And you look at their overall defense, they're still not getting opponents are shooting
a little bit better from three, and that was the thing that we had
sort of wondered, was there a lot of luck involved there? There was,
I think there was, but like their middle of the road in three
point defense during this stretch, I think what's probably hurt the more is just
the lineups that exist out side of their most integral lineups have been getting absolutely
gobsmacked. They are twenty seventh in bench point differential promone hunter possessions since the
All Star break. That's a team that we didn't really expect to have that
too strong of a bench to begin with. And you look up and down
and some of the lineups that Mike Malon Michael Malone is using excuse me,
and Christian Brown finally gets in the rotation again. That might actually help.
But you do look at what they're trying to build and I don't know whether
it's they don't have an answer. Are they actually trying to experiment where they're
finally getting away from you. I think we saw some Aaron Gordon and Jeff
Green together in the front court. That makes sense. I'm growing Christian Brown
back in there too. So it does feel like there's a level of,
you know, we're plumbing the depth here. And then we see Michael Porter
Junior coming back in in situations after he was benched for a hot minute,
and so I think that's good. This could just be a function of well
they are, they know they're flawed, and that's why Thomas Bryan has been
yank. They'll probably get another shot. Naji's banged up right now. That's
something to keep in mind when looking at their front court rotation as well.
So I'm not in full on panic mode for the Nuggets just yet. And
I do think I don't want to say there's an element of design here,
but I do think that this is a team that is going through more of
a self discovery period where they're trying to say, hey, what can we
do When you look at just their like top what are going to be there
Let's say three most important lineups in the makeup, and they mix and match
with their top six guys absolutely killer. They're trying to find I think when
I watch them and what I've seen of them lately, I've not, wanting
to be clear, I've not caught every game by the Nuggets and see Allstar
break. I've not watched all four during this losing streak, but I have
caught two and a half of the ones of the four. And when you
look at what they're running, yeah, maybe some of it's by necessity,
is a poor decision making by Michael Malone? Are they trying to discover certain
combinations that are going to work maybe in smaller spurts during the playoffs, because
yes, your most important players are going to matter the most, but you're
still going to need to buy some time with less than ideal lineups or lineups
that are going to fall outside your most critical and just because when you look
at this roster and they are really only sure things as you go through the
let's say top six and if you really want to, I guess you could
stretch it so there, depending on how you feel about a Jeff Green or
if your team cash are or if you're you know, if you think that
Zignagi is that guy when he's healthy, they're top seven players you do need
to find like when the playoffs get to eight or nine, and then figure
out the combinations that are going to work or there I will say it would
it's you can look at it one of two ways, or I think you
should actually look at it. I would look at it both of these ways.
It's good to go through this. It's not a crisis of identity,
but it's good to go through their stretch. Now when we are basically one
month before the start of the first round of the playoffs, and it is
to go through this at the start of the playoffs were even deeper into the
playoffs. At the same time, you would also like to go through a
stretch like this before the trade deadline so that you can futs and fiddle accordingly,
and that's not something they were really able to do. They made a
call on Bones Highland future try to upgrade the back up, big rotation in
the process that has not really worked out to date for them. Just the
whatever with Bones that they it was time was time. We know, if
you listen to podcast, you know my thoughts on that. But like the
Thomas Bryant acquisition, the Reggie Jackson acquisition, those have not just panned out
for them in ways that they were probably hoping. And had they gone through
this exact stretch it's say, two weeks before the trade deadline, maybe we
see them make different types of moves there. I don't think they would have
tried to make a home run swing, but could they have tried to target
would they have been in on the Jail and McDaniels sweep stakes rather than focusing
on a backup. It just is just as an example there and when you
do watch them play defense now it does and it was true in the win
over Toronto that they had. You could visibly see and we know sort of
their defensive splits when you look at the fourth quarter and crunch time versus the
rest of the game. But it feels like it's more stark when you're watching
them on how they're defending where it's okay. Yokich is kind of in the
middle of things, like he's not playing all the way up to the level
of the screen, but it doesn't really feel like he's all the way and
drop and they're getting burned at the basket that way. And then as the
game goes on, you see them really tighten things up. You see him
maybe make some quick decisions. And it's not just him in general. I
think even with some of the guys who are tsked with containing the ball,
like they're just they don't really feel like they're playing with as much early on.
I'm not saying they're not trying. It just feels like they don't flip
a switch until later on. I guess that's fine now, but it's going
to be a problem for them in the playoffs, and I'm still look Nuggets
fans have been all up in I think everyone shit and not all Nuggets fans,
but a bunch of Nuggets fans have been all up and everyone ship saying,
well, look at how good they've been on defense since December first or
whatever it is. They were eighth for the longest time like between December first,
and they also break their eighth and points a lot of pert possession.
They are now twenty third since the All Star break, and so you do
have to consider that, and they're still their defense of the basket is a
problem. Yoki specifically, Yes, he has really good hands in space,
he knows where to be, but sometimes he just gets there super late.
So that's going to be for a team. If they go up against teams
in the playoffs that are really going to did that like to that can pick
apart surgically murder people with their pull up jumpers in between, that's something the
Nuggets might struggle to defend against. If they're going against teams that are going
to be able to generate just the crap ton of rim pressure on a consistent
basis from wire to wire, that's something that they could struggle with. It.
I'm still very fascinated. I'm saying this is someone who picked the Nuggets
to win a title, to just see how what I believe is their top
defensive gear translates into the playoffs. And I do think we might reach a
matchup or a point, if not a status quo in the postseason where you're
not going to see both Michael Porter Junior and Jamal Murray close games. And
then of course you would think in that scenario, Michael Porter Junior is going
to be the odd guy out there just looking at positionally, and then how
much more important as a shot creator, not just maker, Jamal Murray is
to the team In theory, maybe I'm wrong there and they decide, you
know what, we're going to try and kill you with how good our offense
is, rather than what we need to see more of this Bruce Brown at
like Aaron Gordon and KCP with Yo Kitchen Murray, which might just I think
that might be their best two way closing lineup, is my point. Maybe
this is also as simple as like, well, we're going to see like
fewer three guards lineups outside of the you know, the main starting like the
meat potatoes of the six guys, Like we're not to try and incorporate Reggie
Jackson into these three guard lineups. That might be a good start. Do
they have the personnel to do that? You're gonna need Christian Brown to play
some serious time there too. And I think I look at this team and
I wouldn't I'm pretty I guess you call it stubborn, but I try remain
steadfast and my title picks, I will own them and say whether they don't
look good or great right now, my Nuggets one, it looks way less
appealing than it did, but you know, three weeks ago or whatever it
was. But I don't think it's an egregious ones to like. I believe
that team has that level. I believe that Yokis can be the best player.
I'm a title contender. But if you watch what Philly has done against
a really tough schedule right now, if you theorize what and you just watch
what the Bucks have done to everyone lately. They have absolutely Milwaukee, by
the way, fourth in half court offense since January sixteen. Half court offense,
that was the biggest concern. Chris Middleton basically comes back. They're often
running. I have a Buck Nuggets finals was my preseason prediction. I feel
I feel a little bit good. I feel pretty good about Milwaukee coming out
of East now with Boston sliding. So I don't think the Uggets are in
this existential crisis mode. They're not in that level of trouble. But this
is a stretch that I think you have to look at and say, Okay,
like some of the concerns have been laid bare about what's going to impact
us in the playoffs. Yeah, sometimes I think you look at the second
Toronto game where it did feel like guys just got really hot on jumpers early
on. Okay, But then you look at that first Toronto game, which
they did win, and it was just like they were for the longest time
getting to the basket, to the basket, to the basket against Denver's defense,
and the same passes were open around the basket with your kitchen on the
floor, and it was a problem. You look at how Brooklyn was able
to carve them up in that game. Those are issues that feel like they
are not just oh tis the season we're experimenting, Like those are stylistic or
personnel issues that they are going to face in certain matchups in the playoffs.
So now they've experienced them during the regular season with a month ish to go,
I think there's value in that, But this is something we do need
to monitor closely, and that is the I guess that makes for terrible podcasting,
but I hope it makes for like pleasant YouTube and Twitter comments or at
least more productive ones. I still think the Nuggets are one of the three
best teams in the NBA. I think it could be open for debate just
between Boss Milwaukee, Philion, and Phoenix with Durant like those are the teams
plus Denver that are in the top three. Conversation For me, I've had
enough with the Warriors. They need to prove that they can win on the
road. Ever, depend on the road ever again, gravit you had to
rebound on the road ever again. So I just feel confident saying that they
are still the best team in the Western Conference. They look more vulnerable.
This is going to reopen some wounds and discussions about the MVP debate. That
is all fair game. But am I ready to panic for the Nuggets.
I almost wish I was answering this question there for the Pistons game, but
no, I think they will ultimately be fine, and I do not think
this is a team where matchups are going to matter a lot in the playoffs.
But I do not think this is a team that is just going to
lay an absolute wet sounding fart when they get to the first round. If
they have to go up against a Minnesota or an OKAC or even the Lakers,
I would be just psychologically I would be worried about, Oh, if
you draw Phoenix in the first round, if they slide, or if you
end up drawing Golden State in the first round, if it works out like
that, those teams kind of scare me. I would say, anyone else
doesn't. Is that disrespectful? Like I get the Clippers that Denver just owns
them over the past years. Dallas, No, I don't care if we
want to even mention Portland, New Orleans and Utah right now. So yeah,
it's Golden State or Phoenix would be reasonable first round losses. That's not
making an excuse in advance. It's just if you got trucked by any one
of those teams, save if you lose in the first round, like you're
gonna be asking some most out questions. I think this team is ultimately going
to be fine, and I do think that they do have a championship ceiling.
It is just a matter I feel like of hammering out some lineup ambiguity,
and then also can we see them defend the way we've seen them defend
for more than just these I don't want to say quarters at a time,
but like prolonged stretches, and they've had prolonged stretch of defensive success, especially
when yokich is on the floor. But some of those ansel every lineups and
then just some of the minutes with Yokiches on the floor lately, they just
have not They've been very uninspiring, and those are what we I think we'll
be looking out. I'll be watching more than anything, plus just the I
think the health of Jamal Murray here because like just dealing with that Knie stuff
is I don't think it's flying under the radar, but that's going to be
a huge problem. He's supposed to be your he needs to be your second
best player. I think even if Michael Porter Junior plays like your second best
player, you lose a lot. I think you lose some defensively from Pete
Murray just a fight that he had, and then also just as a even
if you don't think he's a creator as a table setter, you lose a
bunch and then just the pure chemistry with yogis you lose a little bit there.
So to round out, No, I don't think the Nuggets are in
trouble just yet. But I don't think that we can just write this.
It's not just about this four game losing streak. It's a lot of what
we see in kind of over the past like three, three or four weeks.
Thank you for that question, Nuggs, and I hope you don't hate
yourself for asking it. I know you were dreading me hearing this per what
you said in discord. This next question comes from our social media producer Ian.
It's a this is like a mass a kiss question, but it's a
fair question. First, any chance the Blazers trade their entire roster for either
a ham sandwich or the Washington Wizard's roster. I can't answer this one first,
or let's just get to thee one that's more serious. But will if
the Blazers actually fire Chauncy in the off season, who do they replace them
with? So to talk about the first one, I don't I don't know
if this the team is going to blow up it's actual roster over the off
season one way or the other. Whether it's to get worse or to even
get better. They do seem continuously allergic to making the all in play.
They go after these singles or doubles, and they are moves that I've liked
in the past. When they got Nance, when they got Robert Covington,
those were moves that I applauded. I thought the Jeremy Grant trade was good,
but it's never like a home run swing. And you look at them
now, they are not good. They are just not good. You've had
some bright moments from Cam Reddish in Portland. Not so much against the Knicks
the other night though, but you have some really bright moments from a Tease
Thible and it's great that you're getting goes, but you're also just your defense
is in like Smithereens at this point, has been for most of the season,
and I don't know what the solve there is. I know the types
of players that they need, Like you want to get bigger on the wings.
You want people who are going to be able to grab a rebound for
you, and it's tough. Nurkic is still working his way back. You
don't have someone in Jeremy Grant upfront with him that's going to grab a ton
of rebinds rebounds out either excuse me, So you're leaving yourself totally vulnerable there.
The idea of Matisse Thyble is kind of like the player you need,
but you need a higher end version of that. And how you get that
player the O g n and Obi, the McHale bridges, that's at minimum
the type of player I think they need to vault themselves into contention. And
that's why I think a lot of Blazers fans are going to be looking inward
and thinking right like is this time? Like are we going to do something
major? And I'm not getting into the Damian Lillard's future, who had great
comments on that JJ Reddick podcast about how he's gonta give a fuck what people
think. It was just one of those things. I know people think he
does a lot of things for show, but that felt authentic and it was
a great response. I'm more so looking at it as are they going to
try and strip it down a little bit more and rebuild a round dame or
are they going to look at well, now it's we have Shaden Sharp,
We're gonna have another lottery pick this year? Are we looking we have that
Knicks pick, We're gonna look to move them salary filler to get a more
marketing name in here at the five spot, at one of the wing spots,
even as just like a partner for Dame in the backcourt where it's or
do we look at moving Simons for someone who's just bigger and not as much
of a defensive liability. But yeah, I mean, look, the Blazers
have had the worst defense in the league since January thirtieth, and I don't
has it even been close. It's been fairly close because Houston exists. Excuse
me, Houston in Portland. If you have a worst defense than Houston,
I mean, just for any stretch of time, I think it's just really
time to look at yourself in the mirror. Who could I envision them hiring
if they fired Chauncey in the offseason, I'd keep an eye. This isn't
the only active name that I think would become available depending on how the season
ends. Like Nick Nurse in Toronto, I feel like he's a coach that
maybe they would look at. Kenny Atkinson would be one assistant with the Warriors
right now. Sam Cassell, who I believe is he still with the Philadelphia
seventy sixers. And he's been he's bounced around, he's been an assistant with
a ton of NBA teams. Right now he is, Yeah, he's with
the he's with the Sixers right now. That is the correct. I could
see his name popping up. I also think someone's name and I'm not gonna
pretend to be this exes and nose savant, but Charles Lee, who is
currently with the Charles Lee's a Bucks assistant. Right, Charles Lee's name has
been mentioned in a lot of the coaching conversations of late. He is on
the younger side. I think he's he's thirty eight, and so maybe are
you redicin to have that first time NBA coach? And yes, I was
right, he's with the Bucks. Perhaps, but if you're also going to
look at it as well, we're bringing in another lottery pick this year.
We have Shaden Sharp, We're not we have Dame and Jeremy Grant even like
the Okay, those guys roll, but every times it's still relatively young.
Tyble is still relatively young. Do we keep, assuming they keep him,
who do they keep Reddish? Could they just look at going that route,
sort of like they did with Chauncey billups here, who I think probably had
just more of an especially relative to Charles Lee, more of an established track
record around the NBA. But I could see them going that route otherwise,
I think you're looking and waiting to see, all right, like what other
coaching openings are going to become available depending on how things end. I don't
know if Doc, like Doc Rivers could lose his job in Philly. I
don't think that someone necessarily the Blazer will look at what happens in New York.
Season just ends poorly in the playoffs. I know they've kind of overachieved,
but they saw what happens been there, done that they decided to go
a different direction with Thibodeau. If they get, say, let's trucked in
the first round, they could hope that he get rid of Spolstro if they
end up in the lottery or something, but we know that's not going to
happen. Billy Donovan in Chicago, not after his secret extension, Steve Clifford
already kind of said, I don't know why the Horns would pivot from him
after one season, but he already kind of said just like this is my
last stop, Michael Malone. If the Nuggets season ends really poorly, maybe
that's a name that would pop up onto their radar. I don't Monty Williams,
that could definitely be a name depending on how this season ends in Phoenix.
And now they've kind of they changed everything and now their best their best
tool in their belt is they could change the executive and James Jones end or
they could change the coach and Monty Williams and things on co corner plans,
same things with tylu In La. So those are names if just like the
season ends really poorly, Steve Finch, could he just be pushed out in
Minnesota. I think they're probably a better team than their record suggests at this
point. I still don't feel good about what they did at the trade deadline.
Not super high on their outlook, but they they're hovering in that seven
spot. They've missed a bunch of opportunities. We don't know when Cats coming
back, but the fact they've done all this without Cat matters of matters of
crap Ton here, and that's like, that's probably just looking at the coaches
that could, like I don't know, Steven Silas might become available. I
don't know if they're actually going to look at him Willie Green in New Orleans.
It feels a touch too early to go down that rabbit hole. So
those are the coaches ian I, if I had to advocate from one,
if they were inventive enough. I like the idea of Atkinson, but he's
always been better with sort of the player development stuff. I like the idea
of just kind of taking the flyer on Charles Leevy. I guess Nurse could
be interesting, but if you want to run his ultra aggressive defensive schemes,
you need depth and then guys who can actually play that. The rapp have
like one of those things where they still just don't have the depth to do
it, and you can quibble over whether they actually have the personnelity to keep
running. That next question comes from Glad when it comes to ratings slash ranking
players, who do you believe it's an even fifty fifty split between offense and
defense? Should it be when we discuss players or does offense game? Does?
Office? Is gonna get way more inmpasance so it's more like seventy thirty,
So I guess I'm asking should it be fifty fifty. If not,
what do you think it should be? Do I think it should be fifty
fifty? No, I think there's a tendency to under value defense, especially
when it's paired with elite offense, where it's like, if that's going to
be what separates you voting for MBIAD or your honest in the MVP discussion versus
Yokich. That's absolutely fine, I would say, though I'm always going to
skew probably heavily towards offense in so far as it's the type of offense.
I do think it's you have an off you have a defensive liability who can
still score. The hell of the ball is going to be more valuable to
you the playoffs and if you flip that. That being said, the type
of offense does matter. If it's think of a Duncan Robinson as peak sort
of that functional shooter, or like a peak Malik Beasley where it's just well,
you're not going Malik Beas is a perfec example, and sometimes it looks
like he's the physical tools to defend, but he can't even really you can
try and steal minutes with him at the three. It's not always going to
end well, but because he can give you high volume three point shooting not
too efficient at the moment, but in theory like what he's been able to
do in the past, and it's functional shooting, like he can dribble into
it, or he can fly around the court and fire off like those those
like quick opportunities. You have that type of a player that's going to be
more valuable to you than someone who is like a lockdown defender but isn't going
to give you that type of three point volume and even that type of three
point shooting. Yeah, it's cool that, like you know, it's cool
that Matisse Sybel right now is hitting his threes in Portland, but like you
look at the threes that he's hitting and they're not like these off movement threes.
And so are you going to value Yes, this might be big because
of how well Tables played in Pointland so far, but he's going a value
table or're gonna value Maleik Beasley there. I think it's easy to evaluate Leak
Beasley as the far more valuable player at the moment. He might not be
the best case example because he's not the worst defender in the NBA, but
I think Trey Young is probably a perfect case study at the highest end of
this is because what he does just looking at the floater, looking his ability
to get to the foul line, keep defenses on til tit those threes off
the dribble, and then set up everyone at the rim and the corners just
generate high quality three point looks for his teammates, even if he's hard to
coexist with for certain stars or certain role players, he's going to receive that
all NBA ish evaluation because of how valuable offense is, especially in today's league
with the space and then the defensive rules. I don't want to say it's
like eighty twenty, but I think it's probably more like seventy thirty. For
bring Us, maybe seventy five twenty five. And again for me personally comes
down through the type of offensive uses. It's not just about points per game
here. The next question from it was also glad if a team the Lakers
or Suns with a lack of chemistry slash continuity ends up winning or getting further
than say the Nuggets or Celtics, what does that say about our perception of
team chemistry? And at what point does talent just supersed chemistry. But also
we've seen teams with plenty of talent not have success because of chemistry. So
what's the balance, especially if one of those teams that hasn't had continuity wins.
It also should be noted that teams in the West have had the most
constantly this season or at the top of the West. Who would have thought
the Kings would be one of the most functional organizations and teams this year?
Yeah, I think the King's check out the podcast that we haven't already I
did with Greg when You're from the Kings Harold on the Kings, because they're
fun as hell, and I was, I guess indifferent to most of their
offseason. I thought they would hit there over and they've just been way better
than expected. This is an interesting question. I looked into the value of
continuity year over year years ago for Bleach Report, and there was a fairly
strong correlation if I remember correctly, between wins, outcome and then how long
the roster was together. I do think a lot of that has flipped on
its head because tidle windows seem like they're closing so fast, even though the
player movement isn't the same in free agency. It's still happening a ton on
the trade market, and guys are growing disenchanted or asking out sooner, or
things are just going wrong, Like we'll look at what's happened in Brooklyn or
even what's looking happened in Philly, where all of a sudden you have James
Harden, but the specter of Houston is still looming over his future. There
if one of let's say a Phoenix wins the title this year, I don't
think it materially impacts Oh well, the Nuggets now have to blow it up
because they were together for so long, or did over the Celtics. I
think the two things where that impact that, or I think the two things
to really look at here is if you're looking for a team like the Nuggets
or the Celtics to ask themselves fundamentally like franchise changing questions or core shifting questions,
it really going to rest on the well, how did they exit the
playoffs. There's a difference if you're Denver making it to the conference finals and
losing, versus losing in the first round, getting trucked in the first round,
or even getting the conference finals going to in game seven versus being dispatched
by let's say, the Suns in four games. Those best teams are the
measuring stick against which you gauge where you are. And if you're further away
and you've been to get you're super good during the regular season. But even
now at full strength, you can't get over that hump. We're can come
close to it. Yes, you have to ask the question of well,
is it worth it to keep all of these guys together, especially when our
flexibility elsewhere is so thin. We don't have all these picks to trade,
we don't have all these young up and comers to trade or develop. We're
not going to have cap space anytime soon. That's going to force those questions
more so then, Okay, what if the Nuggets take the Suns to a
game seven in whatever round they play against them. Yeah, Denver's still going
to look inward. But I don't think it diminishes the value of continuity at
all. And I think you could also argue yes, this season, looking
at just a season, the Nuggets have had the benefit of continuity. They're
still dealing with injuries because of Murray being manned up, but far less than
than less teams, far less than other teams than the ball Gets, for
example, but they had over a seat like basically two years. It felt
like just losing Murray before the playoffs than whatever was going on with Murray and
Michael Porter Junior last year. So they haven't had this long term continuity and
things are just shifting so much in the landscape that continuity feels like it's being
inherently devalued just because it doesn't It doesn't last, and it doesn't pay off
even when it exists because of how fleeting just everything is, even the cores
that are together the longest, you don't really see what's happening in Denver,
Golden State, or Boston all that much anymore. There's just normally so much
turnover. What would be interesting to me is if a team like Phoenix wins
it and they or even I guess Dallas will read an example here, but
I mean Dallas is a good win it here. And I think even the
Lakers, I don't know if they fall into this category just because they weren't
healthy. They did get Delo, got rid of Russell maybe, But if
if the Sun's for instance, win it, I think it might just in
bolden teams that feel like they're close or stale to make those bigger plays mid
season rather than just over the off season. When you look at it as
well, it's easier. Our roster is just inherently more fundable over the off
season than it is during the middle of the year. We're gonna get practice
time leading into training camp, so you can develop chemistry there. And I
think it makes teams reticent to make the all in plays in the middle of
the year, which is why I like, let use Minnesota as an example.
Do they make the trade that they do for Rudy Gobert. Let's put
Tim Connelly in charge of the organization trade deadline last year, it's available to
them. Are they making that move? Probably not. And so I think
if we see the Suns make it out, even just make it out of
the West, that could maybe embolden teams that feel like they're close or against
Dale. Maybe it's a Nuggets team middle of the year. They stayed together
over the summer, but then decide, you know what, we're good,
but we're third in the West. We're not good enough. We didn't win
last year. Will they make that home run swing middle of the year.
That's where I think it impacts it more as opposed to just really devaluing chemistry
and continuity altogether. That's a great question, though, Glad, thank you
for Thank you for both of those. Our next question comes from It's Alan
who inspired a question that lasted an entire episode, so shout out to you.
Hope you caught that one on the MVP. But if Alan asked if
the Max could take any elements of off court drama and needing to appease Luca
out of the question, what should they do about Kyrie's new contract wanting to
maximize a title in the next three to four years. Just some background here.
Kyrie is age thirty one. His max salary starting max salary is forty
six point nine million. That's his max next year. If you give him
a five year max, it'll be two hundred and seventy two million, a
four year max is two hundred and ten point one million, and a three
year max is one hundred and fifty two million. Ideally you would get him
for submax and longer years if there's a structure of like would he signed five
and two hundred and maybe there's a team option on that fifth year? Might
be like the happy medium, I don't know if he's going to go for
that. Would he just try and orchestrate aside and trade to the Lakers while
also taking a pay cut as part of that. Is he going to demand
the full boat from Dallas just to stay there? And if you are paying
the full boat, I want I'm not going over three years, three years,
one fifty two, hopefully some kind of option, maybe a mega guarantee,
a partial guarantee on that final year. I don't think you're going the
five year out unless he's taking again five and two hundred something like that.
I don't think you're going that, Rogers, because you're then taking him through
his age thirty six season, thirty one, thirty two, thirty three or
sage thirty five season, and there's just risk there. Knowing how risky Kyrie
is in general, I don't I'm very curious to see what the price point
ends up being. There's no other team except for Houston. I would say
if they miss out on Harden and then they decide to go nuclear, that
is going to give him forty six point nine million dollars. The Lakers,
in theory, might they're just not gonna be able to fit that with both
Lebron and ad on the roster, and so that's just it. There's no
other team that's going to give him that full max. And so if you
can get submax for a longer period of years, and then I think the
goal needs to be to inoculate yourself against some of the longer term risk where
it's okay, we'll guarantee you two years, like third year has to have
a partial guarantee maybe sort of like the way that Paul structured his last deal,
where there's a half guarantee on next year and then the final year is
just the fourth year is fully non guaranteed. Can you get some protection on
that? Or is Kyrie considered two marquis or are you worried about disenchanting him?
You know where, he'll just sign with the Lakers if they decided to
create thirty million dollars in cap space or whatever, what should be a substantial
pay cut off of his actual max. I think that's what you're doing.
If he demands like a full max, you can't go more than two guarantee
years on that, just because then it's all right if next season goes to
shit, you write that off and there's only one more year, like there's
kind of time to rebound. But if you keep extending this, I don't
know what his value actually is at that number. He still can play,
but he's getting older. His availability for a vast array of reasons would be
the kindest way to put it has always been up in the air, but
I think that's the route I would go with them. If you're not including
that, if you're just assuming everything's going to be fine, if we're just
looking at Kyrie to basketball player on the court, I'd still be hesitant because
of his injury history, because of how your team is set up, and
because of the caplandscape, because he's still is Kyrie Ring a MAX player in
a vacuum just looking at the basketball? Yeah, I mean he's still max
player, So you could look at it that way. But given the structure
of this team and what we actually have to deal with in terms of reality,
if it is costing a full max, two guaranteed years is my absolute
longest I'm going for Dallas. There could be options and guarantee like partial or
non guarantees on it after that, but two guarantee years, I think the
goal should be, can we do some sort of three four year deal where
we're protected on that final season. No player options here, Like, I'm
not giving Kyrie ir Ring the threat of a player option at this point or
that type of leverage unless he's just signing at this mass at discount. If
it's like, yeah, I'll sign for four years and eighty million dollars or
something, then yeah, you give him the player option, but a three
four year deal some protection at the end, but noticeably less than as max.
It's like the one that I kind of come back to is just like
three for one twenty and then is the final year of that deal partially guaranteed,
fully non guaranteed. Were even signed that, but that like something alonglines
of that three three from one twenty four for one sixty even might just be
like where, okay, like the Chris Paul structure that third year fifty percent
guaranteed final year team option or something like a fully non guaranteed until a certain
date. But I'm very fascinating. I don't think he leaves Dallas. I'll
be semi floor. It's Kyrie, so nothing would necessarily shock me. But
I think he stays in Dallas, fascinated to see what that number ends up.
Being put at. Our next question comes from HP Bergie, and this
one was like a really big thinker for me. They ask, with Mcalbridge's
emergence into quiet Junior, are there any other solid role players that would look
like a star of giving the keys to a team. They give Terrence mannor
Derek White as an example that'd be interesting. I'd say more likely Terrence Man
than Derek White there specifically, I just haven't seen it from Derek White as
more of an off. The dribble score certainly has the passing chops. Two
other players I thought of, but I feel like they might be too high
end for this discussion Desmond Bane and tires MAXI. So if they qualify then
they would definitely be in here. If they're too high end here, I
don't like they could still be that guy. It's just that podictional hints of
it. So three players that I narrow this down to Keegan Murray. I
watched him on the Kings and I'm just like a defensively, yeah, I
still need to figure out. But offensively, some of the stuff he's done
with handoffs involving some bonus putting the ball on the floor. Do I think
that he could run some like slowed down manipulated offense. I have my questions
there, but I would be interested to see it, just given how smooth
he looks with the ball in his hands. And yeah, he's an older
rookie, but like Michail Bridges, wasn't the youngest rookie coming in either,
And look at like where he is going playing out his career a half decade
later. That's name that's frank to mind Emmanuel quickly of course for me,
just the strides he's made this season, looking at his decision making in the
lane with that sort of stop and din floater, really kind of learning how
to go, you know, speed up, slow down, and speed up
again, just to use that kind of change of pace under control though a
little bit more then, of course the defense over the past like eighteen months
or whatever it's And that's someone where it comes down to, do you think
he could actually run an offense? I think the shot making is there if
you need to put the ball in his hands. More is the table setting.
I'd just be curious to find out. But it's someone worth monitoring.
And then the other one, Jane McDaniels, just because of what he does
on defense, and we've just seen a lot more of him with the ball
doing things with the ball in his hands this year. Do I think that
he is a perfect approximation to what we've seen from Chaale Bridges. It is
not quite there. The Wills have not given him that responsibility. Written about
someone who's only in the third year of his career and so like he could
be tracking in that direction. That might be the one I feel strongly,
more strongly about on this aside from desmon Main and Tyree's Tyres Massey. That's
a great question though, if anyone wants to hit me with their own answers
YouTube comments. If you're watching this far, which role player could you see
making a star jump if they they change teams? Next question comes from Muckley.
He asked what teams are the deepest? What teams can least afford a
starter to miss a game or two? Obviously depends the starter which non stars
will be most important in these playoffs, and so I separated let's look at
the depth the depth part of this here. First, I kind of separated
this into tiers of teams that I would consider deep, can't and then teams
I can't afford to lose the starter, and then the ones are I'm kind
of vascillating on where it's so the TVDS, I didn't know where to put
them. The Warriors, I think it really depends on the starter. We've
seen them struggle without Andrew Wiggins for example. Right now, I feel like
you could argue they're they're not among the deepest, but if you believe in
Jonathan Cominga, if you believe in Jordan Pool, they certainly do have and
then they have Dante, even Shenzo, they do have something of a cushion.
So I didn't know what to do with them. The Nuggets, it's
yeah, if they've lost Yoka, YadA, ya YadA, But then's like,
well, if you lose Murray or use Michael Porter junior, you could
probably would stand at you with Bruce Brown just waiting. Once you go beyond
that, yeah, there's issues. Didn't know what to do with them.
Memphis is deep, but as Zach Low says, they don't feel regular season
deep, playoff deep. Excuse me. The Nets are almost in the same
vein their defense has started to pick up. They have like all this depth,
but like if they lost the starter, yes, it would hurt,
but the only starter. I think that they can actually lose and suffer this
massive drop off as probably Chail Bridges maybe like other than that, I don't
really know. Are you gonna say, oh, okay, I just I
can't. I'm not. I'm just looking at their starters and I'm like,
I don't even think that you could pick anyone here for that, So that
would really just materially change what they're doing best now that you couldn't feel like
you could you could replace that. I guess maybe Spencer Dimwitty because it would
be him. But so I didn't know what to do with them. I
didn't put them in either of these categories other teams. The teams I have,
they can't afford to lose the starter. The MAVs. I'm just even
saying, outside of Kyrie and Luca, I think that that's just something that
could really harm them. The Kings and I talked about this with Greg and
as he mentioned like there was a really valuable trickle down effect when you acquired
Kevin Hurder because of what allows you to do with your bench having Malik Monk
come off, for example. So if you lose Kevin Hurder, if you
lose Harrison Barnes. If you lose because the bonus fox, obviously yes you're
hurt. But if you lose one of the other three, it's all of
a sudden our we have to pull the leak monk off the bench. Is
this we need a Trey Lyles off the bench situation or because you're either looking
at as when we pull monk off the bench, then what just happens?
What happens to our bench? You can look at it that way and you
could of course say, well, how small are we in the starting lineup?
Then, but then it's if you're going to replace whoever's injured with oh,
okay, we're gonna use davey on Mitchell, then you're playing Davion Mitchell,
who's been bad this year. Like so Trey Lyles, yeah, he's
been he's been a sort of up bright spot for them. But then that's
also hurting your bench. So if you're pulling him a Monk or Lyles off
your bench, it makes us already feels like a shaky bench in to an
even more shaky bench. In terms of the deepest teams, the Nicks just
have like the best point differential in the NBA since like December first among their
reserves. The Calves are low key super deep. I do not low key.
That's like a weird thing. I don't know why I said low key.
That was a very weird thing to say. What I will note is
they feel very much predicated on Okay, how is how it Karros Lavert playing,
He just feels like the bell Weather for the for what the bench is
going to be. I mean having you know, having Ricky Rubio of course
like helps in that or but like Carris Lavert feels like they're excuse me,
they're Bellweather among reserves and that's you know, he's been starting on and off
the past few games, but he hasn't he before that, he wasn't starting
a ton So I'm just not including him among like the he's among the the
every night starters for now. But the calves are are deep, so I
think they can withstand losing a starter. Of course, it's just like,
well can they if you lose Jared Allen? What does that due to Evan
Mobile's job description? If you lose Evan mobiley, what does that due to
the just the rest of the defense and then losing even one of the shot
craers and Garland or Mitchell, but in theory for every because every starter is
so good. Of those four, it's almost like you can't withstand the loss.
But you also have like someone who readily replaces a lot of what they
do. Yeah, I don't think mobile can replace just the primary rim protection
of a Jared All, but just being strong defenders in general. So they're
deep and I think they could navigate absences. The Celtics, for sure,
we've seen it. Those are the three teams that stand there. I didn't
know what to do with the Bucks. They might be there now, but
like if you lose, look at the starters that they could lose. I
guess Jannie would screw them. Does it screw them if they lose Book A
Brook. I think it would. But you do have Jay Crowder now,
so you could just run smaller and then it's okay. Well, if you
lose Chris Midlton, we've already seen that and they weren't horrible, it would
kind of probably be the same impact if you lost through Holiday, So I
think they might belong in the deepest now, especially with Joe Ingles going on
Druggets there as well, So I think that's where I'm at what non starters
will be most important in these playoffs is an interesting question. I mean I
could just run through like the list. If we're gonna throw carros LeVert in
there, I think he ends up being super important to Cleveland just it's because
you're looking at how those three minutes are going to play out for them,
and so he's someone who just gives you a ton of He's gonna be hitting
his shots and stuff. He can do his shots, you know, away
from the ball, or hit his outside shots. The stuff he can do
off the dribbles super valuable, and I think that levels up your offense in
a way where if one of Mitchell or Darius Goronan doesn't have have a going
or there shut down, that becomes huge for you. Another reserve, definitely
Bruce Brown for Denver going to be absolutely massive for the Nuggets. I'm just
like kind of going through alphabetical order here. I think low key Jordan Pool
is just the belt Weather form the Warriors fucked or will they be good because
he's just he's not closing important games. It feels like, at the moment
and making that decision the playoffs, you just paid this dude and then by
extension, it's also Donte Devincenzo or word Gary pay in the second is healthy
there. So the Warriors have a ton of reserves, like three reserves,
so I think in theory when you look at them, could be part of
their most used crunch time units are most important crunch time units. I guess
with the Clippers we should just say Terrence Mann or Eric Gordon though, so
they'll be right there. I mean, you can throw Norman Powell and Nick
Nick Batoum there as well. So like, is that is that too many
for the Clippers? How many did I just name Gordon Man, Patum Powell?
That's four? Uh, Like, I guess, so I'm basically just
saying that the Clippers depth is is important. Maybe they'll end up starting some
of those guys come come playoff time. But I don't think you know the
way that tylu Is is sort of married to some of these players, including
Russell Westbrook, who's had like better moments of late. But just if you're
gonna be married to Westbrook and Morris Is, there's not really room for platoon
to start or for let alone Gordon, Powell or or Man there. So
take I mean take your pick on the Clippers is basically where I'm at the
Lakers and they have Jared Vanderbilts starting, so I don't really know. I
mean, I guess if everyone's healthy and we assume that they're just going to
start their best five players in the we just haven't. I have not seen
enough of them at at full strength to know, like, Okay, they're
going to start Lebron Beasley below Vanderbilt and Davis. I imagine that's what they'll
just right now, They'll plug in Lebron for Troy Brown. So I guess
I'll just say Austin Reeves. That could be someone who's just do I think
he's gonna shift the outcome of the playoff series now? But just really looking
at bench players are gonna matter? Do we throw Kyle Lowry into this discussion
for Miami? If not, it's certainly Victor Oladipo would would be on that.
Memphis. There's got to be someone on Memphis, right. It's just
looking at well because of their injuries now and everyone gets bumped up here,
like is it going to be Tias Jones, might be Luke Kennard. I
just I don't believe in Memphis. So Milwaukee, it is Jay Crowder I
think ends up being Wilson Port, could be anyone who's different, and so
we're looking for singular where you look at it on one team and say,
oh, it's that guy. I guess it gets a little bit easier to
cipher through. If Carlynthon Towns is back, it's Kylan Anderson Minnesota. It's
not even close. Manuel Quickly For the Knicks, definitely under that umbrella.
I think we kind of have to put someone from the Thunder at this point,
right Kenrick Williams then if he's going to be if he'll be healthy by
then, If it's not him, like I guess you could, I might
might go and say and Joe at that point, Phoenix, they don't really
have any important reserve. I think it's gonna be Tory Craig, maybe Josha
Kogie if he's not the one starting, but he probably will be, so
maybe maybe Tory Craig. With the Kings, it's Malik Monk. Won't even
be close there. Toronto, do we consider them a playoff team? Like?
I mean, sure, And it's gonna be like I mean, now
that they're their new starting lineup. The answer here is just it's it's clearly
Scotty Barnes, Like, that's the you know, if they're gonna make the
playoffs and home about not the play in either. If you make it out
of the play in, you're now starting up. No Barnes has been starting
for them, so that's gonna be Gary Trent Jior. Excuse me, I'm
speaking here. I don't know why I thought that he wasn't starting for a
minute. Then yeah, he's certainly up there, just in terms of like
the most important. If I had to pick like a final three, and
if we want to throw the Wizards in here, I mean probably Delon Wright.
I would think a healthy Delan right, unless anyone's just like really a
a Corey Kissbert person, get at me there. I won't even throw the
Jazz in here because they will probably bench their best players. That's that lowry
market if they make it to the playoffs. But if i'd picked like the
three most important reserves of the playoffs, I think I would go a manual
quickly, just because he's going to be closing a crap ton of games for
New York at this point, and then we've to narrow it down here.
If it might go Bruce Brown in Denver, so manual quickly and Bruce Brown,
and it feels like it has to be someone from the warrior'sn't even to
say someone from Clippers because there's so many options. But Jordan Poole feels like
he could very much define their postseason him or even Gary Payton the second should
he be be healthy? So I'll stop there. That was a fun question,
though Muckles will thank you for it. Next question comes from a friend
of the podcast, Rhett Bower. He asked, should Denver and or Sacramento
flame out in the playoffs change the decision of decision making for a team like
the Rockets with a player like Shangoon, Like, if we see a high
end and the highest end outcome for the Shangoon archetype unable to work in the
playoffs for whatever reason, would it be smart for them to reconsider how important
Shangoon might be? Not other examples in the league right now, but could
impact the draft too, because that's the same thing about a team eventually trading
everything for cat. But we'll save that. Yes, let's save that,
won't we This is interesting. I don't know that the nuggets of view Changu
and highly enough at least the current front office regime and coaching regime to think
about it in these terms. But I would think that, yeah, it's
fair to think about it in those terms. If we see the Kings and
Nuggets kind of dominate all postseason and then they're all regular season and then their
teams are at full strength and they get absolutely blown out or something in the
playoffs, Yeah, or you have to really think about it, but we
have to build our teams super Specifically the Kings of Stroud, it's a bonus
with shooting. They haven't surround him with a ton of defense or someone who
could protect the basket with him or behind him. Denver is a little bit
tougher because it's like, well, if they adequately use Aaron Gordon, Bruce
Bound and KCP, what are we really supposed to do at this point?
So, yes, I do think it could materially change the Rockets is thinking.
But I don't think that they're thinking along those lines anyway. And it's
so tough for me to envision with the Rockets or even building right now when
you at who they have, I will say how those teams fair should absolutely
be a blueprint for either what to do or what not to do, or
what you need to do to maximize optimize what is let's just call them defensively
limited big. So, yeah, they can get through the regular season and
look average, maybe even slightly above just because they're evens are rebounding. But
if they get into the playoffs, they could be picked apart and absolutely gooded
in certain matchups. So yeah, I'm I don't think it would be an
overreaction for the Rockets to sort of rejigger their vision if they even have that
for if they if they even have that for Shane Gun, I just I
stammer to put a lot of stock into that because I don't just based off
how they've used him for most of this year, I just don't see that
vision for him. And then especially when you have Jalen Green and Jabari Smith
there and then whatever's gonna happen in this year's draft, we're're gonna go best
player raid oneyway. But could it impact them in terms of, oh,
well, we're just not going to view them that's our sixth man or something,
and we're not going to view them as mission critical part of our core.
That would be more of like a wholesale thought process, and I still
think it would be fair to be like, you know what, what would
we really be doing here? Yeah, he might be our most talented prospect
now, but what's the ceiling of him? And so in that way,
I think probably Yokich, more so than Sabonis, is the harboring juror for
that because the Nuggets, I think, have done a better job optimizing his
talent right now and we're talking about someone who's in the MVP conversation, is
literally the highest possible outcome for someone of that archetype unless they are NICOLEA.
Yokich with Jaren Jackson junior defense or something, which is just like we've never
seen that. So yeah, that would be The Rockets should absolutely the rocket
should absolutely be watching the playoffs closely, if only because they're not gonna have
anything else to do since they won't even be in the playoffs. Next question
comes from Darkwing Duck. They ask, with all the talk on who's best
situated for the future, how does Miami stay away from being worst situated outside
of Houston? How do they get out of forty to forty five projected wins
the next five years? Uh? Yeah, so thinking about this one.
The play is because you're not going to start over. What starting over would
look like. You could trade Jimmy Butler, let's just say, and Kyle
Lowry. But you could trade Jimmy Butler, get a ship ton for Jimmy
Butler. What does that do for you? You have Bam and Tyler Hero.
Then you're probably still too good to maximize the value of your own draft
picks. So the way to ensure that they're not going to become a version
of I mean Blazer's East almost sounds insulting just because David Lee show them I'll
take big swings, but it would be time to take a big swing.
You have salary matching. The contracts aren't great, but Kyle Lowry will be
expiring. You have Duncan Robinson. You can trade up to three first round
picks this year. I believe you'll have your twenty twenty three. You can't
trade twenty five. You could trade twenty seven and then twenty nine, so
you could trade up to three first round picks. Swaps can be included there
as well. And then what can you attach with those picks to money?
Who is that bringing back? And that's how you ensure that you're maximizing the
next three to five years and you might be compromising too much of your future
to where Jimmy Butler age is out. Do we see him get stuck in
the forty win range in year three or four, year five maybe, but
having Bam and Tyler Hero both inoculate you against that. I will say,
based off the season that Tyler Hero has had, if you're trading him like
it needs to be part like that's we're getting Kevin Durant type deal, and
it's it's not a Kevin Durant so unique. It's not a we're getting zach
Lavine type trade. We're getting a Bradley Beal type trade. To me,
that's not your And if you are doing that for Bradley Beale, let's say
I wouldn't give him up for zach Lavine. I don't think it's that's basically
it like it's Tyler Hero and like minimal stuff. But I think that's how
as you take the take the you take the mass with swings. I think
that's that's how you and You're you're built to do that. This is not
a team that has is barren of assets at the moment they're not as assets
strapped as the Lakers, for instance, And I think the best way to
avoid that is you can't really bank on stumbling into good signings to figure out
the four, to be relying on Kevin Love when he immediately comes over,
or hoping that you're just going to continue to mind Max Strus's and Gabe Vincent's
from your developmental system and that they're going to be good enough to really elevate
you in the playoffs. Even Kayla Martin's a nice story, but even like
the Victor oldiepos had nice moments. But you need the higher end solution here.
It's not just a matter of well, they need to kind of plug
a role player at the four. I think it's you know, just to
use an example of Jeremy Grant, caliber player is probably the lowest level of
good player that I think they need to really be in that conversation of oh,
are they as good as Milwaukee and Philly At the moment, they are
a team to watch over the off season, we ever do a podcast on
that team team's most fascinating hitting in the off season. I do think,
especially depending on how the playoffs end or a play in ends, uh,
they'll they'll be on that list without without question. Let's get see if I
can fit another few more in here. So we have This question comes from
Brian c Is have you heard any other sources suggesting Lebron wants to play until
forty five besides Patrick Beverley. I have not seen that, but Briant.
He goes on to say, I could see it as his goal. Play
with both his sons shows the ultimate team athlete. If Brady could do it,
money, someone is going to be the first two one. Actually,
pat his statue of potential rings, there are three teams I think of he
would immediately be the title favorite if he went there after next season, including
Cleveland. I have not seen that. Actually, I will say, but
I don't even think I saw the Beverly one, to be honest with you.
So if you saw that, but that would be Let's assume that he's
willing for it to be his year forty four season when he turns. Oh
no, it would be his year forty five season because this was his year
thirty eight. So yeah, that's a lot more seasons for him to play.
So we have to go through thirty nine, forty forty one, forty
two, forty three forty four than an age forty five seven seasons from now.
If his body holds up, it would be cool to see and that
would be longevity on like anything we've seen. But like, I don't know
if I could see that being his goal. I also don't know enough about
Bryce James to like know whether he would go in the NBA. I guess
if you figure're gonna get lebrod and sell those tickets in his age forty five
season and he's gonna be eligible before ups, then I don't know who he
is. Yeah, you could look at it that way. Do I think
he does it? How? I'd bet against it. I mean, we've
already seen his body like pretty like the past three seasons. Is niled up
all that well over the course of an entire year, and even like during
two and twenty if they didn't get that huge break before they went to the
bubble. We don't even know how many games he ends up playing year before
that. He plays in fifty five games in twenty eighteen twenty nineteen, So
I don't think he'll make it. I would be kind of surprised if that's
his goal. I think playing with Brownie is certainly a goal, and I
think he will play until he's forty, But forty five feels feels steep,
like that feels incredibly steep. Power to him if he's able to to do
it. Though. Next question comes from Jake from State Farm. So,
I was talking with a friend of mine about the other day and I was
curious for your opinion. There are some star players in the NBA who picturing
them in another team's jersey would just be weird Steph Booker, Jannat etc.
However, what role players can't you guys not picture in another team's jersey?
And what role players could you guys see in another team's jersey? So role
players that spring to mind, as though I really couldn't imagine them in another
team's jersey. This was actually like I had to give, like I had
to really think about this one, by the way. That so I went
with immediately Dwight Pound because the Patrick's sea pike they and if they played in
another jersey earlier on their career. But I'm probably envisioning Dwight Pound on another
jersey anytime after right now. Marcus Smart sprang to mind for me. Kavan
Looney in Golden State lu Dort. Chris Bouche almost made this list for me.
I know he's playing for other teams, but I just associate him with
the Raptors now. I ultimately didn't put him on my list. Guys that
I could just see right now in another jersey. Don't ask me why these
are the ones that sprang to mind, but I have naz Reid, Zeke
Naji and Denny Afia is something that I could just see in another team's jersey
as well. So this was sort of a weird question, but yeah,
those are where I think the hardest, that's more fascinating, like, well,
what role player is a tough to envision another team's jersey. I think
Lou Dort and Marcus Smart are the ones for me that would just be like
the if I'm narrowing it down, that's the that's the selection that we have.
Let's make this my final question because I didn't plan on going for an
hour here, but from unbiased Pistons fan, who would be the best player
in the league if they got Wenby billed and became seven foot five overnight.
That's just like so many players that I think you could choose from, and
so I limited myself to saying I have two I have two options here that
I already that I've already written down, and my parameters were you can pick
one semi high end player, but like he's still not a star just yet,
and then you have to picture someone who's like a tried and true role
player and who could I make him the best player in the league if I
Wemby pilled him. I'm mcil bridges. Is my actual pictures. Imagine him
at seven and a half feet or whatever, doing the things he already does
in the defense that that he plays. And then the other one, and
I think I think this is a really good answer, is the Anthony Melton.
Could you just imagine him being Wemby pilled. That just feels like we're
looking at someone who's already just this defensive workaholic. We've seen him hit threes,
do some stuff off the dribblick. It's iffy in the playoffs. But
if you've got Wembi pilled, like you're gonna be able to do so much
more in the half court and also just defensively, and if you're keeping kind
of the girth and the strength about you that he has, I think that
ends up being the best player in the NBA. If anyone has an answer
to this, who would be the best player in the league if they got
wemb pilled. My answer is it has to be a role player, can't
be a star, and I'm talking someone who's not even tracking towards star him.
I already gave you the one mckel bridge's answer, But who would be
the best player in the league they got wemb pilled and became seven foot five
overnight. The answers they though three. Hope you all enjoyed this. We
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